My Little Pony Tales: Quest To Babylon

by Phoxjes Rome

Ace Virtuoso: Drake Dyslextic

My Little Pony Tales: Quest To Babylon

Chp. 6.

Ace Virtuoso: Drake Dyslexic

The girls arrived as quickly at the soccer field as they could, massively worried about the danger that their musician friend could potentially be in at the moment.

"C'mon girls! Pick up the pace!" Starlight practically yelled to her other friends behind her.

"Starlight, we can't just go at them head on!" Star told her, flying ahead to try and speak with her.

'Please be okay, Melody.' Starlight thought, as the sight of the field was now within her. She then turned around to see the others. "It's right there girls! Come on!"

Unfortunately, because she was turned round, she didn't see what was flying towards her right now.

"Starlight!!" The others all screamed, right before Star fired a beam at her from her horn.

When the beam touched her, she had instantly teleported to the side, just in time as a large winged beast flew past her, right into the direction that she was standing.

"Whoa!" Starlight screamed, realizing that her whole body could have just been sliced in half from whatever that thing was. "What was that thing?!"

"It's a dragon." Star answered, as she flew over to where she had just reappeared, protecting her with the same magical barrier as before.

The dragon was the same one that Star ran into before, and it clearly hadn't forgotten. Once it stopped when it missed, it performed some kind of upwards spiral, and looked back down at the pair of girls.

"A... A... Dr... Drag..." Starlight was clearly too petrified to get the word out of her mouth, seeing that her worse fear was alive and breathing right in front of her.

"That thing's a real dragon?!" Bon-Bon asked the Alicorn girl, looking up at the cold-blooded animal.

"This is really truly honestly scary..." Sweetheart whimpered, backing up from the scaled beast.

"Is that why you didn't want Melody to go alone? Because these things took over the field?!" Starlight asked the Babylonian.

"Yes, but I'm afraid that they still got her. And if we don't go in there, then there's no way of getting your friend back." Star replied, walking towards the field.

"Whoa whoa, wait a second! Are you crazy!? I'm not going into a field full of... THOSE!"

"Yeah, I think we'll just wait out here, and, uh... Cheer you on!" Bon-Bon added, standing next to Starlight.

"If... If you need anything... We'll be right here... For you..." Sweetheart backed them, joining the cowardly support.

Star sighed, before sarcastically smiling at them.

"So, if I need anything, then you three will be outside for me. Is that what you're all saying?" She asked the girls, to which they all nodded. "Okay; that's all I needed to hear."

Just then, Star's horn lit up again, and the girls were all teleported away somewhere.

When they reappeared, they were on the other side of the entrance, where the main soccer playing field actually was. The three looked around for a second, as they realized what just happened, right before Star opened the door to the inside of the small building.

"Okay, so if I need anything, I'll let you girls know, okay?" Star rhetorically asked, before slamming the door shut.

"Wait!" Starlight screamed, as she made a run for the door, and the filly on the other side. "This isn't what we meant; let us in!"

"S... Starlight?" Bon-Bon said to her friend, as she hesitantly turned round, afraid of whatever the snarling sound behind her was coming from.

When she managed to work up the courage after ten seconds, her face was met with another one of her most feared beast.

Starlight was speechless, looking directly into the narrow eyes of the sapphire colored dragon in front of her. Literally nothing could be heard, except for the heavy breathing of the winged reptiles.

Eventually, it deployed its wings and flew up a little, and soared away, for the girls to look behind it and see what was waiting for them.

While her confidence was nowhere near fully restored, she did have the guts to see what was over there at the far side of the field. When she had a glimpse of what, or rather WHO, was over there, her fears turned into nostalgia at the sight of the particular dragon.

"Starlight!" It called out to her, still slouching in the throne that it had with him. "Wondered if you were actually coming here or not! I thought you stopped caring for a moment!"

It was the same dragon from the strange space area that Star took her when she was explaining everything that had happened: from the sporty clothing to the aggressive, yet familiar voice. He had the same golden/yellow scales, and his jacket hood was still up.

