//------------------------------// // When Worlds Collide // Story: Far From the Tree // by Rust //------------------------------// Author: Oh yes. It's another Rust-centered chapter. And this time, he's got a wingman of awesomeness. Anyway, you need to know who and what Omnius is to completely understand what's going on here. Find his story HERE! CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE The Samarean Desert is known for being one of the harshest places in Equestria. Violent dust storms, ill-tempered wildlife... hostile buffalo tribes. Beginning far in the northeast corner of the land, it swings down like a great sickle reaping its harvest, out west towards the center of Equestria, before tapering off back down in the southwest. Rolling seas of sand dunes, scorched, bone-dry lake beds, and forbidding red mesas made up this part of the world. It's a tough place. Understandably, the ponies who live on this frontier have to ft in with their environment if they want to even consider surviving to the next day. Above the standard laws of Equestria, the inhabitants of these parts stick to their own moral code, a set of rules and guidelines passed down by word of mouth alone. Any pioneering pony worth two shakes of their dust-ridden tail knows that there's one rule that you never, ever, EVER break. "Do not, under any circumstances, draw attention to yourself." Sadly, that's exactly what three certain ponies managed to do, and in the most spectacular way. -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRMMMMMM! The highway to Las Neighas had an unusual vehicle traveling on it today. To a passerby, it looked like a long, sleek orange carriage, covered in some kind of armor plating, and riding very low to the ground. Emblazoned on the sides of the vehicle was the numbering; "01". At the front of the carriage, a solid, metal reinforcement juts out from underneath. On the roof, the orange plating was replaced with a colorful red rectangle, crisscrossed by two blue, star-filled lines. ...But to the occupants of the vehicle, it was better known as a heavily-modified 1969 Dodge Charger, sporting a magically-enhanced 440 V8 and a driver that knew how to use it. In the diver's seat, a rust colored stallion sat in a awkward-looking position on a seat clearly not designed for it. It had one hind hoof pressing the gas pedal straight to the floor, the other hind leg resting gently on the clutch. The pony's upper limbs were occupied with the steering wheel and an 8-ball stick shift. The stallion raised his aviator sunglasses with magic, surrounding them with a soft green aura, and looked at his companion in the seat to his right. "So, dude. What do you think? Pretty sick wheels, eh Omnius?" The chocolate-coated pegasus, who had been sticking his head out the window, pulled it back in and smiled, his shaggy mane and goatee now astonishingly askew. He patted down his blue traveling robe and removed a second pair of sunglasses, which he immediately put on. "Rust, I have but one question, my good sir," Omnius the Travelling Guardian said with giddy eloquence. "You may ask it." "How the hell did you get the General Lee to Equestria?" Rust gave a crazy smile, and he tapped his horn with the hoof that had been on the 8-ball stick-shift. "Magic. Mother fucking magic." "No. Seriously. How." Rust pointed to his cutie-mark. "Its my other special talent. What's the one thing that humans are really good at, besides blowing shit up?" "Breeding like rabbits?" said Omnius with a smirk. Rust shot him a glare, but laughed nonetheless. "Oh, shut the fuck up. The other thing we're good at is making things. Invention, building. That sort of thing. When I came to Equestria during it's creation, some of that magic was infused within me. So, now I can pretty much make shit. I create matter and shape it how I see fit." Omnius scratched his chin, smoothing out his magnificent goatee. "Dude, that breaks, like, all the laws of physics at once." "Yeah? Well so does Pinkie Pie." "Well played." "As always." Rust quickly put the clutch in and shifted up a gear. The roar of the powerful engine increased and both stallions were visibly pressed into their seats. The spedometer was maxed out at 170 mph, and had been there for the last half an hour. Omnius eyed the dash warily. "How many gears does this thing have? You've shifted up about fifteen times now." "I don't know. As many as I want it to, I guess." Rust shrugged nonchalantly, admiring the desert landscape as it whipped by. "Badass," said Omnius. "So, why are we heading out to Las Neighgas again? You didn't really explain yourself very well before you pulled me into this thing and tore out of Ponyville like you had a horde of zombies on your tail. And besides, I thought we weren't heading back here after what happened last time." "For the record, what happens in Neighgas, stays in Neighgas. How was I supposed to know she was