Kelly Mathews, Equestria's Landstalker

by Leafwebs

Chapter 9_Displaced RSVPs - Failure to Send Aftermath

Chapter 9_displaced rsvps- failure to send Aftermath

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[Remove Key Item – High Voltage Cable]

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[Text = Generator is now repaired.]

[Update Tile 36 = Sprite 020]

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Kelly scrutinized the on screen code which was part of an in game event to raise a draw bridge before a freighter crashes into the bridge.

The game revolved around a city building code inspector and her crew as they go from documenting failing city infrastructure to actively stopping a plot by a private industrial contractor to seize residential property for cheap.

This current project was as much about distracting Kelly from her real life intrigue as it was to meet her class requirements.

Sitting on a bench at the Ponyville train station Nigel had turned on his computer to pass the time. The ticket to Maple village cost 15 bits for one rider one way which didn’t include Sumac’s special considerations if he was in his wolf form for his ticket. It was an utter rip-off and Sumac reluctantly decided to stay a fairy so the pair had meal on the trip.

Nigel’s reason for the trip had everything to do with seeing Sumac get home. Things had gone well when he introduced Sumac to his family after his whistle brought both back to Earth and Nigel became Kelly. It was awkward to watch Sumac swap forms for the family when he decided to critique the Scurrunt’s hunting prowess from the movie ‘Lady in the water’. Nigel was even surprised to learn that things in the movie near the end the Tartutics were even somewhat real in Equestria just very rare. His only contention about the depiction of these creatures was that they were overly small for their kind.

Nigel felt guilty having held Sumac’s reunion back even though it was not his decision. Therapy and training had to come first according to the powers that be but Nigel thought the trip should have happened sooner. His brothers and sisters deserved as much reassurance in Sumac’s wellbeing as she did with Erin.

“Nigel it would seem we are heading to the same place.” Princess Trixie calls out from behind Nigel as she walks onto the platform illuminated by a lantern.

“Your Eminence… Give me a moment.” Nigel replies saving his progress and shutting down his laptop so he could put it away. “I was just working on my assignment for school, still got responsibilities to my life back home. But for rest of today I hope to get Sumac back to his pack.”

The Princess was followed closely by four of her guards, with one being Sergeant Spur; on their way to catch the same train Nigel was waiting for. Nigel was aware of the ongoing investigation happening in Maple village as the kidnappers motive was still a mystery, so it was no surprise to see the crowd of guards getting ready to board the arriving train.

Once on board Nigel took the first room of passenger car and set his pack on the bench.

“I think I need some hot coco before I can sleep. Do you want anything Sumac?” Nigel remarks while opening his coat some to let sumac peak out.

“For now I’ll have a petal muffin… but after we get away from the ponies I’m going hunting.” Sumac grumbles poking her head out of the coat. “After being stuck in here I should make you help.”

“I’m not joining you in the after hunt feast.” Nigel replies feeling a little ill.

“You eat meat as well, no need to be squeamish about getting it fresh.” Sumac teases.

Nigel gulps a bit worried he may just have to except this invitation. Entering the Dining Car of the train, the pair find most of Trixie’s guards having their breakfasts. Nigel takes a moment to find an open booth and sits down.

“Can I take your order?”An earth pony mare in a green tinted suit vest asks.

“Some hot coco and cream topping and a petal muffin, please.” Nigel replies.

“Finally into pony delicacies I see.” Sergeant Spur smirks.

“That is mine.” Sumac replies. “This body has a taste for them.”

“So are you planning on helping us investigate Maple Village?” Sergeant Spur asks.

“Here is your order sir.” The waitress mare says placing the hot coco and muffin down. Nigel hands her 8 bits to pay his bill.

“I would like to know why those ponies were kidnapping other creatures. Plus it will help me get some pay back.” Nigel replies then takes a sip of his coco. “But I must contact Sumac’s pack too.”

“Great. I can’t guarantee you’ll do anything case breaking but heavy lifting is still helping.” Sergeant Spur replies.

