//------------------------------// // Welcome To Equinus! // Story: Equestria Fighter(revised) // by GenerousGhibli //------------------------------// Roma stood in his tent, binding the cuts on his forearm. He had intended to use his sword to cut the container, but that damned mare just had to interrupt. The wound stung badly, mostly from dumping vodka in it upon his return, but also from the fact that there was dirt in it. He shivered as a sharp wind blew his tent’s flaps open. Maybe taking off his jacket had been a bad idea after all. He glanced at his desk, where the Alicorn Amulet rested on top of his maps. It gleamed in the lamplight, despite the lamp being rather dim. Magic, no doubt. This world could use more of that. “Sir!” A young pegasus mare burst in, panting heavily. She didn’t say anything for several seconds. She was staring. He could tell without looking. Everypony stared. The scars on his back were broad and there were many, so it was not as though they could be overlooked. “I, uh… there are eight strangers in the center of Camp. They’re demanding to see you. One of them is an Alicorn, sir.” “Very well. Tell them I am tending my wound and will be out momentarily,” he said with a stern tone. She nodded and galloped off. Of course they had followed him. Why wouldn’t they? He finished binding his arm and picked up his brush, then used it to pull all the stray lochs of his mane back in place, then quickly and deftly braided it. He glanced at his coat rack. What to wear? He shrugged and selected a white dress shirt, and a red vest. He stepped back and realized with some humor, that his wardrobe was almost all red. Why not? It was his favorite color. He donned his semi-formal attire and selected his favorite sword. An elegant swept hilt sword, crafted in Germaney, and enchanted to never break, or rust, or… anything, really. It just, existed. It had for a centuries, since the time when he forged it with his own hands. He strapped the weapon to his flank and grabbed the Alicorn Amulet. It found it’s place in his left vest pocket. After emerging from the tent, he made his way to the center of Camp. He could see the dragon he had crossed blades with before. The next to be seen was Queen Twilight. She stood nearly as tall as the drake. The others came into view shortly after. They had changed form upon crossing into this dimension, apparently. Now that they were his own kind, he could see that they were all quite pretty. Particularly the pale one with the purple mane. But none were as pretty as his wife. He smiled at that small fact. The Queen spotted him and pointed him out to the others. The pink one glared, the yellow one cowered behind the pink one, the tan one just stared, the pale one put a hand on the dragon’s shoulder, the rainbow one squinted at him, and the… green one? The green one was curious. The others wore little or no clothes, but she had a heavy cloak over her shoulders. In fact, it seemed to actually be made for her current form. Her face was partially covered, so he moved on. “Your majesty, Queen Twilight,” he said, bowing once again to the Alicorn. “I’m not a queen,” she said flatly. Bluntly. Without grace. “I’m a Princess.” “I see. Well, perhaps one day you shall ascend to the throne. In this world, Alicorns promptly become queens.” “They don’t where we’re from. The highest rank we can attain is Princess." She paused and sighed. "But I suppose one can’t expect things to be the same over several dimensions.” “Quite. Well, Princess Twilight, please allow me to formally welcome you to our humble world, Equinus,” he said, raising his hands to the sides to indicate his surroundings. “I don’t suppose I need to ask why you’re here.” “We came for the amulet,” the green one said harshly. She had a gruff, but still feminine voice, like she’d been inhaling dust for seven years. “Yes, and we would very much appreciate it if you would return it peacefully,” the pale one said as she awkwardly stepped forward. She had a smooth voice. Like… vanilla pudding. “I am very sorry, but I simply cannot do that. Why don’t we go for a walk? I’ll explain the situation on the way.” He put one hand behind his back and swung the other out. “I’m due to meet somepony in this direction.” “Very well. But if you try anything, my bodyguards, Lyra and Spike, will tear you to shreds.” In response to the Princess’s statement, the green one raised her arms and punched her hands together. She had bionics. How peculiar. He hadn’t thought their world would have such technology. “I presume that you, mighty dragon, are Spike?" Roma asked, bowing slightly. "Your skill with a blade is admirable, even by my standards.” “What’s that supposed to mean?” he snapped. Roma put his hands up defensively. “Nothing, merely that I have seen many great sword masters in my time, and as such, I have very high standards.” “Hey now, don’t you two be gettin into fights over nothin! Let’s get this tour over with, so we can all go home. This two legs stuff ain’t normal.” “Yes, the tan one is right. We should proceed.” >X< As they followed Roma through the Camp, they saw ponies and creatures of all kinds working together. Diamond dogs, griffons, deer, rams, all of them were coexisting seamlessly. It was perfect harmony. As it turned out, Camp was actually a small town that had been abandoned before Roma’s people had occupied it. They had never intended to stay in one place for so long, but they wound up calling the place home, and rather than give it a new name, they simply kept calling it Camp. “Since