//------------------------------// // Out of the fire and into the frying pan. // Story: It takes six keys too open my heart. // by Darkjolly //------------------------------// Here, I'll try a to get you guys to picture an anime type of opening :P (I haven't really described Charles appearance yet, so you can picture him however you like) Intro music *Piano beginning* *You see destroyed Earth, camera then slowly raises up to the sky as the name " It takes six keys too open my heart" appears in a fire font* (♪ Calling the dreams of yesterday ♪) Charles slowly walking through the everfree forest (without armor). Sunshine shines through a hole in a dark cloud, he looks up and forces a small smile. *See's flashback of his old life, playing with his friends as a kid. (Charles now a teenager) He then picks up a picture of his family (in his nano tent) smiling warmly at him, you cant see his face, but you see tear droplets fall onto the picture*. (♪ I'll wait for my dreams to come true ♪) He starts running, through the heavy downpour, tears rolling down his cheeks.*Explosion of reckoning day flashes in his mind*. He falls too the ground and pounds the floor in anger and stays whimpering on the forest ground. (He's suffering) ( ♪ You are always on my mind ♪) * Setting changes to destroyed Earth* Charles (Now in armor) Standing on top of a cliff, looking at the horizon as the sun sets. He then looks down and sees a Vaskah convoy passing through the narrow mountain side. (♪ Just show me the light ♪) He jumps off the cliff side, dropping like a missile. *Camera focuses on his face inside the helmet. He roars out in fury, baring his fang like incisors* (Instrumental) He lands on the Vaskah vehicle, obliterating it as it explodes. He quickly dashes out of the fire unharmed and grabs a guard by the throat and crushes it. Two guards appear behind and shoot, he jumps out of the way and shoots them down. Three more guards appear, he punches the ground and stalagmites impale them high up in the air. A huge squad of ten guards surround him, plasma swords in hand. They charge at him, he dodges first swipe, grabs arms, breaks it, takes sword, and thrust its backward in between his torso and arm, stabbing a guard behind him. Then does a tornado spin , arms outstretched with sword in hand, slicing through the remaining guards. (♪ Maybe I'm too blind to see ♪ ) *return back to a whimpering Charles* He looking at the ground with bloodshot eyes. (♪ But you're always in my heart ♪) A purple hoof rests on his shoulder, he looks back and see's the main 6 giving him a caring smile, he returns the smile and nods back. ( ♪ We will find another way ♪ ) *Setting changes to a flower field* ( ♪ I'll wait for my dreams to come true ♪ ) He's running through the field main 6 running next too him. (Fluttershy and Rainbow dash are flying, all of them laughing happily). He looks at each of the ponies, each one looking back at him with a warm smile. They stop as they reach the end of the fields and look up to the sky as they see double rainbow forming. *Fades to black* ------------------------------------------------ The air was filled with magic and screams as the Nightmare Night festival continued on throughout the chilly black curtains of night. Three little filly's, dressed as the three ponyteers, were trotting happily as they carried their plastic pumpkins filled to the brim with scrumptious sweets in their mouths. They jumped onto a bench just outside Rarity's carousel boutique and started too munch down on their sugary treasure. Once satisfied with their sugar lust, they laid on their backs, stomachs bulging out and started giggling. ''I ate more sweets that you two'' Scootaloo boasted "Na uh, y'all only t'hought ya ate more cause ya had lis sweets" Applebloom quickly objected. ''No way, I had more sweets!'' ''Did not!'' "Did too!" "Did not!'' "Did too!" "Girls! For the millionth time, we wont get out cutie marks by arguing or collecting sweets!'' Sweetiebell sighed. "Then what can we do? We've done nearly everything you can do on Nightmare Night'' Scootaloo groaned as she leaped off the small wooden bench. The Filly's closed their eyes as they went into a deep pensative state. They were thinking of anything, any idea of their next journey to find their cutie marks. Its been a year since the Cutie Mark Crusaders was formed and since then the trio have done a vast amount of activities, from selling apples to potion making in an attempt too finally get their cutie marks, but to no avail. Appleblooms eyes snapped widely open, all while a light bulb appeared above her head. "Alieeeens!'' She said in a dramatic eery tone. Sweetibell and Scootaloo arched an eyebrow while they stared blankly at her. "Aliens?" They replied in