//------------------------------// // 9 - Pawn Promotion (Dash Quest Part 2) // Story: Cataclysm // by Meep the Changeling //------------------------------// Applejack - 19th of Megan, 17 EoH Ponyville Remnants - Equestria The creeping black ooze flowed over the shield protecting Ponyville like burnt soup spilling over the edge of a pot. It bubbled, oozed, and jets of smoke shot up from the stuff as it flowed downwards. It did not belong in this world, and the world wanted it out. You could see the world itself attacking the mass, pushing it back from where it came. But the blackness was stronger. Faster. Better. It shoved the world aside inch by inch. The horror radiating from that thing made me forget all about the pain from my missing leg. I could run away on three! I didn’t need it, I should run! I yelped, recoiling within my mind from the wall of Otherness engulfing the town. “Uh, that’s not me,” Dawn said awkwardly. “What even IS that?” I should run! I should really seriously honestly run. “I mean what I said, imbecile!” Dawn snapped, gritting my teeth hard enough to crack a molar. “This is NOT my doing. It’s an attack of some kind. How do I nullify this? I can’t read the- This is why I destroyed Kelvaria! Mortals shouldn’t have the power to create sources of magic!” He was afraid too. I could feel it. That… That wasn’t good! I screamed, mind racing, doing everything it could to find the fastest way to put as much distance between myself and the Otherness. “That’s a transport spell,” Dawn said decisively, ignoring me completely. “They’re moving the entire town. To… Nowhere?” Wait, nowhere? I really wish I could see magical currents! The blackness finished sliding down the shield, touching the ground and sizzling for but a moment before pulling inwards upon itself. The black dome collapsed, flowing like water down a drain. A drain placed in the center of the bubble itself. Ponyville was gone. Every rock, every tree, the dirt for a full meter below the surface. The whole town had transformed into a hole in the ground dotted by two third slices of basements. “And they took it into the void…” Dawn muttered darkly as he scanned over the area with my eyes. “Everything but those three buildings. Why?” I hadn’t noticed before, but he was right. Lily’s clinic remained where it stood before the blackness. That made perfect sense, that old fortress was warded to Tartarus and back. Pinkie and Sky’s house remained there too covered by a dull green energy shield. Again, that made sense, he and his sister went nuts over that place, it probably approached Lily’s clinic in security. But what the buck was the Ponyville Spa still doing here? “An excellent fucking question,” Dawn agreed with me. “Almost as excellent a question as why can’t I destroy Twilight Sparkle? What is so special about her? How could she just advance her own age and power scale to match Celestia in a heartbeat? It takes a century for Alicorns to mature.” I snorted. “You might as well get it all out, Applejack. You destroyed my plan for ending your species quickly and cleanly. All of what must follow is on your head, your people will blame YOU for it. I will make sure of that. I will also have to punish you, and since damaging you doesn't leave any impact, well, I’ve come up with a better solution,” Dawn warned, malice lurking in every last syllable. “As for Twilight, I have hurt her. Quite significantly. But clearly not enough…” I mocked, wishing I could blow a raspberry at this idiot. Dawn rolled my eyes and reached into thin air with my remaining foreleg. “Hummm, let’s see,” he mused fishing around for a moment before pulling a small file folder from nowhere. “There we are, Twilight Sparkle.” The surprise kept me silent as Dawn flipped the folder open and quickly read over the cover page. “I think it’s time you fully understand what you’re dealing with, Applejack. I’m going to go over just one pony’s life with you. This is the first thing I did to Twilight,” Dawn said in a creepily calm voice. “She’s adopted, and has no idea. I hoped her adoptive parents would have told her she was in fact adopted, but they did not. It would have been very nice to watch her look for her parents only to never even find a grave, but it is what it is. That wasn’t really done because she pissed me off, that would be because her parents caused me some grief a few thousand years back-” Twi was adopted!? She never mentioned anything to me about that. I- Hold on a bucking second! I spat angrily. “No, you’re an uneducated simpleton. I’m a god, my presence here just locked this event in. I can’t change it, this is now inevitable. We're not as free to meddle with time as you mortals. It’s the lack of higher dimensional segments of your being. You’re so simple the universe doesn't care what you do,” Dawn said matter of factually, flipping through the file. “I had to use an artifact to mess with time in many cases… And it exploded.” Well, that was good