//------------------------------// // Episode 12: Needing a Friend // Story: The Ultimate Destroyer; Majin Equestria! // by ZephyrStrife //------------------------------// “Cruger… um… I’m not quite sure how to travel across dimensions…” Eribia explained to the badge. “Not a problem,” Cruger’s voice replied from the badge as the sound of rummaging leaked through, “Eriba, I summon thee!” Eribia’s eyes widened a little as it felt like a fishing hook had sunk itself right behind her nose just before reality made a really strange vlorp sound, making a slight ripple in the air as she disappeared. ========<=>======== With a solid thud and the universe making a prolv sound in response to her entry the pink Majin landed on a cold tile floor with enough force to knock the wind out of her. “Oh… perhaps a more stable portal would be better… getting turned inside-sideways, even if you’re made of bubblegum, never feels good.” She groaned. Looking up, she saw Cruger, with his morpher in one hand and her Token in the other. “Could be worse, I know this one girl who jumps dimensions by getting eaten by a Void Dragon.” “Honestly… compared to what I just went through… I’d be willing to give that a try.” Eribia grumbled as she slowly began to sit up. With a slight wobble she managed to get to her feet and pat some of the dirt off of herself. “So… what can we do first? blow up a mountain?” “No,” Cruger said as he walked towards an elevator, “first, you tell me exactly what’s got you so wound up over some pulled pork sandwiches. Then we’ll see if your problems warrant a heavy combat exercise in the simulator, this Equestria doesn’t have a lot of mountains.” Eribia sighed as she fell into step next to him. “I could actually go for a pulled pork sandwich… being a half-magical being who doesn’t need to eat, sleep or breathe kinda makes me miss being normal… that and how the entire world feels like paper mache if I don’t hold back.” “Ah, I remember feeling like that when I first cracked subspace,” Cruger replied, “although I learned how to cope. Quick pro-tip, find a way to limit yourself, then a way to switch between limited and full throttle modes quickly.” “That’s the thing though, I’ve been in my limited power form so much that at least a good seventy-five percent of my power is still locked away, I could easily create a crater just by unleashing my power alone… Sure, the Elements of Harmony got rid of a lot of my magical power, left me with just Discord’s, but I still have all of my Chi and that’s even locked behind a reflexive barrier” She leaned up against the side of the elevator and began to rub her forehead. “I just… I’ve held back so long and I know that I’m going to need everything I have in order to defeat Razul… I have nowhere to really let out all of my power without causing too much destruction.” “Have you tried high orbit?” Cruger asked as they entered the elevator. “Well, no… only because I don’t want to destroy the atmosphere on accident…” Eribia replied honestly. “I… well… I can feel that I have so much power, but I haven’t ever had a need to use it all… and now that I need it, I don’t have it.” “Well,” Cruger replied, “it’s actually good that you have this problem, if you’re having trouble controlling your power when you’re at 25%, imagine how dangerous it would be if you were at 100%?” “Exactly, which is why I wanted to talk to you… I was hoping that you may have a way to help.” Eribia replied as she shifted a little to lean up against him, her head only coming a little past his waist. “Well,” Cruger said as the elevator opened, “how about after dinner I take you to where I mastered ftl travel, by the way, there’s something you should know.” “What?” Eribia asked as she looked up at him. “Nothing too earthshaking,” Cruger replied as he exited the elevator into his apartment, “remember the Elysium jump you had me working on?” “Yeah… did you already make the connection to the elemental plane of air?” “Try Elysium itself,” Cruger replied with a smug grin on his face, “took me a while to piece things together, we call it something different here. Anyway, I’ve done the math, our respective Verses are coming into alignment, tomorrow will be the best time to do it for, oh I’d say 72 years give or take.” “That’s amazing! We need to get there to fix the connection to Elysium on my end then as soon as possible.” Eribia said with a smile as she began to bounce around the room. “by the way… where are we?” “My personal apartment,” Cruger said as a timer dinged, “and that would be dinner.” “Ooh! Do you think I’d be able to have a chance to beat up the best fighters in this world before tomorrow?” Eribia squeaked. “So many fights to