//------------------------------// // A Divine Appointment // Story: A Survivors Guide to Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// "While I am sad that you left without a scrap, I am glad to see that you escaped," Zecora said as she hoofed a number of supplies to Ryan, who was busy trying to regain his breath that he still hadn't caught since his marathon from Canterlot. Most of the day had gone by as he ran down the mountain while avoiding guards and the princesses. "But what happened to the silver mare? After helping you did she vanish into thin air?" "She said something about helping her criminal redeemed or something along those lines," Ryan muttered as he counted his supplies, making sure that they were all there. "I can't believe that you managed to escape," Lyra said with a shake of her head. "I mean, I took the train home and the guards were insane to deal with. How did you manage to escape without being seen?" "Because I'm awesome," Ryan said, but Zecora laughed at him as she rearranged some supplies. "More like you're lucky and barely made it out," she said with a smile, Ryan glaring over at her. "That is the only way without a doubt. You would not get away from the princesses without aid. And with the Elements there your best bet was to pray." Ryan growled at her as Zecora walked over to Lyra and Derpy, giving the both of them some tea. "Despite how strong he looks he is a fool. I know smarter beings that are mules." Ryan snarled at her and prepared for a jump kick, but Zecora threw one of her knives and pinned his sleeve to the wall. "Glad to see that you get so much enjoyment from my pain," Ryan growled as he pulled the knife out of the wall and hurled it at the zebra, who simply caught it and placed it back on her shelf. "Now if you will both excuse me, I'm going back to me hole in a wall and I'm going to sleep today off like a bad hangover." "That's probably a good idea, I need to get home and take care of my daughter," Derpy said as she got up, Lyra nodding as she followed suit. Ryan (the great guy that he was) allowed them to open the door for him as he walked outside, but the zebra cleared her throat to stop him. "Be careful tonight, friend of mine," she said in a cryptic voice that caused Ryan to lift an eyebrow at her. "I fear that there will be something divine." Ryan nodded as he slowly backed away from the crazy zebra before closing the door behind him, looking at the two ponies who were looking up at him. "What?" he asked them. "What do you think she meant by divine?" Lyra asked him. "Hell if I know, that zebra is crazy," Ryan muttered as he headed off towards his small room. "One hell of a fighter, but crazy none the less. See you two around provided that one of those Ursa's I've heard about don't eat me." "Hey Ryan? I've...I've been working on a spell that I want to show you. Would you mind...?" "Meh." That was all he said to them before he headed off, walking through the darkening forest until he reached the castle. He headed inside and slipped into the secret room, closing his eyes once he had a moment. He then took the guide off of his backpack and placed it on the table, about to do the same with his bag before he heard a sound outside. The faintest sound, but a sound none the less. A hoof step. The door burst open a few moments later and Celestia entered with her horn aglow, yet as she looked around the empty room she snarled to herself, wondering if she had guessed wrong again until she saw the book on the desk. "What be this?" she asked herself as she flipped open the book, surprised to see that it was a journal of sorts of not just her, but everypony of importance in Equestria, along with a fairly detailed map of Everfree and Ponyville. 'So the human has been keeping tracks on us, has he? Wonder what he has to say about us then.' She flipped until she found her page, which she scanned over quickly. Name: Celestia. Species: Alicorn, unicorn pegasi mix? Sex: Female. Age: Over a thousand according to the zebra. Bio: Have barely seen her but what I have heard of her indicates that she is a very powerful alicorn who can raise the sun and moon. She is also said to be over one thousand years old and has probably acquired a great deal of knowledge in that time. With that power, frontal interactions are suicide; recommend sticking to the shadows or just avoiding her altogether. Personal Opinion. Shit. She can control the sun AND the moon? Well consider me fucked if I have to go up against her because she'd probably burn me to ash in a matter of seconds. If I had to face her, God help me, then I would have to go for a kill shot almost immediately. If that fails, I run for my life. Threat level: 2. Celestia smiled to herself as she saw that the human did consider her a high level threat, but something that confused her was that she was only the second highest threat. As she began to flip through the pages, she wondered who was first to him. Discord maybe? Luna potentially? Celestia eventually found her sisters page, but was surprised to see her at the third highest while Discord was a foot note. Then she found the page with the highest and it confused her greatly. Name: Zecora. Species: Zebra. Sex: Female. Age: 35 (took her forever to tell me) Bio. Zecora is a zebra that can speak the human language. She seems to be a master of multiple forms of martial arts (God knows how) and is proficient in medications. She lives in a hut in the Everfree forest, where she seems to be a witch doctor of sorts. Speaks only in rhymes, seems incapable of normal speak. Also skilled in stealth, although not sure how skilled. Additional info. She is very skilled, insanely skilled. At everything. Kicks the shit out of me on a regular basis and then heals me up with whatever miracle she feels like working that day. No idea