//------------------------------// // STRQ // Story: Fear Me, If You Dare // by Psyga315 //------------------------------// “Quincy! This way!” Susan said to his little brother. Navigating through Comic Con was rather difficult with so many people, especially when you had a little brother to watch over. “I saw a guy dressed like Ruby! We have to take a picture with him!” She smiled. Susan worked all weekend to make herself and her brother costumes for them to wear for the convention. A white robe was all that was needed to make a Summer Rose costume, while she used the concept art to make Quincy’s Qrow outfit. Originally she wanted to make Raven’s outfit so they can be the Branwen twins, but the mask was difficult to make, and so the robe was the better alternative. She searched for the boy… Where could he be? There! By that empty table! She waved to him. “Hey!” The boy noticed her as she held up her phone. “Hey, nice Summer costume!” Susan couldn’t resist staring at his Crescent Rose in awe. There was so much intrinsic detail to it. It was as if it was the real thing. “T-thanks… Um…” She motioned Quincy to go to him. “M-mind if we…” “Oh Cool! That’s Qrow, right?” The man asked Quincy. “Yep!” He smiled. “Nice! Aight, let’s take this!” The man said as Susan went to the man and Quincy and held it out in front of them. The three smiled as the phone’s light flashed. “Yay!” Quincy said. “Thank you!” Susan said as she looked at the phone. That’s when Quincy noticed something. “Hey! Look!” Quincy pointed to a man in a white business jacket, a gray scarf, black pants and shoes, and orange hair that was underneath a black bowler hat. “Oh wow! We gotta take a pic with that Roman Torchwick cosplayer! Thanks by the way!” With that, Susan left the man and took Quincy with. The two ran after the man in the white coat as he got out of the convention via an exit door. Quickly, Quincy ran to hold the door open while Susan caught up with him. The two began to sneak in and look for the man. “You have them?” They heard a man say. “Yep. Which do you want, m’dear?” Another man spoke. Quincy just snuck by while Susan kept close. “You sure we should be here?” Quincy asked. “Yeah! Just a pic, and then we’re outta here!” Susan said. “I think I want that gold car.” “Alright, it’s coming with this though. Now, for payment…” “Nah… I think I’ll just take it.” The two then heard a shot. Susan’s eyes widened as her ears began to deafen. It took her a while to notice that Quincy ran to the sound. “Quincy! Wait!” Susan followed him. The two came across a man in a business suit with a bleeding arm. “Damn it!” The man groaned as Quincy took a glimpse at him. He then looked ahead to see the cosplayer running. “Don’t worry! I’ll beat that Roman Torchwick guy!” Quincy ran towards the cosplayer. The cosplayer only looked at the boy and just clicked his teeth. He took out something that looked to be a see-through jelly bean with bits of glitter in it. He then chucked it at the ground. As it landed, it glowed blue. “Quincy! Get away!” Susan tried to grab Quincy, but as she did, the bean then expanded outwards, creating what was basically a swirling green portal. The floor below it sunk down into the portal, causing Quincy to fall. Susan strained her legs, putting her heels right onto the crack in one of the floorboards and using it as an anchor. She clung onto Quincy’s arm. “Quincy!” She shouted. She looked to the Torchwick cosplayer as he smirked and ran off. While the portal was seemingly small, it continually sucked Quincy in, his feet dangling over it. “Susan! I’m slipping!” Quincy tried to grab onto something, anything, but any support he could grab just got lowered into the portal. Susan could feel it too. The giving of her strength. Quincy looked to her and began to cry. “Don’t let go!” Susan knew this would be something she won’t be able to do… So she instead got off and clung onto Quincy’s body. “I won’t! I’ll never let go!” She cried as the two fell into the portal. The green glow soon died down. Francis could see the train pass into the desert region. “So… You three managed to help him realize what his Cutie Mark was?” Starlight asked Apple Bloom. “Yep! And now he’s a rodeo clown!” Apple Bloom smiled. “Wow…” Starlight sighed. “Good thing I’m past that whole anti-Cutie Mark phase.” Starlight chuckled before frowning. “If I had come across him during that phase…” Francis had no idea what the two