>It’s way too late.
>You’ll look at it tomorrow when you’re refreshed.
>Putting the phone back in your pocket, you shed your coat and robes, and you flop on the bed just as Redheart moves the covers for you.
>Once you both get all nice and tucked in, you turn off the lights and start to shift down.
>”Wait.”
>You look down at her, and she wraps her arms around your chest, nuzzling your chin with her mane as she hugs you tight.
>”Let’s just enjoy this for a little while… We’re not gonna get a chance to do this again for a long time.”
>You let your own arms curl around her furry form, relishing in the warmth and softness.
>You’re so close with her, your breathing syncs up, heartbeats slowing, letting the stress and hustle of the day simply melt away, as the two of you keep up the night.
>Eventually, she falls asleep with a smile on her face, and you drift off as well once the feelings of the cuffs blend with the rest of your senses.
>Darkness overtakes you, and your mind falls under the sandmare’s spell.
 
[spoiler]>...
>Your dreams are black.
>Yet there are emerald eyes staring at you.
>Glaring into your soul.
>Then, a flash of green and midnight blue permeates your vision, leaving nothing but a void.
[/spoiler]
 
>...
>You open your crusty eyes.
>The blinds’ inviting sun gleams into your face, the crystals of the bedroom shining ever so proudly with grandeur you wish you’d never have to leave from.
>Redheart is still in your arms, now holding her with your wrists connected behind her back.
>It takes a long time to pry them apart without jostling her, but you manage to slip out and force your limbs back to full strength.
>There’s an odd, flowing feeling in your body now, as if something’s been growing.
>Another few moments passes before you slowly get up and get yourself dressed.
>Once you’re finished, you glance at the clock.
>It’s currently 9:05 A.M.
>You remember from last night you wanted to look at that video, but you meant to do it with Redheart.
>She’s gotten plenty of sleep, though.
>What would you like to do?
 
 
 
>You decide to get a move on with your daily routine, so you cross to the other side of the bed.
>Bending down, you kiss Redheart on her forehead, and move down to meet her eyes with your own.
>She opens them slowly and stretches, and the first thing she sees is you.
>”Oh… Hi, Anon.”
“Hey, sleeping beauty. We’re about an hour later than we usually are, so we probably wanna get moving.”
>She nods and rubs her face, and you let her take first turn in the bathroom.
>While you’re waiting for her to take a shower and do her thing, you rest on the bed and start checking around your phone, your last clue to what life was like back on Earth.
>You want to save the file to view with Redheart, though, so you skip the videos.
[PICTURES]
-An image of nike shoes.
-An image of an airplane crossing the sunset.
-A corrupted image that seems to be unrecoverable, but the unglitched thumbnail looks like some sort of grey swirling mass.
-An image of the mysterious crystal tree where you received your magic.
-An image of the Crystal Empire in all of its proud glory.
 
[MUSIC]
-You have far too many to count, but you do know that the He-Man Hey song isn’t on here. Looks like you’ve brought the entire human collection of music with you.
 
[APPS]
-Flashlight.
-Camera.
-Video/Recorder.
-Calculator.
-Maps/GPS (Defunct).
-Compass.
-Notes/Voice Memos/Reminders.
-There are a few other stock apps as well, but they have no function here.
 
>By the time you’re finished, Redheart’s done and clean, with a towel around her mane and tail.
>”Okay, it’s all yours.”
“Hold up, I want to watch something with you real quick. It’s a video on my phone, and I have no clue what it is.”
>Redheart raises an eyebrow in interest, and jumps up on the bed to sit next to you.
>She smells so nice.
>You turn your phone sideways and select the video, and begin to watch it with her.
 
