Earthling or Equestrian?

by Tjtbomb

#0- A "Slight" Change in Location

Earthling or Equestrian?

#0- A "Slight" Change in Location

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Greetings travelers! I see you have come seeking an adventure of the epic nature. Well, you are in luck! You have come to the largest history of stories ever collected. Each and every tale containing the life of a sentient being and every tome growing larger as those lives live on! I have just the story for you! An ordinary man is suddenly sent to a faraway land... I suppose you're right, that does sound pretty boring. Let's see... How about this: A man like any other is taken- wait, no- captured- ugh, no... Ah! Transported! Yes, transported to a land of magical beings. What kind of magic creatures you say? Erm... The incredibly powerful... majestic... Ponykind? Hey now, don't give me that look. Trust me, they'll surprise you. You still have doubts? Well, how about this? The life of a man with incredible power and a dark past, suddenly thrown from his desolate world into a vibrant land of royalty, a land of strange creatures, and magic as far as the eye can see! A story not only of friendship, music, and a split soul, but of love, war, and the triumph of good over evil!

I see I've peaked your interest. I'll leave you to your readings.

Hmm? Who am I? Oh that's rather easy isn't it? I am the keeper of lives to come and lives that have gone.

They call me Archive.

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I slipped across another silent alley of Helvton District with the entirety of the burst moon overhead. Which was incredibly unusual actually. This worn down, Steampunk Town had a near perpetual layer of smog and airships obscuring the sky. The capital of The New Americas was just visible over the rooftops; Its skyscrapers dwarfed by the gigantic, 4-mile gear erected over the city. Thus, its name, The Axle. Hardly anyone who lived here had seen the moon in decades. The shattered remains of what was once the moon were quite beautiful, but I had no time to stare. I shook myself out of my awestruck trance and continued into the shadows. Getting distracted is a death sentence in my line of work.

I was stalking a weapons cartel for information. There had been an impossible amount of resources funneled into the underground and none coming back to the light of day. Either they were buying half-a-dozen nukes, or someone was building something big. In this day and age, the latter could be a world ending event. Not 400 years ago, someone turned the world into this smokey wasteland that was only recently rebuilding itself into even a bare semblance of society. I was not in my best interests to let someone frag the Earth again. I couldn't stop it last time, and I wont let it happen now. I can hazard a guess at what you're thinking, and no, I'm not that old. I was only five when somebody decided to send a bunch of cryogenically frozen orphan children into orbit as some twisted back-up plan if humanity exterminated itself. Over the years we've come burning back into the atmosphere. My pod landed some twenty-odd years ago and I was released out of stasis two years after that. I made a vow to protect the world in those years, not that the world did anything good for me in the meantime.

In any case, I was not going to let a bunch of Children be sent into space again, half of them didn't survive. Children are the one of the few peoples who are truly innocent. A monster I may be, depending on who you ask, but heartless I am not.

Merely someone who happens to kill a lot of bad guys.

So here I am, following a crusty, possibly senile old man into a manhole in the hopes of saving holding the world for ransom.

...

What?

I'm Numero Uno on the Wanted list for a reason. Man's gotta eat. I'm never gonna actually destroy the world, but I'm rather infamous for hijacking the doomsday devices of the many thousands of hotshots who think they can rule the world. I never vocally threaten to set them off, but the 'Good Guys' have learned that I hold onto them until they pay me. Funny thing is, they basically hire me just by leaking a suspect list, knowing I'll find the info and the villain way before them no matter what they do to stop me. One time I actually played Poker with a few captains for a recently repossessed nuke... with the bomb itself being the table we played on. I've never seen three men so terrified; it was hilarious.

