A new start(redo)
Poke.
Ouch.
Poke.
Ouch.
Thwack!
Fuck!
“Piss off…” I groaned as I pushed away whoever the hell smacked me. “Can’t you tell I’m sleeping?”
“Say that again, but listen carefully…” Said a female voice… huh… wait…
She sounds familiar… but where… also come to think of it my voice did sound different too and… wait, a girl in my room!?
“Hold up…” I started as I opened my eyes groggily. “There’s a girl in my room? What now?”
“Close but not quite.” Her voice said again as I rubbed the tired out of my eyes. Looking over to where I heard her I saw… a girl, dressed in black and white, rather tight and revealing clothes with green hair and a horned skull… helmet… wait a second I know this chick! Lilynette Gingerbuck! From Bleach! Shit… am I at the convention already? I don’t…
Shit!
I winced… the hell, why does trying to remember give me a headache? I don’t feel hungover.
“Don’t try too hard, it will come back in time.” She said, helping me up… wow, for a small… perfect look alike of that anime girl she sure is strong. “You good?”
“I don’t remember drinking heavily…” I grumbled. “Where...are we and...who are you?” I asked carefully.
I looked around, seeing a forest around us. Thick and lively if all the noise in the distance means anything. She then looked at her own hands and body, as if realizing she had a body for the first time. “Well, given my Appearance, call me Lilyinette Gingerbuck. I didn’t have an actual name before anyways.”
“No, I mean who are you really?” I asked her bluntly. “Cause you maybe dressed as her, but there’s no way...did someone kidnap me from-” I was about to continue but a sudden spasm of pain rushed through my head. “Ow…” I grumbled, putting a hand on my throbbing head...a gloved hand...I don’t remember wearing normal gloves.
“Yeah, I’m just as lost as you. And like I said, I didn’t have a name before, though explaining that reason would just give you more of a headache than you already have. As for why your costume looks far more… complete than before, take a look.” I jumped back seeing her take out a perfect copy of Lilynette’s sword… from her horn stump! That’s not physically possible… She held the reflective part up to me and… oh… what then.
I touched my face, so did he. I blinked both my eyes, so did he… Why do I look like Coyote Starrk?!
“Excuse me, but what the hell!?” I asked in complete shock.
“Yeah… I’ll wait while you get the panic out of your system.” She said while I let my panic run wild.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on, how I was Coyote Starrk in his regular form when I could have sworn I was dressed up in his Resurrección form but...all of this doesn’t make any sense. “How...why...and do you know something about this? Cause if I’m Starrk and...you must be the real Lilyinette...so you know a whole lot more than me here.”
“Wrong. I’m no more Lilynette than you are Starrk. But as far as I can tell we do have their abilities. As well as bodies.”
“And...how do you know that?” I asked carefully.
She showed me tha sword again, putting it back how she drew it. “That not enough proof?”
“But...who are you really? If you’re not really Lillinette then...what are you?”
“Figmitive construct of your mind given physical form upon our arrival.” I stared at her. “I’m… Part of your head. Mind, it’s hard to explain but you know that voice that tells you you’re horrible for no reason? Yeah I’m the opposite. I remind you of happy memories and tell you positives and hopeful things.”
“I...remember that voice...then there was also the more...aggressive voice…” I started.
“Yeah, my unwanted roommates. Speaking of.” She grabbed my head, shaking it a bit. “They aren’t still in there are they? I am pretty sure if I’m out then so are they.”
“That would be a horrifying thought.” I grumbled. “But...no idea, they might just be taking a nap as they tend to do.”
“We sleep when you do. Even then they work overtime giving you nightmares. Remember the AntEater one when you were six?” She asked me, my eyes widening. “Yeah that was them. Two against one is so unfair in the physical or mental space.”
“So where the hell have you been for a majority of the time?” I huffed.
“Well when I wasn’t metaphorically tied up by them, no bodies remember, I managed to give you some nice dreams. My personal favorites were Jellybean rain when you were seven, DnD style castle raid when you were fourteen and your last nine wet dreams involving your childhood crush.” She chuckled. “The dialogue on those I am especially proud of.”
“Let’s...not remind me of those at the moment…” I muttered, not sure if I could blush considering what I really was but damn it sure felt like it. “But...what happened? I...don’t remember anything besides me going to an anime convention with Claire and...that’s about it.”
“Fuck if I know. All my memories come from you, plus my personal experience working as your little helper in your head, so if you don’t remember, than neither do I. Memories stop where yours do and mindscape wise I was wrestling those two for control over your confidence to finally make a move on her. Oh, that reminds me… I have a body now so,” She slapped me. “Dude how can you be so dense?! Even with those two shouting at you in both years it’s as obvious as a disney movie that she liked you!”
“Is that why they both sounded disappointed half the time I talked to her?” I asked.
“Shockingly yes.” Lilly told me. “Seriously, even they were shocked at how dense you are.”
“Christ…” I groaned. “Well...I can blame them for my lack of confidence to ask her...but she also was dating someone at the time, even if he was an asshole.”
“Yeesh, I forget you also aren’t very observant. You seriously think Claire dated him by choice? Everytime he showed up or came into conversation, did she ever smile? When she said she had a date with him, did she seem happy?”
“No, but that could have been for a lot of reasons other than she didn’t like the guy.” I shrugged. “The places they went to were certainly bad choices for Claire all the time.”
“And you think, knowing Claire as long as you have, she wouldn’t have dumped him if he didn’t have something to blackmail her with? He sure talked to her like he was holding something over her head.”
Lillinette could feel a sudden pressure on her as the ground started to shake around us. “If that bastard even dared hurt her…” I growled, the rage of what could have happened between those two surging into my head past my panic and confusion of what the hell is going on.
“So you do have his powers then.” She said. I took note on how it looked like there was a lot of wind getting pushed out from me based on how the plants around us were acting. After I calmed down and it stopped she pat my back. “Look, why we are here and where we are should be our top priority, cause if there was a way here… then that means there has to be a way back. But before any of that we have to figure out where… Here is.”
“Yeah...cause so far there’s just a whole bunch of forest.” I said, looking around carefully as the noises that permeated the forest before seemed to have disappeared...probably because of me but I don’t know.
“Well… “ Lilynette looked around, turning around several times before looking to our left. “That way.”
“Because there's a road or because we have powers to sense people?” I asked while looking to the left.
“No idea.” She said with a shrug as we started walking.
“Well...fine.” I said while following after Lillinette.
We walked for… some hours I think? The sun wasn’t moving across the sky like it should so, I wasn’t sure. Eventually we came across a valley with a large ruined castle in the center of it. Woah. Back in the day this thing must have looked amazing. Now nature was… actually not touching it at much as you’d imagine. It looks more like time has done it in over nature.
“Wow, it’s pretty.” Lilynette said.
“I’m surprised how Time has done more to hurt the place than nature.” I said honestly.
"Yeah. I mean, look at the ground. At the Valley's edge the grass and trees just stop." She pointed out. She felt the ground. "Weird. The dirt doesn't feel dead. A bit dry but still fertile."
“That’s strange…” I said, putting a hand on the hilt of the sword I somehow had. “Something’s not right with this place…”
We walked an old yet still sturdy rope bridge into the castle. Entering the main chamber it looked like there was a battle here. Large blast marks and a hole in the roof made that clear. No weapons, armor or bodies anywhere though. Strange.
“It looks like a battle happened but there’s nobody here…” I frowned.
"Yeah… no arrows or bullet holes, if they even have guns here, or sword marks in the ground or walls. Not even dried blood. It's like something exploded a few times and then it was abandoned. Even the cloth tapestries are still up." She said, pulling on a dusty torn one depicting what looked like some winged, horned animal flying under the moon.
“This is really weird…” I said. “But something still feels...off about this place, like something’s still here…”
"Huh, that's weird." I walked over to Lilynette, finding her looking down a hall of rusting armors… full body horse armor? "I know horses also got armor but not that much…"
“Or...only the horses getting the armor.” I said honestly. “I’m pretty sure the riders armor would be next to their mounts but...it’s all just horses.”
