Overture was in dismal mood. Without intending to he had become the unofficial leader of a couple thousand misplaced and transformed fans of My Little Pony. On top of that his own transformation was jarring. Wherever a different animal part met there was dull pain. He looked at his hands, his left was the talon of an eagle. His right the paw of a lion. He sighed, even if this was Equestria, there was no way he'd get to meet the Main 6. He thought about it and realized he'd probably not meet them anyway, even if he was his normal self. Humans were not meant to co-mingle with ponies. Or rather, ponies were not meant to even know the existence of humans. It always ended badly. Especially for the ponies. As they were akin to children. Innocent to the core. His yellow eyes scanned the crowd. They were still talking amongst themselves. So many varieties of creature! He noticed groups forming within the crowd. Some grouping with friends, others forming along specieal lines. There was group of vampires, many different types, forming around the one who had spoken earlier. They weren't getting along very well with another group. Looking closely he recognized the other group's species: Lycanthropes. He smirked. A few angels were talking amongst themselves, giggling frequently. Another group he had seen milling about were what he could only describe as mutated humans. Not ugly tentacle spouting kind of mutants, more like a group of decent looking original X-Men, or something. They were near three other groups. Smiling, he named the groups. Avengers (The ones from the movie, minus a hulk), Justice League (three supermen, a Wonder woman, an Arkham City Batman, and a Flash), and other, actual X-Men (Storm, Cyclops, and two Wolverines). We geeks are not that original, are we? He thought to himself. Then, looking at his own form, the smile he had at that reflection fell into a frown. Well, I guess I can't fault them, can I? A group of grim reapers, or were they dementors? Floated through the crowd. Watching them, his eyes fell on the most organized group. While their many uniforms didn't match, he recognized them for what they were. Soldiers. Standing at attention, 5 x 5. They were something to behold. Among them modern, american military, Halo Spartans, Gears of War meat heads, etc. All united by a little girls cartoon and a possible PTSD inducing event. All these people, and he had barely scratched the surface of the many creatures present. Looking up, Overture saw the one he had been waiting for. Soulless, who he would not hesitate to call a demon, flying back down he landed gracefully. One knee bended, same side fist pressed against the ground, his other arm splayed back behind him. It looked kind of cool. If not for the smirk on his face that showed quite clearly that he enjoyed that far too much.
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'That was awesome!' I think to myself. The last word clearly in Rainbow Dash's voice. I've always wanted to land like that. "My liege," I said, mock bowing to Overture "I bring word from the west." I had to fight back laughter. This shit was too ridiculous and my mind had begun to fray. But I was giddy too. Clearly taken aback Overture leaned backward quickly, lions paw brought across his chest defensively.
"What?! I'm not your liege. Get up. And why are you speaking like that?"
"Sorry," I apologized "Somehow, it just seemed fitting." He looked at me, clearly waiting for something. I looked at him. Transfixed by a freaking draconequus looking at me.
"Well.....?" Overture drew out the word.
"Oh! Right, yeah. We're in Equestria. The town I saw was Ponyville. I saw Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie-" The crowd, which had grown silent after my return, erupted into massive cheers.
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"Eeep!" Fluttershy said, quickly returning to the safety of her cottage when she heard a thunderous noise from Everfree.
"What was that?" asked Twilight. Annoyed at whatever it was that had caused Fluttershy to go back inside. Twilight and Pinkie had come over at Fluttershy's request when she said she need help dealing with a sudden influx of animals form Everfree.
"I don't know, let's go find out!" Squealed Pinkie hopping towards the forest. Twilight held out a hoof.
"No Pinkie, we came here to help Fluttershy, and that's what were gonna do."
"But-" said Pinkie, a bit of sadness coming to her face, "What if that creature is the reason all the animals are running away? Then we could help Fluttershy by making it go away?"
"No" Twilight said "Whatever it is, can wait. Fluttershy needs us now." Snapping right back to her peppy self, Pinkie replied, "Whatever" and continued her bouncing in place. "Fluttershy, the big bad noise is gone! We came to help with the animals. You gonna let us in or what?" Timidly, Fluttershy opened the door, barely sticking her face out. "A-are you sure?" Twilight spoke for Pinkie Pie, "Yes, we're sure. Can we get this over with? I've had a long day and I want to go to bed."
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Before, when Overture had mentioned Equestria as an unlikely possibility of our whereabouts, roughly 15 obsessed had run off. Monkey boy and I each returning one. A superman had returned 10 while others had manged to grab the the rest. Now, with my casual confirmation that that was where we indeed were, a staggering amount rushed off. This time all in the direction of Ponyville.
