“Who are you? Where did you come from?!”, Twilight exclaimed at the appearance of the new Earth pony in front of her with dark purple mane and dark grey-purple coat with goggles and a vest.
“Ah, my dear Twilight, You summoned me here with the beacon. You obviously have some sort of problem that you require some kind of assistance?”
“I still have no clue who you are, and how do you know my name?”, Twilight questioned him.
“Oh, right, how rude of me, I’m Fizz Whistle. Is there anything you need help with?”
“Well, I’ve been trying to figure out what happened to my friend, War Heart.”
“Ah, how is the big Caneighdian?”
“He’s gone. He never returned from his mission into the Dragon Lands…”
“Dragon Lands…? Hm, seems the New Lunar Republic never took place in this timeline…”
“The what?”
“Oh, nothing, how about you tell me what exactly you need help with?”
“Well, I need to find a book or scroll or something on the Dragon Lord Barridamus. Supposedly his breath attack wasn’t just a simple element of fire or something, but it was dark and Orion told me something about how War Heart disturbed it by throwing his axe into it which caused it to suck in everything around it and-”, Twilight was cut of in the middle of her explanation.
“- and it sucked in everything to a tiny pin point for a while until it stopped and exploded?”
“Y-yes, how did you know that?”
“Well, it’s pretty easy to figure things out when you have an IQ of two THOUSAND.”
“IQ?”
“I’m really smart.”
“Okay, then, but do you think you can help me figure out what happened?”
“Twilight, my dear, not only can I figure out what happened to him, but I can figure out if he’s alive and even how to get him back if he is!”
“How?”
“I don’t know, I’ll figure it out, but I’ll need an assistant.”, he looked towards Twilight.
“I guess, I could be your assistant…”
“Marvelous, let’s go then.”, Fizz began walking towards the exit of the archives.
“To where?”, Twilight questioned him.
“Ponyville, I need to get a few things, and meet some associates of mine.”
“Okay, then…”, Twilight said somewhat hesitantly, not entirely sure if Fizz was insane or not.
They both walked over to the train in Canterlot to go to Ponyville. Fizz was busy studying the train engine and looking over its design. “It seems in this timeline, there are actually ponies who know how to use my machines!”, he began to tear up in joy then rubbed his eye, “I’m so proud of this timeline…”
Twilight just stood there with an eyebrow raised, becoming almost certain that Fizz was truly mad. They both boarded the train and were taken off to Ponyville. Fizz looked around at the world through the window, admiring the beautiful landscape. “So, War Heart is missing, what events before that happened? Where did he live, what did he do, Was he with anypony?”
Twilight tried to remember all she could, “Well, I know that he lived in a cabin in the woods near Ponyville, that he defeated a dragon in town, nearly died, went to the Grand Galloping Gala with Ditzy Doo-”, Twilight was cut off yet again by Fizz.
“How Wonderful, I was wondering if the big hero would do better than living in a cave on the outskirts.”, Fizz lightly applauded in glee.
“Yes, well, he was doing well until he disappeared.”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be alright. If he’s alive I can get him back.”, Fizz told Twilight as they pulled into the train station in Ponyville. The got off the train together, Fizz began walking right away into town. “So, where are we going exactly?”, Twilight asked Fizz, still hoping to get a straight answer.
“Well, first I’ll need to stop by a cache of tools I have hidden away, then we can begin figuring out a way to bring back our friend, War Heart.”
“You hid tools in Ponyville? When, and where?”
“Well… That’s a long story so I won’t bore you with details.”
“Okay then, well so long as we can get War Heart back here.”
“Plus, the readers probably don’t want a recap on everything.”, Fizz rolled his eyes and whispered to himself.
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing.”, Fizz said as they walked into the center of Ponyville. Twilight turned her head in the direction of a mare with a grey coat and blonde mane. She turned away at first, but then turned back to see her walking with a purple-coated unicorn stallion with blonde mane. Twilight looked back at Fizz and found she fell behind somewhat, she sped up to keep up with him, ignoring the couple that was suspiciously familiar.
The two kept walking until they reached Twilight’s library home, Fizz walked straight inside. “How did you know where I live?”, Twilight asked.
“Well, I didn’t, but this is where I left my tools.”, fizz explained.
“So you are perfectly comfortable with barging into somepony’s home without permission.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time, and it will not be the last.”
“Isn’t that a bit intrusive?”
“I have no time to worry about such things, it will not matter in the grand scheme of things.”, Fizz walked into the main room and began stomping around on the floor as he moved around. Twilight just sat and watched him stomp around like a foal throwing a tantrum. Fizz tromped around for about three minutes, “Curses! I can’t find it!”, he jumped in place in aggravation, the floor broke out from under him. He vanished from sight into the floor, “Found it…”, he announced to Twilight, who came running as she saw him fall into the floor. “Are you okay!?”, Twilight shouted to him in concern.
“I’m fi- that’s not supposed to bend that way…”
“What happened!?”, Twilight wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know.
