Elements Change the Dark Hearts

by Nightmare_0mega


Shelter from the Rain

The harsh sounds of free falling water that splashed and pattered against leaves and rocks covered the normal ambient melody with white noise in the night. Most woodland creatures disappeared into their hovels while the few remaining continued to desperately search for anything that could shield them from the oppressive weather. Lightning split the sky for a moment, illuminating the brush below, outlining the various trees, animals, and one unnatural presence that lay still on the rough ground of the forest floor. With another thunderous crack, the synthetic entity stirred lightly, curling his limbs inward automatically into a recovery position. His breathing was ragged and off-kilter, as he curled a little tighter on his side.

Within the cybernetic confines, constant information was being fed to the still organic mind, warning the presence of the harsh conditions, and the weakened state of the body. Ocular senses slowly activated, gaining a sharper vision as the seconds ticked. His cybernetic night vision kicked in when his sensors realized the environmental conditions were far too dark and hazy for him to see properly, which he quickly took advantage of. After realizing that the cybernetic creature was in a forest, complete and whole, he recalled a very recent and painful experience.

The feeling of "Jack the Ripper's" blade passing through his body, tearing and destroying his complete form, making it nothing more than slivers echoed at the back of his mind. The pain was exquisitely terrifying, and with that hazy memory becoming clear, he recalled who he was. Upon his personal epiphany, his mind began racing with questions. Where was he? How did he become stranded in a forest? Why is he alive and whole again? Why couldn't he remember anything between the moment where he thought he died and now?

Concentrating hard, he aimed to at least attempt to answer the first question, mentally pulling up radar and GPS programs, trying to access the World Marshal satellite and the global internet connection. It didn't take him long to find that both his radar and his GPS systems weren't responding properly, feeding him a "no data" notification. It also didn't take him long to figure out that he couldn't even access his employment group's network, or any network for that matter. He checked his long distance codec program, and found that none of the encryption channels were operational, sporting only static. Monsoon was well and truly alone now, cut off from civilization of any kind.

With a growl of frustration, he unfurled his limbs and slowly pushed himself off the ground, stumbling a little as he got to his feet. After he rose to full height, wobbling only slightly due to his dizzied state, he patted the sais at his hips for comfort... only to find them missing. Snapping his attention, he began to wildly look around his surroundings, unable to see anything but drenched forest, muddy ground, rustling bushes, and to occasional streak of lightning.

Where is my Dystopia? he thought. The carbon steel sais were his most prized possession, and he'd rather be dead than loose them. The dark thought made him chuckle at the irony of it all, considering he did "die", making his preference moot. With an angered sigh, unable to see anything that belonged to him in the thick forest, he decided to abandon his search for now. Instead, he focused once again on his first question: Where was he? With no help from technology, he would have to rely on his own instincts and intuition to solve the riddle. On top of that, with rain pattering against his maroon and gunmetal grey helm and body, he figured it would be best if he found shelter as well. No sense standing in the rain where he's vulnerable and risks rust or a short circuit from overexposure. With a dark smile, the whole situation reminded him of his youth in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where survival of the fittest remained supreme. Kill or be killed.

However, he figured picking a fight with anything at his point in time wouldn't be a wise decision in his weakened state. With a sigh, he resigned to keep focused on looking for shelter while he could and do everything in his power to regain his strength. All other answers and actions will come later.

Trudging through the foliage, Monsoon looked about his surroundings. Despite the very bluish tint his night vision gave his environment, he realized that the would-be colors that hid behind the haze seemed a bit bolder than what he was used to. It was curious, but he ultimately payed no mind.

Upon approaching the edge of the forest line, he noticed something he had never seen in his life: an apple orchard. Rows and rows of healthy and pristine apple trees lined up neatly across the plot of land, swaying to the storm and standing strong to the heavy rainfall. Amidst his revere, there was a loud crack, much louder than any thunderclap he had ever heard, which caused him to divert his attention to the sky. Upon looking to the dark grey heavens, he noticed something in the sky for a split second. A tear high above in the air that led to something that entirely obscured his night vision. That split second was enough to avert his eyes in visual overload and caused him to rub where his eyes would normally be in habitual reaction. After a moment or two, he tried to look back to the disturbance was once again, only to find it gone.

