//------------------------------//
// Hope Dies Last: Leaving 
// Story: Imbalanced 
// by Nameless Narrator 
//------------------------------//

[Blazing's Entry]

I would be lying if I said the rejection didn't hurt but it definitely didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. My guess is that deep down I wasn't expecting anything else anyway despite hoping for... what? Settling down with one nice and lively batpony and having a relationship full of comical mismatch between the two of us?

Nonsense, just pointless dreams and hopes. At least there's nothing holding me here anymore and I can give everything without hesitation for Equestria.

... screw Equestria. It will never be about Equestria.

[End Entry]





After hearing Chokey's reply I just smile to myself and say to the empty air:

"Beam me up, Scream."

With our 'misuderstanding' last time I left my swords in her dimension so she would be able to teleport me back easily after finishing the only thing left. This time I'm ready for the blurriness and don't stumble when the relocation is over.

Drinking time?

Somehow I don't feel like it.

Super important mission critical to the survival of Equestria as we know it time?

Yep, no time for mares anyway.

Wohoo, we're halfway home.

Heh, life sucks and, apparently, so does afterlife.

"How did it go? Did she finally swoon and wrap around your neck as her knees gave up?" asks Scream, lights flashing in her eyes.

"Not in so many words."

"Oh," the bronze alicorn's expression actually turns sad.

"Well, I didn't really expect anything but the closure is nice."

"Awwwww, don't say that. Wanna forget everything with legs of a beautiful mare wrapped around you?"

No matter how tempting the proposal seems, sex is the last thing on my mind now especially after past two weeks.

"Nah, I don't want to re-learn using the toilet and reading. Can I just get some rest? I mean I'd have to think really long and hard about choosing between you and saving the world but I'm still drained from travelling with Chrysalis so saving the world it is."

A refreshing breeze without a point of origin begins swirling between the bone piles on one of which I lie down and relax.

"Too bad, maybe later if you have time with all the groupies humping the legs of savior of Equestria."

"Overselling much?"

"Welllll yea. Alright, I need you to kill some ponies in the mirror world of Equestria otherwise they will invade our one and enslave everyone, ponies, griffons, kittens."

"I'm not a murderer."

Ehm ehm.

The last thing I need right now is remembering my accidentally killing my mother.

"You can say that not doing so will cause the deaths of millions."

More theatrics, please.

"Bleh... lesser of two evils?"

"Five evils, to be exact. But I don't expect you to get so far which means if you actually manage to kill your main target you'll do enough."

"Your trust shames me."

"Don't be like that. Your enemies are the Elements of Harmony and destroying just one of them is a victory. Thankfully, you've managed to secure some items which could help you so I don't have to send you there naked."

"Wait, can't you just send an army into the heart of the enemy or summon me an almost invincible body like you did last time?"

"Of course I can. I do this just because I'm incredibly bored and I forgot about such simple measures."

Well that was a sarcasm capable of shattering mountains.

"Alright then, what help can you be?"

"Aside from the teleportation, not much. Permanent transportation doesn't allow using items bound to one of the worlds which means only your artificial body created here and your two weapons imitating the Elements can pass without getting pulled back eventually."

"So... no food, no gold and no help?"

Scream shrugged.

"Pretty much. I still can't force you to do this so are you in?"

"I'm not going back on my word. Can I at least choose where you drop me off? By the way, why isn't my eye healing with this super awesome body?"

"What or who did it to you?"

"Void."

"Oh. Yeah that's not gonna heal... ever. The touch of true death is irreversible. Even if was able to remake the body right now your soul would reject the working eye. As for your second question, I can drop you off at one of the Element's location."

"Tell me about those then. Are they the same ponies as here?"

"Mostly. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Spike."

"The small dragon?"

"I'll get to it. The one I really need you to take care of is Applejack. Her Element is Destruction and she's the one most attuned to it. She runs a pretty interesting arena in Ponyville with herself as a reigning champion."

"Why her?"

"In truth I think she's the only one you can handle. She has no advantages over you in wings or special abilities and you should be able to mitigate her Element's effect."

"I noticed you didn't say something better like negate, nullify or destroy in one big blast along with her."

"The swords are just imitations, not a real Element so they can't protect you fully from the real thing. This should be just a big brawl which I'm hoping you can win with this body and the swords."

