//------------------------------// // Enemy Revealed // Story: Umarekawari // by Ravings1 //------------------------------// Zach was sitting at the table, his head on the table. He was bored, very bored, there really wasn't anything to do. He couldn't read, because he couldn't understand the language these ponies used. Twilight was off doing science, and their friends had left a while ago.he was about to get up and go explore outside or something before Twilight called out to him. "Zach, I need your help." Upon hearing this, Zach hurriedly made his way to Twilight, wanting to do atleast something. "Hey Twilight, what do you need help with?" Zach asked. Twilight had her head in a book, which appeared to be about all sorts of creatures. "If you don't mind Zach, could you get me one of the bodies of the creatures?" She asked, never taking her eyes off the book. Zach just looked at her as if she was crazy. But he sighed, shaking his head. "Sure, I have nothing better to do." He said as he left the library. "Thank you Zach!" She yelled out to him. As Zach left the tree, he noticed that the sun had begun to set. "Better make this quick." Zach said to himself as he quickly examined the umbralings' bodies. "Nope, no, ew, you look like a pile of shit, I... I don't even know what you are anymore, you're melted butter, ooh." Zach said, finding one that has hardly decayed. "Okay, hope this one will work for Twilight." Zach said, as he begun to lift the corpse with his magic. But before getting it two inches off the ground, the stomach had ripped open, sending a black fluid into Zach's eyes. He yelled in pain as the substance burned his eyes, he rubbed his hoof against his eyelids, hoping to get the substance out. Without any luck though, he soon stopped, keeping his eyes tightly shut. 'I know who you are, Zach.' A feminine voice said, seemingly in his head. "Wha-what?" 'You have killed my subjects, and you have slaughtered Deathly.' "Who... are you?" 'Well, let me tell you something. You won't see your friends back on earth, you'll never make it out of Equestria. I'll enjoy killing you, oh, how I will enjoy it.' The voice then faded off as the substance in Zach's eyes cleared up. It was still present on his face, but it had stopped burning his eyes. "Okay... what the hell just happened? That was some Infamous shit." Zach said. He looked back down at the corpse. "Well, might as well get this back to Twilight." Zach said as the body was once again wrapped in the red aura. This time however, he made sure to look away from the corps, as more fluid splashed onto him. "Sick." He commented. Soon, the white alicorn had the corpse secured in his magic, and a fair distance away from him. As he walked back to Twilights, he couldn't get his mind off that voice. It had said that these things were her subjects, it also knew about Deathly. This was turning into something much bigger than just a trip to Equestria. "Twilight! I've got your... body..." Zach said when he entered Twilight's home. "Do you have to say it like that, Zach?" Twilight asked. "Hey, you wanted one of these things." Twilight simply sighed. "Okay, just put it on the table here." She said, motioning to a table with dissecting equipment. Zach looked at it a moment before setting the umbraling down. "So, why did you want this thing?" "So I can find out what this thing exactly is." "Wouldn't it be easier just to look it up, you had a book about all kinds of creatures." "Yes, I could look it up, but it would be easier to know more about it, then I'll be able to locate it in the book quicker." "Oh... well, be carful, you don't want to get the fluid stuff in your eyes. Or you'll start hearing voices." Zach said. Twilight just looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "Hey, after all the stuff we went through in the past two days, I think it would be best to just believe me." Twilight dropped the look and just nodded. "Let me know when your done with that, I want to know what those freaks are too." Zach said as he left, allowing Twilight to work in piece. ------------------------------------- "Aha!" Twilight exclaimed a while later. The body had begun to melt, but she was able to get everything she needed, and now she knew exactly what these things were. "Zach, I found out what this is!" She called. But after getting no response, she called again, however, was met with the same results. She took off here dissecting gear, and headed up from her basement. Once she reached the main room, she sighed at the sight she saw. Curled up on the floor, was