“I seem to have broken my leg, no worries. I have it all under control.”
“You break your leg and you say you ‘have it under control’!?”
“I keep forgetting that other ponies are not quite as durable as myself. I wouldn’t jump down if I were you, it’s a good two storeys drop.”
“Did you, build this?”, Twilight said as she looked around the dimly lit cavern.
“Yes, I did.”
“How did I not notice?”, Twilight asked herself, still looking around.
“Well, I’ve grown accustomed to hiding my things throughout my travels.”
“How long have you been doing this exactly?”
“I’m afraid I lost track quite some time ago.”
Whirring sounds could be heard from the hole as Fizz began to rise up on a platform, looking no worse for wear and now equipped with some saddlebags.
“Your leg doesn’t look broken…”, Twilight commented while looking at his legs.
“That’s because I fixed it, of course.”, Fizz said as he walked out the door, Twilight following closely and closing the door on the way out.
“Where are we going now?”, Twilight asked, not having a clue where Fizz was going.
“To the Ursa cave.”
Twilight’s eyes widened, “That is not a good idea.”
“Oh please, Twilight, dear, you are going to have to trust me… Or you can wait outside while I fetch what I need.”, he told her as they approached the Ursa cave.
“I’ll wait here.”, she hid behind a tree outside the cave as Fizz disappeared inside. A few moments later a revving sound could be heard from inside as Fizz came out on his Fizz-Mobile.
“Come on, we haven’t got all millennium.”, Fizz said as he pulled up nearby Twilight.
“What is this?”, Twilight said as she walked out from behind the tree.
“The Fizz-Mobile, two point oh.”
“You have another one?”
“Had… I needed to rebuild after… well I don’t feel like sharing, get in.”
Twilight walked to the side of the vehicle, jumped in and took a seat.
“You may want to wear these.”, He said to her as he handed Twilight a pair of goggles.
“Okay then…”, Twilight said as she put on the goggles. Fizz clicked a few buttons and switches. “Time to buckle up.”, Fizz said as the seat belts shot around him and Twilight and strapped Fizz and Twilight to their seats. Twilight let out a small yelp from being startled by the seatbelt. “Okay, so which direction are we headed, Twilight?”, Fizz asked with both front hooves on the controls.
“They said that they headed west, into the Dragon lands.”
“West it is, then.”, Fizz pressed a few more buttons and then slammed his back hoof on a pedal that was labelled “Go”, revving the engines and sending the vehicle forward at a ridiculous speed. Twilight was fearful that they were going to crash as they were weaving between trees, Fizz looked like he was having the time of his life. Twilight screamed as they cleared out of the forest and headed straight off a cliff. She shut her eyes and felt a rush as they fell through the air. The falling sensation stopped, she opened her eyes to see there were going in a horizontal direction now. Wings had spread from the vehicle and from the wings came propellers. Twilight sighed in relief that they weren’t going to die. She looked at Fizz with a rather annoyed expression on her face, Fizz just ignored the look she was giving him. “If I told you outright that the Fizz-Mobile was able to turn into a plane, that would have ruined the surprise.”, Fizz explained.
“I thought we were done for!”, Twilight yelled at Fizz.
“I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, but then again, I have a bit of a higher threshold for taking punishment than you probably do.”
“You still have not explained much since you got here.”
“Well, I have a bit of an odd history. It’s a long story.”
“It’s not like I’m going anywhere, and it is probably a long flight.”
“Well, I don’t think I can cover over two-hundred years in twenty minutes.”
“Two-hundr- What in Equestria are you talking about?”
“Well, I’m immortal by my own means, I travel through time by placing beacons throughout time that are activated by ponies like you that are searching for help with scientific matters. I show up, help with the problem, then leave. In my original life I was working in secret for Equestria against my will and a whole bunch of things happened that ended in a huge disaster but apparently separated the timelines from my violent means of time travel. The world I am from I started a revolution with Princess Luna against Celestia and it ended in me causing mass destruction upon my departure. In this world I knew you as a friend and War Heart was a fellow New Lunar Republican on Princess Luna’s side of the rebellion. That clarify things?”
Twilight was dumbfounded and could hardly believe what he just said, “I don’t know what to make of this.”
“You could blissfully ignore it and concentrate on what we have to do.”
“Okay, I’ll do that.”
