“Ahh nothing like the city life. Polluted air, traffic jams, sketchy street meat, yup it couldn't be better.” I said as I was standing on the ledge of the roof I was on and looking over at the sun setting on the city skyline,
“Why am I even standing on the ledge? What if there's an earthquake and I just fall?” I looked down and saw that I was ten stories away from the sidewalk, “Yeah better back up.” I take off my backpack and pull out a blueprint,
“What's the layout of this school again?” the blueprint I have was of a local high school, thankfully after weeks of unemployment I finally got hired to snuff out some Arachnes that have been spotted inside an old building. My employer told me that these things have been hanging around the same spot for a few weeks now and they just snatch up anyone who happens to be wandering around an abandoned building like idiots,
“Then again when I was in high school we always had some sort of spot where the burnouts would play.” which would make sense because my employer also told me that a lot of teenagers were going missing. The blueprint says that the best vantage point would be on top of the cafeteria, there I would have the whole view of the building and be far enough from the freaks so they won't notice me,
“Cafeteria it is!” I pull out my phone and dial 'Unknown', “Hey, I'll be at the cafeteria so get that radio ready Chum-bucket.”
“Stop calling me that! How many times do I have to tell you!?”
“Listen, as long as you play the role of bait you will be called Chum-bucket so get to it.”
“How fucking dare you!? I only “play the role of bait” is because you're not letting me get in at any of the action! If I were the one in charge-”
“But you're not in charge are you? I am the one who got hired and you are still the bum who lives in my apartment, free of charge I might add since you have no job.”
“And you call this a job!?”
“Oh look at the time it's-” I hung up the phone and texted her to get ready.
I had to break into the cafeteria and knock out a couple of security guards but aside from that I made it to the rooftop. I pull out an on-ear walkie-talkie and turn it on,
“Fisherman to Chum-bucket, come in Chum-bucket, this is Fisherman, over.”
“I'm at the corner.”
“No you're doing it wrong.”
“W-what? What am I doing wrong?”
“You have to use your codename and you have to say over when you're done talking Chum-bucket, over.”
“I'm not doing this.”
“You have to Chum-bucket, or else, over.”
“Or else what? Lock me out of the apartment again?”
“Yes, wait again? Over.”
“You did that last night, I had to sleep at the bus stop remember?”
“Oh yeah, you ate my bacon cheeseburger I was saving. Then I'll just kick you out, over.”
“What the fuck is wrong with you!?”
“Aside from what is already wrong? Over.”
“Are really gonna kick me out just because I don't want to use that stupid codename and play along with your little game?”
“Yes, over.” she was quiet for about a minute, “This is...Chum-bucket, I'm at the corner...over.”
“Yay you're actually doing it! Okay Chum-bucket just stay still, over.” there was an air conditioner that reached my chest, “Perfect, now what to choose? Maybe the AI AS50?” I placed my hands on the surface, with a flash of green light the very same sniper rifle appeared,
“Or maybe the APR308?” in another flash of green light the sniper was replaced by the one I mentioned, “Ooh why not the PSG1 like in Kill Bill!” another flash and I got the gun I wanted,
“Nice!” I looked into the scope and I found my partner in crime standing at the corner, “Bang! You're dead Chum-bucket hahahaha, over.”
“Ugh, why do I have to wear this? Over.” she was currently wearing some skinny jeans, a light pink sweater with matching leg warmers and she had her bangs cut, which I was happy to help with, “So you could look like a normal teenager, over.”
“I don't even think normal teenagers would wear this! Over.”
“Get over it, over.”
“What if they manage to get a hold of me Fisherman? Over.”
“Don't worry about it, you have the 100% guaranteed satisfactory seal of approval by me, I won't let them hurt a single hair on your head, over.”
“You better.” she still sounded unsure.
She started walking across the building, “Now release the pheromones, over.” she did a little motion with her left hand, “Now sit at the bus stop.” she sat down and inside the building I saw a shit load of glowing red eyes, all of them glued on her, “Chum-bucket, no matter what don't scream, over.”
“Why? Over.”
“Quiet, over.” three of them crawled along the walls of the building while one stayed on the ground and slowly stalked her, “Come a little closer Mandibles.” it arched up and raised one of it's arms. Chum-bucket froze up as blood drenched her,
“Run Forest! Run! Over.” she got up and booked it, in the process she dropped the on-ear walkie-talkie, “Wait! Wait come back! Those were like 40 bucks each! Over!” she was long gone and the Arachnes picked up what she dropped,
“She was a trap!”
“We were fooled by a human!”
