CRASH!
"...You know, for a demon that supposedly killed some of the greatest warriors across the universe, you sure are clumsy," Gizmo said, sitting on the elongated part of my head like it was a bench. I grunted in annoyance, pushing away another tree in my way.
"Not my fault someone had to put all these trees in my way." It wasn't the best comeback, but hell, it was a nice reference. Too bad I was the only one who got it.
We were currently on the way to Gizmo's home so I could read up more on this place. I hated going in blind so I wanted to learn as much as I could about this world. Fortunately, the walk wasn't too long and with tireless pace and long stride, we were making great time. It turns out that I no longer got tired, or at the very least, got tired easily since I just spent the whole night awake without feeling even a bit exhausted. I honestly had no clue if that was good or bad considering that if I don't get my sleep, well... lets just say it'll be equal to not giving a lion meat to eat.
Soon I saw the ruins of a castle in the distance and ran to it, grateful that there was no longer trees in my way. Gizmo yelped and held onto my helmet tighter.
'Yes! Soon I'll have a book in my hands and maybe even find a way to get back ho-' My brain stopped, all movement in my body ceased, and Gizmo almost fell off from the sudden stop.
"Hey, what gives?" he asked before tapping a horn. "Hello? U'Zuhl, are you there?"
I took a step back and a deep breathe to calm myself. "Gizmo, why didn't you mention that there's a ravine around your home?"
Gizmo just shrugged, or I assumed he did. "I figured the big bad demon wouldn't need to know something like that. Why?"
It was a little embarrassing but I was absolutely terrified of heights. It all started when...ah fuck it, I ain't going flashback mode so let just say that it involved ten year old me, a dare, the highest water tower in town, and the fire department. It wasn't just the height that scared me, but the fact that if you fell, you were at the complete mercy of gravity; and gravity is far from merciful.
'So walk away and miss out on books or suck it up and just run it?' I went over my choices and I let out a small sob of despair at what I had to do. Even worse, considering how I had to get to that castle, since no way in hell that wooden bridge was going to hold me.
I stretched a bit before lowering myself like a professional runner. "Gizmo, I recommend that you hang on tight and don't let go." The serious tone in my voice was enough to convince him and he hugged one of my horns with both arms. I waited for a second...
And then I ran straight for the ravine.
Outskirts of Ponyville. Saber
Saber was currently on her way to Ponyville when she heard a voice echo through the air.
"LEEEEEEEROOOOOOY JEEEEEEEEENKINNNNNNNSSSSS!"
Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Nick
I was on my knees from the jump, panting more out of fear than exhaustion while Gizmo shakily fell to the ground.
"W-w-why did you do that?" he asked, still shaking from the massive jump I took. I severely underestimated at how strong my legs were now as I jumped high enough to nearly smack some birds, which did not help my fear of heights in the slightest. I stood back up, glad to see that my legs weren't shaking like how they normally would whenever I went up somewhere high.
"I wanted to get it over with as quick as possible," I said as I picked him up. "Now to the library so I could forget that horrible experience." With Gizmo leading the way, we entered the castle.
Ponyville. Saber
Saber stood in the middle of Ponyville, her stance one that screamed military despite her armor not being on. She was told that Princess Celestia had sent a letter ahead to Princess Twilight to tell her about her coming along to assist them. Saber mentally went over her armory.
'Swords, shields, armor, healing and mana potions,' she thought, eyes closed to see all of her items in Hammerspace. 'Everything is here so now I just have to wait for Princess Twilight.' Saber opened her eyes-
And was greeted with blue eyes and a smiling face.
Saber yelped in surprise and fear, summoning a sword by reflex before realizing that they belong to Pinkie Pie, Bearer of Laughter.
"Hi! You must be the captain that Twilight said that will be helping us find the mean old demon in the Everfree. So she told me to go and meet you here but I wanted to buy you a cupcake first to welcome you to Ponyville since I can't throw you a party right now but I Pinkie Promise to throw you one once this is all over! Anyways I brought you a cupcake but then I thought 'Pinkie you don't know what her favorite flavor is' and so I thought back 'What the hay, let's just buy her a dozen and let her pick' so here you go!"
Somehow she managed to say all that in one breath and pulled a box out of her mane while Saber just stared at her with wide eyes. A pony walked by her and said,
"Don't worry, you'll get used to her... hopefully."