be had… I hope you made a lot of dinner!” she squealed with excitement as she began to explore. “Well, let’s see,” Cruger said as he lugged a pot from the kitchen, “there’s Lord Iron Arm the Wise of the minotaurs, wait, that was a thousand years ago, he’s out. Fang the Book Hoarder? nah, the only reason we fought that one time is because he wanted access to SPD databases, I gave him limited access. Although, there is this one guy I know.” “Well… is there anyone like you I can fight? I want to fight as many strong fighters as I can.” Eribia replied. “He’s known by many titles, to the Dragons, Scalebreaker; to the Griffions, The Untouchable; and to the Diamond Dogs, The Blue Alpha.” “Hmm… I wonder who he is… I really wanna deck him in the shnoz… although, he might go down in one hit.” “Alright, but can it wait after dinner?” Cruger asked as he heaped some meat on a bun, “I really hate fighting on an empty stomach.” “Why would you be fighting? I’m going to look for this blue alpha guy, I should probably negotiate with a diamond dog.” Eribia said as she sat at the table. “Seriously?” Cruger deadpanned. “Of course.” Eribia replied with a cheeky smile. “Big guy like you doesn’t look like a guy with any of those names, so I’ll just have to find the guy that does.” Cruger facepalmed, “Can’t tell if you’re joking, or just dense.” “Of course I’m joking, I’d be happy to wipe the floor with you.” Eribia laughed. Cruger chuckled, “Exactly how much combat experience do you have?” “Well, I remember a lot from my previous life as Majin Eribia… the world destroyer… so… apparently my tactics were usually blow up the world.” She admitted sheepishly. “Well,” Cruger replied as he licked off some barbecue sauce from his fingers, “I have over 20 years of experience, plus I’ve bested no less than two beings who held the title ‘Lord of Tartarus’, three if you count Tirek. I doubt I’ll go down in one hit.” “Eh, you don’t look like you could stand too many if I did go all out.” “Well,” Cruger said, “we’ll just see when we get to the Rock, you can breath in space right?” “What part of ‘don’t need to breathe’ didn’t you hear?” Eribia laughed as she swallowed one of the sandwiches in one bite. “Just double checking,” Cruger replied, taking a look into the pot before scooping himself another sandwich, “so, anything else you need to get off your chest, or was it just the over nine-thousand power level that’s got ya in a fit?” Her smile fell just a little. “Well… that… and what I did before the Elements of Harmony hit me a second time, really it was more about what I did the first time around… I just… I’m not quite so sure I was supposed to be the one picked for the regalia of good…” She leaned back a little, crossing her arms over her chest like she was cold. “I… before the Elements hit me the first time… when I woke up in Equestria… I kinda lost myself, when I first noticed that unicorns were the strongest beings that could focus magic I began to absorb as many as I could so that I could build up my magical power quicker… I was also a little taller too...” Cruger sighed, “Man, can’t say I can help ya with that one. Getting royally pissed off and ending someone is an experience I’m familiar with, and no I am not going to share it with you. However, I might be able to point you in the direction of somepony who’s gone through something similar.” She lets out another small breath. “I think I’ll just go with a battle, I need to build up magic a different way than I used to… then again I think the whole fact that I’m part Discord might have something to do with what’s going on with me.” “Fair enough,” Cruger replied, “but when you get back, ask Luna about Nightmare Moon. So, ready to rumble?” “Yeah, whenever you are.” Eribia replied. “Just let me change into something more appropriate,” Cruger said, pulling out his morpher, “SPD, Emergency!” Eribia closed her eyes as her form shifted into something a bit more form-fitting, much like a flight-suit. “So, you wanted to suit up before we got there? or did you want to fight in your apartment?” “Option 1,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “did you forget the venue? Unlike you, I can’t breathe in space so good.” “Oh yeah, welp… let’s go.” “Wait till you see this,” Cruger said as they walked through the portal. “Welcome to the SPD Extreme Combat Training Grounds, aka The Rock. It’s the largest asteroid in the Equestrian asteroid belt, it used to be second largest until, well let’s just say there’s a reason I only develop new techniques up here.” Eribia chuckles as she steps out onto the rock, letting her Chi flow and swirl around her like a pink flame. “So, how much of a warmup will we be