//------------------------------// // The Big Picture // Story: Equestrian Wars // by Saacsa //------------------------------// There was a long pause between us before I finally spoke up. "Well, what, exactly, is the problem?" I asked. Azuro rubbed the back of his neck and looked down with a nervous chuckle. "I suppose I should probably explain what I am and what my species is and does before we continue." He said and took a deep breath, "Well, we are Interdimentional Lords, as you know. But what you don't know is that we watch over all of the universes and possible realities. For example, I am the Interdimentional Lord of Equis while my brother, Tangi, is the Interdimentional Lord of The Circumambulation, or as you would be more familiar with, the realm of humanity. We have little power in what these societies do, however. We can only mentally influence them, save for when we gather enough power to physically appear in the realms. Which doesn't happen often, if at all." "Then how did you guys get me to Equis from Earth?" I asked. "That was simple. We just combined our strength and brought you here, to stop Chrysalias." "But what about what you told me earlier, that I was just a normal human and it was all a test?" "The latter was a lie. The true reason we brought you here was to stop Chrysalias and her insatiable appetite for destruction. You see, my sister, Gengena, watches over the reality of Hell. The Underworld to be precise." He said, but intentionally avoided the part about me being normal. "That sounds... Eventful. But what does that have to do with Chrysalias?" "Gengena planted the seed of destruction in Chrysie's head. You see, spending eternity in Hell kind of fucks up your sanity. Anyways, she corrupted Chrysalias beyond redemption, making the Changeling queen want nothing more than to destroy all sentient life. You see, because she use to be a good ruler. She was just a little misguided and desperate." "That's bad." "No shit," He said, getting annoyed with my interruptions. "When you killed Chrysalias, that sort of killed Gengena's plan." "So, what's the problem again?" "Gengena became furious that her plan was ruined, so, she took it out on Tangi. She used her rage filled, insanity induced powers to invade the realm of Humanity with her twisted, malicious creatures. There a brave human there, one to stop the outrageous blight. Your great, great grandson. I think some of his friends called him 'Fly', but its irrelevant." "Well, you guys kinda fucked yourselves there, didn't ya?" I deadpanned sarcastically. "Not exactly..." "Wait. What?" I asked. "No, the space-time continuum works a little differently. But that is beside the point." "What is the point?" "Well, if you would let me finish, you would know." He paused. I gestured with my hooves for him to go on. "Thank you, as I was saying, Tangi is dead. However. There is hope for Equis." "Equis was in danger?" I asked with false idiocy. "Yes, you moron!" He snapped, loosing his patience with me. He sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose when he noticed my smirk. "Gengena is going to use her powers that she absorbed from Tangi to invade Equestria and destroy everything that lives there." I sat on my haunches. "And it's up to me to stop it." "Not entirely..." He said. "Would you please just tell me what the fuck is going on?" I asked in exasperation. "What the hell?" A new voice came in from the side, "Where am I?" It asked. "That would be him." Azuro said and stepped aside to reveal a human that looked remarkably like I did on Earth. He had different eyes and hair, but my same cheek bones and jaw line. He had a simple five o'clock shadow and military style crew cut in his lighter black hair. He wore greenish silver armor that had looked like a futuristic breastplate with shoulder guards, but no sleeves. It had two silver lines leading down from the chest, where a green line covered, and ended in a black plate with silver studs embedded in it over his abdomen. The shoulder guards had six distinctive lines running down them for the purpose of decoration. "Who the hell are you two?" He asked and got into a fighting stance. "I am Azuro and this is Jack. Though you may find the term Great, Great Grandfather Halok a little more familiar." Azuro stated, making him calm down a little. By confusing him, of course. I leaned in and whispered intensely into the Interdimentional Lords ear. "I didn't have kids!" "Not physically." Before I could ask what he meant, he turned back around and smiled at my great, great grandson. "Bullshit. My great, great grandfather was a deserter. He is long dead. Also, he was a god damn human." 