It was a barren world, jagged tall mountains all lined up in the distance. The sky was blood red, with a small hint of green lining in the clouds. It was a scene that was all too familiar to the figure that stood on this world: signs of the Burning Legion. This world had been ravaged, all life either corrupted or destroyed, all elements crying out in agony and anger. It was a fate this his world very narrowly avoided.
Vakarious looked up at the sky for a moment, then he looked in front of him. Standing about a mile away from him, was the army responsible for the fate of the world he was on: the Burning Legion. However, he felt a presence behind him as well, a presence he felt in a similar dream, or vision very long ago. He turned around, and behind him stood another large army of assorted beings.
Everyone, Vakarious included, seemed to all be led by what appeared to be a human in armor engulfed by a glowing gold aura. He recognized most of them, dragons, some his own and some not, humans of both his world and another he knew of, blue creatures that seemed demonic in appearance, but were the exact opposite, and...Rainbow Dash? There were many other races behind him, but the cyan Pegasus is what caught his attention the most. The fact that she, along with her friends and an entire army of ponies behind them were here confused him greatly. He wondered if they were perhaps a part of this 'Army of the Light' as well. I don't recall seeing Rainbow here, let alone the entire Equestrian guard or whatever they have. Were they here the last time I saw them?
"Indeed they were, Dragonlord Vakarious, just not as you now know them," a familiar voice called to the dragon, answering his thoughts. Vakarious recognized the voice all too well, the voice belonging to the one who warned him of the Burning Legion's terrible evil and might.
"A'dal, I'm assuming?" Vakarious asked, knowing full well who it was.
"Indeed, young Dragonlord," the being replied and soon after, A'dal revealed itself to Vakarious. A'dal was not a living being but rather, an embodiment of a sort of energy, appearing as nothing more than a mere floating crystal, with a concentration of a glowing white energy in its center. When the being, A'dal, spoke, his voice resonated within Vakarious' mind rather than an audible external voice.
"Why are they here? The Equestrian world is untouched by the Titans, the Burning Legion, or even the Old Gods. Why would they be apart of this conflict at all?" Vakarious demanded.
"The war against the evils of the Burning Legion does not end at your world, young Dragonlord. The fate of this world will be no different than your world, the world of Azeroth, or any other world that may defy the Burning Legion. Just as you defended your world, you must defend this world now," A'dal replied.
"Bullshit. I spent well over 200 hundred years fighting the Legion on Earth. I saw my city, and many others fall. I watched good dragons and humans alike die for their world, while I was powerless to save them, and now you're telling me I have to go through it all again, for a world that's not my own?" Vakarious' anger was evident, though A'dal was unphased.
"Your anger is understandable, young Dragonlord. However, your fate has been set before you, Vakarious. You were wise enough to heed our warning in the past, will you do so again?" A'dal questioned.
"No, I will not. I have fought my war, I have done my part. This is not my world, nor is it my responsibility. If you really want this world to help you, then do something to defend it yourself," Vakarious replied.
"We have. Over a thousand years ago, we imparted very powerful crystal artifacts upon this world, seven to be exact. The 'Crystal of Joy', the 'Crystal of Duty', the 'Crystal of Benevolence', the 'Crystal of Charity', the 'Crystal of Righteousness', the 'Crystal of Concord', and the 'Crystal of Light'," A'dal explained.
"Okay? Sounds like you Naaru either need to get off your asses and actually do something to stop the Legion, or it sounds like this world is perfectly equipped to stop the Legion on their own," Vakarious said.
"You know more than anyone else young Dragonlord, no one is 'perfectly equiped' to defeat the Burning Legion. This world needs you Vakarious. You are---"
"No, fuck you!" Vakarious interrupted, "I've done my fucking part, I've fought my war. You're apparently this omnipotent being of pure light! You fight your own damn war, just as I, and many other races have fought ours," Vakarious finished.
"Then this world is already lost. Neither I, nor my brethren will contact you anymore, young Dragonlord. We will leave you to your own devices, hoping you see reason and change your mind. The Naaru will always be here though, Vakarious, if you do change your mind. May the Light never abandon you, young Dragonlord," A'dal said, before he disappeared.