“For now I want to get some sleep.” Nigel replies finishing his coco.

Back at his room on the passenger car Nigel took a seat near his pack. Nigel rubbed his left arm where the Planer Trans-locator was locked on. After dealing with the discomfort he fell asleep with Sumac resting in his lap, the pair continued sleeping until a train whistle awakens them.

It was about ten in the morning and the train was pulling into the station. The partially cloudy weather and window frost only helped to remind Nigel and Sumac of the coming winter. It came as a bit of a shock after the warmer night.

“Right… Ponies control the weather here.” Nigel grumbles noticing the frost on the windows framing the village.

“Your pack shapes its territory as much as ponies do the weather if I am not wrong.” Sumac replies unfurling her wings and taking to the air. “Your kind creates the most obvious hunting trails of any creature.”

“We don’t use our roads to hunt. It just happens that we get a lot of kills that way.” Nigel replies pulling on his backpack palling a little at the realization.

With Sumac on his shoulder, Nigel steps off the train and onto the station platform. Eight guards disembarked on to the platform behind Nigel along with Princess Trixie.

“Well how do you feel coming back here Nigel?” Princess Trixie asks holding her coffee thermos in her magic.

“I’m conflicted. I noticed that the residents of this place were taking hostages while most were hostages themselves when I arrived. I hate the ones who were behind it, but I had friends here to while I was changed too and I don’t know who was just another victim verse a conspirator.” Nigel replies sounding hurt. “Thorns and Reeds both pulled my hide out of danger when I first met Sumac and I owe them one for that.”

“I’m sorry I can’t reassure you that the friends you made then were who they said they were. A lot of ponies became other creatures when the collars failed. They might have been among them.” Princess Trixie replies. “Or they could have been with the town leaders who escaped in the chaos.”

A unicorn night guard walks up on to the platform having just come from one of the houses.

“We’ve discovered a vital clue your highness. In the home of Rain Dancer we found a blue print for brick arrangements and a number of wood molds with spell runes on them.” The guard speaks turning over the blue print to the princess. “As you can see this unicorn was weaving a powerful mass transportation spell into the mason work of the village itself.”

“I can see what you mean Lt. Keen Sight, but this middle section has nothing to do with transporting things and the last line reminds me of the collar’s spell work.” Princess Trixie replies eyeing the blue print.

“We noticed that too your highness, my team is currently going around the village looking for more such mason work transcribe.” Lt. Keen Sight replies. “However we have not found any collars to make sense of that last part.”

“Of all the rotten luck…Why did I not copy the spell from back then?” Princess Trixie sighs bringing a hoof to her head.

“Maybe they hid some spare collars in a different house.” Nigel suggested.

“You have an idea that might help with finding these spares when we cannot.” Lt. Keen Sight counters annoyed.

“I didn’t mean to anger you Lieutenant… sir, but we could ask the local dogs about this.” Nigel replies cringing.

“How? How can you even ask dogs we cannot find?” Lt. Keen Sight continues.

Nigel pulls out his whistle and focuses his mind on getting help from the dog who can find the villages collars, the blows the whistle.

To the surprise of the pony guards the town dogs crawled out from under a near by house and walked up to Nigel. To Nigel’s surprise and everyone else’s surprise a single Timber wolf also showed up.

“Birch Heart!” Sumac cheers out choosing to transform in front of everyone landing in his wolf form.

As the timber wolves got reacquainted, the town mutts walk up to Nigel and guards.

“Look Beans, nervous pony’s Erin has been found.” The tan mutt barks over to a dark brown mutt.

“Looks like it Rags, I don’t see the nervous pony though. It was his call we heard just now was it not?” Beans replies tilting his head in uncertainty.

“I’m not Erin, but she is my sister. Can you to show us where we can get new collars?” Nigel interrupts as the ponies use a translation spell to listen in on the conversation.

“Shame, I hope you find Erin. You should know where you keep your collars.” Beans replies.

“Beans you know this pony is scatter brained. Show him where the spares are kept.” Rags interrupts.

