Oneiro

by ngrey651

Awakening

Tori had decided to make a run for the town. She was determined to get to the cops, the wind striking her face with rock-hard zephyrs that felt as if a giant hand was trying to shove her away from Ajax, Utah. She continued to trek down the hill, grunting slightly as she fought against the wind, her brown/red hair flapping about as she kept moving. She was only a few minutes away from the town, she’d be fine if she could just-

Something wasn’t right. She stiffened as she hid behind a nearby tree, the wind’s force lighting up as she peered down towards the near-ghost-town that was Ajax. You might not have picked up on it at first until you really, really looked closely:

There was nobody on the streets but ponies. All of them too…cheery-looking. Smiling unnaturally, with big, soulless eyes and peppy little smiles and without a single “Cutie Mark” on their side to indicate their talents. Something clearly wasn’t right here, and Tori wanted to know what. She slunk along the hill, out of sight of the ponies on the streets as she slipped down towards a nearby grocery, crunching down by its window, back to the wall. She listened in as lightning split the sky, one of the ponies within going to the window and staring out at the estate of Oneiro in the distance, its gigantic clock tower ringing loudly as Tori kept crouching, able to see the pony, yet him not able to see her.

“I think lightning might have struck the estate.” The pony admitted, its voice oddly familiar. “…oh my.” It murmured, shaking its head back and forth. “That’s a surprise.”

“You think Shinedown’s finished with his work up there, Edward? He keeps saying he can make the potion even better.” Tori heard the storekeeper within remark.

Wait. Edward? Tori’s eyes bulged wider than dinner plates as she clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp of shock and horror. No wonder his voice sounded familiar, that was Edward! One of the many boys who’d gone missing! They’d had at least six before Roxy had moved in with them and the number had dwindled to two, and then Dan and Edward had just vanished one day, supposedly stealing the silverware!

“Don’t know how he can improve perfection. And speaking of, I just looooove being a pony now!” The pony at the window cheerily intoned, turning away from the window and walking back into the store. “Princess Celestia sure was clever to set up secret conversion bureaus in towns like this. These humans are just so unpleasant, they don’t fight fair. So if they want to be sneaky about how they fight us, we can do the same.”

Tori’s blood turned to icewater in her veins. Oh no. Oh noooo. The entire town had been turned into a secret conversion bureau? And Shinedown was in on it? How? Why-

The Orphanage. Of course. He’d taken in the unwanted children of the town and converted them. The boys had been changed into ponies and then sent out into the town to ponify it. And he’d been intending to do the same to all of them! She felt hot, bitter tears spring to her eyes as she wiped them away on her sleeve, gritting her teeth as she looked into the store window.

Yes. Rifles still on the wall. Bullets in the back. All untouched compared to the dried goods and candy. She just had to get in and get ahold of it, take care of the psychopathic unicorn that had been threatening her friends in the estate. It wouldn’t be too hard to get inside, the store did have a back entrance.

She grabbed a fallen brick off the ground, making for the doorway, enjoying the feel of the slightly-cracked brick in her hands as she opened up the store’s back door and snuck in, Edward leaving as the store owner knelt down behind the counter, picking up a small safety deposit box. Tori held the brick high and slammed it down on the unicorn, catching it off guard as a horrific KRUNCHA-KRAK sound filled the air, blood splattering on her dress like a Jackson Pollock painting, the pony crashing to the floor.

Now for the rifle.

SOME TIME LATER…

Chariot slowly opened his eyes, Shinedown patting his cheek with a hoof, the human strapped to some kind of table, everything blurry and dark as the earth pony’s eyes blazed with triumph. “Oh, its wonderful! Just wonderful! You’ve no idea how long I’ve been trying to make this right.” He informed the human, trotting back and spreading a hoof at a nearby countertop for Chariot to examine as his vision began to return to normal. Several rainbow-colored potions laid atop the table, glimmering brightly with a faint green outline shimmering about them.

