//------------------------------// // Dropped to Another World // Story: Gravity of the Situation // by DJSkywalker //------------------------------// *****One Thousand Two Hundred and Seventy-Five Years Ago***** *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* Ugh, I hate mornings. I reached over and hit the alarm snooze as hard as I could. Which wasn’t very hard since I was straining to reach it. With reluctance, I got up from my amazingly comfortable bed to start the day. If this were any other day, I probably would have put up more of a fight to wake up, but I had great plans for this day. Today was going to be my very first video game convention and I even had a costume! I still don’t know how my friends tricked me into going as the main character from Gravity Rush, but at least it’s cute. I got myself out of bed and took a nice shower to finish my awakening. With myself freshly cleansed and now fully awake, I went to the kitchen to fix me some breakfast. It was a meager one, unfortunately. I had spent this month’s paycheck on my costume; stuff like that isn’t cheap. With my stomach full, I got into my costume and waited by the front door for my friends to arrive to pick me up. I took this moment to look around my meager apartment. It was rough and dingy, but it was all I could afford. The life of an orphan is certainly not an easy one. My parents had died in a car accident when I was eight and I had been on my own ever since. I mean, sure there was the foster homes and the few orphanages, but they were never a home. Sure it was a lonely living situation, but at least I had a couple of friends who were there for me when I was really low. Even if they could be obnoxious dorks. I saw their car pull up outside the building and I got ready to leave. “I’m going out! I’ll be home tonight, bye!” I called to the empty house. “Great, talking yourself. Nice going Allison, proving your therapist right about that insanity thing." I pulled myself into my friend Rita’s car. “Heya there ‘Kat’!” She giggled as I rolled my eyes. It was just going to be me and her at the convention today. The others would try and make it for tomorrow’s. “Really, you look good Ally. Though, were you talking to your house again?” Rita’s expression had turned serious as she asked. She was the daughter of my therapist and had really made it her business to make sure my mind stayed in proper order. “Maybe…” I answered trailing off in embarrassment. The talking to myself thing wasn’t all that odd, no, but it could lead to more extreme symptoms like my anger bouts. Whoo, boy those could get ugly. “Dad’s really not gonna like that you’re still trying to pretend that someone’s waiting for you at home. You need to move past this, Ally.” Rita was trying her best to maintain a serious conversation with me as she drove and, unfortunately, she had mastered this little trick with me years ago. “I know, but how can someone just get over seeing their parents die right in front of them. It’s still hard. Don’t worry, it’s just a little tick. I haven’t had any major freak outs in months.” This was true, and that last one was totally justifiable. That jerk freakin’ cut me off on a one way street! Who does that?! At least we didn’t go to court, that’s something, right? “I worry about you, Allison. One of these days you are going to crack and I’m afraid that you’re gonna hurt someone or yourself. Please try to take my dad seriously when he’s trying to help you. I know you’re eighteen and all and feel like therapy is not helping, but it will if you let it. Please, for me?” “I’ll try, Rita. Really, I will. I don’t want to hurt anyone, that’s true.” Only those that deserve it, that is. “Hey is that the place?” We were pulling up at the convention center and my smile grew wider as Rita pulled into the parking lot. Rita wasn’t dressed up, so I was feeling a little self-conscious as we walked into the massive convention hall. There were signs and poster and stands for all of the best video games in the world. I think I even saw one for Gravity Rush’s rumored sequel. It wasn’t a popular game, but hell if I didn’t love it. After about thirty minutes, Rita and I split up to go enjoy our own likes and interest around. I walked from stand to stand in awe of all the games and related items. Though I was blushing profusely from some of the catcalls I heard as I walked past. I wasn’t all that pretty, but this outfit was really snug. Still cute, though. Even had a few pictures taken with some fans of the game. It was a lot of fun in all. A couple hours went by when I ended up near this prop stand full of video game memorabilia. There I saw him, a plush cat that was as a black as the night itself with stars that seemed to shine off his coat. A plush Dusty! I didn’t even know they made these! “I see you are interested in this little guy, eh?” asked the man behind the counter of the stand. He looked pretty normal, but there was something off about the air around him. I brushed it off, though; Dusty was too important. I had to have him. I did bring some money with me, but I had planned on using it for a bite to eat. He was just so cute, though. “Eh, yeah. How much for him?” I asked trying to hide my enthusiasm. “For you? How about seven bucks? Always need to complete the costume right?” His smile creeped me out, but how could I pass up that deal? That would still leave me with enough to get a bite to eat later. “Deal!” I opened my purse and practically threw the money at him. I picked up Dusty