> All Devouring Black Hole Dark Archon > by Morphile > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Waking Up > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Where am I? "You won't get away with this." said a... Woman? Mare? ... It should be a mare, if I am where I remember being. Imprisoned by a method of my request in the probably former capital of the nation I slaughtered the citizens of. "Oh I already have, the Thirsting God is awakening." replied a male. If they are talking about me, the male almost certainly isn't a pony. Any of them would not dare mess with my powers. Who are they? "I'll stop you, even if it's the last thing I do." Ah, it should be those two. Hundreds of fanfics were made invalid by that episode... "Ha, you can try! It won't get you anywhere." Said the worthless fool... Nothing but greed, hate and ego in that mind. Time to show that I'm awake. "It probably wouldn't, if I had any interest in killing her. Daring Do and Ahuizotal, if my memories of what could be are correct? "What do you mean, if you had interest in killing her!?" How disappointing. Now that I can see him, it's clear that this is a confrontation between the two I thought it was. "Wh-what do you mean if your memories of what could be are right?!" Odd. Daring Do is surprised at the mention of visions of the future. Surely she must have run into a few accurate prophecies in her adventures. Somehow, my reply stuns her again. Although that may have been due to me actually manifesting by body. Seeing an 8 foot tall thing giving off red and negative light is rather intimidating, after all."What I mean is that I have seen one of many possible futures. Not necessarily correct, mind you, but close enough that it's useful information." As expected, Ahuizotal is not the sort to just wait for a monologue, trying to strike me while I am apparently weak. "I released you! You should be a mindless destroyer at this point!" Of course, I'm not actually weak. At least not to the point of being threatened by anything less that another Protoss Archon. We are able to kill average humans just by getting close, after all. "I probably would be, if I was awake the whole time. Of course, in the interest of saving my energy and sanity, I kept myself asleep the whole time." What? I had warning that I was about to be locked up, so I decided to make sure I wasn't awake the whole time. "B-but... You ruined entire civilizations! You're made of dark magic! How could you be sane!" Of course, as she was saying this, I was taunting and picking apart the mind of Ahuizotal. I'm going to kill him anyway, so there is no reason not to get everything I can out of him. "The answer to that lies in the type of dark magic and why I killed so many that civilizations collapsed. Now, if you don't mind, I'm in the middle of tearing this fool's mind apart." Just because I can get the information without causing damage doesn't mean I want to. Besides, it's an important step in preparing to absorb souls all at once. Otherwise I have to waste a bunch more energy dissolving the mind into the conglomerate that I am. "K-k-kill y-you, I kill you!" It's honestly sad seeing someone go through multiple forms of mental degradation so fast. He's already at the point where he can't speak correctly. And why is the name Ahkmed popping into my mind? "... I'll just go curl up in the corner and cry..." Wow... Lightweight. Then again, she probably hasn't ever heard someone casually tell her to wait while they commit an atrocity she can't understand, but knows is utterly horrifying. ..."Well, time to kill him. Honestly, the whole situation here is just depressing." With that statement, I proceed to drain every scrap of magic from his jewellery, then his life, and finally absorbing his soul. That part takes all of 5 seconds. "Well, I'm leaving now. But first, a brief lecture on what I am that you will be literally incapable of forgetting." I'm not kidding. She will be incapable of forgetting it because of several layers of mind control that, together, will force her to include this event in whatever account of this trip she makes. "I am an entity made of several souls bound together with raw magical energy of the dark end of things. No hate or fear or pride or greed involved in the magic, just darkness. This setup is immensely unstable, causing me to need to add energy rapidly to offset the lost magical force holding me together. When the excess energy not involved in the basic form of what holds me together runs out, parts of the many souls I am made of start to dissolve. As my mind is held entirely in those souls, when the souls start to dissolve, so do my memories. The more souls in me, the longer it takes before that happens. The lower limit for my stability seems to be 7 souls, at which point my memories start to fade. Early on, the only way I could get more energy was by absorbing souls, but towards the end of the madness surrounding me I figured out how to drain magic without taking anything from the soul. Not that it helped, given that the amount of energy lost over time means that only things often considered gods have enough for me to last off of, although it did reduce the number of souls I have to absorb. At this point, I can go several hours of off one average pony, although the methods are most effective on unicorns as their magical power is the most easily drained. And yes, this means that I still have to kill over 1000 ponies a year. The reason those civilizations collapsed is because I killed so many that the population centers were deserted as they tried to give me fewer targets. Lecture over, so now I'm leaving." I really did need to kill thousands to avoid fading away, but thankfully it's a constant amount of energy. As long as it isn't anthemical to the sort I'm made of, the source doesn't matter, only the amount. Leaving by way of teleportation, I took the drained husk of my prison with me. After all, it could prove useful. > Eating the Original > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, What should I do now? How about head off to Ponyville to check for differences, find out when I am in the shows timeline and check to see how much power the Mane 6 have. Oh, and an important thing to know about my form of teleportation, it works by having me phase into the Void and take advantage of the malleable physics of the place to move at speeds that are normally not possible, as well as ignoring the objects in the way in normal reality. Has its downsides, largely because a path that is clear in normal reality may be blocked by the various trash species with access to it tend to throw in. Of course, due to what I am, only psionicly charged objects can block me. Suddenly, I get hit by something. Unlike the few times before, this time it talks. And it