45: Past, Present, Future
Chapter 45: Past, Present, Future
I had recently acquired sunglasses in my dream, the reason being this bright light crap was getting old VERY fast. I would've gone blind if I didn’t have protection by the time I woke up. Still, when the light died down, the sight of the scene below nearly made me wish I was blind.
The sun was shining on the remains of what looked like a town. Dilapidated buildings, dead flora that seemed like it didn’t even belong… It was almost as if I was looking at a scene from a Fallout game. The platform beneath me lowered to the road, allowing me to jump down and survey the area. Looking through the buildings showed nothing good; many things were broken, and nothing seemed like it could be in working condition. Some of the buildings had a weird purple glob on the remains of their roof, moving as though alive. Looking in the distance, even if a building couldn’t be seen, the glob was clearly visible.
Traveling to town square, or what I thought was the town square, I saw a shattered fountain. But worse yet was what else was there. Ponies, all of them... well, zombified seemed like the best term. Some looked just like you’d imagine a zombie, but others were part zombie part... that same blob on the buildings. Most of them, however, seemed to be a ponified version of a Darkball; they grotesquely bloated, made of solid shadows, exhibited an overly large and pointy set of teeth, and eyes that could pass for weak lightbulbs. I know movies and video games always show how dangerous they can be, but when you see one… I had to turn away, quickly. To my horror, I saw something far worse.
A survivor. Hiding in the bushes. Probably not even nine years old, a unicorn colt. He was inching out of the bushes when an ear-splitting cry emitted from the sky, strong enough to bring me to my knees as I covered my ears. One of the ‘zombies,’ for lack of a better term, must have seen him. I saw one run towards him, while he quickly tried to get away. Something caught his tail, lifting him from the ground as the monster approached the helpless kid.
No. Whatever happens next... please don’t be what I think it is… Not that it would help. The monster stopped in front of the colt, who was now shivering in fright at his executioner. I saw black smoke start to emit from its mouth. Then, it opened up and blasted the poor child’s face. And all I could do... was watch in silence. The colt struggled against the smoke for only a moment before he went limp. The magic holding him aloft stopped, and dropped him to the ground with a sickening thud. The smoke that hit him began to expand, covering the colt’s body. I didn’t want to see what it did, but something prevented me from looking away.
As the smoke disappeared, the colt rose, his coat now pitch black and his eyes the same sickening glow as the others. Now he was just another soldier in the army. It was terrible… What was this? What happened to this town? What are these things? Is this…
A loud, booming voice filled the air. I had to put my hands over my ears, and it still wasn’t enough to stop it. “They always think they can get away. Tsk tsk tsk. Soon, they will all be gone. And this world will be ripe for my taking. Even the humans, harbingers of destruction, couldn’t stop me.” There was an evil chuckle before it shouted again. “TO ANY OF YOU PETTY GODS THAT CAN HEAR ME! YOUR CHAMPIONS ARE ALL DEAD! I HAVE WON, AND EQUIS IS MINE TO CONTROL!”
He’s bragging... about a victory? He’s... the cause? I couldn’t think clearly with the booming voice’s shouting.
“ONCE I’VE FINISHED CLEANING UP THE SCRAPS HERE, MY NEXT STOP IS THE PATHETIC WORLD WHERE YOU PICKED UP YOUR MISERABLE EXCUSES FOR WARRIORS! THE UNIVERSE WILL BE MINE AND MINE ALONE!!!” Ugh, whoever this guy was, he’s giving me a headache just listening to him.
Then came the sound of hoofsteps. As I looked towards the sound, I saw all of the ‘zombies’ had disappeared. There was a figure on the horizon, though I couldn’t make it out. It walked toward the town center, almost with purpose. When it finally arrived, I was greeted by the sight of a male centaur. Again, its body was covered in darkness, and I couldn’t make out colors. When I tried, I felt something grip my neck and lift me up from the ground, to the creature’s eye level.