"You again!" Starlight shouted to it, as she ran towards the young dragon, stopping halfway on the field. "Who are you?!"

"Oh, now I'm just insulted!" He said to her, as he looked to the sky behind her on her left. Wanting to know what he was suddenly staring at, she turned her head to see something flying towards her and the other two at a rapid speed.

"What the...?" She pondered, just as the thing arrived close enough to give her a good view of who it was: Teddy.

This time, not just him. Patch was with him, and he threw her towards the ground where the girls were standing.

"Catch!" He yelled, zooming past them.

As Patch fell towards the floor, she was caught in a black mist, which slowly lowered her to the ground.

"Patch!" The three girls called, helping her down.

Before they could do anything else, they all saw the black mist that caught her now crawling towards them all.

"Oh, not again!" Starlight said, trying to back away from the air.

This was unmistakably another Ghost pony. They all braced themselves for whatever might be coming their way, but felt somewhat relieved when they saw the head of another friend pop out of it.

"Bright-Eyes!" The four girls called, helping her stand mobile. "Are you okay? You look dizzy."

"I-I'm fine." Bright-Eyes said, as the mist flew away from the girls, onto the opposite side of the field where Teddy was flying. After he reached a good distance away, he pulled a U-turn and was now flying back towards where the dragon was standing.

A few seconds after dropping Patch, he made his wings stay still, and he landed on the ground himself, skidding to a stop next to the hooded drake.

So when the girls looked now, there was Teddy standing on the left in his new Greaser clothing, and now the black mist on the right, which was now beginning to evaporate and reveal the pony as he walked towards the pair.

"Wait... Is that... Lancer!?" Sweetheart asked, not getting an answer from that miserable face.

Instead he only looked at her, and looked even more depressed, signifying that he either had an answer that he didn't want to give, or he didn't have and answer but wish that he did.

"Y-yeah, it's him..." Bright-Eyes answered for him, as she tried to point a hoof at the dragon. "But who's..."

With Teddy and Lancer on the sides, they both started to walk closer to the girls.. This allowed the girls to notice that the third figure was also walking towards them, a smile plastered onto that scaled face of his.

Knowing that these two were here in front of them, and by the colors and outfit of the dragon, it didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out who the last one was.

"... No..." Starlight quietly said, her heart skipping a beat, and her pupils shrinking.

"It... It's not true..." Sweetheart whimpered, realizing the same thing as them.

"No way." Patch exclaimed, looking at his body.

"Im... Possible." Bright-Eyes stated.

"Believe what you want..." He said to them, moving his claw up to his hood, and pulling it down, revealing his face to the girls. "It won't change a thing."

"ACE!" The girls all cried in unison, none of them wanting to believe what they were seeing was true.

""Ace"? Please. Name's Virt. Got it memorized?" The jock asked the girls, pointing his claw at his head.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are you doing here!?!" Star asked whoever it was right in front her, as the current camera angle couldn't clear identify his or her face yet. Instead, it was just looking at her, next to this pony's legs.

"I understand that you are currently endeavoring to have these seven young ladies join your rebellion against all I have fought and risked my life for. Is this true?" He asked the young filly, not allowing her out of his sight. He had a deep voice, indicating that he was much older than the filly.

"Yeah... Once they're... On my side... You'll be beaten... Phoxjes." Star managed to get out, still out of breath from whatever it was that Phoxjes did to her.

"You assume that simply manipulating seven young mares that you shall reign superior over my Babylon?" He asked, the black and red mask on his face still having its gaze fixed on her.

"It's like... What... Walker told you... One of them... Might be..." Star tried to get out before her brother stopped her.

"I am aware. One of those young mares may very well be the one that shall harness the ability of Neutral Magic." Phoxjes said, withdrawing his sword into its hold. "However, young sibling, we are not entirely certain if she is. For all that is certain, it may be another pony of the far side of this world. If this is truly how it stands, then you and I will have both wasted our time attempting to assist these mares."

Star had no answer for this, and instead readied her wings.

"Even so, this is the reason why I have sent Walker after her: to determine whether she truly is or not. Additionally, if this young mare IS the one, than I have sent En Gaurde to convince them all to do what is right."

