//------------------------------//
// Spekkio-lations 
// Story: The Arising Cartoon Pony 
// by Darkonshadows 
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The innate abilities of the realm of Chrono Trigger: Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, Combo Tech capability and standard RPG stats applied.

The end of time… I’d never imagined that it’d looked like a street corner with a small bridge like landing for Khronozooie’s epoch. Opposite the bridge and past the fenced corner was a gate that led to some stairs and several glowing pillars of light, to the right of the corner was a door that could be filled with nothing but empty blackness behind that drew my eyes to it. In the street corner area was a strange man standing underneath the light of the lamp his eyes weren’t visible under his hat. It looked like he had been standing there for quite a while, in fact he seemed ancient… timeless even.

“Come on kid, I’m not leaving you to sit idle in my favorite time machine. I know what happens when you leave cartoons alone with a bunch of buttons around.” Khronozooie quickly stood up and got out as the glass receded from overhead.

I clambered out of the machine clumsily onto the bridge and looked over the side into an endless void, this place was creepy. I was out of my depth with how strange this all looked, I preferred Rosalina's observatory. I heard as much as saw Khronozooie snapping her feathers in my face before grabbing me gently by the mane to drag me over to the street corner like area.

“Time Lord Gaspar.” Khronozooie said with a bluntness belying the importance of the scruffy figure before her.

“Ah, Khronozooie nice to see you before at the place where time begins… and ends… only to begin, as we say, again.” The man smiled, but other than that offered nothing for a time. They waited as Khronozooie held up a wing to stop Screwball from speaking in any form and after sixty seconds he finally spoke up. “I believe your friend would be more interested in talking to the Master of War, it might have something to talk about and I can only wonder what form it’ll take this time. The things with which we must discuss might bore her and or confuse her to the many circles in which we can verse. We have all the time in the world and it needs a good conversation, she will not be challenged to fight it so worry not for your others daughter.”

“It, but I thought that… well now… you know something I don’t.  I’d rather be surprised by seeing ‘it’ for myself, but I’m sure I already know why you went with pronoun neutrality there.” The old figure simply nodded to Khronozooie in her assumptions and she smiled brightly.

“Breegull’s as bright as birds come, they are a strange lot that can see true loves eternal bond between some. Whence they see love for themselves they fight to hell and back to preserve its existence on a whim, even to the point of being able to let go of that love knowing that it will come back to them. Now Screwball, may we have some privacy please?” The ancient being asked Screwball much to her surprise, given she hasn’t introduced herself yet.

He only raised one hand from his cane and pointed to the curious door to my right, but something also drew my eyes towards the bucket that I had previously missed sitting to the right of the door.  Something was sparkling from it drawing me towards it.

“No, no… you mustn’t look in the bucket, please Khronozooie control your charge as you know I cannot.”  The soonest the ancient being said that, Khronozooie immediately rushed over to roughly tug Screwball’s sight away from the bucket and that which shined within.

“Screwball trust me on this, you’re curiosity is not worth it and looking in that bucket is a one way ticket to death and nightmares for you. Why don’t you go grab an apple and go through the door, what’s on the other side is much safer and far friendlier.” Khronozooie hoped that Screwball heeded her advice.

I knew there was something odd about that bucket, but I decided to listen to Khronozooie and the man Gaspar that said I must not look in it. I walked across the room to the opposite corner and lifted a green apple out with one hoof, before making my way over to the door on three hooves with the apple held in one. I tentatively reached out with the apple holding hoof and poke the door it immediately flew open revealing a black vortex; slowly I stepped through the vortex and into a simple stone room with a surprisingly interesting sight. Sitting down, I started eating my apple calmly taking in the form before me.

“Time and time again, have you come to me my old friend. I have the knowledge you seek, now you have but ask the right question of me.” Gaspar said to Khronozooie with a stern tone and a smile on his face that was hidden beneath a hat. 