news. It meant he couldn’t just go and undo my bucking up his plan. Um, sort of. Maybe? That blackness was Twi transporting Ponyville someplace safe, right? Yes. It had to be. Or maybe Luna did it. Either way, it had to be something they did, so Ponyville was safe. Good. I won this round! All I needed to do is work out a way to buck up his next plan. “Ah! There we go. See this is Twilight’s originally timeline,” Dawn announced nodding at one page from the file. “As you can see here, she’s raised by her adopted parents, has a good life, noticed by Celestia, blah blah blah, becomes great and powerful archmage, blah blah blah, Alicorn, marries Flash, and would have last month started to date Fluttershy with Flash as a willing member of that trio.” I pointed out. Dawn laughed cruelly. “No, she’s not. Here’s her current timeline. See, she pissed me off here, a short while ago. That whole ‘helping Repose fix Emperor Swift Prance’s coma? Yeah, I couldn’t allow that. So I hopped back here, and arranged for her to be assassinated. That failed, but she did miscarry her foals. I hoped the grief would have prevented her from being able to function until after Repose needed the help, but no. “So I hopped back again to here, and infested Flash’s family with a little virus I made up on the fly a full six generations ago. Apparently Twilight could tough through a spouse with an incurable disease and losing her foals. So I went back here, and ensured her ‘father’ would be hit by falling rubble when a building collapsed, amazingly he didn’t die, which prevented that grief bomb from working. “I tried to make her realize she has a Twin sister, just so she’d go look for her and never find her since when I sent her into the future the artifact I used exploded and sent her into another universe along with a few other ponies. Meaning it would be an eternal quest, but Twilight dismissed the forged letter as someone's quote ‘creepy twincest clopfic’ unquote. So that didn’t work. “I made many more attempts to prevent Twilight from being in the Crystal Empire and helping Repose. Most notably of which was ensuring Twilight discovered a copy of a certain misogynistic book as a filly and put a suggestibility curse on it so she’d absorb the information as if it were gospel truth. I figured repressing half of her sexuality and being disgusted by public displays of affection, yet remaining silent about such things, and believing she must be subservient to her spouse to be happy would twist her mind enough to prevent her from ever willingly setting hoof in the Crystal Empire, and thus, be unable to help Repose. “That also failed, but it had a major impact on her mental state. Meaning despite the ninety five assassination attempts failing, I could damage her consciousness. I was able to increase her autistic behaviors somewhat, but, when I tried to go back again and arrange an accident to cause her severe brain damage, that failed entirely. Something is protecting her. Not perfectly, mind, but she is being guarded. “The subtle approach I normally prefer is not working here. Chess mastering isn’t working anymore. Twilight is untouchable in any significant way. And she’s more powerful then I knew. My plans must be discarded, as they were for all the wrong variables. “It’s a shame I’ve locked in events. It would be useful to rewrite your life to improve my odds. My only remaining option is to adapt and deploy my army to strike out from here and destroy every major population center I can as swiftly as possible using this as a staging ground. Originally, I was going to simply put troops into every settlement's heart at the same time. But you fucked that up. So slow and painful deaths for everypony it is. Nice choice, I approve.” I- that- He- MONSTER! That absolute monster! I had to beat him! I had to stop him. Nothing should be allowed to just mess with someone's past anytime they please! He- “Oh you sillfyilly, that’s my standard operating procedure. It’s not like you could ever know if I did it. Stop your whining,” Dawn mocked. I searched deep inside myself for something, anything I could say or do to hurt him. Maybe I could give myself a heart attack and die, which would reveal him to those people he was afraid of. Right? “Wrong,” Dawn laughed, his voice sounding extremely distracted. He was plotting his next move. He wasn’t paying too much attention, I had a chance to do something! “I still have full contro-” Dash appeared with a literal flash and thunderclap at the edge of the hole where Ponyville had been. “-SHIT!” Dawn yelped in surprise. He locked my eyes onto Dash as her tail stood up in alarm and her ears fell in horror. I couldn’t see her face, but I didn’t need to. The terror, despair, and anger her stance carried was more than enough. “W-what?” Dash stammered to herself, staring hopelessly over the devastation. No. No suggarcube. Leave, now! Don’t turn around, don't turn around, please don’t see me like