"If they want to do what's right..." Star began, catching her breath. "Then they'll join me and stop you... from destroying Equestria."

"You are wrong. We are saving Babylon, at the cost of revolutionizing Equestria."

"By destroying it?" Star responded.

"Very well then Star." Phoxjes turned away from her and faced the other exit from the reception that they were standing in. "Persuade them as much as you desire, but in the end, fate shall allow these fillies to decide what their destinies are. Once their time arrives, they will eventually do what their hearts are telling them is right, and they shall all lead their lives from there."

Before Star said anything, Phoxjes was already outside of the building, making his way to wherever he needed to go.

"Nice to see you again too..." Star said, before turning back to where the girls were. She saw what was happening outside as she opened the door, and her heart sank at the sight of all three of the colts being there.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Ace... What have you..." Starlight tried to get the words out of her mouth.

"I'm guessing your first question is what have I got no fur, and suddenly my teeth are sharp?" He asked the girls, towering over them at height a 6.5ft.

Even his voice had changed for the worst. He sounded more grunted and rough in the throat, as opposed to his usual athletic voice that the girls were used to.

"What did you do to yourself?" Patch questioned with her mouth agape.

"Simple: I corrected my life." Ace/Virt answered, looking at his claw. "Really, it's thanks to my master that I look like this, but after what he did for me, I don't think that it's so much of a bad thing."

"You look like a monster!" Bon-Bon exclaimed. "Who did this to you?!"

"I just told you, porky." Ace said to her, causing Teddy to snicker. "My master had me do this. I didn't want to at first either, but when I saw the many perks of this new body, how could I say no?"

"But... But, this isn't you!" Starlight took a step forwards to him, anxious about what he could do to her. "You're not one of those! You're a pony, Ace!"

"Maybe I was, but now I'm only a pony at heart, and there's nothing that you can do to change that! Not even Melody can convince me to go back to that body now!" Ace told the girls, as the three boys took a few steps closer to them.

"Yeah, where is Melody?" Starlight asked looking around for her. The boys stopped walking when she asked this, and Ace looked above him.

Putting his finger and thumb in his mouth, he whistled to the air as the same winged dragon from outside flew overhead and down to where he was.

"Melody!!" The girls all shouted, seeing their friend in the claws of the dragon's feet. She was hanging there unconscious with her forelegs in the claws of him.

"Ace, what did you do to her!?" Patch shouted, running towards the dragon with anger in her eyes.

Before she made contact with him, he lowered his body and grabbed her leg. Then, without even having to try, he lifted her up to his face, and blew some kind of smoke out of his nose at her.

"My name is Virtuoso."

Patch coughed for a second, before Ace threw her body upwards and slightly behind him. Before she hit the floor behind him, he grabbed her back leg and left her hanging upside down for a moment.

Then he put one leg forwards, twisted his body around, and threw her with a incredibly strong amount of force, sending her flying to outside the field.

"PATCH!!" The girls all shouted, as they heard the tomboy's scream as she was in the air.

"Typical." Ace said. "She asked a question and didn't stick around for an answer. So rude."

"How did you..." Sweetheart started to ask.

"Dragon strength. Part of the new features of this body." He hit his chest.

"You want this girl?" Skytop asked Ace, still hovering above him without even having to flap his wings to stay airborne.

"Yeah, thanks Cielo." Ace told the dragon above, holding out his arms to catch Melody as he dropped her.

""Cielo"? I thought you said his name was Skytop." Bright-Eyes said.

"It is, but Cielo's his native language's born name, before becoming a dragon. He's Hispanic, so his current name is Skytop Terror, and mine is Virtuoso Goal." Ace explained, putting Melody down gently.

"Virtuoso Goal?" Starlight asked, taking in what he had just said.

"Yes?" He replied, sounding as if she wanted to asked him a question.

"No, I just meant it like-"

"We know what you meant." Teddy stopped her, beginning to fly. "Although, I still think that his boss should've gone with my name for him: Drake Dyslextic."