I was standing before a regal looking alicorn, she was beautiful but she wasn’t the Luna of dreaming shadows, the Celestia of bright wit or even the Cadence of yearning hearts. In fact it was an alicorn I’ve never seen before in my life and I was quite intrigued as I’ve seen plenty of things including my own once upon a time father.

There she stood just staring at me with a blank expression. She had a long, thick, silky white center parted hair as her mane and a slowly swaying tail and solid black coating. The scariest thing about her was her eyes which no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t describe them or their color and then there was her cutie mark. I thought I was weird… well that was the point of my own cutie mark anyways and I enjoyed being a little strange, wild and free, but hers? It was of a strange pink frog like creature with gangly arms and stumpy legs on a round body, plus a green tuft of hair on its head and two soulless looking eyes. One can only wonder where she could have gotten a cutie mark of a creature like that. The background music was rather catchy and nice; the flute tune really added a nice touch to the drums.

“I am Spekkio, Master of War. If you are strong, I appear strong.  If you are weak, I appear weak.” Her voice was lilting and beautiful, filled with power and yet so inviting. So far she only looked at me and her mouth was the only thing that moved on her body aside from the way her tail shifted, even her long mane was still and straight as it pooled slightly on the rather surprisingly clean floor.

I introduced myself as Screwball through silent speech; I also wondered that if she was an alicorn… was I as strong as one? That made little sense to me as I wasn’t powerful like say my adoptive mother I was supposed to be rescuing.

“Power is not always in strength of the legs to till the land, in the lift of the wings to control the very elements of the sky or the number of magic spells you can cast or learn. It is the size of the heart and ones resolve that can be truly powerful, you’re magic need not be unlocked for you already have it and have only yet to embrace it fully. You just need to… work on it a little better as to not harm yourself. As to why I seem so powerful to you… well appearances are quite deceiving even to yourself. You do not cower at my presence nor did you show any appearance of weakness coming through the door, you did not even react when I proclaimed my title as Master of War. You have a strong curiosity and a strong sense of self for such a peaceful creature born of one not so, you are still finding yourself yet.” 

What?  How could she know about Discord? I really hadn’t been here more than mere seconds and she already knew a lot of me.

“I know not of your father except what he has made and the imprint of his shadow in his growing seedling, I only see his appearance behind you. A strange being that is quite weak for all his chaotic power to create something stronger than he... quite a power that one fails to see in creating life while sowing boundless chaos.”

So she only knew of what she could see of me? Which is obvious as anyone who could see energy would know I’m steeped with chaotic energy as much as earth pony energy, not to mention my cartoon abilities I’m still learning about and have made great progress with... well at least somewhat.

“Correct, I have heard that you would need to be entertained.”

Well I from what Khronozooie said I would be bored with the conversation she was going to have with Gaspar so I simply nodded. Thinking about it I decided to ask what was in the bucket next to the door to this room.

“The day of Lavos and that is all you need to know, never look in the bucket unless you are well prepared to fight or die quickly. Count your blessings that your realm hasn’t run into a parasite being as powerful as it.”

I conjectured that my realm has had quite a few powerful beings and fights, including a love hungry parasite queen so how bad could this creature be?

“Imagine a creature that can drain all the life out of an entire planet and can nearly destroy the planet in an apocalyptic manner and could even evolve into a devourer of dreams and time which is as it sounds… not very pleasant in the slightest.”

I decided a change of subject would be better and asked Spekkio about herself where she came from.

“You would rather I change the subject again if I told you it was related to the aforementioned creature; at least my existence isn’t too horrible. That creature led to the creation of magic in this realm as part of its method to devour the planet and all on it, I am a lot like you a creation of pure magic that came about because of its existence tampering with this world as designed to happen by the creators of this realm known only as the developers.”

So she knew what it was like to have the feeling that sometimes you were not a real being? I always had this feeling that I should have disappeared with the rest of Discords magic when the elements of harmony fixed things in Equestria, yet here I was slightly older and on a adventure spanning many interesting places. Spekkio closed her strange eyes and then started to slowly contemplate before speaking to me.

