Breath in, hold it, exhale, over and over again he repeated this exercise that his teacher had taught him in the hope of being able to calm down, a pity that for some time now it doesn't work as well as before
He made sure to approach at a constant pace so that his fear would not be noticed, but luckily it was not necessary, the princess was too focused on watching the path in front of us, she had not moved despite the heat... or that she already more than four hours have passed
"Hello , Cadance. " Only then did he seem to snap out of his vigil.
"Oh hello Twilight , sorry I didn't hear you coming" It was obvious from the way she blinked repeatedly and rubbed her eyes, now that she thought about it she didn't remember seeing her blink
"Okay Cadance don't worry, I wanted to tell you that we found something that could be useful inside the carriage seat, I think the princess wanted to give it to us, but she didn't have time"
"I understand, I'll go see him later." After that, he ran out of ideas, which caused an awkward silence.
"Did you want to tell me something else?" Once again he thought about what to say and whether it would be better to just make an excuse and walk away.
"I... I'm sorry" But he couldn't, he had already put off too many things.
"When Spike left I realized that I've only been looking out for myself and ended up leaving those around me behind." Her gaze drifted to the carriage and the small shop where her friends were having breakfast "I haven't been a good friend lately”
"You don't need to apologize Twilight , I know we've all had it hard lately." He could see how she suppressed a pained expression and gave her a big hug instead.
After a moment in which she managed to calm down a bit, she decided to continue "This is what I mean, I'm not the only one with problems and I haven't done anything to help others, help you" Some of her nerves returned when she felt the hug turn even stronger
"I can assure you that if there is someone you should not worry about, it is me, I am clear about what I must do and what you must do is stay with your friends, nothing more" Despite the high temperatures and the warm embrace He couldn't help but flinch at the cold way those words were said.
"Girls, if Rainbow and Pinkie don't come , they're going to eat it!" A voice with a country accent sounded
"You heard let's go" And so the conversation ended, he did not have time to say anything, even so, it went as well as he could hope for
Once inside they immediately sat in their respective seats, they were just a small fruit salad, nutrient bars used by the royal guard and a glass of water
"So... where do we go now?" Rainbow , as always, straight to the point "I don't think your plan is to just go around all the badlands until we find something" or so she thought until she noticed her friend's embarrassed expression "Right?"
"Well... not since this morning, I received another letter from Princess Luna" That earned her a few looks of both curiosity and contempt, when Cadance explained to her in more detail what had happened to her... she didn't take it well "Thanks to that already a spell that he sent me now I can detect his latent connection that he established with the princess and thus increase the magical flow of it to define an approximate direction and perhaps a-"
"In you please," Rainbow said with smoke coming out of her head, even Applejack looked confused .
She paused for a second with a sigh and simplified it, "When Spike sends his letters he creates a two-way connection and now that I have the spell the princess used to connect with him, we just have to follow the direction the flow is flowing. " magic. Questions?”
To her surprise, the one who picked it up this time was Applejack "Yeah, one. Why didn't we use it until now?"
"That was because the connection was lost, at some point after entering the badlands something blocked it or so it was until this morning that the princess informed me that it was working again"
"And you haven't written to him to find out how he is?" Cadance sounded quite concerned as his gaze zeroed in on her, it gave him chills.
"I can't, Luna warned me that whatever is blocking the connection is most likely not natural and even if it is, we can't send it something without running the risk of being discovered, the only thing that worries me is that we don't get there." sent any letters.” I knew of a possible cause for this, but—
"Do you think it could be a trap?" Cadance said it mercilessly
"I don't know." Although the idea of being ambushed was worrisome, what distressed her the most was that it meant that Spike had been discovered and in that case, only Celestia knows what they would do to him.
She felt her chest oppress her until a warm sensation invaded her or rather surrounded her "Don't worry, we'll find him" Applejack and Rainbow gave her a big hug, Cadanse just watched them with a smile "Yes and we'll beat him up to anyone who crosses our path whatever it is ” Rainbow said with absolute confidence
"Right, too." Cadance 's voice returned to its cold, calculating tone. "Whether it's a trap or not, we're not going to make them regret what they did to us." For some reason she felt like her priority wasn't Spike , but that thought was ridiculous... true?
“ I witnessed what your courage is capable of and although we are from different worlds just like us, it is more than you see, I am Optimus Prime and I sent this message to all the surviving Autobots who take refuge among the stars, here we are and we are waiting"
And a line of illegible texts followed because of how vague my memory of them was while listening to one of Linkin Park's classics.