“But who?” I was hearing everything they were saying. I couldn't tell if it was either sheer bad luck or I somehow pissed off God at some point, whatever it was it made the wind blow behind me,
“I smell a human nearby.”
“As do I.” I looked into the scope and saw all of them staring back at me, “There is a human over there.” I took aim and shot the one holding the earpiece dead,
“And then there were two!” they looked pissed off and began their hunt,
“I better start running hahaha!” the gun vanished and I ran. I rushed down onto the front of the school and did a few stretches, “Hhhnnggg my lower back is killing me.” I spotted the two of them on the roof,
“Hey guys! Just doing some stretching. But maybe I should stop since it's just you two.” one of them then did a series of screeches and what do you know almost fifty of those fuckers show up and surround me, “Oh, I see. Well then back to stretching.”
Before I could do a lunge one of them pounced and would've turned me into confetti if I didn't move, “Nevermind, warm-up's over.” a pistol appeared in my hand and gave that guy a new hole in the head,
“Safety first.” I wave my hand over my face and a metal mask appeared with a painted on smile showing sharp teeth, “Now come at me, all at once!” and they did. All of them leaped towards me brandishing their fangs and claws and hissing at me like cats, I clasp my hands together and did a 360 spin while throwing live grenades at them. All of them exploded beautifully, on time and directly in their faces,
“Wait I only counted 23 explosions, what happened to number 24?” I found it next to my foot,
“Shit!” I kicked it and it exploded in mid air, “How the hell did it not explode? Hey a pen!” I bent down to pick it up and I saw one try to hit me but missed. I kick it right in the face to give myself room and I jabbed it in one of it's eyes with the pen,
“Aww does that hurt? I know how to fix that!” I jumped into the air and I landed on it's face, forcing the pen in deeper, “Can't feel the pain when you're dead right?” it fell with a thud and I faced another ten more a few yards away from me,
“Left or right?” I asked placing my hands behind me, “Die human!” one charged head on, “Right it is!” in my right I was holding a lever-action shotgun and with one squeeze his head turned into a Gallagher joke, “Now for the left.” in my left I was holding a detonator. They were confused until they noticed the bombs they were standing on, I planted them while I did my stretches, “Bye-bye!” a second later almost all of them died a fiery death,
“Oh goodie we still have some contestants!” hey I said almost all of them, the ones who survived wrapped themselves in their silk. Luckily they were down to five, but I knew more would come, I'm not that stupid.
“Can one of be so kind as to call out your queen?” I asked with both hands under my chin and big puppy eyes,
“He wants the queen!”
“He's after the queen!”
“Protect the queen!”
“Protect the queen!”
“With our lives we will protect the queen!” slowly but surely they walked towards me with a lot of malice,
“Okay fine, I'll just do it the way I used to.” the shotgun and detonator were replaced with twin hand-held machine guns, “Uzis bitches!” I took aim and let them rip. All of them didn't even get to move from their spots when I shot them, I made sure that one of them didn't die,
“Courtesy of the Israeli Military!” they vanished and I walked over the the still breathing one, “Hey buddy, can you still talk or did I accidentally shoot your throat? If I did I'm sorry, I was aiming for your lung.” he responded by knocking me back with it's giant claw and I felt my stomach in my throat when my ass hit the ground,
“Okay then.” I got up and patted away the dirt. The last Arachne looked like shit but was still able to fight, “Just you huh? Perfect.” I flexed my fingers and out came two silver bayonets with gold brass-knuckles as guards,
“Just got them this morning, aren't they pretty?” we ran straight at each other and I made the first cut on the thorax, it didn't like that, “That's nothing, this one though...” I underhanded one of them and stabbed it on it's back and cut it in half,
“Will hurt like a bitch.” it tried to hit me but I ducked in time and cut off it's arm. It stumbled back and cried out in pain, “Think fast!” I threw a bayonet at it's shoulder and while it was distracted I kicked it upward and severed it's entire arm off,
“Now open wide and say ahh.” I stick the brass-knuckles vertically in it's mouth and with a hop I brought my knee up and broke his fangs. The bayonet I kicked was coming back down and I caught it, but then it slipped out of my hand and hit my head, “Ow! Goddammit I thought I had it.” when I was done I stepped on the demon's ass.
“Here's how it's gonna go down, I am going to prod you with this fancy lightning stick!” in my hand appeared a stun stick and I pressed the button to let it hear the crackling sound, “And I'll keep doing it until that queen comes out.” I was about to poke it until,
“Fisherman!” I looked up and I saw Chum-bucket, wrapped up in silk, being held by the nasty blue queen bitch,
“First off, what the hell Chum-bucket!? How did you even get caught!?”