“What is real? This is a world of created to tell a story of several heroes and time travel, we are in a realm of video games and you are of a realm of cartoons. Reality is only what we choose to see it as, are you any less real than I? Being created from magic doesn’t mean you don’t have a spirit, for magic is the power of the heart and inner strength made real. What you are is a being of multiple things, a young adult pony, a cartoon character, a living being of blood of bone of flesh, a being made of digital data, a being made of ink on a drawing board and a creature born from chaos itself filled with potential. Now can you tell me Screwball, who are you?” Opening her eyes Spekkio had solid blood red eyes that were either all pupils or no pupils at all it was hard to tell.

Didn’t she just explain who I was by just saying my name and all that strange stuff about what I could be made out of?

“No I just explained what you are, not who you are.” Spekkio was just staring blankly into Screwball’s spiraling purple pupils and despite the stare the pony did not flinch.

Well I just started to think about the things I’ve done, all the things Spekkio just told me is the entirety of what I am… just not who I am… I am who I choose to be even if at times I have to throw a screwball in the works, I don’t bend or swerve I do what I can to stay alive, I just do things my way and say 'screw it' to the world that says I should lay down and die. The first time I did that was to my creator Discord, I only played along for a while and then I took my own course, made my own decisions to become my own pony.

Spekkio raised an eye ridge in interest at Screwball’s introspection.

In the end I wanted to be a normal pony like every other pony yet different in my own unique way, I wasn’t much of a good speaker and since I’ve learned to speak ‘Silent Protagonist’ I could finally tell someone what I wanted to. That was better than the random gibberish or barely coherent stuff spurting from my mouth sometimes in the form of a metaphor. Many a pony resented me for being different because of my eyes and yet others accepted my willingly.Who I was, is what I did and the actions I chose to take, I wanted to be a good pony and thus I became a good pony even if it was almost killing me as chaos is part of my nature and why I am here in the first place.

Spekkio’s eyes glinted and sharpened.

I was a mixture of chaos and harmony, something that kept being punished for trying to force a change from what I was born to be to what I wanted to be and I was eventually rewarded for my crazy perseverance. Just because I have my reward in a truly caring  if albeit strange family it doesn’t mean anything’s changed, I was still causing chaos just by existing. At least I wasn’t just a joke created for a chaos beings weird amusement anymore. I loved baseball, throwing stuff, my baseball bat, being alive and living even if it’s in strife or squalor. I was a real being that couldn’t be erased because I wasn’t just made of magic; I was a heart for good or ill fgiven life by magic the inverse of creating magic in the method of Spekkio’s words.  

“And that… is what you are.” Spekkio said bowing her head in a kneel for a moment before returning to a standard standing position.

“Mirror is… to magic… to life… as you are to halation?” I said out loud for once, scratching my mane a bit while prodding my propeller hat trying to form the right words for it.

“It is only speculation. I change to different forms for every being that enters this room, I exist yet I have no true form. All worlds work on different principles, in your world, maybe I would look like this to all or maybe just one and to others they might only see me as themselves. I could be as tiny as a frog for one or as big as a well muscled blimp for another, I mirror the inner strength and heart of those who first see me after I have not been seen in a while. When you leave I will no longer have a form till the first being that next enters and leaves.”  Spekkio’s eyes were once again indecipherable if sad.

“Sad is the night… long for hallows eve… of the feeling integer.” I hoped she can understand that, because I really didn’t want to say that in Silent Protagonist it wouldn't translate as well.

“Yes, very much so… your voice is rather beautiful. I can understand how my outward appearance is reflected in you now.”  Spekkio actually smiled now.

I smiled, she understood me!  That wouldn’t make sense to almost anyone except for a few beings like the one I’d proudly call mom. I wondered if Spekkio had any words of wisdom for me as my new friend. I already figured out why she was called Master of War, for there was nothing more dangerous than a war against one’s own self and nature.

