//------------------------------// // Prelude: Arrival // Story: Dragon Ball Z: Daughters of Destruction // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty and one of the fastest pegasi in all of Equestria, was completely bored out of her mind for the first time in her entire life. Usually she had something to do to occupy her time, but after having finished the latest Daring Do book a week ago, and having reread it about five times before turning it in, she was starting to run out of options. She was currently laying on one of the many clouds that rested above Ponyville, giving her a perfect view of the small town while she reflected on what she could do. Her mind immediately turned to practicing more of her flying stunts, but then tossed the idea aside as she had done that before clearing some of the clouds that very morning. Her mind eventually turned to her friends, though that line of thought eventually reached its own roadblock, as most of her friends were busy at the moment. Fluttershy was currently in Canterlot, either begin called upon by some rich family to check on their pets or visiting the animals that were in Princess Celestia's garden. Rarity had locked herself inside her boutique and declared that she was not to be disturbed until she had finished her latest order for the royals in Canterlot. Twilight had also gone off to Canterlot with Fluttershy, though she was going to discuss the sudden disappearance of her student Starlight Glimmer, another friend of their entire group, and her friend Sunset Shimmer with Princess Celestia. Rainbow also thought about trying to hunt down Pinkie Pie and see if she wanted to do something, but she had been trying that before she had laid on the cloud she was currently on, because the mare seemed to have vanished completely. That left Applejack, who was likely busy harvesting apples from the trees on her farm, but she was the last pony that Rainbow could ask before she was forced to go find Derpy, so she let out a sigh and left her cloud as she headed to Sweet Apple Acres. It didn't take her long to reach her destination, as her cloud had been drifting towards the farm anyway, and she easily found Applejack as she was leaving the farm. "Howdy Rainbow," Applejack said, tipping her hat to Rainbow as she approached her, "What can I do for you?" "I just wanted to know if you wanted to do something this afternoon," Rainbow replied, rubbing the back of her head for a moment, "maybe check with Spike and see if he's gotten anything from Twilight? Or maybe check and see if the map has anything to tell us?" "Rainbow... are you bored?" Applejack asked, eyeing the her friend for a moment, who merely nodded her head a bit, "You should have come to me earlier, I could have used some help reaching the top of the barn. Though its funny that you mentioned Spike, because I was actually on my way to Twilight's castle to see if she sent him, or us for that matter, anything regarding her search for Starlight and Sunset. How she managed to lose both of them in one night is beyond me." Rainbow remembered Twilight mentioning something about a mirror, the same one she used back in the Crystal Empire and then moved to her castle, that used to connect to one world, a mirror of their own world that had a different species as the dominate one. From what she remembered, as she had been busy reading a book at the time, she recalled that Sunset Shimmer was supposed to be from beyond the mirror and had visited a world that wasn't one that Twilight had done to. She supposed that Starlight and Sunset had accessed the mirror again, which was why they had disappeared, but as she thought about it she realized that she had found a way to get rid of her boredom. She could use the mirror and visit a whole new world, one that was unlike anything what the others had seen, and have the time of her life until she wanted to return... and maybe she could convince Applejack to join her on an adventure or two. "Yeah, it is definitely a mystery," Rainbow said, not mentioning anything about the mirror at the moment, "Come on, let's go check in with Spike and see what he's got to say." Applejack looked at her for a moment, as if she was wondering if she lying or not, before nodding her head and taking off for the crystal castle with Rainbow following from the air. It didn't take them long to reach the castle, as most ponies were either getting lunch or were hanging out in the few parks around town, though when they arrived Rainbow opened the door and let them in. There still weren't any guards to protect the place, leaving Rainbow to wonder why a princess wouldn't want to have some guards looking after her while she slept, but she tossed that thought aside as they started to look for Spike. It was rather easy to find the little dragon, as he spent a good deal of his time staring at the mirror that Twilight had set up in one of the castle's many rooms, though he was looking for any signs of Starlight or Sunset. "Hey girls, long time no see," Spike commented, looking away from the mirror and taking a moment to rub his eyes, before focusing on the two of them, "Let me guess, your here to see if Twilight sent me anything?" "That we did," Applejack said, though she could tell from Spike's tone that something was up, meaning that Twilight either sent something or he had seen something in the mirror. "Twilight will be staying in Canterlot until tomorrow," Spike replied, getting up from his chosen seat and moving to a nearby desk, where he kept the writing materials and any letters he had received, "She and the Princesses are going to search through all of Starswirl's notes and see if they find anything about the mirror... and how to recall someone that went through it. I keep thinking that I see flashes of Sunset inside the mirror, but some times I think my mind is playing tricks on me and is making me see what I want to see." "Then you need to take a break," Applejack stated, pointing a hoof at a nearby door, "Go and get something to drink, we'll watch the mirror until you return." As Spike smiled and walked out of the room, to