“Shut up! You're the one who told me to run in the first place! They are able to track you know!”
“That's why we cover our tracks you moron! Second, so you want a trade off or something?”
“No.” oh crap,
“I came to make sure that you see her suffer in the most painful process possible, by eating her.”
“Huh, well then.” the taser was replaced with a gun and I killed the demon, “Chum-bucket, initiate Protocol 5.”
“Finally!” she started glowing bright orange and she slashed her way out of the cocoon. The queen was surprised at first but soon looked steaming mad when she saw her next to me,
“You looked pretty revved up.”
“Are you kidding? I've been cooped up in that form for weeks!” Chum-bucket's appearance changed, she now had fox ears, a bright orange tail, glowing hazel eyes with matching claws that are a foot long, “I go high and you go low, right?” she asked while her knuckles cracked,
“As usual, now play.” she smiled and dashed towards the queen in blinding speed. I put both hands on the floor and in a burst of green fire my third favorite machine gun came, “Browning m1919, making people shit their pants since World War II.” I cocked it and fired. The queen was surprisingly resilient against my bullets but Chum-bucket was cutting her up like paper,
“Poke!” she jabbed two of her claws into the queen's eyes and ripped off half of her face.
She leaped out of my way and I aimed directly at her exposed gray matter, “Damn her and her thick skull!” which turned out to be futile because the bullets kept bouncing off. The gun ran empty soon after,
“Blessed .30 caliber rounds straight to the face and they didn't do jack shit!” I knocked it to the side and called Chum-bucket over,
“What are you thinking?” she asked sounding a bit scared,
“Oh relax, nothing wrong with a bit of overkill.” I said trying my best not to sound psychotic. I kneel to the ground and place both palms on the ground, “Try to take this!” between us sprouted missile launchers,
“When and where the hell did you get those?”
“Don't ask!” I pointed two fingers at the demon and they launched. When they hit all I saw was a big ass explosion and the two of us were soaring through the air, next I remember landing super hard on concrete and then I looked up to see smoke around me, “That was awesome! Chum-bucket did you fucking see that!? Chum-bucket?”
I got on my feet and couldn't find her anywhere, “Chum-bucket!” then I felt something hard like rock hit me behind the head,
“Do you have psychosis or something!? That was going way too far! I thought we were doing the whole stealth thing!” I was back on the ground the whole time she yelled,
“Owww! That hurt you know!”
“And what's gonna happen when he finds out!? I'm pretty sure he's going to use our money to cover the damages!”
“It's not even that bad! You know my aim is impeccable and not to mention I killed the demon.”
“With missiles! Who the fuck would use missiles!? Thanks to you the entire city probably knows we're here!”
“Not if we leave befo-” suddenly something green covered my eyes, “WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!” we screamed in unison, what was on my face was a baby Arachne,
“Get it off! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!” I rolled on the ground trying to shake it off.
“No way you get it off!” I headbutted the ground and it died,
“Why didn't you help me!?”
“Screw you! If anything you deser-” then one jumped on her face, “AAAAAAAHHHH!!! Get it off!!!”
“'Screw you! If anything you deserve it.'” I said mocking her voice,
“Eww!!! Please help me!!!” she begged on the verge of crying. I held her still and took the little turd off her,
“There, it's gone.”
“Uhh, we better run.”
“Why?” that's when I felt things crawl up my pants, “Oh fuck!” I patted them off and I saw a swarm coming our way, “Run, run now!” and we hightailed it out of there. They started jumping on us which slowed us down, “Goddammit! Some Raid would be helpful right now!”
“Can't you just summon one you walking storage unit!?”
“Not helping!” I kept brushing and kicking them off, I would've used some sort of gun but these things kept on jumping onto me so I couldn't summon a weapon, “Get them off!” she yelled as she randomly swiped at the air. She stepped on one and she slipped,
“Chum!” I grabbed her claw but she took me down with her, then the most weirdest shit happened. The both of us fell onto a statue of a horse striking a pose and somehow, and I shit you not, we phased through it like if it was water and we were traveling in some kind of fucked up kaleidoscope like tunnel while at the same time being stretched and twisted, “WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!!!???” I screamed.
Eventually we got out of the LSD fueled hell and shot into something that wrapped around us as we rolled into various sorts of fragile stuff,
“Ahh darkness! I can't see!” I flailed around and noticed something off, “Oh my God I can't feel my fingers!” I then kicked something,
“Ow you butt-face that hurt!”
“Oh thank God it's you! Now get us out of here!” then she ripped what turned out to be cloth into bits, “Whew! Oxygen, how I missed you.”