and walked with a big grin and hugging him dearly to my chest. “You are so adorable! Yes, I got my very own Dusty! Life is complete!” Looking back, I never should have said those last three words. Immediately after my little gush fest, I felt the floor beneath my feet give way and I started to fall. I felt my purse flung from me and Dusty fall into the abyss below, me right behind him. I screamed as loud as I could, but there was nothing but darkness to hear me out. I don’t know how much longer it was when I awoke, I only knew that my back was incredibly sore. “Ah, ooh, that stings,” I groaned getting up off the ground I was on. I stood up shakily and took in my surroundings. Somehow I went from a big city convention center to the middle of a dense jungle. “How in the hell did I get here?” “Through magic,” responded an unseen voice. Okay, now I was scared. “Who said that? Hello? Where are you?” “I’m right at your side, my friend.” I looked down to see a cat that was covered in stars with black fur. And it was real, because on real cats wave their tails and blink at you. I was so speechless all I could do was gape. “Mistress Kat? Are you alright?” “Mistress? Kat? My name is Allison. Are you, are you really Dusty?” Hey when you’re scared and you don’t know what’s going on, best to gather some form of intel. “I suppose my name could be Dusty. I am yours after all. Are you certain your name is not Kat? It feels… natural to call you that.” “Yeah, I’m certain, but if you want to call me Kat, I don’t mind.” I cosplayed as her for reason, remember? “Do you know where we are? And how you can talk?” “I am not really talking, mistress. Our minds are one so I can speak to you. Only you can hear me. And no,” He looked at the ground in shame, “I do not know where we have ended up. Though I do not think there any life forms around us. A good thing as it will give us time for you to control your powers.” “Powers? What powers?” What was this talking, err, thinking cat saying? “The powers that are keeping us on a tree branch right now.” I looked down closer at my feet and saw that I wasn’t standing on dirt, but was on a large branch of wood. Glancing back at the forest made me realize that the entire thing was upside down! “What am I doing upside down!!??” I started to go hysterical, another symptom and not a good one. Usually led to hyperventilating, but Dusty calmed me down, surprisingly. “Breathe, mistress, breathe! You are a shifter, this comes naturally to you. As long as we are together, you will be able to control yourself. Please mistress, calm down! If you keep like this you could hurt someone!” That got my attention. I never wanted to hurt anyone, no matter what. Sure there were times when I raged and punched someone’s lights out, but that was only if they really and truly deserved it. “Okay, okay, okay. I think, I think I’m good.” I kept a hand on my chest to keep my heart rate down. This was so not helping with my thoughts of insanity. “Now how do I get back down?” “Just think of it, mistress, and your powers will react in kind.” I listened to Dusty’s advice and thought of reverting back to normal gravity. “You’re doing it Kat!” Dusty cheered. I opened my eyes and say that I was floating where I was once standing. With a little harder focus, I flip myself around and gravity around me reverted to normal. It didn’t work like I had planned, though. Instead of flipping around, I ended up landing on my head in a heap on the ground. “Ow,” I said quietly in pain. Dusty walked into my vision, with what looked like a small smile on his face. ”Looks we have some work to do,” he said simply. *****One Year and Seven Months Later***** I have been here for almost two years now, practicing day in and day out with Dusty as my guide. We fell into routine soon enough after the first few weeks and simply went from there. I still questioned my sanity over this whole thing happening, but after I continually fell asleep and woke up with everything being the same, I had to come to terms with being in the middle of nowhere with a talking cat and gravity powers. That was not a day I wish to repeat. But with all that training with me, Dusty and I decided to find a way out of this forest and see if there was any civilization nearby. We trekked for miles of forest, my idea so that no one freaked out about an unidentified flying girl, but found nothing. Just forest, forest, and more forest! Not helping with headaches. They kept coming for some reason; not too strong, but enough to make me slightly irritable. I was pretty sure they would pass. Then it happened. A scream came from the brush ahead of us; a scream of pure terror. I rushed ahead, Dusty calling after me. “Kat!” Took a while, but I finally got him to stop calling me ‘mistress’, just sounded wrong to me. “Please, Kat, we don’t know what danger lies ahead!” “Someone’s in danger! I have these powers now and I’ll be damned if I don’t use them to help people!” I ran faster, knowing that no matter how far I ran, Dusty would always appear near me. Benefits of having a magical cat! I ran right through a bush and found myself in a clearing. What I saw there was the strangest thing I had ever seen at the time. A giant, the only word that comes to mind is ‘dragon’, attacking a group of small, multicolor horses. And they were the ones yelling as they were roasted by the dragon fire. They were helpless. I was not. Seeing that monster attacking those horses riled a great fury in me. He was no different than those