[file1.avi]
“Whoa, what the fuck is that?”
>”It’s like Earth’s asshole or something, Gary, check this out!”
>You are Anonymous.
>You’re holding your phone to record the weirdest shit you’ve ever seen, with your bros at your side.
>Hank is freaking out, trying to get Gary to get out of the truck to see this thing.
>You were just driving back home, when the sky started to darken with clouds that were never there, and now it’s some sort of swirling grey vortex.
>”Dude, we gotta get the hell out of here, it’s a tornado!”
>”It was clear skies like a minute ago, this isn’t a fucking twister!”
“Wait, what’s happening?”
>You’re on a country road, but you can see the outskirts of the city.
>People are panicking, running through the streets, trying to carry their children through the chaos.
>The vortex is falling towards the ground, beginning to curve.
“...I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s unreal!”
>”HANK, ANON, LET’S GO!”
>”Fuck off, I want to see this!”
>Suddenly, the cloudy tempest unleashes one of the most deafening roars you’ve ever heard, shaking the very foundation of the Earth.
>It knocks you and your friends down with one shake, and even rattles the truck off the road, telephone poles breaking and splintering, trees starting to get uprooted.
>”...OKAY, I’VE HAD ENOUGH, LET’S GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!”
>This is too unreal.
>You have to keep taping this.
>You stand up and raise your phone up, but when you look through the video on the screen, the sight terrifies you.
>The vortex has curved right into your direction.
>As soon as it lines up, your friends start screaming, and the three of you are suddenly taking off into the air, getting sucked into this anomalous monster.
>”OOH GOOOD, HEELP!”
>”FUCK, NO NO NO PLEEAASE!!”
>You try to get your bearings in the air, but it’s too late.
>Everything is being flown right into the beyond.
>Vision begins to fail you as you watch your friends get pelted by debris, ripping limbs and skin off their bodies, flaying into the overpowering wind.
>You see the inside of the vortex, a horrifying light-show of radiant colors that blind you.
>And as your sight blackens, you see those horrible, red eyes.
>Something tears between you, like you’re becoming two halves.
>Blindness overtakes you, the last thing you see being… yourself.
>There is blackness, and sounds that were never meant to be heard by the living from how painful and desperate it sounds.
[ http://vocaroo.com/i/s1P9oJt9FgsY ]
>It goes on and on, louder and louder until there’s a flash of light and silence.
>And then there’s sunlight.
>Bountiful trees with long wavy plains appears out of the void, getting closer and closer and closer until it collides with the screen.
 
[END VIDEO]
>...
 
>It went on for nearly a minute longer than the video says it is, the time freezing during that blackness.
>You and Redheart are completely stunned, unable to say anything.
>She looks absolutely frightened, her fur and mane standing on end.
>What do you do?
 
 
 