Vakarious mere stood where he was, watching as the two armies clashed with each other. However, he noticed that the ponies were not present anymore, and soon the Army of the Light was being overrun and obliterated by the Burning Legion. He just stood there, not caring at all about the chaos and carnage going on around him. After a bit, Vakarious found the world fading into darkness, and soon he was engulfed in nothing but pitch dark...
~~~
Vakarious awoke at around noon. He always did hate sleeping in, mainly due to the fact of him feeling vulnerable during unconsciousness. He promptly got out of his makeshift bed, and headed for a small bedside table. on top of the table was a plain, grey stone box. He grabbed the box, and as he began to open it to study the contents within, a knock was heard on his door. He rolled his eyes, set the box on the table, and headed for the door before another knock was heard.
"I'm coming, calm down," he yelled. He hated being rushed, but he was curious as to who it was now. When he opened the door, he was greeted by Twilight, who was holding a previously opened scroll in an aura of purple magic. He let her in, and after shutting the door, he decided to greet her first.
"Oh, hey Twilight. 'Sup?" Vakarious said.
"You've got a letter from Princess Celestia. She has a really special request for you!" Twilight exclaimed. Vakarious took the scroll and began to read it to himself.
He skimmed most of it, not really caring about the contents of the letter, considering it was just Celestia telling him about the Grand Galloping Gala and how it was in less than two weeks. However, as he came to the end of the letter, a passage caught his attention:
Twilight Sparkle has also informed me that you would be willing to share some of the music of your world. It would be such a great honor for you to do such a thing, and I am personally very grateful for you volunteering in sharing such art.
Vakarious stopped reading the letter, and looked at Twilight, who was apparently excited, then back at the letter. He repeated looking at Twilight and the letter a few times before he finally broke the silence.
"Um, question," Vakarious said.
"Of course, what is it?" Twilight replied.
"Forgive my little outburst, but WHY THE HELL DID YOU TELL CELESTIA THAT I WOULD 'SHARE THE MUSIC' OF MY WORLD AT HER GALA?" Vakarious shouted. Twilight's ear dropped down as she was taken by surprise, and remained silent for a bit before she answered him.
"Well, considering how much you spoke of your favorite music, I just figured, you know, that you wouldn't mind sharing some of it..." Twilight said.
"Oh, well then never mind. I mean, since I happen to have some favorite songs, that means I can totally share it," Vakarious shot at her.
"Well, can't you?"
"NO! I don't know crap about music, other than it makes noise. Musical notes? Learning Russian was easier than that music crap! You need to tell your princess that you made a mistake by saying I could give her little party some music," Vakarious said. Twilight once again got quiet before answering.
"Um, there's just a little problem....Princess Celestia already informed the orchestra that you'd um, be giving them sheets and possible performing..." Twilight said, hanging her head now. Vakarious face palmed, and was about to shout at Twilight again before a sudden realization hit him.
"Do you think you could open up a portal to my world again?" Vakarious asked, his demeanor changing to a sudden calmness, which worried Twilight.
"Um, I can, yes. Why?" Twilight asked.
"Cause I have an idea. If this works, then this problem will be solved, and your land of Equestria will be able to listen to some of the greatest musical artists that have ever existed," Vakarious replied. Twilight was confused, but decided to go along with whatever Vakarious had planned.
~~~
Vakarious and Twilight were near the Everfree Forest, where the former had last time made contact with his world after Twilight helped him. Twilight was still confused as to why they were here, considering Vakarious remained quiet the whole time. In fact, she was growing increasingly worried, seeing as how just a few minutes ago, Vakarious was angry and shouting at her. After some walking, they had finally made it to the area they needed to be.
"Okay, it'll just take a second now that I know what to do," Twilight said, Vakarious merely nodding. After a bit, another portal was opened, this time the scenery being what appeared to be ruins of a city, following the same being Vakarious was talking to last time.
"Alestra!" Vakarious shouted. The person in question, Alestra, turned around and soon spoke.
"Vaka? Whats up?"
"I've got a question. Is the connection between Earth and this place steady enough for you to send little things through?" Vakarious asked.
"Um, it depends on what you define as 'little' things. I wouldn't count on hamsters surviving, if that's what you're asking," Alestra replied.
