//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: New Arrivals // Story: For Want of a Better World // by Lunafan1k //------------------------------// The forest was dark, depressing, pressing in on all sides with its viscous presence. Predators of all sizes stalked among the trees, hungry for anything that dared to near their territory. No sane pony had ever ventured this deep into the forest and come back in one piece, if at all. The ones who survived spoke of a cloaked beast through their mad ramblings. A beast of such great power, none could stand against it. One cried out in anguish, telling the story of how his fallen brother was revived by the beast, rising from the blood stained ground to claim his soul. Deep within the forest, the beast sat upon its throne of flesh and bone, biding its time as it fed on the souls of the careless. A wisp of blue smoke snaked its way to the clearing and stopped before the throne. The hooded beast watched patiently as its minion reformed into a unicorn. The unicorn bowed low before its master as various beasts began to show themselves along the edge of the clearing. Should the unicorn make one wrong move, its life would be forfeit, the body to join the ranks of the dead littering the forest. “Master, I bring you news most urgent.” The unicorn said from its position before the throne. It knew to never dare to see under the master’s hood, to do so would be rewarded with a punishment far worse than death. SpeAk, mINion, oF wHAt NeWs iS So imPorTAnT tHAt YoU wOuLd dARe ApPRoACh Us? The unicorn shivered as the sound of thousands of voices echoed and screeched through the clearing. It felt like death itself was toying with its mind and soul, as though it could be killed in any number of ways in an instant. The unicorn dared not move, not even to wipe the sweat from its brow as it cowered in terror before its master “M-master, during my mission I have witnessed a pair of strangers interacting with the Sisters!” The unicorn reported as quickly and clearly as it could. YOu DArE tO dIsTUrb uS By bRinGIng US sUch fooLIsh NoNseNSe? ThEy aRE iRREleVaNt, KILL thEm imMEdiAtELy. “Master! I cannot! They have more power than even the Sun Princess! I-” SiLENce!! MorTAls hAVe nO proOSpeCt oF TrUE poWEr. gO foRTh wITh mEiN pOWEr aNd tAKe mEaSUre Of tHEiR wORtH. “Yes! Of course! Right away!” And with that the unicorn dissolved back into a mist and slithered from the throne, the hollow, mad laughter of the beast following in its wake. At the castle, breakfast was finally over. Princess Celestia was an hour late for her first duty of the day and had said a quick farewell, leaving Luna to see the others off as they boarded a carriage to Ponyville. “Farewell friends! May your journey be swift and uneventful!” Luna bade as Twilight and her friends climbed onboard, Fang climbing in behind them. “Fang, what are you doing?” Jeff asked. “I’m going with them. Besides, you said we would visit, so why not now?” Fang said as he lay down on the floor of the carriage. “Alright, but where would I sit? You take up too much room.” Jeff said. “I can fly alongside; I’m way faster than these guards are so keeping pace is no problem.” Rainbow dash said as she took to the air, freeing barely any space. “Looks like you have to walk Jeff.” Fang smiled toothily as Fluttershy pet his head. The pegusai pulling the carriage bounded forward, quickly taking to the sky. “Heh. I’ll see you when you get there. You there, rainbow one, what was your name again?” Jeff looked up to her quizzically. “Uh, Rainbow? Dash? Remember?” Dash said skeptically. “I’m always forgetting the easy ones.” He tapped his forehead in an effort to associate the color to the name. “Anyway, last night you said something about a race?” “Yea! You bet I did! Thinking you can take me on tough guy?” Rainbow boasted. “Of course. But I have two conditions to this race, number one: where is this Ponyland?” “That’s PonyVILLE.” Rainbow Dash said with emphasis. “And it’s right there.” She pointed into the distance to a large brown patch of earth, the buildings were just specks on the horizon. “What’s your second condition? No wings?” “Ha, no. Condition two is, try to keep up.” He said with a grin. This confused and irritated Rainbow, was he mocking her? Before she could retaliate Jeff sprinted