were talking about, though once he noticed her frown, he approached her. “Hey, don’t worry! We’re gonna beat this Crow guy and rescue Apple Bloom’s sister!” Francis said. “Huh? N-no. I’m just… well…” Starlight just looked out the window. “She used to be mean! But Twilight managed to talk her out of it! Now she’s a good guy!” Apple Bloom said. “… Yeah… That.” Starlight simply sunk into her hooves. Francis merely looked at the somber unicorn before petting her back with his paw. “Is… Is that why you wanted to help me? To prove you’re good?” Francis asked. He didn’t hear her, but she merely nodded. “Well… I don’t know what you did, but the fact that you’re helping out your friends is enough for me to know you’re good!” Starlight just looked to Francis as he smiled. Starlight smiled back. “Thanks…” She said. The tires of the train began to squeal as the conductor began to bellow out the station: “AAAAAAAAPPLEOOSA!” With that, Francis eagerly ran off. Quincy and Susan woke up on what appeared to be a large, pink and purple checkerboard. Quincy groaned as he looked around. “Susan… Where are we?” Quincy asked. Susan’s eyes slowly fluttered. She got up and looked around. The world they were in had a pink sky with several floating islands, with some old thatched roof cottages near the two. “Aaaah! Lovely! Just what the doctor ordered!” An eccentric voice echoed as Susan looked to see a creature sitting on a throne. A long, brown furred serpent with pieces of different animals attached to him like some sort of Frankenstein-style horror. He extended his arms, one a freakishly large lion’s paw and the other a chicken’s claw, and chortled. Susan held Quincy. “You must be… Ah! Right! Displaced! I always wanted one for myself. Do you two come together?” His body extended so that his light brown fur head of two different horns, a deer and a ram, was right in front of the two. Susan looked at the creature’s yellow eyes with blood red pupils. As Quincy looked as well, he winced and cried in Susan’s arms. As Quincy cried, small ripples waved over his body. As the creature chuckled, he was pushed down. Susan looked as she saw a buffalo in a ballerina outfit seemingly trip over the serpent’s body and pushed him down in the process. “Quincy! Hurry!” Susan picked up Quincy and ran off. The two ran further and further until they entered a dark forest. The two exhaled and panted. “There… We should… be far… from him…” Susan fell down and rested her back against a tree. “I want to go home…” Quincy began to cry into his knees. Just then, the two heard rustling. “Going home? Well, we’re on the same boat then.” The two looked to a well-built dirty-blonde-haired man wearing dark orange cargo shorts, a small leather jacket over what looked to be a dress suit, a red bandana tied to his right arm with a metal shoulder pad on the other. Susan just looked at the man and blushed. “Name’s Tai. Well, that’s the name I have…” He looked up and saw a raven flying over the three before perching itself in a branch and looking at the two with a bit of a puzzled look. “And that is Raven.” Susan got up and gulped. She didn’t know these people, but a look from Tai ended up causing her to shudder and think back to when he, Raven, and Quincy were on the team… Wait, what? How can that be? She barely knew the two. … Wait… Raven… Susan looked at Raven as she flew down. Feathers exploded as a woman landed. The woman wore a bone-white mask with red tribal stripes on it, five red-bead necklaces, long black hair, and a black kimono with red samurai greaves on them. The fact that she held a sheathed sword caused Susan to open her eyes. “Raven!? Like… Raven Branwen?!” She got up and ran over to investigate the detail of her kimono. “You guys cosplayers as well?” She asked. “No. Tai here is just a stoner.” Raven’s blood red eyes seen behind the slits of the mask, turned to glare at Tai. “Hey! Don’t give me that crap! Some douche gave me some bad ganja is all!” Tai said. “That somehow placed you in a realm of chaos.” Raven turned to the kids. “I’m not a cosplayer. I’m merely someone who agreed to be Displaced…” “Displaced… The snake told us we were Displaced…” Susan muttered. “Yeah. Displaced. People who have left their homes and end up being shafted into other worlds… like this chaotic pit.” Tai sighed. “This world may seem like a pit to those who give up hope… But I refuse to see it as such. I’m looking for a means to get us back home, away from this world. What we’re in is not a pit. It’s a ladder. We just need to climb it.” With that, Raven walked away. Quincy got up. “STRQ…” Quincy muttered. Raven turned to see him. “If… If we’re gonna be together, that’ll be our name, right?” Quincy looked at his hands. He too began to remember stuff about the team he was on. He just smiled and gripped his fists. “Yeah! We’ll climb it as STRQ!” Raven just smiled behind her mask, though Susan could notice what looked to be a tear from her eye.   "No way! I already have enough bad luck as it is!" Francis sat by on the benches of a large rodeo arena as he saw a large, dark brown horse talking to Apple Bloom. He sniggered at the sheer size difference. "But Trouble Shoes! My sister's in trouble! We need you!" Apple Bloom said. "I'm a rodeo clown, not some jouster!" Starlight sat next to Francis. "I hope you know what you're doing." Starlight asked him. "... I hope so too." Francis looked to Starlight as she placed her hoof on his leg. "You could be more than that! My sister's a hero of Equestria! Saving her? Why, you'd be even more of a hero!" Apple Bloom then let out a smile as Francis could hear what amounts to air squeezing out of her cheeks. "... A hero? Hmm... That sounds interesting. Hey, kid! Ever rode a pony before?" Trouble Shoes asked. Francis looked at him for a bit before memories of him riding on a white horse, straddling on the neck and holding the horse by the ears. Francis just nodded and ran to him. "Well, just be prepared. I'm not exactly the most sturdy of pony." "I don't care. We just need to be super unlucky." Francis turned to Starlight and nodded. Starlight's horn glowed as his orange fur began to lose its coloring, slowly and surely darkening to an absolute shade of black. Francis flexed his fingers. "Now remember, this only makes you look unlucky, it won't make you unlucky." Starlight said. “Well, let’s hope that bad luck balances out bad luck…” Francis pulled out the cross necklace and held onto it, uttering the words that he was given: “I bring misfortune…” Suddenly, the sky went dark as winds picked up, blowing dust around the area. Apple Bloom coughed as Starlight used her magic to pick her up and levitate both her and Apple Bloom to the benches. The sounds of crows cawing echoed as dark feathers floated downward onto a single place. Francis hopped onto Trouble Shoes as a dark light emanated from the feathers for a brief moment before taking human form. As he did, a banner flew downward, on it was a weird combination of shapes, squares, and diamonds. It landed in front of Apple Bloom and Starlight. Apple Bloom looked at the banner and read it. ✈☼⚐🕈 ✞💧 🏱🕆💧💧 “What the hay is this?” She squinted as Starlight looked at it. “It’s… I don’t believe it! It’s in Baelish!” Starlight said. She took a moment before looking at Apple Bloom. “It’s an ancient language that Discord used when was ruling Equestria.” “So what’s it doing here?” Apple Bloom asked. Starlight just looked up to see what appeared to be a cotton candy cloud. “I think we may not be the only viewers to this fight…” Starlight said. The two then heard a muffled squeal as they saw Crow holding Applejack, tied up with what looked to be spider web and muffled with a cloth, before tossing her. “That was quick. I was half expecting you to train for a week before giving me a call.” Crow shrugged and got out his sword. “So, here’s how it’s gonna go: We fight. First one to pass out loses. I’m not one to fight to the death, especially if my opponent is a small kid.” Francis just held onto Trouble Shoe’s neck and glared at him. “I-if I win, you give Applejack back…” Francis readied his rapier. “Fair enough, but if I win, then Celestia must unseal the statues.” Crow said. “…” He looked to Apple Bloom and Starlight Glimmer. He closed his eyes. His heart pounding. All he had to do is breath in and out. He then glared at Crow. “You’re on!” “Arlight. Just be warned… Just because you’re a kid doesn’t mean I’m gonna go easy on you.” With a cocky grin, he charged towards Francis. Trouble Shoes galloped towards Crow, but he ended up tripping over his own legs. Francis leaped off Trouble Shoes just as he fell down, propelling him towards Crow as he pulled out his rapier. Francis let out a loud battle yowl as Crow swung with his sword. The two weapons clashed, creating small sparks that exploded from the two weapons. The duel has begun.