"That'll work. I need you to find an Mp3 player that still works, and put the following songs on a list I'm gonna send you. And if you can, send a sound system too," Vakarious said.
"I can do better than that. Your Ipod survived the war, since you actually listened to ol' Pratty and left it in the sanctuary. I'm curious though--"
"I got volunteered to do the musical arrangement for a ball here," Vakarious interrupted. "Speaking of which, do you think you could send that black Draconian outfit along with Browning's gift?" Vakarious added.
"Um, yeah, sure. When do you need all this crap by, now or what?" Alestra asked.
"If you can send it all now, then yeah," he answered.
"Um, okay. Just wait a bit."
After that, the portal turned dark black with nothing happening. Twilight, watching the whole thing, was confused at everything Vakarious asked Alestra for, and so decided to ask him what he was doing.
"So, what exactly is all of that stuff you asked for, and how will it solve our problem?" Twilight asked.
"Well, humans like I told you had a little knack for technology. One of their inventions, which I consider one of their greatest, is the 'Mp3' player. Or 'Mp4' player, but let's not get technical. Anyway, what this neat little device does is it stores and plays music. The most advanced ones being able to hold like 5,000 songs I think? Something like that," Vakarious answered. Twilight found herself intrigued at what she had been told. An apparently simple device being able to store thousands songs, and play them all, was amazing. She was still curious though as to what the other things he requested.
"So, I know what a sound system is, and I could see why you want your outfit from your own world, but, what's that 'gift' you wanted?" Twilight asked. Vakarious had completely forgotten that she heard him ask for that, but decided to answer her honestly.
"Well, it involves a pretty long history lesson. We seem to have time, but, do you want to hear it all" Vakarious asked.
"Um, yes?" Twilight sarcastically said.
"Alright I'll give a pretty quick explanation. The 'gift' I asked for is a human weapon. While I never really had any use for human weapons, this one in particular is really special to me. The weapon in question is known as a Colt M1911---"
"Wait, 'Colt'? Are you serious?" Twilight teased.
"Yes, Colt. Is that a problem or something?" Vakarious asked.
"No, it's just funny is all. I mean, you do know what a Colt is right?" Twilight asked, teasing still.
"You know, I didn't make fun of your Elements of Harmony when you told me the history of Equestria," Vakarious retorted.
"The Elements of Harmony are also not named after a word that describes a young male pony either," Twilight teased back.
"Anyway, do you want me to continue?" Vakarious asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry. That's just a funny name," Twilight replied, snickering.
"Yeah, funny name. Anyway, Colt M1911. It was designed by a man named John Moses Browning, probably, in my opinion, the greatest inventor of small arms to have ever lived. Anyway, this particular weapon, also called a 'gun'---"
"I know what a gun is Vaka. The Minotaurs have them," Twilight teasingly interrupted.
"Are you going to let me finish, or keep interrupting me?" Vakarious said.
"Yes, sorry. Continue please," Twilight said, still snickering.
"Anyway....This particular gun is special to me because it was John Browning's first personal model he had, and he gave it to me shortly before he died," Vakarious finished. Instead of the teasing and snickering she was doing though, Twilight was instead sympathetic. In fact, Twilight started feeling bad because she had teased Vakarious like she was, instead of being understanding of his feeling towards the matter.
"I'm sorry I was so insensitive Vaka..." Twilight apologized.
"Don't worry about it. Don't get pissed off if you tell me a heart wrenching story and I laugh about it though," Vakarious replied. Twilight teasing him didn't actually affect him at all, annoying him a little bit at the most. Before Twilight could respond though, the darkened portal changed back to Alestra inside of what appeared to be her room, from the last time Twilight saw her.
"Alright, so I've got your Ipod, your black tuxedo thing, and your Colt. Oh, and the best I could do were these two speakers. Not much survived in terms of entertainment equipment unfortunately," Alestra said, surrounded by all of the items in question.
"They'll work, thanks a crap ton," Vakarious said.
"One question. How the hell are you going to keep the Ipod charged? From what I can tell, I doubt you have access to any electrical outlets," Alestra asked.
"Um, do you forget who you're talking to? If I can control the elements, don't you think I can generate the right amount of juice to charge an Ipod?" Vakarious sarcastically asked.
"Well, yeah. What if you blow it up though? As I remember, you're kind of an idiot with delicate things," Alesta said.
