Part 2: Chapter 5:
The door opened with a creak then was slammed shut as he kicked it with his back hoof. The brown skinned mutant stood on the welcome mat, soaked from the rain. His backpack slid off of his back and felt to the ground with a wet thud, and slowly decompressed as the air within dispersed.
"Sweetie, is that you? You are quite late." A mare's voice said from within the cottage.
Beta sighed and dried the water off his body with a new spell he taught himself last night from one of the book he "borrowed" from Celestia's library. He tasted blood in his mouth, and felt the missing molar in the back of his mouth. "I hate school." He muttered. He looked at his backpack then back up. "Yeah, it's me."
…
Alpha braced himself for the nightmare. He stood in complete blackness. He knew he wasn't there physically, but he was there mentally. Whatever he thought of, he would see; a picture of Beta; his home, the factory, his cell, anything and any pony. He both loathed and loved the place. It was just himself, alone, without Beta. He lied on the ground, and thought about his life.
The thought of his parents filled his mind, and in turn, the black room he was in filled with light and sounds. He heard birds chirping, the wind blowing across the grass, the trees ever so slightly swaying in the wind. Bright lights of green and blue filled his vision. He stood up and saw the grass beneath his hooves, its smooth texture brushing over his skin. He felt the wind across his face, the warm air cooling the sweat on his forehead, his mane dancing about in the wind. The white colt took a breath in and smelled the wet, fresh dirt beneath the grass. He could smell the scent of fresh air, cool and free of sweat or humidity, dry.
He heard a mare's voice call his name. "Alpha? Sweetie, where are you?"
He felt cheery and wanted. His breath became short. It was hard to breath for a second. He looked over himself. What could have made this feeling I feel? He wondered. He was short of breath but at the same time, relaxed. A rare smile pierced his mouth and he turned around, looking for the source of the voice and felt his heart skip a beat.
In front of him stood his parents, both frantically looking for him. His mother had a whitish-tan skin, brown eyes, mane and tail. She was round faced and had a set of pale red lips that curled upwards, forming a smile. Her mane covered the base of her ears, those of which were pointing upwards like every other pony's ears Alpha has seen, and ended at the tip of her shoulders.
Alpha grinned. He always thought her hair was too long.
His father agreed. "Lina," He said as he looked at her with a thick up-northern accent. "You really need to cut your hair."
"Why Jonny," said Alpha's mother with a Hispanic accent. "What's wrong?" She asked as she glanced at him.
His mane was brownish-black and short, not even going down to the back of his neck. He had rectangular-shaped glasses, hazel eyes, and white skin. Johnny, although shaved, still had the outlines of the beard on his cheeks. He had a scar on his left eyelid from what he claims was a "Rubber-Band" incident, and a slight limp which came from his front right leg from a sport accident that occurred when he was a teenage colt.
The smile on his face left as he remembered his friend, Beta.
The room changed. It was now black like before but a pony was standing in front of Alpha. His skin was brown, his mane, tail and eyes blood-red. He looked at Alpha, his lips in the form of an upside-down grin. He blinked then began to walk around Alpha.
He liked Beta. A friend that he has always known, always been with since he could remember; helping him when he was hurt, guiding him when he was lost.
As long as Alpha could remember, Beta was usually secretive, but very protective. The room became alive, the wall that Alpha was facing lit up, like a screen at a Cinema. Alpha sat down and watched, Beta still walking around him. He watched the screen as he saw Beta come out and attack others that were hurting him. Alpha watched in awe, fear, and a bit of respect as he watched how Beta was always there for him; either by healing his broken bones, helping him create his metallic wing, destroying and escaping the factory, protecting him when faced with death, and easing him when he had nightmares.
The screen went dark and disappeared, leaving Alpha with Beta. Alpha watched Beta when Beta spoke.