'Fly' answered. "About that... I suppose I owe an explanation." Azuro said and rubbed the back of his neck. "You're damn right you do!" Both me and 'Fly' said at the same time. "Wow... Like great, great grandfather like great, great, grandson." He muttered. "Flynn, I brought you here to have a second chance at-" "Cut the bullshit." I cut Azuro off instantly. "How do you know that it's bullshit, little pony?" Flynn asked. "Because he pulled the same shit on me. He wants us to save a world that I have grown very fond of. A world of talking ponies, much like myself." I said. "Bullshit." "Watch it. I'm a century and a half older than you." I warned. "You're also a pony." "Which proves my point." "Do you two want to know what happens now or not?!" Azuro nearly screamed. I think we were pissing him off. Which was fine by me, though. "Yes!" Flynn answered in exasperation. Azuro breathed in deeply. "I'm going to send you both to Equestria and you two are to warn the populous of their impending doom and help them stop it." He said and then turned to me, "Jack, I am going to turn you back into a human." ''What? Why?" I asked without thinking. "You will be able to move more fluidly and have access to more things. You will also be more flexible. It will be a lot more useful the the things you are fighting. Also due to the fact that you're trained with your human form." He said. "Don't you need the Elements Of Harmony for that?" "No. You see, I am the most powerful of the Interdimentional Lords. Mainly because I have bided my time and stored power for many centuries." "Can't you just stop Gengena then?" "No. I have been using a lot of power recently. I'm almost dry. I will be completely drained after turning you back and sending you both to Equis. Besides, with the power she absorbed from Tangi, she is nigh undefeatable. But she is mortal in her weakened, physical form. If you get the chance to kill her, take it." "I'm still stuck on the part about talking ponies." Flynn said while rubbing his temple. "You'll get use to it." I said with a knowing chuckle. "Alright you two, Gengena is almost to Equis. When you get back, you will have a day to prepare for the demons." "The what?" Flynn asked with a little fear invading his voice. "You know more than Jack does about these things and how to fight them." "You mean that we're going to be fighting those fucking things again?!" He asked as fear took over. "Yeah. But this time, you'll have allies instead of being on your own." Azuro said. Flynn quieted down, but he didn't calm down. "Demons? Are you kidding me?" I asked. Both shook their heads grimly. I sighed deeply and held out my hooves to my sides, closing my eyes casually. "Alright. Let her rip. I'm sick of small talk. I have demon ass to kick and friends to protect. Let's get it over with." I said. "Very well." Azuro said. Massive energy rippled around me. I could feel it coursing through my veins, burning like fire in the deepest pits of hell, filling me with power. Then it stopped. Just as fast as it had begun, it had stopped. When the whole event had passed, I opened my eyes, which were now level with Flynn and Azuro's. I took a step forward and remained balanced. "Hmm. I guess it's just like ridding a bike." I said with a smile. Flynn still wore a shocked expression. "Y-You look like me! But with different hair and eyes..." He said with intrigue. It was true, I had longer, flippy, jet black hair and startling silvery green eyes while he had a light black crew cut and hazel eyes. "You are my great, great grandson." I said with a light chuckle. "Alright. You guys ready?" Azuro asked. "As I'll ever be" Flynn said after a deep sigh. "Can't wait." I said sarcastically. Azuro nodded and flicked his wrist. Golden, glowing tendrils of light replaced the nearly gone smoky grey ones and encircled us. I began to get lightheaded as the room spun around. Well, Azuro and Flynn spun. The room was nothing but white. I felt my legs give way and I hit the floor. ~~~ "Holy Celestia! What the fuck?!" I heard Dinky scream from my slumber. I shot upright in the bed like a bullet and snapped my head to the frantic mare who was looking at me in panic. "Jack?" She asked after she had affirmed my human appearance. "Yeah..." I said. "Damn, I think I bucked you back into a human." She said with a laugh. "That's to much information." A voice groaned from the floor. Dinky flipped over me and had a knife to Flynn's throat in seconds. "Who the hay are you?!" She exclaimed. "Get your psycho girlfriend off me!" Flynn yelled. "Dinky, calm down." I said softly. "I'll show you psycho!" She screamed. "Dinky!" I said a little more forcibly, causing her to hesitate. "Calm down. Please get off of him so I can explain." I softened. She shot me a skeptical look, but backed off nonetheless. She sat on the bed, but kept casting dark looks at Flynn. "Actually, you might want to explain to everypony." Dinky said. "Yeah, that would be a good idea." I concluded. I pulled Flynn up from the ground and we all headed to the main room. Luckily, we were the first ones up. I looked around and saw a clock displayed on the map. "Holy shit! It's seven?!" Apparently Flynn had found it too. "Too early." "Actually, it's a good thing. That means we can call everypony here and explain rather than scare the shit out of them." I said. Flynn opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn't find any words to combat my logic, so he simply shut it. I searched the room a bit more and found a small, blue button with the word 'announcer' written across the top in block