By the time I finished recounting my entire unedited tale of the past—

  “You skipped quite a lot,” Panda muttered. “Like a lot of important things. And you didn’t even talk about all the bad things you did!?”

  Anyway… By the time I was done and the metro train rolled into the Madeville station, Chris had a horrified expression on his face and Bee stared at me with a distant look in her eyes.

  “You just left my body in the dungeon?” he asked. “What did you tell my brother after you saved him?”

  “Nothing,” I said. “But it’s not important, because you’re alive now.”

  “You left another dimension behind,” Bee pointed out. “Those deaths are still quite real. What’s going to happen to me? What about the other version of me?”

  “He said he blew his own version up when he got here,” Chris told her. “I don’t think that bodes well for you.”

  “No one’s getting blown up by their own selves replacing them!” I insisted.

  “Actually, I’m not sure about that,” Panda started.

  “Zip it,” I told him.

  “It feels pretty irresponsible to just leave all the consequences of your actions behind and go to a new dimension to start clean,” Bee said.

  Chris nodded.

  “I don’t think your little story helped your case at all,” Panda commented.

  “Brock’s just happy to be here,” squeaked the balloon gauntlet.

  The quartz in the front pocket of my suit jacket started to glow.

  “Huh, that’s weird,” I muttered.

  Then suddenly something appeared atop my head, pressing down on my hair.

  Bee and Chris both got up from the bench and backed away. Someone nearby screamed.

  “Meow.”

  “Hi Lordie,” I said.

  “What the fuck…” Chris muttered.

  “Why does it sound like Morgan Freeman?” Bee asked. “Also, can I pet it?”

  I peeled Lordie off my head, looking him over while he wriggled his seven fingers.

  “Sure,” I told her, holding out the hand-spider.

  Chris took another step back, but Bee didn’t hesitate to touch Lordie.

  “Gross,” she said, a big grin on her apple-cheeked face.

  A chime rang out through the train and the doors hissed open. The people around us hurried outside onto the platform. There were other people waiting out there already, but, since a fight didn’t immediately break out, they seemed friendly.

  “Me-ow?” Lordie asked.

  “That’s right,” I said.

  “You understand it?” Chris asked.

  Bee was still rubbing the back of the hand-spider gently. “What did it say?”

  “He’s surprisingly quick on the uptake,” I replied. “He just asked if we were in a new dimension and whether you two were alternate copies of the ones he met previously.”

  Chris blinked.

  “We should get out of here,” Panda said. “People are looking at you and whispering that you’re a freak. Petting and talking to a severed hand is apparently frowned upon.”

  I stood up and Chris took another step back, while Bee kept petting Lordie. The hand-spider purred like a chainsaw, making my finger-bones itch beneath my skin.

  “What about John?” Chris asked, gazing into the other carriage. The effect of ‘Match.maker( )’ had already worn off, but the guy hadn’t moved from where I’d placed him on a bench and his eyes had a vacant blissful look to them.

  “We should get him off the train,” I said. “I’m gonna destroy it so no one else can get on.”

  “Why??” Chris replied. “People need this to go between the cities.”

  “Didn’t you listen to what I just told you!?” I asked him. “Everyone who’s inside the train when the Great Game starts is gonna be devoured as it turns into a monster.”

  “You can’t destroy the train,” Panda said. “It’s invulnerable, remember?”

  “Ah, shit…” I muttered. “Panda says it won’t work. We’ll have to find a different way to get people to stay off the train.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Bee commented.

  I followed her gaze and saw that everyone outside was staying on the platform and making no moves to enter. While I had attracted a fair bit of attention, most people were clearly talking about what had happened to John. The eye witnesses were crying as they recounted what they’d seen.

  Panda nodded. “Safe to say most of them won’t enter that carriage at least.”

  “They might just avoid the looner carriage and go into the rest,” I said.

  “We could move all of the rations and such out of the train?” Chris suggested.

  “I have a better idea, actually,” I said and walked towards the door to the carriage where John sat in a state of bliss.

  Bee and Chris made no move to join me, and Brock started squirming to get free of my hand.

  “Stop that,” I told him.

  “Don’t sacrifice me!!” he squealed.

  “I won’t.”

  “What are you planning?” Panda asked suspiciously.

  “Hey, looner boy,” I greeted as I came up to where John leaned back on the bench.

  His head slowly swiveled around to take me in.

  “Do you have… more…?” he asked. His voice was hoarse from all the unsettling sounds he’d been making.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Oh my god, he’s hooked!” Panda muttered in disgust.