unison. "Yea, it makes sense! Aliens visit u's during nightmare night, cause tey don expect us ta notice dem. Den they quietly kidnap the shyest ponies around!" Applebloom responded with utmost seriousness. Scootaloo and Sweetibell just stared at her, trying to piece together what Applebloom just said. After some ''reasoning'', theirs eyes of confusion were replaced with ones of fear and determination. ''Oh C-Celestia, Applebloom you're so smart'' Sweetibell said with admiration. ''Applebloom, you might of just saved Ponyville'' Scootaloo added. Applebloom looked down and blushed furiously at the praise. "Ahh shucks girls it weren't niting" She muttered while kicking the ground with on of her forelegs. ''No no, we must find the alien and put it down before somepony gets ponynapped or worse" Scootaloo said humorless Sweetiebell and Applebloom nodded and the trio scurried off to the carousel boutique to get their ''alien hunting equipment'' " CUTIE MARK CRUSADER ALIEN EXTERMINATORS" They whooped together as they slammed the door to the building behind them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Luna and a concealed Fluttershy, were sitting just outside a restaurant, sipping some water from their glass. Luna could see the bush shake terribly every time a firecracker went off. and she had to resist the urge of laughing out loud. Fluttershy regretted coming to the festival, it just wasn´t for a pony as shy as her, but her friends did persuade her to come this year even if she just had to hide in a shrub. The first nightmare night Luna attended after she was reverted back to her normal, Fluttershy was still deeply terrified of her. One day Angel was mortally wounded when he confronted a timber wolf, which left Fluttershy in a state of near mental breakdown but Luna stood by her all the way and helped her regain her sanity, something even the other five mares had trouble to do. Since that day, they became very good friends like if they known each other since they were foals. Luna would sometimes accompanied Fluttershy in the night when she wanted to tend or pay a local checkup on the nocturnal creatures of the Everfree forest, and in return Fluttershy would help Luna with moderating her voice. Fluttershy was Lunas first true friend in a thousand years, and that meant a lot to her, so much to the point she would threaten to turn anybody who bullies her too sawdust. Another firecracker went off and a Luna heard another small 'eep' come from the bush. Luna couldn't help but feel sorry for the small Pegasus. "Thou can go home if thou do not feel comfortable here" Luna said softly The small amber Pegasus poked her head out of the bush and gave a small smile. "I-its a-alright, I-I will stay, If you want" she whispered. " No no, if thou are really afraid do not hesitate to leave, I will be fine" The Pegasus and the alicorn started chatting about how the costumes this year round were pretty impressive and scary. Celestia, Shining armor, Spike and the other elements of harmony soon joined them on the table. "Wowie, I'm beat. I think I scared mostly everyone" Rainbow dash said proudly while puffing out her chest. "Theirwasthisonestallionthatwassittingwithhismarefriendnext to a fountaindoingromanticstuffandrainbowdashshotalightningboltandtheybothtumbledintothewater jejejejeje it was so FUNNNY!" Pinkie babbled. The other mares rolled their eyes, while the two alicorns suppressed their giggles. The night seemed to last forever, as the group told jokes, danced to the music and ate countless amounts of apple tarts and ice cream. ''Well I don't know bout y'all, but I'm stuffed and sleepy, but this years festival was fun." Applejack groaned as she slowly massaged her stomach with her hoof. ''Yes, it was quite fun indeed. I mean the costumes this year were dazzling but none could compare too muah. They just didn't have the glamour or the style I can offer'' Rarity bragged, flipping her hair at the end of her speech. Rainbow dash coughed at the statement, in return getting an angry glare from the ivory unicorn. "Well my little pony's, another successful night" Celestia said, while raising her glass of apple cider. "P-Princess what are you doing?" Twilight asked confused at her teachers openness "Oh? Can a princess not make a toast?" "Y-yes, I'm s-sorry" Twilight dropped her head in defeat. All the others started laughing, as they raised their glasses, even Spike. "For good friendship and may it always last!" Celestia brightly said. "FOR GOOD FRIENDSHIP" the others yelled, Lunas voice the loudest of them all, as they started chugging down their drinks. Twilight draped a forleg over Shining Armors shoulder, and whispered in his ear. "Best night in a looong time, thank you for being here for me bbbff" Shining