Ace lightly hit Teddy in the side, which actually knocked him back a few feet, due to his new-found strength.

"Teddy! Dyslexia is NOT a joke!" Starlight shouted at him, to which he smiled evilly at her.

"Who's joking?" He laughed, flying behind Ace.

He looked down and sighed, before looking back at the girls.

"Ace... He IS kidding... Right?" Bright-Eyes asked the dragon, looking confused at what was being said.

"No... No, he's not." Ace whined to the girls.

"You're... Dyslexic?"

"Since when?" Starlight asked him, looking sad at the news.

"Since always. That's why I never even try doing anything in school other than sports: because I can't. I joined Babylon because they gave me their word that they could somehow cure it. Eventually."

"Seriously?" Starlight asked him, showing the compassion on her face. "Why did you never tell anyone?"

Just then, the doors opened behind the girls, and they looked to see Patch and Star running through it, and over to the girls.

"I did tell someone." Ace looked smug and happy again, staring back at Starlight. "Just not you."

"Ace we could of helped you! We would have been there for you if you ever needed someone!"

"I never needed anyone!" Ace yelled, before his face changed to fear immensely, as if he just remembered something significant.

"Are you okay?" Starlight asked him, tilting her head.

"What's... happened?" Patch asked, wanting to get caught up with them.

"I... I'm fine." He said, shaking his head. "I've lived with dyslexia all my life, baby."

"Dys...lexia?"

"It's a disability that 1/10 ponies are born with, and it means that they have trouble reading and writing. We've all just found out that Ace was born with it." Bright-Eyes informed, getting all her breath back now.

"No kidding?" Star asked, having a lot more breath left in her than Patch did.

"Yep, and I already made it this far, I can make it another century."

"Century?"

"Dragons live for hundreds of years, Starlight." Bright-Eyes informed, getting all her breath back now.

"SOME dragons live for hundreds of years, Know-it-all; others can live for thousands, and some don't even make it to fifty." Ace responded.

"He calls HER a Know-it-all." Patch quietly whispered over to Bon-Bon, who snickered a little.

However, when she said this, he looked down over to her, with a look of insult on his face. Slowly, he began to make his way over to her.

"Um, Ac-" Starlight began, before Ace used his new tail to wrap around her body quickly, pick her up, and put her down to the side.

Then, despite Patch backing up slowly, he grabbed her by her chest with his claws, and brought her up to his face for a second time.

"...Say that again." Ace said to her, seeing her look amazed that he could hear her from all the way over there.

Then, it became somewhat more understandable why, as the things were his ears were supposed to be had been replaced with something similar to what Spike had.

"I..."

"If you wanna say something, say it to my face." Ace didn't let her finish, as he let go of her right then.

"Ace, can't you see what those Babylon guys are doing to you and our friends?" Starlight asked him, walking over to him.

"First of all, Starlight, we're not YOUR friends." Teddy said to her flying over to the group.

"Second, it's not "Babylon guys", it's Babylonians." Lancer added on, teleporting over there as well.

"Thirdly, they're not doing anything TO us; they're doing everything FOR us." Ace continued. "And lastly, my name is Virtuoso."

"You're wrong!" Starlight snapped at them, silencing the three.

There was a moment of nothing for a while, before Starlight looked up to face Ace again.

"These 'Babylonians' aren't helping you guys! They're forcing you to be criminals; to be something that you're not, and making you think that what you're doing is right!" She told them.

"What we're doing IS right, Starlight!" Ace replied.

"No, it's not! And we're going to show them and get our friends back!"

"You tried to get Clover back when she ditched you-" Ace said, as he now had his eyes and hair light up red, and body light up white, similar to how Teddy and Lancer did in their colors. "-And you failed then too, because she didn't feel welcome with you and your ignorance!"

"How did you know about that, Ace?" She asked him, not liking this conversation at all.

"Easy." He said, as he extended his arm and the lights on him faded. Just then, some kind of little green animal, that looked like an overgrown chameleon jumped onto his arm. "Gelhul told me."

"That lizard saw what me and Clover said?"