"Well, considering I've done it befo---Wait, why am I even explaining this to you? Just send the crap over," Vakarious snapped back.
"Dick. Here it all comes, watch out. You're lucky I don't 'accidentally' mess up and torch all this crap," Alestra shot. Shortly after, all of the items appeared in Equestria, seemingly unharmed.
"Yeah, thanks. Just do me a favor and don't give Praetorian an aneurysm. But seriously, thanks, you really saved my ass here," Vakarious said.
"Don't mention it. Believe it or not, you are missed here, and we are trying to figure out a way to get you back," Alestra replied.
"I know you guys are. Only a couple days gone, and I miss Earth and you guys already too," Vakarious said.
"I still hate you though."
"As do I. Well, until next time. I might talk to you some time later Alestra. Again, thanks."
"See ya."
With that, the portal disappeared, with a lavender Unicorn and a dark purple Pegasus with small wooden box and strange equipment being the only things that remained. Twilight was still amazed at the fact that everything before her was from a completely different world.
"Well, I can't use this thing for crap with hooves, so lets go ahead and go back to my place, and I'll show you how it works kinda," Vakarious said, snapping Twilight out of her trance.
"Sounds good to me. I just hope it works," Twilight said. She had to admit, she was pretty skeptical about the device Vakarious had.
"It'll work."
~~~
After some coercing from Twilight, Vakarious reluctantly agreed to go to the library with her after he had dropped off the rest of his things, so Twilight could study his 'strange music' player a little bit. As the two were walking, Vakarious found himself going over his 'dream' he had that night. What bothered him the most about it all, was the artifacts the Naaru had apparently left on this world. While, to his knowledge, this world was completely untouched by the Titans, the Old Gods, and the Burning Legion, the Naaru's presence bothered him. Maybe the reason the Burning Legion apparently has their sights on this world is because of those idiot talking crystals Vakarious thought to himself. 'The Crystal of Light', 'The Crystal of Joy', 'The Crystal of Duty', 'The Crystal of Benevolence', 'The Crystal of Righteousness', 'The Crystal of Charity', 'The Crystal of Concord', and 'The Crystal of Light'. What the hell was he talking about? Vakarious' thoughts were interrupted though once he and Twilight had reached the library.
"Just go ahead and make yourself at home, I'm gonna get some notes and books ready real quick," Twilight said.
"Will do," Vakarious replied. After, Twilight headed upstairs while Vakarious headed for Twilight's study where the two went last time. As he was making his way though, he noticed a glass display with what appeared to be jewelery in it. Odd, how did I not notice this before? Meh, must be stuff to go with their dresses for the Gala Vakarious thought to himself. He continued to inspect the assorted jewelery until Twilight came back.
"Hey, you ready?" Twilight asked, noticing what he was looking at.
"Yeah, but real quick. What's with all the fancy jewelry? Stuff for the Gala I'm assuming?" Vakarious asked.
"Um, no. Those are the Elements of Harmony. Didn't I tell you about them?" Twilight said, confused.
"You told me a little bit about how they shoot rainbows of doom and turn things to stone, but you didn't actually show them to me," Vakarious responded sarcastically. He was curious about what he was looking at, though. Twilight merely rolled her eyes at his comment about the Elements, however.
"Right. Anyway, yes. These are the Elements of Harmony. Normally they stay locked away in Princess Celestia's castle, but she decided it'd be best if I held onto them ever since Discord was reformed. In case we needed to get to them quickly," Twilight informed.
"Huh. Interesting way of being cautious I guess. Still don't see how you're able to trust a spirit of chaos so easily though," Vakarious said. He still couldn't get over the fact that instead of destroying Discord, they merely put him on probation. Though, his personal bias against the spirit he didn't even personally know was also due to his experience with his own world's being of chaos.
"Fluttershy is really the only one who trusts him as a friend. As for the rest of us, we trust him just as much as we trust you. We all have nothing to gain from him being stone, so we put up with each other," Twilight said.
"I guess. I personally would have destroyed him first chance I got, but that's just me and my 'brutish' ways," Vakarious replied.
"Uh huh. Anyway, let's go. I still haven't heard that music player of yours actually work yet," Twilight said, changing the subject. She didn't want to go into how she did want Discord destroyed during their first encounter.