“Uhh...eh.....” that's when I noticed I turned into a horse,
“Whoa, hey your a horse too!” Chum-bucket, or should I say Alice, was now a very light orange horse with red hair while still having her Kitsune traits and her clothes changed to fit her, what's strange is that her pants are now gone,
“*Whimper*” she going full on panic attack,
“Hey, pfft I said hay.”
“Now is not the time for puns!”
“C'mon I was just horsing around *stifles laugh*.”
“Are you serious right now!? How are you not freaked out about this!?”
“Maybe I'm more stable than you are *stifles laugh*.”
“Gideon!” my name's Gideon by the way,
“Alright I'll stop, but this is weird though.”
“That's all you have to say!?”
“Alice we live in a world where demons can take physical form and can apparently reproduce with humans, I'm inclined to believe anything is possible at that point.” I looked at myself, I was now this dark green horse with grayish hair and a horse-sized leather jacket, “Even the mask changed shape.”
“Hey Gid, check this out.” she was motioning to this huge mirror that was sparkling,
“Is this where we came from?” I touched the mirror and my hand, I mean hoof, went inside it, “Freaky. Why do I have a tattoo on my ass?” I looked in the mirror and saw three bullets on said ass,
“I have one too.” Alice had a dog collar on hers.
“Where are we anyway?” we looked around to see a bunch of stuff broken,
“Who cares, let's go-” I saw a door across the room get kicked open and these armored horses rushed in and are somehow pointing guns at us, how they even have guns I don't know, “Freeze!” one of them barked,
“Holy shit! They're shiny!” the horses were shining and see through, “They're also unicorns!” they kept their sights on me despite how uncomfortable they looked,
“Hey dingus, focus why don't you.”
“Dude! They're unicorns! We're not leaving without one!”
“What the hell do you need a unicorn for?”
“Hello! If we come back with a unicorn we'll be rich as shit! Just think about how much money we'll get with just charging for pictures! We might even pay off any damages we did.”
“But then people will ask where did we get it from.”
“It can talk so it'll just tell them where it came from.”
“Hooves in the air! The both of you!” he said and we did, “What's wrong with her?” they asked because they saw her claws,
“Uhh...bad genes?”
“Sir, I think she's a demon.”
“Okay, so they know what demons are. That's good, I think...”
“Tie up the both of them, get a firing squad ready.”
“Firing squad!?” we said. They place charmed chains on Alice while I had good ol' cuffs, “Can I ask where are we?”
“Be quiet.” we were surrounded by six horses, three on me and three on her. We were being taken outside to meet our maker,
“Can I suggest a few things?”
“Quiet.”
“You really should use things that keep my hooves in place, not these things or else.” I smacked one into a wall, the other aimed but I disarmed him and wrapped the cuffs around his neck. The others took aim, terrified,
“Let him go!”
“Fuck you, you let her go.” I squeezed tighter and he started gagging, “Sounds like your friend is having breathing issues.”
“Let him go now!” they were so stubborn,
“Fine.” I spawned a pistol, “Either let the red-haired one go or Clops here is gonna take a nap, permanently.” I aimed the empty gun at his head, I don't plan to kill this guy because we're in deep shit already.
All of them were thinking about it, “Take off the chains.”
“But sir-”
“Now!” he fumbled with the keys and unlocked the chains, “There now let him go.”
“Sure, after we get out of here.”
“But you said-”
“I know what I said, but I never said I would let him go immediately after she got loose, am I right or am I right?” I called her over and we awkwardly shuffled outside,
“Now what you fucking idiot?”
“We improvise my long-faced friend.”
“Long-faced!?” I kick our hostage towards our new friends and I give them a complementary smoke grenade, “Alice, cuffs!” she cut them and we booked. We were out on a field full of even more of those fucking horses,
“Nice one genius!”
“I don't see you coming up with anything!”
“Stop them!” a horse said and we saw everyone on the field come running to us, I panic and start throwing smoke grenades like crazy,
“What are you doing now!”
“Quiet! I'm panicking!”
“What do you mean you're panicking! When do you ever panic in situations like this!”
“When do I ever get chased by armed horses!” a spear came between us which made me fart a little. We ran in zig-zag patterns trying to not get stabbed by spears, then I heard gunshots,
“Gid!” she pointed at an oncoming wall, I spawn a grenade launcher and fired off some rounds until there was a hole,
“In the hole!” we went in and I blew the top of the wall so that it would block them from us,
“Crap, they're getting away!”
“Gather your squads and branch out!”
“You heard him move!” we heard them yell on the other side,
“Run?”