They flew for a few minutes, passing over the mountains and the jungles of Nova Terra. A colossal crater could be seen in the center of the land. Fizz flew the plane over and landed next to the crater. “Well, I guess this is where it happened…”, Fizz said as he took note of the area. He walked over to the back of the Fizz mobile and rifled through the storage trunk. “I am going to have to scan the area for some clue as to what kind of event we are looking at here…”
“What are you doing?”, Twilight walked over to Fizz. Fizz brought himself out of the storage trunk and looked at her with black goggles that had dark blue lenses and a contraption that was strapped to his head with wiry antennae which was wired to a metal box that made crackling noises. Twilight backed up a step, surprised at how ridiculous he looked. “Now, it is time… FOR SCIENCE!”, Fizz shouted as he waddled with his heavy machinery into the crater. He kept his face close to the ground as Twilight sat on the edge and just watched him do his thing. He looked like a dog sniffing out a bone it had buried in a yard, except with a bunch of machinery attached to it. He waddled about the crater, the machine every once in a while would crackle louder and at a higher frequency. At one point the machine beeped, Fizz froze for a moment. The beep came again, he walked in one direction and waited a few seconds. No beep, he walked back and heard the beep again, and another. He ran in one direction for a few seconds, the beeps became more frequent. He eventually got to a point where the sound was one high-pitched ringing. He turned off the machine and began digging with his front hooves. After a few moments the earth yield to him a discovery. A woodcutter’s axe, Fizz stared at it, not sure what to think. He turned on his goggles and saw that the axe had a strange aura on it. Fizz grabbed it with his mouth and brought it over to Twilight, dropping it in front of her, “What do you make of this?”, He said pointing to the axe with his hoof.
“That looks like War Heart’s axe, he used it to slay the dragon that attacked Ponyville.”, Twilight explained as she took note of the axe.
Fizz looked into the air for a moment stroking his chin in thought, mumbling to himself in thought, “The only way that something like that could harm a dragon is if it were enchanted… perhaps it was the magical force within this axe that caused a disruption that caused a rift in space and time that caused him to be pulled in. So that means that this dragon had the ability to create dark matter in its body… After it was created, War Heart must’ve thrown his axe into the dark matter, making it become unstable and collapse in on itself, creating a massive gravity field. He essentially made a miniature black hole and got sucked in.”, Fizz was more talking to himself, but Twilight couldn’t help but hear what he was saying. “Are you saying he’s alive?”, Twilight asked, having some hope for her friend.
“Possibru… It’s always been a theory and I’ve never really had a reason to explore it until now. I must say it will take some preparation to pull this off.”, Fizz told her, making it sound like he already figured out exactly what they have to do to pull this off.
“What do we have to do then?”, Twilight asked, unsure if she was going to like what he was going to say.
“We’ll have to recreate the rift, hopefully we’ll be able to get into the world he’s been pulled into and do the same thing on his end to come back.”
The suggestion gave Twilight some hope that she may have War Heart back, “But…”, As Fizz said this, Twilight’s heart sank a little.
“But the theory may be wrong and we’ll just be crushed into the pinpoint of space and have our atoms scattered in every direction.”, Fizz said as Twilight’s expression turned to one of shock. Fizz put his equipment back in the plane. “Come now, We have work to do Miss Sparkle, We have to find a lair; make machines; do research; experiments; oh, the fun we will have!”, Fizz said in an enthusiastic tone while jumping into the plane and preparing it for takeoff. Twilight jumped into the plane, now mentally prepared for what was to happen on takeoff. The wings propellers spun as the wings themselves turned to a vertical position, the propellers lifted the vehicle into the air then snapped back to a horizontal alignment and they began to fly back to Ponyville.
The night was filled with the dull roar of raindrops on concrete. The streets were only dimly lit by the poorly maintained lamps. A flash of lightning in the distance and the resounding thunder booming across the city. A figure stood atop an apartment building of glass and grey cement. His eyes were sanguine red, staring down at the filthy pit of crime and indecency before him, judging those who set out to hurt others for personal gain. He was tall and muscular, his wrath was to be feared by all who meant him harm. His hair was crimson and deep green, now sagging along the sides of his head from the rain. He wore a long grey trench coat with the sleeves rolled up; dark blue jeans that were faded from wear and tear; his shoes were black with white laces made of cotton with white rubber soles. His black-feathered wings were folded against him, sticking out of slits in his jacket. He held a sword in his hand and a sawn-off shotgun in a holster on his left thigh. He stood there completely still and silent as if he were a statue of an angel set on watching over the city. A troubled look crossed his face as he thought of home, wherever it was. He looks off into the sky, his eyes narrowed to keep the rain out of his eyes. He snapped to attention as he hears the familiar sound of his ring tone come from his ear-piece. He brought up his right hand and turned on his phone, “Hello?”, he spoke in a low tone.
“War Heart, we found one of the places that the BluntHeads are keeping their drugs and money, we sent a few of our guys there but they’ll surely need backup, you ought to head over there.”, the voice was calm, sounding as if he was far from danger, emotionless as he knew that people were going to die.
“All right, Kacey, I’ll follow our vans when I see them.”, War Heart said, showing no enthusiasm, acting as if this sort of thing had become routine. He pressed the button on the ear-piece and turned it off. He heard tires screeching in the distance. He spread his black wings and took flight. He glided overhead above the streets, searching for the recognizable black vans that the Last Heroes used to transport their members. He saw one of the vans speeding down the street, War Heart followed where it was going. It headed into the slums downtown, stopping in front of a townhouse. Seven men in black t-shirts with the words ‘The Last Heroes’ on the front jumped out of the van brandishing pistols and Uzis. War Heart knew none of them personally but found himself feeling a sort of kinship with them. Although this feeling of kinship was not returned, the others more saw War Heart as someone to look up to. Many of The Last Heroes were orphans or had no father, a result of the gangs’ oppression of their home city. Each and everyone one of them knew that they fought to clear out the gangs so that the people could walk the street again without fear. War Heart descended upon the Last Heroes party. They all stood at attention, awaiting the command from War Heart.