armor gave a warm smile. "and may it never change Twily" The group started walking back to the library, Spike was knocked out cold and snoring on Twilights back. Pinkie was hopping around still filled with a bunch of energy, much to the dislike of her exhausted friends. Rarity was struggling to trot as elegant as can be, she wouldn't allow fatigue make her walk unladylike. Rainbow Dash was dragging a sleeping Fluttershy across the ground, while Applejack was trudging along the way. Shining Armor, being a captain of the guards, was still going strong, he's been trained too last days without sleep so this was nothing for him. "You did well captain, not only was the festival crime free, but you also took my advice and had fun" Celestia said. "T-thank you your majesty, just doing my job'' He said, in a respectable serious tone, yet he seemed nervous like somehow things were too peaceful. Luna noticed this and patted his back. "Thou hath indeed done well, nothing can go wrong now" she said calmly. Pinkie's tail started twitching violently, so fast it couldn't be seen. "Uhhh g-g-giiiiirls" Pinkie struggled to speak as her wwhole body started vibrate. The ponies turned around and saw the poor pink pony shaking along the floor because of her violent twitching. Twilight noticed the tail twitching and knew something was going to fall from the sky. "Everypony! Quickly get inside, something big is going to fall out of the sky" Twilight hastily said, as she dragged the pink mess by a hoof into the library with a lot of effort. All the ponies dashed inside, slammed the door and poked their heads out the window. They stayed watching the infinite black sky for minutes, but nothing appeared. Twilight was shaking with fear, she learned to believe the pinkie sense, the rough way. "Twilight dear, I'm sure your just a little tired and are seeing things" Rarity said faintly, trying to comfort the lavender unicorn. "N-No, Im sure something big is coming, just look at Pinkie" Twilight pointed to the Pink pony who was out cold, the vibrating was so strong her poor brain couldn't take it anymore, yet she was still trembling. "Pinkie just had too much apple cider dear. Now come on let's get you to the bathroom so you can splash some water on your face. Nothings going to fall out of the...'' *CRZZZZZZZZZBZZZZZZZZZZZZM* Rarity's voice was cut off as an electromagnetic portal appeared in the sky, no more than five feet above Ponyville. All the pony's eyes widened as the sky started to turn grey and white. Two beings dropped from the portal and crashed into the ground just outside the library, lifting a cloud of dust. The ponies, especially Rainbow dash and Shining Armor were trying to see through the thick fog of dirt. After a few seconds two silhouettes appeared, one was bipedal, thin and tall, the other was quadruped and bulky and had wings protruding from its back. They were facing each other both in defensive stance, preparing to attack each other. Luna was sweating profusely, as the silhouettes started turning into reality. She gulped. "Equestria, have mercy on us." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Back on Earth* *10 minutes before* "Shit, Shit, SHIT" my mind raced. Three hundred missiles on your tail isn't really well received. I was now dashing through some ruined buildings doing all I could to shake them off. The Pad was hiding in my nanopack, telling me every now and then the distance between the missiles and I. "Pad, how does warping work?" I asked grumpily "Warping works when the fabric of space and time are crumpled to-.." "No! That's not what I meant" I angrily interrupted. " I mean how do I activate my warp thrusters?" " Once I input the coördinates, you just have to think of teleporting, the Negels will do the rest. I nodded my head with assurance. "Right, let's do this!" Two floating data cords emerged from my nanopack and snugly connected to the ports at the back of my helmet, with a loud and satisfying 'click!'. My visor exploded in an array of data as ones and zeroes popped up. A few seconds later I was looking at a familiar looking planet only reversed. "Looks like old Earth, only the opposite way" I thought, while I continued contemplating the planet. Opposite It indeed looked, most of the surface was green with patches of blue here and yellow there. There was a blinking red dot on the eastern hemisphere. I concentrated on rotating the holographic map and zooming in. I nearly tripped with what I saw. I was gazing upon a country that goes by the name...Equestria? God damn puns, anyways, I assumed the yellow/orange shaded areas were arid areas and the green areas with trees mild. There were black dots with names above, names of the respective city or town depending on the size