bullies I faced down during my school years. I was gonna put him in his place. “HEY!! LEAVE THEM ALONE!!” I shoved a hand-sized rock with my power at his head, drastically increasing its velocity. It shattered against the scales on his head, but definitely got the thing’s attention. He turned around and eye me up. “Stay out of this whatever you are,” it warned with a deep voice that would have sent shivers up my spine if I wasn’t completely pissed at the jerk. “This is not for you to interfere with. Get lost.” Okay, that was not the right thing to say to me. Apparently, even Dusty backed me up on this. “I think it’s time to see the results of your training Kat,” he said, sounding both irked and bemused. “Show that big lug what happens when you mess with shifters. But be careful.” Always the watchful guardian. “No worries.” My body began to glow with a red and black aura that engulfed my entire being. “This is gonna be awesome.” I flew forward with incredible speed, my body stretched out with my left leg at its fullest; a gravity kick. I aimed right at the center of his back and impacted, hard. He out a groan of discomfort and pain and reared on me. “I warned you creature and now you will join these ponies! Hraa!!” He let out a large burst of fire, but I simply flew out of the way. I knew I couldn’t fly forever, but my training had drastically improved my time. Wait, ponies? The horses were called ponies? Well, that’s different, but whatever, I have a dragon to fight. I should have been paying attention as he swatted me into a tree. THAT hurt like HELL!! “Okay, maybe I need to rethink this whole ‘hero’ thing,” I groaned as I pulled myself out of the tree. “Are you alright?” Dusty asked with concern. “Yeah, I can take it. My falls have hurt more than that.” True, I did end up falling from the stratosphere once. Still one of the most painful things to ever happen to me. Compared to that, being swatted like a fly was nothing, even if it was something I had to get used to later on. The dragon had gone back to burning poor ponies alive and I got furious. He had one right underfoot and was going to burn him point blank. Not on my watch! “Let’s try out that specialty I figured out,” I thought out loud. I powered back up, my body once again coated in a black and red aura, and focused on my target. I only had one shot and I couldn’t miss. I drudged up my newest ability and roared forward. “Hyaa!!” I fired forward with incredible speed and ferocity. The Spiraling Claw, was its name and it was more effective than I had hoped. I was just planning on impacting his thick hide, not barreling straight through it!! I stopped immediately once I had come out his front and fearfully looked back at what I had done. In front of me, the dragon was staring wide eyed in shock and pain. He lowered his head down to the massive hole in his chest and grabbed at it. He groaned in pain and fell back, freeing the trapped pony in the process. I dropped down to the ground and the ponies surrounded me fearfully, spears pointed at me. I didn’t pay any attention to them as I stared at my deed. I had just killed a living creature. Sure it was surprising that it was intelligent, but that just made my murder even worse. My first kill and it felt awful. Dusty formed right in front of me, worry in his voice. “Kat? Kat, please we need to leave.” I knew he was right, but I just couldn’t bring myself to move. The ponies didn’t know what to think about me, but I think I overheard them discussing bringing me to some ‘princesses’. I didn’t struggle as they bound my hands and feet and carted me off to their leaders. The dragon just weighed too heavily on my mind to do anything else. Hours later, I found myself being forcefully shoved through a large castle in the middle of the forest. It looked beautiful, but I just couldn’t shake the guilt to really pay any attention as I was lead onwards. We stopped at a pair of large doors and the guards chatted for a moment before they opened the doors. I looked up briefly to the sight of two larger ponies with horns and wings on thrones. The shorter one my right had a blowing mane of the color of a moonlit night with stars flowing through it. Her dark blue coat was so beautiful, but her harsh glare ruined it for me. The taller of the pair was pure white in color with a multicolor mane that was also blowing in a non-existent wind. It was the latter who spoke first, directly to the guard. “What is this that you have brought before us, Captain?” she asked with the voice that a mother would use on her children. It was warm comforting, yet also commanding. The lead guard in front of me spoke. “We are not quite sure, Princess Celestia. All we know is that it is incredibly powerful. It saved me and my men from a dragon scout by flying right through its heart.” Both of the ponies looked at me in shock, though I still stared at the ground, wallowing in guilt. “If it saved thou, then why hast this creature been chained?” asked the smaller pony. “We were unsure of its intentions so we took precautions. It seems capable of speech, but it hasn’t spoken since it killed the scout.” The two ponies looked to one another and then back me. “Creature,” called out the white one. I lifted my head in acknowledgement. “Do you refute these claims?” The question was a minor one, but everything that had been building in me broke and poured out. “I didn’t mean to!!” I screeched out and fell to my knees, tears falling heavily from eyes. “I didn’t want to kill him! I