this! I don’t want you to suffer any- Dawn said silently, his ‘voice’ bubbling with malice. NO! Please no! Celestia no! I felt my stump blister, and bubble. Just as I realized something was growing from the wound, a leg thick tangle of vines exploded out from my shoulder, coiling around each other into a crude approximation of a dragon’s talon with large thorns for claws. Dawn laughed, twisting my face into a snarl. The vine-leg snapped forwards, splitting into two sections, each ending in a large blade-like thorn. Dash’s left ear twitched. The talons scythed downwards. Dash vanished, the thorns bit into the earth where she had been standing. Dash reappeared next to the extended vine arm as a blue blur. I caught a split second of her grabbing onto the arm with her forelegs and twisting before I suddenly flipped through the air, slamming down onto my back, the roots embedded in it pushing sharply into my spine under the impact. “You did this!” Dash screamed accusingly. “I’ll ki-” Her eyes widened in horror as she realized she was looking into my face. “A-AJ?” She stammered. That was all the opening Dawn needed. Gathering my rear legs under me he kicked Dash in her stomach, launching her away. Dash was too shocked to catch herself in the air and slammed into the ground as Dawn stood back up. he decided as a pale red shield rippled to life around me. I screamed. “Is that the name of this meat?” Dawn gurgled, intentionally mangling my voice, taking advantage of the slit he’d cut in my tongue last night. Dash’s eyes narrowed in focus, flicking across my body in an instant while she stood up. “Okay, some kind of everfree parasite. Makes sense, the forest’s attacked the town again,” Dash said oddly ability for her. “Unfortunately for you, mulch, I’ve been helping my uncle take out stuff like you for years now! AJ, this will hurt a bit, but I’m going to rip all that crap off you. L-lily can fix it. It’s going to hurt. I’m sorry.” “Your corpse will fertilize my trees,” Dawn gurgled again, smirking all the while. The vine arm split into nine separate vines, each one snapping outwards, the thorn on its tip streaking outwards on different angles, set to impail- Dash blurred, arriving a meter to her right as if she’d simply smeared over as a trail of light. The vine spears buried themselves in the ground. “Missed!” Dash mocked, returning Dawn’s smirk with one of her own. I added, hoping it would help that failure sting just a bit more. Dawn countered calmly. My eyes squinted slightly. I felt Dawn drawing on his magic, and this time could feel the invisible ray of energy lancing outwards from each eye, each carrying a deadly spell. There was no way for Dash to- Dash vanished, reappearing on my right in the middle of a nimbus of rainbow colored lightning bolts, her hoof cocked back for a punch. Dawn demanded cut off as the punch cracked against the shield spell, sending us staggering back. “You know, I never tried breaking a magic shield like this. Could you hold still?” Dash asked sarcastically. Dawn turned, swinging the vines like a whip again. Dash ducked under them, throwing a rapid fire series of punches with both forehooves. The shield sparked and warped, dening inwards slightly under her barrage of punches. “You will not break through,” Dawn gurgled. “Ha! Please, I’m too fast for you,” Dash smirked. “I have all the time in-” Dawn snapped the vines backwards the second Dash started to reply, the thorn tips glowing red as they charged with magic. Dash pulled back to dodge, but too late. Two of the vines sliced parallel cuts across her barrel the energy detonating in bright red bursts of light as the connected. Dash shrieked and flew backwards, slamming into a tree trunk hard enough to crack the truck. Dawn coiled the vines back into a draconic arm, two scraps of Dash’s skin clinging to the claw tips. “I see what you are made of now,” Dawn gurgled, walking towards Dash slowly. “Your cells are charged with an alien energy. Boosting you beyond the abilities of a normal pegasus. But there is a problem. They are still cells. They need energy. You need to eat far more to sustain yourself, and use your powers.” “Yeah, well, I just had a huge breakfast, so you’re bucked!” Dash grunted as she got back to her hooves. “Hardly. Your running dry. Life is my domain, and I have touched you. I know all your secrets,” Dawn laughed. “Run. Fight another day. Or become my next meal. Choose.” Dash’s ears fell, I could almost feel her heartbreak as her eyes closed for a split second. “AJ… I’m sorry. But it’s right. I can’t do this…” No! No, Dash, no. He’s got you! You’re not on your guard and- Dawn snickered mentally. He narrowed my eyes, focusing on his magic once more. Dash turned around in a blur and sprinted off, wings opening as she took to the air, flying into the treeline and out of sight. “Heh… Coward,” Dawn sighed bitterly. “I would have enjoyed making you kill-” A sonic boom echoed in the distance, followed