to the edge of the platform and dove off. Without a second thought Rainbow flew after him in a steep dive down the side of the mountain in an effort to save him from his self-imposed doom. He was too far away from her, she may be able to catch him if she accelerated to sonic rainboom speeds, but that would leave her no time to pull out of the dive safely. She was powerless as she saw him plummet to the ground. She closed her eyes and flared her wings, she wasn’t fast enough. She failed at the one thing that separated her from every other living pony. Slowly she forced her eyes open, she should at least stay until the medics arrive. But what she saw instead of a mangled body in a pool of blood was Jeff standing there looking up at her, tapping his foot impatiently. “This is a race, it involves racing, perhaps you’re new to this concept?” He joked. “Wha- Bu- I thought you were going to die!” Rainbow yelled at him angrily. “Didn’t you listen? Death wasn’t a condition I stated. See ya!” He called as he jogged off in the direction of Ponyville. Does he really think he can outrun me? Rainbow thought. I don’t even need wings to beat this guy. She landed on her hooves and began trotting after the jogging figure. She soon caught up with him and easily matched his pace. “Um, this is a race, it involves running, perhaps you’re new to this concept?” Rainbow Dash grinned as she sped past him. Jeff let out a hearty laugh, “Perhaps I am, little pony, perhaps I am.” Jeff slowed to a stop. He twisted his body in a number of odd ways, stretching his misused muscles and snapping his joints back into proper alignment. Here we… GO! He leaned forward at an impossible angle, his legs coiling up beneath his chest then springing into the ground at an impressive speed. Rainbow Dash had quite an impressive lead on him, but with his new speed he quickly overcame her. Rainbow was irritated that he somehow sped past and got such a huge lead on her. She took to the air, instantly doubling her speed. This just wasn’t enough to catch up to him. She began to frantically beat her wings, pushing herself forward as fast as she could. She was nothing more than a rainbow colored lightning bolt speeding across the land. Over the hills and around trees she sped, chasing after that figure in the distance. The figure began to increase in size at an alarming rate, Rainbow quickly flared her wings and dug her hooves into the ground. She skidded to a halt in a small clearing just before she smashed into him. “Hey! What’s the big idea?” Rainbow yelled at him indignantly. “What woods are these?” Jeff asked, looking around with a furrowed brow. Rainbow Dash looked around as well, judging by the weight of the air and the feel of the wild magics, she was sure they were deep within the Everfree Forest. “This is the Everfree Forest… We really should keep moving, it’s not safe here.” Dash advised, she was beginning to sweat as the forest seemed to close in around her. She and her friends had ventured into the forest before, but nowhere this deep. “Shh…” Jeff said, holding a finger out at her. They listened intently for several long moments. “The birds have stopped chirping. I think something’s com-” Jeff was cut off by a deafening roar. The sound of heavy footsteps and the shattering of tree trunks made its way to the duo. Without warning Jeff grabbed Dash and jumped back to the entrance of the clearing they just came. Before Rainbow could voice her anger at the sudden jostling, the place they stood not a second before exploded into a mass of wood and fallen trees. As the dust settled, before them stood a massive Hydra, it had six heads, each with a number of scars and innumerable teeth. This Hydra was enormous. Its body was elongated and sported six limbs and three tails. Its heads roared again as it charged at the pony and god. Rainbow Dash was sensible enough to fly above the creature's reach, hoping the human god would do the same. She looked back in horror as Jeff stood his ground. “Oh look at you. You’re beautiful… I wonder if Fang will get jealous if I bring you along as a pet. Come on! Here boy!” He called to it as he patted his thighs encouragingly. The hydra reared up, “Oh good boy!” Then each head clamped onto Jeff’s body. It struggled to dig its teeth into his flesh but was unable to