= PROLOGUE - THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING =
= EARTH 216.553 - TERRA SOL =
The sun had set hours ago, the streetlights were aglow, and there was a light drifting snowfall. Christmas was only four days away, but most of humanity had either panicked and begun rioting or barricaded themselves within their homes. The reason was that it was the twenty-first of December in the year 2012, the day that the ancient Mayan civilization had predicted would be the end of the world. Even among those within the small American Midwestern town, few had thought the archaic stone calendar was wrong, and had taken to throwing away what precious little not-so-common sense they'd had. Exceptions to this were extremely few and ungodly far between, even amidst housemates. One example of these rare exceptions was home alone in the half-basement apartment he shared with two friends who had been brothers in all but blood to him. One of those roommates had gone to his parents' house for the holidays, and the other was out of state for the same purpose, leaving the eldest among them to watch the apartment.
"Oh, come on!" He exclaimed, glaring at the television. "I dodged that bastard!"
As he reached for the bottle of lavender blush-wine he'd gotten as an early gift from a cousin, his minty seafoam blue eyes noticed that it was only about an hour left before the 'end of the world', and he sighed. Taking a healthy swig from the rather large bottle, he was thankful that wine never dulled his senses in any way. Turning off the tv and the video game he'd been playing to kill time, he stood and ran a hand through his raven-colored hair.
"An hour to go, and I still don't see how the world's gonna end." He muttered. "And there ain't no way in hell I'm going outside with all those riots."
Setting a timer for a half-hour, he stepped into the bathroom and stripped, thinking a shower would calm his nerves. For some reason, his instincts and his heart were twitchier than a little kid on a sugar-high that even the weird little squirrel from 'Hoodwinked' would be envious of. His brain was at odds with his heart and instincts, since he believed that the world would keep on spinning. As the hot water ran down his body, he began to think of what might be on the other side if the world did end. Would he be reborn on a different earth in a different universe? Would he be sent to heaven or hell? Or would he, as one dark corner of his mind suggested, simply cease to exist, his awareness being silenced like when he had dreamless sleep?
#"Martial law has just been declared by the mayor in an attempt to reduce the rioting and looting. No word yet on..."#
"Finally declared martial, eh?" He chuckled at the radio. Sometimes when he showered, he could hear the neighbors' radio that was always tuned to the news. "Six hours late, mayor, and it won't matter anyways if the Mayans were right."
By the time he was dressed, the day had only ten minutes left. Deciding to gear up in case he needed to defend the house should the world continue, he took four objects from the wall-mounted display in his room. Two of the objects were very high quality, hand-forged kodachi, Japanese short swords that were usually paired with full-length katanas. Identical in appearance save for the guard, the kodachi had been something he'd saved for and purchased during a trip to Kyoto. The remaining two objects were of equal quality craftsmanship, but had been purchased online. They were also a matching set, and they were objects that anyone would recognize instantly. Their cylindrical shape, the lights and sounds built into them, and the detachable blades came together to make a pair of weapons that were powerful artifacts in a fictional dimension.
They were lightsabers.
"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge." He recited, clipping the lightsabers to their holders on his belt. "And the knowledge I have with these babies will be all I need to defend."
Stepping into the living room once more, he sighed at the fact there were now only two minutes until supposed annihilation. As such, he took one last look at the world outside the window, then into the mirror on the wall to observe his attire.
"If we all die tonight, I'm going out in style." He said, smiling.
His reflection smiled back as he observed his clothes. His legs were shrouded in a pair of black denim jeans secured by the simplistic grey snakeskin belt that his lightsabers were clipped to. His feet were bare, but that was mainly because he hadn't felt like putting on any shoes. His upper body was snugly wrapped inside a dark orange t-shirt, and a charcoal-grey button-up shirt was draped over that and left open. The button-up was several sizes too large for him, but he wore it anyways, likening it to a cloak of sorts, since it reached his knees. The sleeves stopped just shy of his elbows, and the only items on his arms or hands was a simple pair of carbon-steel rings. One ring was on each of his middle fingers, and they shared the same engraving. The engraving was a crescent moon with the tips curling upwards while a pair of katanas rested atop, crossed over one another to form an 'X' in the negative-space within the moon. His hair, while raven-black, had a subtle highlight to it that was a deeper blue than most sapphires. From a cursory glance, it would almost be iridescent.