>You sit there, bewildered by what you’ve seen.
>It’s something that your brain refuses to believe, and yet it’s pulling up the memories.
>Everytime you feel one of the images in your head, pain shoots through your spine, and it fades.
>It’s not working, you just can’t remember.
>And yet, here it is, in the palm of your hand.
>Your thoughts are scrambled, thrown to the wayside and unrecoverable.
>”Anon…?”
>Redheart recomposes herself before you can even start to move.
>She puts a hoof on your back, but you barely feel her presence at all.
“... ...I think that might be the shadow… W-what, I mean… I can’t believe this…”
>Redheart looks at you with great sorrow.
“It might’ve even destroyed my world, I have no way of knowing… …”
>She immediately stands up and embraces you, your head falling on her wither as you hug back with all your might.
“Why… Why did it hit them so hard?... Why did it spare me? What the fuck makes me so special?”
>”Ssh, shh, it’s okay…”
“No…”
>”Anon, whatever reason it had, I… you survived for a reason. …”
>Red chokes up too much to continue, and you feel her start to wet your shoulder.
>It’s too much for you to handle, and your own tears begin to fall.
>There you sit with Redheart, pouring out to her in the same bed you fell asleep so peacefully in.
>You just can’t believe it.
>This was all your fault.
>All the pain and suffering this world’s been through, it’s been your fault for being here.
>As you think this, Red hugs you tighter like she somehow heard you.
>”I know what you’re thinking, and don’t even give it mind. You had nothing to do with this, you hear me? It wasn’t you. It… wasn’t… you…”
>You let go of each other after your emotions stopped flooding.
>It’s wasted time to just sit here and grovel, so you let go of her and speak with a stronger voice.
“We need to tell our group about this, and we need to show it to Twilight, Cadance and Shining, too. I’m going to go get ready.”
>”Okay…”
>You leave your phone and go into the bathroom for a quick shower.
>...
>Clean and well-groomed, you adjust your robes and take your phone back, Redheart in her armor and ready to go.
>You both then step out into the hallway, and start knocking on all of the doors.
“Wake up call, time to get moving! Things just got serious, we have something to show you!”
>Berry and Iron’s door are hit first, and something smashes and breaks against the door when you knock.
>”5 MINUTES, LOUDMOUTH…”
>Hangovers are a bitch, aren’t they?
>Redheart pounds on Gable’s and AJ and Pinkie’s doors, to similar effect.
>It takes nearly ten minutes for all of them to be out and ready in the hall, and Berry and Pinkie do not look happy.
>In fact, Pinkie looks like she’s been run over by a train.
>”What’re we doing out so earllyyyyy…?”
“Sorry to get you all up on such short notice. Just watch this.”
>You hold up the phone, and they gather round to stare at the small screen.
>...
>”So… your world is gone?”
>You solemnly nod at Pinkie.
>Her mare suddenly flattens, darkening as she looks at the ground, unable to speak.
>AJ takes off her hat, sitting from the shock.
>”Is that thing gonna end up doin’ that to our world, too?”
“I don’t know.”
>Gable pipes in.
>”Don’t know? What’s to stop it, huh? What kind of power does that thing have, to do something like that? … I’m just sad that I couldn’t even see we never had a chance.”
>Berry is silent, looking completely shattered of spirit.
>”...He’s right… we never had a chance.”
>The entire party is silent for a long moment, morale being shattered from this revelation found.
>... Until one voice rises up.
>Iron Will suddenly stomps on the ground with enough force to crack the solid crystal under him, and he points at all of the rest of you.
>”I don’t know about you wimps, but Iron Will is not about to sit on his ass and let this shadow thing take his world out to lunch! What’re you all sitting here moping for? When you have friends to band, then we can take a stand! I say we go down to that hive, clear that corruption out of this plane of existence, and make that bastard wish he was never born! Think about it. We’ve managed to keep it at bay this long, haven’t we? It turned tail and saved its own hide when we bashed its lights out of Cadance, and now it’s in hiding. If it’s got soooo much power, why hasn’t it given us a final hour? I’ll tell you why, because it’s scared that we’re going to wipe that smug-ass grin off of its stupid face! Right now it’s hidin’ its tail between its legs, hopin’ we don’t strike while it’s down, but that’s exactly what we’re gonna do. Now, who’s done cryin’ like a baby, and wants to get down to business?!”
>Redheart nods.
>AJ throws her hat on and rims it, getting herself up with newfound vigor.
>”That’s what I like to see! Now, fall in, let’s make this count!”
>Iron positions himself in the center of the group and holds out his arm.
>Red’s hoof touches the palm of his hand, followed by AJ and Berry.
>Pinkie sluggishly puts her hoof in the center, unsure of herself.
>Gable wraps his talon around her hoof softly, smiling warmly at her.
>It causes her mane to poof a little, her own smile decorating her muzzle.
>Berry stands up after a moment and puts her hoof on top.
>Then the group looks at you.
>What do you do?
 
 
 
>Iron Will is right.
>No more moping.
>No more sorrow.
>You take a step forward and press your hand on top, to the sounds of cheer from the rest of the group.
>”OOOH YEEAAH! Everyone scream at that bastard shadow like he was right here! One, two, THREE!”
>>>>>>”YEAH!”
>The rallied cry could be heard all across the Palace.
>With hooves and hands raised into the air, power and morale returns to the party, along with Pinkie’s poof and fluff.
“Now! I’m going to go show this to the Princess along with Twilight and Shining. This is going to be our final day in the Empire to get supplies and train for our upcoming journey, so let’s make it count. I’m planning on getting that expensive Doctor’s Kit, but with it we’ll be just fine. You guys ready?”
>”Let’s get ready to rumble, brother!”
>”LET’S HAVE A SHADOW-BASHING PARTY!”
>”Oh boy, here we’re goin’ again.”
>”Wait, where’s my flask? RED!? I’LL- oh, here it is.”
>”Right behind you, babe.”
>”Let’s actually leave today, alright?”
“Yeah, I know. Alright, let’s get to it.”
>You begin the long journey of walking down the stairs, and you go down to the first floor to find any patrolling guards.
>You can go a multitude of directions, but the Main Hall is in the front.
>It is currently 9:40 A.M.
>What would you like to do?