“All right, let’s do this.”, War Heart said as he walked towards the townhouse’s front door. He pulled out his shotgun and readied himself, looking back at his party, they all looked at him and nodded, giving him the sign they were ready. War Heart, shifted back slightly before slamming his shoulder into the door and bursting it open, his followers all running inside with guns at the ready. They moved quickly and quietly, going down the halls and checking every room. War Heart walked in and began to search the place himself. He entered a study and looked over the papers on the desk, records of how much product was being produced and was being sold, how much money was being made, etc. He saw it as relatively uninteresting then he heard a sound from behind him, a footstep. He quickly turned around and pointed his shotgun into the face of one of the Last Heroes, the young man spoke shakily, “W-we couldn’t find anyth-thing.”, War Heart lowered his gun, “Don’t sneak up on me again.”
War Heart walked outside and looked up into the clouded sky, it was still raining. He could hear more tires screeching, but didn’t think anything of it. His thoughts returned to home, his mare, the warmth of his house, his friends both new and old, and how there was a quiet life awaiting him back there if he returns. He smiled as he imagined the rest of his life play out in his head. Settling down, have a family, teaching his kid how to talk, growing old, watching his child grow up, and someday be there when his child would go off to find their soul mate. The idea of it brought a tear to his eye, leaving him in a state of fantasizing. This state did not last long as a bullet whizzed passed him after hearing a loud gunshot, he flew out of his fantasy to rejoin reality. War Heart dived back into the house and kicked the door closed. Several cars skidded in front of the house, five cars in all and four men in each car. Both the cars and the clothes of the men were Dark green, colours of the BluntHeads. They all opened fire on the house. “Everyone, out the back door!”, War Heart shouted as he ran to the back of the house. It took him a few seconds to realise, but there was indeed no back door to this place. He attempted to open the window, only to find they have been bolted shut. War Heart took out his shotgun and shot the glass, it only cracked. “We fell straight into their trap…”, War Heart whispered to himself as all his party were at the windows (which were not bullet proof glass) at the front side of the house, shooting back at the BluntHeads. War Heart looked to the window out the front of the house. He looked around the house and found a cellar. He hurried down there and looked around. He found a sledgehammer and ran back upstairs. He swung the hammer into the back wall, cracking through the drywall and breaking the wooden supports. War Heart kept smashing at the wall as hard as he could, until he had a hole that a person could easily jump through. “You guys run, I’ll distract them long enough for you guys to get away. And give me a couple pistols.”, War Heart spoke loud to be heard over the gunshots. Two of the party ran over to War Heart, each handing him a pistol. War Heart walked into the kitchen and looked around, he saw a gas stove and smirked, “Perfect…”, War Heart said to himself as some of the party were still shooting at the BluntHeads. War Heart walked over to the stove and turned on one of the burners. He then turned on the oven and put out the pilot light by taking a bucket of water and pouring it inside the oven. He left the oven door open and walked out, grabbing some of his party members by the collar and pulling them outside out the back. He took flight and watched his party flee by jumping fences. War Heart watched from above as the BluntHeads shot at the now empty house. After a bit the BluntHeads stopped shooting and a few walked into the house, seconds later they went running out of the house in a panic. The house exploded, sending a fiery inferno in all direction, a shockwave blowing War Heart back a bit, and killing quite a few of the BluntHeads, as well as knocking the rest of them out. War Heart flew down and picked up one of the unconscious BluntHeads that was wearing a suit. He flew up to a roof that was seven storeys high and a few blocks away. War Heart slapped him across the face, waking him up. War Heart held him with one hand, leaving the BluntHead dangling over the edge. The man’s eyes widened as he realised his current position. “What do you want?”, he said in a panicked tone, quivering in fear.
“I want you to talk, who set up the ambush!?”, War Heart growled at him.
“W-we didn’t set up an ambush, we got a call that you guys were taking over an empty house and we thought we could claim it ourselves if we showed up with more guys.”
“Who called?”
“I don’t know…”
“Is that all?”, “War Heart asked in a angered tone.
“I’m serious I don’t know anymore!”
“Then you’re no longer of use to me…”, War Heart walked over the ledge of the building and brought his fist into the side of the Blunt’s head, knocking him unconscious and dropping him off the roof into a dumpster filled with garbage bags, probably breaking a few bones but not killing him.
“You got out of that predicament pretty well, you didn’t even lose one of your men.”, a deep voice spoke from behind War Heart.
