“Smolder, you can’t possibly be thinking that!” Yona exclaimed as the orange dragon tugged at the straps of her pack on her shoulder.
“We have to. This isn’t TWI speaking. It isn’t,” she said resolutely. “Something’s… changed. I don’t know what happened to her in the other world, but this is not who she is. What she’s doing isn’t what she stood for. It’s not what we can stand for.”
“I’m with you, Smolder.” Gallus flapped his wings and lifted the corners of his mouth.
“As am I.” Ocellus nodded her head. “It’s not right.”
“We need to remind TWI of what she stood for.” Sandbar pounded a hoof against the ground.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Gallus said and immediately disappeared through TWI’s portal machine.
“No time like now!” Silverstream followed after him without wasting another second.
One by one, each of them entered the portal until only Ocellus was left. She rubbed a hoof against the back of her head as she peered into the swirling vortex before her. TWI had been their great leader and teacher, showing them the magic of Friendship as they took over as Equestria’s protectors. And now here they were, hoping to convince her to stop her conquest of another world.
Even if she meant well for them, even if she wanted to help them, killing all those who stood against her wasn’t the way. She had taught them that there was always a way with friendship. Whatever happened on her journey there had changed her mind, and it was their duty to change it back.
With one last swallow, Ocellus dove in, traversing through a rainbow tunnel as her body began to warp and change, turning into something else. As a changeling, she knew what it was like to turn into something or somepony else, but this was different. It was as though the very fiber of her being was changing, turning her into something that was no longer a changeling.
On the other end of the portal, the first thing Ocellus saw was the school TWI had told them about: Canterlot High School. It stood cold and empty, devoid of life as she looked past other buildings to the moon above. In this world, the sun and moon moved according to some other force instead of the power of princesses. It was hard to believe, but TWI was intelligent. She knew she would find out all she could about this world, even if she planned to kill thousands.
Once she had gotten her bearings of her new body and that of her friends, it wasn’t long before green bolts of energy struck the ground around them, forming dark circles in the stone as a figure from Ocellus’ past dropped down from on top of the school building.
She stood and brushed her teal hair from her dark face, giving them a devious smile as she drew a line down the side of her neck to her left shoulder as she tilted her body to one side. She had on a green and purple top that left her left shoulder and right abdomen bare, and she had on pants that flared out at the bottom, ending in tears that snaked up to just under her knees.
“Chrysalis… what are you doing here?” Sandbar said with a gasp of surprise.
“Excited to see me?” She chuckled. “I know.”
Ocellus stepped forward, putting herself between her friends and the changeling who had once been something more than just a villain. “Mother, you’re not su-supposed to be he-here… You’re supposed to be… how did you escape Tartarus?”
Chrysalis laughed again. “My dear Ocellus. I didn’t. I was just given a deal. Think of it as a way of shortening my term. I do what Princess TWI wants and I don’t have to be in Tartarus for a lifetime.”
“She’s getting the help of these villains now?” Silverstream asked the others.
Ocellus shook her head. “You-You’re lying. TWI would never!”
“On the contrary…” Chrysalis played two fingers through her long straight hair. She had a little crown with a crooked horn perched on top of her head. “And it’s not just me… For reduced sentences, we’ll put up with her demands. For now.”
Smolder pushed past her friends. In this world, she had on a black jacket over an orange tank top and a pink skirt. “We only want to talk to her.”
“Unless you want a beating, you better stand away.” Gallus gripped a fist together. He had on a puffy brown jacket with a white trim. “You can’t possibly stand against the Young Six alone.”
“Firstly, you underestimate my power.” Chrysalis tilted her head down, casting shadows across her eyes. “Since coming to this world, I have become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”
“What’s the second thing?” Yona asked. She had a green shoal over a beige dress with red and white diamonds along the ends.
“What?” Chrysalis said flatly.
“You said firstly. It’s usually followed by something else.”
“I don’t care.” Chrysalis balled a fist, then took one step back and put her other arm behind her back. “Princess TWI said to keep anypony away, especially you Young Sixers. She didn’t say how I would do it.”