“How did I forget Rags? Just follow me and we get you a spare collar.” Beans adds sighing.

The two dogs lead Nigel and the investigating ponies to the town well and pawed at a brick. When the brick was inspected a secret compartment opened in the well’s roof dropping a pair of collars into the bucket.

“Here are some of your spares, kid. I don’t know where the other stashes are but you ponies like to keep them on nearby.” Beans barks.

“These are simple non-magical hidden compartment boxes. Lt. Keen Sight you might want to check for more hollow spaces like this around town.” Princess Trixie orders. Holding a ring in her magic Trixie continues speaking. “For now I would like to study this ring and transcribe the spells. Here let’s go back to town.”

Nigel pockets the other ring and they return to the station. At the station Birch Heart and Sumac confront the group about a connected discovery.

“So this how you looked before the pony magic was used on you and you still are different still?” Birch Heart asks taking a close look at Nigel, a look that let Nigel feel the she wolf’s breath. “The scent is subtle but the unnatural magic stink is the same as on you Sumac.”

‘Why do I feel the need to be offended?’ Nigel thought wanting to scratch his neck.

“After you pony Alphas drove off the crazy herd we happened upon some other hidden dens they used.” Birch Heart continues. “One such den, not far from where the pony cubs were held; pulses with pony magic still. The pack is afraid of the place.”

“Will you take us there Birch Heart?”Princess Trixie asks.

Birch Heart leads Nigel, Trixie, and her guards deep into the forest to a fork in the road the former pony herd made. Instead of going to the lake where the foals were kept the group arrives at a spot that was used as a clay quarry. A pair of abandoned sleds sits at the edges of stone paved clearing both caked with mud.

The group might have dismissed the spot as being important if not for hoof armlet among some clothing scarps at the center the clearing.

“This is so obviously staged to be a trap.” Both Trixie and Nigel spoke making the pair wince.

“Please tell me Nigel why you came to the same conclusion I did.” Trixie adds a bit surprised and annoyed.

“It’s a writing cliché… for movies and games to use wide open places with an object of importance nearby for boss fights.” Nigel replies trembling.

“If some monster is about to attack it is the guard’s duty to flush it out.” Lt Keen Sight adds.

Nigel had no time to protest seeing Sergeant Spur about to disturb the armlet. With a burst of speed Nigel dashes over to Spur with Sumac’s fairy hands barely snagging a pieces of Nigel’s coat. The rest of the ponies were slow to notice Nigel’s panicked dash in time and slammed into a barrier.

Sergeant Spur with armlet in hoof turns to see what the commotion was. Two blinding flashes later the ponies see Sergeant Spur takes a couple wobbly steps and passes out. Nigel already on the ground struggles to pull a sparking ring from his pack and toss it away.

“I commend your determination you filthy ape, but it seems you need a Princess’s orders to keep your nose to your own business.” An alarmingly familiar yet arrogant voice calls out from overgrown landing just across the clearing from the main group.

“Trixie would like to commend your gall at stealing her voice but your performance is off.” Trixie mutters having encased her own ring in a shield of null magic. “Show yourself imposter!”

“What lovely fortune but who will you tell Princess hmm? You won’t be going where we will be, in fact once my sisters awake you’ll be dead.” The imposter retorts walking into the open. “Isn’t that right sisters?”

The imposter looked like Trixie if she took far too much interest in being known as a Noble’s war general… and made entirely out of clay. The life like way it moved was what scared Trixie most.

“Sisters please join me…” The Imposter asks casually as Sumac revives Nigel with Ekeeke plant. Nigel gets to his feet only to notice the worry in the fake alicorn’s voice. “Sisters…”

When no answer reached her ear the fake’s mood sours and turns to where she came from and sees the other two clay statues have not moved or show signs of life.

“You weren’t expecting to do this alone huh… Mayor?” Nigel retorts drawing his sword and motioning for Sumac to help Sergeant Spur.

“You… You’re the one responsible for this.” The fake princess fumes taking to the air.

“Watch out Nigel!” Sumac screams.