the mayor's daughter?" Rust shook his head, fondly remembering a particular night of debauchery. "Anyway, I did too fill you in." He chuckled at that. "Screaming something about 'motherfucking darkness' and then hitting Fluttershy over the head with a shovel is not the best way to fill a Traveler in." Rust grinned sheepishly. "Maaaaaybe I should have gone a little easier with the shovel?" "No shit, sherlock. And why are we taking her with us? And why not just ask her to come?" asked Omnius, pointing a hoof to the back seat, where a certain yellow pegasus was lying on her back, completely unconscious. A small purple bump was flourishing magnificently on the top of her head. The eccentric unicorn slid the shades back over his peculiar eyes. "I guess I got some 'splaining to do?" "Yes. You certainly have some 'splaining to do." Rust snorted in amusement. "Right, right. This is basically the gist of it..." Earlier that morning... "Nate! Prosnites', vy glupyi ublyudok! Wake up!" Oh... what the hell? What time could it possibly be? And why is everything shaking so much? I opened by eyes to find myself being bodily thrown about by Ragdoll, her icy-blue eyes widened like she'd seen a ghost. Or one of those god-awful Twilight movies. Wait a minute... She called me by my human name. Shit. Something's up. I manage to push her off me and clamber out of bed, careful not to disturb Cheerilee, who for some reason had managed to sleep through all the racket my companion was causing. She looked beautiful in the morning, her mane still messy from last night. Oh, yes, I did say Cheerilee. I guess I was... Hot for teacher? Ba-dum, tsh. Van Halen puns, for the win! "What's going down, Mischa?" I asked her, addressing her by the name she had before. Two can play at this game. She said only one word, but it was enough to make my blood freeze. "Vision." Shit. Shit-shit-shit, with a cherry on top, add some sprinkles, and slather the whole thing with even more shit. That is never a good sign. Ever. When Ragdoll has visions of the future, they tend to be about horrible things - death, violence, political conspiracy, and adorable little cloud-puppies getting their heads blown to pieces. Goddesses, I miss Little Cinnamon. I managed to collect my thoughts into a somewhat acceptable state of organization. "Well, spill it, girl. Come on, cat got your tongue?" Ha! I made a funny. She glared at me, and for a brief moment, I thought she was going to whip out one of her claws and slice me a new rear entrance. "The Nightmare returns, Nate. Is not time for jokes." Son of a bitch. I felt my heart turn into solid iron and drop through my rib cage. I remembered the first time the Nightmare reared it's ugly head, latching on to Princess Luna's internal strife and corrupting her into the feared Nightmare Moon. I also remember the titanic fight we had, while Ragdoll and I held her off so Celestia could get the Elements of Harmony warmed up. As you can imagine, it was a pretty one sided fight. Even with our immortality, she'd given us quite the ass-whooping of the millennium. "Excuse me? No, no, you're wrong. That's not possible. The girls got rid of it when they cleansed Luna with the Elements of Harmony. It's all gone, bye-bye, hasta la vista." She shook her head, her eyes now closed. "Net. That part was." "...What." Rags motioned for me to follow her, and went out of my room, eerily silent. It somewhat bothers me how she does that. My own hooves are quite hard to sneak around on. Plus, they look like fat, rusty marshmallows. I mean really? I know this universe looks like a cartoon, but come on. We left my room and took the stairs up to the observatory. It's supposed to be the top of the tower, but the magical staircase that runs through the place never stops, it just goes straight through the ceiling. The observatory looks like the inside of one of those space telescopes, the ones on Mount Kilauea, Hawaii. Ragdoll approached the open window, and I stood by her side, shivering slightly from the wind that came through the gap. It was bone-chilling, but then again, this floor was several miles up, at the edges of the atmosphere itself. Equestrian spread out before me, so much so that I could see the planet curving away in the distance. I smiled as I noticed that I could see the heavens shining bright in the black void above. My oldest friend turned to me and began to speak again. "I show you what I see in the stars." She gently craned her head over and laid her horn, now glowing icy blue, onto my forehead. I felt that peculiar rush as her magic swept over me, and the familiar prescence of her consciousness brushing against my own. Ever wonder what it's like to brush minds with someone? It's incomprehensible. Its like having two separate lines of thought at once, except you have less control over where your thoughts lead. You know everything they know, feel exactly what they know, and, for