“Wisdom may not always hold true for everyhing, but I believe this lesson will go well with what your learning here. The heart and inner strength create magic; magic itself can create life no matter how small the spark even if it ceases to exist afterwards the life can continue to grow and prosper on its own. The most powerful magic is one of friendship; the ability to tie one’s own inner power to another’s which power exponential is created. Never hide or destroy your heart or you will be truly weak. I am glad to say I would like to accept your offer of friendship, but I can’t for I am already your friend and have been since you entered the room.” A smile played across Spekkio’s equine lips.

Screwball smacked herself in the forehead with a hoof; she was already her own friend and since Spekkio reflects the inner heart and strength of others… well duh. Now she had to ask if Spekkio is what she would look like if she became an alicorn.

“I do not have your abilities or appear in a form you would ever take unless you were forced to look like this. I doubt this is what you would become should an evolution of self be possible in such a way, I only reflect your inner power and as such my power is equivalent to how strong you are inside as much as out. As such I have a sense in my own self that I am not you, only a reflection of what’s inside of you. My power is always greater than that of my opponents but the persistent can defeat me yet. It took Kratos the God of War five days, for he primarily fights with mostly physical strikes which usually cannot harm me and yet even I fell to his constant ferocity.” Spekkio basically meant that she could only be defeated by anyone who never gives up.

Screwball once again looked over Spekkio’s form, all solid black and white except for the eyes. Her eyes were something Screwball just realized something about; they were ever shifting whereas her eyes were a spiral only when her pupils shrunk did they look normal. Screwball always thought her body looked normal for a pony and her cutie mark was weird, but her eyes were unique as were Spekkio’s almost as if reflecting her thoughts of how she saw herself.

“Magic creates life, life creates magic and all things are intertwined in some form or another. At least you didn’t have to learn the lesson of humility by running around the room three times to learn what you needed to know. This is my opinion, you should always believe in what you are and choose to be and that you have a heart that learns lessons very well and will hopefully never stop learning them. Now can you show me the power of the cartoons? It would be a tragedy to meet a cartoon character and not ask to see one can do, unleash the happiness in your heart and light it ablaze.” Spekkio took a few steps back and waited for Screwball who smiled and trotted forward and stood on her hind legs.

Spekkio tilted her head as Screwball reached behind her back with a hoof and pulled out an elongated balloon; Screwball inflated it with her breath and started to manipulate it into a shape. When Screwball was done she felt a brimming wide toothy smile on her face as she presented the alicorn with a pink balloon alicorn. Spekkio chuckled and took it in her magic setting it aside and placed a few magical spells on it to protect the object for an eternity as a wonderful memory of the pony before her. Screwball continued to grin as she pulled out a pie and instead of throwing it into her face like some cartoon characters would do, she threw her entire body into the pie and disappeared much to Spekkio’s surprise.

Within seconds Screwball wearing a doctor’s disguise cantered from behind and by Spekkio shocking her a bit, a smile playing upon her lips as the power of happiness and laughter manifesting in Screwball. Screwball trotted over to the pie and was soon wielding a stethoscope on the pie as if trying to see if it had a pulse. This caused more chuckling from Spekkio, when she exclaimed that the entire joke she had planned for this occasion was only half baked.

Thirty minutes later.

“Okay kiddo we’ve got to get… whoa…” Khronozooie couldn’t believe her eyes she was expecting a dark and moody Spekkio as usual but this… he or rather she was laughing and she looked beautiful for one of the most powerful creatures from the realm of Chrono Trigger. Screwball threw her hooves out wide as she was finishing some form of joke.

“Oatmeal kidding is me!” Screwball said and was met with uproarious laughter from Spekkio.

“This is probably the happiest I’ve ever seen the Master of War… well not since that five day battle with Kratos, which was epic and there are no other words for which to describe that what was seen there.” Khronozooie had attracted the attention of both Screwball and Spekkio, Screwball blushed and dropped to all fours and put a leg behind her neck to rub it sheepishly while grinning.