none of you are going to ask, I stole the amulet because we needed it. See, for the past three hundred years or so, a tyrant has ruled over Equinus, and my people seek to overthrow him. However, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, unicorns and pegasi possess no magic. Earth ponies do, but only because they are need to grow crops, and only enough magic to survive…” “I did notice. Why is that? Was it always this way?” Twilight asked, scratching her shoulder. The cloak Roma had given her itched. He had claimed that the heavy garment would hide her wings, as seeing an Alicorn might give a false hope to the people. The claim had puzzled her, but she let the subject lie. “No, it was not. Once, everypony had magic to spare. But when Tirek took over, he stole almost every ounce of magic in the world. He could not take mine, thankfully. Please know, it would be wrong of me to say that he is an unfair ruler. To the contrary, if you obey his laws, he will leave you alone. And he is not neglectful of the environment, he cares for the planet, maintains the seasons and provides whatever weather is needed. He could, in fact, be a relatively decent emperor," Roma said, but stopped to sigh, and Twilight waited for the inevitable counter. "But he lets his citizens starve. He and his council take everything for themselves, and leave nearly nothing for us. Their soldiers abuse the power they have, and the citizens live in fear. Most were born into this life, so they know nothing of freedom. It saddens me to no end.” Roma’s entire demeanor had changed during his speech. Before, he had stood straight, with shoulders squared and his hands behind his back. Now, his shoulders drooped, and his head hung a little lower. His expression was softer, too. His eye were gentle and distant. They no longer seemed hateful of malicious, like he was planning to kill the pony he was looking at. But a few things still didn’t check out with his story. “What about newborns? Are they stripped of their magic at birth? And you speak of these events as though you were there yourself. And if you had Alicorn Queens, why did they not stand up against Tirek? In my dimension, I held my own against Tirek in single combat, after I absorbed the other Princesses’ magic,” Twilight said, then trotted around in front of Roma, forcing him to stop. His face twisted in anger. The purple Princess was beginning to infuriate him with all these questions. “Well, that might work, if we still had all of our Queens. Two of them are dead, and the other is occupied with ruling The New Lunar Republic," he said harshly, then forced himself to calm down. It would not due to anger an Alicorn. "And as for newborns, ponies are born with little or no magic, now. A seal was placed everypony centuries ago. It passes on to the newborn, and each generation is the same. Pegasi have adapted to fly without the aid of magic, though.” “There is no fourth Queen?” She asked, a little unsure if she wanted to hear the answer. “No.” “And you still haven’t told me why you act like you were there when this happened,” she scolded, pursing her lips and putting a hand on her hip. “Because I was there." “You expect me to believe that? You cant be any older than me. I’m 29.” “What a coincidence. I am 1,429. I’m surprised you haven’t already noticed, but I am a vampony,” he replied and grinned, displaying his fangs. He had expected them to panic and run for the garlic and stakes, but they did not. “They’re kind of short, don’t you think?” the green one- Lyra- said with a chuckle. This in turn elicited giggles from the other mares as well. Roma could practically feel his face turning red. “Well they, ahem, extend. When I am exposed to blood, my fangs triple in length,” he replied. “It works a bit like sexual arousal, really.” Rarity decided to cut in. “Let’s change the subject, shall we? Who are you taking us to meet?” “My wife,” he stated bluntly. “Dude, you had us thinking it was some big important meeting!” the dragon shouted throwing his arms up. “Sir Spike, short of a meeting with both my generals and allies, there is no bigger, more important meeting.” Roma said with a grimace. “Amen to that!” Pinkie Pie blurted. She wore a grin like an idiot. Who could possibly be married to her? He was answered by the ring she wore on her necklace. Fluttershy wore one similar. It would certainly explain why the yellow mare was so attached to the pink one. “And is your wife as old as you?” Twilight asked. “Older, actually. She is about a hundred years older than I am,” he said with a shrug. It didn’t really matter to him how old she was. “So is she a vampony as well?” Fluttershy asked quietly. “No, but she is right there,” he said and pointed to a group of performers in the middle of a large circle of ponies. “Which one? There’s like, seven mares,” Rainbow Dash said, hovering above Roma. “The one singing and dancing. Her name is Sonata.” She was thin and slightly muscular, and dressed in odd clothes. A short top, with flared sleeves that ended at the elbow, and a long ruffled skirt, with a broad band of jingling coins around her flanks. Her electric and midnight blue mane was held back by floral patterned band across the top of her forehead. The Princess gasped upon seeing her. She knew what Sonata was. “You’re married to a siren?!” “Yes, and quite happily I might add.” Roma allowed a smile to spread across his face as he watched Sonata Dusk, his beloved wife, dance and bring joy to his people. Fate would have it that he happened to fall for