a while, you become them, and vice versa. They have the exact same experience as you, as you are conjoined in all but the soul. I closed my eyes, and began filtering though the new memories flooding my mind. I could see what she had for breakfast this morning (salmon, probably caught from the river), her first thought the moment she woke up, and the strange presence of those bone spurs she has now in place of claws. After some searching, and some assistance from her, I arrived at the memory of her vision. It hit me like a sledgehammer. ...A blinding flash of light, whirling around my vision to form a cone of time and space... ...Peering through the hole in reality, gazing at what is, what will be, and what has been... ...I see the old Royal Palace, back when it was still standing, back before we fought the Nightmare... ...On the balcony of a great tower, I see Luna... and... Buck?! ...She's touching her horn to his chest, and there's and absolutely enormous amount of power going into him - his eyes are wide open, blazing a silvery light, and there's some kind of smokey, ethereal mass of a similar glow, folded on either of his sides, and a cone of the same sprouting from his forehead... ...The view zooms in on Luna's contact to his chest, and I can see a streak of black energy travel into him from her horn, and he shudders for only a second, then it's gone... ...It flashes forward in time... I see Luna finally giving into the Nightmare, some time after Buck's vanishing, alone in a world that shuns her... ...Now I see Buck, or what he looked like while he was a statue... I can feel a minuscule amount of darkness inside him... ...Biding it's time... ...Feeding off his frozen fear... ...Growing stronger. Omnius was silent, staring at some tiny chink in the windshield as he tried to understand what this meant. This discovery could spell disaster for all of Equestria. The effects of the struggle between the Goddesses had lasted for several centuries; magical fallout from the legendary battle occasionally had caused problems in the population. He turned to Rust, who was also silent, grimly gripping the wheel with both hooves. The normally tough-as-nails stallion was looking surprisingly nervous. He had good reason to be, though. "How could that have even happened?" Omnius finally asked. Rust gently swerved around a pothole. "I'm not exactly sure. All I know is, part of the Nightmare that was originally in Luna is now in our good friend. And sooner or later, that fucker is gonna finish getting stronger and try to take him over." Omnius thoughtfully tapped his hooves together. "That could mean another war for eternal night." "And you know what that means. The forces of darkness are going to begin gathering. This shit happens every single time a super evil villain comes around. " "The forces of darkness. That's so... cliche. Regardless, we need to get the Nightmare out of him and finish it off this time for good." Rust shifted up again, and the General Lee rocketed forward even faster than before. "That's what we're doing," he said grimly. "So why are we heading back to Neighgas, then? And why with Fluttershy?" The unicorn glanced back to the back seat, where the Pegasus mare was curled up, still unconscious. "We need her unique power to bring some help in to fight the Nightmare. The beings we are recruiting are... somewhat evil themselves, so we have to use her as a guarantee that they'll help us. Anyway, Fluttershy never would have left if we just asked her to, so when she wakes up, I'll think of something to say." "You don't mean The Stare, do you? If we have to resort to using that, this is going to be quite a mission." Rust only nodded in reply. "I don't like it, but you're probably right. Who are these ponies? I don't know of, like, any evil ponies in Equestria." "They aren't evil. I used the wrong word there. They're just a little... tainted is all," the unicorn shrugged. "And one of them is currently in Las Neighgas." "Who?" Rust smirked, the sunlight flashing off his sunglasses. A picture suddenly poofed into existence in front of Omnius' face, on it, photograph of their target. The Traveler stared at it for a while, then, shaking his head, he crumpled it up and tossed it out the window. "We better be getting earplugs for this." Forty-three Minutes Later... "Um... Are you sure we should be here? It seems kind of... dangerous." said Fluttershy meekly, eyeing Rust and Omnius cautiously from under her pink mane. The hustle and bustle of the Las Neighgas main street seemed to wash right over the two stallions, standing side by side in a dark alley facing a run-down old saloon across the dusty street.. The building was decrepit, probably built during the very earliest days of the city, back when it was the easternmost settlement in Equestria. In those days, the town was lawless, violent, and uncivilized. It really hadn't changed much. With the