“Well if it isn’t the second. I believe our time here is done Screwball; I would be remiss if I did not ask you to return for a visit. I have not enjoyed such innocent laughter in a long time.” Screwball gave a sad smile and ran up to Spekkio and enclosed her in a deep hug, Spekkio returned it with fervor. Screwball turned around and had wild toothy grin as she bound towards Khronozooie with a skip in her trot humming to the cheery background music.

“Let’s go catch up with Banjo and Chaos so we can save my mom!” I yelled joyously to Khronozooie who smirked and nodded at my sudden vim. A strange warm tingle made its way down my spine, for some reason I felt like I was about to be given good news.

“You better believe we will kiddo, just keep that attitude up and I may allow you access to the food stores in my backpack… heck just jump in already! I guess I’m going soft like the sociopath who took you in, see you around Spekkio.” Screwball dove into the red backpack as she didn’t need to be told twice by Khronozooie, Spekkio simply nodded to the breegull as she exited the room. 

The good news was that Khronozooie had tons of cake and candy in her backpack, heck she even had forty seven gallons of fresh, cold well preserved chocolate milk! For some reason chocolate milk always made me inexorably happy, like everything was alright with the world and who I was only mattered to me and those I cared for. Anyone else could hate me for all I cared anymore, joy radiated throughout me unbound; I was ready to take on a world. I was going to need that feeling in the next chapter… wait what was that? I thought I saw a glimpse of a strange wall, but then I just shook that feeling off and happily tucked into a jug of milk.

As the door to the room closed Spekkio opened its eyes only to find out she was still a she and also still very much an equine. She panicked slightly as this had never happened to her before in all the time spent at the End of Time. She had always lost form… looking to the balloon animal in the corner Spekkio finally understood why she hadn’t turned back to normal formlessness.

“I think that she may have left a piece of herself in here with me. Screwball with the heart that was once sealed halfway is now bursting openly with chaos… and what a beautiful thing it is.” Spekkio turned to look back at her cutie mark, at the creature called a Nu emblazoned on her flank. All life begins and ends with Nu, especially at the End of Time. The Nu on her flank was smiling now instead of blankly staring into space and maybe she didn't have to be so tough all the time... nah she was still going to treat Crono and his friends roughly. Only now She had a form for which to return to whenever she wanted. "Ipso, facto, meeny moe... MAGICO!"

Mischief Makers realms innate abilities: Increased strength, shaking things may cause unexpected reactions most of which are volatile in nature, combat advantage detection system and all true bosses in this realm will explode violently when defeated and it is especially painful when they do.

Lunar the humanoid wolf mercenary held up his machine gun and yelled in an expletive as his target tucked and rolled under his shots and was behind him where he heard the sound of three rapid beeps, his heart practically stopped when he felt the paw lift him by the back of his red armor. He also felt the other paw stealing the keys to his motorcycle slash transforming deadly robot Cerberus Alpha.

“Sorry about stealing these, but I need them to help me hotwire your bike.”  Banjo leapt up grappled Lunar with both paws and flipped him upside down then threw him straight down and followed coming down on the mercenary with his elbow.

“How… could I lose… to you!” Lunar whined as multiple explosions shook his body as he rises into the air and in a bright white flash he exploded.

“To be fair that wasn’t exactly a very easy fight, he was after all armed with grenades and a machine gun.” Banjo mumbled as he turned to Chaos standing upon the sandy ground next to Lunar’s Cerberus Alpha outside a gas station in the middle of nowhere of the Clancer Badlands, Chaos tilted his head and sloshed questioningly. “Well it’s obviously not going to listen to me after we turn it on and I did pick up a thing or two from Kazooie about hacking… I just don’t like to admit she has a point at times, especially about learning things like this. Oh, the things I do for my family.  At least I know Honey is safely back at home watching Miss Hooves and is waiting for me to return, maybe she’ll have my favorite pie made for me when I get back. Well,then again, I don’t want to eat too much and be like my Nuts and Bolts counterpart.”