//------------------------------// // A Lateral Shift // Story: Gravity of the Situation // by DJSkywalker //------------------------------// I looked out at the city beneath me, amazed at how much the growing city had changed in a thousand years. Back then, it was a little more like Ponyville is today, but now it looked closer to the Manhattan of Earth in the twentieth century. Or it would if there weren’t inky black creatures with bulbous red eyes destroying everything. From this high above, I spotted several Royal Guards being cornered by Rabbiphants, the hoppy nevi that looked like giant rabbits save for the elephant like trunk. Three in all and all ready to rip into the pony guards. While I am not a fan of the guard at the moment, no one dies on my watch. Covered in my reddish-black aura, I charged from my high altitude position, aiming right for the back of the nearest Rabbiphant, where the eye was.   In moments, I was plowing right through the giant red eye, shattering the monster in an instant. The nevi immediately focused on me and attacked with their trunks. They were simple enough to dodge and, a minute later, the three nevi were gone. I turned towards the guards, no emotion present on my face. “Where is the gravity storm?” I asked with a tone of authority. They only looked at me in confusion. “The thing that is spawning all these creatures?” I pressed. A look of realization came over them.   “Oh! It’s in the basement of the building down the block. Are you here to help?” one asked, his badges and medal signaling a sergeant status.   “Only for my own interests, Sergeant,” I replied. “What’s the status of the civvies?”   He blinked. “All civilians in the area have been evacuated to Central Park. Who are you?”   “Call me the Gravity Queen. Clear out your guards, Sergeant, or they will be in my way.” I glared down on him, causing the veteran pony to shake in fear. I inwardly smirk as my plan falls into action. What is my plan? Well, how do you convince a peace promising princess to fight a near god-level girl like me? Simple, you become a villain and let the populace make the decision for her. I figure that if I can become a villain in their eyes, Celestia and Luna will take me seriously in a fight. I may want to beat them into a pulp, but I want a good fight, too.   I look out at the battlefield in front of me, grimacing at the nevi before me. Several different types were present. I saw Snails, giant four-legged monsters with massive snail shells that cover a second eye, Spearquines, a two-legged nevi with the front end being a massive spear while the eye was on its hind end, and Shellicles, tall tentacle like nevi with three eyes that were hidden behind a massive spiral shell. These ones were moderate in difficulty each, but with the number of them around, I needed to get to the gravity storm to shut them down. “Sergeant, the weakness of these beasts is those red eyes. Break them and they just dissipate. Don’t expect my help in the future; I have my own plans for Equestria.” Not even waiting for a response, I took off.   It took nearly thirty minutes for me to reach the storm. Along the way, I destroyed as many nevi as I could. The Spearquines were the easiest to take out, not being hidden behind shells. Since the shells were going to be a problem, I smashed as many that I saw and just left them for the guard ponies to finish off. Now standing outside the building that the storm was in, I ran through the front door to a sight I wasn’t expecting: a rare nevi. Rare nevi look different from their counterpart as they are black and pulsing green instead of red. Also, they are much more difficult for them to be destroyed. Thankfully, it was a rare Minion instead of something hard like a rare Hulk. Now that would be scary.   Unfortunately, the nevi saw me before I had time to process what I was looking at. With a quick forward motion, the Minion shot its tentacle at me, sending me flying into a wall. Groaning in pain, I pulled out of the wall, looked up, and dodged to the side as a nevi blast blew apart the wall I was just in. I didn’t have time to waste on this guy, but he had plenty for me. Another tentacle wrapped around me and began slamming my body into the ceiling, the floor and the adjoining walls. After about five different slams, I was thrown away like trash. As I held my head in pain, I remembered why I depended so much on my flying kicks: because I have no idea how to fight. Honest! Sure I know a few martial arts techniques, but not really for any kind of conflict. Even my shield was just so I never go punched in the face.   Gathering myself up, I powered up slightly and launched forward with one of my special moves: The Spiraling Claw. I shot forward at incredible speed and spun around creating a whirlwind of tearing power that slammed into the rare nevi. It was a resistant little bugger, holding out for a little while before succumbing to my pressing power. It blasted apart just as I ran out of spiral. I should really learn how to fight before I’m ready to fight the princesses.   As I stood, I looked around to find myself surrounded by glowing purple crystals. I blinked. These were the currency of the game and no doubt were impossibly rare here in Equestria. I smiled, knowing that these could be useful later on. I lit up a hand and drew in the multitude of crystals with a nano-black hole, depositing them into a pocket dimension that I created by bending gravity. These could make me a very rich girl. Without anything else to trouble me, I proceeded into the basement of the building. I found the gravity storm in the very center of the unfinished cement room. I smirked, reaching out my hand to destroy the storm with my gravity grip (patent pending). I squeezed the storm and it was destroyed a few seconds later.   Thinking back, I should have realized that was a bad idea. Especially since the entire building support surrounded the storm. The storm burst just like the one back at the dragon home, sending out a massive shockwave that shattered the supports entirely. It also blasted me away into the wall, again. As I shook off the daze, I was distracted by the sound of crumbling rock. I looked up to see the ceiling above me cracking and crumbling. “Oh, not good.” The next second, the building collapsed, sending thousands of pounds of rock and concrete on my head. Just as it began, I created a wormhole below me and fell through into the open air above the city. I looked down to see the rest of the building fall to pieces below me. Good thing, too, considering that it was a pretty extensive skyscraper I was in.   