doing?” Cruger drew his blade and gave it a few lazy swings, “First to three hits?” “Sounds good to me, perhaps when we’re done here I can fight your strongest fighters? see if they can handle an interdimensional warrior yet.” The Majin chuckled as she vanished, reappearing for a roundhouse kick towards Cruger’s chest. Cruger vanished and reappeared on a nearby asteroid, “Well, you’re currently facing the strongest fighter in this verse, so I guess we’ll find out. By the way, you didn’t wait for the starting signal.” “Neither do our enemies, besides… we’re just sparring aren’t we?” Eribia smirked as her pink aura flared up and propelled her towards him in a mere second with her fist on a path towards his face. Cruger caught her fist just before a gong sounded, “And that would be the signal.” Cruger pulled her in and landed a knee in her gut, “That’s 1-zip by the way.” With a slight scowl Eribia brings her other fist up and unleashed a beam of pink energy at the Shadow Ranger with a shout. Cruger backflipped out of the way, Eriba’s proximity allowing him to hit her with a bicycle kick in the chin, “2-zip, I’d watch that temper if I was you.” She vanished once more and reappeared several rocks away with her hands outstretched to her sides with energy sparking along her arms that coalesced into two spheres of energy. She brought her hands together and unleashed a huge wave of energy. “Final Flash!” The Majin shouted. Instead of dodging, Cruger charged at, then straight through the beam. He emerged in front of Eriba, armor glowing red hot but otherwise intact, and flicked her on the forehead, “3-1, by the way, I specialize in fighting straightforward fighters like you, you might want to expand your repertoire.” “Well, sometimes you need straightforward… it’s better to know who you’re fighting anyway…” Eribia pouted. “True, but taking them by surprise when they think they’ve got you figured out is even more so,” Cruger replied, “admit it, you didn’t see how I took care of that last move coming, did ya?” “From what it looked like your armor barely managed to keep you from getting vaporized.” The child-like Majin replied as she took off the rock. “To be honest,” Cruger replied, “I was intangible for most of it, only reason I turned it off a bit early was to give you a hit, and because it looked badass.” “What? So now you’re part ghost-boy or something?” She scoffed. “Sounds like something out of a cliche superhero show.” “Can’t say I’ve watched Danny Phantom before, you know,” Cruger replied as he opened a portal home, “but it should teach you the merits of being unconventional with your powerset.” “What are you talking about? I shoot energy death beams and can move faster than the naked eye can track…” Eribia asked with confusion. “And I can outrun the Enterprise D,” Cruger replied, “in fact, that’s what got me thinking about my unconventional usage. By the way, I’ve got an idea you can try for when you get home.” “The what?” Eribia replied in continued confusion. “Wait… is that one of those Star Wars things that everyone was going on about on earth?” “Star Trek,” Cruger corrected, “don’t mix the two up if you’re near a fan of either unless you want them howling for your probably bubblegum flavored blood, you want to hear my idea or not.” “Sure… it couldn’t hurt.” Eribia replied. “Instead of a single giant death laser, try deploying your chi in a swarm of smaller beams,” Cruger replied as they went through the portal, “could be useful if you’re dealing with a swarm, like how zombies tend to do.” “Do you mean like the spread energy wave?” “Possibly,” Cruger replied as he closed the portal and demorphed, “your current moveset is geared towards single targets, not the best choice against a zombie horde, unless you count the thing I blew away with my giant robot.” “My chi attacks are primarily meant for one on one combat, my fists are fine against multiple opponents.” Eribia replied. “a zombie horde isn’t really what I’m supposed to fight anyway…” “Fair enough,” Cruger said before yawning, “sorry, I’ve had a long day, and we should probably get ready for the jump tomorrow, can we call it a night?” “You can rest if you want… I still want to fight someone… I’ll find someone to spar with, where’s your training room?” Cruger handed her an access card, “Simulator’s on level 48, map’s by the elevator, try WCS 42, elder dragon hoard, should tire you out.” She nodded and made her way down to the elevator so that she could train. With a sigh she let the elevator ride take as long as it needed to. Eribia looked at each of the walls surrounding her as the elevator made its way down. “Perhaps… perhaps instead of fighting… I should fly… I’m