//------------------------------// // Making Things Right-ish: Retry // Story: Imbalanced // by Nameless Narrator //------------------------------// [Blazing's Entry] Ha Ha Haaa. I had some time to skim through my entries when resting at Trixie's and one definitely improved my mood. As it turns out I really am the best martial artist in Equestria. Unfortunately it means that to get better I'd have to go to the Griffon Empire and I hate travelling. Lost my train of thought for a second there. Well, I'm here in the right reality and I think there should be enough time for me to ensure the correct outcome. The really big deal is that I have to do the right thing at the right time which would be a lot easier if I actually remembered all the details but it's been way too long for that. So... Void must get his power back faster, that is the main goal. How to do that is beyond me though. I'll have to ask him when I meet him. Waaaait. CRAP! If memory serves, I have to hope things go exactly the same way otherwise I'm going to die horribly without achieving anything. Alright, next. I will not have an advantage against Elements of Harmony without the Blades of Balance or will I? I am a bearer myself now. Hmmm, Betty says we might be even so I'll leave out visiting my parent's house. That thing is not happening again even if it means me losing all my limbs to Applejack. That's all I can think of right now. I really hope the important details come back to me at the right time. For now, Ponyville awaits. [End Entry] Appearing at night in the middle of nowhere isn't in my experience something too unusual when travelling via some half-working spell cast by somepony who's never seen or used it before. This time, things are different. When I turn my head to quickly examine my surroundings I notice I appeared on some country road and despite it being night there's a yellow glow on the horizon meaning I landed near a city or a village. Further inspection shows a small lake nearby and... "Whoa!?" I jump away instinctively. During every jump I appeared with only a golden flash of light behind me but this time the magical effect stays and the glowing rift in space with tendrils of darkness reaching for anything on this side scare me witless. My memory begins working overtime. Think! Think! Think! Magnus said the portal will stay open for some time when I reach the correct reality. Alright, we're here then. What now? Find a way to Canterlot. Talk to Void... oh no. Staring at the portal, I suddenly know more than well when and where I am and what a single mistake will mean for me. "Hey, Betty! My eyesight isn't enough in this darkness to see as far as I need. Are there any flying carriages around?" I hastily ask the Element who is still floating above me in the form of a silver longsword. "I AM THE ELEMENT OF BETRAYAL! YOU SHALL NOT REFER TO ME AS 'BETTY'! And yes, there is a carriage flying this way, probably aiming for the lights." I need to do something fast. If I don't then the portal will eat me. Unfortunately, in the past this encounter didn't end well. What to do and how to do it? Somethingsomethingsomething. Wings. Those won't help. It's just an effect, basically a fire shield and not real wings capable of flight. Levitation spell. Never learned one. Changeling physical enhancement like Chrysalis did. I can't jump high enough. A good idea though. If I could somehow find a way to propell myself upwards with the physical enhancement it might work. Fireworks! Heh... that might be fun. Or I'll break all my legs and die miserably even before I can begin saving the world... again. I call that a win-win situation. "Tell me when the carriage is about there," I say to the Element and point to the night sky. Hoping nopony will see me getting ready, I summon the phoenix wings and focus my energy on heating the air below me. Making my armor as light as possible, I use the overflow of magic from the portal to fuel my changeling physical enhancement and keep waiting for the signal. "Get ready... NOW!" the signal comes. The overheated air is released and singes the robe I've been using to disguise myself while jumping, baking its remains on my soft armor. While the propulsion is enough along with my jump to get me flying upwards at fair speed, I completely forgot some small details and at the moment I don't really have the time to focus on healing my horribly burned belly. "OoooooowIreallyhateflyiiiiiing!" The wings are only half-real and while they don't have the drag of pegasus ones they allow me to correct my course slightly. The second small detail I forgot was that without hardened armor it might not be that easy to break through the carriage door. Slightly dazed, I completely miss my other self sitting there with surprised expression with one leg but manage to grab him with my arm and still turn around to let my back break the second door. That was totally planned and not complete luck, uhm, totally. Unfortunately, my other self does have the advantage of not ramming into thick wooden planks twice and reacts fast enough to straddle me in the air and begin punching. When I react and punch back, the green glimmer of his armor and our suddenly increased speed signals that I have to do something otherwise I'm going to have a serious problem. The amount of energy needed for travelling through time and space