“You…” he said. “You are the last man standing. How does it feel? To be on the winning side? To serve your true purpose? To embrace the darkness from whence you came?”
I choked, unable to give a coherent response. The figure chuckled again. “It was good of you. At least to my cause. A being of darkness can never be a hero..." He paused, as if waiting for a response. When he didn't get one, he continued. "What's the matter? You don't remember? Or maybe you feel regret, and don't WISH to remember. Either way, let me give you a refresher. You joined me when it became clear that, when your job was done, all that awaited you was to forever be sealed in a coffin and locked in a mausoleum. And look.” He dropped me, then turned me around to force me to see the desolated city. “Look at it. Look at what you’ve wrought. Bask in your glory, my servant, at what you created simply by bending your knee to my will.”
The monster shoved me to the ground before a sharp pain filled my side, flipping me face up. Grabbing my stomach in pain, I barely made out that he was now beside me. “However, you and I both know that if you've betrayed once, who’s to say you will not betray me later? Therefore, I give you a fate better than eternity in a cramped wooden space.” A hoof hovered over my face. I wanted to move... but something prevented me. I wasn’t sure if it was the shadow’s doing, or if I was in too much pain to do so. Either way, it seemed my fate was sealed.
“Farewell...Daniel.” *crunch*
I shot up from where I lay, breathing heavily. I was... okay? Quick check, then. Both of my arms were here… legs were fine, too… no damage to the body… a hand to the face revealed no damage there… Did I just dream within a dream? No, that’s impossible.
Impossible was when you appeared at the Station of Awakening to fight your Shadow and meet with a draconaut and Princess Luna. And that happened. Anything’s possible now, bucko.
Yeah, there’s Bard, so I’m still alive. For now. But why did the ground feel like grass? Pushing myself back onto my feet, I realized I was in a dark, forested area. Not bright enough to be the marsh. There was a path nearby, and I guessed it could lead me somewhere to regain my thoughts. Rule of gaming; when in doubt, go right. But because right usually led to doom and sadness, I decided to instead go left.
The forest was eerily quiet. Was I still dreaming? I haven’t seen anyone or anything since I awoke. Maybe I’m in the same universe as Inception, and can now dream within dreams. Or I’m just bored out of my skull walking around in the woods and I’m just trying to keep myself from going clinically insane.
The path led to a bridge, one that looked hastily remade. Taking a deep breath, I put a foot forward to cross.
“No need to use the bridge. We may converse here,” Luna’s voice echoed.
Again? Geez, if Luna keeps this up, people might mistake us for a thing. “Uh, okay,” I called. “Why can’t I cross the bridge, is it actually out of order?”
“Not unless one wills it to do so. And trust me, I am sorely tempted to do so,” she replied.
I quickly took a few steps away from the bridge. So quickly, in fact, I couldn’t stop myself from bumping into something. Considering who I was talking to, I guessed I had ran into Luna. There was a chuckle as I tried to regain my footing. “Why, Al, one usually takes us to dinner before they hit on us.”
“Subtle, Princess. Subtle.” I dusted myself off before facing her. Yep, ‘twas the Princess of the Night once more, with a smirk on her face. But it looked forced. “Y’know, if you keep in my dreams, you’ll never help those that need it,” I said.
“We do not converse with you if our subjects are in dire need of our assistance,” Luna explained. “Their priorities supercede yours.”
I nodded. I wasn’t really offended, since subjects before outsider and all that jazz. But if she’s here again, it had to be important. “True. I... guess you wanted to talk to me about my behavior at the Station?”
She blinked. “Station? Do you mean our first meeting?” she asked.
“I was thinking about the second, actually. With Silas?”
“We do not know of a Silas...are you well, Al?”
Now it was my turn to blink. “I...was just there. Talked to him, you were there, I made many stupid jokes like Tony Montana?”
She looked quite confused at my answer. “Al? Are you, by chance, sane?”
“Doctors have yet to prove I’m crazy, if that’s what you’re asking,” I answered. “Why are you acting like this is our second meeting when it’s our third?”
