A and RD Part 2.5 Nexus

>Sleep leaves you as you awaken from your nap.

>...odd...you dont feel a blanket beneath you...instead you feel-

>Grass.

>You shoot up, now fully awake and look around you.

>You are outside.

>You are on land.

>You appear to be next to some old decrepit ruins overlooking a cliff face, a large hanging stone bridge lies in the distance.

>The world seems much clearer. It lacks the cartoonishness of Equestria, but remains a bit muddled, stuck somewhere in uncanny valley. Still, its much closer to the world you remember leaving behind.

 

>You decide to stand and get a bearing on your surroundings.

>You find a path leading into a small circular area near the beginning of the ruins.

>Ruins that you now notice play perch to a colossal Raven seated in the distance.

>You freeze, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible, but the raven doesn't even seem to acknowledge your presence.

>With little else to do you take the path.

>As you pass through a stone arch you are met with a sloped, circular depression in the earth, in the middle lies what appears to be a bonfire...with a- Was that a sword sticking out of it?

>Huh. Whatever.

>A sudden gust of wind from the cliffs sends cold air running across your exposed skin.

>That fire sure looks warm.

>You walk up and take a seat in front of it. Instantly you feel better, rejuvenated almost.

>The glowing flames dance hypnotically in your vision...staring hard enough your mind begins to play tricks on you, causing images to dance into and out of existence.

>If you stare even harder...you can almost make out-

>"Well, what do we have here? You must be a new arrival."

 

>Adrenaline takes hold once more and you're up in a flash with dukes up.

>"Relax. I have no quarrel with you."

>...

>"Whats wrong? Hollow got ya tongue? Hah hah hah hah…"

>Sitting on a stone ledge near the flames is...no...no it couldn't be you had given up hope...

>Human. You can hardly believe your eyes. Its been so long since you've met another of your kind.

>He is middle aged, with brown hair and five'o'clock shadow. He seems to be wearing some form of chain armor, with a shield on his back and a longsword at his hip.

>The most noticeable aspect of him however is his eyes. They are dark and sunken, with a pervading hauntedness to them. They never leave the dancing glow of the fire.

Who are you?

>"Who I am is unimportant." The man speaks. He casually draws his blade and thrusts it into the flames, stoking the fire. "This fire, this place...this is all about you."

What.

>"You. All of this-" he gestures to the immediate area. "-is your party as they say. Hah hah hah hah…"

...what.

 

>He sighs. "I see so its like that. The dreams haven't started for you yet..." He finally looks away from the flames toward you. "Gaze into the fire. All will be revealed."

>With little else to go on you reseat yourself and stare into the flames.

>The strange images begin to resurface, but you continue to stare. Your eyes start to feel heavy as the images grow more vivid. You can see figures now dancing within the depths.

>Soon the fire completely encompasses your vision. You feel the world fall away from you.

>Suddenly you feel yourself rocketing forward. The wind whips at your face and stings your eyes as you are blasted down a snaking translucent tunnel surrounded by darkness.

>You can't breathe. You feel the breath being sucked out of your lungs.

>Just as it becomes unbearable you see a light ahead of you, and as you crash through it-

>My God...its full of stars.

>You are floating in a shifting grey void. All around you billions of star-like pinpricks of light float within the curtain of shifting grey.

>Then, one of the stars begins to grow. You quickly realize however that its not growing, you are just moving towards it.

>As it consumes you your vision is filled with light. Your mind suddenly feels sluggish, and muddled. Like you are trying to access it through a filter of some kind.

>As the light fades you stand in the middle of the town you've come to call home; Ponyville.

 

>Confused, you attempt to look around you only to find you can't move. Even stranger, you are apparently walking.

>You struggle, yet no matter how much you try you cannot get your body to obey you.

>Then, to your horror, you speak. Except the voice you feel leave your throat is not your own.

>You cannot make out the words when suddenly your vision swings down to your left.

>You feel your metaphysical blood run cold. Fluttershy.

>Shes smiling at you. She then speaks but you cant make out the words, but you think you can read 'love' and 'special somepony'.

>Oh God. You're leaning down, shes leaning up, and the inevitable happens.