"Maybe these people really value horses?" She shrugged, walking along to the nearby room. As we looked there was a lot of paintings left here, all ruined and from what little I could make out there were only ever horses. Some looked like they were in armor or… clothes? Suits, dresses, hats. The works.
“This is really weird...also, these mannequins are...a tad small for horses if memory serves.” I said honestly.
"Hmm… So, ponies?" She asked with a shrug.
“Maybe, but I have no idea.” I shrugged. “Right now we have too little to go on…”
We wandered aimlessly for a while and came across a small sitting room of sorts. Furniture was either old and rotted or gone. Some books were still here and there, most unreadable and those that didn't turn to dust immediately at our touch we were surprised to find out we can read. Most seemed random stories, plant and animal books. Finally we did find one of note, a diary of a maid named… Lemon Mist? The hell kind of name is that?
Year 87, Era 9.
It has been months since the princesses spoke to each other. Celestia's tries to keep her head held high but the worry is as clear as a cloud in the sky. Luna barely eats, and the few times she speaks to anypony it's violent vulgar words of anger with eyes red from tears. We are all worried. Princess Luna has always been emotional but this goe-
The rest was rotted away.
"Any… pony?" Lilynette said. Oh good so I wasn't the only one to notice that.
“Huh...that’s...really strange…” I said honestly. “So...ponies are the sentient race here?”
"Well, it would explain the armor and paintings. Weird, definitely not on earth then. So, two Princesses having a spat… though from what she wrote about this Luna, she definitely had some voices like you did. What did they call them in Bleach?"
“Hollow’s.” I answered. “But Hollow’s aren’t the ‘whisper in your ear’ type...their more ‘devour a person and move to the next’ kind of beings…”
"Maybe, but for now it's a better name than nothing. So it looks like Luna had a Hollow… That begs the question of… what happened to her… cause from the main chamber and that diary says anything I don't think it ended well."
“Most likely, but we’re in some ancient ruins so we wouldn’t know the full story.” I pointed out.
"Hmm… let's get to the highest tower. I doubt when they abandoned the castle they could travel all too far, I imagine moving an entire capitol, or nation even, would not be easy."
“Can’t we fly or something?” I asked curiously. “Wait...you don’t know anything more than me so...shit…” I muttered, wishing Lillinette here knew what the hell we could actually do.
"Guess we'll just have to learn that then." She sighed, the two of us finding a staircase up. The next floor was clearly the throne room. Two thrones sat next to one another, one displaying the sun and the other a crescent moon. This room felt… empty. I mean like this place was abandoned long before the rest of the castle. I could feel a sense of sadness, hatred and… sorrow. On the moon throne, a long dead flower bouquet rested on the seat.
“Well...even if there were people here it would still feel abandoned.” I said honestly. “But...didn’t expect to feel the emotional history as well.”
"Well, if we are these characters, we are… dead, right? Lord… something's. Ugh, none of us could understand how you managed your memory storage. As messy as your bedroom in there…"
“Vasto Lorde’s.” I answered. “Specifically the Arrancar variant, since Starrk originally took off his mask and turned it into this sword.” I explained while patting the handle of my katana. “And...technically yes, but considering how strange the afterlife is in Bleach...also my memory storage was messy to keep at least some of you out.”
"Worked." She said as we left the throne room, reaching a tower that was actually locked behind chains. Rusted but massive, each thain as thick as my arms, and a lock the size of Lilynette. "Damn." She said with a whistle.
“While impressive, and even though they rusted…” I trailed off as I walked over and grabbed the lock, not even knowing how physically strong I was, I managed to break the lock rather easily with just one hand.
"So all that masterbation paid off."
“Even you know I’m a lefty in that.” I countered, putting my right hand back into my pocket and nudging the door open with my foot.
"Save for when your phone is out." She added.
“Hush you.” I frowned. “But I wonder why they locked up this tower specifically?”
"One way to find out." Lilynette said as she opened ithe doors. The staircase up was dusty but arguably more well preserved than the rest of the castle.
Once at the top we were greeted with possibly the only untouched room here. It looked like a study of sorts, books all looking pristine behind locked glass covered shelving, a table littered with aged papers, most still readable all displayed strange diagrams and circles. Almost reminds me of Full Metal Alchemist.
A bed sat neatly made and covered in dust against the back wall next to a window where the outside was visible and well above the trees.
"Damn…" I said in surprise at how well this place was kept. "Well...at least more of these letters are legible…"
"Wonder who lived here, and why it was locked up." Lilynette asked as she looked out the window. "Well… shit." She sighed, turning to me. "All I can see is forest for miles." She looked out the window again, looking up this time. "If I get up there I might see something."
"Christ…" I groaned. "There has to be a way to get higher...but damn it do I wish they explained how our powers worked…"
"They who?"
"The anime mostly." I sighed out. "At least with a general explanation I could figure something out…"
"Welp, what can you do?" She said, looking out the window again and around, side to side this time. "Huh, I think I can see something… Hey, Olympus is typically on the top of a mountain, right?"
“Yes, what do you see?” I asked, looking around carefully to see what Lilly was seeing.
It was… a city. A city made entirely of clouds where large rainbow waterfalls flowed down below the city before disbursing into mist or something. The cloud city floated Along with the winds, lazily leaving regular clouds behind it. It was far, very far, yet from here I could see it about as clearly as if I was looking at a plane in the sky. Can't see the small features but the large features were very visible. "So, go there?"
“Well...we’re gonna need to figure out how to fly first to go to cloud city.” I said honestly. “And...if memory serves people like us just...walk on the energy of the world...whatever the hell it is at this point.” I said, not sure if this place had Spirit Energy or not for us to walk on. “Or...create platforms underneath our feet with said energy but who knows…”
"Time will tell." She said. "Come on, let's get over there. Better some civilization than none."
“Yeah...now the only problem is, where the hell to go to get to civilization cause I don’t see a road out at the moment.” I said, trying to find a road or something to show where to properly go.
"Well… there's two options. One, we blind luck hope we make it there on foot through all that, or, we set the forest on fire and let them come to us. Castle at minimum."
“Best not to set the forest on fire...the forest is really big.” I said nervously.
"Castle it is. Come on let's go use that sword on your side and cut some trees."
“Let’s hope I don’t accidentally cut down more than just the one tree.” I said honestly, not really wanting to cause mass destruction from my own physical strength.
We made out way back down and surprisingly, with little force I could slice through the tree like it was butter. Carrying that tree was… also oddly easy. Once up and high enough in a different, ruined tower we grabbed rotten books, furniture and such and thankfully found a supply of lanterns with oil still in them and flint for candles. With a quick strike the tower became one giant torch puffing out nasty black smoke.
Lilynette and I were outside the castle watching it from a non suffocating distance. "Now we just wait and see."
“Hmm...considering that one picture of that winged horned horse...do you think there will be Pegasi and Unicorns here as well?” I asked curiously, my attention to detail starting to come out given I had to hand make half of my costume back home.
"That would make the most sense. So, how long til you think someone shows up?"
"Depends, if pegasi live in that cloud city then maybe an hour." I shrugged, taking a pure guess on how the crow flies.
“Well in any case, think they’ll be mad we set one of the towers on fire?”
“I doubt it, this place has been abandoned for a long time, and if anyone gave a damn there would have been a restoration of it at least.”
After waiting for about half an hour we saw a group of Pegasi flying above us. Half went and put out what was left of the tower fire, which largely died out, the others flew near us but kept a distance. After it looked like they were talking amongst themselves, one flew closer to us. She had wild blue and yellow hair, er, mane, like fire and wore a blue and yellow jumpsuit… huh. Also goggles. “Do you two speak any language?” She asked, voice rather gruff but not gravelly.
“Oh thank god you speak english.” I sighed out thankfully. “I’m more glad that we can understand you than...the talking pegasus…”
“I should be saying that to you… what are you? You look like a monkey but too tall, and too small for an ape, and too small and thin and lacking horns to be a minotaur and… lacking the proper legs to be centaures.” She said. “Did you two set that tower on fire?”
“Yes. We did not want to walk all the way through this forest and we saw that cloud city from up there. Felt the easiest way to get your attention.” Lilynette said.
“Huh, fair but this castle is a historical landmark and under crown protection from vandalism.” The pegasus said.