Twilight. Golden Oaks Library
"Twi' are you sure it was a good idea to ask Pinkie to get the captain?" Applejack asked as she looked up from her book about zebra demons. She wasn't the only one, as each pony had a book regarding demons somehow. Fluttershy and Rarity got the tamest ones, like how a demon would turn ponies into animals or gold, while she, Dash and Twilight had the more...darker ones. "And do we really have to read these books?"
Twilight nodded her head, three books surrounding her. "Yes Applejack, we need to figure out what kind of demon we're dealing with. Each race has it's own demons and each one have their own weakness so its important that we know what we're dealing with. And I sent out Pinkie because well..." The purple alicorn looked at the book fort that Pinkie made, complete with the party cannon right at the entrance. "I think the party fort is evidence enough."
The door opened and in came Pinkie and the royal guard captain that Twilight knew as Saber who had a box balanced on her back.
Saber immediately bowed to her. "Princess Twilight, by order of Princess Celestia I am here to assist you with the demon. I hope that you have been doing your best to find out more about it?"
Twilight's expression fell at that. "Unfortunately there isn't much to find. The demon that we saw isn't listed in the demonology books I have, and the closest comparison I can think of is Cannibal Minotaur of the Maze but it was recorded that it was slain by Prince Theseus centuries ago."
The blue coated pony thought about this for a second. "Well, I believe that we can handle it as long as we proceed carefully. Demons aren't very smart but once it sees the Elements, then I believe it'll cooperate."
Dash decided to speak up, flying up into the air. "And if it doesn't, we'll give it a good old fashion beating." She punched the air to drive her point, making some of her friends roll their eyes at their behavior.
"I think that's unlikely Dash, since demons seem to be downright terrified of the Elements. Look at this," Twilight said and began to read out of a book. "I watched The Impaler, the most horrible demon that Griffons have ever fought, tremble in fear as Princesses Celestia and Luna showed him the Elements of Harmony. Who could imagine that the demon that slaughtered countless Griffons without a shred of mercy would be scared of jewelry? The Impaler was one of the most dangerous demons in Equestria and even he was scared of the Elements of Harmony."
Rarity stood up, brushing away a very nonexistent speck of dust off her coat. "So what you’re saying is that we may not even have to fight the horrible demon after all." Twilight nodded her head and Rarity smiled. "Perfect. Then maybe we won't take too long on this trip. I'm working on a new design I have in mind."
"And I need to get back to bucking," Applejack said as Pinkie jumped into her fort.
"I have to help the Cakes with the contest next week!" Pinkie's head peaked over a book wall, a pot on her head as she looked around the room. "I'm sure that mean old demon won't stand a chance against us."
Twilight smiled at her. "Of course Pinkie. When all of us work together, nothing is impossible. And besides, this demon may be scary, but it can't be worse or more powerful than Nightmare Moon, Discord, or King Sombra."
Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Nick
I sneezed, the entire library shaking as I did. Gizmo held a stack of books to keep them from falling over.
"Whoa. Bless you."
"Thanks." We were currently in a large library and I was greedily devouring books left and right to learn. It was a stroke of pure luck that the language was English and with my skills as a fast reader, I was already done with their history. And let me just say, that it was a complete bore to read.
Apparently Equestria hasn't seen widespread conflict for a very, very, very long time, not since the Purging of Demons which was nearly four thousand years ago. That was interesting as it turns out that demons did exist here but they were either killed or ran back into Tartarus in fear of the Elements of Harmony. I wasn't too keen on learning that considering I have no idea on what effects these 'Elements' could have on me. Reading about this world's demons made them sound more like wild, dangerous animals than the Chaos Daemons of Warhammer 40k, so I guess I should be happy about that.
With the lack of constant conflict, that meant that the military had to be incredibly weak from centuries of peace and money funneling into other things. It was an advantage I was going to use to the fullest as I try to complete my goal, finding a way home.
'A goal that is getting farther and farther away with each book,' I thought unhappily as I placed down another book. In every book about magic I've read, most had nothing on cross world teleportation and the few that did merely said that it was theory. I still kept hope though, as this library looked fairly old, meaning that these books had to be outdated. So this meant that other libraries had to have more up to date information on magical advancements.
"What exactly are you looking for?" Gizmo asked from his chair, a book in paw.
I grunted in annoyance as I opened another book. "Something important but every book I've read has nothing on what I need."
