I groaned as I rolled over in the bed, head pounding painfully.

“I forgot to drink water before bed, didn’t I?” I asked aloud, but got no response.

Rolling over, I fell out of bed and stood up, holding my head with a wing. I stepped into the bathroom and grabbed a glass, filling it with water. I chugged the water, thankful for the feeling of relief it granted my dry mouth and throat.

Stepping out of the bedroom and walking down the hallway, I was greeted with the sight of Mallogory playing her handheld gaming system.

“Morning, drunky,” she teased, causing me to groan as I walked to the cabinet and searched for the magical pills Greg had given us.

“If you’re looking for those hangover pills, then good luck, I lost them the last time we drank together,” she said from the couch, hanging upside down off of it as she played her game.

“Of course,” I grumbled, digging through the cabinets and drawers.

“So, what happened to just a few sips before bed?” she asked with a coy grin.

“I got to talking and lost track of how much I was drinking,” I admitted as the night before slowly came back to me.

Then I went wide eyed as the conversation itself came back to me. “Oh dear fucking Celestia…”

“What?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at me as she looked away from her game.

“I told Lance a little too much last night,” I said, grimacing as I held my throbbing head.

“How much is too much?” she asked, looking a bit worried.

“Kinda told him about our talks about kids,” I said, getting a frown from her.

“Great,” she groaned, returning to her game. “Now everyone will be asking about that.”

“I don't think he’ll tell anyone,'' I reassured her as I continued searching. “I mean, I hope not at least.”

“Guess we’ll know when we go to the Pie here soon,” she mumbled.

“Oh fuck yes,” I cheered as I found the pills. Taking one out, I tossed it in my mouth as I put my head under the tap, chugging water directly from it.

“So attractive,” she teased from the couch.

I just chuckled as I pulled my mouth from the tap, feeling the little magical pill immediately start taking effect. Anti-Hangover pills are the fucking best, I swear.

The headache I had slowly receded till I felt like my normal self again.

Looking towards her, I smiled. I picked up a wet cloth with my paw and threw it towards her. It slapped over her face and caused her to panic, flailing about and falling into the floor.

“Scamp!” she yelped, jumping up and fuming as she stared at me.

I just laughed like a maniac as I ran out the front door and took to the air, flying towards the Pie. Mallogory was hot on my tail, keeping up despite me flying high above her.

With a loud bang, I burst through the doors of the Pie, getting everyone's attention.

“Safe!” I yelled, just as Mallogory flew in behind me and tackled me, sending the two of us rolling further into the dinner.

She got me into a headlock just as we came to a halt, holding tight, “Say sorry!”

“Nah!” I laughed out between gasps. With a twist, I broke her grasp and reversed the headlock onto her. “Now you admit I’m number one!”

“Second place!” she yelled out defiantly.

“You two are hyper as usual,” Calypso said from the table above us, sipping on her coffee.

We looked up and chuckled sheepishly as we broke apart and stood up.

Everyone in the Pie just went about their daily routines, shaking their heads at our antics. Unbelievably, this was somewhat normal for the two of us.

We made our way to our table, finding our food waiting, just like it always is.

Digging into our food, I glanced at Lance. He seemed preoccupied with his own thoughts, just poking at his food.

Frowning, I stood up and walked over to him. “Lance, you good?”

He snapped out of it and turned to me, putting on a smile, “Yep, why?”

“You look troubled,” I replied, standing at the end of his table.

“I am,” he admitted. “But don’t worry, it’s just stuff for me to deal with.”

“Lance,” I started, narrowing my eyes, “what’s going on?”

He let out a sigh, then turned to me, “It’s… complicated.”

“Is this about what I said last night?” I asked carefully.

He blinked, then chuckled nervously, “Oh, no. Trust me, it's not that. Just other things.”

“About what you and Castor spoke about?” I pressed, getting a pained look in response.

“Please, I don’t want to talk about it,” he begged, eyes looking extra sad.

“I’m here for you, remember that,” I said, reaching up and giving his hoof a squeeze.

This seemed to bring him comfort as he patted my hand, “I know you are. This is just something for me to deal with on my own.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” I add as I turn and head back to my table.

“He alright?” Mallogory asked as I returned to my seat.

“No,” I sighed, pushing my plate away, not feeling like finishing it.

This shocked her a bit, but she didn’t push it.

With a twist and a twirl, I spun through the air, blades flashing as my Ego flared in all directions. Continuing the spin, I turned into a tornado and slammed into the ground, causing a massive impact as I did so. Using my metal legs to absorb the impact left me completely unhurt.

Standing up straight, I let out a gasp as I tried to catch my breath.

Walking back to my bench, I picked up my bottle of water and chugged half of it, using my wing to lift a towel and wipe the sweat from my face.

Training like this was extremely boring, but necessary.

As I was resting, I saw Lance suddenly stop what he was doing and look around.

Raising an eyebrow, I watched as he looked a bit panicked for a moment, then started laughing loudly. He then took off running for the Pie.

“Huh,” I mumbled, looking around and seeing that everyone else had taken notice of his actions.

As we all watched him disappear into the Pie, we heard a loud speaker suddenly turn on, blaring across the entire area.

“Everyone, report to the Pie! This is urgent!” Lance’s voice called out over the loudspeakers.

“This is new,” Moxxi said as she walked past me, heading in that direction.

Walking that way, I was joined by Mallogory and Remi, the three of us exchanging confused looks.

Once we reached the Pie and stepped in, we saw that Lance was standing on the table in the center of the room, looking excited.

He didn’t speak till he saw that we all had arrived.

“Good news everybody,” he announced, getting weird looks from all of us. “Bronwyn just contacted me. She’s finally located Lorenzo.”