“What…the hell did you do?” Chariot murmured as Shinedown pulled out something from the folds of his cloak, Chariot realizing it was one of the many crystalline candle holders the estate of Oneiro had. “What is that?”

“This is one of many crystals that King Sombra himself used to help amplify his willpower…make others see what he wanted. I’ve put them in this entire estate to craft the perfect testing grounds for my theory. The idea I could utterly exert my will over others if they were in a state of fear and terror, and thus be easy to dominate and capture. With you, I had to use direct force, unfortunately…” He sighed, hanging his head and shaking it back and forth. “I had to essentially break every child I brought here down, ravage their minds, make them empty to replace their will, in essence, with my own. But that was the only way it could work. Human willpower alone won’t cut it, it needs a catalyst of pony will to resist.”

“Resist what?”

Shinedown stopped then, turning, eyes narrowing slightly as he looked upward. “…I think we’re about to get a guest soon.” He remarked. “Tori appears to on her way.” He cringed. “You’ll have to get her to stop.”

“Why should I? It sounds like you’ve been torturing people!” Chariot snarled angrily.

“To bring them back from ponification.”

Chariot blinked in surprise, mouth hanging slightly open. “…wh…what?” He asked, eyes widening as Shinedown put the crystal away and headed over to the countertop with the potions, picking one up.

“I wasn’t able to stop the barrier. Those experiments failed. But when I was with my ponified partner and we were watching a film, an idea came to me. Within the film, there…there was a boy. A boy who WILLED himself out of this place called the “Matrix” to awaken in the real world, and an idea struck me. Could it be possible to have a ponified being will themselves back to normal?”

Shinedown paced back and forth, his tone hurried, conspiratorial, yet excited. “The idea fascinated me. I tested it on ponified human after ponified human, trying to use spells to get them to retain enough of their humanity to will themselves back, to force their bodies to reject the potion. The problem is that though there are a portion of humans in this world who truly are immune to the potion, like yourself, well…you still need one thing more. A little “hair of the dog that bit you”. Willpower from a pony to help override the potion. It’s taken me years, but I finally found someone who was not only naturally resistant to the potion, but who has survived the process! Mainained their soul!”

He held up a mirror from the folds of his cloak up to Chariot’s face. “Look!” He insisted. “You’re a pony, but your mind! Your mind is human, you’re free!” He proclaimed, Chariot gasping at the sight looking back at him. Big eyes…a muzzle, green hair and dark black fur…yes, he was a pony, a pegasus, in fact, with quite lovely wings. “All you need do is take that last step. While you were unconscious, I used the seal you’re lying on, the old magic, to place my will into you the same way I used seal magic to try and get humans to retain their own will. I’ve given you a hoof…take it and lift yourself up.”

Chariot could see the blood red seal written on the table behind him, odd, shimmering letters sparkling in the light of the hidden laboratory room and he cringed, an angry glint coming to his eye. Damn it, he was sick of this, he was human, not a goddamn-

And like that, his body shifted back to normal. His hooves became hands. His legs and arms became longer. His face was…well, a face! A normal, human face. Still had green hair, but that wasn’t an issue, not really. Not anymore.

“It works! Complete success!” Shinedown proclaimed, tears of joy brimming in his eyes. “With your help, you can help me create a replacement potion that I can substitute for the one the Conversion bureau has been disseminating. All the ponified humans will have a chance to turn back! And best of all, it will allow you to go through the barrier!”

Shinedown clapped his hooves together, happily grinning. “The barrier will recognize you as being ponified at one point, and it will be fooled into thinking you still are! It’s the perfect weapon to fight the solar tyrant! All we need is to sample your spirit with another seal, apply it to the potions I’ve got here-” He remarked as he gestured at the potions behind him before noticing something wasn’t quite right. Why wasn’t the human’s hair turning back to dark brown? And…and why was the human’s eyes so…unnaturally green now, with such piercing, black pupils? They almost appeared reptilian as they gazed down at him, and Chariot now spoke with a voice that was quite different than Shinedown had heard before.