“And as you can clearly see, neither of us are...from here.” I started. “We didn’t know this was a monarchy...or a diarchy because of the two sisters.”
“Yeah, given your race, lack of obvious citizenship… Still, if you both are corporate, I can get you both to the nearest town, but you’ll both have to be locked up until we can get somepony from Canterlot to figure out how this will go.”
“We’ll Corporate.” Lilynette said.
With a nod that Pegasus flew back to the others.
“Well...hopefully things will start to get better from here.” I said simply.
Lilynette and I sat bored in the cell. The nearest town is called Ponyville. Largely a farming town famous for its apples, carrots, and other assorted crops. We were given a bowl of fruits and veggies to munch on and these were honestly amazing. I had no idea lettuce could have flavor beyond water.
About half an hour passed before we heard something from outside the room of cells we were in. “I assure you I’ll be fine.” Said another, female voice from the other side of the door. First thing I noticed when we came into this town was that there were a lot of mares here. At least I’m assuming the majority of them are all mares.
“Miss Sparkle, I am aware of your talents but they are an unknown race of creatures and set fire to the old castle.” Said the voice of the police sheriff.
“To get help, any creature lost in the everfree with common sense would have done the same if they saw an opportunity for airborne help.” Replied this Miss Sparkle. “Besides, if we ask them we;ll know what their race is.” With that the door opened in a glow of purple aura. There are Pegasi and Unicorns, also earth ponies but that’s basically a normal pony. In walked a purple unicorn with a star tattoo on her butt and a two tones purple mane and tail. She closed the door behind us and walked up to us from the otherside of the bars. “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Do you two have names?”
I thought for a moment, thinking if I should use my real name or the character's name. “I’m Coyotte Starrk, and this is my...little sister, Lillinette Gingerbuck.” I said to them.
“Right then, now, what are you two? I don’t believe anything or any creature of your race has ever been to Equestria before.”
“Human.” Lilynette said before I could speak. “We are called Humans. And honestly we have no idea how we even got here. We could tell from the moment we arrived this wasn’t even our world.”
“Really? How so?”
“Well, for one our sun moves across the sky throughout the daylight hours while yours stays in one spot all day, and while ponies do exist back home, Unicorns and pegasi do not. They also are not intelligent either.”
“Really?! Fascinating!”
“They are also not as...colorful, or have weird butt tattoos on purpose.”
“Hm? Oh, you mean Cutie Marks.” She said with a nod. “These are an integral part of Pony Culture. They appear whenever you discover your special talent, your Destiny.”
“And being a star, yours is in?” Lilynette asked.
“Magic. I can learn just about any spell and cast it with a fair amount of ease. Mastering it until casting it is as easy as levitation. Of course, I can study and learn other subjects not related to magic and master it just as easily, so I guess my talent is more like learning.”
“Well...alrighty then.” I said carefully. “At this point, talking ponies, unicorns and pegasi, magic being here as well isn’t that surprising.”
“So, you two don’t know how you got here?” Twilight asked.
“Nope.” Lilynette said.
“No idea...last thing I remember was being at a convention...then something…” I trailed off, trying to remember what happened but it was only hazy or painful to remember the details.
“Hm, interesting. Perhaps your transport to Equestria had a negative affliction on your minds. If you two don’t mind, I’d like to cast a spell to see if anything was strange about your bodies. I’ve studied the theoretics of portal magics across dimensions, and it’s possible whatever brought you here left residual energies.”
I knew full well our bodies would be really weird to Twilight if she scanned us...but I wanted to make sure if my head wasn’t really screwed up royally. “You can try if you want”
She nodded, her horn lighting p as first I was covered in her purple magic. After a minute, Lilynette was also covered in it. We stood like that for a while before the aura faded. “Strange. Very strange.” She said aloud in thought. “Starrk, you don’t seem to have any mental irregularities I detected that could have been caused by an external force. Lilynette, your body is largely made up of magical energies but is trying to grab and absorb physical matter.”
“That… actually makes sense, This is gonna sound crazy but I didn’t actually exist before arriving here. Well, I did but without a body, I was part of Starrk’s mindscape before this.”
“Really?! Wow, It’s been studied that the mental representations of the mind can gain their own forms within the mind, but to actually pull one from the mind and give it a physical form, that’s never been done before!”
“I didn’t do it on purpose if that matters.” I pointed out. “But uh...what would happen if...depression voices got out?”
“I have absolutely no idea, this is a whole new field combining Psychology and magic. Aside from this, the only irregularities I can detect is a small, unknown bit of energy within the both of you, and a strong pull of the world's natural mana into yourselves.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “Good to know all of that...so when are we going to see the Queen’s?” I asked curiously.
Twilight looked at me, confused. “Queens? You mean Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?”
"Then who's the king and queen?" I asked carefully. "The sun and moons parents? Also...really on the nose with names I'm seeing…"
"Equestria doesn't have Queens. You can only have one king or queen in a monarchy, but you can have as many princesses as the royals desire or require. As for the mother of Celestia and Luna, well I'm not actually sure. As far as I know there are no records of their parents in the history books."
"So it's not a monarchy then." I said honestly. "It's...a republic or something at that point." I shook my head, trying to get back on track. "So when will we meet the princesses?"
"Well, I sent a few letters before arriving here so, maybe in a day or two?"
"Are we going to be stuck in these cells for that long?" I inquired.
"Possibly. You're mostly here for setting a fire in the castle of the two sisters, and given your not equestrians or even of this world somepony is gonna have to give punishment."
"If people didn't want it ruined then why are they leaving it abandoned and filled with a whole lot of regret?" I asked simply.
“Well, the Everfree Forest is an extremely dangerous place filled with wild animals and magic that can’t be understood or controlled.”
“Then why build a castle in the center of it?” Lilynette asked.
“In the past, the Everfree was not as dangerous as it is today, in fact, it is only in the last thousand years, shortly after it was abandoned after the rise of Nightmare Moon, that the Everfree began to grow far more wild and countless unknown creatures with just as unknown magic moved in. By then the castle was completely abandoned, but for some reason the castle grounds themselves remain untouched by the Everfree, even avoided from what I have seen.” Twilight explained.
"So...why care about the old place? I'm pretty sure someone would be happy to see it destroyed, and it's probably those princesses given the notes we found."
“While the castle itself does hold, less than pleasant memories for the two, the magic, secrets and history are far too invaluable to simply erase it. Over the years many have explored it and to this day it’s estimated not all of the castle’s secrets have been uncovered. Maybe only about twenty percent in total if that.”
"Neat." I nodded.
“Hmm… So, not much of that castle has been explored at all then? What if we could help you in that endeavor in exchange for a pardon of this little incident?” Lilynette suggested.
“Well, that would be helpful and you’d be heroes in the eyes of the Equestrian historical societies. Did you two find something of interest?”
“Well, you know of a tower that was locked by massive chains?” Lilynette asked as Twilight nodded.
“Starswirl the bearded’s personal research laboratory and study. The books, scrolls and tombs in that room haven’t been touched since his disappearance, the room and tower itself sealed with magic so strong not even the Princesses could break it. Why do you ask?”
“Starrk here broke those chains off and we saw it.”
Twilight laughed. “Impossible, how could you two break magical seals so powerful not even the Princesses could remove them?”
“Hmm… Well, you said we’re absorbing mana from the environment, shouldn’t that mean that we absorbed the magic from the seal as well?”
Twilight was silent, thinking clearly before her eyes widened. “If you did, the cains would be reduced to plain metal and could easily be broken off with enough force or magic! You two really got into Starswirld’s personal study?!”
"There wasn't any magic to begin with." I deadpanned. "If there was, I'm pretty sure we would have noticed it glowing. Did any of you even bother looking at it?"
