Strange New World
Chapter Five: It begins...
Chris awoke the next morning, rather surprised at the fact he hadn’t experienced any more visions; however he opened his eyes to be met with a splitting headache. The pony clung onto his head and grunted in agony. He sat there pressing his head on either side with his hooves until finally the pain subsided.
He lifted his head slightly, composed himself and managed to get off of the couch and on to all fours once again. He shook his head about to try and regain perspective as the pain lingered still in his head. He started walking to the bathroom when he heard some slight rustling on another side of the room. He turned quickly to find Fluttershy lifting her head gently from her pillow and opening her eyes.
“Oh I’m sorry Chris...did I startle you?” The pegasus mare asked with a hint of pity for Chris.
“No Fluttershy...you’re okay, you didn’t scare I’m just...a bit jumpy lately.” He stated as he rubbed the back of his head.
“Well, okay...Well I hope the Princess can help you with that...” The pegasus retorted followed with a pleasant smile. Chris returned a similar smile as he continued to the bathroom.
“Thanks....so do I...” He said under his breath as he went to splash some water on his face.
After Chris took a few moments to regain his composure he exited the bathroom to find somepony’s suddenly awake. He smiled as the morning sun came streaming through the balcony window, causing him to cover his eyes for a brief moment. He reorientated his vision to face newly awakened ponies. Rarity was the first to say anything.
“Morning everypony, how did you all sleep?” The unicorn asked as she brushed her mane to see if she had developed a bedhead. Everypony responded positively except Chris and Rainbow who both gave slight grunts as Rainbow covered one side of her head with a pillow.
“So...What’s first on the agenda?” Rarity asked, wanting to know what they were in for today.
“Well, I was thinking we could go see the Princess and get something to eat. Then we’ll see if she can explain what has been going on.” Twilight stated with confidence in her plan. Applejack took a moment to put her hat back on before responding.
“Sounds like a plan.” She stated as Pinkie jutted out of nowhere to add to Applejack’s declaration.
“Yeah! And free fancy food! I am so there!” The pink pony stated as she gave off yet another beaming smile.
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Chris followed the group downstairs as they prepared to leave, but as he was about to walk out he noticed Near walking around and wanted to thank him properly for their accommodation.
“Uh you guys go on, I’ll catch up...” He said as he approached the old pony, “Morning Near, just wanted to thank you for letting us stay here.” He stated with a smile.
“Well you’re very welcome son, we were glad to have ya.” Near retorted as he adjusted his glasses and cleaned a glass yet again. “But if you don’t mind me asking, Chris...why won’t you be staying with us any longer?” The old pony asked as he ran the same glass over with a tattered rag.
“Well me and those guys have some very important business to take care of here...We were actually going to stay at the castle last night...But the Princess sent us a letter saying she was full. And so we came here.” Chris stated as he rubbed the back of his head again. Near gave off a hearty laugh before continuing.
“Well, regardless son, I hope you get that ‘business’ of yours sorted out.” He stated as he shook the ponies hoof as a goodbye.
“Thanks Near, I will!” Chris said as he ran out the door in an attempt to catch up to his friends. He could see them on the horizon and waved them to his presence.
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But as he did he accidentally knocked into somepony he never expected, nor wanted to see. None other than Prince Blueblood.
“Ugh! I say, please watch were you are going!” The arrogant Prince demanded before speaking again, not allowing Chris to get a word off, “It isn’t enough that my own family could not harbour me last night but I bump into a commoner on my daily morning walk. The nerve!” The white stallion stated before turning up his nose and walking away.
Chris watched with extreme hatred as the Prince departed before getting to his hooves and following his friends.
“....Jackass.” He stated as he walked past a now very confused donkey, “Not you buddy....Sorry...” Chris said as he rejoined his companions and made for the castle.
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The group of seven slowly approached the castle as it’s amazingly regal towers came into view. They approached a duo of the castle guards to request entry.
“Excuse us, Twilight Sparkle, party of seven. Here to see the Princess.” The purple unicorn stated with a smile.
“Sorry Miss Sparkle, the Princess is away on business with her sister for a few days. Sadly she won’t be back for a while!” The guards stated in unison.
“What? That doesn’t make any sense, she sent us this letter!” Twilight retorted whilst showing them said letter. Suddenly Chris felt a massive pain in his head. He fell to the ground in agony as his world spun and his ears rang. His friends crowded around him with great concern.