another immortal, unlike his sister in law... he pushed the thought from his mind. “But it’s not as bad as it seems.” “How is it not bad? I encountered three sirens once, and they almost enslaved an entire city! Sonata was one of them,” The princess shouted, putting a hand on the vampony's shoulder. “Well, as you said, each dimension is different. Here, Sonata is a kind, good mare. She doesn’t feed on negativity, but is sustained by joy,” he explained, as he waved to Sonata. She smiled and winked at him, but continued to sing and dance. She finished the song she was on, and began a new one. It was quite beautiful, really. The song had a mellow tune, and it kind of made Twilight sad. It was a song of lost chances at love, and of how the stallion depicted had left the mare, believing she was happy with her new husband. Twilight could hear- no, she could feel, the pain in Sonata’s voice. How was she doing that? Surely a siren could not feel such things as compassion? Starswirl’s journal stated that they were cold and unfeeling beasts, that thrived on disharmony. And her encounter with the Dazzlings had proven that to be true. This version of Sonata did have a blue gem in her chest, so perhaps… Or maybe that was just how they looked here. The Princess didn’t know what to think about the situation. Suddenly, she realized that the music had stopped. She looked around for the siren, and was surprised to find her standing casually in front of her. “Are you okay?” she asked sweetly. “Um, yes. I suppose I am. Why do you ask?” “Your face was all scrunched up. I thought maybe you were upset or something.” “No, I’m just confused.” She looked around, and saw Roma telling some red mare to find her friends some clothes, on his tab. “Because I’m not mean, right?” the tiny mare asked, tilting her head slightly. “Um… how did you guess?” “I didn’t. I can feel your doubt. You want to trust me, but something makes you hesitant,” she said, leaning in close. She was a fair bit shorter than Twilight, so she couldn't quite manage to look the Alicorn in the face. “You’ve met my kind before, haven’t you?” “Yes. I don’t mean any offense, it’s just that I had a very, very bad experience. They were horrible. I’m not saying you are, but-” Twilight's ramble was cut short as Sonata raised her hand, and pressed it to Twilight's mouth. “It’s okay. I know my kind are almost all bad. But see, I’m a good siren," she said, still smiling, "and I make people happy with my singing. I like it when ponies smile instead of throw things at me.” “Do you, uh, feed off that happiness?” she asked hesitantly. “Not in the same way my sister would. She gains power from bad feelings, but I don’t gain power from good ones." She paused for a moment, and put on a pensive expression, followed quickly by one of realization. "See this blue gem is kind of like a battery. It keeps me running. So I have to keep it charged or I’ll die. Roma helps with that. He’s always so happy when I’m around him.” “Is that why you married him? To have an excuse to charge your gem?” “Oh, Queens no! I Married him because I love him, silly. Why would you marry somepony for something like that?!” Sonata said, giving her a puzzled look. Twilight was tempted to mention the Canterlot wedding, but declined to, in favor of not offending the tiny mare. That was another thing, wasn’t it? She was so small and thin. Was she malnourished? It didn’t seem that way, with how she had been dancing before. Compared to her counterpart in the human world, she was like a mouse. Her other version had been lean and strong, seemingly capable of knocking somep- someone on their backside with one punch. But this Sonata seemed like one punch would snap her neck. Surely Roma didn’t drink from her that often? Did he even drink from her? She was so confused. “Have you two gotten acquainted?” Roma asked, startling her out of her thoughts. “Um… I think so?” “Roma! Did your trip go well?” Sonata shouted, and ran up to throw her arms around the vampony’s neck. He was massive next to her. His two hands covered her entire back when he held her. His eyes shone and his grin was broad, and that was mirrored in Sonata’s face. Maybe, just maybe, they were truly happy together. “It went as well as it could have gone. Obviously, I had some unwanted guests follow me back,” he answered, scratching the back of his head. Again, his demeanor had changed. where he was stern and aggressive moments ago, he was now tender and soft-spoken. Their love flew in the face of everything she believed… How could a siren feel love? “Twilight?” she was shaken out of her daze by Lyra’s voice, and a cold hand on her shoulder. “You okay?” “Oh, yes. This whole, siren-vampony thing is confusing. What did you need Lyra?” she said, shaking her head. The unicorn had a concerned look on her face. Was she worried about Twilight? “I’m just letting you know that the others have gone to get new clothes. Spike is with them.” “Right. Thanks. Why didn’t you go?” “I’ve got all the clothes I need.” she paused for a moment, glancing at Roma. “And right now, your safety is more important. We don’t know these ponies, and I don’t trust his story.” “I understand. And thank you for staying,” she said, turning back towards Roma and Sonata. >X< -Tirek’s palace- “Adagio. You might as well stop fooling with that mane of yours. It’s going to look terrible no matter what you do.” “Excuse me, Chrysalis? Some of us like to at least try and look nice,” the siren queen stated to the changeling pointing at her with her brush. Her mane