rip him into shreds. “Shh shh shh… there there, it’s okay.” Jeff whispered to the Hydra. Confused, it lifted its heads off him to study Jeff quizzically. “Yes yes… rule number one, no BITING!!” Jeff yelled as he punched toward the creature. His fist stopped just a few inches short of one of the Hydra’s heads, yet the sound that he hit something solid was unmistakable. The air around his fist cracked and shattered, the result was a massive shockwave that ripped and tore at the Hydra, its blood spraying out majestically while the shockwave continued on to devastate the forest beyond. When the shaking subsided, the Hydra stood, blood flowing smoothly from the wounds on the body. The heads had blood drizzling from their mouths and eye sockets. The hydra’s many eyes rolled to the back of each head, then all at once the creature fell forward in a heap. A blood covered Rainbow Dash landed behind Jeff and risked a look at the remains, the amount of blood on her and the mangled beast was too much for her to handle and she lost her breakfast. Jeff turned at the sound of Rainbow’s retching and patted her on her back as she finished up. “Are you okay now?” Jeff asked, regretting what he had put her through. “Yeah…” Rainbow croaked between breaths. “Alright, lets hurry up and get you home.” Jeff scooped her up in his arms. She wanted to protest being carried but only managed to shiver. She had had enough excitement for one day. A bright light enveloped them, then they shot into the air and zoomed over the tree tops toward Ponyville. As Jeff and Dash left, the remains of the Hydra dissolved into ash, and a unicorn stood in the center of the remains. “So it takes more than that to best you does it?” It said. “Well then, let’s get this party started. I’ll be seeing you tonight.” It laughed towards the sky. The carriage carrying Fang and the other Elements of Harmony landed in front of the Books and Branches Library, Twilight’s tree home and main base of operations. The ponies and flamboyant wolf with his magnificent bow gathered their things and followed Twilight to the door. “Huh, that’s odd.” She said as she opened the door. “I asked Spike to keep the library locked until we got back.” The group filed inside. Fang was impressed with the amount of space and the number of books provided. It looked like magic was used in order to keep the hollowed out tree alive. His musing was interrupted by a collective gasp. Fang turned back toward the group to see a new member, a sky-blue unicorn with a very light blue, almost white, mane. “Trixie? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked in the silence. “And where’s Spike?” “Hello, Sparkle.” The sky-blue unicorn said hotly. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has graced this pitiful tree with Trixie’s presence, you should be grateful.” “Oh come on, just tell her why you’re here and quit the theatrics.” Fang looked towards the top of the stairs and saw a stack of books walking down. Fang did a double take, something short was carrying them. It reached the bottom of the stairs and set the books down, revealing itself to be a type of reptile. “Fine. Sparkle, Trixie-er, I, am here to…” Trixie looked away, the words not coming easily. “to…” Her wandering eyes landed on Fang for the first time. “What the HAY is that thing?!” She screamed and erected a magical barrier. “That’s Fang. He’s a wolf with powers of a god.” Twilight said nonchalantly. “Nice to meet you.” Fang said with a bow. “Charmed, now why is it here??” Demanded Trixie. Twilight sighed before delving into the long explanation. “Oh. So they’re learning about our world then?” Trixie asked as Twilight finished her story. “Pretty much.” Fang confirmed. “But Jeff and the pegasus should have been here by now, it’s almost midday.” “Ah know Rainbow should have been here way before we got here.” Said Applejack. “OOH! OOH! Maybe she’s taking him out to lunch like a date or something because he’s such a good racer and she wants get to know him better or she’s showing off her super cool stunts and flying around like FWOOSH FWOOSH VRROOM!!!” Pinkie rambled then bolted out the door. Before the group of ponies could roll their eyes, she ran down the stairs from Twilight’s bedroom. “I found them I found them I found them!” She bounced around and opened