was moving fast enough that I got shoved several dozen miles away, in the same direction as what hit me. "What? Another Dark Archon? I was told Shakuras banned there creation once more!" So, I'm somewhen between Brood War and Legacy of the Void on the Starcraft side. Need more information on it. "Well, I managed to find a way to last longer. One of my long term goals is to find a way to make a permanent containment unit for Archons to allow us to last indefinitely. Or at least as long as the equipment does." I would like to stop draining energy and eating souls eventually, after all. But he doesn't need to know that. "So, you would sacrifice power for longevity? Then you are worthless." And he's doomed "I heard that! And you truly think you can beat me?" Oh, right, mind reading. How did I forget that? "Because you are an insane, pathetic excuse for an Archon." This is getting annoying. Time to Purge. "What do you mean purge?" It means you are doomed, because every scrap of psionic energy in you will be dispersed. "Impossible, no being could do such a thing to an Archon!" All at once? No. Using several dozen instances of Feedback? Yes. Goodbye. "You can't do this! I am immortal! I am a -" Pawn. A minion. A tiny speck in the plans of another. Quite certainly not a god. -10 minutes of agonizing, soul shattering draining later- Well that was useful. I just killed the real Ulrezaj and it is early Wings of Liberty on the Starcraft end, so I have a few months to get stuff done on the pony side of things before I have to go roflsomp a Dominion army. Now to find out where I am, and then find my way to the Mane 6. Immediately after exiting the void, I find myself in a village. As expected, the colors are eye searingly bright. Being cloaked, they don't notice me. Heading off to the orchard, I see that it has apples on one side of the path and oranges on the other. And is that a lemon tree? Why is there a lemon tree here? -20 minutes of being lost later- How did I get so lost in an orchard? It has clear paths, for crying out loud! At any rate, the lemon tree was not alone, it was just an outlier. There are also cherry trees here. It seems the farm is set up so that it's apples to the north, oranges to the east, lemons to the south and cherries to the west. Now, to finally see who lives here. > Learning the AU part one: Applejack > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ...Is that Applejack? It looks like Applejack, but her Cutie Mark is different. The Cutie Mark is an apple on top, an orange on the right, a lemon on the bottom and a cherry on the left. She's bringing a cart full of buckets to the barn. It looks like they are all lemons, but she may have just harvested the lemons last. Makes sense, the last few rows of trees next to the open area with the house and barn didn't have any fruit on them. At any rate, as I'm uncertain of whether or not this is Applejack, I'll go looking for Timberwolves and Void sensitive crystals. After all, I do need to get started on the containment unit that will let me go around and do things without having to worry about losing power and pieces of my souls. The ultimate jackpot would be a Khaydarin Crystal, but those things are artificially created by the Xel'Naga, so the chances of finding one are close to zero. Although if there was one on this planet, the ponies may have learned how to make use of it. -several hours later- Well, I didn't find anything of use to my goal of making a stable containment unit, but I tore apart a dozen timberwolves. Surprisingly large amount of energy in them, and they show the potential for sapience. None of the ones I found were fully sapient, and the almost-not-there mind was dominated by instinct, so I have no issues with killing them. At any rate, it's night time now, so I'm headed off to see who that mare is and how much power she has. Heading in to the house, still cloaked, I see Granny Smith and Big Mac, with the Cutie Marks being the right ones. Now, to look into the memories of this little pony... -nearly an hour later- ... It is Applejack. Still named Applejack. Apparently, instead of abandoning the Oranges, she looked into the family tree, figured out who did what and learned skills in managing a farm from all the major branches of the family. Which includes one that focuses on lemons, for some reason. Frequent meetings with the Oranges have made sure she knows how to run a business’s finances. This means the often-joked-about hip replacement for Granny Smith was paid for up front. Cherry Jubilee gets her to understand work flow, increasing the efficiency of things, including harvesting the crop and making cider. This means that the crop gets harvested a bit more quickly and with quite a bit less effort, and that there is enough time during cider season to supply enough for Ponyville and have enough left over for a significant amount of alcoholic cider that sells for a much higher price. The Apple Family proper make sure she doesn’t stop doing a good amount of the work herself, but she leaves enough time to do the finances after all the harvesting is done. And apparently the lemon branch of the family are geniuses at using rootstock and somehow made a variety of lemon tree that grows faster than peaches. Those lemon trees are in high demand as rootstock. Makes sense, as getting a 20 foot tall tree in just one year is a godsend to those who rely on rootstock to make up for slow growing trees. And the firewood value is pretty big, too. As for when I am, it's sometime before Luna coming back. Although one telling difference is that Cadence is a public figure, meaning that Twilight will probably know her official 'title'. Well, this is ponyville, so I'm going to check the bakery next. Pinkie Pie, I'm coming after you! Okie Dokie, Loki! Damnit, this is a first person fic, get out of my head! First person fic? What's that mean? ... There are going to be headaches for both of us... > Learning the AU part two: Pinkie Pie > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, Pinkie Pie may or may not be a forth wall breaker without knowing. What's a forth wall? It's a metaphor for the boundary between a fictional narrative and reality. Breaking it refers to doing something that either references the type of media the story is in, such as hopping between panels in a comic book, or directly refers to the audience. I'm actually not sure if we are living in a work of fiction, but I'm aware that we might be, and I know many thing about this world from a story I read that fits it closely. Huh. So you think I'm able to do stuff that the audience can see, but normal ponies can't? Yes, now, can you get out of my head? I'm headed over to were you should be living. Okie Dokie, Loki. Well, with that out of the way, I'm almost at Sugercube