Reaching down to the kodachi he'd let rest at his feet, his instincts suddenly screamed at him to move, and as he dropped to the floor as fast as gravity would allow, he felt a strange static-like spark inside his mind. His fingers were mere milliseconds from contact with the kodachi when his vision suddenly blazed white, and the world around him faded into a stony, off-white shade that reached the horizon. There were no visible light sources, and yet he stood in the center of a six-point star made of his own shadow.
"Okay, looks like the Mayans were right." He muttered. Quickly feeling for his kodachi, he was more than a little upset at the fact that they were gone. Left eye twitching slightly, he checked his waist. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. "Good. At least I still have my Reapers."
"Of course you would have those. They were in your direct posession."
"Who's there?" The young man asked, taking a defensive stance with both lightsabers in hand out of pure instinctive reflex.
"Calm yourself, young human." The voice was a bit masculine and feminine at the same time, but it also held no mirth or contempt. "Take a moment to think, and you'll have your answer."
"Okay, I think I'm dreaming here." He said, then returned the lightsabers to their holsters. "There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no death, there is the Force."
Reciting two separate creeds, as well as a third that he himself had concocted, the young man calmed his breathing and racing heart. He then thought about the voice's words, and the answer clicked faster than you could say 'pasta'.
"Kami-Sama, forgive my rash outburst." He said, referring to the one deity he'd always honored. "And do forgive my tongue, but, what the hell?"
"Humanity has disappointed me. So many failed the test."
"Te-? What 'test' are you talking about?"
"The Mayan Calendar was a test to measure the mettle of humanity, and so many failed." The voice of Kami, if he guess was correct, mourned slightly. "You were one who passed the test, though, and as such, I will reward you."
"What kind of reward are we talking?" He asked as he took a seated pose usually seen in meditation. "And what drawbacks will there be, if any?"
"You may choose a world of which you know, and I will send you there." Kami stated, and the man could hear a smile in the voice. "You can also choose two things, any two things you want, and I will give them to you in whatever world you choose. The only 'drawbacks', as you put it, would be that you would remain in that world until your death. It's the least I can do to make it up to you."
"Can I have some time to think?"
"As long as you need. Time matters not in this place."
The thought of being sent to any world of his choosing, any realm of existence that he knew of, was a shock to the young man. He was also being given the opportunity to select two things from the depths of his knowledge to be made manifest. If he wanted to make the most of this, he'd have to choose items from a different realm than that he wanted to live in. So many realms held interest to him, and so much more called for him to choose, but in the end he had to think about what would grant him the happiest life, and in no way did he want to screw it up by blindly selecting.
"Kami-Sama? I was wondering if-"
"If certain things could be chosen as one due to their similarites, yes?" Kami replied, cutting off his words. "The answer is 'yes', but only if you can explain in your own words why they should be as one."
"I, uh... alright." He was unsure of why he thought it odd that a god would be unable to read his mind. "One thing I would like would be my lightsabers being the real deal, and with that comes the Force, since they are so intimately entwined. What I was wondering was this. Chakra from the 'Naruto' realm and the reishi and subsequent powers from the 'Bleach' realm are so similar to one another, as well as being similar to the Force, due to chakra being a mix of physical and spiritual energy, reishi being purely spiritual, and the Force being, in my mind, more physical than spiritual. Is there a way to grant me all three alongside my lightsabers?"
"I see your point, but no. I cannot allow you all three as one option." Kami stated. "However, you may choose two of them."
"Understood. For the first item of choice, I would like my lightsabers made real and have the powers of the Force and chakra." He said. "As for my second choice..."