"Damn it get back here!" yelled Overture, clearly angry. Those of us that could rushed off to bring back the obsessed. Not quite sure why we were stopping them. Only that it seemed right. Conveniently the obsessed were the slowest of us. Being mostly the ones who had become ponies. The pegasi and unicorn were the most difficult to contain. I took down mostly pegasi. But one of the Kryptonians had learned to fly, albeit awkwardly, and was helping out. Although he seemed to be having trouble actually holding the pegasi. I guess super strength was something that comes later. The sky was filled with pegasi and other flying types. And I preceded to knock as many unconscious as I could. So far it seemed I could fly the fastest. Using my speed I punched pegasus after pegasus in the head. It was a cheap move but I wasn't really a good fighter. Despite my inherent need for violence which I had always managed to keep squashed. I valued my freedom and was confident that if I ever let my anger loose on anyone, they would die. And CSI taught me nobody got away with murder. So I kept myself weak and avoided confrontation. But now I was loose upon a whole new dimension. And I was stronger than I'd ever been. Time to knock some heads. A fist came flying at me form nowhere, landing right in between my wings. I momentarily lost control as the pain shot through my spine. I fell through the tree layer and impossibly hit every thick branch in range. I landed on the unforgiving forest floor which had decided that air did not belong in my lungs. I gasped for air for probably a full minute before I finally managed to pull myself off the ground. Looking up at the gap in the canopy my body made, I tested my wings. Luckily they worked fine. Though I was sure the right one would develop a bruise. I gave my wings a final stretch and limbered all my muscles. Still looking up I flapped downwards and flew straight up. Faster than I had previously done, determined to knock out whoever had hit me. Surprise was on my face for a moment when I saw that an angel was the culprit. Not really all that fond of angels I pushed up harder, slamming into their stomach. With the wind knocked out of them I brought my elbow over the back of their head. He fell to the forest floor as I breathed a sigh of relief.
Flying above what I now knew was Everfree was breathtaking. Despite the dangers below it was beautiful from above. Lush greenery extended for few miles before it terminated at what I could only assume was a beach, because I saw a thin line of blue on the horizon. To the west there was far less forest. But it a whole lot prettier. A mountain range framed by the setting sun, setting the sky on fire and painting the mountains purple. Sitting snugly on the face of the largest one I could make out a city that could not have existed on Earth. Looking like giant had picked up a breathtakingly gorgeous medieval city and slammed into the mountain. In the show it appeared a lot closer, here though it's color was filtered light blue with distance and could fit in my thumbnail if I held it in front of my eye.
As beautiful as it was I had a job to do. I pushed the air behind me, going ever faster I air-tackled a dark blue pegasus "Hey come on! I just wanted to see Rainbow Dash! What's the harm in that?"
"I'm not quite sure" I responded truthfully "But Overture doesn't want any body messing with the ponies, and I'm sure it's a good reason." I responded less truthfully. Not entirely knowing what it was he didn't want them doing. "Remember, Zombie apocalypse rules." Flying back to the clearing, which was obviously artificial, created by our entrance. I noticed a small metallic gleam. Once again I dropped an obsessed at the feet of Overture, who was handling the return of the other obsessed. Looking at me he stuck his thumb out and pointed behind him. "Put him in there" My eyes widened. In the air I had seen it but thought nothing of it. Now that I was on the ground I was shocked. In the middle of the forest stood as tall as my one story home, wide as a mobile home was long, and about quarter football field long. A cage of polished metal and full of pissed off looking bronies.
"What the-?" I whispered.
"I'll explain in a minute, just put him in there. For now." at the words 'for now' I felt more inclined to accept. Overture knew what he was doing. At least I hoped so. I opened the door to the cage and thrust the pegasus inside.
About an hour passed and the retrieval of the obsessed was complete. Luna's moon had risen and I was struck by the size of it. In comics and cartoons, even some live action movies, the moon was frequently shown to be bigger than it was in real life. In actuality our moon takes up a very small portion of our sky. But here in Equestria I could hazard a guess that it took up an entire eighth of the sky. If you were watching us on a television or looking at us in a comic you'd think nothing of it. But here, it was huge. And no one was not looking at it. If you'd seen us you'd thought us a moon worshiping cult. And, I guess some of us were, the Luna fanboys were drooling knowing just how that moon got there.
"Okay, everypony!" Overture clapped. Bringing our focus back down to Earth. "I think it's time we lay down some ground rules. Once that's done. Maybe we can let you weirdos out of that cage." he said eyeing the people in the cage "Speaking of, thank you, Pink, for creating that beautiful thing for us." Hearing Pink's name I swiveled my head. Beside the cage was tired out looking man with a long blonde beard, robes, and knotted staff. Looking like a Nord Wizard he smiled "No problem" he said in a southern accent that was jarring from his appearance. But as soon as I heard the voice I knew that that was my buddy. 'Finally,' I thought 'I missed you guys' I made my way through the crowd.