rest his eyes on something that wasn't the mirror, Rainbow turned her attention to the artifact that he had been staring at. One moment she was looking at the mirror's glass and the next she could have sworn that she saw a glimmer of a kingdom that was surrounded by snow. She stared at it for a few more seconds and watched as it flickered again, changing back to what it had been a moment ago, though she was beginning to understand why Spike was so keen on looking at it. Eventually it was going to show where Starlight and Sunset had ventured to, which Spike would then tell to Twilight by letter so she could investigate further. In fact when Rainbow thought about Starlight and Sunset, even if it was for a few seconds, the mirror seemed to react on its own, as it shifted to show her Starlight for a moment before disappearing. "I just saw Starlight." Rainbow said, a grin appearing on her face for a moment, as she realized what she could do with the mirror now, "I'm going in to save her!" "What are you talking about Rainbow..." Applejack started to say, but before she could finish her sentence Rainbow dove into the mirror and disappeared with a flash, leaving her alone for a moment, "Figures she would have tried something like that. Spike, we've got a problem!" "Did Rainbow run into the mirror?" Spike asked, walking back into the room and finding that the mare in question was missing, "Yeah, she definitely went through the mirror... I had better tell Twilight." "Well let her know that I'm going in and hauling Rainbow back here by her tail," Applejack said, letting out a sigh of annoyance as she faced the mirror, "Might as well get this over with." Spike watched as Applejack stepped into the mirror and disappeared as well, leaving him to sigh as he picked up the nearby quill and started to write a message. Twilight wasn't going to be happy when she learned that two more of their friends were now missing thanks to the mirror she got from the Crystal Empire. "Good form Lord Beerus. It seems that all the time you spent napping hasn't dulled your fighting abilities." That remark came from Whis, who happened to be a thin humanoid creature with teal skin, tall white hair, and rather effeminate features. He wore a large light blue ring around his neck at all times, which just floated in place no matter how much he moved, while occasionally carrying a long blue and golden scepter in his right hand. At the top of his scepter rested a blue spherical stone, which glowed whenever he was using the scepter's abilities or his own powers, though most of the time it wasn't glowing. His attire consisted of a maroon colored robe, a black cuirass with white and orange diamond decorations, a blue sash that was wrapped around his waist, and black high-heeled shoes with white spats. His scepter was floating in the air by a nearby tree, because at the moment he was dodging the attacks that were coming his way, all while giving a small amount of praise to his opponent. "Of course my abilities haven't dulled over the years! I am the God of Destruction, Beerus the Destroyer!" That statement came from the person that Whis was engaged with at the moment, who happened to be a thin, hairless purple humanoid cat with large pointed ears. He wore black, blue, and gold Egyptian-looking attire with the same white and orange diamond decorations that Whis had on his own clothing, along with some golden bracelets and a band around his neck. He also wore brown shoes to cover his feet, which also had a golden band around his ankles, while having one of his ears pierced with a small golden earring of sorts. Beerus was powerful and sometimes arrogant, thanks to his position of the God of Destruction, but the longer he was awake between his naps the better his mood was. Usually when Whis made a remark like that it was around the time that Beerus was first waking up from one of his sleep sessions, after eating a large amount of food and properly cleaning himself anyway, because this was around the time that Beerus would normally threaten to 'destroy' Whis... not that Whis was worried. He was, however, quite pleased that Beerus was in a good mood, though he knew that it would sour later that afternoon, if what he heard from the Supreme Kai of Time was true anyway. "Either way I think we're done for today," Whis said, blocking the next attack that was coming his way, though this time there was no follow up attack coming up behind it. "Yes, this fight was starting to get boring anyway," Beerus replied, pulling back his fist and lowering it by his side, "I do hope that we find someone that can put up a decent fight one day, otherwise the sheer boredom will kill me." Whis already knew that what his Lord desired was an opponent that would excite him, someone that could really push him to the max before he eventually overpowered them. He had already tried to find a suitable opponent for his Lord to fight, but almost all of the time that person was always destroyed because they failed to amuse Beerus. The Supreme Kai of Time promised Whis that one day Beerus would have the rival he was looking for, though when that was she failed to mention to him. He didn't really know whether the Supreme Kai was lying or not, but at the moment he was going to have to assume she was right... especially considering what was supposed to happen next. "Now what to do now that training is over..." Beerus said, more to himself as he turned towards the ground that was around Whis' scepter, "Maybe I should go blow up a planet... or maybe I should just eat dinner and stare up at the stars in boredom." "Hello!" a voice called out, causing both Whis and Beerus turned to the source of the noise, to which they discovered that they had a guest on their home planet. Standing by a nearby tree, which happened to be near Whis' scepter, was a pretty young looking lady that had pinkish-red hair and a skin color that seemed to be between pink and purple. She wore a special pair earrings, called the Potara if Whis was remembering correctly, and a robe that was more casual than what most people would normally wear. Her