//------------------------------// // Ash by wille179 // Story: False Starts // by wille179 //------------------------------// Ash by wille179 Description: During his attack on Ponyville, Discord decided to summon a creature from another universe and fuse it with a pony to make a scary but harmless freak. Too bad the creature he got was more dangerous than he knew. Terrifyingly dangerous. So what do you do with a discorded pony that can turn into a predator that is dangerous to the very fabric of reality? Tags: Dark, human Characters: Braeburn, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, Mane 6 Rating: Teen A very long time ago, there was a world with some magic. It was weak, but useable. Within this world, there was an infectious disease. The local name for it translated to 'muggle plague.' The bacteria would feed on it's host's magic supply, rendering them unable to cast magic until they cured the infection. One day, a few of these bacteria fell through a naturally occurring portal between universes. They landed in the primordial ooze of a young, very low magic world. The bacteria adapted, managing to pull more magic out of the air to survive. The bacteria eventually ran afoul with some of the larger, native single-celled organisms. These larger cells ate the bacteria, but instead of killing them, they ended up merging to form a single being. The descendants of this fusion, which eventually became humans, would grow up seemingly without magic. They would eventually look into their own cells, see the functioning remnants of the alien 'muggle plague,' and call them 'mitochondria.' At some point in time, a spirit of chaos from a very high magic world would see these humans and take one for himself. He had never heard of mitochondria. (3 months after the recapture of Discord) Applejack couldn't understand why she was here. She didn't know why the Princess had summoned her and her friends. She didn't know why the Princess had asked for her specifically. The mare didn't know why she was being escorted by a small platoon of both solar and lunar guards into the caves below Canterlot. But what AJ saw next practically broke her. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why cousin Braeburn was in a cage. The cage itself was massive, large enough to hold a fully grown dragon, but with bars close enough together that not even a foal could slip through. Within the cage stood a platform made of some metal that the farm mare could not identify. Surrounding the platform was a web of razor wire and a spike pit. The whole setup was designed to kill the occupant of the platform the moment they try to leave it. The occupant being Braeburn. He sat on the platform with his eyes closed, humming to himself despite his situation. He was also missing his signature vest and hat. "Princess! What the hay are ya doin' with mah cousin? Why is he in a cage?" Applejack hollered at Princess Celestia. There was no effort made to tame the anger in her voice. The Princess replied, "Applejack. I know you are angry, but before I explain, take a very good look at your cousin. Tell me what you see. Tell me what you feel, or rather don't feel." "Ah don't know what yer gettin' at, but alright." AJ turned to observe her cousin. It was subtle at first, but the longer she looked, the more obvious it became. Every little detail, from his posture to his fur was slightly off. His head randomly twitched every few seconds. His voice sounded empty, fake. Even the air in the room seemed off. As AJ stepped towards the cage, the air grew still and felt... unnatural. By the time she was a few inches from the cage, her body was numb and she was thoroughly freaked out. The Princesses words came back to her and she realized what was wrong. She was in a CAVE and yet could not feel her connection to the earth. "Princess, what is that thing? That ain't Braeburn! There's somthin' wrong with it! I can't feel the earth when I get near that thing," Applejack said while backing away from the cage as fast as she could. The princess sighed. "I'm truly sorry, Applejack. This is what is left of your cousin after Discord attacked Appleloosa. For reasons we don't know, the magic of the elements of harmony did not restore him." Celestia turned to look in the cage. "Braeburn..." His eyes opened, revealing one eye fully dilated while the other was constricted to a pinprick. He turned his head so that only the former was aimed at Celestia. "Yes, ma'am?" "Would you be so kind as to introduce your cousin and her friends to Jack?" "Sure thing, partner! Ah'd love nothing more than to traumatize them with mah little monster!" He said with way to much excitement. The way Braeburn said it made it sound like he really would enjoy causing her pain. A guard barked out, "BACK! Everypony back!" The guards scrambled to get as far away from the caged stallion as they could. AJ and her friends were practically dragged towards the rear of the room. Yet at the same time, every pair of eyes were upon the prisoner. Said prisoner was laughing like a madman. Braeburn laughed as his body began to grow. He laughed as his neck stretched longer. He laughed as face began to reshape itself, as his ears moved down his head, his eyes shrank, limbs sprouted out of his neck, and his orange fur receded. The transformation lasted only a few seconds, but what remained afterwards was definitely not natural. Braeburn's old body had grown above Celestia's height. Where his neck should be sat the torso - rippling with muscle - of a giant hairless chimp. His head, despite being so strange, still retained hints of Braeburn's old face. The whole thing stood two and a half heads taller than Celestia. The ponies watching the scene nearly lost their lunch. AJ and Twilight did. AJ because that thing was her cousin, and Twilight because she was hyper sensitive to magic. During his transformation, the ambient magic in the cave plummeted, throwing every unicorn in the room off balance. But Braeburn wasn't finished just yet. He laughed as his body began to grow taller again. This time, however, the barrel of his pony body began to shrink. His four legs fused into two. The remaining fur and his tail retracted. What was left was a giant, hairless chimp that stood double Celestia's height. The former Braeburn turned its other eye to Applejack. "Hello, dear. I'm Jack," the creature said in a changed accent. "P-p-p-princess... W-w-what is that thing?" Twilight asked. Every single pony in the room was shaking in fright at the creature in the middle of the room. "Jack calls himself a human, and that body mid transformation a centaur. He has been helpful in our quest for information, but Discord's influence has left him less than sane. His mind shares the body with Braeburn, but the chaos has left them collectively a violent, hedonistic psychopath. The worst part, it seems, is his diet. He is both an omnivore and a manavore," Celestia explained. Her explanation was met with five cries of "He eats meat?!" and one cry - from Twilight - of "He eats magic?!" Twilight almost peed herself. The creature in the cage was quite literally the antithesis to her. Twilight's entire life's work - her special talent - could be quite literally negated by this impossible creature. She knew true fear when she recalled a scientific journal on the properties of magic. The scientists had attempted to drain an object of all of it's magic. Supposedly, nothing had happened until one of them went to touch it. The wooden block disintegrated into a fine ash on contact. Without magic, it literally could not hold together. Jack, with a single touch, could instantly kill any living thing, stop any spell, and erode almost any material in existence. Jack was a predator with the power to destabilize the local laws of physics and use it as food. Twilight screamed.