//------------------------------// // Chapter two : Into a new world part 1 // Story: SINGULARITY Equestria // by Azzazel //------------------------------// //----------------------------- // Story: SINGULARITY Equestria // Chapter two : Into a new world part 1 // Author: Azzazel //----------------------------- __________________________________________________________________ Chapter two part 1. It was mid-day in the peaceful town of Ponyville, ponies were happily going about their business, not a care in the world. In the small town's library a purple unicorn was reading a book about advanced magic, even though she was very concentrated on her reading her mind still wandered. She thought about her friends, Applejack was apple-bucking the trees in Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie Pie was helping the cakes as they have been working non-stop on some new recipe. Rarity was probably at the spa as she didn't have any new orders to take care of, Rainbow Dash was probably asleep on some cloud and Fluttershy would be feeding the animals. All in all, it was a perfect day, until two bright flashes appeared. One in the Everfree forest quite far from the town's vicinity, and the other in a grass field on the outskirts of town. No pony seemed perturbed by the sudden show of lights and simply went back to their respective occupations. *** In the forest, after falling trough the trees and hitting most branches, an unconscious beast was slowly waking up. As soon as the sense of feeling returned it shrieked in agony and pain, it let out the most inhuman roar possible. In horrible pain, it got up its normally impenetrable hide, now weak and unable to stop the man that was out to end its life. Worse yet, it could not hear the 'Hive', it no longer knew what to do, without the hive its mind started tearing itself apart. It was exposed, its regenerative abilities kicking in and sewing the flesh back together, however its protective hide was no longer there. It looked around, a forest, there was no forest on Katorga-12, its goal was to hunt down those who would try and destroy the Singularity. The man who tried to stop it was no longer here and without the hive to dictate what to do its mind began degrading. 'Island, no more. Hive not speak, pain...Hurt, anything but pain. Make the pain go away. Hunt, killing will make the pain go away. Maim, dismember... ' It clutched its deformed head in agony as pain swept trough its entire body. It roared again and started the hunt, it found its prey, a deer, a swift bite severed its head off and the beast dug its claws in the body. Blood staining its blue skin, it was working the pain was going away but it needed more. The smell of blood attracted a weird creature which resembled a combination of a lion,scorpion and a bat, the beast waisted no time attacking, it summoned a zek barrel and threw it at the manticore. The manticore reared back its coat and wings now burned, it was not prepared for the punch it received that pierced its chest. It looked at the attacker and saw the mutated creature bring its head down for the kill, in a last desperate act to save itself the manticore stung the beast with its tail right in the forehead. It did not stop the jaws of death but it did pump the poison straight in the creature's brain. It stomped and pounded in agony at the corpse until it was just a red smear on the forest floor. It was not enough to kill it but it became enraged, it pounded against the floor a couple of times before storming into a random direction. *** Laying on its back on a grass field on the outskirts of the small town was commander Jonathan Green. His belongings just a few feet away were completely untouched, his condition however was less than favorable. As he came to his senses John tried to speak which only led to him coughing blood and almost passing out from the pain. He strained to open his eyes and immediately shut them as the sun was burning high above in the clear sky. He could only move his arms even though it brought immense pain, he could feel his own end coming. He opened his eyes and saw the beautiful landscape, he smiled weakly, at least he wouldn't die on that rock. 'This is it huh? I'm finally going to die, never would have guessed it would end this way.' The sun shone in his eyes 'Can't I even die in peace? Damn sun. ' He lifted his left arm to cover his eyes. even though it was painful, the least he could do is try do welcome his end more calmly. As his eyes adjusted to the light he finally noticed a very important detail, he still had the TMD. 