“We had a feeling this was what was going on. That you were somehow experimenting on humans up here. We weren’t sure why, but the fact you were trying to create a cure to ponification just saved your life.” The being said, its voice powerful and mighty as it folded its arms over its chest. “I’m one of many who observe worlds, Shinedown T. Mare, part of a multidimensional society of do-gooders who go from realm to realm, righting what’s been made wrong.”

Shinedown turned pale as a sheet as the human smirked. “My “title” is Chariot. Chariot of the Major Arcana. That I wasn’t lying about.”

“Wh…what’re you…wait, what do you want?” Shinedown murmured, eyes widening as he took a few steps back. The way the Chariot was looking at him was unnerving, like he was a hunk of meat. “Look, let us just talk this over-”

“Your potion will do a great deal of good. But you have to be punished for what you’ve done. Innocent people have suffered to get this cure.” Chariot held a hand up, dark, pulsating energy rippling around it. “…our boss, she doesn’t believe in “getting even”. Doesn’t believe in revenge. She’s a nice girl. And normally I don’t either. But nothing about my life has been “normal” for quite a while, so…” He grinned like some sick, demonic thing that God had stuck under a rock and tried to forget. “Just relax. Because this will only hurt for a second.”

…

…

…

…Tori placed the rifle down on the grass, gently turning Lori’s body over as the tears flowed freely down. Lori’s form was charred and smoking, the lightning bolt had hit hard and she’d probably had no idea how close she’d been to freedom. The redhead struggled not to cry, but after everything she’d seen and had been done to her and her friends, all of it was just too much, and she clung tightly to the charred remains of her dear friend.

She held Lori’s form for what seemed to be many hours before the wind finally eased up, allowing her to hear the creaking of the front door, Chariot stepping out in a lovely black jacket with a deep green scarf and gloves, his hair also a brilliant shade of green as he knelt by Tori, holding her cheek.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get out here in time.” He apologized, Tori looking deep into his green eyes as he smiled tenderly back. “But I’ve got a potion here that will help turn the people of this town back to normal.” He offered, pulling out a small bottle from the folds of his jacket, Tori gasping at the shimmering, greenish potion he now had in his gloved hand. “We can make sure all this suffering wasn’t in vain.”

“How did you…what…” Tori murmured as Chariot smiled more broadly.

“It was what Shinedown was working on. A potion to reverse pontification through willpower alone. It required somebody like me, evidently my spirit has a resistance towards such things, to add in the last ingredient it needed to work, but…it will work. We just introduce this into the town’s water supply, and it’ll be cured. Then we get this to the world’s governments and we can begin fighting back by mass-replication of these things.”

“He did all that he did…just to make this?”

“He needed test subjects. Probably should have just asked, but…then again, considering how everyone here is so frightened of the potion, you probably would have just said “no” anyhow.”

“And put a bullet in his head.” Tori admitted with a sigh. “Getting ponified is usually a death sentence. Now it won’t have to be.” She added, finally feeling a smile coming to her face. “For the first time in a long night, I’m…feeling pretty damn good.”

“The work’s just begun.” Chariot insisted as he put away the potion and extended his hand. “…let me reintroduce myself. Call me “Drake”.”

MEANWHILE…

He finished adding the wrappings to his arms and legs. With those combined with the one atop his forehead, they’d be a constant reminder of the new duty he had. He felt the medal around his neck, the emblem of the Chariot burned into it as he then wrapped the belt around his waist, looking himself over in the mirror.

Nobody in Equestria would know of the ancient magic he now had had forcibly sealed onto him. His punishment. His cross to bear. Good intentions or not, he’d gone too far, and now would have to make amends for all he’d done as he struck back at the Solar Tyrant. Luckily, nobody would recognize him now. His fur was now dark, a charcoal black, and if you looked closely, you could faintly see the words written ever-so-faintly into the wrappings he’d placed upon himself. Written in ancient symbols, the old magic had been deeply tied to him. The seals he’d used were now one with him.