was extremely precious to her. Almost as precious as the three red gems in her chest. Chrysalis however, didn’t care either way. She just woke up in the morning and brushed her mane once through. “Why do you think the Emperor’s summoned us?” “I have no idea. Philomena? What do you think?” The massive creature walked calmly among the other five of the gathered monarchs, towering over them all. It was a female, to most ponies’ shock. But more surprising, she had once been a simple old phoenix, the pet of the dead solar queen. Unfortunately, she did not speak much, if at all. Her appearance was terrifying for anypony, even her servants. She stood at least two and a half yards tall and had nasty sets of talons on each leg, and hand. She had massive wings that spread to at least ten feet, and her face remained similar to a phoenix. “Silly Chryssi, don’t you know she’s the ‘Silent Queen’ for a reason?” Discord teased as he floated over the other five, his grin mischievous, but not vile. What he did with his eye was what was truly vile. They always roamed over a mare’s body, no matter what species. Being a draconaquus apparently came with that privilege. The other two monarchs simply rolled their eyes and scoffed. None of them liked each other much, and that was fine. Their states all had thick borders between them. “Tell me King Sombra, why do you think he has summoned us?” “I’m not sure King Nightmare. But it can’t be good.” Sombra and Nightmare were likely the most mature of the monarchs, and as such, led the two most powerful of the six states. “I wonder why your dear sister isn’t here?” “I’ve told you that the Lunar Queen is not my sister. If anything, we are cousins.” King Nightmare’s build was similar to that of a normal stallion, save for the flowing mane and ridiculously massive wings. His wings were even bigger than that of Philomena, who was an actual bird… thing. “But it would be nice to see her again.” “It’s too bad, really. I don’t thing the last Alicorn will be here,” Sombra replied with a grimace as he watched Chrysalis slap the god of chaos for staring at her flanks again. “Honestly, older than we are, and he still behaves like a child… they all do.” “I don’t think Adagio is too immature. Perhaps a tad too vane, but when attraction is your… uh, what do the foals call it? A shtick? When attraction is your shtick, I suppose one must look their best at all times.” King Nightmare replied with a slight smirk. Despite his name, he was a fairly kind god. He treated his subjects with kindness, unlike the younger members. While he understood that love bred loyalty better than fear, he was still very strict and harsh with his subjects whenever the law was concerned. The throne room approached and the doors swung open for them, manipulated by Tirek’s power. He stood almost as tall as the room itself. To him, the Emperor of Equinus, the monarchs were like insects. And they felt that way too. The three who had been bickering before now bowed quietly to their master. To anger him was to bring the wrath of Tartarus itself upon you. King Sombra was the first to speak to the Emperor. “My master, you have summoned us, and now we are here. May I ask, why have you summoned us?” he said, following protocol and completing each sentence. He made sure that there were no edges to his words, and made double sure that his words could be interpreted in only one way. “Yes, you may ask. I have summoned you here, because in three days, Roma of the Revolutionary Camp will make his way here,” the emperor replied, his voice booming throughout the castle. “Would you have us destroy him, my master?” King Discord asked, gritting his teeth. Why was he worried? True, Roma and the Chaos God had once been rivals, but Discord was much more powerful now. Crushing the gypsy would be no problem for him. “No. Though I can understand why you would think that, Discord. You are to welcome him with open arms, and warm smiles. He has declared his Camp to be a sovereign nation, outside of your six. As such he has diplomatic immunity, and as you know, I am nothing if not fair,” he replied, clearly displeased with his own nature. “If that is what my master seeks… Philomena will obey,” the phoenix stated calmly and slowly, carefully sounding out her words. Everypony was shocked, including Emperor Tirek. But he grinned regardless. “Adagio, Sombra, you will prepare for his arrival. It will, no doubt, be a momentous occasion. Be gone with the rest of you,” he commanded. The monarchs quickly obeyed, exiting the throne room with haste. While the other four returned to their states, Adagio and Sombra stayed behind, contemplating how to welcome the vampony, and his reasons for even visiting. “Adagio, he’s your brother in law, what do you think?” the King asked, stroking his muzzle. “He likes wine, so a wine tasting party? It‘s been a long time since I‘ve spoken with him, so his tastes may have-” “I meant, why he’s coming,” he cut in, giving the queen a deadpan stare. “You forget, he and I were once traveling companions. I know what the stallion is interested in.” “Riiight. I did forget. He’s probably coming here to try and have his little Camp expanded. Make it a State Proper,” Adagio replied with a chuckle. “Perhaps. That would land him on the council. Give him some influence. But that’s not really his style, is it?” “Regardless, we should get started,” Adagio said, cutting the conversation short. Many preparations were to be made if they would be receiving somepony so dangerous as her dear brother in law.