As the dust settle, the citizens and guards of Manehattan looked upon me, floating above the destruction with a dark smile on my face. “Ponies of Equestria!” I shouted out to them. “I am the Gravity Queen, destroyer of the nevi!” Before I finished, though, cheers went up from the ponies. Freaking cheering! I was supposed to strike fear into them with my easy destruction, not get applauded for it. Unless… Damn it Celestia! Now it makes sense why the guards didn’t know who I was; that damned princess hasn’t told the ponies that I have been released! How can I be a villain if nopony knows who I am!?   “We love you Gravity Queen!” I heard some of the ponies shouting at me. Grimacing, both in disappointment and in pain, I worm holed out there and landed on my butt back at Rarity’s boutique.   “Ugh, that could have gone better,” I commented to myself. Though, I wasn’t alone in the room.   “Kat! You’re back!” I looked over and saw Twilight and Rarity looking back at me with smiles, though there was an underlying feeling of concern that I could see. “Are you alright?” asked Twilight.   “I’ve been better. Note to self: Do not destroy a gravity storm in a basement of a skyscraper. Leads to a collapsing building and a thousand pounds of debris landing on me.”   The girls gasped and Twilight started looking over me. “You had a building collapse on you?! Are you hurt? Are you injured?”   “I’m fine Twilight.” I smiled at her. “Though I appreciate your concern. What I am surprised about is that even after the beating I’ve gone through, my clothes don’t have a single scratch on them.”   “That’s because I enchanted them, darling,” Rarity informed me. “You are a mare of action after all so I thought it would be better if your clothes don’t get shredded after your first fight.”   My eyes were wide. “Really!? That’s amazing Rarity. Thank you. Are there any other protections?”   “Oh yes. They are fireproof to an extent, cannot’ be torn except by you, water resistant, shock resistant—“   “Shock resistant?” I asked.   “Yes. With how Rainbow Dash hold grudges, as well as her tendencies to zap ponies she hates, I just wanted to be prepared.”   I grimaced a little. “Well, thanks for that. You know girls, after everything that’s happened today, I think I’m gonna go home and take a nap.”   “Oh, do you have to go?” Twilight asked with puppy dog eyes. “I wanted you to make up with our other friends.”   “Another time, Twilight. I am exhausted and really want to just lay down for a good sleep.”   With a downtrodden look, Twilight replied. “Okay, but can I come visit about that portal?” There was almost a pleading in her voice and I smiled at her.   “Sure Twilight, you can come over in a few hours. I took up residence in the old castle that I used to live in. You know where that is?”   “The Castle of the Two Sisters? Yes, I’ve been there. I’ll drop by later tonight, if that’s alright.”   “That would be lovely. I’ll put out a spread. Oh and I haven’t paid you for your services, Rarity, have I?”   “Oh don’t worry about it, dear Kat. I couldn’t expect a friend to pay me.”   “Nonsense, I insist. Here,” I opened up my pocket dimension and summoned three crystals, “Would these suffice?” I floated them in front of her and her eyes lit up in wonder.   “Oh. My. Goodness! These are beautiful! Such shine, such gleam; they are positively divine! Where on Equis did you find these wonderful gems?”   “They are created by a nevi I destroyed. I refer to them as Gravity Crystals.” I summoned another and handed it to Twilight. “Here, Twilight, for your research. Maybe you can tell me a little more about these things. All I know is that they seem to put off some kind of energy.” Now Twilight’s eyes were shining in scientific wonder. “Consider it a gift of friendship.”   “Thank you Kat. I love the challenge. I’ll bring you what I find as well as some textbooks and notes that I would like to go over with you.”   “I look forward to it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some sleep to catch up on.” With that I fell through to my room. I got up and stretched out on my bed, falling asleep just as soon as my head hit the pillow.   I woke up about an hour later, more refreshed than I had been, but not as much as I could be. With several hours before Twilight was supposed to come over, I decided to focus on my plan. My first attempt at being Equestria’s newest villain didn’t pan out how I had hoped. Then again, I was always the hero, no matter what I did. My fighting skills are also quite lacking. So, I need a teacher. One for villainy and one for fighting. I looked over at my shelf and had an idea. What if one of my fellow Displaced could help me?   I got up and went through my different trinkets. I avoided Auric’s because I wasn’t quite ready to face him again. The book didn’t lead anywhere, nor did the angel coin. My others led to nowhere either, leaving only the token. I picked it up and heard a voice ring through my head.   “I am the Overlord! Scourge of Equestria! Corrupter of innocence! If you seek to dominate the weak. If you wish to destroy all who oppose you. If you are willing to pay the price, then you may call upon my aid!”   I was visibly shaken by the amount of evil that permeated the coin. I want villainy, not pure black evil! Whoever this Overlord was, I needed to avoid him at all costs. Possibly not even as a last resort. I even considered destroying the token, but something told me that evil like that could come in handy sometime in the future. Sighing in defeat, I flung myself back on to the bed. “There has to be someone out there who can help me. I don’t need evil, just someone who can teach me how to feign villainy. Out there, somewhere, there is the perfect teacher for me.”   And it appeared my wish was granted. Not even a second later, another item fell from the portal above my bed, striking me right on the top of my head. “AAHH! YEOWCH!!” I sat up rubbing my head. “Aw, that hurt. What is it this time?” I looked over to my bed and found an oval stone laying on the covers. Intrigued, I picked it up and examined the strange stone. Written on it was some weird text. I couldn’t understand it, but it did look familiar; couldn’t place it, though. Was this a sign? Does this Displaced have the skills that I need? Well, wouldn’t hurt to ask.   Not exactly sure what I was doing, I called upon my powers and poured a small amount of energy into the stone. It glowed slightly and the next thing I know, my room is shrouded in a dark shadow. I hear the sound of something large and mechanical approaching from the darkness. I gulped audibly, thinking aloud, “Oh, this is not going to be good.”