on a different world after all, making my own tour of the world could be useful…” She mumbled as she pressed the ‘first floor’ button. Before she reached the bottom, the doors opened on level 48 to admit a unicorn in SPD gear. “Oh,” she said, “hello, didn’t think anyone else was up.” “Yeah… gonna head out for a flight, I’ve got a lot on my mind and it was mid-day when I left my world so I didn’t realize that it would be night here.” Eribia replied. “Who are you?” “Oh,” she said as she pressed a button, “I’m Tome Guard, I was just getting in some practice in the simulator, you know Cruger finally managed to make Princess Twilight change her mind about having guards. Cruger’s going to start handpicking Troopers for the job soon, I hope I get picked.” “I’m Eribia, on my world I’m known as the ‘new spirit of chaos’.” The pink majin chuckled. “Do you happen to have a ship you can take? I’d be happy to have some company.” “Sorry,” Tome blushed, “some of the unicorns are training in those ‘helicopter’ things, but I’m more interested in the containment spells, wards and such are my special talent after all.” “Hm… perhaps you could teach me some?” “Maybe,” Tome said, “although they can get pretty tricky, the first ward I ever did had 3 separate layers, although it did earn me this.” Tome tapped a patch sewn on the shoulder of her jacket, which depicted her Cutie Mark, a book secured with silver chains and a shield shaped lock. “Well… I’m half-discord, so I’m pretty sure I can get the hang of magic without a problem.” Eribia chuckled. “Okay… maybe a little less than half but I can still do plenty of magic… it’s just not quite as reality-bending anymore.” Tome sighed, “Alright, I can put some notes together if you’re still here tomorrow.” “I’m pretty sure I’ll be here a while.” Eribia replied as she waited for the elevator to get to the first floor. “Man… this place is big…” “You’re telling me,” said Tome, “I’ve heard a rumor that one of the A-Squad guys still gets lost.” The elevator dinged, “Level 22, this is me, see ya Eriba.” “A-squad?” Eribia asked curiously as she held the door open. “H-how long do you plan to be awake?” “Well, I was thinking of doing some light reading for a bit,” Tome said, “but I take it you have something else in mind?” “I was thinking… perhaps a bit of education… I’m pretty good when it comes to planet-busting… but not much else.” Eribia admitted sheepishly. Tome sighed, “Come on, we can start with basic runes.” “I’d be glad to.” Eribia chuckled as she got off the elevator. ========<=>======== Her breathing evened out as her mental world swirled in a sea of colors, memories of other lives seemed to paint the scene before her in vast swaths of color until it settled on a vast field, surrounded by two huge fields of crops. The Majin looked around as she began to walk towards the town in the distance. The wind whistled gently around her as she took her time, the scent of fresh-cut wheat carried on the wisps that brought a smile to her face as she started getting closer... The wind took a stronger shift though. As it picked up the scent of burned fields and death lingered in the air as the peaceful visage of a town was replaced by still-smoking ruins. Her feet seemed to barely touch the ground as she found herself sprinting the remainder of the path until she stopped... slack-jawed in horror that brought her to her knees as the devastation that appeared before her stabbed a chilled dagger right through her heart. The burned corpses of humans, elves, dwarves and several of the other races that made up the tiny town's population were strewn about in the sulfur-smelling wreck of the town. Eribia drove her fist into the dirt next to her, all the strength in the world and she couldn't even muster up enough to crack the dry stone she had collapsed on. ...Everyone had died... everyone had died because she had left... because she had abandoned them... She wanted to get stronger but none of the strength in the world had been there to protect the innocent from getting murdered by one of her most hated enemies. ========<=>======== Eribia jolted awake in a cold sweat, panting hard despite not needing to breathe. Her breaths came in short pants as she tried to calm her mind, "It's just the memories... of... of..." as much as she wanted to admit it was the memories of the people she had consumed in her previous life... she couldn't bring herself to do it, each day the faces had begun to fade and the memory she had re-lived was much too real to be the memory of a person she had absorbed before she had died. When she finally managed to ease her breathing she laid back down and timidly drifted off to sleep once more.