by the second smaller boom of something going hypersonic. Dawn’s shield spell exploded, small chunks of pale red energy shooting everywhere as I flew forwards, smashing into the same tree Dash had with a loud crack. “Carefully-” Dash said as she streaked past me. Dawn heaved my body upright, growling in anger, reading another shield. Something blue glimmered in the distance. Before a even one heartbeat Dash slammed into my right hind leg, the animated wood splintering, ripping free from my flank. Stars exploded in my eyes, the pain from the removal was maddening. Dawn dropped to the ground, unable to keep balance through the hit. “-not enough-” Dash continued as she vanished again. Dawn heaved me back up using the vines, teeth clamped in a rage filled snarl. The vines ripped free of my shoulder, leaving behind a wriggling mass of vine-stumps as Dash blazed passed again. “-time. This-” Dash added. Without two legs on the same side of my body, there wasn’t much Dawn could do, and he knew it. I could feel him scheming, trying to come up with a plan. Another explosion of agony shot up my body from my other hind leg as it shattered. “-will hurt!” Dash finished stopping on a dime directly on my back. “Couldn’t be more sorry. Roots now!” I could hear her panting, and feel her trembling with fatigue. She was almost done. “I WILL END YOU!” Dawn roared, spit flying as a vein in my left eye burst. “Your bark is totally worse,” Dash growled as she gripped the series of roots rightly with her forelegs. “Then your bite!” She finished, wrenching herself sideways. Six lines of searing pain burned along my spine as the roots were torn away as Dash spun. I screamed, the pain throwing Dawn’s control over me away for that one moment. That one scream. Then the iron barbs dug back into my mind. “Sorry, AJ…” Dash panted, her chest heaving rapidly. “It’s all done now. Lily’s place… Still there… Just enough energy to… Get you there. It’s all over now. It’s dead… Come on.” Dawn’s boiling rage threw me away from the forefront of my mind. My perception of the world shrank down, leaving me only two pinpricks to see through. I vaguely felt a tingling sensation in the limbs I didn’t have anymore, and a sharp jolt in the pit of my stomach. The world came back into focus right as I heard Dash scream in pain. I saw her tumbling through the air, my body standing upright, a glowing pale red translucent energy leg extended in a punch, the tip wet with blood. “You were misinformed about my nature, mortal!” Dawn screamed. “This all could have been so simple, so easy. It would have looked like the Everfree Forest had consumed the world. A sad and unique disaster. But now? With how little I can see I knew about your world? The foal’s gloves are OFF!” The world changed in an instant, confusing me long enough for Dawn to send Dash up into the air with a savage kick before I realized he’d teleported me. Dawn’s magic burned around us as Dash shot upwards, black flame-like tendrils of magic gathering around me as a deep crater formed in the ground as if suddenly everything became far more heavy. Dash fell, her wings flapping urgently, fear dripping from every inch of her as she was dragged downwards despite her attempts to fly. “It's called a spacetime well,” Dawn screamed as Dash came within legs reach and he savagely smashed the energy-hoof into her ribs. I recoiled in horror as I felt and heard the six sharp cracks of Dash’s ribs shattering. Dawn threw Dash aside, watching as she hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. “All possible paths lead down. Like a black hole. You’re lucky that creating one of those would get me caught, or I would give you the most painful death imaginable,” Dawn finished, spitting on her limp, twitching form. I screamed, sending all of my hate towards the monster who had just killed my wife. “Pipe down you, she’s not dead yet,” Dawn snapped ending his spell as we began to float upwards. Dawn moved upwards a few meters, levitating in the air above Dash while looking down at her while she struggled to stand back up. Dawn’s eyes flicked to the left, a large patch of ground, twenty meters in diameter burst into intense orange flames. An impossible amount of black ash filled the air, falling around the blazing fire in a volcano-like heap, building up higher and higher each second. The blaze sent the same bone chilling horror down my spine as the black spell which engulfed Ponyville. This did not belong in this world. The unnatural blaze’s ashes fell across Dash. She flinched, holding in a scream. Ashes shouldn’t burn, these did. My heart screamed in terror, imagining Dash being buried under a pile of burning hot ash, but she stood up, teeth grit against the pain and staggered a few paces away from the crater Dawn had made, moving beyond the reach of the ash. Suddenly column of molten stone erupted from the center of the blaze. They twisted and coiled and stretched, forming long rapidly