Searching for Six Ponies (And Discord if I Feel Like It)

by Coltsguy

Stop Focusing on the Fountain, Stupid

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

I looked at her for a second.

"Are you a cyborg or an android?"

"I am an android sir."

"You know what? That always confused me. How is it that everyone seems to know almost instantly whether or not someone was an android or a cyborg just by looking. Until I saw that episode with the androids that destroyed themselves, at least I think it was that episode, I always thought that you guys were real people with real thoughts and feelings. Then, I get told that you have pseudo-thoughts and pseudo-feelings. Well, I say that isn't fair! I want you to be a real boy!"

I snapped my fingers at her and after a quick glow she turned into teenage version of herself.

"Not quite what I had in mind, but close enough."

To be honest, I probably should have helped her out a bit after her transformation, but I was too focused on finding Applejack to do so. Not exactly a nice thing that I did. After I changed her, I moved past the front counter and went into the interior of the building.

I don't think I mentioned it, but the reception area, for some reason, was a boring little area that was just so plain that describing it would have been a waste of time. Well, the desk was nice anyway. In contrast, when I opened the doors to the right of the receptionist's desk, I was in awe.

The place had a very almost open air feel to it. The ceiling started at about fifteen stories up and made the entire place very roomy. Other than some pillars to support the structure, the entire room was a great piece of work. The whole thing was centered around a fifty foot tall cascading fountain. It had a very natural look to it which I enjoyed. It wasn't a marble-like fountain. It was more of a waterfall that fell on all sides with rocks and ledges all around it. I kid you not, I was unnaturally drawn to how cool that fountain was. I wish I had a camera.

The rest of the wide open area was more of a professional tone. Several desks with people working at them were spread around the room. I was expecting some computers at these desks, but I realized how dumb that would be while working near a fountain. Of course, working near a fountain made no sense at all really.

Ignoring that, I continued to stand in the doorway and kept looking around and kept spotting strangeness. Firstly, there were no stairs or elevators anywhere. How could you access the upper floors? Secondly, I had just barged into a law firm and nobody had come to stop me yet. I'm pretty sure I had been surveying that room for at least a couple of minutes. I was an intruder. Where was the security? There was also the fact that despite seeing all of the people working there, not one of them had acknowledged that I was even there. Sure I couldn't see their eyes, but not even a head movement seemed to be given towards me. Then again, they could all be androids so that one might be explainable.

"Despite that cool fountain, I don't like the smell of this place. It reeks of a front."

I walked in and around the place for a bit. Even as I strode up to one of the desks where someone was working, I was still not acknowledged by the person working there. As I walked in front of one of the people working, I noticed something pretty cool. There was actually a display embedded in the desk that they were manipulating. Being that I love working on my computer back home, this really piqued my interest. It seemed like she was interacting with it using both her hands and her cyberbrain. I hate to say that I thought this, but I honestly thought about how you could look up porn with a cyberbrain and a terminal like this. Not my proudest moment to be certain.

"Of all the things in this place, you look at the most boring thing in here. Disappointing."

I had no idea where the voice came from. It seemed to come from every direction at once. Though, I did know who it belonged to.

Vlad. He was going to get personal on this one. I knew he could be anywhere, so instead of looking for where he was I simply answered him.

"It's called information gathering. Besides, other than the fountain, which I will admit is the best looking fountain I have ever seen, this place is pretty devoid of things to look at."

"It is quite impressive isn't it?" he stated in a much clearer, yet still all surrounding tone. "Despite all the people I've had come through here, not one person has commented on it."

"That is kind of sad. Maybe you should place it outside instead? It would be quite the view for people all around here."

"Ah, but that would defeat it's true purpose here."

"Let me guess. It's controlling the cyberbrains of everyone in this room to do your bidding."

"Clever boy. No one has ever figured it out so quickly. I must applaud you for that."

The sound of faux applause echoed around the room in place of his voice.

"Did you whip this up, or did you have Technus create this? And before you answer, I should let you know that I don't really care which of you did it. It's not the reason I'm here. Besides, I'm a natural. I have no cybernetics for you to hack. Overshadowing may be a problem, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Intriguing. A naturalist coming into this place, but still fascinated by technology. I'm sure there's a story there. However, you are intruding on my place of business. I must ask that you leave."

"I'll leave after you give me my friend. She's the reason I'm here."

"Ahh, that makes sense now. A rescue mission for your dear beloved. How droll."

"I don't have romantic feelings for ponies dipstick."

There was a quick pause.

"Well, well, well, so you know the talking horse. She said her friends would come to get her. I guess she was right, though I was expecting more talking ponies and not some naturalist person. She is quite the interesting specimen."

Oh that made me angry.

"I swear to you Vlad, if you hurt her I will do things that will haunt my dreams."