outfit also sported a pair of high heeled boots, something that was definitely compensating for her short stature, as she was half the height of Lord Beerus. She was Chronoa, the Supreme Kai of Time, and the fact that she was here, on Beerus' own planet, told Whis that what they were waiting for was about to happen. "What an interesting surprise, a visit from the Supreme Kai of Time." Beerus commented, landing near the young lady as Whis did the same behind him, "the only problem I have with this is that I didn't give you permission to enter my planet." "That may be true," Chronoa replied, a light smile appearing on her face to distract herself from the creeping fear that she was feeling, "but Whis can admit anyone at anytime, so I simply asked him for permission... after I explained why I wanted to come here in the first place." "Is that so?" Beerus asked, glaring back at Whis for a moment, who was busy collecting his scepter, before turning his attention back to the Kai in front of him, "So tell me; what could have possibly happened that would force the Supreme Kai of Time to leave her duties for a moment and come to my planet?" Before Chronoa could answer the question, or even begin to explain why she had come to this world, the sky above them lit up and drew their attention to an area of space that existed around Beerus' planet. There was a small rainbow colored spot, roughly the size of a small moon and roughly twenty minutes from where they were currently standing, that was beginning to swirl against its will. That was rapidly followed by an explosion that generated a rainbow colored ring of energy, one that was moving outwards in every direction possible. The three of them watched the spectacle for a moment, leaving Beerus to wonder what was so special about it, before he spotted something coming towards his planet. It was a small asteroid of sorts, something that happened to be the size of the tree that Whis was standing next to, though it had the potential to ruin a good portion of his planet, which was why Beerus extended his right arm and leveled his hand with the incoming foreign object. "Wait!" Chronoa cried, quickly moving herself between Beerus and the asteroid, which wasn't something that anyone would normally do when in the presence of the God of Destruction, "You can't destroy them!" "Them?" Beerus growled in both annoyance and anger, though it was more because the Supreme Kai of Time was telling him not to destroy something and was getting in his way, but he did lower his arm a tiny bit, "You better have a good reason for not letting me destroy that asteroid... and making me angry at the same time." Chronoa didn't say anything in response to that, seeing how she could easily tip the scale and bring Beerus to a point where he could easily destroy her and everything around them. Instead she merely turned her attention back to the incoming asteroid and took a deep breath, so she could prepare herself for what she had come to do. One of the interesting things she had discovered during her time as the Supreme Kai of Time was that she could manipulate time itself, granting her the ability to erase any changes to the timeline that shouldn't be there. She could have easily done the same thing with the asteroid, as it wasn't supposed to be here and it could have easily sent Beerus into a rage, but there was something different about it... something that demanded her attention. She focused her powers on the asteroid and gradually slowed the speed at which it was coming towards Beerus' planet, while also giving it plenty of time to cool off before it arrived at its destination. She had to be very careful when using her powers on the asteroid, because she would accidentally rewind time to the point where it entered the universe and flatten the planet they were standing on. She could also freeze it in place and let it orbit Beerus' planet, but considering what she knew she couldn't let that happen either, which was why she was slowing it down at the moment. She could feel both Whis and Beerus watching her, mainly because of the aura that Beerus was giving off, but didn't let that distract her from her goal. Eventually the asteroid was stopped in its tracks and the planet was no longer in any danger, to which Chronoa smiled as she lowered the now cool asteroid to the ground in front of them before finally releasing it from her powers. Now that they could clearly see the asteroid they found that it wasn't made out of rock at all, rather it was made out of some sort of energy that was completely foreign to their universe. The energy was rainbow colored, much like the explosion it had come from, though now that it was cooled off they discovered something interesting about it; it was wide enough that Chronoa could sit in it with another version of herself. While she and Whis stared at the strange asteroid Beerus approached it and tapped it with one of his claws, to see if anything would happen or if he could destroy something that was clearly wasting his time. The energy dissipated in front of their eyes, leaving behind the slumbering forms of two young girls and causing the three of them to step back a bit as the girls were gently placed on the ground, which was swiftly followed by the energy disappearing completely. Once the three of them were sure that there was no more of the strange energy in the immediate area, or in the space around Beerus' planet, they gathered near the girls and observed them. One of the girls had a light cyan tint to her skin, which was odd considering the fact that she looked like one of the humans from Earth as Chronoa noted, though her hair was quite literally a rainbow of colors. The second girl had a pale orange tint to her skin, or maybe a pale gamboge color as Chronoa suggested, with light olive colored hair, though there was what appeared to be some sort of hat resting on her chest. The three of them noticed a few odd things; like the fact that both girls appeared to have hooves in place of their feet, had cute pony ears sticking out of their hair, and had tails that matched the color of