~~~
Twilight and Vakarious had spent about an hour doing nothing but listening to the latter's music player. Twilight had heard a variety of different types of music, ranging from people Vakarious called 'Jimi Hendrix' to 'Frank Sinatra', to artists that played music that sounded very much like Vinyl Scratch's type of music. Twilight was actually surprised that, while completely different songs, the sounds were very similar to genres in Equestria.
"So. Do you think it'll work?" Vakarious asked.
"Well, yes. I was wrong about your music player, or 'Ipod' as you called, not working," Twilight replied, admitting defeat.
"Well, that's kinda cool that you can admit when you're wrong. But I was asking if you think anything on here will go over well at the Gala," Vakarious said.
"Oh. Well um...Considering that everything on there is very similar to genres here in Equestria, I think there's maybe a couple artists on there that would qualify for the Gala," Twilight said, hoping not to insult Vakarious. He had seen this coming though, and already had an idea of what he would show at the Gala.
"I had a feeling. Never went wrong with some Frank Sinatra in the past though, which was someone who performed at very similar events. Think he'll work?" Vakarious asked. Twilight thought about it before nodding.
"Oh, and I'm sorry for volunteering you like I did..." Twilight sheepishly said.
"Don't worry about it. Just consider yourself lucky the portal thing was stable enough to send all my crap through," Vakarous replied. Twilight was still a little angry at herself that she had done that to him, though she believed that he really wasn't bothered by it now. While she was thinking though, a thought had crossed her mind.
"Um, Vaka, can I ask you something?" Twilight said.
"Sure," he replied.
"Well, you said you had that weapon of yours, which I understand was a gift and is important to you. It's just, what need do you have to bring a weapon to the Gala?" Twilight asked. Vakarious had a feeling that question would have come up sooner or later, and had already prepared an answer.
"On my world, it was quite common for human officers of military's to attend large social gatherings, especially foreign ones. As a custom and a show of force for the military's said officers represented, they were always armed in some way. As such, they would typically bring their favorite, or most pretty small arms," Vakarious said, pausing. After a bit, he continued. "Being who I was, I was pretty much required to attend the very large gatherings that were held by the most important people of the world. And as such, the hand gun that was made personally and owned by the person who revolutionized pretty much all good weapons was my personal choice," Vakarious finished.
"That makes sense. I guess I should have known that, really. If my brother wasn't a Unicorn, he would be expected to have some ceremonial royal weapon when attending the Gala, or even his own wedding," Twilight said.
"Captain of the Royal Guard right?" Vakarious asked.
"That, and Prince of the Crystal Empire," Twilight added.
"Wouldn't he actually be the king, with his wife being the queen?"
"No, that sort of leadership isn't customary in pony society, as it implies dictatorship and tyranny. Especially after King Sombra's rule," Twilight said. Vakarious was actually intrigued by what she told him. Both because it made too much sense, considering the ponies attitudes, and the fact that even the leaders tried not to allow themselves to be corrupt with power.
With nothing else to do, or talk about though, Vakarious decided to head back home. While talking with Twilight usually was quite interesting and enlightening, he still needed to study the samples he had collect the day before. After some small talk, Vakarious told Twilight that he was going to go home so he could relax a little bit. Twilight said goodbye, and soon, Vakarious was on his way home.
~~~
Deep beneath the frozen wastelands of Northern Equestria, stood the former ruler of the Crystal Empire, ever waiting. A thousand years ago, the dark Unicorn, known as King Sombra, was turned to shadow and cast away, destined to be imprisoned for all eternity beneath the frozen wastes by the two royal sisters. However, in his last act of power, the king had cursed the empire so that, should he ever fall, so too would the city. In doing so, Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna were forced to weaken the banishment spell, so that the city would return some day and in doing so, allowed King Sombra to return with it as well.
A thousand years later, just as the evil Unicorn had planned, the city resurfaced, along with him. And while he was repelled from the city by the very crystal heart he used to instill fear in his subjects, he had not been destroyed as everyone thought. Indeed, he waited, just as he had done in the past, for the perfect opportunity to take his rightful place as ruler of the Crystal Empire, and the new demonic arrival he sense was just what he needed.