"And the others? In case I surprise you and don't randomly explode during the first contact. Also, this body's not working exactly well for... some reason."

She's got an unrelenting libido, not a rotting brain.

"Overfed my little changeling queen? I'll take a look at what I can do when we finish here."

She thinks for a second and continues.

"The other viable target might be Rainbow Dash. She's the Element of Betrayal which thankfully doesn't do much itself and just amplifies the user's natural abilities. She also lives in Ponyville."

"So what DOES it do?"

"It will tempt you to abandon your mission and so on. I think betrayal is self-explanatory."

"Then why is Rainbow Dash still serving the enemy? Can't we recruit her?"

"Only to have her betray us? No, she must die. You can't destroy the Elements themselves so you must get rid of their bearers. Also I don't think anypony serves Sombra voluntarily."

"Okay, what about the pegasus herself?"

"She relies mostly on her incredible speed, aside from that she isn't as strong or tough as Applejack."

"Why are these guys so important? If they are mostly just enhanced ponies, why can't the army deal with them?"

"Well, you will be quite well protected from their special abilities but Applejack can shatter mountains and Rainbow Dash can create sonic waves and drafts strong enough to put a tornado to shame. Conventional forces will mean very little if the enemy manages to get to our Equestria and no magic will stand against the power of Elements of Harmony."

"Not even you or the princesses?"

"I will not enter the conflict directly. My special power is mostly useless for these situations and all magic will be countered by Sombra himself so our effect wouldn't be as devastating as it should."

"So it's up to us little ponies?"

"I'm doing what I can and so will you. Without me, we wouldn't know anything and would fall the moment the invasion happened."

"What about the other Elements then?"

"Spike the Dragon, the Element of Greed. What do you know about dragons? "

"They fly, breathe fire, eat gems and their scales make excellent armor."

"Good, all the important things. Dragons also gain power and grow in size as long as their greed keeps getting satisfied. When Sombra found out about a dragon greedy enough to grow quickly and achieve unprecedented amounts of power, he took away Rarity's Element and gave it to Spike who proved to be an even better bearer. Unfortunately, controlling such beast is impossible even for Sombra so he used Spike's love for Rarity and gave her to him as a toy."

Here's your chance to get a mare. Grow big and be an unstoppable force of destruction.

I knew I should have drunk more milk when I was young.

That gives you a chance though. Saving the damsel in distress and slaying the big, bad dragon.

There is no way I can kill a dragon, but a defenseless pony toy?

You're kidding. Who said he wasn't a murderer just few moments ago?

The dragon should begin raging and cause enough damage before falling.

You would really kill a defenseless mare?

I don't know, I probably won't even make it to that point.

"Where is Rarity?"

"Spike is holding her in his cave in the mountains near Ponyville. I warn you though, there is nothing you can do to him."

"What about the final two then?"

"Avoid them at all costs, I mean it. At least until Applejack is dead, then you can throw away your life as much as you want."

"What's so bad about them that they are worse than a great dragon?"

Scream takes a moment to think about how to put it in the most understandable way.

"The problem isn't that they are strong but it lies in their special abilities. Pinkamena Diane Pie bears the Element of Suffering and works as Sombra's head torturer. Even our Pinkie can alter reality to create items and appear virtually out of nowhere and Pinkamena can do this in a much more powerful way."

"Fluttershy is the worst of them all because her ability makes my attempts at getting information much more difficult. The Element of Imprisonment can take away your free will and completely enslave you without a chance for release. It also makes her impossible to fight because even looking into her eyes spells doom for the one caught by her."

She shakes her head.

"Those two are always by Sombra's side so they are currently in the Crystal Empire performing their duties. That's why I want you to start in Ponyville and not in the heart of enemy forces and fight the most dangerous enemies right away."

I ponder my bleak future. That's what I would call going out on a high note.

Sacrificing your life in order to do what little you can to save the world, what's not to like?

That usually requires being able to do at least something. All I'm facing here is a horrible death in more variations than I can count.

With the change in comparison to your normal life being...?

Meh, that's true. Die or die trying?

That's the spirit! If you don't want anything you won't be so disappointed when you don't get even that.

Wow. My head spits out some serious wisdom sometimes.

I don't know. I'm mostly pulling it out of your ass.