“Part of it’s magic is to hide itself from prying eyes. The spellwork consists of multiple layers of magic, the first being concealment and avoidance. Basically mindless monsters of those with rather low intelligence can’t even acknowledge the door and chains are their. As far as they’d be concerned it’s just a wall, same for those who are actively seeking the tower entrance itself with a desire for the treasures inside, so it’s hidden from thieves too. Bypassing those for the ones who can see it, meaning those who don’t care for what is inside, like you both, the magic then falls to the next layers. Protection, Repelling, and Immunity. The protection charms make it impenetrable from physical attempts to open, the Repelling ones make dark artifacts, or even just artifacts meant to bypass locks and protections unable to work on it, and lastly the Immunity means the seal itself is immune to magic. Manic of all save the original caster. But, since you two are currently, passively absorbing magic, you two bypassed all that and basically ate the magic keeping the seal up, removing all of the protections by basically absorbing it like one absorbs lotion.”
"So either we're really good at absorbing magic, or Starswirl sucked at his job as sorcerer supreme." I shrugged. "Cause we were only near that lock for like...ten seconds or something?" I turned to Lily for confirmation.
“Well, Starrk did touch it. Maybe touching that magic quickened the absorption?” She offered.
“That is possible. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if by physically touching that magic you absorbed it faster.” Twilight said. Her horn lit up and in a flash a book appeared in front of her. Her horn flashed again and the book didn’t look any different. “Let’s run a test. This book I quickly enchanted with a simple privacy spell. Any filly worth her horn uses this spell on their diary. It basically makes nopony other than the caster able to open the book. I’ll monitor the magic of the spell, you two just grab it.” Twilight said, placing it through the bars and onto the floor of our cell.
I grabbed the book. "Don't be surprised if I accidentally rip it in half...I kind of don't know my own strength." I said carefully as I tried to open it.
It opened and I had about half of it flew out of my grip and against the wall. Twilight simply blinked. “Well… Looks like touching an enchanted object causes you to absorb the magic instantaneously… And that strength… I didn’t detect any magical enhancements… so that is just pure, raw physical strength.”
“Uh...huh…” I blinked. “I...did warn you about my physical strength.”
“I wasn’t expecting that… Strange…”
“I didn’t think it would be that fast and...again, I don’t know my strength really.” I said sheepishly.
“Well, I think I can make some arrangements, I’ll have to go back home and get Spike to help me send a few more letters to Princess Celestia. With luck we can arrange something so you two can avoid trouble with the law and maybe even gain citizenship.”
“Alright.” I nodded. “So, tell me about this ‘Nightmare Moon’ person...sounds like it happened recently considering the burn marks on the walls in the castle.”
“Well, yes and no. You see, a thousand years ago, Princess Luna fell into an unexplainable despair. She grew angered and jealous of Celestia, and how Ponies enjoyed the day far more than the night. After some time, she suddenly transformed into Nightmare Moon, a dark creature with all of Luna’s powers and abilities, and refused to lower the moon, wanting to bring upon an eternal night. Celestia had to use these powerful artifacts, the Elements of Harmony, to banish her inside the moon. It was only a few months ago that she returned. I am Celestia’s personal student, and to my surprise, my friends and I were the next bearers of the elements, and using them we broke the hold Nightmare Moon had over Princess Luna, returning her to herself and destroying the monster that possessed her.”
“Sounds like one hell of an antidepressant.” I joke half heartedly.
“Sounds like a Hollow.” Lilynette whispered to me. “So Twilight, how has Luna been doing since her… salvation.”
“Just fine. Celestia says Princess Luna has been mostly just trying to adjust to modern life. A lot has changed in the last thousand years.”
I couldn’t help but frown at what Lily said, but shook it off to keep it to myself. “Well that’s good.” I nodded. “Glad Luna’s getting better I suppose.” I said, slightly hating how the moon princess apparently got an all purpose cure for shit I struggled with for most of my life.
“I’ll be back once Spike sends the letters to Princess Celestia.” Twilight said, quickly rushing out the door.
Lilynette and I both sat down. “Nightmare Moon was a Hollow.” She stated. “It fits, and with the two that were in your head gone, they likely received their own bodies without having to possess anyone like this Nightmare had to. Given our bodies, powers and this… everything, whatever brought us here and took the others and I out of your head clearly has a liking to that anime you’d binge watch.”
“It’s a good show.” I started. “Even if it has...a whole lot of problems, but...I just wanted to go to an anime convention and nerd out with my friend…” I groaned.
“Question is how, why, and who?” She stated, sighing. “How did we get here. Why are we here… and Who brought us here.”
“Who knows…” I sighed out, laying down on the ground. “Wake me up when they get back...it’s been a lot for just one day…”
Several hours passed before Twilight came back, the police sheriff following her and unlocking our cell. “Great news, you two have been pardoned of the… incident.” Twilight said as we exited the cell. “Princess Celestia and Luna were amazed to learn of your unlocking of Starswirld’s tower and after they got it confirmed they sent a royal pardon for you both, on the terms you both meet with them tomorrow and will be under my custody until they can decide how you two wish to spend your time in Equestria.” Twilight explained.
“It’s still weird how we’re being called vandals for setting up a basic signal fire in one of the towers.” I started. “But cool, glad to know we’ll be meeting the princesses soon...hopefully they’ll know something about why we’re here if they're over a thousand years old.”
“Maybe.” Twilight said. She lead us through town and after a walk with all the residents looking at us we got inside her home, a giant tree with the inside carved out into a library. Wow. Hol up… Graphic Novels Section?
“Wait hold up, graphic novel section?” I asked, immediately derailing things as I turned and walked into the section to see what she has.
“Oh, yeah. Personally I don’t enjoy them but Spike managed to order several volumes of series from a publishing company in the Minotaur Kingdoms. Apparently they are popular with lots of ponies, haven’t had so many ponies come in and check out books before these got on the shelves. They range from Y, meaning for young children, to R for adult ponies, but those aren’t too popular either. It’s mostly just the Y-PG14 sections that get the most checked out. Few actually read the R rated materials.” Twilight said.
“R as in violent or R as in Pornographic?” Lilynette asked.
“The… Adult sections of these are with the other Adult books through that door.” Twilight said, pointing a hoof to a narrow door in the wall nearby.
“I’m just gonna take a step back in this conversation and accuse you of something Twilight.” I started. “Like ‘and you call yourself a nerd’.” I said accusatorial as I looked through all the graphic novels, wondering which one would strike my fancy.
“I never said I was a nerd?” She said as I saw one titled ‘Arachnophobia'. Carefully I took it and looked at the cover, seeing it was of a pony-er… Zebra, holding a young foal in one leg while using her teeth to try and fend off a giant spider four times her size. “And please don’t read that around Spike, I don’t want him getting Nightmares.”
“Listen, if he ordered these, he’s probably already read them.” I started. “Also...this is very...imaginative for a cover on just a fear of spiders.”
“Never judge a book by it’s cover.” Lilynette said, taking the book from me and reading the general summary aloud. “In the distant village of yekurē ‘asa, where at night many residents have vanished without a trace. Soon all that is left is a single mother and her newborn foal, and follow as she travels to the safety of the imperial capital while trying to stay ahead of the gizufi shererīti invasion and keep her young safe.” She finished, giving me back the book. “Well that’s something you’d read.”
Twilight shivered. “Honestly, how can anypony write that, let alone draw the images accompanying it for fifty seven volumes.”
“Oh you sweet sunshine child.” I shook my head at Twilight. “That’s honestly a lot tamer than you’d think, especially with some of the graphic novels I’ve read through, and I’ve read through quite a bit.”
Carefully, I opened the book and… wow, it’s basically a manga. Cool!
Ten volumes later, it was night and Lilynette plucked Volume 11 out of my hands before I could read it. I was getting good at controlling the level of strength I used. “That’s enough. Bed.” She said.
“No! Sitarirodi was in a nest and her son Nefashama Demena was missing!” I said.
She backed up, making my reaching for the book cause me to fall on the floor from the couch Twilight gave me to Sleep on. I can’t fit on Pony sized beds. “It will be here when you wake up tomorrow.”
“Why must you do this to me?” I whined. “We don’t even need sleep.” I started, given what we really are...until the yawn that came out of nowhere betrayed me.
“Look, whatever we are, you forget, we aren’t the real Starrk and Lilynette. Whatever we are, we are copies. For all we know we aren’t even… Lord… whatevers.”