"Ooooh, quite the threat my dear boy. Too bad you don't have any way to back it up."

I smirked.

"Back this up," I said and snapped my fingers.

As I did so, the water in the fountain turned red in color. Unless he was there, it looked exactly like blood.

"What did you do to my fountain?" he asked in a much angrier tone.

"I replaced the water with blood. Elf blood to be precise."

An Aqua Teen reference. I never make those. It just seemed fitting for some reason.

"A likely story brat. I won't hand her over to you with threats like that."

"Then how about some different threats."

I snapped my fingers and a large boulder appeared over the fountain; ready to fall at any moment.

"Let her go, or I drop this boulder on the fountain."

"Are. You. Nuts?" he angrily spat out.

"Give. Me. APPLEJACK!!!" I spat back.

"Very well!!!" he yelled angrier than ever. "I'll bring you your precious little Applejack."

"And no tricks!" I added. "I'll know if it's the real Applejack or not."

"And how do I know you'll keep up your end of the bargain?"

"Hey! I just fought off Danny Phantom and Section 9 in order to get here. I don't care what it is you're doing. I just want to take her and get her back home."

"You fought Danny Phantom and Section 9? You must be quite talented to have escaped them," he stated with a bit less anger in his voice.

"Teleporting has it's advantages. Now quit stalling and bring her here."

"Oh, you're no fun."

"That's what she said!"

I snapped my fingers and a drum set quickly appeared and did a quick sting rimshot before disappearing.

I didn't hear a rebuttal. I hoped that meant that he was on his way down with Applejack. In the meantime, I looked up at the boulder I created. It was a neat trick to cancel gravity around the boulder to keep it in the air above the fountain. I could cancel it at any time, and if someone touched the boulder itself, the spell would break on it's own and it would come crashing down. I was surprised at how I came up with that right on the spot.

After about eight minutes, according to my watch, I heard a whirring sound. I turned to the spot it was coming from and noticed a panel on the wall coming out and sliding to the left. Behind the door was a set of elevator doors. That was pretty clever. A secret elevator to move around unnoticed was a pretty useful tool.

There was a quick ping and the doors slid open. On the other side was Vlad Masters and a very unamused Applejack. From here she looked unharmed. That was good. Just thinking about what he might have done made me see a few spots.

It was then Applejack caught a glimpse of me and her eyes lit up. Just before she said something, the spots in my eyes vanished and were replaced by a watery sensation instead.

"Seth! Ya came ta help me!"

"That's what friends do, Applejack. Sorry it was just me. All the Elements were sucked up like you were and I couldn't come with the Princesses. You were the closest so I came for you first."

"Well I appreciate it. This feller has been most unfriendly tah me."

"Yeah. Supervillains are like that sometimes. Let's get you out of here."

"Not so fast, Seth," interrupted Vlad. "The boulder comes first."

"No, Applejack comes first. Of the two of us, I am the more trustworthy here, Vlad. Besides, you're not taking this very seriously at all if you came here looking like that."

"You are going to critique my attire? I am wearing a pressed suit that cost 140,000 yen. What are you wearing? Some dinky pants and a shirt that probably cost about 3,000 altogether?"

"They were free and that's not the point. I mean you came down here as a human. While I appreciate that, that also means that you don't really think I'm that much of a threat. Or, it means that you have a duplicate somewhere around here ready to ambush me or move the boulder. I'd advise against the latter. I've rigged the boulder quite well against tampering."

He seemed to get a little angry at what I said, but like a professional he kept his composure in the face of his enemy. Of course, the little pause where he seemed to think about things gave me the chance to look at his features more intently. Despite the pressed suit, which I'll admit was pretty stylish, he was complimenting it with some very nice dress shoes and a bluish-grey tie. It covered him well, but when I saw his face I began to wonder about a few things.

His hairstyle was, in fact, the only visual feature that helped me recognize him. From what I could tell, he had probably gone full prosthetic at some point. His hair was completely black instead of having a white streak going down the middle. His face had an easily youthful appearance. His eyes, though, were quite creepy. It was like looking in a doll's eyes. When I had looked into the eyes of the Major earlier, they were still glassy, but I had at least seen some warmth still hidden deep down in them. With Vlad here, that sensation was nowhere to be found.

"It seems, my dear boy, that you know a great deal more than you let on. The talk about Technus just a few minutes ago, the knowledge of a duplicate of me, the acknowledgement of Danny Phantom and Section 9. None of those things are public knowledge and yet you know about all of them. I don't believe you are as trustworthy as you say you are."

"I merely stated that I was the more trustworthy of the two of us. If I included Applejack here, then I bet I would run a distant second. She is the most honest being I know of."

Although she kept silent, I saw her blush slightly and smile at the compliment. A bit odd, but nice to see at any rate.