just wanted to protect the ponies; I don’t want to be a murderer!” I started sobbing into my chained hands, no longer caring about the shocked looks I was receiving. A moment later, I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked up at the white pony looking at me with a comforting smile. “You are a creature with a good heart, aren’t you?” It wasn’t mocking or blaming, just comforting. I nodded in return, my sobs still choking out. “I thank you, creature, for saving my little ponies from certain death. This war with the dragons has been a deadly one and I don’t think we would be able to do it without our good captain. So, thank you…” “Kat, my name is Kat.” With powers and dress like this, I might as well be. I didn’t want my original name smudged with murder either, so it fit. “Kat, we thank thou as well,” said the other behind her. “Captain, why is there a cat in our throne room?” Everyone looked over at Dusty who was simply sitting by my kneeling form. “I am not sure. I thought we left it outside,” he turned around, thinking the door might be open, probably. “His name is Dusty. He is my companion, my friend. My only friend in this world.” I deeply missed my friends, especially Rita. Her companionship would be great right now, especially her brand of therapy. “Allow me to introduce us. I am Princess Celestia, princess of the sun, and this is my sister, Princess Luna, princess of the moon. We rule of the country of Equestria as its alicorn leaders.” Not quite sure what ‘alicorn’ meant, but I guessed it meant a pony with wings and a horn. Their gracious attitude really help me out my little funk there, but it still hurt. “What are you Kat? I can say that I have never seen a creature like you before?” “I am a shifter,” I answered after a moment. “A kind of human with special abilities.” “Human? Never heard of such a creature. What are these abilities thou speakest of?” Luna asked me. “I shift gravity, Princess Luna. I can manipulate the gravitational fields around me to work as I see fit.” The princesses looked highly intrigued. “May we see?” Celestia asked. “Okay,” I shrugged. I powered up, my aura momentarily scaring the ponies, and I began to float in place. I shifted up and hit the ceiling of the throne room and looked ‘up’ at the ponies ‘above’ me. “It’s pretty cool if I do say so myself.” “Certainly spectacular,” Luna said in awe. “Indeed sister,” added Celestia. I lowered myself back down to the floor and shut down my power. Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a few minutes before turning back to me. “Kat, I have a proposition for you. Would you be willing to assist us in protecting Equestria from the dragon’s attacks? We could truly use the assistance.” I thought on their offer for a few minutes. There were several pros and cons to this. Pros being that maybe I could get a house or at least some place to live out of the deal and maybe even some form of money. Cons being that I would quite likely be asked to kill again and I didn’t know if I could do that. But if I didn’t, it won’t necessarily be soldiers getting attacked next. Next time it could be innocent civilians, possibly even children. The very thought made my blood boil. If that dragon was just a scout, then actual soldiers could be much worse. I made my decision right there and then what I would do in this world. “Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, as a shifter and protector of the innocent, I will join you in your efforts to protect your citizens.” They smiled gratefully at me, but I wasn’t done. My next words were the reason that the police had a file on me; my life’s code. “Be warned. I will do what is right and only what is right, even if it means breaking your laws to do so. The lives of the innocent are more important than your rules. That is my only condition.” Luna and Celestia didn’t look like they were all that happy with my condition, but consented nonetheless. They offered me place to stay at the castle as well as military pay for food and furniture my new room. I gratefully accepted and our friendship bloomed from there. *****Present Day***** “I fought on behalf the two princesses for years, fighting side by side with them against the dragons, the Minotaurs, and the griffins. The zebras were the first we actually settled diplomatically, but the changelings were another story. I think the sisters were actually prepared to commit genocide against them for what the changelings did to Trottingham. That was a hard one to talk them out of. It was after several decades that we all found out that I had become immortal as well. A real shock to me, though Celestia and Luna seemed happy about it. It meant that none of us had to be alone.” I stopped talking for a moment. I didn’t even know why I was telling these ponies my story. It was obvious they were of some importance to Celestia, but they seemed harmless enough. I just had to remind myself that I needed to save my energy for that backstabbing bitch and her sister. After everything I did for them, they go and rip away the one thing that had kept my sanity together. I needed to diffuse this anger, so I kept talking. “I met Discord after the first hundred years and he was kind of nice at first, though he was pretty loopy. Then for some reason, he went bat-shit crazy and decided to muck up the world. He was a good friend before he snapped and it hurt us all to seal him away with those Elements the Princesses found. Though it was only another hundred years or so when