War Heart turned around quickly to see the stranger. He was an average size and build; his face was painted white with makeup with black circles for eyes and a black jack-o-lantern mouth surrounding his lips; his bald head had several spiked piercings.
“DeadBeast…”, War Heart said to himself, now face to face with one of the most terrible examples of humanity.
“I see my reputation precedes me, but I am not at a disadvantage here, I know who you are. You’ve been starting a real problem in my city, attracting a lot of attention, starting up fights, stealing from the gangs. It’s all so… exciting. I haven’t seen this kind of thing since I started my spree and my climb to the top. I want you to go all out, to come at them like an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. I want you to make sure the streets run red with the crimson torrents of hundreds- no, thousands of the low-lifes. I can see in your eyes you have the hunger, the rage, the inferno of fury within you. You’re an animal, just like me, unlike everyone else, we get power from being animals. I look forward to our final fight, it shall be… delicious.”, DeadBeast walked towards the ledge opposite of War Heart.
“Later, Arch-Angel…”, DeadBeast said as he leaped off the building. War Heart ran over to the ledge to see DeadBeast run through the alley way and disappear around the corner.
“That guy… is a serious freak…”, War Heart told himself as he flew back home. He, Chris, and Kacey had moved out of their run down one story home and had managed to get enough money to buy their own six storey building which used to be an apartment building. They lived in the top floor which served as their one big apartment, making it easy for War Heart to come and go by flight. He landed on the roof and walked to a door and opened it. He walked down a set of stairs and took off his jacket, hanging it up on a wall hook on the entrance to the apartment. Kacey walked into the door with plastic bags from the grocery store, and other bags from a hobby/game shop. War Heart looked at Kacey, “What’s in the bags?”, War Heart asked with honest curiosity.
“Instant noodles, milk, apples, marshmallows, mint ice cream, tofu, and lettuce.”, Kacey recited the entire grocery shopping list he created.
War Heart raised an eyebrow, “What the hell kind of food are you making?”
“Toast…”, Kacey said plainly as he walked to the kitchen and began to put things away in their appropriate places. Kacey left the bags from the game shop on the table. War Heart walked over to them, “What’s this?”, he called to Kacey.
“That is all the pieces to a game we’ll be playing for a while… A fantasy role-playing game that you play as adventurers and go explore and do quests and things. You guys will be grounded for a while to lay low seeing as you levelled a house.”, he looked at War Heart.
“Hey, they ambushed us, I didn’t have a choice, we could have lost someone!”, War Heart yelled in his defence.
“Still, blowing up a house is never a good idea, you aren’t allowed leaving the house until my say so.”
“Oh Yeah, and how are you going to stop me.”, War Heart crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
“Because I’m the only one who controls the locks on this place, and I reinforced the doors when we redid this place, as well as replace the windows with shatter-proof glass.”
“… I guess I could take a vacation…”
“So will Chris, and Carls will be coming over too, I knew him in high school, he used to play too and three is better than two in a party.”, Kacey explained as he brought out a bunch of books and papers as well as a bunch of graph paper and figurines. He handed War Heart some books and a piece of paper with a multitude of lines and boxes to fill.
“What do I do with these?”, War Heart looked at the books, clueless about what they were for.
“You look through the book and find your race, class, and follow the instructions to create a character to put in this fictional world I’m going to create and run for you guys.”, Kacey explained in his regular monotone voice. War Heart opened the book and started skimming through it, mostly looking at the pictures but soon actually began reading the words. After about an hour or so there was a knock at the door. Kacey walked over to the door and opened it for Chris, “Bloody rain, can’t stand it…”, Chris said as he walked in and threw his coat on the floor near the door.
“You won’t have to…”, Kacey commented as he closed the door.
“Now why is that?”, Chris asked.
“Cuz we’re grounded…”, War Heart said after he bit into a granny smith apple.
“Wha-! What do ye mean we’re grounded!?”, Chris shouted at Kacey.
“Well, somebody decided the best way to deal with a situation was to blow up a house, you both have to lay low for a while, you cannot leave the house.”
Chris looked over at War Heart, “Great…”, Chris sighed and a moment of silence passed, “So what are we doin’ in the meantime?”, Chris looked over to Kacey.
“We’re playing a game, War Heart seems to be taking an interest in it already.”, Kacey pointed to War Heart who was pretty much absorbed into the hardcover rulebooks. Chris sighed and walked over to the pile of books and paper and picked up a book, a pencil, and a character sheet and began filling them out. It wasn’t long before another knock was heard at the door, Kacey getting up to answer it again. He opened the door to see Carls standing there with a backpack, “’ey mon, ‘ow it be doin’?”, Carls spoke in his usual accent.
“Fine… The others are just making their characters.”, Kacey allowed Carls in, who walked over the pile and opened his bag and pulled out his own book that was riddled with bookmarks and a character sheet that was already filled out and ready. He then took out a bag of regular potato chips and opened it, then began eating them one by one, “So… ‘ow you boys be doin’?”, Carls asked the two grounded heroes.