Smolder took another step forward, but all of a sudden, she was thrown back into the statue behind them, cracking off one of its arms as she rolled to the side. Just to Chrysalis’ right, a faint figure appeared out of thin air, mimicking Chrysalis’ stance. It was some kind of figure clad in a white suit that looked like it was made for low oxygen areas, though there was a single cracked hole in its visor. It had a backpack behind it, fitted with pipes and tubes and along its entire body was what looked like purple eyes staring back at them. Each of them moved individually, looking in every direction at once.
“Why you-!” Sandbar charged at her and her companion.
With a smack, the white figure knocked him aside, then fired a single beam of purple at Yona, sending her crashing back to the ground as a smoldering hole appeared on her shoulder.
“Mother, stop!” Ocellus ran at her, sliding under the next punch by Chrysalis’ ally. She grabbed her mother’s legs, then spun to a stop as she pulled against her knees.
Chrysalis lost her balance and tumbled, but the figure swooped in, catching her as its purple eyes came close to Ocellus’ face. Instantly, her mind was filled with images of tentacles and bizarre colors, followed by fire and destroyed buildings.
The figure grabbed her by her halftop straps and tossed her aside before flying over to deliver a powerful blow to Gallus’ jaw.
Ocellus rolled to a stop and looked back at Chrysalis, but from behind the school building, she spotted something. Whatever it was stood behind the structure, half concealed as it turned its head towards her, millions of red eyes now staring right into her soul. Where its mouth was was instead filled with five or six tentacles, squirming and writhing as it reached a hand out, pointing a finger at her.
“W-What is that?” Ocellus asked aloud as Sandbar helped her up.
“What’s what? Chrysalis’ magical friend?” He pointed at it. “It can’t seem to be hit.”
Ocellus shook her head and pointed at the large tentacled creature. “No, not that. That. The big one. It’s coming right for us!”
“I don’t see anything!” Sandbar looked into the air where Ocellus was gesturing to.
Yona flew by them, only for Sandbar to catch her. One of her eyes was bruised shut and her shoal was in tatters.
Gallus slid to a stop beside them, panting hard. “We’re… not used to these bodies… And we can’t hurt that ghostly thing.”
“Magic isn’t working here!” Silverstream lifted her hands, brushing them together before wiping them against her shimmering sleeves. “We can’t take on threats like we normally do.”
“There has to be some way we can defeat her!” Smolder wiped the corner of her mouth and rubbed her cheek. “We have to plan a surprise attack.”
As her friends leaned in to discuss their plans, Ocellus’ mind went away from their words, instead focused on the large creature coming towards her. For some reason, none of her friends could see it and with each step, it got closer and closer, already reaching out a gnarly hand towards them.
“I have to draw it away…” Ocellus said.
“What?” Smolder asked.
Without another word, Ocellus ran off in a sprint, moving her two legs faster than she had ever done so. She stumbled a few times, still unsure of how to run with them effectively, but it was better than nothing.
As predicted, the creature changed directions, coming after her as Chrysalis laughed behind them. “Fools! You’ll never beat me and my Stand!”
From the side, Smolder smashed a plank of wood into her face, knocking her down, but before she could hit her again, the white figure stopped the plank between them. It swiped it out of Smolder’s hands before shattering it in two and stabbing her in the abdomen with one.
Smolder’s smile quickly faded as she doubled over in pain, gasping for air as she was pushed aside. Sandbar was the next one to launch himself at her and following behind him, Silverstream kicked off his back, flying in with a kick aimed for Chrysalis’ face. The thing called a Stand floated forward, its feet barely over the ground as it smashed a fist into each of their faces faster than they could even fly through the air. Both of their bodies spun back, hitting the ground hard as the Stand kicked them both in the side, sending them sprawling over to Smolder.
“Friendship is stronger than anything…” Gallus raised his arms. “We can do this. TWI taught us that we can achieve anything with friendship.”
Chrysalis waved a finger. “Not today, young one. Today, you’ll learn there’s a new power in town, and that’s Stando Powah.”
“What?”
“Did you not hear what I said?” She scoffed. “I said Stand power.”
“It definitely didn’t sound like that.”
“Speak only when you are spoken to when you are before royalty.” Chrysalis had her Stand throw a punch at him.
Gallus raised both arms to protect himself, but the punch shattered both his arms and threw him back, tearing up more of the dirt as he screwed his eyes shut in agony.