"Enough idle chit chat! You will remove the boulder now or your precious little pony will suffer the consequences!"

He supplemented the threat by changing into his ghost form. Watching that happen in real life was pretty cool. A circular beam of black light spread out from his waistline rather quickly. Black light is pretty odd. Then, it separated into two and traveled up and down in different directions as it changed his appearance into a negative of colors. I was sort of expecting a jumpsuit like from the t.v., but I was wrong. He still had some slightly over-sized black gloves and boots that appeared on him extremities, though, and from what I could tell he did start to appear slightly transparent. To finish the look, the circular beam of light passed over the top of his head and revealed a blue face and glowing red eyes, plus the hair color I had seen from the show; a weird white streak down the middle of his hair.

"What in tarnation is that?"

"That, my friend, is Vlad Plasmius. His ghostly alter-ego. He's way more dangerous in that form."

"Right you are. Now, remove the boulder," he said. He then created a ball of ghostly energy in his hand and held it near her. "Or else your friend will become part of my next barbeque."

I looked at the situation. Doing what he said was out of the question. My hanging threat was all that was keeping him in line. If it disappeared, he wouldn't hesitate to try and take us both. His threat, however, was a pressing one. I didn't have any real speed so there was nothing I could do to cover the distance and save her in time. I only had one possibility that I could think of that would help right now.

"Alright, you win. Just don't hurt her."

"Smart boy."

I held up my hand and prepared to snap my fingers.

Please, let this work, I thought.

I snapped my fingers and Applejack disappeared.

"What!?!"

I snapped them again and Applejack appeared a few feet in front of me. I grabbed my coin and held it out in front of me. The entire side of the coin was glowing. It was her alright.

Meanwhile, Vlad proceeded to fire a ghost ray at us in anger. I threw up a dome shield which it impacted upon. I didn't feel any give to it so as far as I could tell, we were safe.

"So, you have ghost powers as well? Another ghost/human hybrid it seems? I guess it's no longer just the three of us anymore."

Oh crap. Three? That sent off some warning bells. There were just Danny and Vlad in the series. There must be some third person in this place. Knowing may be helpful, but I'd rather just get back with Applejack and not have to worry about it.

"I am not a ghost, doofus. I'm a mage. It's different."

His eyes narrowed upon me as I said that.

"A mage? What kind of fool do you take me for?"

"The kind that obviously doesn't believe what he sees before him. The talking pony you had to believe, but the fact that I can use magic is giving you trouble? There are things in the world that you simply cannot comprehend I see. That is your failing."

"Plus, yer a real nasty feller," added Applejack.

He looked at us angrily for a few moments and then, suddenly, he let out a sigh and composed himself.

"Perhaps you are right. Simply dismissing what you are capable of is a bit rash of me. Perhaps when this is over, I'll study you a great deal more carefully."

I did not like his tone. Even through the blue tint of my magic shield, he still gave me the impression that he could get to me. I didn't want to test that theory.

"Come on Applejack. Let's get out of here."

As I started walking towards her, I heard laughter coming from Vlad.

"Do you really think that I'll allow the two of you to leave?"

As he said that, I saw Applejack's eyes grow wide as they seemed to look past me. Confused as I was, I turned around to see what she saw.

It was another Vlad. He was inside my shield.

"You came thorough the floor didn't you?"

"Hindsight won't save you, boy!"

He held up his hand and blasted me square in the chest. I'm glad my shield dropped before I was flung about twenty feet away. Of course, waiting those twenty feet away was one of the worker's desks. Thankfully, it had some give to it where I didn't stop after I was thrown into it. I'm also glad I didn't run into the person working behind it. Why Vlad had kept them all working there instead of having them leave was beyond me.

After I ran through the desk, I still skidded another ten feet or so before stopping. None of that felt good at all. Though, I think the ghost ray hurt worse than the desk. I rubbed my chest and stood up. I looked over to see the first Vlad now standing by Applejack and the second Vlad. I held up my hand to blast him with a beam of magic, when I was grabbed at the wrist. I looked at who grabbed me and was very unhappy about it.

It was one of the workers. They had gotten up and grabbed my arm before I could attack Vlad. I looked around and noticed that all of the other workers had now risen from their desks. That was why he hadn't made them leave. There were now a couple hundred people standing around and it seemed like they were all about to become my enemy.

"I'd say you're playing dirty now, but I expected this kind of thing from you. Just in hindsight, mind you. Otherwise, I would have dropped that boulder already."

"If's and but's my dear boy. You really believed that I-oof!!!"

I watched in surprise as Applejack promptly bucked the first Vlad in the gut. It was surprising only considering that I thought she would pass right through him since he was a ghost right now. Perhaps it was an effect of earth pony magic. I'll just leave it at that. There was no way I could figure that out on my own.