“Grounded… Blew up a building…”, War Heart said, not paying that much attention to anything but the book he was reading.
“Dat be no good, mon. At least we get good times outta dis’”
“Sure…”, Chris said, not really enthused about the idea of playing this game.
After about a half hour, the characters were ready, the dice were set, the graph paper laid down, and Kacey was sitting there with his eyes closed.
“Now… We begin…”
The three adventurers walked down the dark and damp hall of the dungeon. The three were sent there on a mission to slay a witch who lived in the ruins at the center of a bog. The first adventurer is a Dwarf Rogue, Alain. Alain prefers to practise using his crossbow instead of getting directly involved with fights. Kujul-Be, a Human, and a Dark Cleric. Kujul uses his powers of death to create undead slaves and sometimes stop the hearts of his foes if they are too weak to face him. The last of the three is a Half-Orc Fighter, Talgar the Wrathful. He wields dual axes and charges into battle head first, getting through the fight on willpower and adrenaline. The three walked into a new room, the walls covered in moss and the floor was dirt. Alain walked in first, looking about for traps that may have been set. He stepped on the dirt floor slowly, expecting something to happen. He took another step, nothing happened. “Looks like it safe…”, he told his companions who were waiting at the entrance. They walked across the room slowly, “I don’ like da vibes I be getting’ from dis place…”, Kujul spoke aloud so his companions could hear. The ground trembled for a second, they all stopped.
“What was that…?”, Talgar asked, somewhat startled at the feeling of something moving beneath their feet.
“Don’ move…”, Kujul told them. He looked at Alain specifically, knowing that rogues were not to be trusted.
“I think it’s a creature under us…”, Talgar said as he equipped his axes. Kujul’s eyes widened as he shook his head.
“No… No, no, no, don’ chu dare…!”, Kujul whispered in a serious tone as Talgar slowly raised his right hand, about to swing his axe at the ground. There was a pause as Kujul was ready to run to the entrance while Alain was going to go to the exit. Talgar looked at both of them, then brought his axe down and hit the floor, sinking the axe into the dirt. Kujul and Alain both dived towards either side of the room. There was silence, Talgar brought his axe up, “Guess it was nothing…”, he said as he began walking towards Alain’s end of the room, only to have his foot snag on something. He stopped and looked at his foot to find it was caught on a root. Expecting it was going to be something grabbing him, he put on a look of irritation and removed his foot from the root to continue walking, Kujul following behind him. The heroes continued to walk down the narrow corridors of the ruins. They came to a room that was lit by candles, a young woman tied up in the center. Alain was the first to approach, he removed the gag from the woman’s mouth, she spoke to him, “Thank you, how can I ever repay you?”, she said as Alain untied her.
“Check it out, boys, my dwarf is about to get lucky.”, Chris chuckled as Kacey narrated the events.
“Roll me a diplomacy check if you want to do that…”, Kacey instructed Chris and handed him a twenty-sided die. Chris rolled it on the floor.
“Well a nice reward would be a kiss from yer ladyship.”, Alain said as he untied her. The young woman blushed but nodded, she gently held him by his face and move towards him, pressing her lips against his.
“Although, little did Alain know that the young woman he was now kissing was indeed a hag, who took on the form of a young woman.”, Kacey narrated.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”, Chris looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
“It means that the young woman is revealing her true form, which looks like…”, Kacey explained as he flipped through the book full of monsters, “… This.”, Kacey said as he revealed a picture of a old woman with grey skin, one eye, wiry hair, and little to no teeth. An expression of disgust struck Chris’ face while Carls and War Heart laughed at him.
“That’s f***ing nasty, Kacey…”, Chris stated in a rather irritated tone.
“Well, you were looking for a witch, it was pretty much your fault for falling into the trap.”, Kacey argued in his defence.
“Well, I’m out, not enough guns in this anyway.”, Chris said as he got up from the table.
“I have another game we can play, except this one is darker, set in modern era, and is riddled with monsters like vampires and stuff.”, Kacey called to Chris to try and get him back into playing with them. Chris stopped for a moment, “Fine, but pull another stunt like that and I’m done.”, Chris warned as he sat back down with the rest of them.
Back in Equestria, a few months have passed in both worlds. Fizz was working inside a newly built laboratory, drawing up blueprints for new machines that could be used in the nearby future for getting War Heart back or at least trying to figure out if he’s alive. The laboratory was built into a mountain that was nearby Ponyville, a path led into a cave that served as the entrance to the lab. The workshop was lit by fluorescent lights, had a white tile floor and walls, and was almost completely empty, due to the very construction of the rooms just being completed only the other day. Twilight walked into the lab, whispering to someone before entering, “Now just stay right there, I’ll ask if it is okay for you to come in here..”, she whispered then approached Fizz from behind.
“Umm, Fizz.”, Twilight said hesitantly.
“Yes, Miss Sparkle?”, Fizz replied, still busy with his blueprints.
“I was wondering if I could bring in some ponies.”