>Your lips meet. You want to wretch, to scream, to run. But the only thing that happens is a dizzyness and a warmth in your chest.

>Suddenly the world blurs, and you are now sitting near a stump. You are playing the guitar and Fluttershy is lying next to you. She gently rocks her head from side to side with the music.

>Damn...when shes like this shes almost cu-. You stop that thought right there as the world changes again. Its getting hard to keep track of what is happening.

 

>You are in Canterlot. Your face hurts. You are wearing a mask. Its the Grand Galloping Gala.

>You are telling off Prick Blueballs and BOTH the princesses. Fuck year apparently you are a badass.

>And then you are running, with Fluttershy, towards a train. Halfway to the platform however you feel something tug your awareness.

>You feel the individual you just 'were' run through, or more accurately -out- of your metaphysical presence, leaving 'you' standing a few feet from the stairs.

>You watch as he scoops Fluttershy into his arms and carries her aboard. Seconds later the train slowly leaves the station.

>And then its gone. You are back in the void, the star that engulfed you moving away. Before you can react however another one blindsides you and the world goes white.

>You are in a bar. You are drinking with Rainbro.

>Fuck yeah this is much more appropriate.

>The world blurs as you view a variety of events transpire. Apparently in this world 'you' were Dash's friend, and eventually her boyfriend.

>That is where the similarities end. You watch, and experience, in horror as you get coerced into an orgy with Rainbow, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Derpy with Flutterrapist and Appleshit watching from the sidelines.

 

>Suddenly you are in Manehattan, enjoying a Ménage à trois with your special somepony and an iconic Dj.

>Now you were in a bar. Now you were getting RAPED, and liking it. Now you are waking up after ANOTHER orgy with your special somepony, your rapists, and an entire bachelorette party. Now you are running from cops. Now you are returning crowns.

>Before it gets too intense, you are again ripped out of your body, watching your haggard other self walking out of Celestia's throne room with the other mares in tow.

>The void again. It happens even faster as another star surrounds you.

>You are with Pinkie. Shes special to you. Applejack tried to be special to you, but pushed too far. Suddenly you are in a hospital. She put you there, that bitch. Then you are out. Then you are back, again because of that fucking crazy cunt. Now you were getting raped. You were raped into a coma. You woke up. Then fell back into nothingness.

>You still remember that brief moment of hope, when you woke up with her in your arms, when you thought it was over. And as you settle onto your mind couch to watch movies with Luna for another seemingly immeasurable stretch of-

>You are out. You stand behind the couch watching your broken self resign himself to despair.

>That was horrifying. You felt yourself- your TRUE self slowly being overwritten, undone...BECOMING the other you.

>Before you can protest you are in another body, no longer even seeing the void this time.

 

>You are a soldier. You are a crusader. You are a space marine. You are a lich. You are an agent of Discord's chaos. You are a Black mage. You are Son Goku. You are a psychic. You are a pony. You are a sage. You are a murderer. You are a rapist. You are a champion. You are a conquerer. You are a tyrant. You are a god.

>World after world and life after life slams through you. You feel pieces of yourself fall away.

>In agony, you scream into the chaos and try to wrench yourself away. You succeed as the maelstrom shatters into silvered glass and you fall...and fall...and fall.

>All is dark now. You are being held somewhere. You knew there was a reason why but you cant recall it. Then you feel yourself enter the darkness. It is curious. So are you. But the other you brought something evil with it. Something hungry.

>You are being eaten, you are being devoured. You can't think, the other you is confused. You each out to you, to escape this, to persist.

>You tear away from your disappearing self and latch onto the other you. A blur. You are in ponyville. You are among friends. You dated Fluttershy but it didn't work out. Its okay though, you remained friends. You instead found companionship in Rarity and all was well...for a time.

>You are aging. The ponies live long, you do not. A proposition, a chance. You take it and retreat into the nothingness.

>You awaken. You are once again among friends but it is not the world you left behind. Something you brought from your homeworld changed this one. Things are dark now. Love and harmony replaced with greed and hubris.