"Maybe I could go to another library and look for what you need? There's a town not too far from here but..." Gizmo trailed off and I motioned for him to continued. "It's called Ponyville, and I think the name speaks for itself."
Ponies, ugh. I can deal with Gizmo since I liked dogs but I don't trust myself around ponies and I'm pretty sure that their screams of terror will give me a headache.
"Anywhere else?"
"Well there's Canterlot, the capital that's on the side of a mountain."
"Hell no." Getting that close to the capital AND near a mountain, no way man.
"Manehattan? Its far but I heard that it's libraries are always up to date."
"Maybe." I flicked away a spider that got a little too close, watching it go splat against a wall.
"Seaddle?" Okay, are all the names of these places here puns?
"How about we stay for a bit longer. I haven't read everything here yet so there's a chance I might find something." Well, that and I wanted explore the castle. Places like this always had some hidden goodies if you knew where to look.
Gizmo shrugged and leaned back into his chair. "Fine with me. If you want to walk around, just watch out for the traps this place has. On second thought," he said as he shook his head. "Try not to break the traps too badly." With that, he went back into his book as I stood up and began to explore the castle.
Luckily, the size was big enough for me to easily walk through the halls without any trouble, but the doors often had me crawling through them on my hands and knees. So far I haven't found anything of interest besides a private reading room, a container filled with white liquid, and some strange writing in the dungeons that I wasn't too keen on checking out. For all I knew, it could summon some insane creature from another realm.
In a another Equestria, a knight that praised the sun sneezed.
I walked through the halls, each step making the walls shake and dust fall from their places. 'Well this sucks! I thought this place would have something cool like, I don't know, a magically animated suit of armor or something.'
In a another Equestria, a suit of magically animated armor somehow sneezed and almost burnt one of his ponies.
'Just dust and ruins everywhere I go in this place.'
CRACK!
I froze and slowly looked down at my feet. `Webs of cracks were on the ground where my feet were, spreading out very quickly. I could only assume that I stepped on an unstable part of the floor and uttered a single word.
"Fuck."
And with that, the ground gave away and I fell into the darkness below.
Everfree. Mane Six and Saber
Saber stared at the rotting corpse that was a Chimera with a keen and focused gaze, while Twilight, Applejack, and Dash stood behind her. Fluttershy took one look at the corpse and would have fainted if Rarity didn't quickly pull her away and have her sit on her couch. She and Pinkie were currently making sure that Fluttershy stayed awake while the rest inspected the Chimera for any clues on the demon's abilities.
The Royal Guard Captain got closer to the Chimera, ignoring the smell of decay it gave off. "It appears that the demon struck where it would deal the most damage." She poked where the ribs should be but only felt soft tissue instead of hard bone. "And it seems to be incredibly strong. I'm not even feeling any ribs on this thing."
The three ponies behind her turned green as Saber magically opened the lion's jaws and put her head almost inside it. "I'm even seeing bits of bone in here."
Dash had to hold back her lunch as Saber began using her hooves to open the mouth wider. "Twilight, is she sane?"
"She is, Dash. My brother told me that Saber is just really dedicated to her job." Her coat took a deeper color of green as Saber actually put a hoof in the blood and examined it up close. "...Although, I have to ask him exactly how dedicated."
Saber summoned a rag and wiped her hoof clean of blood. "Alright, we can safely assume that the demon's strength lies with it's physical power, so we must make sure we don't get too close to it. Those tracks indicate that it probably left after the battle." She pointed at the large tracks that led away from the clearing. "We will follow it until nightfall, then continue where we left off in the morning. Rainbow Dash." Said pony stiffened into attention as Saber's eyes bore into her, making her break into a light sweat. "Go into the air and see if you can spot the demon. If we're lucky, then maybe it didn't go too far, so I want to make sure we don't run into it."
Dash nodded and took off into the air. After gathering Fluttershy and agreeing to go around the corpse, the group set off, following the tracks of the demon deeper into Everfree.
Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Nick
'Ow... If I ever find someone named gravity, I will beat the living shit out of them just to vent out my anger,'I thought, getting back to my feet after the fall. Looking around, I saw that I was in a cave of sorts with, luckily, the exit nearby. In the other direction though was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful things I ever laid eyes on.