how she got this skilled but apparently she's been training ever since she was little. Of course, even though she says she's thirty five I have a feeling that she's actually hiding her real age. Makes me wonder why. Personal opinion. Zecora scares me. I'm not sure what to make of her. She always seems so carefree and happy, but something about her felt "off." She seems to be able to see the future a bit, making sneaking up on her a pain. Additional input: She's beyond scary now, she's not...like any living being that I have come across. Able to move the sun, sure, I can cope with that. Barely. But Zecora is something else. Wonder why no animals come around her hut? Because they are afraid. I saw a glimpse, only a glimpse mind you, when she used some martial arts move on me that shattered my chest. Her power...God her power...she isn't a regular zebra. I'm not even sure she's of this planet. All I know is, I'm glad that she's on my side or else...I have no plan to beat her, no idea on how to stop her if she turned all that power against me. I'd run until either I collapsed or she dealt with me. Threat ranking: 1. Always 1. That confused Celestia. She had heard from Twilight about Zecora and her mystical ways, but this human was terrified...no, reading his words he was beyond terrified of her. Death barely bothered him yet this zebra had terrified him beyond belief. She was wondering if she should go see Zecora herself when she heard a chuckle and the snapping of a pair of fingers, then her world went black. \\ // //; ;\\ Ryan had no idea how long he was in that hole for, but he managed to spend most of the time trying to get his pistol working again with mixed success. He also looked around the hidden chamber a bit more, though he found little else of interest down there. Training helped to pass the time, but most of the time he was just waiting. Waiting for Celestia and her troops to break through the wall or something and take him, despite the fight he would put up. 'Alright, I can't take this place anymore,' he thought to himself when he heard three separate voices talking in his head at the same time, telling him that he had been down there for far too long. When he had gathered up as much of his courage as possible, he threw open the trap door and flung himself out. He was surprised to see that there were no ponies in his hole in the wall, but he saw that his journal had been left as well. 'Strange, thought for sure Celestia would have taken this,' he thought as he went to pick it up, only to see what was going on outside. 'Wait...is it raining chocolate milk?' he asked himself in disbelief as he looked up at the sky, amazed at what he was seeing. The clouds were raining chocolate milk and the sky had turned into a strange pink, while he could just barely see buildings floating off in the distance. He put down the book as he headed for the door, needing to talk to the zebra. 'I need to get to Zecora. She'll know what's going on.' He ran out of the castle and came to a stop when he saw a small grey filly. "You!" she yelled as she saw him, Ryan growling as he expected her to start screaming. But to his surprise, she ran over to him and looked up at him with tear stained eyes. "Please, you have to help me! You're the human my mother told me about, right?!" Ryan nodded once, before looking around to see that even the forest looked weird. "Something is happening to my home! Please help me!" 'Hell no,' Ryan thought to himself as he remembered what happened the last time he had gone into Ponyville, but he saw the desperation in the filly's eyes and he nodded his head with a sigh. The filly took off as he nodded and he chased after her, able to keep up with her fairly well as they ran to Ponyville. Ryan wished he could have talked to Zecora before he had to come here, but he couldn't think about it long as he saw what state the town was in. It was in a purple bubble, but he could still see ponies inside and what he saw made him sick. "What happened to them?" he asked the filly as he looked through the bubble at the ponies, all of who had dead looks in their eyes and moved without much life. "I happened to them." The two spun around to see Twilight floating above them, but even as the filly cried out in joy at seeing her Ryan drew his baton. Twilight looked different, crazy different, and from the way she looked like she was about to shoot him it made him nervous. "This land and all other lands belong to the Elements of Chaos now! You will join my ranks," Twilight said as she fired a bolt of magic that hit the filly, causing her to look like the others. "And you...will die!" Ryan barely had any time to react before the spell his him in the chest and he was surrounded by whiteness. ====---==== Ryan groaned as he felt feeling return to him and he lifted his head to see that he was in what seemed to be a massive desert, with nothing for miles on any side except in front of him. From what he could make out through the blowing sand there were a number of pillars in front of him. Since he had no idea how he had gotten here or no idea where Twilight had gotten, he decided that it would be in his best interest to head for them. 'Wonder what happened?' he thought to himself as he walked, putting up his hands to block out the sand. 