Zach, sleeping out of pure boredom. She slowly walked towards him, gently nudging him to wake up and speaking softly. But after a moment, she didn't want to waste any more time. She yelled his name at the top of her lungs, almost performing the Canterlot Royal Voice. Zach instinctively screamed and jumped up, and with the help of his wings, gained a massive amount of height. He landed back on the floor hard, rustling some books on the table. "Are... are you okay Zach?" She asked. "Yeah I'm fine, I'm just happy these pony bodies are so durable." Zach's said getting up. "So... why exactly did you wake me up?" "Because, I found out what the creatures are." "Creatures? Oh yeah, those things. So what are they?" Zach asked, getting back up to his hooves. "Well," The lavender alicorn began, bringing up the creature book with her magic. "they are known as umbralings." "Umbralings, huh? Interesting. What else is there about on them?" "Well, not much, from this book at least." "Oh..." "But... there is this. Umbralings are ruled by an emperor and an empress, these are chosen as their leaders because they show abilities that no other umbraling has. That's about it." Twilight finished, closing the book and levitating it back to the shelf. "So that must have been the empress talking to me." Zach said under his breath. "What was that, Zach?" "I was just saying, that the voice in my head that I was telling you about. That may have been the empress talking... and she may be the one sending the umbralings at as, including Deathly. So, if we stop her, then we solve our umbraling problems." "What about the emperor?" "Eh, we'll deal with him when we have to, for now though, the empress." Suddenly, a small mist flew through the window, the mist then formed into a scroll which promptly fell to the floor. Twilight picked it up with her magic as she began to read it. "Princess Celestia I assume." Zach asked. "Yes, and she wants to see us both at Canterlot." She said after she finished reading it. "Oh, okay, wait, me? Why me? How does she even know I'm here?" "She probably sensed your magic when you did that... thing." "Oh, the charge? She can sense that?" "I could sense it too Zach. There is a lot of magic going into that move of yours, I'm pretty sure unicorns far away from here could sense it, even partially. Also, she didn't mention you specifically, she said the one that performed the powerful magic. I'm only assuming that she meant you." "Oh... well, we have nothing to lose, so let's go." Zach said, already heading out the door. Twilight just watched as he left the room, she wasn't expecting him to just want to get to Canterlot so quickly. ------------------------------------- "So, what tipped you off to thinking I was bad, Twilight?" Zach asked as they both flew to Canterlot. "Well, the fact that your an alicorn coming out of the forest made me very suspicious. Plus, the way you acted, it just felt like you were trying to suppress something." She responded. "Ah, but what about when I fought the umbralings, and Deathly? I don't think bad guys would do that." "Maybe not, but, you could have been doing that to cover yourself." "Hm, yeah, I guess." "Zach, do you need help?" Twilight asked, as she noticed Zach having some difficulties flying. "No, I'm fine, besides I need to practice my flying skills. The charges help me a bit, not much though." "Are you sure?" "Yeah." Zach said before suddenly taking a dip. He quickly corrected himself, looking at Twilight while smiling sheepishly. Twilight simply rolled her eyes as they continued their way to Canterlot. ------------------------------------- The two finally made their way to Canterlot, Twilight gracefully landed on a balcony. While Zach landed... not-so-gracefully in a rose bush beneath the balcony. Twilight looked down at him with wide eyes, she quickly called forth her magic and pulled Zach up from the bush, taking out ll the thorns in the process as well, as she gently laid him down on the balcony. "You okay Zach?" She asked with concern. "Yeah... I'm... I'm fine." Zach said, while gasping in for air. "Huh... flying... sure can... take a lot... out of you... when you don't... have a hang of it." "Do you want me to wait for you while you catch your breath?" "No... I'm fine, just... give me a sec." Zach said as his gasping lessened, soon, he was breathing somewhat normally. "Okay, I'm fine now. Thanks for the help earlier." He said as walked along with Twilight. After a good few moments of walking, the two arrived in the throne room. In there was Celestia and Luna (Luna being another favorite of Zach's). Upon seeing them, Zach bowed to them, something he never thought he would do. But they were princess's, and he was not on their same level. "You may rise." Celestia said, as Zach obliged. Twilight walked up to the two, giving them both hugs. "So, this is the one." Celestia asked Twilight. "Yes princess, he is the one that emitted that magic." Twilight said. "His name is Zach." Celestia then turned to him. "Uh, hello princess." Zach said nervously. Celestia saw this and giggled a little. "Hello Zach. Don't worry, you don't have to be nervous." She said with a gentle voice and a smile. Zach managed to loosen up. "So, you are the one that caused the powerful magic?" "Yes princess." "Okay. Zach, where are you from? I have never heard of another alicorn such as yourself." Zach was about to answer, but that's when Twilight spoke up. "He actually isn't from Equestria, he is not from this planet at all in fact." "Oh? Is this true, Zach?" "Yes, it is." Zach then began to explain how he got in Equestria, how they were just fiction in his world, and about the creatures that had fought. "My, I... I don't really know what to say about that." Celestia commented, shocked that so many events that had transpired in Equestria were accurate. After a moment, they moved off that topic, and onto Zach's magic. "Zach, if you don't mind me asking, how did you perform this, 'charge' of yours?" "To tell you the truth, I'm... not sure. After I physically damage an enemy eight times, without my horn being struck of course, I just get a charge." "Hm. And, what about your other abilities?" "Well, so far, I can use very basic magic, such as levitating, I can shoot a laser, and I can do this." Zach said, as he encased his hoof in his magic. Celestia was cuorious about his abilities that seemed to surpass Twilight's magical abilities. She looked at Luna, her sling the same. She then nodded towards her, Luna then made her way to Zach, she stopped in front of him, towering above him. 'Holy crap, to me, she must be over seven feet tall!' Zach thought to himself. "Zach," Luna began. "If you don't mind, I would like to see your magical abilities, with your permission of course." She said, looking down at him. "Uh, sure, also, will I be able to see them too?" "Yes, you will." Luna said as she lowered her horn onto Zach's, as her magic activated, they both went into Zach's mind. ------------------------------------- "Okay, that felt weird." Zach said, finding himself in a starry blue void. "Over here, Zach." Luna called out to him. He turned around, seeing Luna standing in front of a bunch of circles attached to eachother by what looked like cords. In the top three circles were some images, while the rest had a lock and chain over them, with the exception of the bottom. It all looked like a skill tree. "Looks like a leveling up screen." Zach said, coming up next to Luna. "A... what?" Luna asked, confused. "I'll explain later. So, this is my magic?" "Yes, at the very top, that is your basic magic." Luna said, pointing to the image of a horn. "To the bottom left of it is your laser, and on the right is your encased hoof." She said, moving down and pointing at the two. "And the one at the bottom, I'm assuming that's your charge?" She said, moving down to the very bottom if the tree and pointing to the one on the far most left. It had a straight red line going into a magical explosion. "Yes, that's the charge." Zach responded. "Hm, so, it appears that you have a total of sixteen abilities, four of which you have already discovered." She said, turning to Zach. "If you discover them all, you may be almost as powerful as me." "Wow." Was all Zach could say at the moment. "Well, time to return." Luna suddenly said, as she canceled her magic, causing them both to leave Zach's mind. As Zach recovered, he shook his head, trying to shake off the weird feeling. But he also shut his eyes a bit, as everything was much brighter then before. "Everything is so bright." Zach said with partially closed eyes. "It will wear off in a moment." Luna said, having to close her eyes a bit too. Soon, the two alicorns eyes adjusted to the light. "So, ready to go back Zach?" Twilight asked. "Not quite, it was a long flight." Zach said. "If you want to, you can stay in the guest room for the night." Celestia suggested. Zach looked at Twilight, who mouthed, 'It's your choice.' Zach looked back at Celestia to give his answer. "Uh, sure, if it's alright." He said, causing her to giggle again. "Of course." She responded, smiling.