  “I do, John,” I said. “But I need you to do something for me first.”

  “Anything…” he replied.

  “Make sure no one gets on the trains.”

  “Okay… Then I can go back there…? To the bouncy castle in Balloonia…?”

  “Uhhh… Yes, definitely,” I told him, having no idea what the hell he was talking about.

  John got up from his seat and waddled out of the open train doors. I followed him while gesturing to my friends who were watching from inside the other carriage, and they exited through the doors next to them.

  “What the hell did your skill do?” I whispered to Panda. “And what the fuck is ‘Balloonia’??”

  “I have no idea…” he replied in horror. “Also, the ability only had one charge. I can’t create something that powerful without making it a one-time-use only.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to give him his fix then?”

  “You could rub Brock on him?” Panda suggested.

  “Traitorous scum!!” Brock squealed at him.

  “That’s pretty messed up,” I told Panda.

  “You were literally about to do that before I gave you that ability to spare Brock!” he protested.

  The people on the platform all backed away from John, who started telling them about his ‘travels’ to Balloonia while urging them to avoid the trains.

  “I think you broke him with whatever that Matchmaker trick was,” Chris commented as he came up next to me. “But I think this might work.”

  “How did you get him to cooperate?” Bee asked, coming up behind Chris. “Did you promise to touch him with your balloon?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I replied. “Let’s go find James.”

  Chris nodded and led the way out of the metro station.

  The fa?ade of ‘Sweet Dreams’ looked exactly like the first time I’d seen it, but this time it was possible to look in through the windows.

  “Is that a pillow fort?” Chris asked as we approached, looking into the store.

  “At least some people are enjoying the apocalypse,” I said appreciatively.

  A huge guy with a massive belly stood in front of the door to the furniture store. He wore a white t-shirt with the print of a unicorn on the front, but because of his girth the image was stretched, giving the creature a tortured look.

  “No entry,” he grumbled at us.

  “My brother is in there,” Chris said, putting his hand in the right pocket of his cargo pants where it seemed he had a knife hidden away.

  I pushed to the front, preparing myself for a confrontation. “Get out of the way or I’ll make you move.”

  Something pinched my thigh.

  “Ow.”

  Panda sighed.

  The big man didn’t budge, but he was looking at Chris weirdly.

  “What’s the name of your brother?” he asked.

  “James,” he replied.

  The guy’s face lit up and he was suddenly smiling. “Your brother has been looking for you! Come on in!”

  “What the hell?” Panda muttered.

  I didn’t question it and just followed Chris as he entered. Bee went in after me.

  There was no electricity in the store, but natural light filtered in through windows in the ceiling and illuminated the interior. Placed around on various shelves along the walls were large candles that they probably lit during the night. The whole store had been turned into a maze of mattresses, pillows, blanket, and bedframes, creating the biggest pillow fort I’d ever seen. There were a few other big dudes standing around here-and-there. It was almost like they were standing guard, though none of them had weapons.

  The doorman yelled into the store from the entrance, “James! Your brother is here!”

  Within moments, the sound of running feet came from deeper inside. We stayed near the door since it seemed quite troublesome to traverse the pillow fort maze.

  Then a smaller version of Chris appeared atop a mattress wall directly in front of us. He had a big grin on his face.

  “James!” Chris exclaimed and ran over to catch his brother as he jumped into his arms.

  “Where were you?” the boy asked. “We’ve been waiting forever!”

  I turned to the doorman while the brothers reunited. “Have you just been protecting him this whole time?”

  “That’s right. Little man was all alone, so we at the MLP Society took it upon ourselves to protect him with our lives. It’s what Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie would’ve wanted us to do.”

  “What’s MLP?” I asked.

  Bee put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head.

  Chris looked back at us. “Guys, thank you so much!”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I told him.

  “Are you staying here?” Bee asked him.

  Chris looked at his brother who nodded eagerly.

  “You still have to find your other friends, right?” he asked me.

  “That’s right,” I said.

  “It’ll be dangerous for James to come along, so I think it’s better I stay here with him,” Chris decided.

  “We’ll come back and get you later then,” I told him.

  “If they’re staying here, they need to make sure they leave before noon tomorrow,” Panda said.

  I relayed the warning to Chris and the doorman.

  “What happens at noon?” asked the big man.

  Before I could say anything, Bee explained, “Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings will attack, so you need to all be outside when they come.”

  A serious expression fell across his face, and he nodded gravely. Then he went over to the other big guys keeping guard and relayed the words. I realized they were also wearing t-shirts with unicorns on them.

  “What the hell did you tell them?” I asked Bee.