'I'm such an idiot...' He painfully turned his hand and sent the white healing beam towards his body, as time passed he wondered how did he forget such an important detail. After a few minutes he was in top shape without the slightest discomfort or pain, as he stood up and rested his back against the soft grass a bigger realization hit him. To calm his mind he began replaying what happened on that floating death-trap. They knew from the start it wouldn't be just a simple mission, but it didn't sound so bad at the time. Considering all the near-death experiences and the suicidal missions they were given at least once a month, they were all but indestructible. Or so they thought, they weren't ill prepared, since they knew it would mean a death sentence, but no one could be prepared for what happened there. He chuckled as he remember the many times he almost died. Everything came back to him, the mutants, the TMD, Barisov, no death of his teammates, the beast, the bomb... How was he even alive? He looked at his arm once more and smiled. No wonder Barisov was so obsessed, this thing just teleported him out harms way, looking around he saw his backpack lying next to his weapons. A quick check revealed his weapons were intact, completely unaffected, the energy cells were undamaged and his revolver was strapped neatly on his belt alongside his knife. Giving himself a once-over he somehow felt younger, his armor was untouched which was a good thing since he couldn't be more lost if he tried. He looked around and saw a forest but it didn't look like any forest he knew of, he shrugged it off and spotted a small town, it wasn't exactly far, at least missing the obvious won't kill him today. And a town meant people, people mean directions, and that was what he was in desperate need off, although by the looks of it they didn't seem to have any way of long distance communication. But for now it was good enough, he didn't want to question his luck considering he just escaped certain death...again. The sun was shining in the sky, there was a gentle breeze blowing trough the air, he didn't need to rush. Although he did wonder how he would explain the tool on his hand when he got back, he shook his head and simply lay on his back, he will figure something out. Now it was time for some well deserved rest. ROAAARRRR. 'Or not.' *** The beast escaped from the forest and saw its target, a small town, it didn't have time to think, it didn't want to think, all it wanted is to make the pain go away. And it could only do that by killing, the poison burned inside its skull and it went charging towards the small settlement. It was noticed from the distance and ponies began to panic, hiding their young and locking their doors. A certain purple mare had gathered her friends and after sending a letter to their beloved princess, they took a stand ready to take down the foul beast. Even from the distance they noticed its features and saying it looked like a nightmare would make it sound pretty. They were not alone as some of the local guardsponies decided to join in and try to protect their home. Unbeknown to them that someone else noticed the horrible mutant. John looked in the direction of the roar and was horrified when he saw the mutant leap out of the forest and towards the town, it didn't seem to notice him granted it was a good distance away. Fearing the worst he strapped his AR9 to his back, grabbed the sniper rifle and got in position, he used the scope to see if there were any civilians and if they were aware of the incoming threat. It would be a good few minutes before it entered town and this gave him time to asses the situation properly. Making himself a target by attacking the thing right now would be downright stupid, he first got a good look at the creature, what it was doing and how was it acting. It obviously went berserk for some reason, but what really got his attention was its flesh, it no longer seemed hardened, provided its weak spot was as obvious as it could be, at least he could now cripple it much easier. He brought his attention to the small settlement and took a good look around, he saw something and enhanced the scope , he just stared, he rubbed his eyes and took another look. Nothing was changed, he was actually seeing horses, and not any kind of horses, brightly colored horses with human like features. His brain almost stopped working for a moment from sheer shock, although considering everything he went through in the past 48 hours he might have gone insane and was hallucinating, or maybe he was dead. However none of those options were plausible so he took a closer look, some had wings, some had horns, some had none. 'I think I took a wrong turn on the river Stix and ended up in Disney Land.' He thought to himself as the beast was slowly approaching. He watched the situation unfold and would act as needed, information was necessary, were they sentient, were they animals, were they hostile? The battle was about to start, various earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns plus the elements of harmony were ready to defend their home. The thing was closing in but it raised its hand in the air and an exploding barrel materialized in his hand and while it did miss most of the ponies, it did destroy half a house and knocked unconscious a few of the guards. They were terrified but refused to back down, this was their home. As it got closer and as they were about to strike, it blinked out of existence. For a moment they though it had left, they were wrong, as soon as they let their guard down