the front door, revealing Rainbow with a hoof raised to knock. “Oh, hey pinks.” Rainbow said unenthusiastically. “Dashie? Is something wrong?” Pinkie asked, she placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “She’s still in shock.” Jeff said as he came in behind her. “We ran into a six headed Hydra and things got pretty messy. I took Dash here to her home to wash up a bit before coming here.” “Oh no! Did it hurt you? Did you hurt it?” Asked Fluttershy, the thought of an injured friend making her rush forward to inspect Dash. “A six headed Hydra? Those haven’t existed since Discord’s imprisonment over a thousand years ago.” Twilight said. “Interesting. There was something about it that didn’t feel right. I’m sorry, timid yellow one, but I had no choice but to lay it to rest. If we fled it would have followed us here and endangered the citizens.” Fluttershy was sad the creature had to die, but if it meant protecting her friends, then just maybe it was worth it. “So,” Jeff continued, “is there a possibility this Discord person could be back in power without arousing suspicion? “No, I don’t think so. Discord isn’t the sneaky shadowy type.” Twilight said. “He would go on a rampage, we would know instantly if he escaped his imprisonment.” “So, either the Hydra survived for hundreds of years without detection, or there is another pulling the strings. What say you stranger?” All eyes fell on Trixie. “I-I don’t-” “Ya’ll never said why ya was wait’n fer Twilight, an right now ah find ya pretty suspicious.” Applejack said. “Ancient creatures er coming back, mah friend is in shock, and yer in here waiting for Twilight, ya better tell us the truth or ahm going to be forced to take actions.” “Whoa Applejack calm down.” Spike said as he blocked her view of Trixie. “It’s not like that at all. She’s just afraid to ask.” “Ask whut?” Applejack looked over Spike’s shoulder to Trixie. Trixie made eye contact with Twilight, “I… I wanted to ask you…” Trixie paused as she bit back her stubborn pride. “Iwanttobeyourapprentice.” She suddenly blurted out. “What was that?” Twilight asked, leaning in closer to Trixie. Trixie gave an annoyed huff, “I’m asking to be your apprentice. In magic.” She added hastily. “Oh… well…” Twilight was slightly taken aback. “You’re already a talented magician, I don’t know if I would be able to teach you anything.” “No, I’m not good enough. I need training in more types of magic to make my show even better.” Reasoned Trixie. "When you showed me what magic could really do, I just couldn't stop thinking about how much better and more amazing I could make my act." “Don’ do this, Twi. This here’s a fishy one.” Applejack cautioned. “Oh Applejack, you’re just over reacting. Trixie, I accept.” Twilight smiled. “First thing though, drop the ‘Great and Powerful’ title. Titles are given to you by your fans and reputation. You should also stop challenging the audience, embarrassing ponies will not gain you fame.” “You’re not going to make this easy, are you?” Trixie said. “Very well, I shall agree to your terms. And, if you all like, I can treat you to a club hosting DJ PON-3 tonight.” “She’s here? I didn’t see any of her usual fanfare recently.” Twilight said. “We traveled here together from Hoofington, and the posters should have been up already. Those fillies said they would have them up all over the town in a second.” Trixie said. “Wait, three fillies?” Asked Applejack. “Wus one on a scooter and the other two in a wagon?” “Yes, why? Was it a problem?” Three fillies were out behind their clubhouse, delicately hanging dripping wet posters onto a clothes line. “We’re in fer it now.” Said Applebloom. “I told you not to go so fast Scootaloo.” Said Sweetie Belle. “Well it’s your fault, you dropped them into the river.” Scootaloo blamed. “The wind from your wings ripped them out from my hooves!” Sweetie yelled. “Enough fight'en girls!” Yelled Applebloom. “We need ta dry these licitly split and hang ‘em up all around Ponyville.” Applebloom’s statement was punctuated by the sound of a wet ripping noise. The fillies watched in horror as all the posters they had just hung ripped apart along the clothes line. “Great! Now what ‘r we gonna do?” Applebloom said dejectedly. The fillies pondered for a moment before a brilliant idea struck them and they