"For your information, this dragon is one of my best friends, after what he did for me." Ace answered, to which the thing slithered its tongue out.

It then jumped down from his arm, and changed its color to camouflage into the field, like a normal chameleon.

"Later, Zac~"

"Ace, where do you know these dragons from?" Bright-Eyes asked him, wanting to know more about their relationship.

Ace didn't answer, and pulled something out of his sport's jacket from the inside. When she saw what it was, Starlight's pupils shrank and her heart skipped a beat.

"This little gem should be a suitable answer, Know-it-all." He told her. It was a gem, similar to the one that Star entrusted Starlight to guard, with minor differences. For example, this one had a faint red aura inside of it, rather than the faint yellow inside of Starlight's.

"Where..." Star tried to ask him, thinking of answers to her own question.

"My master gave it to me, after getting it back from some girl called, um..." Ace thought for a minute, showing his dyslexia. "I think it was Sweetie something, but I don't care."

"Who IS your master, Ace?" Bon-Bon asked him.

"It's the leader of the Babylon factor that he's now in: the Dragon's Section. But which one?" Star piped up.

"If you have to know, I'm in Auxron's sector, and I plan to stay there forever. Who are you, anyway? I recognize you from the alter space thingy from a while back, but that's about it." Ace added on, looking at the Alicorn.

"If YOU have to know, I'm a faction leader as well, Virtuoso." She answered.

"What?! No you're not!" Teddy responded.

"We'd know about it." Lancer agreed.

"My name is Staria Sparrow. I am the faction leader of the Rebel sector of Babylon, and I'm the sister of Phoxjes Gibel Gerra Rome."

Upon hearing this, a dramatic sound effective played (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cphNpqKpKc4), and the boy's faces dropped in shock.

"You!?! The 10th faction leader!?!" Teddy asked first, looking over the girl.

"How can someone like you be my master's sister?" Lancer calmly asked her, still keeping in the surprise of the news.

"This completely changes everything, boys!" Ace said to them, thinking of something else to go with. "We gotta tell Checkmate and Swan about this!"

"Checkmate?!" Bright-Eyes exclaimed.

"Swan?!" Sweetheart joined her.

"Well, been really fun catching up girls, but we got a bit of guy stuff to talk about: sports, cars, girls, Babylon, all that stereotypical stuff." Ace ignored them, as he snapped his claws, causing two different shadows to come down from over head.

Suddenly, there were two dragons on either side of him, one of which was a deep blue looking snake that probably belonged in the water, stretching to a size of about 30ft.

The other one was the same over scaled dragon from outside, that clearly still remembered their faces, as it cracked its knuckled when it spotted them.

"Gary, Cameron, would you care to show these young ladies off the field?" Ace asked them, before the two of them got ready to throw them out by force. "If not... Then do it anyway, I don't care." He laughed.

"Ace wait, you can't do this to us!" Starlight yelled up to him. "You still need our help!"

"Ha! I don't need help from you, Starlight." Ace responded back to her, as he looked up and lifted his arms up. "I have these guys!"

The dragons all roared in support at what he said, all of them clearly hearing him.

"But more importantly, I have the other Babylonians with me as well. And as long as I stay by their side, and do everything that master Auxron orders me, then my dyslexia will be a thing of the past..."

Just then, his hair and eyes lit up red again, and his body glowed white once more. As this happened to him, Starlight and the girls all took a step back from him, afraid of whatever he may do next.

"And I'll have the life I deserve." He finished off, quoting the same thing that Teddy said at the school.

"Ace..." Starlight began, before the dragons both gathered the girls up, and threw them all out of the soccer field. As they were flying, Ace's lights faded away, and he looked at the dragons.

"You two don't think that's a bit overkill?" He asked them both, as they looked at each other, then back to him. "Yeah, me neither."

"Hey, you shouldn't have had them thrown out like that yet, I wasn't recording it." Teddy pretended to whine to him.

"Oh you poor thing." Ace responded. "Next time, I'll give you a heads up, so you and the other grease balls can watch it over and over. That is, if you or they actually have working cameras in those trailers you call home."