“Chris! Chris! What’s wrong?!” Rainbow asked desperately as Chris’ ears kept ringing. Suddenly the ringing stopped and Chris heard the same demonic voice he had heard so many times.
“MY TIME.....IS NOOOOOOOOOW!” Chris heard as he looked up in the air and screamed in agony before finally falling to the ground.
“What in Celestia’s name is that?!” A pony from a nearby crowd yelled as she pointed to the sky. Everypony looked as the impossible seemed to be unfolding. The sky above the gilded city seemed to split open and create a massive rift in the clouds. The skies darkened as everypony wondered what was going on.
Then suddenly a large object emerged from the rift, it could only be distinguished as a dark cloud; blacker than night. The cloud flew across the sky and landed in the castle grounds. The cloud spread across the grounds and broke its way through the gate not too far from Chris.
Everything and everypony was silent for a time. Chris was dragged back into the crowd gathering around the gate by his friends as the observed what would happen next. All that could be heard was a few steps that got louder and louder until finally, a dark figure emerged from the broken gate. Chris looked up and saw a defining factor in the figure, it’s red eyes. The being came into form and was recognizable as a wolf, a black coated wolf that was much larger in size than anypony in the crowd.
The figure looked around with it’s demonic red eyes before finally addressed the crowd.
“......Citizens....of Equestria!” The wolf stated with his voice being surprisingly monotone and sophisticated, but with still a hint of darkness to it. Chris got a familiar chill down his spine as the figure began to speak, “...I...am Shade....And I am here to assume the role...as presiding ruler....and God...of Equestria.” The demonic wolf stated whilst still keeping his calm and direct tone.
“Now that we have that business out of the way, I have but one simple demand.....Give him to me!” Shade demanded as the royal guards stood there shivering whilst trying to stand their ground. Shade stood there for a few moments as he was met with silence. “....Defiance?.....Very well then...” Shade stated as his red eyes began to glow. One of the guards was lifted into the air and appeared to be getting strangled. The guard was thrown and made impact with a nearby building, sending him through it.
“Now! Where is he?!” Shade demanded once more as he showed his razor like teeth and began to radiate what appeared to be concentrated darkness from his back. Shade was once again met with silence, “Defy me again?!” Shade yelled as he levitated another pony. But this time, it was a filly.
“Now....On the count of three...if you don’t comply...She dies!” He stated as he lifted his paw to reveal a magically charged, razor sharp set of claws. “One........Two.......Th-” Shade was cut off by an unexpected yell from the crowd, but it was from Chris.
“Stop! Leave her alone!” Chris demanded as he got to his hooves and shakily stared down the wolf. Shade dropped the filly as the young pony ran under Chris’ hooves to her mother. The crowd cleared so Chris and Shade were staring at each other straight on.
“So....you are him then....Nopony else would have answered that call of heroism....To be honest, I expected more. Look at you! You can barely stand on your own hooves! What a joke!” Shade said with a demonic chuckle and a pleased grin. Chris still wasn’t backing down, despite barely being able to keep his balance.
“But....this makes my job much easier now...I have need of you Chris....but for now....sleep!” Shade stated as he lifted his paw and slammed it on the ground, sending a massive, magical shock wave that rendered everypony in the immediate vicinity unconscious; Chris included. All the pony could make out was everypony lying on the ground and Shade addressing a few more dark figures, “Bring him to the throne room, we have need of him...He may be pathetic but he is necessary.” The wolf stated as Chris finally blanked out whilst being dragged.
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Some time later Chris began to awaken, he lazily opened his eyes. He grunted in pain from his earlier experience and was met with a few muffled voices.
“....He’s waking up...” Chris heard as his hearing was muffled and his ears rang once again, “...Keep him focused!” Chris heard faintly as a dark figure approached and smacked him across the face. Chris felt reoriented as his vision began to come back to him.
“Oh good, you are awake.....Nox, stand down...Prepare the elements.” Chris heard as one wolf walked out of view and another stepped in, this time it was Shade.
“...You...” Chris said, grunting from his pain.
“Yes Chris...it’s me, now...I have need of you for a matter of great concern.” Shade stated as he paced back and forth.
Chris looked at the wolf as he walked and as he did he noticed that he was being bound by his hooves on what appeared to be an old artifact. He tried to break loose but it appeared he was being bound by chains infused with dark magic of some kind.