“Run.” we sprinted away from this ridiculous place and headed to God knows where,
“Hey Gid.”
“Yeah?”
“How fucked are we?”
“Yes.”
********(Canterlot-The Next Day)********
“As for Manehatten, the new suspension bridge is ahead of schedule, it will be completed in about two and a half weeks. Now all that is left is what color to paint the bridge, may I suggest an Aegean coat as to-”
“Really, what color should the bridge be? Just paint it.” “Ah that sounds like a wonderful idea.”
“Is he still talking!? Does he really think I care what the color of a bridge should be!? Just. Paint. It.”
“In irrelevant news, corn production is beginning to decline, though miniscule it could be problematic in the near future-”
“Isn't that why we created spells that can make seeds resistant to extreme heat or cold? We even have spells that create more corn! I'm not even a farmer and I know this!” “And do you have a solution to the corn problem?”
“Yes, we were thinking about raising the price of corn from six bits to 13.”
“Note to self, fire the pony who hires these kinds of ponies.” “Why don't we just fix whatever it is that is causing the decline?”
“We did think of that but we were hoping that you would approve raising the corn prices since they would boost up our economy.”
“Liar, I know about your corn investments, you are just hoping for more bits in your pocket.” “I think we should just resolve this decline problem.”
“As you wish, your majesty.” the pony sitting in front of me is currently calling me a 'stupid, sun-assed bitch' in his mind, yet he's the one trying to benefit from corn, no doubt somepony's paycheck is going to be cut in half. Today, like most days, is so incredibly boring that I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep while he rambled about bridges and corn, sometimes I dreamed about just abandoning the crown to live my own life, but I care for my little ponies too much to just give in to my selfishness,
“Your majesty.”
“Yes High Ground?”
“The Chancellor of Minyochnaed has issued a full written apology for the lack of discipline and integrity of his soldiers from Fort Schultz, he even sent a fruit basket.”
“'Lack of discipline and integrity', is that his excuse for barbarism? This moron threatens me with war, openly tells me to turn over my own son, allows his witnesses to testify against him just to escape conviction, and allowed this savagery to happen in his military and he thinks it will all go away with a sorry note and fruit?” “Well isn't that nice, tell him I said thank you for the fruit basket.” “Mobruck you are indeed a lucky minotaur for if I weren't royalty you would be nothing but a carpet stain. But I suppose conviction will do for now.” he gave me the letter and left me alone with the fruit basket.
The fruit basket looked expensive but the fruit was less than favorable, I was just about to ask a guard to throw them out when my sister came in,
“Sister, I wish to discuss a private matter with you.” seeing that there was nothing else to do, in terms of royal duties, I instructed the guards to leave,
“What is it that you want to discuss?”
“It's about Aether.”
“What about him?”
“Sister you already know what the question is, it's the same one you've been avoiding ever since we almost lifted that curse.” I dreaded that this is what she wanted to talk about this, “It's about his transcendence to alicorn status.” I knew it was only a matter of time,
“By all means sister.”
“Why is he even an alicorn? From the stories you've told me he didn't exactly do great things as a child.” I remember that day clearly, when he stepped out of his father's sanctuary with a horn and wings I couldn't decide whether to be ecstatic or worried. Ecstatic because my own son had done something great and at such a young age and not to mention that he earned his cutiemark, or worried because when his father stepped out he had just finished crying. I asked what had he done and I regretted asking ever since,
“I don't know, it happened in secret, the only ponies who know are Callidus and my husband. Whatever it was it will always be between him and his father.” I prayed my beloved sister believed that lie, I love her too much to drag her into this hell that I had dragged myself in,
“And your husband never discussed the process of how he transcended with you?”
“Never, when I would press on he would get angry.”
“I see. Then do you know how he got that curse placed on him?” that question got me, I didn't know how I was going to lie out of this one, “Also, how did you know that he had to die?” that question forced me to hold my breath.
“Did you really believe that I would stay oblivious? I was Nightmare Moon, it is difficult to forget all of those unholy dark magic spells.” she walked closer to me with anger burning in her eyes, “Sister I am fine with you using dark magic when it is required but to use that spell? If that curse wasn't so powerful then Aether would be dead right now.” that felt like a hot knife to my heart,
“After seeing him without his horn or wings I couldn't help but think the medallion he wears has something to do with it, my suspicions grew after hearing that the medallion is somehow magically linked to him. It seems whenever he loses or misplaces this strange relic it would come back to him. I figured his father was somehow involved because the medallion looks a lot like the Hamsa.”
“The what?”