I waited for the suspect's sloshing steps to fade into the sewers before going after him. My leather, steel-plated boots splashed softly into the shallow sewage as I stalked forward into the darkness after my target. I pulled at the brim of my black top hat, briefly running my hand over the various tools I had jammed into the red band. I sighted him again down a side tunnel and watched as he knocked some bricks aside. Then he took out an extremely high tech key, something that would be worth thousands alone; something that one would never suspect someone like him to have. I clutched at my brown trench coat as my dread steadily grew. He inserted it carefully into a hidden slot and glanced back as he turned it. I ducked at lightning speed and soon peaked around the corner again at the sound of a hiss. The sewer wall split to reveal a lit passage. The old man was already gone, and so was his key. The door was already closing as I streaked forward, tucking in my long scarf a hair before the door closed. I quickly dropped to the ground, my fingerless gloves muffling the impact, as I sought to make myself a smaller profile. The old man turned a corner far down the mine shaft, completely oblivious to my presence. I took a moment to release the breath I was holding and calm my fraying nerves.

This was bad, really bad. Old tech scientists invented crazy stuff like the nuke, the hydra ray, and hundreds of other jacked up creations that could raze the earth. Who knows what these guys dug up down here if they built an entire facility.
Then, I heard the hum.

Not a vent blowing, or steam leaking, but an electronic buzz. The only things on the planet that make that sound are the most dangerous old tech relics there are.

They have something world ending.

I whipped out the specialized Signal Magnet and shed the casing to alert the special forces. The Police Force had them specially made for 'rogues' like me. If we used one, the military was alerted and they skedaddled to our position. They labeled our signals as, I kid you not, "RUN LIKE HELL!!!" True to the label, they apparently did just that. They've probably already launched squads to my position.

Right now, I had no time to waste.

I sprinted forward and streaked through the halls; shattering lights in my wake as I searched for the inevitably huge room filled with thugs guarding whatever device they found. I finally skidded into a long stop in front of a gigantic metal door. A gigantic stylized A was inscribed upon it.

My heart froze as I hoarsely whispered. "ALPHA."

The world around me faded as I dropped to my knees; my eyes ensnared by the horrifying letter.

It was never confirmed if ALPHA even existed until this moment. The incredible potential of 'The New World Foundation’ as it was called, led many to try and harness its power. When the foundation started, its goal was to open gates to other dimensions. And they succeeded. The catch? The “gates” they created, if they could be called that, were jacked-up black holes that they barely managed to contain. Their prototype managed to drag down pieces of the moon before they were stopped; Taking a forty mile radius with it. Charred fragments were found around the prototype. Black air surrounded ALPHA, the finished project. I could see the air around it fluctuating into ash and dispersing just as quickly as destructive forces leaked from the room beyond. This was the deadliest thing ever made. Rather, Un-made. Imagine the reverse of the Big Bang, X10. A God Killer. A dimensional crushing algorithm, a hypothetical apocalypse, somehow trapped within a silver shell. Some insane cultists were behind this. No one else would be crazy enough to go near it.

I may be a mercenary, but even I knew that this was bigger than me. I had to stop this now, for the good of all creation.

A loud bang sounded from behind the door.

Scratch that, we're all going to die.

I blasted forward and forced the doors apart with my bare hands, as I burst into a gigantic chamber. Thousands of charred skeletons lay on the ground, as if worshiping the Unmaker floating in the middle of the room. A small. Black. Ball.

An army in black robes turned to me with soulless eyes and rushed me as one. With a flick of the wrist, blood-red broad-swords fell from my sleeves with a hiss of metal as coils of chains unraveled from the spool on my back. I felt my pupils contort painfully, blotting out the blue in my eyes. The world slowed as my focus sharpened far beyond what the mortal mind can comprehend. I roared as I charged the horde at super-sonic speed, a whirlwind of red steel and blood parting the flood of human flesh. The sheer mass of my mindless attackers slowed my hand as it became harder and harder to lift my arms to chop at another cultist. Finally I was struck across the back, shattering my focus. In that instant, my charge was halted as the black tide swarmed me, holding me down. I could only watch in horror as one man held a hammer against the sphere known as ALPHA. He screamed to the ecstatic crowd.