“We could always use the help, who are they?”
“Well, not to help, but I did promise Rarity and Applejack I would look after them for the day since they were busy.”
“Oh, filly-sitting?”
“Kind of, yes.”
“Fantastic, they could learn a lot.”
“You’re fine with this?”
“Absolutely!”, Fizz said with excitement as he turned to Twilight, “I had no idea how enjoyable children were until my daughter was old enough to go to school and learn.”
“You have a daughter?”
“Yes, two, in fact.”
“What were their names?”
“Well, my first daughter, Dawn, a unicorn, took after her mother and studied magic, not my forte you can see, but I love her all the same, and my second daughter, Penny Whistle, an Earth pony, she takes after me, I taught her how to do science and math, she is very bright, I’m so proud of her.”, Fizz recalled his daughters, pulling out a small locket and looked inside it smiling.
“They sound wonderful, may I see?”, Twilight said smiling.
“Of course.”, he held it out and showed the photo of a two fillies, one unicorn with purple coat and dark blue mane, laying on the floor, reading a book and an earth pony with purple coat and copper mane, playing with building blocks.
“They’re adorable.”, Twilight commented looking at the photo.
“Whose adorable?”, a young filly’s voice came from behind Twilight. Twilight and Fizz looked towards the source of the sound to see a yellow-coated, red-maned earth pony with a bow in her hair; a white unicorn with pink and purple mane; and a Pegasus with orange coat and purple mane.
“Oh, girls, sorry, I got pulled into something.”, Twilight apologised.
“Who is he?”, Sweetie Belle asked.
“I am Fizz Whistle: Scientist, Inventor, Genius, Immortal, Invinci-”, Fizz was cut off by Twilight.
“He’s a friend of mine, I’m helping him with a project.”
“He’s weird…”, Scootaloo commented, staring at him as if he were some unusual item.
“Well, it’s kind of hard to be normal when you live for over two hundred years, and have IQ of over two THOUSAND.”, Fizz said in his defence as he took out a flask and was about to take a drink. Twilight levitated the flask away from him.
“You really shouldn’t drink in front of the fillies…”, Twilight said as she took it from him.
“Fine, I’ll turn around then.”, Fizz turned away and took out another flask and quickly gulped it down. Twilight covered her face with her hoof and floated the flask into Fizz’s pocket.
“Now, how about we do some science?”, Fizz suggested.
“Can we help too?”, Applebloom asked hopefully.
“Of course! I’ve been meaning to test how aerodynamic fillies are when shot out of cannon.”, Fizz said as he looked at Scootaloo, who backed away in fright.
“Just kidding, I’ll probably more just need somepony to fetch wrenches and other tools for me while I work.”, he explained.
“Well, I guess we could get our cutie marks that way…?”
“Cutie marks?”, Fizz asked.
“Yeah, we’ve been trying to get our cutie marks for so long now.”, Applebloom replied, looking down in shame with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Hmm… Can’t help you there, I don’t remember how I got my cutie mark…”, Fizz sat and thought for a moment, “Was it my first locomotive engine…? No, maybe when I made my first invention explode… No… I can’t remember it has been soooo long.”
“Maybe we should get started…”, Twilight suggested.
“Of course, I almost forgot, I need you to pick up some things, mostly metal and stuff like that, maybe get somepony large to help you carry all of it.”, Fizz handed a list to Twilight. She studied the list and nodded a bit then stopped and looked at Fizz with her eyebrow raised.
“What…?”, Fizz asked.
“This here, I don’t know how I’m supposed to get polyurethane suits… and what is a set of hypodermic needles? Sewing needles?”
“Right, just bring me some sand and… I guess we’ll make do without the suits.”
“Alright then… sand…”, Twilight turned away and walked out with the list. Fizz looked down at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who stared right back at him.
“So… Who wants to play a game?”, Fizz asked awkwardly.
“What game?”, Apple Bloom asked.
“I’ve got something in my bags that I think you’ll all enjoy.”, He walked over to his bag and fished around pulling out three small metallic boxes with leather straps.
“What are they?”, Scootaloo asked with her head tilted to the side.
“Well, I made them only recently, it enables the wearer to fly!”, Fizz explained with much enthusiasm.
“How do they do that?”, Sweetie Belle looked at the boxes.
“Put them on and find out.”, Fizz told them and strapped a larger version to his back. He stepped back fifteen steps and clicked a button on his chest. A high pitch whistling sound could be heard as the pack powered up. Fizz crouched, preparing himself for take-off. A grinding noise came from the pack, a look of shock striking Fizz’s face. The pack exploded, a cloud of smoke left where Fizz once stood. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood there in awe. They slowly back away from the boxes. Fizz walked out of the smoke, coughing. His coat was charred and his mane was gone.
“Okay, I have a few adjustments to make still…”, he said as he shuddered in pain. He shook his head and walked over the fillies as his skin healed before their eyes and his mane grew back to its original state.
“How did you do that?”, Apple Bloom asked.
“Do what?”