“Why do YOU act the opposite?” Luna asked, glaring at me. “I have only met you once before now, and that was to help you make a decision that would save your life.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “We’re going to have to draw up a diagram, my brain is beginning to hurt.”
I looked over the diagram we had constructed. It still made absolutely zero sense.
“So, if this thing is right...we’re right on our first meeting. But you left to check the others, lower the moon while your sister raised the sun, day goes normally. Mine is you met someone you don’t even know, we all converse, and I... well, let’s not go there right now. But this is your second meeting with me, while this is my third meeting with you. How did that happen?” I scratched my head, still unsure how this can work, or if it even DID work.
“My only guess is that you traveled through time,” Luna commented.
“Which brings the question as to, once again, how did I pull that off? I have absolutely zero power with time magic,” I pointed out.
“Dreams are strange things. Even after millennia of dreamwalking, it continues to amaze me just what can happen within the minds of others.” The Princess of the Night looked just as confused as me.
“One can examine others’ dreams without trouble, but try to examine yours, and you just wonder what you ate last night,” I muttered.
Luna coughed. “Either way, time traveling via dreams is not why we are here right now.”
“Yeah, why ARE you he-” My sentence was cut off as I turned around and found the tip of her horn DANGEROUSLY close to my throat. I gave a nervous chuckle. “I-I did say that me wanting the world and everything in it was just an idiotic joke, right?”
“Oh, it’s not that,” Luna said darkly. “The dream I saw before we conversed... what is its purpose?”
“Wait, are you talking about the Station, or... the one after that? Because I’d rather NOT remember the one after the Station,” I quickly replied.
“You’re going to talk. And you’re going to answer every question I have on the subject. Think of it as... twenty questions. One wrong answer, though, and you WILL regret ever meeting me.” As if to make a point, she turned her horn away from my throat and fired a beam at a nearby tree, evaporating it in an instant. And yes, you read that correctly.
I nodded slowly, and simply went to my knees. “Twenty questions. No lying. On my honor.” Seriously, I was NOT about to lie to her, knowing she could eliminate me and no one would ever know.
She glared at me. “First question, then. What is your full name? Al does not sound like a full name on its own.”
Wow. Is this tsundere or is it just me? “Alton Barak. First name is my given name, the last is my family name.”
I thought I heard the breaking of a chain. Her glare still laid squarely on me. “Hmph. Your name doesn’t even sound strong. Who would send you here as their champion?”
“And yet you converse with me as if we’ve been friends since day one. But to answer the question, I was sent by the Master of the Velvet Room.”
Another chain break. The hell was that? Luna averted her gaze for the moment, muttering something to herself. Turning back to me, she spoke again. “Why did you have the dream? The one with the ruined city?”
“I...I don’t know, honestly.” A shot of light fired by my head. She was apparently not happy with my answer. “I really don’t! If I did, I’d tell you!”
There was the sound of another chain break. Luna didn’t seem to like the answer, if her snorting was anything to go by. But she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and calmed herself down. “According to your little diagram, you introduced yourself as Daniel Fortesque to this ‘Silas’ character. Why Daniel and not Alton?”
“That’s the name I’ve adopted for my stay in Equis. It’s what my new acquaintances know me as. Currently, only you and the Master of the Velvet Room, if even him, know my real name.”
Chain break. “What do you know of Tirek the Destroyer?”
I blinked. “Tirek? The hell is that, some kinda T-rex knockoff?” Another light ball shot at me, going past the other side of my head. “I don’t know who he is! If I’ve heard the name, it was in passing once, MAYBE twice. But it was never elaborated on, so I ignored it.”
There was a sigh as that chain break resounded again. “You are USELESS for information. I can’t be the first one to have said that to you.”
“Well, if you count family and myself, no, you’re not. Excluding them, you actually are. First to say it out loud, too,” I pointed out.