 

>Gone are rolling fields of green, of humble towns where all were friends and the only care one would have was the planned weather. In its stead a synthetic corporate nightmare of transequinism, shadow wars, bleeding edge technology and intrigue.

>Eveything has changed, friends you wished to see again left the world before you could return to it and ponies you thought would always remain by your side now view you as a mistake.

>A blur. Murder, death, destruction. A blur. Rainbow Dash's grave. A blur. The moon, the club, the hijacking of your body. A blur. The retribution, the invasion. A blur. Watching your Personality core slowly devoured by the darkness.

>You are out. You are standing next to a high-tech medical station. The other you, an artifically developed life-form, lies comatose in a futuristic chair. Rarity sobs into your near-still chest begging you to come back.

>Slowly...ever so slowly, the other you opens his eyes.

>"Yes. I think you have seen enough. Hah hah hah hah…"

>You are ripped out of the star. As it falls away from you cracks and faults form in the curtain of gray that surrounds the expanse. A bright orange light begins to fill the void, behind the cracking wall.

>The cracks bubble and fray outwards like heated glass as the curtain of grey explodes and you are consumed by orange flames.

>The glow of the fire returns to your vision. You cry out in shock and jump away, backpedaling until you trip and land on the dirt covered slope.

Holy...Holy fucking shit.

 

>"Yes...it is quite intense the first time."

>You take deep gasping breaths, your mind still searing from the sheer volume of experiences you just lived through.

What...what the fuck was that?!

>The man smiles hollowly at you. "I think you know, but allow me to clarify." He turns back toward the fire. "What you just saw were parallel worlds. The individuals you just 'inhabited' were your other selves."

>He sighs, stoking the fire absentmindedly. "You see, the multiverse contains all manner of possible outcomes and eventualities. In this place, the nexus, the boundaries of these other worlds shift and fade, allowing one the use of these flames to gaze into the other worlds."

>"Every other world you experienced was the result of choices and outcomes made by you. For you see, there is one constant in every single world...that constant is you. Namely your arrival in Equestria and the choices you made living within it."

So...the things I saw won't happen?

>"Not necessarily. The flames show that which has occurred, that which is happening now, and that which has not yet come to pass but only in regards to that world's Anonymous and the choices they have made."

>Another sigh. "There is much more to explain, much more to experience, but we are out of time. This is where we part ways."

 

>Suddenly the ground begins to shake, you hear the groaning of breaking stone as the ruins around you begin to crumble away.

WAIT! I don't understand this! Why am I here?! What the fuck is happening to me?!

>"In time shattered one...in time."

>And then you see them. Dozens of strange, translucent humanoid figures. The phantoms stand around, all seemingly in fear of the rapidly vanishing ruins around you.

Why am I here?!

>The man's gaze never leaves the fire. "I do not know. But -you- will...in time. Hah hah hah hah…"

>Before you can ask anything else, a loud monstrous 'CAAAW'  brings your attention above you. You watch as the colossal bird, now airborne, swoops down toward you talons primed and ready.

Oh.

 

>You gasp.

>You are sitting in your bed back on the ship, shaking violently. The blinds have been opened, bathing the room in the light of the setting sun.

>Rainbow's silhouette can be seen in front of the window, but you can't make out much else except for her outline, given that you just woke up from the mother of all nightmares and are now attempting to stare into the FUCKING SUN.

>"Get up. We are going to miss dinner with the captain."

>Oh fuck. That tone. You KNOW that tone. Oh fuck, dinner! You jump out of bed and scramble to get your good clothes out. At this point Rainbow comes into view- and you stop.

>Shes wearing her gala dress and looks absolutely stunning. You take a few moments to drink in her form...you almost miss the look of disdain on her face.

>Shes beautiful.

>Her cheeks darken ever so slightly. "Th-thanks."

>You finish gathering your clothes and are about to rush into the shower.

>"WAIT!"

>You freeze in the bathroom doorway shirt half-off.

>She takes a deep breath. "I...I let you sleep because of everything that happened today, and you had just worked out but...I have to ask." her brow furrows and she stares you dead in your eye. "Why do you smell like other mares?"

>God. Fucking. Damnit.