“Arrancar.” I said. “We upgraded because whoever the ‘true’ version of us was took their mask off...and then split in half cause they were too powerful and killed everything around them just from the power they radiated.” I said honestly. “Better than remembering ‘Vasto Lorde’.”
“Whatever the case, whatever we actually are, you still have your human body's needs. You ate food, you are clearly tired, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be pooping tomorrow morning. You ate a lot of apples for dinner.”
“Then what’s the point of being a spirit?” I frowned.
“We probably aren’t. For one I don’t think the real Starrk or Lilynette could be seen by anyone who was alive.”
“We’re in a land of magical unicorns and pegasi, I think that part can be ignored.” I rolled my eyes.
“Still, there’s something going on here and I don’t like it. People don’t just get teleported from conventions on earth to another world as the fictional character they dressed as.” She said. “And Definitely the representation of their mental well being don’t get dragged out of their heads and given their own body either.”
“Especially when it seemed like you got a lot more chatty when Claire got me those pistols.” I pointed out. “But that’s neither here nor there right now...right now is figuring out our powers and...more so on where the hell are we.”
“Powers wise or planet wise cause I’m pretty sure Twilight said this was called Equestria, at least this kingdom. Specifically, Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library.” She said with sass.
“You know what I mean.” I said as I grabbed her swiftly and started to grind my fist into her bone covered head in an aggressive noogie.
“You do know I can’t feel that right? Helmet.” She said, giving the bone part a hard knock before pushing me off. “Look, my one and only purpose in YOUR life was to keep you happy and positive, as well as safe and be your common sense. Then those two assholes moved in when you were three and made that job a living nightmare. Inside your head or not, that is still my job, so if I have to mama bear you, I will.”
“So do you want me to get you a snack from the top shelf before we go to bed?” I joked with a cheeky smile.
To my surprises, she punched my gut… hard… I keeled over, now at eye level with her. “Don’t make me baby you. I am not below making you live out the Highschool Baby nightmare if you make me.” She hissed. That nightmare still haunts me...
“Take a joke asshole.” I said while flicking her in the forehead so hard it left a mark. “And don’t you dare.”
“Would you prefer the Public BDSM dream? I bet I can find an actual wolf girl here too.” She said, rubbing the spot I flicked.
“I will end you if you do that.” I growled.
“And I will just pop back into your head, where, guess what, the damage I do in there you can’t stop me from.” She pointed out. “Not an actual person and any ‘afterlife’ of mine is just back inside your head. Would you rather my pervert vision you 24/7 in there or mess with you out here.” Lilynette said, tossing the blanket at me. “Now good night. Tomorrow we meet the Princesses and you should shower… actually, don’t these two have like, holes in them?” She asked, trying to look under the little clothing she had. I turned at that. Stupid loli…
“We should.” I said while unzipping my shirt a bit and looking down at my bare chest to see if there was a ‘Hollow Hole’ there.
Yup. Several… wow my hand just goes right through them… Hey I can finally reach that itch that’s always evaded me. “That’s disturbing…”
“So yes, we’re indeed spirits still.” I said honestly. “Good to know. Also I think the ‘hole’ for you is your eye.”
She frowned, feeling under the bone helmet eyepatch and feeling under it. Her visible eye went wide as soon half her arm was now inside there. “Woah… That’s so weird… Hey, I could keep stuff in here. Actually, hang on.” She said, pulling her hand back out and inside her hand was a small book. “The hell?”
“Uh...that...shouldn’t work.” I started nervously. “Why was there a book in your head?”
“Like I know?” She replied, opening the book. “Huh… it’s all in japanese…”
“Wonder why?” I frowned. “Looks like we’re gonna need to learn japanese then…”
“Too bad you never watched subbed anime… I am not sure if japanese is even a language here, or if any are similar.”
“Which sucks even more.” I sighed out. “Hopefully the princesses would know, they’ve probably learned all the languages.”
“If not, I bet that egghead can translate it.” She said, shoving the book back in there, then took the manga and put it in there as well, giving me a warning point, then motioned for me to sleep as she left for her bed. She is small enough to fit on pony beds.
As she left I huffed. “Yeah, want’s to be my emotional support and threatens me with bad times…” I grumbled...only to put my hand back in my chest and prayed there was something...maybe a photo of my past life at this point. “If she got a book in her head, I can at least have a photo of friends or family…”
After a bit of digging I found something and pulled it out, showing a picture of...me and Claire, both dressed up in our convention attire that mom took before we went off. “Well...it’s at least something to remember her by…” I muttered, putting it back and walking to sofa...even though I was still a bit too big for it...damn tiny ponies! “Well...at least it’s comfy…” I muttered while laying down on the arguably softest sofa I’ve ever been on.
The next morning I awoke to the smell of… Eggs, and… beans? “Morning.” Said a young voice. I opened my eyes, seeing a small, purple and greed reptile walking on two legs putting a plate of eggs and refried beans on the table next to me. “Sleep well?” They asked.
“Well...the sofa’s a little too small but damn if it isn’t comfy.” I said honestly, getting up and stretching out a bit. “So, you’re Spike?”
“Yeah, Spike the Dragon, Twilight’s number one assistant.” He said. “She told me you two are omnivores, so I figured you’d need some protein given you two only ate apples last night.”
“Thank you.” I nodded. “So, I see you have a good sense for literature if the Graphic Novel section is anything to go by.” I said, wanting to try and strike up a basic conversation we can both get behind and not make me feel out of place.
“Honestly I just saw the catalogue of new books and checked off a few from each category. It was more for me than the library. Honestly I didn’t think they’d be so popular. Twilight barely lets me read Comic books, the ones I have her parents, brother or Princess Celestia got me.”
“Which raises questions of how true of a nerd she really is.” I huffed. “And before you ask why I think she’s a nerd...tree house library screams it.”
“I know, but she only likes fiction if it’s written in a book with little to know pictures.” Spike said with an eye roll.
“Hasn’t she ever heard of ‘show, don’t tell’?” I huffed.
“Meh, at this point she has her likes and I have mine.” He said, seeing the small pile of books at my side. “Arachnophobia? Heh, nice. Too bad Twilight only cares about books and is a complete fraidy cat.”
“I knew you already read through everything, she told me you’re not allowed to read it because she doesn’t want you to have nightmares.” I explained. “Like that’s ever going to happen.”
“Meh, Princess Celestia showed me worse when Twilight was just a little foal. Yeah the gore and such is disturbing, but in regards to Nightmare fuel, meh. Spiders just never got to me. Have you gotten to the part where Sitarirodi found the talking Shererīti?”
“I was getting to it, then Lily took it away from me last night.” I frowned. “I know I may look older, but I’m still technically eighteen so all nighters reading manga is still a habit.” I frowned. “And also, is there a Comic called ‘Berserk’?” I asked, wondering if the most popular grimdark manga was also here and if Celestia already showed him.
“Hmm… I know of one called Wrath, it’s about this half dragon half pony traveling a world overrun with monsters from Tarturus and he is largely at fault cause his best friend betrayed him and used the key that was meant to seal the gates forever to open them and become king of monsters.” Spike said.
“Did the main character lose an arm and an eye because of it?” I inquired.
“He lost his wings and both eyes.” Spike said.
“Close enough.” I said, not wanting to bring up more of that one scene cause that’s when everything went downhill for everyone.
"Yeah, not everypony in town even looks at the R rated sections of the library." Spike said. "Twilight is more often so focused on whatever she's doing I can basically read whatever without her knowing."
"Sounds about right." I nodded.
I ate my food real quick and after a bit Lilynette came in, handing me the book she took and I began reading. Shortly after I finished it it was time to meet the Princesses.
I was a bit surprised.
Celestia, was a pure white coat with a long flowing rainbow mane and tail. She was eye level with me. Luna was a dark blue coat with a mane like the night sky also flowing in a non-existent breeze. She was just taller than Lilynette by a head.
"Yo." I nodded to the two plainly, not sure how to properly say things in front of royalty.
Spike looked surprised and Twilight looked horrified at my casual greeting. Lilynette rolled her eyes, bowing to the two real quick. "Please forgive him, he's not very smart." She said. "I am Lilynette Gingerbuck, and this is Coyote Starrk."