letters. Convenient. I pressed the little button and it clicked, allowing a small bit of static to flow through. "Would Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, and Princesses Luna and Celestia please report to the main room? It's kind of urgent." I said and released my pressure on the announcer button. "Kind of?" Flynn said with an eyebrow raised. "I don't want them to freak out just yet." I explained. "Why would we freak out?" Dinky asked with a small bit of fear. Before I could open my mouth to answer, Twilight's groggy voice came from the side. I always knew she was fast, but damn. "Jack?" She yawned and rubbed her eyes, "What's the mat-" She stopped dead in her sentence when she saw me. Her face contorted in many different ways, but ended in confusion. "How?!" Was all she could get out. "I'll explain when everypony gets here." I said. She hadn't even noticed Flynn. "You don't have a long wait for Luna." Twilight said with a sly smirk. I shook my head quickly as a shudder made its way down my spine. "Tsk! No mental images for me, thank you." I said. That only increased Twilight's smirk. "Mental images?" Flynn asked with a worried curiosity. I held up a hand. "You don't want to know." I said. He shrugged and left it at that. "Another one? Dude, are you bringing your entire race here or something?" Dash's voice cut across the room as she yawned. "Morning to you too..." Flynn said sarcastically. "And why are you human again?" Luna's voice floated from behind Twilight. "I'll explain everything to everypony when they all get here." I said. Celestia was the next to arrive, she shot both me and Flynn a curious look, but remained silent. "Oh my stars! How wonderful! Another human! And Jack! It's good to see you back in your human form as well." Rarity said from the other side of the room. "What took you?" I asked. "Why, all this beauty doesn't come without time, darling." She answered. I sighed. "Alright, everypony accounted for?" I asked. "Now." Spike said from the room that Rarity had just came from. Had they slept in the same room... I quickly shoved the thought down into the deepest recesses of my mind. "Good... Now, I'm sure you want some explanations." I said. All of the ponies, and Spike, nodded. "Well, you see. Flynn here is my great, great grandson from Earth." "You had kids?!" Dinky exclaimed. "What? No! Azuro did something." I said. Everypony in the room, except Celestia and Luna, raised their eyebrows in confusion. Actually, Celestia and Luna looked a little mad at me. "He is the Interdimensional Lord of Equis. He watches over this place and all its denizens. You ponies might know him a little better as Darkwind The Fierce." I explained. "Darkwind? The same pony who's spell turned you human? How is that possible." Twilight asked. I took a deep breath and explained everything about Azuro and his race. "...Turns out Azuro had a brother and a sister. His sister is evil and is the one who corrupted Chrysalias." I finished the explanation about Azuro, Tangi, and Gengena. "I always knew that mare had good in her. Before she attacked and killed everypony, that is." Luna said with a sad shake of her head. "Now here is the bad news..." I said and rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "Go ahead." All of the ponies in the room urged. "Well... You see... Uh... Um..." "Oh for pete's sake!" Flynn interrupted me, "Gengena is sending demons to come and kill all of you!" He said in exasperation. All of the ponies gasped and their faces filled with fear. "Yeah. What he said." I said. "When?" Twilight asked. "Tomorrow." I stated grimly. "Damn it! We just won a war! Do we really have to jump back into the fire so soon?" Rainbow said, then lowered her gaze, "I think we lost enough ponies last time..." "I agree with Dash on this one." Rarity chimed in. "I wish we had a choice..." I said. Celestia took a deep sigh. "This time, we are out of Ambroci. So if anypony gets fatally wounded..." She trailed off, not needing to finish the thought. "Well, what is everypony standing around for? We're use to war. Let's tell everypony and get to preparing." Spike said, breaking the grim silence. Luna nodded and headed over to the announcer, then turned back to us before she clicked the button. "You might want to cover your ears." She warned. Everypony, including Me, Flynn, and Spike, covered our ears. The lunar princess put her hoof on the little blue button and cleared her throat. "CITIZENS OF EQUESTRIA! WE DEMAND THY TO REPORT TO THE COURTYARD FOR TERRIBLE NEWS!" Her voice rang clearly, and still much to loudly for my taste. I cringed at the volume of her voice, even with my palms pressed tightly against my ears, it still hurt. I could only feel sorry for the ponies on the other end of that speaker. I let my hands fall and then shook my head to rid my eardrums of the small pain. "Loud enough?" Flynn asked sarcastically while sticking a pinky in his ear to rid it of ringing. "It got the job done. I say we have about five minutes to get out there." Twilight jumped to her defense. "Well then, let's get the bad news over with..." I said with a deep sigh.