cooling obsidian arches and horn-like curls which centered in the heart of the fire. The fire which suddenly began to flow like water, forming a solid rectangular doorway, ten ponies high, and eight wide. A portal, made from a thousand frozen flames. I demanded. Dawn replied a hint of the old smugness returning to his voice. The flames stirred. A dark, shadowy thing slid out from the flames. Its shape invisible within an unnatural darkness that clung to it, forming a black spot on the world with the odd flash of teeth, claws, and bloodshot eyes coming through the inky blackness. “Shadow!” Dawn commanded, locking my eyes on the creature. “Rip out that mortal’s soul and bring it to me. I’m hungry.” The blackness contorted, it’s formless shape impossibly twisting in a low bow before launching itself towards Dash. I felt another scream of blind horror begin to form in my chest. Dash’s eyes widened in horror. The shadow flew at her with an impossible speed. But not fast enough. Dash vanished, leaving behind a blue trail. She left. She left me… I- N-no! That was good. She would die. “No, she WILL die,” Dawn countered. “Shadow. Leave it. Return to Tartarus. It’s time. Bring everything you encounter through this portal and rally within that spot there. We will be conquering this planet the hard way.” The shadow’s movement stopped without any slowdown. It bowed again, and drifted soundlessly back across the ash bed towards the portal like a balloon blowing across the ground. “As for you, Applejack, I am still hungry. We will encounter your wife again. I think I owe you a sample of what is to come. Not with Dash, but with your other family members. Your farm should still be here, if I’m not mistaken,” Dawn said as the two scraps of Dash’s skin he had ripped off floated up to my normal flesh and bone hoof to drape across the upturned flat. I asked fearfully. Dawn opened my mouth, jammed the pieces inside, and swallowed. The world went black. Rainbow Dash- 19th of Megan, 17 EoH Ponyville Remnants - Equestria Everything burns! Oh Luna, everything burns! Out of calories. Can’t go further. Got to stop. I stopped running, dropping flat on my face and skidding some distance. I couldn’t tell how far, my broken ribs hurt too much for me to pay attention. I think I hit something. Couldn’t tell. It was dark. I’d aimed for Lily’s clinic. Please be home. Doctor good. Oh. Yeah. Sky also here. Maybe. House is. He could help… I reached towards my back, ignoring my ribs protests as I dug in my saddlebag for the watch Sky gave me. It had a radio in it. Right? I felt the small device underhoof, pulled it out, and tapped the face with a hoof tip. “Call Sky,” I gasped, hissing from the sudden burn across both sides of my chest as I drew breath to speak. The watch chirped twice. No Sai. That couldn’t be good. But two chirps ment connected! “Sky, it Dash. Help. Ponyville… Tartarus, breaking loose. Literally,” I managed to say between grimaces. Food. Food would be good. Fast metabolism, fast healing. Lily, and snacks. Good. Need. “Sorry!” Sky’s voice crackled over the radio. “Cant talk now, kind of-” “OH DEAR SWEET LUNA, IT’S ANGRY!” Pinkie’s voice screeched in the background. “FUCK EVERYTHING AND RUN!” Sky shouted the radio going dead in a hiss of static. Oh good. Everything was tartarus there too. Why wouldn’t it be? “D-Dash? Are you okay?” Two voices asked in unison. What? I blinked, clearing the fog from my eyes just long enough to see Lotus and Aloe standing over me, and the sign for the Ponyville Spa. Wow. Uncle Barry was right. I have bad aim when I’m hurt. “Guess,” I grunted at the twins. Not out of anger or anything. I just couldn’t get any other word to stick in my mind. “I saw the fight, you almost hurt him. Could you do better on a second try?” They asked in unison again. “I? There’s two of you,” I mumbled sleepily. “A trick… To hide better. Drink this, you can’t die,” they said. I felt something press against my lips and blinked my vision clear again. Aloe was holding a bottle to my lips. What was the label? Oh. Healing potion. That would help. Hospital better though. I opened my mouth, allowing her to pour the potion in. I actually felt the spell contained in the liquid go to work. That’s never a good sign. A few seconds passed. My sight began to clear up. The pain in my sides dulled. I felt a lung inflate slowly. Faust damn… I took a lot of damage. Dished out a lot too. How durable was that thing? Buck it, how durable was I? Not much more than this… I should be back on my hooves in a minute. But a hospital would be a great idea still. Healing potions and healing factors can’t remove curses, and Luna knows what those glowing talons were doing. “I need food. Now. Hypermetabolism…” I groaned, sitting up slowly. “Was almost empty before that fight.” “I’ll get some,” Aloe said, quickly running into the Spa. Right. The Spa. How was it still here? “How… How did this survive the… The whatever?” I asked. “And