Celestia nodded. "A pleasure to meet new creatures, be them of this world or not."
"Yes. We have been very intrigued from what young Twilight Sparkle wrote of you two in her letters." Luna added. Wow she talked really old school fancy. Then again she was in the moon for a thousand years so that must just be part of having to adjust.
"I'm not an idiot for starters." I stated bluntly. "If they wanted me to treat their titles seriously, then they would look the part, not acting like it's casual Friday." I stated simply, not knowing how I knew that but I somehow did. "But it's nice to meet you two, and there's...a lot of questions I want to ask."
Luna looked herself over. "We do not look dressed for the occasion?"
Celestia chuckled. "Luna, I believe given their Attire, Miss Gingerbuck and Sir Starrk expected us to be in more than just our regalia."
"As in, attire for a ball?"
"Probably." Celestia said with a nod. "Now then, you have questions. So do we. You can start, you ask and we answer, then we ask and you answer. Fair?"
"No, not the look." I shook my head. "The way you're acting, your body language, both of you are acting as if this is just a trip to a friend's house, not acting like your royalty, there's no guards in here, and a whole host of other things that would tip me off you are 'acting royals on a special meeting'." I explained decisively. "Like meeting two beings of unknown nature and race is a 'friendly visit'..." I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that...force of habit." I sighed out, the bitterness in the simple action caught Luna's attention.
"What makes thou bitter?" Luna inquired.
"It's nothing." I shook my head. "So...just a simple question to start off with, what are you two?"
"We are alicorns. Beings embodying the three pony races. The magic of the Pegasi, Unicorn and Earth Pony tribes all within one body. My sister controls the moon and the stars. I raise the sun."
“You take the moon, and you take the sun.” I started to joke.
“You take everything that seems like fun?” Spike added, only for me to stare at him in surprise.
“You and I are going to be great friends.” I said honestly to Spike, feeling a bit better knowing I’ll have a good friend in this weird world.
"In regards to our own question now. Tell me, what is the name of your homeland?"
“Uh…” I started. “Do you mean the planet, continent, country, state or town?” I asked nervously. “Cause ‘homeland’ is quite a broad term considering our situation here.”
"All of it." Celestia said with a smile. "In the thousand years since my sister's… incident, many changes have happened in the kingdom, mostly in foreign relationships. Travel to other lands is… rare, and limited. It is something I miss greatly. Hearing about another place, and one that is, in origin, alien. It's fascinating."
“Alright.” I nodded. “I live on a planet called Earth, the Continent being North America, Country being the United States of America, and State and Town would be San Diego California.” I said honestly. “And from what I’ve seen so far between Earth and this place...so far you’d be in a weird state of the middle ages, but also further along given I heard a train not too long ago.” I said, never mistaking the sounds a train would make.
"Interesting." Celestia said with a nod.
“Now, the question my...little sister scolded me on questioning before, where are we?” I asked. “All we were told is that ‘this is Equestria’, and the town is Ponyville but that doesn’t really give us much to go on for...where everything else is in this place.”
"The world is called Equis." Luna started. "Land to many magical beings ranging from we ponies to the mighty dragons. This continent shares the name as the country, Equestria. North of our borders are the Frozen North, south east are the badlands, unexplored territories home to monsters and beasts, and south west and onward is unexplored. Across our oceans are the lands of the other races, closest of which is the Dragon Kingdom."
"What about culture?" Celestia asked.
“It changes between both times, and area’s in the world.” I shrugged. “But it’s diverse enough even though it’s all made by the same race.”
"Hm. So far so similar."
“What races are there here?” I asked curiously. “Sentient races I mean.”
"Known? Pony, Griffon, Dragon, Minotaur, Centaur, Sea Serpents, Leviathans, shall I continue?" Celestia asked.
“So basically this is a bunch of fantasy creatures...good to know.” I nodded.
"How does your world handle your nations rulers?"
“Uh…” I started. “Depends on the area again, cause there’s several different political structures like Democracies...and Dictatorships...before there was Monarchy’s and Republics, but Republic’s turned into Democracy over time and Monarchy’s went the way of their rulers.” I said. “With nothing but a bucket, a giant blade, and gravity.”
"Yikes. Guess being immortal helps keep monarchy alive." Celestia said with a chuckle.
“You’re good people from what I can tell, that’s the key there.” I said honestly. “Age does have something to do with it but...it tends to lead into assholes taking too much and giving too little.”
"If anything my sister has spoiled the kingdom in my absence." Luna said. "Honestly. It's no wonder the guard has become so lax and weak compared to the good old days. Back then you were guard material if and only if you could slay a hydra. These days a physical exam barely a tenth of the requirements of before."
Celestia gave Luna a glare but rolled her eyes. "Your next question please?"
“Why haven’t you gotten rid of that old Castle?” I asked, starting to wade into a personal question. “Me and Lily were there only for a little bit but...I’m pretty sure the emotions lingering there would enjoy being buried into the ground.”
Celestia sighed, Luna looked away. "For all the bad memories those halls hold… its value… personally, outweigh the negatives."
"It was ours… our home. We… ruined that." Luna said. "We wish to fix that someday. The current state of the Everfree makes this a trial by fire, but one we will see through."
“Understandable.” I nodded.
"What about… technology?" Celestia asked.
“Now I need to preface this with humans don’t have magic.” I started. “So technology is...very interesting, cause in the year 1969 we managed to get people onto our Moon, and that was forty five years ago on my world.” I said honestly. “Technology has made leaps and bounds quite often.”
"Thou has been to your moon?!" Luna said, suddenly right in front of me. "Without the aid of magic?"
“Yes, it took a whole lot of time, money, and engineering, but we managed it, and we’ve been up there another 2 times with a human being, but then we switched it to having machines get us samples or to track things on the moon.” I said, even though it was a bitch to deal with, glad I had a random depression spell leading me to reading a weird amount of technology and astronomy. “So that was your question, now mine...before I ask my question, how personal are we allowed to go with these questions?”
"Unless we do not wish to answer it." Celestia said simply.
"How large is your moon?" Luna asked.
“About...over 2000 miles in diameter?” I asked. “I don’t know the specific number, but it’s pretty big.”
Luna nodded, smiling as she walked back over and sat next to her sister. "Mines bigger."
“Then you’ve got a problem there.” I said honestly. “Cause if you’re Moon’s bigger, then that means Gravity is affecting your world a lot more than necessary...so that’s why it was a whole lot worse…”
"We've never had issues with that before." Celestia said.
"Yes, our world's relation with our moon has no effect on our gravity. Otherwise we would not be here, isn't that right?" Luna asked me.
"Mostly due to the fact the moon would have done some serious things to your world's oceans and quite a bit of other things I don't entirely know about." I shrugged. "But that also seems...impossible that your bigger moon doesn't affect the planet in someway…"
"What if our planet is bigger?" Twilight offered.
"It's diameter is 7917.5 miles with a density of 5.51 grams per cubic centimeters...how big and dense is this planet?" I asked curiously.
"Hmm… what's a mile?" She asked. Fuck, right, different planet different units if measurement. "We measure distance in Celestials."
"And...how do you measure in Celestials? Are they like feet, meters, what?"
"One Celestial is fifty hoofs." Twilight said, raising her hoof. Huh, so not too off from measuring in feet then.
"Miles is 5280 Feet." I said while raising my foot up to demonstrate.
Comparing hoof to feet, a foot is about two hooves. So one Celestial is about 100 feet.
"Okay, as for the planet. Equis is approximately 4,874,921 Celestials in diameter." Twilight said.
"So that would be…" I started, trying to think of how big Equis and earth are. "Curse you math…" I grumbled.
"In your miles, or would be...92,328 miles." Twilight said.
"How the hell is your planet eleven times bigger than ours?" I asked incredulously. "The gravity here should be astronomical if it's not hollow as shit."
"We've never explored other planets and never wondered about that. Perhaps given you come from another world, if possible another reality, the laws of such realities would be different." Celestia offered.
"Well...maybe." I said, not knowing how any of this could be happening so I just shrugged it off. "So let's get off of those confusing math questions…"
"Right, so what is your question now then?"
"I might as well get it out of the way…" I sighed out. "The hell is Nightmare Moon?"