'Twilight didn't seem that evil last time we met and there is no way that she could cause whatever happened to the sky. Not to mention she's an Element of Harmony and not Chaos, unless I overheard them wrong. What is going on?' He continue to think along the same lines as he moved forward, eventually reaching the pillars which turned out not to be just pillars, but instead pillars to a massive temple. And when he entered it, he found to his shock that he was not alone. On five separate seats sat five creatures of light. One of them was a pony of sorts that radiated a power that made even Ryan back away a bit, while the griffon that sat next to him looked down at him with proud and true eyes. The changeling (the word appeared in his mind when he looked at her) gave him a smile that comforted him a bit until he looked at the odd dog sitting next to her, who had eyes that looked through him and all of his deceptions. Finally there was a dragon who scared Ryan the most, yet with a snap of his fingers the sand was gone, revealing a glowing white palace. "What. The. Fuck?" Ryan asked them as he looked up at their five glowing forms, amazed at how much they looked like the silver mare. 'No, we are not associated with her,' the pony said, causing Ryan to groan as he realized that he was dealing with a mind reader. 'But she is the reason that we have brought you here. You have seen the state that Ponyville and the rest of Equestria is in, have you not?' "Be kinda hard to miss it, considering it's only affected all of the land," Ryan muttered. "Are you saying that she caused it?" 'Not intentionally, but she was the reason for the spirit of chaos to escape again,' the griffon said as it waved it's wing, allowing Ryan to see the weird statue creature he had seen floating around wreaking havoc on the land. 'But it all honesty, it is not her fault entirely,' the dog said as it snarled down at Ryan. 'This is also your fault as well.' "Well fuck you too," Ryan snarled back, but the dog let out a bark that flung the human into a pillar, where he staggered back to his feet. "Well if that's your bark, your bite must be shit." The dog looked like it was ready to maul him, but the pony held out a wing to stop him as the pony looked down at the human. 'Yes human, though you had no idea what you were doing,' the pony said to him. 'The chaos that you caused in Canterlot allowed Discord to escape his prison, though this time he is far more dangerous than he was when he last escaped.' "Still little idea who Discord is," Ryan said. 'He is a god of chaos, who loves messing with living beings far more than anything else,' the dragon said as he showed what Discord had done in the past. 'This is what you released upon the land when you failed to follow your destiny.' When Ryan raised an eyebrow at the dragon he snarled a bit. 'You were supposed to die, along with the rest of your race.' "Last time I checked destiny could eat shit," Ryan muttered, which got a chuckle out of the dragon. 'Yes, you can rarely trust her but she is generally very good at her job,' the dragon said before turning the floor over to the changeling. 'Despite you being destined to die, you survived and made it to Equestria thanks to your friend,' she said in a bubbly tone that reminded Ryan of Derpy. 'However, by doing this you have allowed this world to fall along a different path than it normally would. You have allowed it to move towards its destruction instead of how it would have normally played out. Discord now has the Elements under his command as well as the queen of the sun, allowing him to take control of all the races with ease. He now essentially rules the world.' "Well I'm an asshole for screwing this world, but that's a fact we've already established," Ryan said as he looked up at them. "So why are you telling me this? Not like I can do anything unless you want me to go up against a god and his army of psycho ponies?" When he saw all of them look at him he backed away with a shake of his head. "Oh no, I'm not doing that. I promised my friend that I would survive for the both of us and throwing myself at this would certainly get me killed. I'm not fighting this fight." He turned to leave as he said this but the pony's voice rang out as he spoke. 'I am not so certain of that,' the pony said. 'Isn't it your greatest guilt that you could do nothing to save your world when it faced destruction? Yet know there is a world that will suffer the same fate, yet you can do something to change it. You can help the ponies avoid what happened to you and the rest of mankind." Ryan cursed the pony out in his head as he thought about what the pony had said, remembering have told Zecora not that long ago the very same thing. How he hated how he had failed. And the promise that he made that no one else would suffer like he had. That no one would have to lose everything. "Fine. Fine. What the hell do you want me to do?" he asked them with a growl. The dragon snapped his fingers again and Ryan saw two new batons appear in his hands, both of them solid gold and crackling with power as he swung them. 'These are tools that we have crafted with the little power of the Elements we have left,' alicorn explained. 'You may not be worthy of any of the actual Elements, but these should have a similar effect.' 'These new items will allow you to combat the Elements of Chaos, yet in order to defeat Discord you will need to use your ability,' the dragon said as Ryan looked up at him. 'You will need to survive whatever he throws at you.' Ryan gave them an evil smile as the dragon said this. "Oh don't worry; I can do that just fine. But I'll warn you now, I won't make nice with them." "Then find the princess of the night. She will aid you in your fight." The dragon nodded as he snapped his fingers, causing Ryan to vanish in a flash of light. Once he was gone, the dragon looked to the others. 'I have felt what has happened in the other world. Should we stop the silver one now?' "No, her plan is done,' the pony said with a sad shake of her head.’She tried her best, but now she cannot re-forge our Elements in time. Our best bet for now is for us to try to find somepony that can wield the Element of Acceptance. But that will be the hardest one to find.' The five vanished as they said this, leaving the temple to be consumed by the sand once again.