Realizing his attempts were ultimately fruitless, he looked back to the orchard, and noticed a barn in the distance. It was well kept, with a few scattered tools and pieces of equipment decorating the walls or littering the ground. To the side, he noticed a number of barrels, set up in a way to easily collect the falling water, likely for cleaning some of the equipment. With the rain pattering down against his head, and with a warning of low power flashing across his senses, he decided to take shelter there.

Monsoon moved forward slowly, heavy footfalls trudging through the muddy ground as he approached the structure, and reached the barn, only to stumble on something more curious. The door before him was split horizontally from the middle, as if it were more of a stable door. Truth be told, he'd never really seen a typical American or European farm, or orchard in real life, despite living in Denver for the latter part of his career, but he knew this seemed off. Never the less, he wasn't about to be picky, and decided the risk of bunking with livestock was a bit more preferable than laying out in the rain.

He pushed the door open and noticed the only thing that existed in the structure were more tools, stacks of hay bails, and the odd spider or rodent. Counting his blessings, he shut the door behind him and laid himself against the hay. Before he let himself shut down, he made sure to activate the use of one of his standby electrolyte packs to make sure that he could survive the night. He hated relying on them, but his body required their use from time to time as auxiliary power. With everything set, he let his senses recede as his body entered sleep mode for the night.

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

It was a lush and beautiful day out in Sweet Apple Acres. The morning was in full swing as the excitable little yellow coated and red-maned filly ran outside her home to enjoy the day. Her bouncy energy was only complimented by the pink bow that bobbed atop her head with every bound. Nothing was going to soil her perfect morning. That is, only to land in a mud puddle she failed to notice in her exuberance with a splat. Annoyed, but not entirely deterred, the filly mosied herself over to the barn where a couple of water barrels sat. After ah clean my hooves, she mused, Ah'll be sure to stay away from any more puddles. Can't afford to be messy today for crusadin'.

She dipped her hooves in the fresh rain water, splashed the mud away from her coat, and made sure she hadn't missed a spot. With the task done, she started to leave, but noticed something strange on the ground leading to the barn door. Those're some mighty funny lookin' hoofprints, she thought. As curiosity easily bested her, she followed the prints and opened the door, peering inside for the owner of the tracks.

"Hello?" she asked the receding darkness within. With no answer to satisfy her, the entered the barn, and looked about. There wasn't much out of the ordinary inside, but noticed something strange at the edge of her vision. A dark grey appendage that seemed to match the prints she saw earlier was sticking out from behind the hay bails. Steeling her nerves and hazarding the chance, she approached the anomaly cautiously, intent on getting a look at what they were attached to. Rounding the corner of hay, she finally got a look, and was dumbfounded with her discovery.

It was a large, artificial looking creature. The little filly recognized the stature of the creature, relating it to Pinkie’s large friend Elvis, but noted how slender this one was, save for his upper legs. He also seemed decidedly shorter than Elvis, but still dwarfed herself in height. Even any of the adult ponies she knew for that matter would likely need to look up at it if it were standing before them. The symmetrical indentations along its legs and arms, and crossing its chest, seemed to serve more of an unknown purpose than just being a fashion statement. The helmet it wore that only exposed its mouth, nose, and its silver hair was exceptionally alien, and seem to be more-so attached to it than just worn. Finally, the little filly couldn't help but like the color scheme the being had of dark grey, maroon, and silver. She also noticed its very clashing fading green belt, which had six pouches adorning it, each holding identical strange objects. Something in her mind told her not to get near those under any circumstances once they were out of their compartments.

With her childlike curiosity, she reached up, and attempted to touch its shoulder. Before she could reach, it stirred, causing her to flinch. Then, its head turned sharply in the filly's direction, causing her blood to run cold. There was only one thing she could do.