"That...was... INCREDIBLE" Spike jumped in his seat almost colliding with the ceiling "I take back everything I said about Discord believing you, he could never have created something like that."
" Discord did what?!" A deep voice was heard from all sides
"Temporary existential crisis, don't worry" I had to remind myself
"Ah well... How come I didn't have one of those?"
"Because you must have been very busy trying to survive... and of course you are clueless"
"Guys, we can continue with this later I want to know what's next" Even without a face I knew that he wanted to answer me, but he held back to consent to Spike
"I see you are also a fan"
"Obviously! I had never seen anything like it, although it was kind of violent and some parts I didn't understand, but it didn't make it any less cool” Yeah, he didn't know about cars and almost nothing related to technology to the point where I wonder why he didn't know transformed into something other than a vehicle? Explaining everything to him was a drag
"Though I think you should take some time before you watch the next one" If my illusions may not be a TV, but if they were the closest thing, I could see him rubbing his eyes and I bet in a minute or two he'll feel his stomach again claiming him for having been ignored for so long
"What? Why?" Fortunately, it was not me who had to explain
"Because that movie lasts more than two hours, maybe it's not long for us, but you're not used to it" Looking out the truck window only entertained us for the first ten minutes, then we got bored so I decided to do a little experiment with my hopes and by the way, why not teach Spike something of our culture ?
"Two hours?! Impossible.” At that the Pax blinked an internal clock showing the time and while he gaped at him I walked up behind him and patted him on the back.
"You'll get used to it" someone who has spent half his life in front of a screen tells you
"I also wanted to check something. Could you put the map back up?"
"Of course" In front of us the flat screen disappeared and a 3D map of Equestria appeared , when I met Pax I verified one of my theories about our new bodies and that is that it not only brings physical benefits but also mental benefits, one of these is my memory, Before I had a hard time remembering what I had for breakfast and now I can draw a whole country
Most likely, this body has it to make illusions more realistic.
"If it seems that we are about to leave Badlans " With that I turned off my illusions that wrapped the windows and after a few seconds for our eyes to adapt to the light we could see a narrow passage that passed in between... I really don't know what to call it , they weren't mountains, the Badlands looked…encased, not submerged would be a better way of saying it as to what kind of tectonic deformation could cause the terrain to end up like this, I had no idea
“We gained a lot of ground” We had calculated a minimum of four days crossing on foot, although having a truck that somehow goes 180 km/h with ease helped
"Of course, the only way to go faster around here would be to fly"
"Hey, do you think it's safe to go through there?" Spike seemed a bit uncomfortable, honestly now that he mentions it, he seems like he could fall on us.
"It's not like we have many options, but don't worry, you're protected by a cockpit made entirely of Cybertronian metal and after what you just saw I don't think I have to tell you how tough it is." He sounded a little smug, but if that calmed him down, he would pass
"If it's just... that I've never been this far from home." He sounded a bit nervous and I could understand that.
"Don't worry Spike , you're not alone" I just realized that, although it's not the same if she's going through a situation pretty similar to us, far from home, struggling to survive... I really shouldn't have brought it with me
"The same here boy we will protect you" Once again his pride was shown
“Hey I can take care of myself! Didn't you see what I did to those bugs?"
Those two kept talking while I was distracted by the view of the road, we had already entered whatever this is, everything was a constant repetition, a rock, another rock, another bigger one, other big ones falling on us… SHIT
“BAAANG”
"Everything alright Pax ?"
“Yeah, just a little… flipped, but otherwise fine, what about you?”
"I'll warn you" In that I undid my illusion or rather my shape change to a Donphan , the truth is that, although I change my shape I don't get harder no matter what I imitate, but this body allowed me to wrap Spike perfectly "All good friend?"
"If only a little dizzy, what happened?" that was a good question
"I don't know, but... could you get off of me?" Only then did he seem to notice where he was and he quickly tried to get away, but it was difficult for him, the truck was on its side so there wasn't much space left and I decided to stay like that for a while because I fell backwards and I wanted the pain to subside.
"Watch out! I detect a life form approaching.” That forced me to be alert, to hell with the pain.
" Spike you stay, Pax open the door." The door opened immediately, brushing aside the rocks above me and giving me an easy exit.
"What? No, I'm going to-" And so I closed the door in his face, we just told him that we're going to protect him and that's what we were going to do.