"Better living in a static home like mine, rather than where you live, Virt." Teddy talked back. "Remind me again, was it called a cave or a den? Same difference, but call it what you want; it's still a musky opening in a rock."

Ace/Virtuoso looked over to Teddy/Ursa, glaring at him with his lizard eyes.

"In all honesty, I'm surprised that you hadn't already gone away to live under a rock, after what daddy does to you on a daily basis." The dragon commented to the greaser.

"What I've gone through has nothing to do with you, All-Star." The greaser commented to the dragon.

When he said this, Ace's smile faded, and was quickly replaced with a snarl.

"Oh, my bad(!)" Teddy continued. "I forgot, All-Star is the important one, and YOU'RE just the bench-warmer, right?"

"Leave him out of this, alright?!" Ace snapped at him. "What about you-" "Dyslexic wannabe." "-Momma's boy?"

When Teddy added that last part in between what he was saying, and Ace adding that last part, the two found that their rage intensified. Their lights lit up in their eyes, hair/spines and bodies again, and they both slammed their heads against each other, gritting their teeth.

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?!?!" They snapped at each other, before they felt some kind of force split them apart.

"Stop. Now." Lancer ordered them, using his magic to keep them from ripping each other apart. "Both of you."

His eyes, mane and body then lit up as well, still in black and red. The two got off each other, and walked away, their lights fading.

"It benefits us not to fight amongst each other, while those we antagonize continue swarming to rebel." He added.

"You got that from one of Phoxjes's cheesy poems, didn't ya?" Teddy asked.

"No." The goth replied, leaving them in silence for a few seconds. "It was from Reverend."

"Yeah, Ursa." Ace mockingly agreed. "It was Reverend. Jeez, you're such a nimrod."

"Sure, I'm the nimrod(!) That's why you're the one that got sent away to the little campsite, right(?)"

"If they're still alive, then I WILL find them. You just watch."

"If I'm not going to be of any service to either of you, then I'll just head on out to see the girls again." Lancer said to them both as he vanished, using some kind of new ghost magic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" The girls all screamed, falling to the ground outside the field. They all thought that the impact was going to break every bone in their bodies, and the surface below would be left with a large crack from the landing.

That is, until Star remembered that she had a horn on top of her head, that contained magic beyond these girls imagination. Including the ability to make a magic net underneath her. Which is exactly what she did, to save the girls.

The other six girls screamed again, when the landed on the magical net to safety. Once they had all stopped bouncing, Star gently levitated them down to the ground.

"Thanks, Star." Starlight said, looking miserable at herself from what just said.

"You're really truly honestly upset about Ace, aren't you?" Sweetheart asked her, similar to the way she did in the episode Just For Kicks.

"Yeah... But, if that's the life that he wants, then I can't do anything to change that."

"I know... But, I can relate to you on how you feel, because... You know..."

"Teddy, I know." Starlight turned to her. "How'd you think Bright-Eyes feels? I mean, Lancer's..."

"A goth." Bright-Eyes joined them, walking over to them.

"Bright-Eyes." Starlight said, seeing their smart friend.

"Lancer's a goth now, because his master, in his own words, "Opened my eyes to the way of the world."" She quoted him.

"Who's his master, again?" Patch asked the girls, as they turned to Star.

"My brother, Phoxjes." Star answered.

Before she got the chance to say anything else, they all heard the moaning of someone close by. So close, in fact, she sounded as though she was right there with them.

But with six out of seven of the protagonists being right there, and Star trying to explain who Phoxjes is, that only left...

"MELODY!!" They all shouted, rushing over to help the awakening girl to he hooves.

"Are you okay?!" Bon-Bon asked her, before she was even up.

"Does she LOOK okay to you?" Patch sarcastically asked, as Melody was now standing. But barely.

"How are you feeling?" Starlight asked her, getting a moan in response. When Melody tried again, her words were more clear to them.

"They took them..." She whimpered, tears dropping from her eyes.

"Who?"

"Ace..." She muttered.

"Ace? What's Ace-"

"He's got my sisters..."