“In my husband's world, he believed in a religion known as 'Islam'. He would tell me that the Hamsa was a religious symbol, used as protection from something known as the 'Evil Eye'.”
“You believe his father placed that curse? Why would he want his son to forget who he really was?”
“I don't know, but I'm glad he did it. I don't want him remembering the condition I found his father in the day he died.” it was starting to get overwhelming, the horror I felt as I remembered the look forever etched on my husband”s face, the guilt of what I had done to my own son, the hatred I held against myself for surrendering, if only he stayed dead, “After making this assumption I remembered my husband telling me the time he died for the first time.”
“Your husband has died twice? Please elaborate.”
“When he was much younger he somehow gained immortality in his world but to achieve such a thing, he had to first experience death first hand. At least that's what he said, I don't know how that works myself but he said that was how he gained his true form. After doing a bit of research in his sanctuary I only gained small bits of information about the medallion, some of his books say that it's a lock of some kind, others say that it acts more like a conduit for hexes or curses alike, but everything pointed to one thing, the experience of death.”
“But sister, we didn't lift the curse completely.”
“I know, in fact I'm still pondering over how the rebound was even possible. The most I can say is that it's a very ancient curse.” Luna didn't press on, all she did was look at the stained windows depicting the most crucial points in Equestrian history,
“We have been through so much haven't we sister?” I stared at them as well, mostly at the one where it shows us together,
“Yes, we have.”
“Tell me, which fate is much worse; trying to live with the faults you've made in life, or trying to forget them with all your being?” I thought she was referring to the time she turned into Nightmare Moon but when I met her eyes they turned steely. The guards came in just in time for her to turn away,
“It's almost time to raise the moon your highness.” Luna almost immediately stood up and walked away from me,
“Aren't you coming?”
“Yes, of course.” the guards escorted us to our designated balcony,
“Shall we?”
“Let us begin.” I felt my magic lasso around the sun and I brought it down as my sister slowly rose up her moon, “I wonder how long I have before everything catches up to me? No matter, I have my sister and my son, after the many years of loneliness and pain I finally have them back. Even if our time together is growing shorter it only makes everything all the more precious.” “Did you know in two days it's Callidus's birthday?”
“Is it now. How old will he be?”
“20.”
“Hmph, still so young and he's been through so much.”
“And there is still a long road ahead of him.” I looked up at the moon, seeing how pure and white it is compared to my sun, “A long road indeed.” my thoughts were interrupted when Fleur Dis Lee stepped in,
“Your Highnesses.” she bowed in our presence,
“I take it there's another crisis?”
“Actually it's much more complex than that.” she stood up and gave me a scroll, “There's been an incident at the Crystal Empire, and I need you to shed light on a few things.”
**********************************
“The destruction brought upon the world was almost unimaginable. Ponies were starving, homeless, fighting one another and driven mad. The lands fared no better, mountains walked around and stomped everything beneath them, dirt roads were turned into slippery soap that has taken the lives of many, rain was turned to hard rocks the size of melons and destroyed whatever homes were intact. Ponies were forced to grow and serve food to him nonstop, they built impossible structures he designed, most of these pones worked themselves to death and out of their corpses he turned them into walking abominations.”
“Hmm, this Discord guy must be pretty powerful.” I was sitting outside my room reading a book titled A Brief History of the Discordian Era, I was sparring with Celestia in her sanctuary and afterward I noticed this strange statue that was made up of different limbs, she said that this was Discord, a very powerful being known as a draconequus, I was interested so I looked into it. Suddenly there was angry shouting coming from inside my room,
“Another failure.” I said closing the book, “Hold this for me.” I gave the book to Ironsight,
“Yes sir.”
“Again, no formalities.”
“Right, sorry.” I walked into the room and I found broken glass and scattered notes everywhere, “I'm guessing the same effect happened.” she turned around and removed her goggles to give me a glare,
“Smartassness I'm not in the mood for, just making the base is a real chore.”
“Well what did you expect from working with unknown magic?”
“But it's yours.”
“And you think I know how it works? Not even Violet can explain how it works and she has more experience than I do.” she sat on her haunches and breathed deeply,
“Trial and error there is much, before I can make something as such.”
What Zecora is trying to accomplish is a way to extract the magic Violet, Nero and I have and turn it into a stone through alchemy, Celestia hoof-picked a few scientists including Zecora and ordered them to synthesize our magic into a ready to use spell believing that it would improve our bodyguards overall performance if they were able to turn human too, and whoever creates the most efficient one will get paid very well,
“You'll get there eventually, but for right now you should stop, you've been at it since yesterday. Did you even get any sleep?”