  “It was the only way they’d understand,” she explained.

  I looked to Panda who just shrugged. “I’ve got no clue either.”

  “You still have to find Otto and Tina, right?” Bee asked, already heading for the exit. She seemed like she was in a hurry to leave.

  “Uh, yeah. Let’s go,” I said.

  When we stepped outside she whirled around and gave me a dangerous look, while her right hand was on the handle of her katana. “Don’t ever tell anyone that I’ve watched MLP. I’ll murder you.”

  “Uhh…”

  “Better do what she says,” Panda told me.

  I nodded. “I promise.”

  Her expression morphed back into a grin. “Good.”

  “Scary…” Panda muttered.

  “You remind me of Tina,” I told her. “Her deepest secret was that she was really into J—”

  Suddenly a hand covered my mouth and something pointy pressed into my back, clearly aiming for my right kidney.

  Bee drew her sword and pointed it at me.

  “Meow!” Lordie exclaimed.

  “Speak of the devil,” Panda muttered.

  “I told you to never ever tell anyone,” Tina said right into my ear, her voice menacingly-cheerful.

  I easily pulled myself out of her grip and spun to face her. She looked the same as when we’d been in the asylum together: black shoulder-length hair, pale skin, an angular and gaunt face, and large eyes with black irises. She wore a black short-sleeved leather trench coat, black high heels, a black ‘Cannibal Corpse’ t-shirt, and black jeans. All black, as usual.

  In her right hand was a screwdriver, and she also had a spray bottle poking out of the left front pocket of her coat.

  “I’ve been looking for you,” I said.

  “I know, Nina told me.”

  Then her eyes narrowed slightly.

  “You’re… different. Somehow.”

  “Crap,” Panda whisper. “She knows!”

  I had no idea how Nina’s powers worked, but she was somehow able to tell that I had replaced my alternate self in this world. I hoped it wouldn’t cause issues. The last thing I wanted was to become her enemy.

  “Is this your friend?” Bee asked, lowering her sword.

  “We’re more like prison friends,” I said.

  “You mean like classmates?” Bee asked.

  “Basically.”

  Suddenly Tina reached out and grabbed Panda by the scruff of his neck, pulling him off my shoulder.

  “Unhand me!” he shouted, struggling in her iron grip.

  Before I could stop her, she put his plushie body up against her face and inhaled deeply.

  “You smell different,” she said after a moment.

  Then she tossed him back to me and I caught him in my arms.

  “I’ve been violated!” he protested. “I’ve told you we shouldn’t mess with her! She’s crazy!”

  Bee looked very confused.

  “Who are you?” Tina asked, staring at me.

  I sighed deeply. “Do I have to tell the whole story again…?”

  “I don’t think you have a choice,” Panda told me.

  “Goddamn it…”

  After recounting the story for the second time today, Tina nodded solemnly and said, “I knew there was a way to save Irene and Adam.”

  “You didn’t mention that you turned Steve into a monster when you told the story last time,” Bee commented.

  “It wasn’t that important,” I replied.

  “I disagree,” Panda said, but I ignored him.

  We had sat down in front of the Sweet Dreams store while I sped through the story, but Tina suddenly got to her feet.

  “We can’t save them yet,” I told her.

  She shook her head. “I know. But we have to find Otto, he’s clearly the answer to all of this.”

  “What?” Panda and Bee both blurted out simultaneously.

  “‘Save the Otter, save the world’,” Tina explained.

  I nodded. “Finally someone gets it.”

  “Follow me,” she said. “I think I know where he is.”

  Tina took off in a hurry, but I stuck with Bee as we went after her.

  “I thought I understood what was happening for a moment,” Bee said. “But now I’m lost again.”

  “Me too,” Panda agreed, though she couldn’t hear him.

  “Don’t worry,” I told her. “It’ll all make sense once we find Otto the Otter Mascot.”

  “How?” she asked. “From the way you told the story, it didn’t seem like he was very important at all.”

  “That’s because it won’t make sense until season 4.”

  Bee blinked, but clearly she understood what I meant, since she didn’t ask any follow-up questions.

  The sun above was nearing the horizon and soon night would set in. While Madeville seemed safer than Castleburg, it felt almost certain that we’d run into gangs once it got dark.

  Luck had been on my side though. I’d expected to only find half of my friends before the Great Game started, but I’d already found everybody. Granted, they were split around the place, with Samantha staying behind at the Serenity Park Mall, and Chris remaining at Sweet Dreams with his brother.

  “What about Steve?” Panda asked.

  “Fuck Steve,” I told him.