"THE TIME OF THE UNMAKER IS AT HAND!"

He pulled back the hammer as I screamed, my life flashing before my eyes. The hammer fell.

"NO-!"

My cry was lost to- .................................................. nothing.

I felt as if I were suddenly an atom, infinitesimally small, but, somehow, existing within a vast void.

I cant speak.

I cant see.

I cant feel.

I cant hear.

I cant move.

I cant breathe.

I'm no longer alive.

But, I exist.

Silence.

How long have I been here?

It could be years.

I can't tell.

It's funny...

Despite the fact that I rely on breathing to live...

I never knew just how comforting it was to feel my own chest rise and fall...

Thump-thump

"-DON'T!" My frozen cry echoes around me. I hear a squawk and the flapping of wings.

My mind slowly pieces itself back together...

I gasp, trying desperately to cram myself full of that sweet, sweet air. To assure my existence among the land of the living.

I'm... breathing? My heart... beating? I'm... alive?

"HOLY HELL!"

I jerk up in agonizing pain as I'm suddenly hit with severe hunger.

It hurts. My body feels horrible, like it's about to shut down. My muscles ache, my bones somehow feel brittle. I doubt I can stand... but I have to try.

I attempt to stand... and fail... miserably.

I crumple to the ground a few times more, my joints crackling painfully, before slowly managing to stand up.

I'm... in a terrarium?

I finally took notice of the lush forest around me. Somehow flourishing despite the... oddly clean-smelling air.

I had looked up. Fully expecting to see a smog-filled sky Instead...

The clear expanse of space. And a whole moon.

This... is Impossible. Where am I? What happened to Alpha?

Other such questions filled my mind. Questions I could not hope to answer.

However, the rumbling of my stomach soon overpowered my mind.

Right... food... that's something to do.

I knew that trees sometimes grew fruit. At least that’s what I remember. It's my only hope.

I limped off, my eyes frantically darting around. I had never seen so many trees. I shambled about as my mind continued to try and make sense of my surroundings.

Who waters these? Who planted them all?

I glanced around and beheld my savior.

I sprinted up the tree and ripped the round object off. In the moonlight it was a bright red. I rolled it around in my hands trying to open it. Finding no seams, I pulled down my scarf and tried to bite through its bizarre case. To my surprise, my teeth sunk in immediately, filling my mouth with sweetness.

Oh.

My.

God.

I cannot describe the taste. I stripped the thing of anything edible in a heartbeat, leaving nothing but a bit of wood. I could actually feel my exhausted body tearing at the food in my stomach; my muscles twitching as they revitalized. I jumped to my feet and unlocked my blades once more. The Bladelock fell out of my sleeves as I gripped the handles. I didn't care if trees were endangered, I was hungry. I chopped the tree in two and leaped upon the falling loot before it could hit the ground. A loud crash echoed, accompanied by the sounds of viscous fruit tearing, furious chomping, and huge gulps.

Three hours later I ended up passing out, my stomach extremely distended.

Nothing would wake me up for a while.

This was how I worked. When I'm badly injured, I stuff myself and go into a coma for like two days. I can't explain how that worked... and I'm not going to try. I'm apparently an unsolvable scientific anomaly. At least according to the doctor I held at sword-point until he agreed to check it out. Jerk. Said he wouldn't take my money cause I'm a criminal. I think I ended up burning down his store later...

Eh, Whatever. Wherever here is should be way more fun anyway.

Goodnight.

Author's Note:

Author here, If one of you lovely peoples want to make me some better cover art, please contact me and I will give you a full bio and some ideas. Hope you guys enjoy this, pls comment your thoughts and I will send updates as regularly as I can. Cya!

Comments

[AuthorScript]

Eh, Whatever. Wherever here is should be way more fun anyway.

If only he knew...

hiya

Gah!?!?