Corner. The part Pinkie's room should be in looks like rock candy instead of a cupcake, so I'm going to guess that she stayed in touch with her family on the rock farm. Knowing a bit about minerals, I can make sense of a rock farm, as almost all stone is made of a mixed up mass of crystals. This means that if you can reshape those crystals, you can make geodes out of almost any kind of rock. Granted, the types of gem in them will usually be low value, but it's still gems. Now entering the store, I immediately see a difference. There are almost no cupcakes on the display and far more muffins. And there is rock candy, mostly in the muffins. If what I think about the rock farm is true, Pinkie may have accidentally started mixing the rock farm stuff into making frosting, which led to rock candy. Simple ways of making frosting are just mixing water with sugar until you get creamy frosting, which, if mixed with something that rearranges crystals, could end up making large, solid sugar crystals. Add flavoring and/or coloring, and you have rock candy. On the way to the stairs up, I see Derpy working in the kichen. I hope this is her only job, because needing several probably full time jobs does not bode well for a person's livelihood. And apparently she is actually named Derpy, with a sister named Ditzy. Enough of the casual mind reading, time to see what Pikie has. As I get into Pinkie's room, I see that she is asleep. Either she was messing with my thoughts while asleep, which is worrying, or she falls asleep very fast. Quickly checking how much magic she has by draining it, she has a LOT more than average and it does not play well with the stuff I'm made of. Looking into her memories, I see that the Sonic Rainboom never happened, which raises some alarms. Pinkie's cutie mark is almost the same, but with the clear addition of oddly colored crystals that seem transparent holding the balloons in place. Hey, stop staring at my flank! Well, there's confirmation that she does it in her sleep. And I will be ignoring you unless you actually talk, instead of just putting thoughts in my head. Okay... I'll be quiet. Looking further into her memories, my assumptions on the rock farm were correct. Her family knows how to manipulate the shape of stones so that the different minerals merge into proper gems. To make proper use of this, they actually moved to a place with stones that have a high ratio of valuable and useful minerals. She accidentally found out about using it in a solution when mixing frosting at home, and found the rock candy delicious. However, due to the ratio of sugar to flower at her family's home, she couldn't make cupcakes, instead making muffins with rock candy sprinkles. The family found them delicious and surprisingly not wastful, making muffins replace bread at dinner as the staple. Every one of them agreed that this was for the best. Upon moving to Ponyville nearly two years ago, Pinkie was met by Derpy, who preferred cupcakes but could rarely afford the amount of sugar needed, so she usually got muffins instead. Pinkie had actually never heard of cupcakes before then, but offered to prepare some of her muffins for Derpy. After eating them, Derpy demanded to know how to make them, and Pinkie figured out how to make rock candy without magic in a day for the sole purpose of teaching Derpy how to. The unexpectedly delicious muffins are also what got her hired at Sugarcube Corner, as they were more popular and more profitable than cupcakes. Higher sales price, lower production cost, and no complaints of being too expensive or lower quality. 3 big things all businesses seek because they are amazing for profit. Now knowing that Pinkie triggered a local culinary shift that almost put Bon Bon (or Sweetie Drops) out of business, I head back down, seeing that Derpy's cutie mark is the same. Quickly checking her memories for what it means, I find that it represents being good at cleaning, of all things. And yet she does more of the cooking then Pinkie... Oh, she actually is the one who does the dishes for the shop. And focuses on the breads because Pinkie isn't patient enough to make them. Looking at her subconscious, I find the reason for her iconic eyes is that her brain can't keep her left eye on track. Okay then, onwards, to the Fluttershy. I hope she didn't end up with nasty injuries or severe trauma. That would just be depressing. > Omake 1: Feedback Versus Strong Stuff: Round 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Warhammer 40K Greater Daemon: "Well, this is going to Hell in a hand basket. Really, we're only missing a hand basket." I 'say' as I look at the swarm of Daemons of Slaanesh. "Good thing I can make psychic things explode." Targeting the Keeper of Secrets leading them, I use Feedback. -1 week later- ... How did I get knocked out? And why am I in a molten crater several dozen miles across? "You made a Greater Daemon explode with every scrap of energy in it. Consider yourself lucky that we would have ruined that world the same way if we could" Shut up, Eldrad. Archemond from Warcraft: Well, I've hung around arguing with the Bronze Dragonflight long enough to get them to cut the crap with Fatalism, so I get to actually do stuff now. Unfortunately, the 'current' event is Archemond attacking the World Tree. Let's fix that. -10 minutes of high speed travel later- "Mary Sue, HOOO!" I 'say', because I need to let out my silly side every once in awhile. "You are quite foolish if you can stop me, Voidwalker." "Well, I have hyper efficient mana burn, so your power and skill mean nothing to me." I 'say' as I try to be careful this time. Largely because the point of this is to prevent the Night Elves from loosing their immortality. Trying to make a shaped detonation, I let loose the strongest Feedback I can. -5 minutes of blinding un-light later- Well, I accidentally doomed Dranor. At least that's what the Bronze dragon that came to talk to me said. It's several million years away, anyway, so it's not like it can't be evacuated of anything left, which the Bronze dragon agrees with. And I'm now banned from using Feedback on Azeroth. Something about no visible possibilities where I don't blow up the world... Versus Imperfect Cell: "I am the ultimate lifeform, Android 17! Give up now!" Time to interrupt the villain. "Surprise, motherfucker." popping a narrow-beam shaped-charge Feedback. Aimed at VY Canis Majoris, just because I feel like trolling astronomers in the distant future. It's not like they can trace the exact date, time and place the shot came from. Unsurprisingly, Cell now has a hole through him pointing at it. Through his head. Suddenly, a Time Machine shows up. "Shut up and leave, now, or I aim another one at this system's sun." It's obvious that I tempted fate. "O-okay, mister star