As soon as I came out I noticed the way of life and suddenly it didn't seem so strange to me that I was alone, I was an alicorn , I immediately felt my fur stand on end and my breathing almost stopped
had heard about them while spying on the batponys , their race was the one that defeated Discord a millennium ago or something like that, I don't know how the hell they managed to do something like that, but if there was one thing I had no doubt about, it was that they were VERY powerful
"You seem surprised." His voice was soft and melodious, but without any trace of emotion.
"A little yes" I realized the situation and that I couldn't hesitate, so I changed the tone of my voice to a more masculine and confident one "After all, who would expect to find such a beautiful lady in a place like this?" I win a response, for a second I thought I saw an expression of disgust to the degree that it seemed to want to vomit, but it disappeared as quickly as it arrived
"Just walking around, obviously admiring the scenery" Yes, of course. What is he up to?
"Well, then it's a lucky coincidence, don't you think?"
"No, I don't think so" A silence was kept between us not out of discomfort but to try to understand what the other was up to
"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here?" She just smiled at me and started walking around me.
"It's just a hobby that I picked up recently, it's so… addictive" I decided to imitate her only that instead of getting closer I got as far away from her as I could
I knew better than to ask, but honestly, what choice did I have? "And what would it be?"
"It is not obvious?" He finally stopped and smiled at me tenderly "Hunting"
I expected him to jump me or something, but he just stood there "So what are you waiting for?"
The smile never left her face as she gave me a mischievous look. "Nothing important, just my friends coming over to your float." What?
looked at where Pax was still turned, only now there were six ponies on top of him.
SHIING
I was unable to say anything when taking advantage of my surprise a powerful lightning strike hit me or rather my illusion, I was still where I was from the beginning
"HA, see? I told you it would be easy." The six of them seemed to have fallen into the trap except
"No, this is never that easy" The alicorn seemed to have experience
"That doesn't matter, as long as we open this before we can leave" That white unicorn was very familiar to me, but I couldn't identify it from a distance, my full attention was on the alicorn.
"You're right, I'll take care of it" The door began to shine, but it didn't move "But what?" Both the horn and the door glowed more brightly, but he didn't flinch. "What is this thing doing?"
Suddenly the alicorn 's eyes widened. " Twilight , get away from that thing now!" As soon as I took flight I took advantage and used [Quick attack ] which took the air out of his lungs
"CADANCE" I didn't even notice who or who yelled, I didn't need to worry about them
TRANK
CHUCK
"AHHH"
Many strange sounds were heard along with the donuts shooting out and the ponies screaming, I concentrated on dodging as the now known as Cadance created another bubble .
"ZORA THE GREAT IS MINE, YOU TAKE CARE OF THE OTHERS" I had nothing to say to that logic
SHINING
Cadance soon fired another bolt of energy that Pax blocked with his arm and to my surprise actually pushed him back slightly, the alicorns were strong, but I didn't let it distract me for long when I saw the horn of the dwelling light up. I immediately jumped on her or almost did when a rainbow blur took her
I looked for her only to find her a few meters away being carried by the pegasus , I was about to jump on top of them when a rope wrapped around my neck and I pulled hard.
I was on the ground when another yellow pegasus came out of nowhere and fell on top of me, his look scared me
I realized that if I wanted to win I would have to loosen up a little, just a little.
And so an orange claw caught the pegasus ' helmet and flung it away only to be caught by the blur again.
As I dug my claw into the ground and my transformation was complete
“THANKS”
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't showing off, after all who wouldn't enjoy being a Charizard?
With a body more suitable for my strength, I managed to stand up and cut the rope with my claws, causing the orange pony to fall.
I had no time for anything else when the same rainbow blur hit me undoing my illusion
Well… it was good while it lasted
Despite the change in shape, I managed to land on my feet right in front of a cannon…!!
"BOOM"
Where did it come from?! It was mere luck that I managed to duck, the worst thing was that I could see a purple glow coming towards me, so in a quick thought I jumped into the canyon.
Hot, hot, hot!
"Hey no!" I didn't care about their complaints or the heat when I created a [Shadow ball ] and detonated it inside the thing, I couldn't risk getting shot with another one of those
"BOOOM"
With some pride I noticed that my shadow ball exploded with more force than that thing, but I quickly got rid of the useless thought and used my illusions to increase the smoke screen caused by the explosion.
I needed a second to think, they were attacking me in a group and I had to defeat them without killing them, it was going to be difficult, but a few seconds to think was all I needed to turn the tide, I was sure of that.