all exclaimed out at once. “What just happened?” Jeff asked out loud. Pinkie and Fluttershy had moved Rainbow Dash to the bedroom upstairs. The others had run out the door a few moments ago, leaving Jeff and Fang almost alone. “And what’s with the iguana?” “Hey! I’ll have you know that I’m a dragon!” Spike corrected. Jeff raised an eyebrow. "Drem Yol Lok, Joor." “He’s a baby.” Fang informed. “Oh.” Jeff said, Spike looked at him in confusion. “No? Oh well. Can you, you know, breath fire?” Jeff asked. “Of course, it’s how I send letters to the Princess.” Spike said, beaming with pride. “Have you ever sent anything other than a letter?” A devious smile played across Jeff's face. Princess Celestia was in the throne room, listening to another petition from a local farmer about the beneficial effects of a rainstorm that should be scheduled for his land. The princess knew good and well every detail the farmer was describing, yet she held a smile on her face as she patiently waited for his presentation to end. However, their meeting was interrupted as a whisk of green fire swirled into the throne room. It stopped in front of Celestia, then with a small pop a scroll appeared in its place. The princess examined the scroll, it was sealed with her student’s insignia. She opened it quickly, had Jeff and Fang caused a commotion among the locals? She was disappointed to see only a few words scrawled onto the parchment, "Do you like bananas?” Before the princess had time to ponder the question further, the entire throne room was thrown into a panic as hundreds of bananas rained from the ceiling. “That was hilarious!” Jeff exclaimed as he tried to stop laughing. “I can’t…believe…it worked!” “Hey! Bring back my bananas!” Yelled an irate sales pony operating a now empty banana stand. "I'm sorry! It only works one way!" Spike exclaimed. He was cut off from further arguments as his cheeks bulged. With a mighty belch, a massive ball of green fire erupted from his mouth. A series of pops filled the air as the bananas were returned, along with a letter. Jeff picked up the scroll and he read it aloud, "I have plenty of bananas in my banana bag, thanks anyway." Jeff shrugged. "Still funny, but at least you got them back." He said to the banana pony as they wandered off. Fang, Jeff, and Spike made their way through the rest of Ponyville. Spike was giving them the ground tour, showing off the best places to eat, where each of his friends worked, and the local scenery. All the while during the tour, ponies would stop and stare at the strange biped or flee in terror at the sight of Fang. “We could try to change our forms, you know, to blend in.” Fang suggested. “What, forcefully change the body’s molecular structure to that of a pony? You first, it was your idea.” “Consider this revenge for the bath and the ribbon.” Jeff grunted at Fang's point, and then closed his eyes in concentration. “Okay, here we go. Hope this doesn’t hurt too much…” "Wait, didn't you get attacked by a Hydra? Didn't that hurt?" Spike asked. "Nothing can penetrate my flesh if I don't allow it to, but I would still feel the pain of the transformation. Just hope I get it right."Jeff said as he released the magic, the effects took place immediately. His entire body was thrown to the ground as his legs broke and his knees shattered to pieces. A joint formed on the fracture between his shattered knee and hip. His knees were twisted around backwards and reformed while his feet elongated. His toes fused together and solidified, the flesh retreated up to the ankle, leaving a bone hoof protruding from the end of his legs. Jeff’s arms formed an extra joint at both the elbow and the shoulder, allowing for the range of movement the ponies had. His hands balled up into fists, the bone fused into a hoof as the skin melted back to his wrists. His neck elongated, a loud series of snaps and his screams of pain suggested his spinal cord was breaking and reforming itself, sending a multitude of pain signals to his brain. The last thing to change was his head, it grew in size as his mouth and nose grew forward. His eyes swelled to fill the new sockets and his teeth formed to that of an herbivore. “AARG!!! OOWWW! FANG!! THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!!!” Jeff screamed out from his mangled possession