it reappeared and slammed its giant fists into the ground mere inches where the ponies were. The shock was strong enough to send them flying into random directions, most were knocked out instantly as they hit various blunt objects. The thing went for the nearest creature with a pulse for its kill, which in this case was a butter yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. As it readied its fist, it found it immobilized, by a rope of all things, and a tiny orange horse pulling with all her strength. It roared in annoyance and pulled her in with ease. As she flew through the air it reared its other fist, and everypony else who just got out of their daze watched in horror as her friend flew trough the air and towards the behemoth. Its other fist connected with her friend and she flew back at dangerous speeds and through a nearby wall, medical ponies quickly took her out of the debris and to the hospital. It went back to its prey ignoring the various hits from flying ponies. It was happening all over again and they couldn't do anything to stop it, as it grew closer a small object flew at high speeds and severed its entire lower jaw, which fell limply on the ground. Everypony was shocked, the beast roared in pain and turned itself towards the source, it proved a bad mistake as the beast took another four hits, two in each knee. It fell, roaring in agonizing pain but not before getting hit once more but this time in the bright blue spot on its chest. The ponies watched in awe and fear as the mighty beast was brought to its knees by some unknown force. They could clearly see the open wounds, as they tried to locate what or who saved them, in the distance they could see a black figure getting up and heading towards the town. Commander Green had finally snapped out of his shock and concentrated on weakening the creature. He needed to get close enough to deliver the finishing blow, for the moment the mutant was crippled but it would be up soon enough. He didn't have time to reload as he decided on the quickest route to town, he looked at his TMD and an idea formed. It was a good a time as ever to try teleportation, replacing his sniper with his AR9 and slinging his backpack over his shoulder he started running towards the town. He took a deep breath and activated the teleport, it gave a funny feeling and left him slightly dizzy but this was the fastest way, he took a deep breath and continued until he reached town. He 'jumped' at least eight times and the last one ended with him on the roof, needless to say his stomach was doing back-flips and he was more than a bit dazed. He got back up and looked for the ugly mutant ignoring the looks he was receiving from the weird looking horses. He spotted the freak get up and roar, all looks turned to the mutant who threw his hands in the air and spawned another exploding barrel, his target a group of ponies who were helping some of the injured out of the rubble. John shook off his confusion and teleported in front of the group, the barrel was sent flying but it stopped in mid-air courtesy of gravity manipulation and was sent back to the creature hitting it square in the face. Ponies were in utter shock, a bipedal creature was fighting a monster at least ten times its own size with ease. The unconscious ponies started to come to and Twilight was the first to notice the tall creature followed by the rest of the elements. She saw him fling the offending object back to the attacker, the result was a very angry beast along with some very confused ponies. Before it could snap out of its daze the other one teleported right in front of it and send a strong shock wave from its hand knocking the thing backwards. They watched in awe as they saw it lift what they assumed was his weapon and point it at the creature, it pulled the trigger a few times and the other one seemed to be wounded by some sort of projectiles, but it was too fast for the naked eye. It staggered back as its opponent grew closer and sent another shock-wave at it, followed by more projectiles hitting it in the glowing spot on its chest. John repeated the motion until the mutant fell on its knees and hands, and the glow on its chest faded, he lifted his gun in one hand pressed the mussel on its forehead and emptied the clip in its head. The ponies watched as the body of the monster fell lifeless to the ground. With danger out of the way the other creature seemed to relax by taking a seat on a nearby bench and sighing as it checked its weapons. It seemed to ignore the ponies which started whispering to each other, after it finished it left its equipment on the bench and looked around. Rainbow Dash growing tired of waiting flew up in its face. John was surprised but with everything he went trough so far it barely phased him, he sighed again and spoke. ''Can I help you?'' This situation was putting a serious strain on his sanity, even more so when the flying horse replied. ''YOU CAN TALK?'' The flying horse yelled. ''No, I'm making random noises that sound like words.'' He replied sarcastically, she growled in response. ''Very funny now who and WHAT are you?'' She got so close he could smell her breath, ponies were gathering to listen in. '' My name is Jonathan Green, military commander and human.'' He replied in an unamused tone. ''And you... Need to brush more often.'' This got a few giggles from the crowd and a blush from the cyan pegasus who blew in her hoof and sniffed her breath, it smelled pretty bad surprisingly. ''Hey you know who you're talking to? I am Rainbow Dash the fastest flier in Equestria.'' She said pumping her chest up. 