Same thing.

"Will there be anypony willing to help me? I mean I got on fine with the changeling queen, maybe I could ask her?" I ask, and I use that word lightly, hopefully.

"Don't even think about it. Chryssie on our side is mellow compared to the one in the world shaped by evil Elements. You would be full of eggs even before you managed to say 'muh brain hurt'. You'll just have to rely on your wit and bravery."

"So, basically... I've got nothing. Fine then, can you take a look at this body then?"

"Sure, just rest. Is there anything else you want to know?"

She seems to know the changeling queen fairly well, maybe she might give me the answer to something which has plagued me for two long years.

"What am I?" I ask.

Between the faint flashing of her horn and her pacing around me she begins telling me a short tale.

"What do you know about alicorn insanity and the origin of changelings?"

"Hmmm... something about Nightmare Moon? As for the origin of changelings, not even Chrysalis could tell me about that."

"Yeah, even she's too young to remember. The thing is that being immortal gets very lonely from time to time and when we lose all hope while watching everything we love slowly die and wither away it is a devastating blow which results in acting up."

"Like trying to instill an eternal night?"

"Just like that. All of us got through that stage eventually and sometimes the effects were even positive and while I might be the only one, I consider Celestia's insanity a positive mark in history."

Somehow I can't imagine the peaceful princess going crazy.

"I'm not really sure I've ever read about something which would even hint at something related to her going crazy. She just seems to care about her subjects and maybe acts a bit overprotective from time to time."

"She is obsessesed with her ponies," Scream says flatly.

The story continues.

"There used to be more species of ponies than the four you know today and one of those species was adorned with beautiful butterfly wings. They were peaceful and all they wanted from life was freedom and some land to call their own but then Celestia happened. She wanted them to join her utopia and they believed her when she said everything would be okay if they gathered under her wings. It worked fine for some time but then the long war with Griffons happened. With ponies being unused to combat, Celestia needed everypony to participate and fulfill their role so Equestria wouldn't fall under the onslaught of claws and talons."

Scream shakes her head and stops examining my body.

"But said peaceful ponies were so averse to hurting another living being that they wouldn't even think about joining the army and so they gathered to leave Celestia's rule. That's where Starswirl the Bearded came in with an experimental spell capable of changing the fate of an individual which Celestia, going mad with fear for her pony project, meant to use on the leader of the rebelling pony species to make him into a weapon which would persuade the rest to defend her Equestria."

"And it...?"

"Was successful, too successful. When somepony of her raw power used it, the spell spread through the leader to every single pony of that species. Their butterfly wings turned to fly-like ones, their coats turned to armor and they grew fangs strong enough to crush steel and their lifestyle and abilties changed so they could reproduce quickly and make for perfect soldiers and infiltrators. The irony is that their respect for all life was so great that even after the forceful transformation all they could live on was love and other positive feelings."

"Changelings."

"It wasn't the only travesty Celestia performed with Starswirl's spell. Ever thought why batponies eat mostly fruit despite their bodies being so well designed for catching living prey? Yeah, that."

"So she can just remake anypony in any way she wants?"

"No. Truth be told, she's an awful magic user. She just possesses an incredible amount of magical power but her ability to direct it is pretty bad. Starswirl lived through most of these changes and after seeing what his research led to he scrapped the spell and burned all traces after him."

"She seems to be the heart of all problems despite her having the best interests of her land in heart."

"Well she did eventually come to her senses but after the wars there was no way to find changelings in hiding. So if you want to blame somepony for your form then blame Celestia and not Chryssie. She has no idea what her piece of magic was born from."

I sigh. All they wanted was a place to live in peace but they were drawn into somepony else's problems... heh, where have I seen that?

"So... why did you choose me? You could have chosen warriors or mages and you resurrected me. I just don't get it."

"You're wrong. I was able to to bring you back only because you died very recently and your lack of magical ability and the changeling curse made you an ideal candidate. You could say the main reason for choosing you was that you are tough."

"Heh... that's it?"

"Pretty much."

"I suppose I should be on my way if that's all?" I ask, still lying on my back on the couch pile.

"No rush, time is flexible in this dimension so you can rest until you are ready."

Closing my eyes, I feel burning heat pressing against my back and legs wrapping around me.