"Will you do the same as he has done for you? Will you help him when he is hurt and lost? When he is injured, forgotten, ignored, attacked, isolated, hated, and destroyed?" His voice, however, wasn't Beta's but was a voice like no other. It filled the room with a sense of maturity and a sense of immaturity. It felt like it was a teacher but sounded like it was a pupil. It echoed as if it was in a long tunnel but was heard as if it was spoken directly into his ears.. Alpha felt wanted and hated at the same time.
Alpha stood up and shifted his stance as the voice spoke through Beta.
"He has been there for you when you were in the factory. He has saved you from death numerous times. He has fought Celestia, Nightmare Moon, and Gamma for you. Will you do the same for him? Will you be willing to give your life for him, as he has done countless times for you?"
Alpha stood there, watching Beta. He looked down and away.
"Shame. After all he has done for you, you won't-"
The Voice was interrupted as Alpha hugged Beta, his two hooves wrapped around his neck. "You are my friend." He said as he stopped hugging and stood back on his four legs. "The one and only friend I have had for as long as I could remember. I would do anything to help him, as he would do anything to help me."
"Good, Now get some rest. You won't be having any-more nightmares." The pony replied before turning around and walking away.
Alpha did as he was instructed and lied down on the ground. But before he fell asleep, he had to know one last thing. "Who are you? I know you aren't Beta, His voice is different from yours. How are you here?"
The voice sighed, stopped moving, turned around and looked down at Alpha.
"I was a pony from a long time before Celestia and Luna ever set hoof on this place. I was here before Discord was here. I was one of the leaders of the clans that untied with the others to form Equestria. As such, I have a mental link to all types of ponies, pegasi, unicorn, Alicorn, changelings, mutant, and normal alike." The voice said as Beta's body became the voice's. His skin slowly turned from brown to pitch black. His mane and tail were dark blue and his eyes where glowing white. He seemed to have no pupil in his eyes. All that Alpha could see were two glowing-white ovals. "I am Nova." Nova replied before walking away and disappearing.
Alpha nodded, but instead of resting, he stood back up and looked around. He slowly sighed as he braced himself.
"Just one last memory to take care of..."
He saw the light of his own welding torch, and watched as his younger self was punished.
…
"He fought against Celestia?!" Charlie cried out, in shock.
"Keep your voice down. Yes, Alpha and Beta fought Celestia."
"Who won?" his voice lowered.
"Neither."
"How do you know all this? You were with me, talking to me when he left."
Delta sighed. "I fought Celestia before, you know that."
"Yeah so?"
"Over time, one begins to notice the remains of a battle, especially if that battle was against a very powerful being."
"Like what?"
"His metallic wing is damaged, for example. It takes a lot of energy, power, and force to do such damage to a metal like that."
"So?"
"So…The only enemy of Alpha's that is capable of doing such is Celestia. Luna and Chrysalis is with us."
"What about Zeta?"
"What about her?"
"Could she do this?"
"Gamma, my sister is the magical one, Zeta is just the physical form. And no, Gamma does not have enough power to do such damage. Not yet at least."
"Not yet? What do you mean?"
"Gamma was my sister. As such, she too was a mutant but unlike Beta, I, and the rest of the mutants, she could hide hers. She trained her ability at night, and was a horrible pony at day. She would not only bully mutants, but would attack them with her own ability when they were alone."
"How does that answer my question?"
Charlie felt Delta withdraw, as if he was depressed.
"What's wrong?"
"Just like you are, I too am filled with depression."
"How so?"
"You are depressed because you hate yourself. You parent's adopted you when you were young and you felt like that meant you were worth nothing."
"What did you go through?"
"I had to watch my own sister be tortured, mutilated, and killed before my eyes. I had to hear her screams, her pleads for mercy, her agonizing yells as Beta tortured her in revenge."
"So?"
"I helped Beta by leading her to her death. I agreed and helped Beta kill my sister. And I have been hating myself for it ever since." He took a deep breath. "Let me take over, I wanna show you something."
Charlie closed his eyes and found himself in one of Delta's memories. Specifically, the day before he bonded with Charlie.