the sisters killed my companion Dusty. They never even said why they did it, not that I really cared at the time.” I clenched my fist hard, scaring some of the ponies. “I will make them pay for his murder. I swear it to my very soul.” I felt a hoof on my shoulder and looked to see that yellow mare looking back at me with big sad eyes. One of my major weaknesses here in this world. “You have been gone a long time, Kat,” she said with an amazingly quiet voice. It was so cute! “You were sealed away for a thousand years and the princesses just want a chance to explain themselves and apologize. Can’t you give them that?” A thousand years? The revelation hit me like a sack of bricks. I knew after the first hundred years that there was no way I could ever go home as everyone I knew would have died years ago. But a thousand years! It seemed too unreal even in a world of mythical talking creatures. But forgiving the princesses. Sure, we were friends once, but they kept growing distant from me after Discord turned. By the point they killed Dusty, I don’t really think we were true friends anymore. “I don’t think I can do that. Not now anyways. Maybe when I have enough power, I will see them again, but I don’t even want to hear their names until I have enough power to fight them on equal grounds again.” The ponies stayed quiet for a few minutes and then backed off to talk amongst themselves. Then I felt something, a prickle in my mind; my broken, messed up mind. I could feel others, other humans. Not here though. Confused, I activated my gravity sense. It was one of the powers I cooked up during my imprisonment. It allowed me to ‘see’ gravity fields and since everything and everyone had their own personal gravity fields, it was a good tracking power. You just had to know how to discern what from what. Back to the matter at hand, I began to scan the horizon, looking for human gravity signals. Instead I saw what could only be described as a gravitational disturbance. I got up and approached the portal-looking field at the bottom of the hill. I could feel it, other worlds. Other Equestrias. The Multiverse theory was right I guess. I could see things there, images of other humans trying to make their way through their own lives in Equestria as well as them helping one another along the way. Maybe I could do the same? I saw that each picked an object reminiscent of themselves and distributed it into the void between worlds. I just needed to pick something and the Void would do the rest. I scanned my surroundings and saw the perfect thing. It was a black rock, a piece of coal. How it got here is beyond me. With a little bit of focus, which I found coming back to me, I condensed the coal as hard as I could, pouring on the pressure. After a minute, I unclenched my hand to be staring, not at a piece of crushed coal, but a perfect diamond. I smiled at my handiwork; Dusty would be proud of my progress. I wiped away the few tears that bloomed from those thoughts and held the diamond high above the portal. “I am the protector of the innocent, warrior of the weak, call upon me for assistance and I shall come. Call for the Gravity Shifter and I will make those who harm others beg for mercy as they are crushed at my feet. Hold this gem close to thine heart and I shall be at your side as a fellow warrior!” I dropped the gem into the void, feeling a little weird after my cheesy speech. The diamond disappeared into the Void and spread to the other worlds. “I hope none of them call before I get more of my strength back." I heard hoofsteps behind me and turned to the approaching six ponies. “Kat?” said the purple unicorn. “We understand that you may not want to see the princesses right now, but would you at least be willing to stay with us in Ponyville until you are ready? We don’t feel right just leaving you out here in the cold.” More like they want to make sure they can keep an eye on me. I don’t know how these six relate to the two sisters, but, hey, I get a place to stay and maybe even some food. “Okay, but only if you’re fine taking in a formerly insane human.” My grin definitely sold the mad crazy look. “Formerly insane? How could you be formerly insane?” asked the purple one. Must be a scholar. “Quite simple Miss…” “Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. And these are my friends Fluttershy,” gesturing to the yellow pegasus, “Rainbow Dash,” the cyan pegasus, “Pinkie Pie,” earth pony (color self-explanatory), “Applejack,” an orange earth pony, “and Rarity,” she finished with the marshmallow-colored unicorn. “Thank you for the introductions. As you already know, I am Kat, Gravity Shifter extraordinaire. And to answer your earlier question, basically I went fully insane while I was entombed. Nothing else but my thoughts to keep me company will do that to anyone. After a while, though, I got bored of insanity and decided to go sane again, with a few crazy benefits. There are many things open to you when you close the door to crazy town.” “Like what?” Pinkie asked with a happy grin. She could be infectious with all that happy. “Ah ah, that is for me to know and you to find out. So, if that is acceptable may we be off to this ‘Ponyville’?” “Yes that is acceptable, follow us Kat. We’re certain you’re going to like the town.” I followed as instructed, awaiting to find what had changed in the last one thousand years. Though my promise still stands, I will avenge Dusty. No matter what the cost may be in the end; even if I have to join him in the end.