“Sleep I can continue without, I know the formula is correct without doubt.” she grabbed a few herbs and I took them away from her,
“Okay this has gone long enough. Get sleep, now.” she is a very skilled alchemist and potions master, but she always pushes it, whether it's because of her passion or the challenge of her work I will never know,
“Right you are maybe, the fumes have begun to get to me.” I sniffed the air and smelled Allspice, Balm of Gilead, Poison Joke, all sorts of herbs,
“Even with an open window this room is very poorly ventilated.” I said trying to fan out the fumes. Somepony knocked on the door frame and saw Fleur Dis Lee,
“Hope I'm not intruding.” she came in looking around, “For a prince you sure are filthy.”
“What do you want Fleur?”
“Staff meeting.” I groaned at the mention of that phrase, these 'staff meetings' were just very long briefings about our job, how well we're doing, what changes need to happen and what we might need, “Yes I know you're not fond of them but trust me, this will be a very interesting one.”
“Whatever, it's not like I have a choice.” Zecora and I followed Fleur out. The meetings were always held in this dome-like room recently built at the highest point of the palace, they dubbed it the 'Room of the Astral Knights', the name was ridiculous. The room itself had a ten foot circular marble table with exactly seven seats, one for each of us, the dome ceiling was painted with celestial bodies and armed soldiers with a chandelier hanging down and all around there were paintings of ancient battles and heirlooms consisting of either weapons or accessories.
We took our seats and waited for the others to come, “So how's the little project going?” she asked Zecora,
“Progress is slow, but with time my work will show.”
“You better hope so, I've heard Emsee is making good progress with his version of...what do you call it?”
“We don't have a name for it.” I answer,
“Well that won't do, it's tedious saying 'spell to turn human', how about 'Humanizer'?”
“Humanizer?” we said,
“I don't see why not, the purpose of it is for it to change a pony into a human right?” the guards outside opened the entrance and all of them walked in,
“So what now? Marionettes in Las Pegasus? Assaults in Appleloosa? Or is this just another update on how good we're doing?” Nero complained,
“Nothing of the sort.” Luna said as she took her seat,
“Hours ago I received word that a very peculiar incident happened in the Crystal Empire.”
“Crystal Empire? Was anypony hurt?” Violet asked concerned,
“Thankfully no, now who caused the incident is what caught my attention, all of the guards said that it was by two ponies; one mysterious masked stallion able to materialize weapons on command and a young teenage filly accused of being a demon.” she explained, “Here's how it supposedly happened. The guards were doing their nightly routine when they heard crashing inside an off-limits room, they rushed in and found the two there surrounded by the destroyed remains of priceless antiques. They apprehended them but were soon over powered by the stallion who threatened to kill one of them if they didn't let his partner go. They fled as soon as she was freed.” she gave each of us the description of the two.
“Now here's the interesting part. How did two ponies enter a windowless room that is not open to the public and surrounded by guards and once inside they broke everything of value? I mulled over this until I remembered the report mentioning an item that was not destroyed, a full-body mirror.” she turned to Celestia, “I'll leave the rest to you, your Highness.”
“Very well, many years ago I was acquainted with a very skilled unicorn, his name was Star Swirl the Bearded. We would work together to create all sorts of things from spells to charms, then he made a discovery claiming there is more than one world. In light of this we created magical mirrors, hundreds of them that led to other worlds, we were astonished at this discovery and wanted to know more about the other worlds so we crossed over. We recorded everything we saw and every world we visited, but eventually Star Swirl noticed that I was visiting one world numerous times. He said my frequent visits could inevitably put two kingdoms at risks, so he closed off the portals.”
“Aunt Tia that's interesting and all but what do magic mirrors have to do with our targets?” Violet questioned,
“Right after Star Swirl sealed them off he instructed me to scatter them across the country.”
“Why?”
“Some of the worlds we visited have advanced far more than our own from culture to technology, and what we witnessed was amazing but terrifying. If our enemies were to find out, no doubt would they abuse their technology to bring about our demise. That is why their locations are to be kept secret.” I was curious about what sorts of technology these worlds have, “Now one of these worlds include your home world.”
“What!” Nero almost shouted, “You mean there's another way home?”
“Yes Nero but there is a small catch to this. Though sealed in this world, the portals still remain open on the other side so if somepony were to come across it then it would reopen. Star Swirl foresaw this and came up with a contingency plan, if opened again then it would close within an hour, but since his magic is fading the time now varies.”
“And why are you so concerned with going home?” Violet asked suspiciously, “Nero even if there was a way home there is no way I'm letting you go. We still have a job to do and that is to prevent the end of this world, which we unwittingly helped set in motion. Unless you forgot?” Nero looked pissed, but his expression eased and he sat down.