-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-v-o-

Applejack had finished cleaning up the breakfast dishes mere moments after he little sister, Apple Bloom, went out to enjoy the day. The older farm pony figured she was likely heading straight to town to meet up with her little friends, but only hoped they'd keep the disasters to a minimum this time. Applejack shook her head, recalling the name they called themselves; The Cutiemark Crusaders. The only crusading they seemed to do was for trouble, though not always intentionally. She couldn't bag on them too much, since they were just kids, and she was no real saint when she was younger either. However, she just didn't want another incident like the one at the town parade a week ago. Despite Apple Bloom and the other crusaders serving their punishment and finally making amends with Apple Bloom's cousin, Babs Seed, the whole ordeal still left a bad taste in her mouth. Never the less, no matter how brash her little sister was, she trusted her. There wasn't much the worried older sister could do to prevent anything from happening, but she had higher hopes today.

As she finished the chores, Applejack got herself ready to get to work on the farm. That was until the the front door slammed open with a panicky young filly raced inside straight for her older Sister.

"APPLEJAAAAAAAAACK!" Apple Bloom yelled as she ran right into her sister.

"What in tarnation? What's wrong?" Applejack asked in concern and confusion.

"T-there's somethin' in the barn! I-I tried to see what it was, but it woke up! It kinda looked like that Elvis feller, 'cept skinnier and weirder lookin'!" the shaken filly explained.

Applejack thought for a minute about the situation, and figured stranger things have happened. "Alright, Apple Bloom. Take me to what you saw," she gently replied. With that she followed her little sister out the door and straight for the barn which was now wide open.

"Now, where is-" was all she could manage to say before she saw the being standing before them, leaning against one of the beams of wood for stability. Applejack took a slight step back, and uttered, "Who are you?"

The being cracked a small smile at the question before he answered. "My name is Monsoon," he declared, "of the Winds of Destruction."

Applejack couldn't believe her eyes. It wasn't that Apple Bloom was right, or that there was yet another strange creature popping up in Equestria, but the mere fact that the creature before him seems almost entirely artificial. "T-that's a rather fancy title," she managed to utter. "Where didja c-come from, Monsoon?"

Monsoon cracked another off kilter smile. "I wanted to ask something similar, mostly about where I am. Clearly I'm not in Colorado anymore, or even Kansas."

Applejack felt a nervous shiver creep up her spine as she watched him talk so casually with such an odd looking smile on his face. There just wasn't something right about this being to her, but she decided to satisfy his inquiry. "You're in my barn at Sweet Apple Acres, near the town Ponyville, in the country Equestria."

"Fascinating. I'm in a children's story book," he snarked, still donning that darkly smile.

"You seem to be takin' this mighty well considerin' things," she pointed out.

"Not really," he answer honestly, "If I were a saner man, I would be having a catastrophic mental break down right now. However, I KNOW I died yesterday, I can STILL feel the pain, and I KNOW you're really there because these 'eyes' don't lie." He took a step forward, but stumbled to his hands and knees.

"Are you alright?" she asked him genuinely.

"I'm humbled you're concerned for me, but creatures of your caliber shouldn't be worried about predators like myself. Aren't you terrified I might do something horrible to you or that little one beside you?"

Apple Bloom hid behind her sister in reaction to the comment, deciding he looked a lot less cool and a lot more sinister now that he's talking. Applejack herself let her fear die as it gave way to disapproval of the thinly veiled threat. "Don't you mind me and mah sister, ya hear? 'Sides, you don't look well enough to do anything to us."

He chuckled lowly in response. "Bravo. The lower end of the food chain points out the hunter's current handicap. Do you want a medal for your brilliant deduction skills?"

"Yer sarcasm ain't very welcoming, pardner," Applejack deadpanned, "Apple Bloom, do me a favor and go git Twahlight. Tell her to bring either that Elvis feller or Dumah, just in case. Ah'll stay here with our new guest to keep him company"

The little filly nodded as she zoomed away with the speed of Hermes. Monsoon himself was left wondering if the Elvis she was referring to was "The King". The lost inner child within him felt giddy for about a moment before the bleak personality suppressed it once again.

"Pardon me, but ah haven't told you mah name yet, have ah?"

"I never asked," he thought bitterly, wondering why the bright orange horse was still here.

"It's only polite," she replied, "After all, ah've asked for yers. Name's Applejack."

"Jack," he parroted, before he started laughing wildly at the irony of it all. Truly, the nature of the universe had a sick sense of humor.