“You were all burnt up… but you’re fine now?”
“I healed, your body does it naturally, duh.”, Fizz rolled his eyes with a smile.
“But, you healed right away!”
“Oh that, well when you become a good scientist like me, you can do stuff like that.”, Fizz said as he took another drink from his flask.
“What’s that?”, Sweetie questioned.
“This is Wuh-high-sky, not meant for fillies, it’s a grown-up drink.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s poison.”
“Why?”
“Because I made it that way.”
“Why?”
“Becau- Wait, I know that trick, cut that out!”
“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
“Why?”
“…. You win this round…”
“Why?”
Fizz’s eyes narrowed, “How about I tell you three a story…?”, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all sat in front of Fizz. He clapped his hooves together twice and the lights turned off, He brought out a candle and lit it, dimly brightening the area around them.
“Now this is a story… All about how… my life was flipped… turned upside down… This is a story about the day I came face to face with an ancient horror, an evil so menacing that all one could do is freeze in fear. This pony, no… This THING, had no face. Its legs are slim and long. This thing wears a suit and tie and roams between worlds hunting for its prey.”, Fizz spoke in a hushed tone, trying to make it sound like he was telling a secret.
“What does it go after?”, the young fillies asked in unison.
“Young ponies, a lot like you three. It prefers the young ones. I had an encounter with it once. Just once.”, He spoke as the fillies sat in silence.
“It was cold winter night, I was young, and my family lived on the edge of the woods. My brother Steam and I were up late, playing our games in the living room, so young, so innocent… My brother heard our dog was barking, the dog was outside, as he always was. We ignored the dog, thinking he was barking at some rabbits, our first mistake… After a minute of barking, he stopped suddenly. We didn’t notice right away, but when we did, we looked out the window into the yard, the dog wasn’t there. Me and my brother walked outside to where he was leashed, we found an empty collar, snapped open by… something, we didn’t know what. My brother spotted a figure on the edge of the woods. It stood there, motionless, we couldn’t tell who it was from so far away. We ran towards them, we assumed they took our dog, we wanted him back. The figure walked into the woods, nearly vanishing. Once me and my brother got there, we lost sight of the figure. We looked around for it and couldn’t find it. I looked to a nearby tree and saw a symbol carved into it, it looked like this.”, Fizz took out three pieces of paper and drew a circle with an X through it on each piece and passed it to each of the three fillies, “This is its sign, but at the time we didn’t know about it. I was busy looking at the symbol, but then I turned around, my brother was gone. I tried to shout his name, I felt the air escape from my throat but no sound came out. I looked at the ground and saw a piece of paper with that symbol on it. I looked forward to see the figure not even twenty feet away from me. It was tall and had the body of a pony, but its legs were eerily long and slim. I looked at its head and saw it had no face. It grew long black legs out of its back, long enough that it lifts itself off the ground and begins to slowly move towards me, I was frozen with fear, I couldn’t move as it approached. I only heard whispers as it approached me. Telling me what it was…”
Scootaloo heard a whisper from behind her, “Slender Pony…”, she looked behind her and saw nothing there.
Fizz got up and turned away from them, to try and capture the seriousness of the moment. The three fillies waited in suspense for the next part of the story, clinging to each other in fear.
“At that point I had lost consciousness, but when I awoke, I was at home… I looked in my brother’s room, I couldn’t find him, I screamed for my parents, no reply. I burst into their room and jumped onto their bed, to find two more pieces of paper with the mark… It wasn’t until that point that I realized I was taller, I had a strange craving that I never felt before… I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw something I will never forget. It turned out there was more to the legend than was told… It had not taken me for I…”, Fizz went silent as he pulled a nylon stocking over his head, “I was the Slender Pony!”, He quickly turned to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who screamed in fear as he showed his lack of a face in the dim lights. He walked slowly towards them, they looked at the pieces of paper, realizing he marked the papers for them. They all backed away until they backed up into a wall, their hearts raced as Fizz drew near. The doors to the lab opened and the room became bright as the lights turned on, “Silly me, I forgot to ask what you wanted for lun-… Why are you wearing a stocking on your head?”
Fizz froze in place, looking in Twilight’s direction, “I’m not going to lie… This isn’t what it looks like…”, Twilight just looked at him oddly, then looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were terrified.
“Then, what’s going on here?”, Twilight asked.
“I was telling them a story, a horror story…”
“You know you could severely impact their mental stability with stunts like that…”
“And? Who needs mental stability, I ,sure as science, don’t.”, Fizz said as he removed the stocking from his head and placed it in his bags.
“Maybe I’ll take the girls with me…”, Twilight suggested as the Crusaders ran to her, still terrified.
“Very well, I’ve got a month of sleep to catch up on…”, Fizz said as he froze into place and went quiet.
“What?”, Twilight asked, getting no reply, “How does he do that…?”, Twilight asked herself before leading the Cutie Mark crusaders outside towards Ponyville to get the list of items Fizz needed for the lab.