He trailed off, feeling something burn to life within him as Kami granted him his first wish. Thinking hard, he figured he could always retcon the spells from 'Bleach' with enough practice, and so decided to opt out of that realm for anything. He thought for a moment about alchemy, specifically that granted by the 'Gate of Truth', but figured that combining the Force and chakra could replicate anything that would give. Then he thought about magic in general, and all the worlds that used it. One world was almost identical to his own already, and was thusly cast aside despite the love he held for Hogwarts. Another magical world was passed over, on account that he didn't want to deal with the entity known as 'the Source', and another was passed due to him not wanting to bring futuristic tech into a medieval world, even if that world had dragons and elves and rings that could only be destroyed in a volcano. Then he thought of unicorns, at first blaming it on having thought of Hogwarts, but stopped as he realized that no unicorn in that world had wings as well as a horn and a pictogram of the sun on its rump.
"Wait, what?" He mumbled, then replayed the last thought.
Yep, a white winged unicorn with golden accessories and the sun emblazoned on her butt. He knew that particular being instantly, and as he thought of her name, others from her world appeared beside her in his mind. Unicorns, pegasi, regular-looking little horses, a purple dragon with green spines, a turtle with a propeller on its shell, and many others appeared. He smiled as he thought of that world, one without any wars, little to no economic problems, and more happiness than he had known elsewhere.
"You know what? Go ahead and make chakra the second choice by itself, leaving the lightsabers and the Force as the first." He smiled. "Kami-Sama, the reason is this. I want to live in Equestria. A place like that, without war, poverty, or economic crises... that sure sounds like heaven enough to me."
"Are you sure? You could use the second option to change something about yourself, like making your hair a different color or curing medical conditions you had when the earth ended?"
"I can do that on my own through the Force. If I need help, I can always ask somepony." He said, already slipping into the lingo of the world of Equestria. "So what do you say? Acceptable choices?"
"I suppose they are, and you did give a reason as to why you chose the way you did." Kami's voice seemed to fluctuate a bit, but it was only for a moment. "I'll warn you, though. I can't control where you enter into Equestria. You could appear in some underground cave, or in someone's bed, or even two hundred feet in the air above a lake."
"I understand, and I honestly don't mind." He said. "I'm ready."
As his mind was focused solely upon being in Equestria, he never heard Kami subtly snap her fingers. A disk of solid orange light appeared under his feet, and before the young human knew it, he'd fallen through it. What he did notice before his eyes passed through the portal was that he retained his human form, as opposed to gaining a body like those in the world he was being teleported to. His last thought before completely falling through was only two short sentences, but Kami caught them.
'Aw, man! I could've asked to make me a Saiyan!'
= PONYVILLE =
A bubblegum pink pony suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as her tail began to twitch uncontrollably, and her eyes widened in shock as her spine wiggled a bit, as if it had been caressed by an icy breeze.
"Twitchy-tail and wiggly back!?" She exclaimed in shock. "That's new!"
Without warning, before she could even ponder what the combo had meant, she heard a male voice above her call out in haste.
"Better move it!!" The pink one leapt to the side in an instant as the voice called out what seemed to be an instinctive move. "Look out below! Suiton - Teppoudama!"
Looking up, several ponies saw a strange bipedal creature falling from the air, only to see it seemingly spit out a large ball of water to slow his descent. Sadly, it didn't slow him at all, and instead turned the ground where it hit into a patch of soaked dirt that wasn't quite mud. Almost immediately after the water hit, he did, making a bit of a crater as he did so. Pinkamina Diane Pie was the first one to get to the crater.
"Are you alright?" She asked, her sapphire eyes filled to the brim with deep concern.
Slowly, the young human stood up. He noticed that several other ponies had gathered, and the crater was deep enough that street level was at his chest. One of those looking down at him was a mint green unicorn with a two-tone mane of mint and white.
"Oh. My. Celestia." She gasped. "It's a... i-it's a r-real..."
"I can only hope I ain't dreaming." The human said, looking around as the pain caught up to him. "Because... human, one... gravity... zero..."
He then proceeded to faint due to the pain, and the unicorn shouted out one statement.
"I KNEW THEY WERE REAL!!"