It was a tree that appeared to be made of crystal, with large gems that had smaller gems inside them growing on it's branches. The center looked like a star, while on it's trunk was a picture of the sun and moon. The hole that was made when I fell allowed sunlight to touch it, giving it that divine look, but I had a feeling that even without the light, it would still give off it's own glow.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed and, don't ask me how, I felt hostility in the air. My eyes flashed around, looking for some sort of eternal guardian, because something like this always had some sort of crazy powerful guardian protecting it. Considering how my luck was going, I wouldn't be surprised if whatever this world considered an angel came out of nowhere and began to beat the living shit out of me.
Then the star on the tree began to glow and I finally realized where the hostility was coming from.
"Whoa whoa whoa! I'm not here to cause any trouble!" I put my hands up in a gesture of peace but it didn't do much as the star glowed brighter with each passing second. I really didn't want to even touch the tree since, thanks to years of playing MMORPG, it was obviously something very important.
As in, 'we need it to live' important.
The star was even brighter now, truly looking like one, and I decided on the best course of action. I booked it.
A very small but loud piece of my mind called me a coward for running, but the rest of my mind told it to shut the fuck up as I ran for the exit. I risked a glance back and I saw the tree suddenly release this wave of energy that was quickly catching up with me.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" I repeated like a parrot on crack, getting out and running toward a wall. I saw that the ledge wasn't too high and decided to simply give my fear of heights the middle finger and jump for it. Unfortunately, in mid air, the energy wave caught up to me. It felt like the time I was skateboarding once and accidentally slammed into an eighteen wheeler, that feeling of your body meeting something it can't move at high speeds.
"FFFFUUUUUCCCKKK!" I roared as I flew through the air and over the forest. "I HATE THIS WORLD!"
Everfree Forest. Saber and Mane Six
"Well I'm not seeing anything from up there," Rainbow Dash said as she landed near the group. "The forest is too thick for me to see anything now."
Saber nodded her head. "Then we shall proceed with caution from here on out. Everypony make sure to be as quiet as possible."
Fortunately they were already doing that. The creepiness of the Everfree had an effect on ponies, with the exception of Pinkie, who was bouncing around. They may have been in the forest before, but they had never hunted a demon before. The trail it left behind was easy enough to follow and thanks to Fluttershy asking the animals if they had seen anything, they were going in the right direction.
Suddenly Saber stopped, ears upright, and summoned two swords. "I heard something. Be ready." Twilight nodded her head and brought out the Elements of Harmony, giving each element to her friends. Then a Manticore jumped out of the foliage, roaring and displaying it's superiorit-
It froze in place when a sword stabbed inches away from a very important organ for males.
Saber glared at it and uttered one sentence in a tone so cold it could freeze a pool. "Leave, or you will become a lioness."
The Manticore ran off, leaving behind a trail of piss, wondering why does he kept encountering the wrong kind of prey.
The captain returned her blades back to Hammerspace and looked at the six behind her. "Alright, we'll continue for a few more hours then stop and make camp. Understood?" They all nodded their heads, too scared by Saber's action to protest. Unfortunately they never noticed the fact the Manticore's roar managed to hide another roar from another creature.
A creature that flew over their heads and was cursing the world.
??? Nick
"I hate this world, I hate this world, I hate this world," I repeated to myself, getting back to my feet and wiping off something from my face. I was lucky, as my body took the impact pretty well and only left me feeling very sore all over. On the downside, I had no idea where I was at. Taking a quick look around, I saw that I was in a swamp of sorts, standing in water that barely reached my knees.
Fun fact about me, I'm also kind of scared of water but to a far lesser degree compared to my fear of heights. I simply couldn't swim for my life, but it seemed that I didn't need to worry about that here.
I shuddered, and began to walk in the direction I flew from. 'Okay, just keep walking in one direction and I'm bound to reach the castle again.' With this in mind, I stomped through the swamp, walking over any obstacle that stood in my way.
At least until I stepped on what I thought was a bound of rocks.
It thrashed when my foot made contact with it and I stumbled back, off guard. It turned toward me and I saw legs appear from underneath it before it raised to it's full height.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me," I said as I laid eyes on what could only be describe as a crocodile on steroids. It was big; at least seven feet high and twenty feet long, with it's body covered in what had to be rocks. It's eyes were narrowed in anger and hate, and I saw it's legs tense, like how a predator would do before it struck. "I HATE THIS WORLD!"
It lunged at me and, like with that crazy hybrid from before, my body ran forward to meet it as my thoughts become bloody.