and my unconscious stealing of it despite destabilizing the spell from time to time gives me an idea and I'm quite shocked at how quickly I can react when I really need to. A blast of fire comes from my back and makes clouds of steam rise from the lake below us, changing our fall into a horizontal slide during which I use the surprise of my counterpart to jump on him and use him as a surf board. A move that would be devastating if the enemy didn't have armor made of almost-steel. The bastard reacts well enough and kicks me away with both of his hind legs. When he gets up we just measure each other. This is the important part, I realize when a quick glance behind me shows that we landed near the portal. If I don't want to end up as a jar of strawberry jam I have to apparently kill myself. Again? Hmmm... slitting your throat after attacking an innocent mother with a filly, letting Chrysalis eat you and impaling yourself to a cavern floor - failures. Killing your mirror self, you on Nightmare Night and blowing yourself up in the mirror world - successes. Going for the best of seven? With a grin I send a gust of fire aimed at past Blazing and land, stomping heavily, where he rolls to dodge the flames. It doesn't do much aside from him rolling away again and his horn glowing bright orange. Wait... I wasn't able to use magic, was I? I jump instinctively back and harden my armor as much as possible which saves me when an orange glowing razor shatters on my neck. I miss being able to use that. Overusing that move actually cost me a leg and a horn so I might say we're split on that decision. Suddenly, Blazing Light rushes forward with his armor sparkling again. I don't know what happened to the me I killed during my Nightmare Night but right now I remember what happens next and when his charge hits me I just spin around and for the second time I throw my another self into a glowing golden portal where a mass of black tentacles does to him what I remember only from some of my dirtier Playcolt magazines. The rift in space closes. "AARGH!" I scream and drop to the ground when searing heat emanates from my forehead. A cracking sound and then the source of pain is over, the result however still remains. "What happened?" I ask weakly, trying not to faint or throw up. "Your horn blew up," says the Element flatly. The realization that there will be no more magic, again, at least until I find my way back to the mirror world comes just as a fact. My anti-magic ability doesn't rely on having a horn and in a sense I just lost something that wasn't mine anyway. Lying on my back, shaking from nervous, physical and magical exhaustion I just wait for what I know is coming. Eventually it does. "I know ten kinds of spells to make your head blow up!" says a voice which relays its source is frightened to her blue hooves but doesn't let it show. I point my hoof at Trixie and the Element flies towards her in the blink of an eye and the edge stops a hair from connecting with her neck. "Eek," she twitches but keeps standing frozen with her eyes glued to the sword. I'm not going to hurt her of course. This is just something we devised during the jumping to scare ponies without having to communicate and use force. "Good. Now, I need some clothes with long sleeves. Got any?" I get up and ask while walking towards her. "Y-yes." "Lead the way and everything will be okay." We walk a short distance with the Element keeping close to Trixie. When we reach her mobile home she darts inside and then comes back with a sweater of the same color as her coat. "That will suffice," I say when I get rid of my burned robe and find out how well my new blue top covers my mechanical arm and I throw Trixie a bag of bits, leaving only few for myself, from one of the saddlebags I procured from my past self. It contains way more than the price of clothing would be but money is the last thing on my mind. With they key thing I'll need later ready, I leave Trixie and get on my way to Ponyville. What I'll need when I get to my destination is a story about what happened but I have enough time to think about that. The time comes when I, after finding and following princess Luna in Ponyville, see Sharp Biscuit jumping in front of her to protect her from mirror Twilight and I rush towards and knock him away. Getting ready to disperse the spell I focus and... ...realize I can't. I have to get hit by this. I have to survive it and I have to die the day after tomorrow to release Void. Relaxing, I let the spell hit me. I forgot how it hurt. It's not the pain that's the problem. With my now magical body, changeling properties and lifeforce of a unicorn I get hit by all three effects of the spell much more directly than before. Draining the energy, life and magic of the target, the spell is the worst kind of thing that could hit me but I survive... I have to. I promised to Void I'd save his marefriend. I can't stand seeing somepony lose something so precious, especially when I know I'll never have something similar. The light fades and eventually unicorn Twilight disappears. With Sharp Biscuit propping me and helping me get to the Ponyville library I don't waste time. I know the voice of my fractured self is gone for now so I look for a new one. Void, are you there? This is a very intriguing situation. Good. I need you to listen to me very carefully.