This caused everyone to start talking among themselves.

“So we can finally leave?” I asked aloud.

“Yes,” he said with a wide smile.

“What if…” Rainbow Dash started, looking to Adry and Rarity. “What if some of us don’t want to go out there and face him again?”

Lance frowned a bit at that, seeming unsure how to answer that.

Jero jumped up and whispered into Lance’s ear.

Whatever he said brought a look of relief onto Lance’s face.

“Okay, here’s what we will do,” Lance said, standing tall, “If you want to stay here till this is over, then you may. If you are not up to fighting Lorenzo and the Watcher, that is okay. I will not force any of you to follow us into this fight.”

This calmed most of the group.

“But, to those that come with us, we’re going to head straight from here to Lorenzo. So make sure you are ready.” He watched the group’s mixed reactions before adding, “I’ll be adjusting the time here, so it’ll be in sync with reality. That way you don't end up staying here another seven months.”

I watched as most of the group looked relieved, hugging each other.

“Now, I wish we could host a party or something, but I want to get going, right now,” he said, jumping from the table. “Anyone who’s coming with us, please, follow me.”

As he walked out the door, I saw the majority of the group stay where they were.

I stepped towards them, wanting to say my goodbyes.

Standing by Lance, I saw the last of our group step out of the Pie and make their way over to us.

Lance frowned a bit, but nodded, “I expected this outcome, but I still wish everyone would have come with us.”

I looked at the nine of us that had decided to follow Lance; Calypso, Castor, Greg, Jero, Mallogory, Reinhardt, Remi, and myself.

This didn’t surprise me, as the rest of the group had skills that were more suited for support from the sidelines. Not as useful in a straight on fight, especially against someone like Lorenzo.

“I want you guys to know,” Lance began, looking at each of us, “this could be our final adventure together. Because if we beat Lorenzo, we’ll be on track for the final confrontation with the Watcher. There’ll be no going back after that.”

“We’re ready,” I assured him, giving him a salute.

“These assholes are going to get what’s coming to them, one way or another,” Greg said, looking determined.

“I’ve honestly had enough of all this waiting around, I’m ready to get this fight underway!” Reinhardt yelled, slamming her fist together.

“I have a score to settle with this guy,” Jero said in a low voice, squeezing his fist together.

Remi held up her board, showing us a picture of her holding two heads in her hands, the words ‘Death to assholes!’ across the top of it.

“Let’s just avoid dying,” Calypso said, pushing her dreads out of her face.

Lance just smiled at us as he turned, using a card to open a portal.

We all stepped through it to find ourselves no longer in the amusement park.

“Where the fuck are we?” Greg asked as a cold breeze blew past us, blowing snow right into our faces.

“The end of time,” Bronwyn said from atop a rock near us, bundled up in heavy clothing.

“What’s that mean?” Greg asked, echoing the same question I had at that moment.

Bronwyn jumped off of her rock and landed before us, opening her larger pocket dimension and pulled out an assortment of clothing. “Exactly what I said,'' she replied as she handed out the clothing to the appropriate person. “Put these on, they’re enchanted to block out the cold. I got a pair for everyone.”

“Thanks,” I said as I took what appeared to be a heavy jacket and pants. It was a bitch to put them on while shivering, but as soon as I pulled them on, the cold seemed to pull away from my body. Replaced with a gentle warmth. Pulling the hood up and face mask blocked out the cold entirely.

Looking at everyone else, I saw they’d all done the same, wearing an assortment of parkas and heavy winter styled clothing.

“Good,” Bronwyn said, nodding in approval at all of us. She then cast her hand out over the snowy landscape before us, “this is the edge of time, a place that is normally only accessible by higher beings.” She pulled out a spent Ego Ruby. “But a few of these allowed me to enter. You all just got a free ride.”

“But,” Lance started, looking around in confusion. “How is this the end of time?”

“We’re not on the Eternal Plains anymore,” she said, getting shocked looks from all of us. “This is the space between the end and start of time. At this very moment, none of us technically exist anymore, not till we return to reality.”

Lance looked to Castor and held up a card, “What of this? Useless now?”

Castor sighed, “The powers I bestowed upon that card transcends this place, do not worry.”

“Lance,” Bronwyn said in a low voice. “What have you done to that card?”

He looked sheepish as he put it away, “I’d… rather not talk about it.”

She started to say something, but he held up a hoof and flew to her, whispering into her ear.

“You damned fool,” she said, frowning deeply. “Do not use it. No matter what, do NOT use that card.”

“I don’t plan on it,” he said, looking at the rest of us as we gave him worried looks.

Deciding to not address it further, Bronwyn waved to get our attention. “Lorenzo is here, and I have reason to believe the Watcher may be here as well. I just lack the correct knowledge to track him down, so we still need to deal with Lorenzo.”

“Great,” I say, shaking my head.

“We can handle him,” Mallogory said confidently. She then looked at me, “Should we fuse now?”

“You two can fuse?” Bronwyn asked, getting a nod from us. “Perfect, but hold off on that till we find Lorenzo. This place is not like reality, it’ll be hard to maintain any kind of transformation or fusion in this place after a certain amount of time.”

“Oh, that’s even better,” I deadpan with an annoyed look on my face.

“Where is Lorenzo?” Lance asked.

“Close,” was her response. “And he knows I’m here, and probably knows you’re here as well.”

“Well,” Lance said with a shrug. “Let’s go get him.”

“Fuck yeah!” Greg said as he pulled out a blunt and put it to his mouth, but the strong winds caught it and ripped it from his mouth, sending it flying away into the swirling snow around us. “Oh fuck this place…”

Next Chapter: The threats keep coming Estimated time remaining: 31 Hours