Celestia winced as Luna sighed, looking down at the floor. "A demon. Of sorts. Twas long ago, I grew… upset that our subjects valued and treasured our sister over us. In our sorrow, we were approached by a being quite similar to you both."
"So you were depressed…" I started worriedly. "Well...that's not good at all…"
"A being like us?" Lilynette asked.
"Physically… yes. It wore a mask, large empty eyes with a frown, a suit as grey as rain clouds and a pitch black tie."
“That doesn’t sound like anything we know…” I frowned.
"You never told this Luna." Celestia said.
"We were… ashamed… and scared. For all our power… this… creature, was unlike anything we ever sensed before. He called himself Demon, and said he would be happy to help us in return for a deal. We could acquire the power to obtain the admiration of our subjects, in return for his entertainment."
“Your first problem was letting a literal Demon strike a deal with you...let alone suffering what I’ve had to deal with…” I muttered the last part. “I’m sorry, please, continue.”
"I don't believe he was an actual demon. He did not give off that aura. Besides, he just wanted entertainment, not our soul or any lives."
"Entertainment?" Lilynette asked.
"Yes. He wished to simply observe what I did with… what he bestowed onto me. He called it a Hollow, and from that day forth, Nightmare whispered in the back of my head, speaking things I… at first, believed lies… most were." Luna said.
“Then what were the truth’s?” I asked carefully, surprising Luna at how I immediately went with what this monster spoke truth about. “It couldn’t be about how you’re weak, how you’re an idiot, how all your hard work means nothing, we all know those were lies...what truth’s did that thing tell you?” I started, surprising the lunar princess even more as to what she was told.
She looked away. "As royalty, friendship, true, honest friendship is a luxury. Nightmare was correct in telling us our most loyal guard, one we considered a friend, cared nothing for us."
“And...he promised to be your friend?” I asked. “He promised to share the same love for the night you create so you can feel better...all you had to do was let him in didn’t you?” I asked, not noticing Celestia’s deeply concerned expression at how...experienced I sounded with this.
“His words said one thing… but his dreams showed the truth. To him, I was an annoyance. He kept me happy, hoping for better pay.”
“Okay, you’re talking about the Guards, not Nightmare…” I took a deep breath. “Okay, so while that makes sense...did this creature, who I can only assume is an ‘original’ at this point...was Nightmare a friend of yours? Before he possessed you?”
“I wouldn't call them that. Not at all. Not quite an enemy either. I think they just wanted to keep me… depressed and saddened.”
“Better than some alternatives…” I muttered. “Alright. I’m sorry for making you...remember this bad stuff.”
“Tis alright. One must own up to their mistakes less they repeat them in the future. It’s actually why I came along on this meeting. You both, from what our sister's student has informed us, have no recollection of how you arrived in our world, correct?”
“The only thing I remember was that I was at a convention with a...dear friend of mine...then after that it becomes more fuzzy and...painful…” I said bitterly.
“And from what Twilight Sparkle tells us, there is no residual magic on you both, aside from Miss Gingerbuck’s and your own absorption of residual magic. If any beings can pull this off, I suspect Demon and his partner are more than capable.”
“That or...something else.” I said, glancing at Lily thinking she might have something important to this weirdness with my head given she came from my head.
“Well, back on earth there is no way for me to get a body given I originally came from Starrk’s head, and when I was pulled out, those two were as well. They are like your Nightmare, Hollows, but weaker… and honestly while strong they are both kinda… dumb, despite one is very smart and the other is like a bull in a red painted room, together they barely make one threatening person. Course, if they also got bodies, I’m not sure if they’ve changed or have abilities like we do.”
“And instead of yours who took over your body because of some reason or another...those two wanted me dead.” I frowned. “Yours at least wanted you to be alive and well, not six feet under.”
“Maybe that’s because of how they originated?” Lilynette thought aloud. “Yours was placed inside you Princess, while Starrk’s were born within him.”
“Perhaps, but I doubt we will ever know for certain.” Luna said. “The question is, if Demon and his partner are behind your arrival, when will they appear?”
“I doubt they were behind it…” I said honestly. “There would have been more pomp and circumstance with Demon at least from what you’ve told me and...I just woke up here without much ceremony.”
“What of this partner, Luna?” Celestia asked.
“We never met them. But Demon spoke of them, something about wagers and outcomes. We suspect them to be a being of equal power to Demon. Sadly all we know of them for sure is their name, Genie.”
“He better be voiced by Robin Williams.” I muttered. “Well...if Demon wears a sad theatre mask, then Genie will have the happy theatre mask if they have a theme.”
“Probably.” Lilynette shrugged. “Does make you wonder just what they are though.”
“Who knows.” I shrugged. “So anyways...back to questions.” I said, thinking this was getting too bad or personal.
“Very well, onto the official matter why we are here. Your vandalism of our old castle. My sister and I have agreed to wave these issues and grant the both of you Equestrian Citizenship, under the condition you both work for the crown as my sister and I’s personal agents.” Luna said.
“Seems...rather specific and immediate to work as secret service don’t you think?” I asked.
“You both displayed unique abilities and your raw strength alone means you two could both tackle many troubles the guard of the modern age would fail to counter or defend against. Your unique magic absorption means spells would be useless against you both, and in time I believe you two shall discover more abilities and powers. Especially if your arrival in this world was the work of Demon and Genie.”
“This also allows us to take on some projects that I have… admittedly ignored or managed to stave off that have to be resolved.” Celestia added. “Luna is the one who better understands military and defence. My skills were in diplomacy and negotiations. I’d be lying if I said that, while I have the magic to make an attack… I don’t believe I’d have the heart to endure a war.”
“I’m just gonna be blunt and tell you that while me and Lilly know what we can do...neither of us know how to actually...figure out how to use them.” I explained carefully. “And I’m pretty sure none of you would know what we can do either cause...well none of you would probably know about spirit energy and the like.”
“Then who better to help then we?” Luna stated. “Locations where you two can train and work safely to learn what you can do, and if those two are behind your arrival, then what better way to find out then by luring them here? Clearly, you two, or more precisely, Starrk was brought here and Gingerbuck bestowed a body, for a reason they possibly are plotting, if not for a close enough reason. Luring one or both here would likely be the best option to learn this information.”
“True.” I shrugged. “But are you sure there isn’t anyone else besides those two that would know?”
“The only other being remotely possible for causing such antics is Discord, and he has been imprisoned within stone, powerless for well over a thousand years.”
“Congratulations, you played yourself.” I started. “One person broke free from a thousand year prison...how soon do you think the other one will break out?” I asked, already dreading the worst.
“Discord’s prison was never meant to be broken.” Celestia said. “Nightmare Moon’s… was only meant to imprison her for a thousand years… enough time for me to find new bearers for the elements of harmony. The only way discord can break free from his imprisonment is if the elements themselves free him.”
“What is Discord again?” I asked carefully. “I’m sorry, I don’t think his name was obvious enough.” I sassed.
“The spirit of chaos. Now, while you think that makes him a prime suspect, keep in mind his typical acts of chaos are turning clouds into literal cotton candy, rain into chocolate milk, dirt into soap, apples into long legged running creatures, and my moon into actual cheese. In other words, if your arrival is his work, then he is both somehow playing from within his prison, and far outside his typical field of chaos.”
“So he’ll probably break out within about a month or two, give or take any shenanigans from outside cosmic forces.” I shrugged. “And if you’re wondering if I’m just being pessimistic...firstly, I am, and secondly...the fact you thought you could imprison a spirit of chaos of all things permanently is not only presumptuous at best, and idiotic at worst.”
“When dealing with chaos, what better tool than using harmony? Sister does believe that, given the chance, Discord will escape. We expected it earlier in all honesty. Hence why if before then, you both can master even a little of your powers, you’ll be the perfect defence against him, given you absorb magic. Anything he tries against you, you will be immune to.”
“That we know of.” I pointed out. “But it’s gonna happen sooner or later.”
“Agreed. So, will you two accept the offer?”
“Not like we have anything else better to do.” Lilynette said. “Will we get paid?”
“Of course. Did you ever change the pay rate for the personal agents of the royals sister?”