what do you mean hide?” Something was seriously wrong. My brain was getting less fuzzy. Potion still hard at work. Lotus frowned,her ears drooping sadly. “I- I don’t… I don’t normally ever tell anyone about myself. But, um… This is the end of the world. You sort of just fought, well... My dad,” she admitted slowly. “... huh?” I asked, almost falling over due to a sudden bount of dizziness. Lotus’s eyes widened fearfully. She rapidly shook her head. “No! No nonono! I want him to die too! He’s evil. As evil as evil can evil. Can you do it? You almost did. I have food, I’m coming back with it now. Do you need more healing? Maybe I can get you back into top form and while he’s distracted we can-” “What the buck are you!?” I demanded, managing to stand up, heart starting to race fearfully as I realized that this ‘pony’ and that shadow thing were probably the same kind of creature. Aloe came out the doorway, holding a small box in her mouth. “I- um, w-well… I’m what Oubliettes and Ogres players would call a Succubus,” Lotus admitted, looking down at the cobblestones her face flooded with… Shame? Huh!? I blinked one processing that. Then drew back my hoof to try and punch the self professed demon's face in, lost my balance and fell over, cracking my face painfully into the stone walkway. “No! Wait! Please!” Lotus begged. “I’m harmless! I don’t even like souls, they taste hideous. Everyfiend I’ve ever spoken too thinks I'm insane. I’ve never hurt anypony, or anyone even. I- I actualy.. I like to help.” “Ponyfeathers,” I said as firmly as I could, trying to stand back up. “I’ve been to other… Universes. I fought your kind there… You’re all just… Puppets. You’re gonna kill me. This is all a trap!” “I gave you a health potion. I could have broken your neck. I’m far stronger than any pony is physically,” Lotus pointed out. Okay. That was true. But on the other hoof. “That potion was poison!” I said as I finally managed to stand up. “Um… Not intentionally. It’s been in the cupboard a while, do they go bad?” Lotus asked sincerely, giving me a worried frown. Buck. This is where AJ would come in super handy. This was another universe… Maybe they could be friendly here and not just a ‘limb’ of a bigger monster. Or maybe that’s what it wanted me to think. “Prove you’re not hostile!” I demanded. “Give me absolutely any reason to trust you! And no, you cutting my mane for years doesn't count. For all I know you’ve been syphoning off bits of my soul the whole bucking time!” “Ew! No! Gross!” Aloe and Lotus exclaimed in unified disgust. “Do you have any idea what those taste like? I don’t! I couldn’t describe the taste if I tried to, because there’s no mortal comparison for how gross it is. I only ever consumed one, when I was an imp, so I could evolve into this form. Do you know what it’s like to have a tormented soul inside you? Constantly pleading for mercy? “It’s the worst thing ever. I can’t even regurgitate it without Dawn knowing, the runes protecting the Spa couldn’t hide the power loss. He’d kill me, and then give the soul to someone who would torture it. All I can do is not torture the poor creature and let them control another body I form whenever I think I can do so without attracting Dad’s attention. How’s that for a reason? If dad dies, I can give the ‘Aloe’ body to someone I’ve hurt very badly and live in constant regret over, instead of controlling it myself.” “Um,” I said just to say something. The Buck do you say to that? I mean it was a good reason and all, but- “I hate every single last second of my own existence. Because I know that I’m evil. I’m wrong, and I know it. Why do you think I spend my time as a pair of earth ponies who work at a Spa? I like to do good things. It helps me feel… Good. And I’m not Good, but I feel like I should be instead of… this. I- I hate this!” Lotus exclaimed before suddenly breaking down into tears. I winced. Buck! That was a really emotional stor- Succubi are supposed to twist your emotions! “You almost had me,” I said bitterly. “Almost, but you put too much sob story into it. I can tell you're trying to emotionally manipulate me!” “I understand… I couldn’t trust one of my kind ether. One moment,” Lotus said, morosely, still crying. I yelped in fright as her body melted into a ball of blaze orange light. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aloe do the same, destroying my slim hope that maybe the pair had just gone insane watching the tartarian gate open up and from whatever hell had destroyed Ponyville. The two balls quickly melted, flowing along the ground to form a single pool which in turn rose up from the ground, forming a pony shaped blob just a hair smaller than Luna. The blob solidified, the orange light fading into pink and blue fur. The combined ‘pony’ had a multicolored coat, Aloe’s pink making up the main body, with Lotus’s blue forming socks, covering the muzzle, and forming a heart shaped patch on the plot centered on the sex bits, which I could see thanks to the reflection in a window behind ‘them’. It looked like an extremely voluptuous batpony, but with a dash of bovine features too, like what an artist would draw if somepony said ‘make it sexy as possible without being gross’. One notable difference were the wings. The wings were more… Draconic. No, not draconic. They weren't batwings, but not draconic either. Something between the two in look. The membranes were a darker shade of blue, and looked exceptionally silky. That’s the only difference I could put words too. I did have to admit I liked the mane…. The style was the same as Lotus or Aloe’s, but their two colors unified, with Lotus’s pink as a base and a nice pink stripe running down the middle of the left side. Something like Twilight’s, but with a singular color. It looked odd when paired with a sinuous spade tipped tail though. She would have been really bucking hot if not for the two small cow-like horns sprouting up just in front of her ears. Those downgraded her to just normal hot. Which I was NOT okay with her being! Because I shouldn’t be wondering if I could get AJ to agree to a threeway with her right now. Stupid supernatural hotness... “There,” the succubi said sadly. “This is me. It’s… It’s far easier to hide as two bodies. No one expects two people to be one monster. But a monster I am. If you don’t want my help stopping my dad, please kill me. Doom refused to do it. If I die on the mortal plane the soul in me will go free. I’d rather resurrect them, but this is also acceptable. You’ll need to destroy my heart, it’s not where a pony’s is. Aim here.” Her horns glowed that same dull orange for a moment, and the fur on her barrel darkened, forming a black x shape over the left side of her barrel fairly far down. “Are- are you serious?” I asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. “Yes. If I live through Dawn’s harvest of this world I will be pressed back into his service. Please, accept my help or slay me,” she begged, pleading at me with her still watering eyes. Now I had one way of trusting her. I was out of gas, but the healing potion had helped. I could maybe get three seconds of accelerated speed before medical level starvation kicked in. There was grass in the forest. I’d eat that in a survival situation. I could attack her, and no matter what happened, I could win, and survive. “Alright,” I said giving her my best ‘buck you’ glare, and through a full speed punch directly at her barrel. My perception of time slowed. I locked my eyes onto her face as my hoof raced forward. At this speed it wouldn’t matter where my punch landed, massive damage would ensue. How was she reacting? Was she moving to counter attack? I could correct in time. No prob- Her face twisted into a happy smile. Happy with lots of relief and gratitude. I stopped my punch a hairs breath from her barrel. Her face fell in genuine sadness. “Why?” She pleaded looking me dead in the eyes with honest depression behind them. “Cuz you just proved you don’t want to hurt me, and that this isn’t some kind of trap. I don’t care what you said, that punch would have destroyed you no matter where I hit you. So I trust you. A little. How could you help me?” I asked, giving her the most serious look I could muster. Which was very hard because I noticed she had a cow’s udder. “Um… Also why the cow parts?” I asked. “Oh. My late husband liked cows and thought I would be sexier as a thestral-cow hybrid. I haven’t shape changed in... I um- I’ve had a few mates of the millenia… S-sorry let me be normal,” she explained removing the bovine appendage with a pulse of that odd orange magic, the same pulse replacing her horns with longer ones which swept back like an Ibex’s rather than a cow’s. “I-  I can tell you about all of Dawn’s creations in Tartarus. What they are called, what they can do, how we work, what is effective at stopping us, what his plans likely are. “All of this is given to us as instinctive knowledge when we are made. I’ll tell you everything you need to know. I can also help fight imps and mortal cultists, but I’m very week because I haven't ever consumed more than y-you know… Just her. We grow in power by… Hurting you.” She finished head hanging in shame. Okay. She was probably on the level, and that would be super usefull information to know. I could trust her enough to not screw me over in the short term. Which could maybe let me get confirmation that she was an individual creature with a mind, not a puppet, and also telling the truth. Pretty sure she was, but this is the kind of thing you double check. Normally, I’d just ask AJ to question her… But fortunately I had another option. Oh shit, did I? “What’s your name?” I asked, still keeping up my serious look. “Helsea,” she answered, face twisting in disgust. “I prefer Lotus though. It’s nicer, and it’s not Tartarian for ‘rotting vagina’.” “Ew!” I said with a wince. “Seriously?” “Yeah. Demons names