With just enough time to bring up his sword Nigel can only brace himself for the hit as the alicorn fake uses its wings to rear up from her dive to hammer Nigel in the iron breast plate with a hoof strike and propel herself back into the air.

Nigel staggers backwards at the blow using his sword to stop his fall. Out of the corner of his eye only the whipping of branches gives him a clue to where the fake would attack next. From his left came the next dive which Nigel avoids by diving into a forward roll.

Smiling the fake alicorn swoops again and lowers her head so her horn was aimed strait at Nigel.

“Down bitch!” Nigel shouts side stepping the horn and cleaving the fake’s right wing clean off.

The fake alicorn screams in pain leaving a trail of blood as she skids to a stop. Nigel’s heart skips a beat at this and he looks at the wing finding it to be mostly real looking even as the clay was still visible. Nigel turns back to resume the fight and hastily dodge a pair nasty pink fire balls before finding himself paralyzed.

“You hurt me… you filth.” The fake alicorn whines using her magic to stanch her wound. While pawing at the ground the fake alicorn dose something to her horn giving it the look of a barbed mace.

‘Oh shit she’s going to gore me.’ Thought Nigel as he struggles against the hold spell.

Just before the fake alicorn could reach Nigel however a spear strikes the horn and breaks the spell. Retaliating, the fake alicorn fires a ball of pink fire a Sergeant Spur giving Nigel the opening he needed.

Bringing his sword down onto the fakes horn with all his might, Nigel succeeds in cleaving the horn in two as a spell was charging. Burning runes danced before Nigel’s eyes for a second before settling on his sword.

“This can’t… be. My body has been… destroyed by monkey filth.” The fake alicorn babbles in panic looking at all around her before settling on the last clay statues. “Of course I’ll just get a new body.”

“Nigel stop her!” Sergeant Spur yells.

The fake alicorn turns around suddenly remembering her opponent was so close and watches in horror as the point of its sword sinks into a glowing blue stone set in her chest.

The fake alicorn explodes in ball of blinding flames and screams shooting something high into the air above. The shield around the arena also fails prompting everyone nearby to run to Nigel’s aid with Sumac and Sergeant Spur being the closest.

A weak voice makes Nigel look up, in the sky above where the fake died a turtle shaped gold colored object stops smoldering as it falls. On the shell are markings in blue runes reading Bankorok Aretak and one other rune that did not match the Eternal Darkness rune list.

“Get back... it’s a token.” Nigel yells too late to stop Sergeant Spur and Sumac from colliding with him.

To the others gathered the token’s activation looked like a metallic blue ball swallowing the mass helpless heroes, to the three caught by the token it felt like free falling in all directions.

After the token drops the three heroes into its native world, the three are overcome by acute sickness.

Nigel recognized the smells in the smog of this place as chemical fumes and promptly vomited. Taking a deep breath afterwards did little to help Nigel as the smog caused a chocking fit. Sumac and Spur were not doing any better.

‘This smog is poisoning us.’ Nigel thought sweating. Nigel opens his pack and pulls out a clump of Detox grass and eats some. The feeling of sickness fade away.

“Open your mouth Sergeant and chew!” Nigel orders forcing some of the Detox grass down the pony guard’s throat. Picking up Sumac, Nigel puts some Detox grass in the fairy’s mouth as well.

When Nigel’s companions started breathing normally Nigel looks up at the skyline and wishes he hadn’t.

Through the smog Nigel could see an ominous egg shaped building at the center of a decaying city skyline. Welcome to Robotropolice.

Author's Note:

Looking for a guest displaced character here for the next 2 chapters.

The Robotnik in this world is Julian Kintobor Robotnik of the SatAM Archie continuum who used and banished himself thanks to his super weapon in the End Game arc of the comic. The Robotrpolice city scape has the look of the SatAM cartoon except the horizon past the city is a void field result of same super weapon. Lastly Robotnik will be aware of all the advances of his predecessor Robotnik MK2 up to the super genesis event and can research other franchise's sciences for inspiration.

Who is the displaced with the gold turtle?