“There’s no use struggling Chris....I have you right where I want you.” Shade said as he stopped to face Chris head on.
“...What do you need me for?...What are you talking about?” Chris stated as he snarled at the wolf.
“You honestly don’t know? Well I would explain it further but there’s no need to be honest...All you need to know is that I’m after one thing...” Shade lead into as he lunged for Chris and placed his paw around his neck, “I want the Element!” He said with a snarl and a growl.
“What...are you talking about?!” Chris said as Shade released his grip.
“It does not matter now! You have served your purpose by bringing yourself to me! Nox! The elements!” Shade yelled at the other wolf with fire in his gaze.
“Yes Lord Shade!.....Enjoy your last breaths human...” Nox stated as he approached his master and handed him some strange artifacts. Upon further inspection Chris could see that these were none other than the Elements of Harmony themselves.
Shade levitated the Elements in an aura of dark energy and floated them in front of Chris. With a flash from his eyes and a demonic smile Shade began to send sparks of energy through the Elements. Chris didn’t know why but he suddenly experienced great agony. He screamed in pain as it felt like his life was being extracted from him forcibly.
“....It’s working.....it’s working!” Shade yelled as he continued his ritual. Chris looked up through all his pain and even as dark energy shot through him he saw what was happening to the Elements. There was a dark floating trail leading from each of them, all the trails leading into one entity, Shade.
“I can feel it! The universe will be mine to command! To contro-” Shade was cut off however when his general, Nox who was standing right next to him, was blasted by a beam of light from across the room. “Wha-” Shade was cut off yet again as a similar beam of light hit him, stopping his progress and sending the Elements to the the ground, along with Chris.
Chris regained his vision and movement of his own body as he looked up to see the source of these beams. To his surprise, it was none other than the Princesses, Luna and Celestia. Chris got up to make a break for it but noticed his hoof hitting something, the Elements; but something was wrong. Chris looked at the necklaces and crown and saw that all of the lacked any colour, Chris had seen this before and knew this wasn’t good at all.
“Well well, look who finally arrived. The paragon pony and the problem child!” Shade stated with a growl as he began to walk towards the Princesses before stopping a few feet away from them. The Princesses made no response and instead Shade continued the conversation on his own.
“Nothing then? Speechless? I’m hardly surprised....I’m betting I was the last thing you expected to see....” As Shade continued Chris heard another voice in his head. But to his surprise, it was the voice of Celestia.
“Listen to me....Take the Elements and seek answers......” Chris heard as he began to carefully pick up the Elements and keeping one of his hooves under the,, hoping he wouldn’t drop them. He did so carefully as to not attract attention from Shade, who was still talking to the Princesses. When all of a sudden a sound came from one side of the room.
“Lord Shade! He has the Elements!” Nox stated as he charged for Chris.
“Run!” Celestia exclaimed as Chris scrambled for the nearest exit. Shade broke away and charged for him also. The Princesses charged towards Shade and Nox as the all met beside a giant, stained glass. When all the beings met in their pursuit of their respective targets it caused an explosion that sent Chris flying through the window.
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As Chris fell he still held all the elements and looked up as the room he was just in erupted in a fiery explosion. When Chris turned his attention back to the ground he saw he was heading towards a few trees. He bounced and cracked against the branches and logs as he lost his hold on the elements; him and them fell into a pool of water in the castle grounds.
Chris awoke once again to find himself at the edge of the pool, surprised to be alive. He looked up to the room he fell from again but something else entered his mind, the sky had reddened and as he looked towards the city to find it, in flames. He stood wide eyed as he realized something. He wasn’t holding the Elements anymore.
He scrambled in the pool in an attempt to find them. Thankfully after a few minutes he emerged from the crystal water with the Elements intact. When he got out of the pool he looked around for an easier way to carry the artifacts, luckily he found a nearby royal guard saddlebag, along with a set of empty armor; Chris didn’t want to know how that got there. When he equipped the bag and placed the elements inside he looked up again and watched in horror, as fireballs began to rain from above.
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The pony ran as fast as his hooves could carry him to get to safety. As he sprinted through the streets he saw other ponies like himself, scrambling for an escape. He narrowly dodged buildings as they collapsed and evaded fire balls that exploded on impact with the ground. He couldn’t tell which way was up but he just kept running in hopes of getting to safety.