General Lee parked in a secluded hideaway on the outskirts of town, Rust, Omnius and Fluttershy had made their way through the winding dirt streets to the center of the city, to a district with a reputation for being one of the worst in the city. After asking around, they had pinpointed their target's current place of employment, the sagging old saloon that had seen better days. Omnius comfortingly laid a hoof on her shoulder. "Sorry Shy, but the only way we can save the woodland creatures is in that building across the street. You heard what Rust said." After Fluttershy had woken up in a strange vehicle to with two stallions she'd barely known, she'd had somewhat of a panic attack. Rust, caving in immediately to her adorable plight, had completely spilled the beans to her. She knew everything now, but Rust had wisely put emphasis on what would happen to her beloved forest friends in a world of eternal night. After that, she'd agreed to help them, or at least as much as she was capable of helping. Fluttershy nodded reluctantly. "If it's for the good of the animals, I'll try and do what I can. You know, if that's okay with you guys..." Omnius nodded, while Rust slowly rocked back and forth on his hooves, sizing up the saloon. He frowned thoughtfully, mentally running over a series of scenarios that were likely to happen. The target of their journey was somewhere inside this building, and most likely the regulars wouldn't take to kindly to her removal. Apparently she had gathered quite a following. Violence could be necessary, but it would should be avoided if possible. However, if they walked into the saloon like this, they'd be recognized by her immediately, as she had known the three back when she was working in Ponyville. He turned to Omnius, who was also frowning, leaning against one side of the dark alley. Gesturing to the saloon, he said, "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." Omnius chuckled. "So how are we going to go about this? She's going to try and pull something if we just waltz right in." "We're going to use some disguises." Fluttershy lifted her head slightly, peeking out from her bangs. "What kind of disguises, Rust?" "Disguises from a long time ago, from a galaxy far, far away." Omnius turned to him, smirking in the shadows. "This is going to be fun." Rust nodded. "Now, hold still, I'll make us something to wear." He ducked back further into the alley, farther fro the eyes of any curious passerby. His horn lit up a bright green, and he arched his back with effort. A wisp of glowing light shot out of his horn, splitting in two before whirling around the stallions like tornadoes. Abruptly, the light vanished, revealing the pair now covered in various new articles. Fluttershy immediately began inspecting herself, using a nearby puddle to see what the unicorn had done to her. Her pink mane had been braided and rolled into tight buns on either side of her head. She now wore two small articles of clothing across her chest and over her haunches, made of some kind of burnished golden metal. From the lower piece, long flowing strips of cloth came down over her flanks, barely touching the ground. The whole getup looked strangely suggestive to her, and yet her confidence was boosted by the fact that nopony would ever recognize her like this. "Ha! You turned her into 'slave leia!' Genius!" exclaimed Omnius, who was watching her with a smirk. He stepped into the light to inspect himself. He was now wearing tan wrappings across his chest, a utuility belt wrapped around his midsection. A small metal rod with a hole in one end dangled from this, glinting softly in the light. A brown, hooded robe hung from his frame, holes cut in the sides for his wings to poke through. He put the hood up, and it's shadow covered his face in a manner that was superbly intimidating. "Dude, you made me a jedi, with a lightsaber and everything! You can just call me Luke Skytrotter from now on." He whirled about, admiring the robe as it whipped around him. He suddenly stopped as he saw Rust walk out from the shadow. The unicorn was now covered from head to toe in a lightish green cloth, overlaid by plates of armor that were a darker green, with the exception of his shoulder plates, which were a jaunty yellow. The plates were covered in innumerable scratches and dents, and probably had seen better days. On his head, a bucket-like helmet completely covered his face, a dark, reflective black visor shaped like a "T" where his visage should have been. A sharp-looking, reinforced horn cap stuck out of the top. Rust rolled his shoulders, and the jetpack now strapped across his back clanked lightly against his armor. Fluttershy made a faint "eep", clearly intimidated by the unicorn's frighteningly awesome appearance. "You can call me Boba. Boba Fettlock." His voice was weirdly distorted by the helmet, as if he were speaking over a radio. Omnius closed his