Unlike me, Pink could easily recognize me. My features hadn't changed much. I recognized the people he had grouped himself with. The woman with the gothic dress, the beast boy (Oh, now I get it), and Arrow. Arrow's back was on the cage, legs out, Robin Hood hat tilted over his eyes. And he was snoring.
"Hey man, where've you been?" Pink asked
"Haven't you heard? Equestria!" Pink, annoyed at my response, rolled his eyes.
"You know what I mean" now I was annoyed. I grabbed his arm lightly and pointed to the densest part of our group in front of Overture who was trying to get people to shut up so he could talk. "I was there, right there, alright?"
"Right, sorry man. It's .. there's a lot o' weirdness today. I guess it makes sense you'd get lost."
"You saying you four have been together this entire time?"
"Yup. That's what I'm saying."
"So...." I said, drawing out the word looking past Pink at the cage. "You wanna tell me what that's about?" Turning to glance at the cage he saw what I was talking about. "Oh right. Turns out I'm a wizard."
"A wizard." I repeated, having trouble taking that in.
"Yeah, well, to be more precise a summoner. Check this out" Pink put his right hand a few inches above his left and closed his eyes. A light glew brightly between his hands before once again retreating into darkness. Pink, looking winded, leaned back onto the cage. He smiled, tiredly, holding.. a Nintendo 3DS.
"A Nintendo 3DS? Huh, neat. That could be uh... useful." Pink frowned, examining the device a little closer
"3DS? That sucks. I guess I need to practice. I wanted a DS." But it'll be a while before I do that again. Summoning really takes it out of me." Pink slid down the cage into a sitting position. "And," he yawned "The more complicated the object.... the more it takes outta me."
"SHUT UP ALREADY!!" I turned, the crowd had fallen quiet save for Arrow's light snoring. Overture was clearly the one who had shouted. Composing himself he said, "I said we need to lay down ground rules.
"One, no contact with the locals," everyone in the cage and several out in the crowd moaned. "Ah ah ah, I don't want to hear it. No way in hell do we expose them to our evil" a few people were ruffled by being called evil.
"Hey!"
"Hey, nothing. You're human, you're evil." cries of 'I'm not human' were heard throughout.
"You were yesterday, so shut it. If I'm any indication no one's brain changed. And some of you are even predators and carnivores now." a Predator and Xenomorph, who had been playing rock paper scissors, sunk low at that. Though no one was looking at them.
"The ponies here, even the ones in their military, are pure. They are innocent. Childlike in that innocence. The very knowledge of our presence could irrecoverably alter them for the worse. Does anypony here want that?" No one spoke "I didn't think so. Compared to humanity, most of us here are decent beings. But compared to them.... you get my point.
"Two: Protect the ponies. At all costs. If we could get here, so could others. And they might not be as 'nice' as us. Protect them from ourselves. This cage here," he pointed in our direction "Will serve as a prison for those who attempt to either harm the ponies, or any of one us. Or willingly allows harm to befall the ponies. As long as we're here we will safeguard Ponyville, Canterlot and any other place we can from all threats. Be it another dimensional shift, more people from our own world, or even Discord himself! If we do our job, Shining Armor's will be useless!
"Three: Find a way home. This isn't so much a rule as it is a guideline. It is our secondary objective. But it ties in well with our primary one: Keeping the ponies safe. If we can leave. They won't know of us. And we will have been successful." He started walking towards us, or rather, the cage.
"You, weirdo's, do you accept these terms?" During his speech they had been quietly nodding in agreement.
"Yes!" they all said. At once. And very loud. Right by ear. Bastards.
"Whoa, what the-" Arrow, flipped out a little.
"Glad to see you're awake, Arrow." I said
"Huh? fi- five more minutes, I don't feel like going to school today." He mumbled and was out again.
Another two hours had passed. The obsessed had calmed down and the cage was empty. I hoped it would stay that way. As Overture couldn't be more right in my opinion. A group of soldiers from various games and several modern type soldiers had aided Overture in organizing the group of into manageable sections. I had been tasked to scout the area and flew for roughly an a hour and a half. Memorizing the lay of the land. When I came back I used a stick in the dirt to draw a quick map. Overture and the soldiers combed over it. I couldn't hear what they were saying. Then the soldiers started directing groups. All of them headed towards Ponyville. The entire group was suddenly heading west. I sped up, walking in step with Overture. "What's going on? I thought we were avoiding the ponies?"
"We are. We're just moving in closer before fanning out. We'll be encircling Ponyville and Canterlot. We would've protected Appleoosa as well, but five thousand or so beings can only cover so much."