of the name. Canterlot was the biggest one, so its safe to assume that's the capital, but the red dot was blinking over a slightly smaller black dot, Ponyville. I narrowed my eyes and gave another evil smile "There you are my punching bag" I hissed. The missiles were now approaching me at an alarming rate. The Pad shook nervously in the pack and spoke. "Ch-Ch-Chosen one, I think you should s-start getting those Negels in gear." Fear noticeable in its voice. I snapped out of my trance and rapidly thought of teleporting to the red dot. The Negels whirled and whizzed as they started to heat up. I noticed my speed precipitate as my surroundings began to blur in my vision. I wasn't scared or surprised though, like I was expecting this. "Pad, whats happening? I thought of teleporting not accelerating" I pretended to ask confused. "The Negels are now grinding on each other, like the gears in a watch" The Pad replied. I arched an eyebrow and felt annoyed that this machine, robot, WHATEVER didn't fully answer my question. I was about to snap in protest, but the pad continued. " As they rotate faster, so do your external leg limbs. The Negels must spin at a speed of mach 20 for five minutes before they can warp space." I gasped at the explanation. If the Negels rotational speed also affects my running speed, then that means...I will have to run twenty time faster than sound for a good five minutes. Feel the speed Rain Soud Effects Rain started to pour down, creating a little jingle as it pounded on my armor. I was running through a once forest, dead stumps and rocks littered the place. Lightning crackled in the sky, penetrating the dark clouds of the starless night as they overlapped each other in a fiery duel. One lightning hit a tree trunk and flames began to burst out, jumping from one trunk to another, before I knew it, I was running through...hell.The missiles were just a yard away, but slowly inching away as my velocity increased. Sweat rolled down my neck, my breath was heavy and my eyes were itching. I could hear my footsteps as they crushed the dead roots of the tree's below them. The fire was quickly trying to surround me and turn me too a crisp, but my speed was giving it a hard time. I felt my metallic armor collide with an air bubble and knew I was nearly at mach one. ''This is it'' I muttered. My hands were clenched as my arms were pumping back and fro at an insanely fast rhythm. One missile decided too put on some more nitro and cut the distance instantaneously. It was just a few inches away from colliding with my body, as I desperately tried to shove my way through the air shield. Memories of my family and friends appeared before my eyes. Mum, Dad...Jessie. My anger raged and I felt hatred towards the blue equine escalate. "NO, I WILL NOT LET THAT BLUE HORSE GET AWAY WITH IT, IM HUMANITYS LAST HOPE AND I WILL NOT LET A PATHETIC MISSLE KILL ME " I roared into the night. "N-Nearly t-there!!!'' My mind screamed. The Negels were spinning like mad, the armors heat was increasing as well. There I was, running through a smoking hell, tired, hungry, hot, and pissed. " FOR MUM, FOR DAD, FOR JESSIE, FOR HUMANITY!!" My voice bellowed, filled with venom as I went Faster Faster Faster Faster...Faster.......FASTER ...................FASTER!!!!!!! *KABOOOOOOM* The air filled with a deafening explosion as I broke the sound barrier and zoomed through the burning hell and into an unstable tunnel, leaving in my wake a rainbow line of different shades of grey. "YAHOOOOOOOOOOO" I roared, my voice echoing in the tunnel. The missiles were still giving chase, ten of them proceeded to enter the tunnel, another ten decided to fly over. I zoomed through the tunnel, till I heard another explosion above. One of the missiles must have exploded. The tunnel started collapsing, big chunks of rock plummeting of the walls. I weaved through the falling debris, almost getting smacked by one. I turned my head back slightly to see the missile's position, they too were struggling too weave through the rock rain. The light at the end of the tunnel (*groan* how cliché) was just up ahead. I bit my lips, as I continued shoving through another air bubble. The rocks were starting to clog up the exit. "No, you wont AAAAAAAA." Another barrier broke, another grey rainbow, I lunged my body forward through the small crack before the last rock completely secured it. I rolled in mid air and landed on my feet and continued blasting forward. *BRRRBZZBOOOOOOOOM* I didn't have to look back, I knew rocks and nukes didn't go together and though I might be far enough away from the explosion and radiation can't affect me while I'm in the N.T.A, the shock wave still worried me. In an instant the shock waves did smash into my back, but instead