are… Usually gross,” she said with an apologetic smile. “Lotus it is,” I decided. “Important question. Yes or no. Can you travel to other universes?” “Yes. We are designed to be able to freely travel between any and all universes. Once Dawn rules this multiverse, his plan is to eventually conquer more. As such, we are fully jump capable, just like mortals are… Why?” Lotus asked with an odd frown. Good. My plan would work. There’s no way Alter would refuse to check for me. Not with- “WAIT! Did you say that thing is planing on taking over EVERY reality!?” I asked, eyes opening wide in horror. “Yes. Eventually,” Lotus replied. “Okay, yeah, she REALLY won’t mind helping. We’re going to my uncle's place. It’s not here. I have a friend who can find out if you’re telling the truth or not,” I informed. “It’s a long ways… We’ll get food first, I’ll carry you and run to the portal.” “Y-your uncle lives in another universe?” Lotus asked with a confused frown. “Yeah. Long story. Also he’s my grandpa, technically. Cuz he gave my mom a form. But he’s like thirty and refuses to be called gramps. So uncle it is,” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “World ending. This stuff can wait. I’m going to trust you with that food. I need to be able to run.” “If you tell me where to go, I can try to open a portal us. But I’m not good with that,” Lotus offered helpfully. “Sorry. I don’t trust that,” I replied shaking my head. “But you trust food I brought you?” She asked, cocking her head to one side. “Not completely…” I admitted. “But the portal I’m afraid would get caught up in that bigger one over there.” “Speaking of that the gate over there, it’s letting in demons who are going to use this area as a landing site for a full scale invasion?” Lotus reminded, pointing over to the gate in the distance with one hoof. “You won't have time to forage. Please, trust me to make a safe portal for you.” Well, Princess Luna would be in the Hive still. She could take her on if anything went bad. “Is it like unicorn teleportation?” I asked frowning as I wondered how likely it would be she could get us even close. “Do you need to know-” “No. Just think at me where we need to be and I can take us there,” she clarified. “You can read my mind?” I said darkly, taking a step back. She shook her head. “Not in any way which I am willing to use against you. I could find out exactly what you find attractive if I wanted to, but that’s it. I don’t want to, because you’re married and I know Applejack is monogamous, and if I did I would be compelled to make you happy. “Which for my defective bucking brain means ‘take you as a mate and cater to your every whim until you die of old age’ Which if I am seeing your aura right, won't ever happen. Because your bond with the Elements of Harmony indefinitely extends your lifespan. Even with them damaged. If I were normal, reading your wishes would make me want to seduce you and steal your soul when your guard was down. “What I meant was, like all fiends, if you think it at me, like, you intentionally want me to know an active thought, I’ll know it. I can't help that. I’m sorry,” she apologised again, ears drooping slightly. Celestia’s flanks! It’s like dealing with a barely less awkward Fluttershy! “I still don’t trust you one hundred percent… But I can solve this problem,” I said, reaching down to pick my watch up from the ground and put it back into my pack. I looked over at the small paper bag of food she’d brought out, and pulled it closer with a wing to peek inside. It looked like a pretty standard selection of snacks you could get in the spa. Some apples, a few sugar cubes, a few cookies, and two protein bars. Score! Foil sealed packages, tamper proof. Those would be okay no matter what. My ears drooped a little. I felt kinda bad for not totally trusting Lotus. But at the same time, well… caution, right? If she was cleared by Alter, I’d do something nice to apologize properly. I ripped open the foil packets and bolted down both bars in a flash. They didn’t taste funny, and that should be about two thousand calories. Enough to get me to where there would be more food to have a proper meal. Heh. And Rarity wondered how I always stayed so skinny. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a few breaths to make sure that my body started to break down the bars, then nodded to myself, hopped up into the air at normal speed, hovered over Lotus’ back, grabbed hold of her middle with my forelegs and lifted her off the ground. “Okay, so, you’re really light!” I exclaimed in surprise, frowning at her like, maybe twenty kilos. “Yes. I’m made of solidified magic, not flesh. Do you need me smaller? I’m still bulky,” she asked in a helpful tone of voice. “Nah, I got this. Just hold your breath. Bugs,” I warned with a laugh. I pumped my wings, launching myself away at full speed. I had the energy to make it to SkyLabs, and I was going to get there as fast as possible. AJ needed me.