on the ground. “This fucking hurts! NNNGG!!! I’m not even formed right!” “Ha! That’s what you get!” Fang yelled triumphantly. “Payback is a bitch isn’t it?” “Fuck you! Just kill me so I can reverse it!” Jeff cried out. “Remove my bow and the smell, then we have a deal. You’re hardly in the position to negotiate.” “Fine! I’ll remove it!” Fang let out a fierce roar, Jeff’s body was encased in a soft blue glow, then was twisted around and around like one would wring a towel. Bones were shattered, organs smashed, and several ribs pierced through the torso. The mangled corpse fell back to the ground. The body began to glow with a black energy as it started to disintegrate into a dark cloud. The cloud condensed and a new form was created. Jeff had returned to life, the mist condensing into a new body. He grew his hair out a bit longer, and a new set of clothing covered his body. Green pants, leather gauntlets, and leather boots donned his person as he set back onto the ground. “That, was a stupid thing to do.” Jeff said as he worked out the kinks in his limbs. “Oh look, the little guy passed out. Good going.” Jeff picked up Spike and placed him on Fang. “Forgetting something?” Fang asked as he centered Spikes weight on his back. Jeff reached forward and ripped the bow off Fang’s ear. “OW!” “It was glued on Fang. The scent was from the bow, not your fur. Good thing you scared off all the other ponies, one unconscious body is easier to take care of than a dozen. Let’s get him someplace where he can rest, probably back at the library.” “Just what were you girls doing?” Twilight asked. She, Trixie, Applejack, and Rarity were back at the library scolding the three fillies. “The posters got destroyed, we was try-en ta improvise.” Defended Applebloom. “By painting all over the buildings? Ah thought ah taught ya better!” Applejack scolded. “And you Sweetie Belle, you had best hope that paint will come off!” Reprimanded Rarity. Scootaloo was relieved that nopony was about to punish her, unfortunately Trixie noticed as well. “And you, little filly, will pay us back the 80 bits for the posters.” “Awww, do we have to?” They said, doing their best to sway their hearts with their big, watery eyes. Twilight giggled, “Well think of it this way, you might just get your cutie marks.” The fillies gasped in excitement. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLEAN UP CREW!! YEAY!” They bounded out the door, nearly trampling Fang and Jeff as they approached the library. “Wow, this town is really lively today.” Fang commented as they entered the library. “Oh my gosh! Spike! What happened?” Twilight said in a panic as she lifted Spike off of Fang, then noticed Jeff's new appearance. "And what happened to you?" “Well, he witnessed a sight his subconscious assumed he might be able to forget by forcing him to lose conscious, and my story is better left unsaid.” Jeff said with a glare at Fang. Twilight brought Spike up to her room and placed him in his basket. Rainbow Dash was feeling better. The news of a party with DJ PON-3 greatly distracting her from her encounter with the Hydra. “I can’t wait! It’s been too long since I heard her awesome beats!” Rainbow exclaimed at the news. “Oh, umm… she’s, nice…” Commented Fluttershy. “Nice? She’s amazing! She’s so cool with her awesome beats and her WUB WUB rhythm it just makes me want to party until I wake up in a hospital!” Pinkie said as she danced around the room. “Pinkie, that doesn’t sound very…” Twilight sighed, Pinkie will be Pinkie. “Never mind.” “Yeah, anyway, what time is the party?” Asked Rainbow. “It’s not till nightfall, we’ve got plenty of time until then.” Twilight said as she made sure Spike was tucked in. The group of friends made their way downstairs, not knowing what adventures awaited them. A/N: I really, really, really hated writing this chapter. Trying to progress the story at a steady rate while keeping so many ponies in character and keeping track of them was making me climb the walls. When I finished the chapter I was yelling and cursing out my laptop. As for the ending, I just want to move on. If you're concerned about the swearing, this is rated teen and "This hurts so terribly bad." did not sound right. Edited by BodaciousBabe22 Please rate and comment! EDIT: I added the link for the banana joke.