“No, actually. There actually hasn’t been a personal agent of the princesses in the last hundred years.” Celestia said.
“Ah, then you both will be paid five hundred bits a day.” Luna said.
Twilight gasped. “Five hundred… a day?! That’s more than my brother makes in a month, and he’s the captain of the guard!” Twilight said.
“Wow, actual pay? That’s shocking.” I said honestly.
“Why wouldn't we pay you for your services?” Celestia asked.
“Let’s just say back on earth the rich and wealthy got that way by only spending fortunes on themselves.” Lilynette said. “Mostly. Few were okay, but it was like one percent of the one percent.”
“The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and the arguments about making the minimum amount you can make from working an actual livable wage was laughed off by people that experienced said livable wage.” I frowned. “Cause people spending money when they have it? What a weird and foreign concept.” I rolled my eyes in anger.
“Hm. Clearly capitalism is excessively flawed. No wonder the Minotaur Nation is so divided.” Luna said.
“It can be if there aren't any laws or regulations to stop the rampant corruption that it could cause...just doesn’t help that those businesses immediately try to bribe, or ‘lobby’, their way into making the law fit their views better.” I frowned.
“Makes me glad all major businesses making more than five thousand bits a year require crown approvals and regulations to both expand to earn more and meet crown regulations of wealth and prove worth for nobility to make over set amounts.”
“That’s what Capitalism should have, making sure on how much people or businesses make and taking percentages from that.” I nodded.
“Thought that’s why Taxes were a thing?” Lilynette said.
“Your world sounds both fascinating and horrible at the same time.” Luna said.
“Oh it is.” We all turned to the doorway, seeing a man… human, I think. He wore a grey suit, a smiling theatre mask, and a golden tie. He was leaning against the doorway going upstairs.
“You must be Genie right?” I asked curiously.
The princesses and Twilight all got on the offensive, horns lit. Genie raised up his hands. “Hey, hey, don’t go guns blazing on me here. I mean I’ve been watching since Mike and his mental sidekick got here.”
“How did… So you did send us here!” Lilynette said.
“Guilty.”
“Then you know why I can’t remember anything from the Convention.” I frowned. “Who are you, really?” I growled.
“Call me Genie. I am a Wish Maker. You see, my friend Demon and I are very, very, very… very old. We’ve seen and done just about everything and so we decided to start helping, or in Demon’s case, causing trouble. Now, while Demon doesn't care about the outcome. Good or bad, he gets to watch the show; but I'm partial to happy endings. Our rules are simple. We find or he makes an issue in the world, with someone, and I get to help or pick the heroes. From there we pick and choose when and where to help or hinder as we see fit.”
“Why am I not surprised…” I grumbled. “Can’t even die and get sent to a different world without someone wanting to fuck it up for shit’s and giggles…” I grumbled.
“Oh? So you really don’t remember. You. Wished. For. This.” Genie said. “A wish, I granted.”
“I didn’t, cause I would have remembered it, but I don’t remember anything about before...whatever happened.” I shook my head. “All I know is that something bad must have happened, and I became this.”
“Well, if you can’t remember then that’s for you and your head to remember. But you did. You made a wish. ‘Take me away… I don’t want this… and I don’t want to die’.”
My head rang, those words… I was hyperventilating. I felt panic, my own voice repeating in my head those words. “Starrk!” Lilynette said, pulling me up.
“No...no...it...it was an accident…” I panted, holding my head tightly. “I...I didn’t…”
“What did you do?” I heard Luna hiss.
“He can’t remember. Memories that are locked are funny like that.” Genie’s voice spoke.
“What...do you want?” I asked through the pain, trying to get myself back together from...whatever the hell that was.
“I want you to be the hero of this story.” Genie told me.
“Of course…” I grunted. “God this hurts…” I grunted, still trying to calm down after that terrible thing.
“Look, all I did was grant your wish and bring you here to be the hero. Demon planted the villains. It’s not like we won’t be helping you. Well, mostly me. In fact it’s why I am here. Lilynette, that book, if you please?” She quickly threw it at him, which Genie caught just as fast. “Thank you.” He opened it. “You both can use your weapons, and raw strength, but there is so much more, as you know, but there is even more than that. The both of you, and those to come.”
“Those to come? What do you mean?” I asked carefully.
“In time. For now, let’s focus on what you and Lilynette must do to unlock your first special, magic attack.” Genie traced a finger along the paper, the words changing to english. Once the page was done he tossed it to Lilynette. “Each page tells of an attack you both can learn and master, and what you must do to learn and master it.”
“That’s...convenient…” I muttered. “But...what happened to Claire? Tell me she’s alright.” I asked, knowing she was safe for the most part until things started to get hazy.
“She’s safe. You have my word. Trust me or not, I am rooting for you.” I blinked, just a second, and he was gone.
“Can we trust him?” Lilynette asked.
“Don’t know.” Luna said.
“He said he’s rooting for you. Trust him or not, you do have a powerful admirer.” Celestia added.
“Well…” I took another deep breath, trying to calm myself down from the massive amount of pain and panic I was in. “At least it wasn’t a fight…”
“Yeah well, I doubt we’d have won anyway if it was.” Lilynette said, opening the book as we took a look at the one translated page.
Wind Blades
Wind Blades is a low magic attack that allows the slasher to strike at the air and unleashes a razor blade thin whirlwind blade that shreds the target up to a distance of thirty feet. Can be used multiple times immediately after each and every swing.
To utilize the sword, go to where the wind blows as fast as a hurricane, and strike where the powers clash.
“I...don’t remember them being able to do that…” I frowned. “Also where the hell are we going to find a hurricane?”
“The Griffon Kingdom.” Twilight spoke up. “I’ve read that ever since the Kingdom fell, they haven’t kept up their weather. One valley in particular has neverending hurricanes and tornadoes. Since it's right next to the ocean. They call it Stripper Pass.”
“Well, time for me to go there and...accidentally create an intersection in it.” I said honestly. “However the hell I’m gonna get there…”
“Why is it called Stripper Pass?” Lilynette asked.
“Because any creature that goes there has all the flesh stripped from their bones. Whatever is left gets torn apart by the winds.” Celestia said.
“Oh dear Celestia…” Twilight said, turning a bit green.
“Hm, I was unaware that I was an expression.” Celestia said.
“You’re effectively a walking talking deity, how the hell did you not expect that?” I asked in honest confusion. “Also, that sounds like a fun place that won’t hurt either me or Lillinette at all if our more...special powers are just innate and not conscious efforts.”
“Then it looks like you both have a power to unlock and learn.” Celestia said with a nod. “Luna and I can prepare a convoy for you both to travel there and back.”
“Should only take a few days.” Luna added. “Less if we can gather up the proper team for the journey.”
“Learning some of our basic things is gonna be annoying though…” I sighed out. “Wish Sonido was first but...well beggars can’t be choosers.”
“Well, looks like we have a trip to make.” Lilynett said. I groaned as I was heading back to my couch. I need to sleep...
“Today sucked and I need sleep…” I groaned.
“It’s only ten in the morning.” Twilight started.
“Exactly.” I deadpanned as I crashed on the couch.
To be continued...
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cool let's see where this goes
7192494 yay someone likes it
7192498 Your welcome ^^
7192511 yay
intresting gonna follow it and see how far the rabbit hole goes
nice start, can't wait to read more.
I love Stark, and the personality of your character comes close to his, so this is great.
How strong is he in this form? Compared to the Ponyvers powerhouses.
Only thing, but more a personal taste thing, you use the word "honestly" a little bit to much i think.
Try other words.
so on to the next chapter
I'm 21 and I still do have my teddy bears so ok.
I'm still surprised how they are able to be seen by then.
I mean they are a kind of spirit aren't they??they would just be seen by people if they wished to unless they have a good spiritual ernegy sense.
But I guess this can be taken off as they are the element bearer and because of that they can be seen by then
11011294
Not sure if I explained this, but the main reason why they can be seen is because the world is so infused with magic, something that is similar to Reishi in this story, that they basically have a corporeal body that anybody can see and make contact with
Cooperate. Not Corporate.
Let's hope she ends up here with us at some point