'Obviously self-proclaimed, brash, arrogant and annoying. Just great...' He sighed in annoyance. ''To whom apparently the notion of personal space is completely alien.'' He said gently rising his hand and pushing the pegasus a bit backwards.''Now, I can definitely tell I'm not on Earth anymore since we didn't have talking horses.'' She though she was going to be attacked but instead was gently pushed in the air, the sensation felt funny yet pleasant at the same time. ''Uh... We are ponies, not horses.'' She mumbled. ''Great, ponies, why in God's name have I landed here? Pegasi, unicorns, next you're going to tell me you have magic.'' The look he was receiving told him everything he needed to know. Nopony noticed but in the background there was a white flash of light. ''Wait...You don't have magic? Then how did you manage to do all that?'' She asked puzzled. ''Well I-'' He got cut off as a giant pony with wings and a horn crashed into him and pinned him to the ground. A purple unicorn cried out. ''Princess.'' She got her attention. ''W-what are you doing?'' She screamed from the crowd. Celestia was puzzled, was this not the creature that had attacked? ''My faithful student what seems to be the problem?'' She asked genuinely confused. 'Ok now I'm pissed, is this what I get for doing something nice?' John asked himself feeling the pressure cracking his ribs. '' You're attacking the one who saved us, he defeated the monster.'' She pointed at the large and very obvious corpse near a wrecked wall. The princess then realized what a horrible mistake she made and how this was going to turn out into a very bad first impression. John however had enough. 'Don't want to move? Fine I'll make you move.' John raised his left hand and yelled ''GET THE HELL OFF ME!'' He then sent an impulse towards the princess at point blank range. Everypony watched in shock as their beloved princess flew into a nearby building at dangerous speeds, effectively crashing trough the wall. John then healed his wounds. ''Bitch.'' He muttered as he got to his feet. This did not sit well with the town ponies and they began backing away except for a certain pegasus that tried to tackle John but found herself suspended in mid-air mere inches from him. She found that she couldn't move and tried to break whatever invisible force held her, she noticed John had his arm pointed at her and the strange object on his hand was glowing. '' Hey whats the big deal? Why did you attack the princess? Grrr LET ME GO!'' She yelled in frustration. ''Its called self-defense, she breaks my ribs, I send her through a building. Now we're even.'' He said unamused. Princess Celestia was not expecting that and at the moment was not thinking straight. She registered the human as a threat which is why she attacked. After hearing she might have harmed an innocent she was about to apologize but was sent flying by a very painful wave of energy. She understood her wrong doing but that didn't mean she wouldn't retaliate, after all nopony would go unpunished after attacking her. John however noticed this and sent Rainbow Dash upwards, it didn't hurt her but it would get her out of the way, despite her rapid approach John did not move from his spot. Instead he decided to see how his shield would hold against an enraged princess. He waited just before she hit and he smiled, clenched his fist and his body was suddenly covered by a protective barrier, the princess could not stop due to momentum and slammed into the shield. The shield held and she bounced off along with all the damage she intended on doing, which ended up hitting her. ''Smart move, you just slammed into yourself.'' John taunted. 'Ultimate tool indeed.' Despite everything, she got up and started shooting energy blasts at him. He couldn't dodge so he teleported right behind her. '' Let's stop before you injure yourself even further.'' He didn't even turn to face her, but stepped aside when she tried to buck him. He turned around to face her and so did she, if he didn't have the TMD enhancing his reflexes he would have been in trouble, but he skillfully dodged every attack, frustration slowly growing inside the royal princess. He saw her charge her horn and decided enough is enough, a small white ball emerging from his left arm, he sent the ball flying under the princess' feet before she could attack, and they were both engulfed in the barrier that was created. He could still move but Celestia was suspended in time, most ponies ran away from the sight but five of them remained. John wave a