“I expect you to answer my twenty questions, but for now, I only have one more to ask.” After a nod from me, she continued. “From what I’ve seen, the humans summoned here are never human in appearance. What form do you take in our lands?”
Ugh...here comes the hurricane. “Stalfos. Skeleton. Either/or at this point, no one cares to figure out the difference. But either way, I’m a dead man,” I answered.
As that chain-breaking sound reverberated in the air again, I expected Luna to look horrified, angered, or simply blast me and end it all there. Instead, she looked a bit pensive. “Huh. Not a bad form. Wonder why you’re the first.”
“With how I’m treated on land, I can take a few guesses, m’lady. And none of them are kind.” I expected another shot to come at me. Instead, Luna nodded and approached me. I guess I was off the hook for now?
“Thank you for answering. I apologize for my...intimidation strategies. Even if I wanted to, I am forbidden from hurting you directly. It’s the price for being a god.” She looked away, almost ashamed.
I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “You say this as if I would show kindness and sympathy should the roles be reversed.”
Now it was Luna’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “You...understand?”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I mean, that dream? Enemy-of-the-state type guilt right there. Hell, even I would think I was a minion with regrets if I didn’t know myself better. And honestly…” I looked away sheepishly. “I… wouldn’t let rules get in the way, I would’ve actually done something about it… so you’re better than me in that regard.”
There was a chuckle from Luna. “Honest to a fault. Are you sure you’re not secretly Applejack if she were a boy and living on Earth?”
I could only chuckle from that. “Who would that be?” I knew already, but I didn’t want to reveal I knew a bit about the Equestrian inhabitants that I learned from watching the show.
“Let’s say... you’ll meet her when you make it here. Maybe. Possibly. Could meet her the moment you cross the border,” she teased.
I couldn’t resist. Holding up my hand, my middle finger wrapping around my index, I responded, “Fingers crossed!”
She was about to speak again when there was a thud sound to the left. Turning that way, I saw a strange knife jutting out of a tree. I almost went to examine it when Luna shouted, “Get down!” Not wanting to ask why, I simply did so. And thankfully, I dodged many other knives like it. Getting back to my feet, I scrambled to Luna for protection. I am not afraid to admit that I didn't care about my image when I ran to the pretty pony princess for protection.
Multiple figures suddenly appeared in puffs of smoke. All covered in black clothes, masked, and with a ninjato on their back. Or was that a katana? I don’t know sword names. There were eight of them in total, and each one glared at the two of us. One by one, they each unsheathed the blade on their back.
“Nightmare Ninjas...how did they find us?” Luna growled. So she has a history with our new friends. Good to know.
“So I’m gonna guess they’re not on our side?” I asked, pulling out the Beam Sword’s hilt and activating it.
“They are not,” Luna replied. “Mind showing me your moves, Mr. Barak?”
“Please. Daniel is fine.” I suddenly had a random thought. “Question, Princess.”
“Permission to ask.”
“Ever get the feeling you’ve jumped the shark somewhere in your life?”
There was a chuckle from Luna. “Please. We flew over it the moment you humans entered Equis.”
With that, they attacked us.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
990 users online
104,616 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
First comment again!
I should stop doing this
Firs.... damn it second the comment good work yet again
Nightmare Ninjas are now canon.
Aww yeah, another lengthy Chessverse story!
3855403
I SECOND THAT MOTION!
3856331 Lately, I've been writing more words per chapter, so...yeah. Raise a glass to long stories!
3856783 Motion, passed. Nightmare Ninjas are officially canon.
Ninja's why is it always ninja's?!? lol great chapter can't wait till next one.
~ Techsol
Bone Boy...
I like it!
3859209
Actually, the character is the narrator. I'm not sure how you saw it differently.
3859395 Mehh, I dunno. It usually isn't the case. I must have mistook it for another fic. Disregard any comments about that, then.
Fixed the comments.
3859752 And edited. Thank you very much, good sir.
3860899
NP. And now, comment irrelevant => comment deleted.
3855403 Fanon*
Got to love Luna even if she plays rougth