We could do it, we had hurt it, if we kept going like this even if we didn't win for sure we would hold out until Cadance beat that thing and if an emergency happened we could still use that, victory was certain
" Twilight , where are you?" Pinky ? _ His guess proved to be true when he saw her appear from the mist, it was very thick
“COF COF , what happened?” Something is strange, she seemed… serious, no, there was no time for distractions
"I don't know, come quickly!" But instead of paying attention she just turned around “What are you doing? It is dangerous!"
"Yes, I'm sorry, it's just that I think I saw-" She couldn't finish when that orange dragon appeared again ready to gobble her up.
I didn't know what to do, Pinkie was going to die in a second, but luckily Rainbow didn't have any doubts and immediately jumped to hit the dragon once more.
CRACK
But that was not what happened, as soon as it made contact the dragon disappeared and in its place a wall of rocks appeared and Pinkie disappeared .
"Watch out Twilight there's another copy!" Applejack pointed to another copy of herself that was on my right, I immediately charged my horn, ready to destroy the imposter.
" Twilight wait!" I yell the copy fast enough to stop my attack and redirect it to the Applejack behind me, the same one who didn't have an accent and as I guessed it was just an illusion.
I ALMOST HURT MY FRIEND
" Applejack how sorry" What? that was not me
I became alert to look around me and see me and my friends everywhere. They were everywhere! Through the fog I could see them, several times, sometimes fighting among themselves, if I wanted to know which one was the real one, I would have to use a dispersal spell, but I would have to touch the illusion for it to work and this fog obstructed my vision more and more.
"What I do? What I do?" At this rate he's going to kill us! I couldn't help but hyperventilate knowing that this could be our last adventure together.
" Twilight " A hoof touched my back and I froze, I didn't know what to do " Twilight we need you, please react"
I turned and saw " Rarity ?" I didn't know if it was her, I lost sight of her at the beginning of the fight
"If it's me I'm sorry, when that giant appeared I could only think about running away, then the fog came and I didn't know what happened until I got here-" My mind disconnected at that moment.
THE FOG
I immediately activated the dispersal spell, there was no need to touch the illusions, because we were already inside it!
As soon as the spell was activated the mist disappeared along with the copies and only my friends, me and a DAMN FOX that was trying to choke Applejack were left.
I art
“ZAP”
In a flash I appeared in front of that abomination and bombarded it with the most powerful beam I could fire without damaging Applejack .
"Thanks pumpkin, I almost didn't count it" He said while rubbing his neck and I could only turn to see where that thing had landed
He got up, he looked sore and seemed short of breath, but he had no real damage, then I realized, he did not see us as a real threat and the worst thing was that he was right, we gave everything and we did not damage him, we had to try something more drastic, we needed the elements!
"Girls, put them on." Without hesitation, each one took hers out of her mane or saddlebag.
"SHING, SHING, SHING"
I knew that he would try to trick us again so I didn't hesitate to shoot small rays around him, the fact that his eyes glowed was a good indicator.
My friends took a while, especially Rainbow , who had a big bump , but it could have been worse, if it weren't for the fact that her pegasus magic decreases the force of the impacts as long as they are flying... better not to think about that, now they were ready
Okay that didn't go as expected and something tells me that I really made the dwelling angry, but the important thing was, what were they doing? She didn't know what those necklaces did, but she wasn't going to take them lightly.
Suddenly my hair stood on end, the sounds became diffuse, the air became thick, it felt like swimming, but I could still breathe.
The ponies started floating and glowing…okay this is BAD I don't know what that thing was, but I couldn't let it end!
I immediately charged a [Shadow ball ] and threw it at him and it vanished… just like that, it was like air
Plan B, many Zoruas appeared and started running in different directions... or that was my intention, they didn't even manage to form before dispersing, I couldn't do anything, not even run, moving was already difficult in this environment, running would be an attempt pathetic
“RIIIIING”
A powerful multicolored beam as thick as a fighter jet was heading my way releasing a strangely soothing sound, not at all like I imagined a death ray would be, maybe that was why I wasn't scared, or was it? for another thing? I don't know, I just know that when he surrounded me he felt calm? No Pacific? Close, but also not, if I had to describe it in one word, strange as it sounds, it would be, harmony?