of being knocked down or flung off my feet, I was now being pushed forward with even more speed. I thought on asking The Pad, but I put two and two together and came up with a conclusion. "The N.T.A absorbs shock waves and converts it into its own supply of energy" I reasoned. I looked at my visor, jaws dropping to the center of earth. Mach 20!!? I'm already at mach 20? The shock wave really did give me a boost. Their was a little countdown that started going down and I heard the Pads voice in my head. "Four minutes, thirty seconds before warping, don't decelerate" It said firmly. I was now darting across a fairly straight barren plateau for what seemed eternal. I have been running through the whole continent, through obliterated cities, leveled mountains and melted glaciers. The were still ten missiles on my tail, the other ten? God who knows? "Pad, how the hell are these missiles going so fast" I said annoyed. "The Vaskah, must of shut down their nuclear power in return of more speed" "More speed, less power, seems le-...* My voice was cut off by another explosions and the sound of cracking? I dared give a glance behind me, the missiles were bombarding the ground far behind me, but that wasn't the best bit. The cracks were widening and catching up to me but what really made me gulp was the red/orange liquid that pulsed out of the cracks and formed into a tsunami. "L-LAVA?" I stammered. The N.T.A can resist some lava, but not that much. I gave the timer another glance, 30 seconds left. "Im not going to die so close" I muttered. I still had hope, even against all the odds, or was it just the desire to get revenge? The lava was on top of me, I urged every ounce in my body to push. I felt the drips of the wave touch my metallic cold body, I shuddered at the thought of being burned alive while drowning. The air in front of me started shift and turn, sparks zapped in every direction, the portal was opening and suctioning everything it could. "Is this it? Is this the right decision? Everything of I know of life, everything will change once I go through that portal? Is this...my destiny?" I mentally bombarded myself with questions. The pad spoke all of a sudden. "WARP INIATING IN 5,4,-" The red tsunami started too descend, ready too crash into me and wipe out my existence "- 3 ,2-" Was I going to make it? In a second I would be nothing but ash. " 1!!" The portal materialized in front of me, but it was too late the tsunami was already ontop of me. "Sorry Jessie, I have failed you" I whimpered, tears rolling down. All hope was lost, but suddenly I felt my self being tackled into the portal. Something huge and scaly tried too tore into my shoulder armor, as we both fell into the portal, in a nick of time. ------------------- I don't really remember what the hell happened, after I saw the portal, but now I was falling through the sky with a scaly beast trying to rip me too shreds. Things just keep getting better, OK let's make a list. 1: Earth destroyed 2: I find out I have horse blood. 3: Thirty nukes wanting to blow me to kingdom come 4: I discover I can run faster than sound 5: Nearly become human BBQ 6: Now I'm a scaly beast chewing toy. Boss # 1, Difficulty: Easy We plummeted into the ground, at a high speed, lifting a cloud of dust. I was lying on top of the beast, it was grunting in slight pain. I quickly did a back flip a few steps back and got my plasma gun out. I activated my heat sensor, to see the mutant through the dust. It gave off a tremendous amount of heat. It got up and went into a defensive stance, so I supposed it could see me or at least my heat signature. The dust subsided and I was staring at the most grotesque mutant ..uh...dragon I've ever seen. "Pad? What in the name of Christ is that?" I asked, more in curiosity than fear. "That beast goes by the name Saw Ripper. They are dragons from the Vaskah home world, They live underground where they nourish themselves from lava and the soil other than the preys they hunt." "Lovely. Any weak points?" Sarcasm noticeable in my tone. The Saw Ripper started spewing flames from its nostrils, as it narrowed its many eyes, and clawed the ground. "Aim for its multiple eyes, they contain the major arteries believe it or not. Careful though, your armor may be strong, but their acid is not to be played with." I grinned, and readied my weapon. The Saw Ripper didn't wait another moment, it charged straight at me as I began barraging it with lasers. It shrugged off the lasers and opened its jaw. It was an intimidating site, the fangs dripping with venom and it tongue looked more like purple porcupine. I quickly rolled out of the way, and furiously kicked it in its lowest eye at the side of its head, the impact made the eye pop like a balloon as