He exited the estate, seeing the two humans making off for the town as he stood at the front door, sighing slightly before turning around and closing it, placing a hoof upon the doorway. He willed the seal to appear, a powerful greenish/blue blaze lighting up the doorway as a mighty crest was burnt into the door. Now nobody would ever get inside again. The damn place deserved to rot away with the annals of time.

Bringing the hood up over his head, he trotted off for the east. It would take some time to get to the barrier and to Equestria, but he’d make it. The work had just begun, after all. And the new Chariot of the “Major Arcana” was ready to ride, to strike back at humanity’s greatest enemy and to reclaim the Earth.

…

…

…

… “There’s no WAY that happened.”

The ponies in the bar in Canterlot shook their head back and forth, looking over a newspaper that one orange-colored pony was reading, his white hair hanging low over the paper as the others crowded around him. The front page was clear: humans had re-transformed, going from pony to human before Celestia’s eyes, and it had shook the ponies of Equestria to the core. How, in the name of everything harmonious, was that possible?

“She saw it with her own eyes, though. Must be true.” The white-haired pony remarked with a calm expression, handing the newspaper to the blue-furred Pegasus near him, seeing a cloaked and hooded pony with an odd medal around his neck looking over in his direction, head tilted slightly to the side before he walked over.

“Bartender…” The pony said, pulling out a small bag of bits and handing them to the bartender with a small smile beneath the hood. “I’m thinking we should cheer these poor, unfortunate souls up. A little bit of my special martini mixed with your finest ale would do wonders.” He remarked, holding up a green vial and giving it to the bartender. “Mix that in with a barrel of your best and it’ll give everyone the kick of confidence they need.”

“I dunno, I don’t much like martini-”

The cloaked pony gave him another small bag of bits, the bartender cheerily taking the vial and heading for the back room as the hooded earth pony lowered his hood and tenderly smiled at the whire-haired unicorn next to him. “You used to be human, right?”

“Oh. You can tell? I was not aware.”

“Well for one, you’re a blank flank even though you’re older than me, and two, there’s always a certain “quality” surrounding new converts.” The medal-wearing pony admitted, shaking the converted pony’s hoof.

“Its true, my name was Richard Dawkins in the old world. I took the potion for, ah, scientific curiosity’s sake. I’d been testing it for quite some time, wanted to see its full effects and if it would truly work on all humans, regardless of age or gender or other traits.”

“Really? I tested the potion too, in my own way.” The medal-wearing pony informed Richard as the bartender came out with a large barrel of his ale, now mixed with the special little potion that would add a new “kick”. “I worked on it for some time. You wouldn’t believe what I did with it. It can change your life, y’know?”

“Yes. Say, didn’t catch your name…” Richard remarked as he took a swig from a poured glass of the special ale.

“You can call me the Chariot. I strike hard and I strike fast.” He informed Richard, putting down a copy of the Bible in front of the unicorn as Richard opened it up, his mind beginning to feel…tingly. A sudden realization hitting him as he opened the book, seeing the “surprise” within, noticing a few other ponies in the room had similar books and were giving him a look and a small, knowing nod.

Those sons of bitches. Those disgusting, deceitful pony bastards.

“Holy hell…” Richard growled, putting the cover back on before the other, non-former-human ponies could see, Chariot smiling back at him. “However did you get hold of this? You don’t even look old enough to have one, you need to be at least sixteen!”

“Well, and as the good book says, “Children are as arrows in the hands of a warrior.” Chariot cheerily intoned as he hopped off his seat and headed out the door, Richard turning, clutching the hollowed-out book in his hand and nodding at the other former humans in the bar who also had such books.

They focused their will.

And a few minutes and surprised shouts of horror later, the entire bar was lit up with the satisfying cracks and bangs of gunfire, the Chariot picking up a newspaper from a nearby, stunned pony on the corner, looking it over and shaking his head as he sauntered down the sidewalk.

“Celestia’s dream is coming to an end.” He wistfully sighed. “And her nightmare is just beginning.”