destroyer..." ... Is that Fluttershy? Dammit, did I blow up Equestria? Well, in the interest of minimizing the number of timelines I have to navigate, I can't stop that beam of death. "Ohmygosh, it's a PONY!" Let it be known that Android 18 has a little girl side in this universe. > Learning the AU part three: Twilight Sparkle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Beginning to head to Fluttersy's place, I almost immediately see a hooded pony. The colors are setting off warning bells, but I'm not sure why. Getting closer, they turn towards me and look strait at me. Given that I'm still cloaked, that shouldn't be possible. "So, what's a merged ghost doing here?" Oh god, it's Twilight. How is she seeing me? "We could say the same about you, Necromancer." Fun fact: Necromancy originally referred to the magic of communing with the dead. The same holds true in this world, but shortly after my arrival, they realized that they could enslave the spirits of the dead, likely because I proved it was possible. This quickly led to zombies, revenants and angry ghosts everywhere. Now then, I need to make sure she doesn't recognize me when I show up intentionally. So, form shift time! Form of: Pony! "Hey, I try to avoid that! It's not my fault that I got stuck with this talent..." So, Necromancy of the 'make corpses do my bidding' sort is her talent? I wonder if Trixie or Sunset Shimmer is her replacement in the designated hero role... "Actually, it's that back in our time, Necromancy referred to communicating with the spirits of the dead. We're aware of how the practice has been warped since our deaths, but we still refer to those who can speak with the dead as Necromancers." I'm doing the plural self thing because that's what she expects. As is the acting as a ghost, although I actually do qualify as one, I just prefer to think of myself as something else. "What do you mean 'your time'?" Honestly, the only reason I bother talking with her is to figure out what happened to her. "What we mean is that we died when the earliest practitioners of the form of Necromancy known now had only begun to create it. We became one being due to the entity that inspired that madness, a thing that devoured souls to persist seeking a way to reduce their needs. Several civilizations collapsed as their peoples ran from them, hoping to escape it. We know not what happened to it, but it has not been seen in centuries." I really need to slow down on the exposition... At this rate the TV tropes character page will call me an exposition fairy. "You were made by Ulrezaj!? Do you know where he is? Do you know how he made you? Can you-" "Your answers, in order, are yes, no, no, and no, we will not teach you." I'd question how she knows that name, but actual, real, accurate prophecies were available at the time. It's all too possible some prophet learned that name through visions and applied it to me. "Now then, We're here to learn what has happened to a group of mares that are supposed to do things of great importance. A key event failed to occur, so their lives are rather different. We have learned the changes for three of them, but there are still three of them that we have to learn the changes of. So, leave us be." And with that, she trotted away. Waiting a short while, I then check how much power she ha-... She's got more than Luna... She is, without a doubt, the most powerful unicorn ever to live. Then again, the way the power of an Alicorn works is that it gets amplified several dozen times more than any other living thing on this planet. Much like how the main difference between a High Templar and a Zealot is the quality of the nerve chords. As for her past, she failed the entrance exam. Hard, and humiliatingly. She has no Spike, and she was almost suicidally depressed for over a year, looking for any sort of magic she could try to use. Every time but the last, she failed. The last time, she snuck into the forbidden archive and grabbed books on the Necromancy. Both kinds of it. She started trying the sane type, but could only get the basics correct, and because the basics allow the user to directly see spirits, she didn't notice. Then she tried the crazy, zombie making, actually forbidden type. With every scrap of magic she could force into it. Que zombies everywhere. That got her her Cutie Mark, but it also drove her to try to kill herself for real. Her brother stopped her, and promptly ran screaming after seeing her Cutie Mark. Same with her parents, complete with suicide attempt. Cadence just ran on sight. The worst part is that there are laws to force ponies to find work fitting their Cutie Mark, which means that she is not legally allowed to find a stable job. So, she was abandoned by her family at around 5 years old, is not allowed to do anything as a stable job and everyone who sees her Cutie Mark runs screaming. Looks like I have an amazing chance to rub Celectia's failures in her face! Onwards, to Fluttershy! Hope she's a changeling, just so I have more to rub in Celestia's face. > Omake 2: Why Cutie Marks Aren't Always a Good Thing. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is it. This is the last sort of magic I can find. I'll get arrested, maybe even executed, for this, but it's the last chance I have at getting my Cutie Mark in magic. Pulling out I See Dead People: A beginner's guide to speaking with the dead one last time to make sure I have the spell right, I try to cast it. -15 minutes of apparently futile spell casting later- N-no... Please, I can't fail this. Now the only thing that I have left to try is... Well, it's a good thing I'm in a cemetery. Pulling out Kelt'Hazad's Guide to Necromancy, I start to cast the spell I chose to start with, Army of the Dead, Adaptive Version, because of it's low magic needs. The spell uses the amount of magic you put in and makes as many undead as it can, with no minimum amount of magic. It'll raise one as well as one thousand, the only difference being power put in. Great idea for a spell, both for beginners and for masters. If only it did better things... Well, time to give it everything I've got... -3 minutes of channeling as much mana as she can into the spell later- Th-that's a lot of mana... Is that all I can do or-Gah! What's happening!? Where's this coming from?! H-how am I doing this!? Is this all me... -8 hours of knocked-out-by-mana-depletion later- Why am I in a hole in the ground? Wh-why are there bones around me?! A-are those royal guards!? I-i-is tha-at Celestia... I need to get away NAO! -1 hour of running, with books, later- Okay, I'm home. I should be safe and-why-is-my-Cutie-Mark-a-glowing-skull!?! Is my talent really Necromancy!? Am I doomed to be a crazy killer?! I-I don't want this to be my talent... I should just kill myself now... -30 