green blood oozed from the hole. The mutated dragon roared in pain and started slashing around uncontrollably, it swiped at a building, leveling it to the ground in one hit. It looked at me with rage in its eye, and swung its tail like a baseball bat, I jumped but I was too slow. The tail connected to my chest and I was sent soaring into a tree. I smacked against a shelf of books? and groaned. Dad always said that my profession would make me end up covered in books, but this is not what I had in mind. I got up, vision slightly blurred, and prodded my way out of the tree. Just before I got out, I turned my head to the noise of weeps, and I was staring at nine colorful ponies. Some were glaring daggers at me, others stared back with curiosity and most with fear. I shrugged my shoulders and walked out the hole I made on the side of the tree house. The monstrosity was slowly advancing towards me, I was a somewhat stunned by the impact so I took a pot shot at the dragon. The laser flew through the air and found its target, another eye. The dragon once again roared and stumbled back, I took this opportunity to jump on top of a building and analyze the beast before aiming my plasma gun at the remaining eyes. The beast had a total of nine eyes, well now seven, they glowed a warm apricot color as they flicked around in the frosty night on their tentacles. It had two amaranthine wings, but they seemed injured and ripped. I slowly aimed and locked on to three more eyes. "Dont blink" I growled as I pulled the trigger. The night was filled with more squishy pops followed by more deafening roars. The Saw Ripper was in agony, but far from defeated, it still had four more eyes, but that will be taken care of. I jumped high in the air, enough to get some momentum and proceeded with an elbow drop. I came down like a meteor, lifting huge chunks of rocks which started raining down demolishing the surrounding buildings, the Saw Ripper barely dodged my attack by flying back and began spitting a jet of what seemed a combination of acid and fire. I tried to roll out of the way, but it was a direct hit. My visor went bright yellow and my plasma gun melted in my hands. "CAUTION! CAUTION! ARMOR DOWN TOO 80%!'' The Pad said alertly. The Acid was slowly eating its way through the armor. I grasped the hole were the acid went in. "Dammit!" I quietly uttered. I closed my eyes and thought double quick Aegis mode!!. As I closed my eyes, the Saw Ripper took the moment to fly down and tackle. The Negels complied with my wish, as they started shifting. A green barrier of Negels formed around me like a turtle in a shell, as the remaining started with the self repair. "Self repair mode commenced" The pad said. The Saw ripper bashed against the shield, and grunted in surprise. It started clawing furiously, desperately, it wanted its meal inside the dome before it recovered. Each bash to the shield it gave caused me to stagger back in slight pain. "What the?" I groaned, as I fell to my knee. "I feel what the Negels feel? Whats the meaning of this?. "Armor up too 95%, shields down to 45%" " Leave the Armor like that" I blurted out. "But Chosen on-" "NOW!" I slammed my eyes shut once again. "Blood mode, activate". The shield faded away and with no second thought the Saw Ripper tried to pounce on me. I saw it coming and tried to move but something inside me, like a spark took control of my hands and paralyzed me legs. I involuntarily punched the soil with immense strength causing the ground underneath the Saw Ripper to bend. The Saw ripper, mouth agape, was just inches from chowing me down, I closed my eyes, hoping this would be a quick death. One last roar sounded in the night, and I felt something splash against my armor. I opened my eyes, my visor was covered in revolting gooey blood. I wiped it off and gasped at the image before me, the Saw Ripper, mighty and relentless, was just hanging there impaled by hundreds of razor sharp stalagmites, piercing its head and overall its whole body. My brain couldn't comprehend what just happened. "Pad" I said, slightly dazed. "What just happened?" The Pad stayed silent. "Pad?" "...." "PAD!" "...Pad.exe has stopped working, reboot commencing.." The pad said in a monotone voice. "Great, I broke it" I sighed and fell on to my rear. "Well, it can't get any worse." I chuckled. "THERES THE ALIEN, CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CHARGE!!" a squeaky feminine voice yelled. I turned my head to the source of the voice and arched an eyebrow. "What the?" -------------------------------------------- Sorry for the big delay. Had some college trouble and had to really put myself up to the day. I'm looking for proofreaders or editors, so don't hesitate to message me if you want to :)