“This day, you’ll learn you can never stand against TWI and our new powers…” Chrysalis’ eyes glowed green as an aura formed across her body.
Ocellus woke with a startle, feeling around her body as the face of the tentacled horror left her mind. She allowed herself to breathe and look out over the flowing sea as the stars of the night sky twinkled towards the horizon.
She had that dream again. One of the many dreams she had been having night after night for months now. The image of the creature would always fade when she awoke, as though her mind was rejecting the thought of something like that existing, but when she was dreaming, it always felt so real, like it could literally walk the space between dream and reality to devour her whole.
Thunder above them rumbled through the air as she pushed herself off her bed of palms. The sky above them was black, concealing the stars directly above the island as rumbling continued.
“Oh, you’re up.” Leilani walked around from behind a palm tree, carrying a pile of wood. She set it down in front of palm branches they had laid across the grass earlier. “This island has changed much over the last few years. There never used to be this many trees here. In fact, there were barely any trees at all.”
“That’s new. You’d think everything in this world was just getting worse.” Ocellus patted the palms beneath her body.
Leilani nodded. “All in the efforts of trying to make this into a sanctuary for all animals. Perhaps if we are lucky, we could find the rare black rhinos of Africa. How are you feeling?”
“Like a rock.” Ocellus spat. “But it’s not going to stop me from getting to TWI.”
“This TWI sounds like a real piece of work, non?” Leilani sat down beside her, leaning back as she looked up at the dark clouds. “We should’ve built a shelter of leaves. So, tell me your story. Why come to… to our world?”
“TWI was my princess. Our great princess who led us to years of peace. A golden age,” Ocellus said, remembering when times were still good. “But everything changed when she came to this world. She returned with a dark need to right your world. To do that, she hired Equestria’s greatest criminals. One of them was… is my mother, Chrysalis. She put my friends in the hospital and I’m all that’s left of Equestria’s defenders to stop TWI’s madness and hopefully return her to normal.”
“May God be with you in your quest, Ocellus.” Leilani smiled and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “I know we can still turn this turmoil around. God isn’t going to let the world go up in flames.”
“Right…” Ocellus gave her a weird look. “We might not have gods where we’re from, but it’s good you have something to give you hope.”
There was a streak of lightning across the sky, followed by a boom of thunder.
“We really should’ve constructed a shelter.” Leilani looked over to the ocean where Subterra was sitting by the water, looking out at the sea. Shiho was busy strolling up and down the shore, looking at something on her lightphone. “Do you think she’ll remember something here? Subterra, I mean.”
Ocellus pictured Subterra’s Stand in her head. It had changed form, turning into something more humanoid. Whatever it had been, Subterra’s spirit had strengthened. Perhaps it was because she remembered more of her life before losing her memory. There was no real way of knowing and Ocellus hadn’t been in this world long enough to understand the full extent of Stand power.
“She’ll have to. There are so many islands out here. Who knows which ones she had been to before.”
“Once she remembers the way back, we’ll have our shot at taking TWI down and rescuing my grandmother.” Shiho walked over, pocketing her phone. “I spotted a couple of tigers. We should continue to keep watch into the night. I’m not ending up as animal food after everything we’ve had to get through to get here.”
Thunder above rumbled again.
“And we need some shelter or this storm’s gonna be all over us…” Shiho grumbled. “Good grief, as if things couldn’t get any worse.”
Lightning crashed into the ground almost too close to their position, shearing a tree in half as a flock of parrots took to the air, squawking in fear. Ocellus had jumped back, frightened by the sudden encroachment of danger.
“There has to be a cave here somewhere that we can wait in.” Ocellus looked up at the rumbling sky. A streak of orange passed through one of the clouds. An odd color for lightning. “This storm’s getting out of hand.”
“I second that.” Subterra was by their side now, ducking a little as the next bout of lightning blazed the sky overhead. “But this… something is wrong. Something is familiar about this storm.”
She didn’t know what it was, but the hairs on her neck rose up and her skin felt like it was bubbling beneath them. A memory pushed at her head, trying to surface, but it was as though Subterra was trying to catch it with her bare hands instead of a fishing rod. It constantly slipped away just as something familiar was about to return.
“Watch the skies, Subterra. You must feel it as I do,” Crafteon appeared by her side. “We have company.”
- To be Continued...-