The second Vlad quickly brought up some odd energy cage around her to stop her from doing anything else. It looked like I was on my own.

"Freeze!!!"

Or maybe not. I looked over to where the voice came from and saw something that made me smile.

It was Danny Phantom and Section 9. They had indeed followed me here.

"You! This does not concern you Daniel!"

"It does if you are keeping people against their will!"

"I am doing no such thing!"

"Let's see if that's true," I said and snapped my fingers. As soon as I did, the boulder dropped from it's floating spot and plummeted onto the fountain. It immediately crushed the top of the fountain and sparks and debris flew from the area in all directions.

"NO!" he shouted.

A few seconds after the boulder had settled, the people all around us fell to the ground unconscious.

"The control spire! It's ruined!"

"Give up Vlad!" yelled the Major. "You are outnumbered and outgunned."

He looked around the room at Danny, the five members of Section 9 that had stormed in, myself, and finally Applejack. I already saw his plan.

"Don't you do it Vlad!" I yelled.

"Don't do what? Don't use every means at my disposal to make sure that I escape? You are a fool!"

He then looked over to Danny and the Major.

"I will be walking out of here unharmed or the horse suffers!"

He contracted the cage slightly to press his point. As that happened, she let out a yelp of pain.

It was all I needed to get angry.

"No, Vlad. That is not what is going to happen," I said.

The first Vlad brought his eyes to me while the second one kept an eye on the others.

"Oh really? What can you possibly do to me while I hold her in this cage? You may have been able to teleport her away from me earlier, but I learn quickly from my mistakes. She is completely trapped inside this energy cage. The very second anyone tries to do anything to me the cage will contract; crushing her violently. You can do nothing against me."

I smirked at him. This only made him angry.

"What do you find so amusing?"

"You just don't get it, do you? Screw the rules. I've got chaos magic."

I snapped my fingers and, instead of teleporting her through the cage's barrier like I had planned, she started to grow. She grew and pressed up against the cage around her. As that happened, I was glad that she didn't seem to be in any pain. When she touched that before it had hurt. Not this time. She kept growing and eventually the cage broke apart as she continued to grow. Ten feet, twenty, then thirty. Finally, she stopped at about forty feet tall.

"Oh this is just awesome," I stated almost giddily.

"What in Sam hill did you tah me?"

"I got you free. Go ahead and buck that jerk!"

She looked down at Vlad and reared up her hind leg.

"Oh butter biscuits!" he exclaimed.

Her hoof flew towards the two Vlad's and connected with tremendous force. The two sped straight through the wall and off to who knows where.

"Hah! That was awesome!" I yelled.

"You idiots!" yelled the Major. "How are we supposed to arrest him now?"

I snapped my fingers and Applejack returned to normal right by my side.

"Oh come on now. We busted up his operation and now he's exposed to the world for what he is. Not the ghost part, perhaps, but I'm pretty sure you can nail him for kidnapping and brain jacking. You heard what I said from this transmitter, right?"

I lifted up my coin and pointed at the device on it.

"At least I hope it was transmitting what I said. It'll seem silly if I was talking for no reason."

"He is right, Major," Danny said. "We did receive a good deal of intel from that transmitter."

"There's also the fact that neither of us are Japanese citizens. I'm an American and, well, she's from Equestria. I suppose I did kind of resist arrest, but I don't think I did anything really wrong."

"The varmint took me by force, so I'm sure as shootin' grateful fer what he did."

I think the talking pony made them stop for a second. That, or they were contemplating what to do with us.

"I think we ought to cut them some slack, Major," said Danny.

"Ughh, fine. You're free to go."

"Woohoo!!!" I yelled. "Victory high five and some hugs! Who's with me?"

I saw just about everyone facepalm after I said that.

"Well, it seems I've worn out my welcome. Let's get you home, Applejack."

"Thank ya kindly there, Seth."

I knelt down on one knee and held out the coin for Applejack.

"Go ahead and place your hoof on the coin and we are out of here."

She slowly raised her hoof up and placed it onto the coin. The coin started to glow brightly and soon enough the glow encompassed my vision entirely.

Comments

[TenebrisSol]

I snapped my fingers and, instead of teleporting her through the cage's barrier like I had planned, she started to grow.

Ten feet, twenty, then thirty. Finally, she stopped at about forty feet tall.

Oh my god, it's applezilla everyone run.

[kragor]

Oh man, this crossover stuff is badass, wonder if you have plans for any Code Geass stuffs.

[Coltsguy]

2054414 I have one slot I haven't thought of yet. I might do that.

[PotatoManato]

2054414

...I...I don't even know what the hell that is...

[booklover41]

5243597 same here buddy!