minutes of looking for suicide tools and location later- Well, this should work... Hanging myself out of a closed window. It's better than I deserve. Jumping, I almost immediately start to black out. "Twily!? Oh goddess, TWILY!" -The next day, due to being late, blacking out, and then being asleep normally- Why am I still alive? Why did Shiny save me? Why... I'll try again. And over and over until it works. > Learning the AU part four: Rainbow Dash > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headed off to Fluttershy, I immediately notice a rather large amount of energy coming from the general direction of her home. Surprisingly, it's rather similar to the energy I get from draining life. This means something unusual is happening, given that only Blood Magic gives off that stuff. So, either someone is being a VERY wasteful vampire, there's a strong Blood Magic ritual going on, or someone recreated my life drain at some point. I'm honestly not sure what to hope for... Moving towards the apparent source, I see... Rainbow Dash. With bat wings of aerodynamicly appropriate size for her body. Let's warn her about the power coming off her. "Oi, get a hold a yerself, ya wasteful harlet!" Thus establishing my utter loathing of politeness. "Wasteful? What do you mean? And I may have a rep for... What's a freaking Darksoul doing in Ponyville? And what do you mean wasteful?" Odd, that's another thing to add to the 'things I probably qualify as but don't want to be called' list. It also includes Demon, Merged Soul and Darkness Elemental. Also, she has black eyes with red irises. That settles it, Vamp Dash is in the house "What ah mean is dat yer tossin' Blood Magics everywhere an' ah kin taste it from 7 leagues away. An' whadya mean Darksoul?" Need to keep strait 'voice' and thoughts. These accents are crazy, yet hilarious. "Hey, just because I'm a newbie at the whole 'Vampony' thing, doesn't mean I'm that bad at keeping it under control. And a Darksoul, like you, is a soul that's compleatly filled with Dark Magic, hence the name." Yep, definitely fit the discription. Being the origin/inspiration for soulbinding Necromancy makes it obvious. "That's racist. Whadabout them Vamps who ain't ponies? An' ah find the bit about bein' a newbie hard ta believe, given the stuff yer pumpin' out. 'Less ya got turned by one a the oldies who were there when it was made in the first place." Those freaks scared me... One of them looked and sounded like a ponyfied Alucard strait out of Hellsing Ultimate. After I tried to stop him, he wound up acting like Team Four Star Abriged Alucard. Named All Cards, he actually originally was a massive user of the Thanatos Gambit, where EVERY plan helped him no matter how it went. Then I showed up as an outside context problem and he went crazy. "You know the Elders!? None of them have been seen in CENTURIES! And I'm one of the Pact Born, actually..." How they set that up, I want to know. The somehow made a spell that automatically spread throughout the world, fueled itself on all blood spilled making the use of Blood Magic a lot harder due to an imposed time limit and the fact that it sucks the magic right out of runes. "Bein' Pact Born might explain it, 'cause that sort are stronger the more injured an' crazy they are when that change. An' I actually did know one a them Oldies 'fore they went Vamp. All Card was a crazy good planner, 'fore 'Zaj got 'im." I'm not kidding about the Pact Born, by the way. When it was first set up, there were massive wars everywhere, and so many Blood Knights that there were a few that rivaled the Elders with brute force. "Zaj? As in Ulrezaj? You were around when that thing was stomping around? No wonder you're a Darksoul, hundreds of the things showed up around the places they went. I'm amazed you're sane, with the amount of Dark Magic there was around. And you know All Card before he was a Vampony? You are OLD." So old that I forgot my real name. I do remember a lot of Ben Ten puns around it... And the number five in Latin for some reason. "Yeah, Ah'm so old Ah've fergotten mah own name. Well, Ah've got things to do and ponies to meet. Ah was serious about the wastefulness, ya need ta get that under control." "Alright, I'll head off and ask that new pony in town. Something doesn't seem right with her, and nopony's seen her Cutie Mark, so she might be able to help with it." Speaking of Cutie Marks, Vamp Dash's is a black cloud with a fully rainbow colored lightning bolt surrounded by red rain. Looking at her mind, I see that she only got her cutie mark a year ago, when she died and became a Vampire. It started with a bunch of angry gryphons, and ended with an actually lethal Rainboom, with a black edge. Now, can I FINALLY get to Fluttershy? I swear, if Rarity is some sort of Vampire hunter here, I'm going to just beat the crap out of Loony myself. Alternatively, I could have fun messing with sunbutt if she decides to deal with this herself. > Omake 3: Feedback Versus Strong Stuff: Round Two > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Maar, from Starcraft 2. Is canon to the fic. You think to stop ME mortal!? I will show you the TRUE power of the Void! Blah, blah, blah, I'm so evil, I kick puppies for fun. Time to show him who's boss. "Well, I have a kind, clever rebuttal to that. Go fuck yourself with a cactus. Also, Feedback." Gods, thank you for letting the Internet exist. DDDOOOOOOMMMMMMMM "Okay, 'Zaj, the hell was that?" Heh, Jimmy boy doesn't know about my Feedback. Or my pylons that I stole from the Tal'Darim. The things are a GREAT place to just sit in and rest for me. Rarity is still working on the one I gave her. "That, Jimmy boy, was Feedback. There's a reason Archons don't use it, and that reason is that it will NOT stop until every speck of energy is gone. Given that Maar has more power than the average Archon, it made the thing explode. Violently." Tirek's Rainbow of Darkness, from G1 MLP. Canon to this fic, it's actually an alternate version come to curbstomp G4's pansies. "Oh dear sweet granny of all the Gods, what is that doing here!? I killed him already, and he was a pain in the ass the first time!" Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, if that thing around his neck is what I think it is, WE. ARE. FUCKED. "You killed Tirek!? When?! HOW!?" "Not important, need to make sure I get this right, because if I screw up AT ALL, a good chunk of the WORLD is FUCKED!" Feedback, PLEASE work on that bag. -A story ark of Darkness induced crazy later- Why am I in a Pylon? Why is the Pylon covered in bone? Why is there a small army of Paladins around it? Semi-Perfect Cell. Continuation of Imperfect Cell. "I'm back, and stronger than you ca-GRAAHHH!" Aimed at Cammoragh this time, which I was terrified to find out existed in this universe. And I DO Just Shoot Him, complete with Killed Mid Sentence. And this time, it seems to be the TARDIS showing up. "Can you stop that? Please? It's honestly annoying. Granted, just about no one will complain about THAT place being destroyed, but it's causing problems with the stability of time." Oh ye gods, why must you punish me with a Pony Doctor? "Two more times, at most. And I'll aim it through the Void I travel through at spot in a different universe, next time." "Alright, but I'll be checking to make sure you don't blow up more stars." > Learning the AU part five: Fluttershy > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally getting to Fluttershy's place, I see that it has much more energy around it than most places. This is an indication of some sort of power build up there, but it seems to be pure magical energy, rather than anything focused. Even the nature magic in Timberwolves is more structured that this, although the similarities are odd, like this is the raw form. Simply phasing through the door, I look around and see the animals are everywhere in the house, even inside the floor. "Who are you, and why did you come in here invisible?" Ah, Fluttershy's here. And she seems to be the center of this power build up. Or at least focusing it to her ends. And she can see through my cloaking. "My name is Ulrezaj, and I came here invisible because I wanted to learn what changes my actions have caused. I know many things of a future where I never existed, but many things are already beyond changing back. One of the potential Bearers of the Elements of Harmony being a Necromancer, to start with." Now that she's down here, I can see that her Cutie Mark is a tree covered in unnaturally dark green vines, with several small signs of being inhabited. Funnel webs, bird nests and chewed bark are immediately noticeable. If she isn't a Druid of some sort, I'll be amazed. "Ulrezaj... If you are the one who held that name originally, then even a Bearer could have been warped quite easily from your presence. Would the original Fluttershy be one of them?" Upon saying that, she shows that she is both a Druid and a changeling by transforming in a calm green glow that let off the magic which animates Timberwolves. Given what she said, she likely replaced the 'real' Fluttershy, who either died at some point or was imprisoned by this changeling. "Yes, though I prefer to think you are enough like her to take up the same role. Although I do wonder how you learned to use the magic of the Everfree. Would you mind telling?" I actually am curious, I never managed to find a changeling before I was imprisoned, so I don't know how their powers work. "Simple. I learned how to drain ambient magic of any sort, and stumbled upon the uses of different sorts. Would you know what that Blood Magic was from? Hopefully not a vampire." So, she doesn't know about Vamp Dash. "It was a recently changed Pact Born vampire pegasus, one who was enraged beyond reason and almost entirely torn apart by a group of gryphon mercenaries when she changed. The amount of blood spilled and the rage caused the change to be far more powerful than any other I've ever encountered, although this may have been due to them having a massive amount of power before the change. I'm not kidding. In terms of sheer brute force, Vamp Dash beats All Card hands down. Then again, she had enough to break the sound barrier before the turn, which would be warped into the all-purpose magic of vampirism. And All Card is likely a lot more powerful than before. And, as said, she was suicidally enraged and seconds away from passing out by blood loss. "Oh. I hope they got over that anger. Having that much power on something that's one bad sentence away from killing everything in sight wouldn't be good, and I wouldn't want to have to put down an unfortunate pony." Well, she does honor the 'real' Fluttershy quite well. She obviously cares about others, including the large number of animals living here. "She has. Her personality is entirely unchanged, and having already gotten revenge on the gryphons who would have killed her means that she has no reason to remain angry. Say, I heard you were a severely cowardly recluse, and you clearly know who I am. Why aren't you cowering in fear?" That's one big inconsistency. She should be running from me in fear. "Well, running wouldn't acomplish anything, and Fluttershy's cowardice is mostly an act. And it's good to hear someone that powerful isn't a bad person. Oh, and I can tell you've been reading my mind, though I can also tell it's just to learn my past quickly." Well, fuck. Busted, hard. "Well, I've found what I needed, so I'll be leaving now..." As for what I found in her mind, it seems to be that the 'real' Fluttershy died from internal bleeding after falling from Cloudsdale. That changeling came across the dying filly and decided to take up Fluttershy's life, copying everything that she could from Fluttershy. This has the unexpected, but helpful, result of permanently altering her personality to be a confident, clever, willing to be manipulative and yet always kind person. This is among the absolute best personalities for a changeling, because even if they are reveled they can talk their way out and if they decide to live their own life as a pony they can get the trust of all their friends fairly easily. The 'always kind' part prevents them from doing the nasty things that most would hunt them for unless absolutely necessary, making it impossible to prove them doing such things by the simple fact that they didn't do them. Unless they get framed by racists in high places, but such people wouldn't care about if they did or didn't, they'd frame people just to make it go quickly. Oddly enough, neither of them had met Rainbow Dash. Well, onwards to Rarity! Whose home is on the other side of an offshoot of the Everfree. What a joyous occasion! > Omake 4: The day Loyalty died. The day Vengence was born. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just doing a few of my usual workouts over the Everfree, I see some gryphons coming over. Headed off to a clearing to land, I see them come after me. Did Gilda send someone off to get me? Does someone have issues with me? Why are they carrying swords!? "Uh... What do you want with me?..." It's... Concerning to have this many armed gryphons around me. "Oh, it's simple. Our employers, and by extension us, want you dead. What you've done with Gilda has made a lot of gryphs up high mad. And once she slipped that she got her 'manners' from you, they wanted to make an example out of you." What... They... Are going to kill me!? For getting that stick out of Gilda's rear?! "What the hay is wrong with getting her to care!? What's wrong with-YAH!" They-they're trying to kill me. That would have hit a wing! Well, it's a good thing I have some fighting skill. I hope it's enough... -5 minutes of mostly-dodging later- C-c-can't get up. They... My wings... My... Legs..."Heh, you put up a decent fight. Too bad the bosses want you dead, you'd be a good addition to the team. Especially since ya fought that well without any kind of Mark!" Need... To... Get up. Can't thin-think strait... This doesn't have to be the end. You can still get up. You can still fight. Wha...? Who... I can help. But you have to get angry. You have to hate these fools. Easy... Wha nex? You must want them dead. You have to want to slaughter them. You have to want to bath in their blood. Maybe not... The last... Thing. Other? Ya... Well, that's as much of the Pact as you can get. Given that you can't move or speak. Wha is this feeling? I feel... A lot better. Better than normal even. But? Why is my blood flowing back? "What the Hel?" "Why is the blood flowing towards her?" "Are those her wings!?" "Why are her limbs reattaching?!" "What's going on!?" They sound panicked. And my limbs are back too. Well, time to make them PAY! "Heh... This little pony's gonna kill you." Going at one of them as fast as I can, I hit them almost before I can feel myself moving. When I do hit them, their bones shatter and their blood bursts out from the pressure of their flesh being crushed. "How did sh-" Leaping at this new target, I smash his skull almost without trying. One by one, I kill them, shattering bones, ripping off wings, snapping necks, tearing out throats... What. Eh, it's not a problem right now, I'll think later, killing ain't done yet. -20 minutes of terrified mercenaries later- Whoever hired them HAS to die. I'll even let the one who tells me live. "Well, what do we have here? Another greedy little bird? If you tell off those MONSTERS who hired you, or better yet, tell me where they live, I might let you get away alive." The little birdie is scared. How cute. Cute enough to eat... On second though... Leaning over, I bite their neck and clamp down as hard as I can. Then, I realize what's happened to me, but it's to late. It feels too good... Once there isn't any blood left, I back away and cry... "What have I done..." I'm a monster. A vampony. But I still want more blood, I still want to kill these murderers for hire and the narrow minded pricks who hired them. I want Vengence. I want to bath in their blood. I want to drink them dry... I want to protect Gilda... > Learning the AU part six: Spike and Trixie > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As I was headed to Rarity's place, I came across a stopped wagon. It's surprisingly ornate, but clearly made to last. The amount of magic on it makes it clear that it's enchanted in some way, likely to make it more durable. The ornamentation itself is high value, high durability gems clearly arranged so that the cleavage planes aren't exposed set in carved hardwood, with paint that seems to be colored lacquer. The only reason I can tell it's hardwood under the paint is that there are edges showing the wood underneath. I totally approve of this design. Going up to it, expecting Trixie, I find that the door has a magical lock on it. The door opens, but a familiar voice talks before it finishes opening. "What are you doing near my wagon? Do I have to go Paladin on you?" Well, I have gotten Trixie, as expected. "You know Light Magic? I was unaware someone with such talents was in the area, although I should have expected it given the overpowered vampire I met." I actually only got to see Light Magic once before I got imprisoned. It was involved in imprisoning me. "No, I'm here to make sure the Summer Sun Celebration goes as planned and be the opening act. Any Necromancers, Blood Mages, vampires and changelings are not my problem." Unless they attack you. Why'd anybody attack her? Bad Pinkie, go back to your own head. I has a sad nao... She's memeing... The Fourth is getting weaker for her... "Well, that's a good thing, because the only one of those I havn't run into yet is a Blood Mage." "Uh, Trix, what's going on? What's with the big glowy thing?" Oh. She has Spike. And Spike has wings. And he's still named Spike... Attitude is a lot better, though. A life on the road is a big help with that, as is being targeted by crazy people to get at Trixie. "Not now, Spike, I'm talking with a crazy thing." I take mild offence to that. "Now now, I'm not crazy, I'm just a sociopath. It's all but literally impossible for me to care about others positively, and in my case, vary hard to care in a negative fashion. But I'm not actually crazy." Unlike most self-diegnosed people, I happen to know what all the terms I use mean, so I'm fairly confident I actually have the conditions I think I have. "I'm pretty sure that not being able to care makes you qualify as crazy, but I'm not a psychologist. So, what do you want with me?" At this point, I'm actually not sure. Oh well, I can hold a conversation and read memories at the same time. "Honestly? Just something to do. I'm bored, and want to talk. Don't really care about what." -2 hours later- "And then she says "Give me a hug", actually being serious. The things I can find in alternate universes get crazy, sad and just hilarious. I mean, I've seen ones where Sunbutt got replaced by a changeling after the fight with Nightmare Moon, I've seen ones where time gets twisted so hard a filly gets a Möbius Strip cutie mark, I've seen ones where civil wars break out over traditionalists killing a newly ascended alicorn, but I just can't keep myself from looking at the sad ones. As for the hilarious ones, most of the things centered on Discord get so weird I can't stop laughing at them, and then there's the time a changeling walks up to Sunbutt and points out that everything they did was pardoned for another pony without any official word about it. Mind Control? Scolding. Attempt to dethrone Sunbutt? Scolding. Pointing out these things is one of my favorite things to look at." Ah, the wonders of postcognition. Mix with probability based future sight and you can find a lot of bizarre things. I've found almost every fanfic I've read that way. "Wow, the stories you could write off that... Heck, any kind of performance you could get amazing inspiration for. You planning on writing a book off of that stuff?" Spike's the bookworm here, and Trixie's the one who does silly things. Who'd have thunk it? Assuming I'm in a self-insert fic, I'd have thunk it. "Maybe, but I've got to get Sunbutt off me first. Being made of Dark Magic does not bode well for my first impressions." I have no idea what to more to say, so I will just go away now. "Well, it's about time that you head off, it's time for us to get some sleep." Spike's in charge of the schedule, as expected. Now