hand in front of the princess and looked to his side to find five ponies closing in. Two of them desperately trying to break the barrier, but to no avail seeing as the barrier was created through technology and not magic, he smiled and exited the barrier to confront the problem. The first one who tried to speak was Rainbow Dash but he cut her off. '' If you have a problem I suggest you let someone with the capabilities to form a coherent argument speak.'' She was about to attack but backed off when she saw him lift his left hand and heard it buzz to life. Pinkie Pie was feeling pretty bad, Rarity would have appreciated his elegant choice of clothing but right now was infuriated, Rainbow was also ready to pounce but knew it would end badly. Fluttershy looked like she was ready to break, Twilight was infuriated and wanted nothing more than to teach him a lesson, but seeing what he did to the princess made her do a double take. Instead she chose to be the voice and ask the questions, she learned his name from Rainbow while they he and the princess fought, she summoned her courage and asked. ''W-why did you attack the princess if you helped us?'' ''Oh I'm sorry clearly she did nothing wrong when she slammed into me and broke my rib-cage. And the correct therm is retaliate, there is a difference you know? I am a soldier and I'm not afraid to fight back.'' He said nonchalantly. They could understand how this could have lead to a bad first impression considering he took down that monster before it hurt anypony. Their thoughts however went towards the princess' safety and so Twilight voiced her concern. ''What sort of magic did you use, I don't know of any spell that can do that. It doesn't even feel like magic.'' John raised an eyebrow at the mention of magic. ''That is because it isn't.'' Everypony gasped.'' What you see here is called a dead-lock sphere, quite an efficient prison, no bars or warden needed, whatever and whoever enters the sphere is frozen in time, except for the one who holds the key. This is created through advanced technology and can last indefinitely, she is fine just stuck in place.'' Their jaws dropped, this human was part of a species that did not rely on magic and still had impressive abilities. Fluttershy however snapped and began approaching the human. ''YOU.'' This got John's attention.''YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!'' Her friends knew what she was doing and hopped the 'stare' would bring John into submission. Inside John's head however a few gears clicked into action and he was reminded of a similar position when he was captured by the Chinese, they were using their best mentalists and shrimks to try and break him. They almost succeeded, but he found a way to resist until he was saved, he found that self induced pain could override the initial shock and resist the rest of the interrogations. 'Who would have thought such a sweet thing could have such a intimidating ability, too bad for her I know how to react.' John clenched his right fist to the point where it was bleeding, the pain surged through his entire body and he found he could move again, he craned his neck to one side and the other and could feel the satisfying popping of joints. He leaned forward much to the shock of the other ponies but did not avert his eyes from the still staring pegasus, he reached with his left hand for her head and everypony froze expecting the worst. John pressed his hand gently on her head and scratched behind her ear, Fluttershy's back leg involuntarily started twitching much like how a dog would. She broke the stare and pushed her head in his hand, that is until she realized what she had been doing. She eeped in an adorable way then blushed and retreated behind Pinkie pie. Everypony was surprised at the passive interaction, and even if she didn't say it, Fluttershy liked it. '' Was that supposed to do anything? I stare death in the face every time I'm on a mission.'' He replied flatly. He looked around, taking in the damage that was done to the town while the ponies got out of their shock. He figured it would be a good idea to help repair some of the damage, he started walking towards a crumbing house while various ponies were peeking from their hiding spot. Twilight and her friends followed him, trying to get out of their shock they noticed him approach the crumbling house curios as to what he will do. In front of the wreck a purple pony with a grape and strawberry for a cutie mark was crying at the loss of her home, it would take weeks to repair it and she just didn't have the bits. While they were still out of earshot John asked.'' Who's house was this?'' Twilight snapped out of her trance and responded.''Berry Punch's house, why?'' ''Just curious. Say how much time would it take to repair all this damage?'' Since he was more or less stuck here John thought he might as well put the TMD to work. They continued to approach. ''A few weeks, rebuilding an entire house will be tough.'' Twilight was curious as to why he would ask about that of all things. End chapter two part 1.