“SHING”
This was becoming problematic, his arms were already starting to heat up since it was not easy to dodge those scratches being so big, so he preferred that they hit him in a place where he could control the damage, but that was not the most problematic but the fact that the DAMN ROZED BIRD did not deign to approach him and only attacked him from the air
It was certainly a good idea to get away from Zora 's combat , in such a closed space for him at least, he needed to take advantage of all the available space and the last thing he wanted was to end up crushing somepony by accident, besides he wasn't worried about his partner, he had analyzed the ponies after all, not these but his race in Canterlot , he checked their physiological capacities and from what he managed to check he noticed that the probability of a pony defeating a Pokemon was... low or at least unarmed and even so...
They could hit it, damage it even, but kill it no joke and as far as capturing it, I'd only be worried if it was literally any other Pokemon , but with its illusions-
“SHINING”
Let's just say it would be as easy for him to punch THIS WITCH.
"I'm really running out of patience!"
“CROCK”
His words were answered with a rocky landslide that managed to unbalance him.
"I won't repeat it to you again" He could see that not only did he not stop, but he began to accumulate magic for a more powerful spell "AHHH TO THE DEVIL"
He quickly rolled to his left dodging the barrage of magical projectiles that were chasing him, some did hit him, but they did little damage, he just kept running, letting his simulator do some calculations.
When they were ready, he used his plan, he threw himself to the ground and transformed, accelerating his pace enormously, he heard the bird yell something, but he could only guess that it would be something like 'don't escape' or something like that, as if he was trying
As soon as it was in position it stuck to the wall on the right and as I hope that did not stop the bird from continuing its attacks
There was another cave-in and he transformed ignoring the falling rocks and actually caught one, crushed it in his grip and hurled it at him like a pile of shrapnel.
She immediately activated her shield and blocked them, rushing to launch a counterattack, but she didn't have time when she received another volley of rocky projectiles, the situation had been reversed now she was the one who didn't stop being bombarded and the worst thing was that everything was thanks to the large amount of ammunition that she herself gave him
well there was a difference
“ZAP”
She teleported ready to launch a fully charged beam directly at his head or so she thought, it took a few nanoseconds for her integrated sensors to inform her of the place where space was warped so she reacted immediately by ducking
“SHIIIING”
I dodge it by inches
As soon as the alicorn noticed where she was and the stupidity of her action took flight trying to put as much distance as possible between the two and then the giant jump, but it didn't reach her, she was already very high and he was too heavy or so he thought her when suddenly a propeller was activated in each leg of the giant giving it a great impulse, enough to have it between her fingers, she would not be able to activate her teleportation spell so she went for a simpler one
A powerful shield formed around the alicorn just before falling into her grasp and it protected her well, but she couldn't do anything to avoid being caught and then thrown to the ground.
"BOOOM"
A huge crater was formed in the place where he fell, he could feel his horn pressing on his hundred protesting the abrupt amount of magic spent, but he didn't cancel it, he had to keep the shield long enough to activate his teleportation spell and take away again, but she realized she wouldn't have that chance when she saw the foot of the colossus coming down on her.
“BAAANG”
The earth trembled, the shield cracked and she screamed, but she couldn't do anything to stop the attack, the colossus brought both arms together and smashed them against the shield again.
“BAAANG”
He felt how small cracks appeared on his horn from the abuse and blood dripped from his nose, now the shield could not even maintain its spherical shape, it looked like crumpled paper
He seemed to realize that resistance was useless so he lowered his shield and surrendered, not like it made much difference now that he had no strength left, he just stood there waiting for his end, but…it never came.
While he was on the ground he could see how the colossus gave him a simple look only to then turn around and walk away.
"Where are you going?" It was more of a whisper, a passing thought than an actual question “What do you think you are doing?” She asked drawing strength without knowing where, but the giant ignored her anyway, who did she think she was? How dare he do this to her? To treat her like she wasn't worth it? "Come back, COME BACK HERE AND FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED." The tears fell uncontrollably when he finally turned around and stared at her.
"I'm sorry" What? "I'm sorry for what you've had to go through, really." She turned around again, but not because she didn't care, but because she didn't seem able to look at her. "I'm really sorry."
After that she just stood there completely ignoring her surroundings, until the huge beam illuminated the entire passage and caught her and the giant's attention. The elements?
“GRAAAA”
He couldn't make sense of what was happening when a roar with the power of a dragon nearly ruptured his eardrums.
All he could identify was a feral, bipedal figure in the distance a second before he brought his arms together and smashed them to the ground.
His eyes widened almost to the point of falling as he saw a bubble of evil energy of a size never seen before form, expanding with inconceivable speed.
“BOOOOOM”
At least she had a good view, that was her last thought before the energy reached her.