jaw, which had been hanging open in disbelief. "Bastard. You got the best costume." "You just want a fucking jetpack. You already have wings. Now come on." The trio stepped out into the street and crossed, Omnius and Fluttershy carefully avoiding puddles while Rust simply stomped right through them. They climbed the few steps up to the raised wooden sidewalks, their hooves making dull clomps on the worn out boards. Weaving through a stream of surly-looking pedestrians, the group was about to enter the swinging doors of the saloon when they were suddenly stopped by a scruffy earth pony with a balding head. On his shoulder was a tattoo of a heart with the word "mom" written on it. "Whoa whoa whoa, there. You three can't just trot right in here. This here's the Dirty Salt Lick, the roughest, meanest, chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out-est establishment in Las Neighgas," he said. Fluttershy seemed to visibly shrink with each syllable. "You got to be tough enough to get in. No weenies allowed." The three backed up a few steps and gathered into a huddle. Rust exchanged a glance with Omnius, both stallion's eyes lighting up under their respective headgear. "Is it just me, or does this situation seem familiar to you..." asked Rust. "It seems like a dream come true to me. I've always wanted to do something like this," said the hooded Traveler. Fluttershy peeped up. "I don't know what you two are talking about, but please... just be careful." Omnius grinned and cracked his neck. "Don't worry, Shy. I got this shit. I learned a thing or two from Bikini Bottom." The Traveler approached the balding earth pony, who looked incredibly bored. The earth pony gave him a once over, saying, "Welcome to the Dirty Salt Lick. How tough are ya?" Omnius swelled up with exaggerated pride. "How tough am I? HOW TOUGH AM I?!" "Yeah, that's what I asked you." Omnius abruptly reached out to the earth pony's shoulder and ripped the tattoo right off his coat in a display of sheer masculinity. The scruffy stallion screeched in pain as the Traveler whirled the tattoo around and slapped it back onto his shoulder, upside down. Several colts passing by on the street who witnessed the event suddenly felt themselves grow a small amount of facial hair. The tattoo now read "wow". Omnius cackled, his face hidden by the shadow of his hood. "Just guessing here, but is your name Reg by any chance? The earth pony nodded, rubbing the tattoo gently. "You can go right in, sir." Omnius turned back to to the others. "I'll be waiting inside. I'll scope out the place and see if I can find her." With that, he sauntered on through the swinging doors, and was swallowed up by the blackness and noise from inside. Rust now strode up to Reg, his Mandalorian armor glinting menacingly in the dull light of the day. The doorpony looked him over, squinting as he peered at his curious helmet. "Welcome to the Dirty Salt Lick, how tough are ya?" "I had a bowl of nails for breakfast this morning," he said, the voice distortion making him sound eerily threatening and complacent at the same time. Reg's right eyebrow rose. "That's it?" The sunlight flashed off Rust's black visor. "Without any milk," he growled. The nearby colts who had received a small amount of a facial hair from the last display of masculinity suddenly sprouted full-on beards, shot up several inches, and developed a sudden craving to watch sports. Reg visibly gulped. "Uh, you can go in." Rust stalked silently past him, chuckling to himself under the helmet. Before he reached the doors, he turned around, watching to see what Fluttershy would do. The timid mare sheepishly approached the doorpony, blushing furiously. She inched her way forward, step by step, until she was a few feet away. Reg opened up with his standard greeting. "Welcome to the Dirty Salt Lick, how tough are ya?" Fluttershy mumbled something and looked down, fumbling with her forelegs. "Eh? Cant here ya, miss." Something that sounded like a cross between a squeak and a whimper came from Fluttershy's mouth, and she shrank down to her belly. "Hey." Reg poked her a few times with a hoof. "I asked you a question." The yellow pegasus simply covered her face with her hooves and curled into the smallest ball she could. "Oh, sweet Celestia..." Reg rubbed his face wearily. "I've had enough of this. Look, I'll let you in because you're probably the prettiest thing I'm ever going to see in my life. Just watch yourself in there." Fluttershy immediately sprang up, beaming from ear to ear. "Thanks!" She then proceeded to waltz right past both Reg and Rust, who were equally dumbstruck. "Dude..." Rust shook his head sadly. "You just got trolled." And with that, he turned and passed through the threshold. ---- Author: Ohmygosh! Things just got real. Anyway, I solemnly swear to stop putting off the "epic bar fight" scene. Now that the stage is set, the actors may play their roles.