Chris rounded a corner and ran down a long street, but as he did, a fireball shot down and hit a wreckage he ran next to; sending him the other way into a nearby flaming building. Chris scrambled to his hooves and regained his composure before looking for a way out. He nudged his hoof against something though, he looked and saw that it was a sign saying ‘The Tattered Saddle' After this realization Chris noticed something next to a nearby pile of rubble.
He noticed two things, a broken glass, and a broken pair of what appeared to be bloodstained spectacles. Chris recoiled slightly as he looked closer at the rubble and saw something horrifying, a lifeless, old hoof protruding out of the wreckage.
The pony took a few steps back as his breath quickened and the objective of looking for a way out looked even more important. He broke though a door close by and looked back once more as the structure behind him collapsed. Chris looked for a moment, still heavily breathing before proceeding in his sprint.
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As he ran onwards he stopped in his tracks and took a few moments to access the situation. He looked all around at the burning city and wondered where he would go next. When his back was turned however he failed to notice something, a fireball was heading right for him.
The fiery projectile exploded only a few feet away from Chris and sent him catapulting a few yards before losing consciousness on the ground.
All Chris could see in his slumber was Canterlot burning, the image was engraved into his mind as voices began to echo in his head, however one stuck out in, a voice he had heard before but not in his head.
“Without you this land will burn....” Echoed in his mind as he has a sudden realization. He remembered the Princesses words to him.
“Seek answers....” He put two and two together and fell out of his dream world.
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His eyes opened promptly as he shouted out.
“Zecora!” He yelled, but then he noticed he wasn’t in the city or staring up at red skies anymore. He was staring up at all his friends.
“Chris! You’re awake! Are you okay?!” Twilight asked with great concern as she placed her hooves on his shoulders and shook him about.
“Yeah I’m fine Twilight, just a bit shook up....How’d I get here? The last thing I remember was Canterlot burning...” He said as he had hoped none of it had really happened.
“We found you when we’re patrolling with the royal guards, we were trying to save everypony we could.” Rainbow stated as she lifted Chris’ head up slightly, “As for Canterlot though....look...” Rainbow added whilst pointing towards Canterlot off in the distance. The city was still in flames and fireballs continued to rain down on it, Chris was horrified, but also just happy to be a safe distance away.
“And Chris, we found these in your saddlebags...” Twilight stated as each of them held up their respective Elements of Harmony.
“How’d you get these? And what’s wrong with them, they look....off...” Applejack stated as she further examined her Element. Chris sighed as he knew he was going to tell them everything that happened.
“Okay....well after everypony was kno-” Chris was cut off by a certain pony walking up to him with a displeased look, and it was none other than Prince Blueblood.
“Excuse me, but I can see you are wearing part of the royal guard uniform, correct? Then I’ll assume you were part of the rescue team then....I would like to voice a complaint.” The white stallion said as he was met by unamused and offended expressions from everypony there.
“You would like to what now?” Applejack asked whilst scowling at the Prince and helping Chris to his hooves.
“Excuse me ‘Pardner’ but I don’t recall asking you a thing!” He stated as Chris stood there gritting his teeth.
“Now...I would like to say that I have a problem with your pace...You see I take time to do everything in my normal day life, and escaping a burning city is no exception!” The Prince added as Chris and everypony gritted their teeth, and Pinkie even growled.
“So I am quite frankly shocked and appalled that you and your ‘rescue team’ members didn’t give me enough time to fetch my things!” Chris was about to lose it here, “I mean honestly if you spent as much time saving my things rather than the common riff-raff then this wouldn’t be a problem now would it?”
Chris stood there for a second and just stared angrily at the royal pain, “...I expect a formal apology...in writing preferably.” the Prince stated.
Chris had wanted to do this ever since he was introduced to the Prince in his world, and their run in earlier only solidified that fact. Chris raised his hoof and gave the Prince a right hook across the mouth, breaking a few of his precious white teeth along with his nose. Chris walked off and headed towards his next destination, Zecora.
“Chris, where are you going?” Twilight asked as she began to follow, carrying her respective Element.
“We need to head to Ponyville, I’ll tell you on the way but for now you have to trust me.” He stated as everypony nodded and began to follow.
“Wait! Get back here! What about my nose, my beautiful royal nose, and what about my teeth?! Miss Rarity, I remember you, please give me aid!” The Prince stated as Rarity walked over the him. The unicorn also punched him right in the jaw and proceeded to follow her friends to their next destination, Ponyville.