their hair. Chronoa thought it was weird that both girls were wearing an identical pair of shorts, which were rugged and torn, and identical shirts that had some tears in them, making them look like they were poor children from one of the planets in the universe. They both also appeared to be about four years old, which meant that they might remember something about themselves, though she knew that she was hoping for something that might not be there at all. "What do you make of this Chronoa?" Whis asked, pointing at the hat with the base of his scepter, though the reason he asked her was because she knew more about the various cultures that existed throughout the universe. "It looks like a cowboy hat of sorts," Chronoa replied, a smile appearing on her face for a moment, "I'm glad that I arrived when I did, because if I had arrived even ten seconds later I'm sure that Lord Beerus would have destroyed them before he realized what they were and where they were from. What are they anyway?" "They appear to be some sort of hybrid," Whis commented, gesturing to their legs for a moment, "likely a cross between one the species from their universe and one of our own. A human form with some distinctive pony features... most interesting." "You knew that they were coming," Beerus growled, his earlier anger returning as he turned on the Supreme Kai of Time, breaking into the conversation as he realized why she had come to his planet, "You knew that this was going to happen and you didn't even bother to tell me anything. Tell me something Chronoa, why shouldn't I just destroy them right now?" Chronoa gulped back her fear for a moment, because when Beerus said her actual name, and not the title he always called her by, it was usually because he was on the verge of destroying something... namely her if he was in the mood to do so. "They're from Universe Thirteen," was the answer that left Chronoa's mouth, because at this point it was the only thing that could possibly stall the God of Destruction while she explained everything, "You know what that means." Everyone of importance, meaning the Kais, Beerus, and Whis, knew that there were twelve official universes and that it was highly unusual for any two universes, or rather their Gods of Destruction, to interact with each other. They also knew that there was an unofficial thirteenth universe that existed outside the original twelve, as it was completely different from the other twelve. From what they were able to tell Universe Thirteen had no God of Destruction, no Kais to watch over anything, or any villains that wished to conqueror everything around them. It was an enigma, one that everyone thought would have been destroyed by the God of Gods the moment he discovered it, but apparently Zen-Oh had other opinions on the matter. Zen-Oh made it clear to the twelve Gods of Destruction, their attendants, and the various Kais, that they were not allowed to visit Universe Thirteen without a direct invitation from the God of Destruction that called that universe home, whenever he or she was finally chosen. It was clear from that order that Zen-Oh didn't want any of them to interfere with the strange universe's development, as he was known to occasionally watch the universe and observe it for himself. There was also the rule that if something from Universe Thirteen showed up in one of the other twelve universes, or someone for that matter, the God of Destruction for that Universe was responsible for sending them back home. The last rule basically meant that any of the Kais would have to babysit whoever arrived in their universe while their God of Destruction figured out how to send them home, depending on where the person or people landed... though the rule also extended to that universe's Destroyer as well. "I refuse to raise them," Beerus stated, already knowing that someone would have to watch after them while he and Whis were coming up with a way to send them home, "I should just erase them now and save us all the trouble of taking care of them." "You would run the risk of bringing an end to Universe Seven if Zen-Oh found out about it, Lord Beerus" Whis commented, staring at the two girls for a moment, "I mean, he did make it clear that the Gods of Destruction and their attendants were to figure a way to send whoever arrived home... though I'm willing to bet that he would be upset if he learned that one of his twelve Destroyers disobeyed him and killed whoever arrived in their universe." "What about you, Supreme Kai of Time?" Beerus inquired, trying his hardest to get out of weighing himself down with two residents from another universe, "Can't you take them to the Time Nest, or whatever you're calling it these days, and raise them until I figure out how to send them back home?" "I'd love to, but I'm afraid that I wouldn't have the time to do all of my duties and watch them at the same time," Chronoa replied, shaking her head as she turned her attention back to the sleeping girls, though she secretly knew that she could and wasn't about to tell him the truth, "I'm sorry Lord Beerus, but I'm afraid that these two are your responsibility now... though at least you'll have some time to get some supplies for them before they wake up." Beerus sighed as he turned his gaze away from the Supreme Kai of Time and looked back at the sleeping girls, wondering who they were and how long it would take to come up with a way to send them back home. He wasn't looking forward to raising them, though he supposed that Whis would help him in that regard and keep them in line whenever he was busy erasing planets. He silently wished that he could have just gone to Universe Thirteen and blown the entire thing to pieces, as he was sure the other eleven Gods of Destruction were thinking the same thing he was. Eventually he let out a sigh and turned his attention back to the Supreme Kai of Time, whose attention was currently on the girls that were sleeping before her. "Fine, I'll watch over them." Beerus finally said, shaking his head as he crossed his arms behind his back, "What's the worst that could possibly happen?"