I can get to Rarity's place, but first comes the magic check. Spike has more raw power than Trixie, but Trixie's is surprisingly hard for me to draw on. "Just as well as anything, I guess. If you move in at this town, I'll see about introducing you to those people I mentioned when we started talking." The differences in their lives seem to start with the day that Twilight got her Cutie Mark, which is to say that Trixie's Cutie Mark was gotten when running from undead in panic. Somehow, she made an illusion out of Light Magic, which both fooled them and destroyed them. As her talent is in two very different types of magic, she can be either a Light Magic specialist or an illusionist, allowing her to have a rather large variety of job options. Her cutie mark is just a differently colored version of her canon one, being white and yellow. She wound up with the same entrance exam as Twilight, but actually succeeded at it due to knowing some magic that was helpful. Spike still got the assistant and messenger role, but he manages a lot more. The upside is that Trixie saw through Celestia's plots to hold back the generally useful stuff rather easily and went off the rails, learning whatever she wanted and letting both her and Spike have friends before going to Ponyville. They somehow manage to be in Canterlot for a week every month and still do shows anywhere in Equestria she felt like. Even Spike isn't sure how they pull it off. At any rate, nom on leaking magic, then hunt some magical beasties, then go to Rarity tomorrow. > Omake 5: Power Overwhelming > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dammit, they don't even stop long enough for me to recover the power I'm losing. It doesn't help that they somehow locked down my passive draining effects. "Stop right there, monster! You can't get away this time!" It's true, they cut me off from the Void, preventing me from running to another planet. Not that they know I can do that. "What will it take for you insane fools to understand that I literally can't stop killing? All the beings with enough power to survive me possessing them are beyond my reach or are too important to take over. And the world isn't anywhere near black and white in morality. Luna went mad because of loneliness, Discord doesn't know right from wrong, the Changeling Queen was seeking a food source. Hell, you idiots ruined several ponies lives with your twisted morals." "Shut up already, we aren't falling for it." They don't get it... "Trixie has been stuck working on a damn ROCK FARM because of your attitude. The Film Flam brothers, two of the greatest geniuses in the world, are stuck as scammers because every pony in this land is utterly beholden to Celestia's opinions, and running them out of town has left them so lost that even I can't find them. And I can't even remember my own name because my SOUL is disintegrating whenever I start to run out of power!" Running out of time before memories start fading again... "Girls, time to lock him up." They... "You don't even know what I am. You don't know how much power I have, or how the elements work. Time to show you just how wrong you are..." As the Elements activate, I ready my active draining. The setting that devours every scrap of ambient magic around for miles. It takes a few seconds to set up, but isn't enough to keep me going. Now though, it will give a chance of something magnificent happening. When the Elements hit, my payback comes into play. "Well girls, we-" Cutting off the snake's head first, I shatter Twilight's spine instantly. "My candle burns from both ends, It will not last the night. But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends, It burns with such a pretty light..." Death is imminent for all of us. Their souls can't stay stable after being near this burst. Time to burn those trinkets. "How are you still free?! H-ho-how did you kill Twilight..." Draining the unattuned element first, the power of Magic is mine. Feeling the darkness in me burn, I know that I'm doomed. But I will end as many foes as I can in the time I have left. "The power of the Elements is an antithesis to the energy I'm made of. But what I am is a thing that is able to use powers that are an antithesis to each other for a time. Fact is, even at the barely stable amount of power I was at, I still had about as much as Elements could hit me with. So I balanced it out. Now, I wield the dark apathy of the Void in unison with the emotional light of Harmony. At the moment, I'm draining the Elements themselves, preparing to consume all the powers that force the idiocy that doomed me. Right after this, I'll end the greatest things of Darkness to support the balance needed for my current existence." And so, with that statement, I set to work. Devouring Sombra, I balance the light within me, giving me a precious few more minutes. Then, going to the Tree of Harmony, I devour all the magic within it and the Plunder Vines, a near equal balance to begin with. Heading to the Equestria Girls Mirror Portal, I force it open, kill the Sirens and drag Sunset Shimmer through, then beat Celestia over the head with her former student for a quick laugh. Heading for Tirak, I kill everything that seems to be like Sombra on the way and then take everything Tirak is and has, his magic, his mind, his life and his soul. Next, I mind warp Starlight Glimmer to make sane, 'good' use of that Cutie Mark suppressor. Namely for therapy and letting ponies learn how to do things without a 'talent' for it. Next I find the Alicorn Amulet and toss in over to wherever the hell the Equestria Girls world is, after balancing out the power in it so it isn't an Artifact of Doom. Now headed to the other end of the 'crossover' by actually teleporting for once, I get to Aiur, use the Overmind's soulless husk as a focus for killing all Zerg connected to the hive mind, down to the last larva by absorbing everything from them. Kerrigan is included and buys me a few seconds on her own. The rest of the Swarm gets me about twice as much. Next, I find the Tal'Darim loyal to Amon and obliterate them, forcing them to go Twilight to further extend my time and power. Now I might have a day or two to work with. Heading back to Aiur, I momentarily revive the Overmind to tap into it's link to Amon so I can take the fight to him. -Insert awesome fight scene involving copious amounts of teleporting, conjuring various nuclear weapons, armies upon armies of Void Shades fighting even larger armies upon armies of Terran and Protoss and Amon getting one shot by a Feedback from Zaj through a portal- Well, all those issues are dealt with. I don't have much time or power left, and a LOT of people are wondering how they got teleported into a flat out war. Let's see if the Spear of Adun can hold me stable...