“The mirror that leads to the human world is located in the Crystal Empire. We suspect that these two are from there since it's the only explanation as to how they got in. Your mission is to bring them in for questioning, if they use violence then do what you have to in order to bring them here, just make sure they're still able to speak.”
“The Crystal Empire?” “Um Celes-”
“I'm sorry, what was that?” she said with a sly smile, I hate it when she pushes it,
“...Mother, how long ago was it when you two created these mirrors?”
“Hmm, I'd say about 200 years ago. Why?”
“The Crystal Empire disappeared for 1,000 years. How were able to transport a mirror to a place that wasn't even there?” there was a spark of worry in her eyes,
“The mirror was kept here for the time being, but when the Empire returned I sent it there instead.”
“She's good at making alibis.”
“Oh by the way if you do capture the masked stallion, try to see how his magic works. Summoning weapons at will can prove useful to the Royal Guard.” Fleur ordered,
“Now on an unrelated note, we need to discuss the current budget of your organization. Since three of my very best are working for you I want to see how much we can cut so they can get better pay.”
“Can we also talk about getting new uniforms? The ones we have are so drab and clunky, absolutely no style.” Violet was referring to the typical guard armor she and Nero have been wearing,
“I can talk to Rarity about that. Oh and Callidus, we need a serious discussion about your fighting prowess, though good I fear that you have gotten weaker. Like your power jabs, accurate but lacking, I can help with that along with the other issues you have.” and like that I shun out the whole world.
********(Unknown Laboratory)********
“Cell merging procedures were a success, cellular mitosis has been accelerated, muscle and skin tissue have been reinforced and fasciculi have doubled in size. The other half was a bit more...complicated.” the minotaur said while lightly writing into his clipboard,
“Complicated how?” even behind the surgical mask the doctor was able to gasp in fear,
“Well, the difficult part about your request is the ability to have the shroud under your command which I can't say will be a guarantee.”
“I don't need guarantees doctor, I need possible! So I will ask, is it possible?” the doctor fumbled through the pages of his clipboard,
“Yes it's possible but the chances are so slim that you have a better chance at making gold from a base metal! We're talking about using a demon's weapon, one that has probably been used by that demon for hundreds if not thousands of years! Accomplishing such a task is fair to say is insurmountable!” a loud bang reverberated throughout the dry walls, the clipboard hit the ground and the doctor was taking shallow and rapid pants for the bullet grazed his head,
“Give me the shroud you pathetic pediatrician.” the hammer cocked back and he ran off to his closet in search of something. He came back with this oddly large syringe filled with a smokey black substance,
“I should warn you, this will kill you if you don't overcome it's influence.”
“I paid you to equip me, not run your mouth so get on with it!” the doctor then injected this substance into his patient's IV needle. The substance rushed through the tubing and forced itself into the patient's arm. Almost immediately there were complications, the patient began twitching from head to toe as if being possessed, the patient fell with a hard thud and one by one each of her joints defied biology and bent the other way.
To the doctor the sound of ligaments being ripped joints being snapped was enough to use the syringe filled with poison on the patient,
“No!” the doctor stood back, “You lied to me doctor, this thing is more like a naughty puppy than a demon's weapon,” the patient's fingers snapped forward and used them to get up from the ground, “it needs to learn who the dominate one is.” soon the patient's joints were back in place and was able to stand on two hooves,
“I can see why it can kill anypony, it's so dark I feel as if my mind is being grabbed onto by a dead hand. I can feel it trying to tear through my skin with it's talons and fangs, like a caged animal.” the doctor was out of words to say or think, he was seeing black smoke form a layer around the patient's body, “It's starting to panic, I know because I feel my organs being squished together.” the patient gave an insane giggle, then it turned into cackling, objects in the room were thrown by an invisible force and the candles were flickering on their own,
“Aah this brings back so many memories. But just so you know, I'm the dominate one,” the patient stood up straight and smoke envelope the whole room, “and your the submissive one.” the smoke cleared and the doctor witnessed the smoke transform into a smokey shroud,
“My God! Are you even mortal!”
“Oh doctor, at this age you should already know monsters take all kinds of forms. How many times a day do I have to take my serum?”
“About once a day, maybe more if you take tremendous damage.”
“Good, hmm...” the patient took notice of a old plague doctor's mask behind a glass box, “I want this.”
“I'm sorry but that has been in my family-” the glass was broken and the patient put the mask on,
“I wasn't asking. I'll be back for the rest.” the patient walked away and disappeared into smoke, leaving the doctor terrified.