Illusions
The streets of Ponyville were quieter than Jake had ever seen it as he took his evening stroll. Ever since he had appeared here due to a freak magical anomaly a year ago, the evening hours were the only time he could really get anything done without the awkward stares that came standard with him being the only one of his kind. The wind ruffled his chestnut-colored hair as he strode down the main street of the town, making sure to preserve the peace and tranquility the quiet evening offered him. Something felt wrong, though. In all the time he had lived there, Ponville had never been so quiet. Even at the latest of late nights he could still count on running into a pony or two burning the midnight oil or out for a romantic stroll. It felt, honestly, as though the whole town was asleep, all at once, and he was the only one awake. Still, the cool night air provided a much needed reprieve from his day job helping Twilight keep her castle tidy and organized, so Jake paid the eerie silence no mind as he climbed a small hill outside of town to his favorite stargazing spot.
Taking his blanket out of his backpack, Jake laid it out on the soft grass underneath a lone oak tree at the top of the hill overlooking the sleepy hamlet. Laying back, he turned his gaze skyward, looking to enjoy the beautiful masterpiece Princess Luna had created that night. And as always, she had delivered: pinpricks of light sparkled through the sky like falling snow caught in the glow of a lamppost, with the moon hanging between them as a perfect backdrop for the astrological dance going on above Jake’s head. While it had always been strange to him that Luna needed to manually raise the moon and create the stars every evening, the fact that he had a new night sky to gaze upon every night was a gift Jake had never thought possible. Looking up at the twinkling lights in the night sky, Jake idly traced out constellations he’d forget come the morning with his finger. He chuckled to himself, imagining that his finger was a mighty sword capable of cleaving the sky in twain, and motioned as though he was cutting the very fabric of reality on the atmosphere above him.
And the sky split.
A massive tear appeared in the skies above Ponyville, and Jake scrambled to his feet in terror at the sudden appearance of the phenomenon. In the hazy area beyond the tear, he could see shapes. Moving shapes, dozens of small colorful equine blurs appearing to attack a massive, evil looking cloud of… something. “What in the worlds is THAT?!” Jake cried out, backing up against the old oak tree to keep his balance. He reached into his backpack again, this time pulling out a high-quality pair of binoculars he used for birdwatching with his friend Fluttershy. Normally it was too dark to use them at night, but with the bright glow of the rift, he could see through it. “Is… is that Ponyville?” He mused, squinting to make out the blurry shapes on the other side of the dimensional divide. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that looks like ponyville in the middle of one of their… more interesting Tuesdays. Are they fighting to keep that big thing from getting through? Geez, Twilight would probably give her left hoof to see this…” He watched as the battle raged on, unable to make out the identities of anything beyond the opening. It seemed that every time the big creature almost made it through, something stopped its progress. If nothing else, it was quite the lightshow, and the most interesting thing he had seen stargazing, ever. Realizing that more often than not, Twilight and friends would solve the situation before it got out of hand, he sat back down and watched the show through his binoculars.
It kept going on and on, but eventually the smaller colorful shapes were knocked back by the big shape. It made for the rift, sticking part of its head out, and for the first time Jake saw exactly what he was looking at as it passed partially into reality. Something… something about the starry head and mane that stared at him with empty eyes was decidedly wrong, triggering some primal instinct of Jake’s that this was without a doubt a serious threat, a predator on the hunt. But before he could scream and run, there was a bright light from within the rift, and the shadowy creature rapidly shrunk along with the tear in reality. In mere moments it was gone, the night sky returned to normal, but Jake watched through his binoculars as a tiny, almost impossible to spot figure get cut off of the nightmarish creature by the collapsing rift’s abrupt closure. It plummeted to the ground on the other side of town, by the lake.
“Was… was that a pony? If it was, I have to help them!” Jake didn’t even bother collecting his blanket, choosing to stuff his binoculars haphazardly into his backpack and zip it up before sprinting off towards the other side of town, where the strange object had fallen. The town was still dead silent, the only noises to be heard being Jake’s footfalls as he rushed at top speed through the main roads to reach his destination. The one good thing about being twice as tall as the ponies was that he could really book it if he wanted to, outpacing all but the pegasi and maybe Applejack on a good day. And with the fact that someone might be in danger, the adrenaline pumping through his system made sure Jake had plenty of energy to make it to the lake in record time.
The creatively named Ponyville Lake wasn't too large, but it was still a formidable task to search the entire area. Jake took a quick moment to survey the area, pulling a flashlight out of his backpack. Panning it over the lake, he found it serenely calm. In fact, the eerie silence that permeated the town seemed to have continued to the waterfront. Not even the frogs were making any noises, giving an otherworldly, almost dreamlike feel to the area as the stars twinkled above. “Hello?” Jake cried out. “Is anyone hurt? I thought I saw someone fall here!” He began the trek around the lake, sweeping his flashlight to and fro looking for any signs of life. “There better not be any timberwolves out here this time of night. I swear, if I ever see another one of those, it’ll be too soon.”
Continuing his trek around the lake, he thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Swinging his flashlight to catch it, he saw the briefest glimpses of a pony’s tail as it ran off into the darkness beyond his flashlight beam. “Hey, wait! Are you okay, whoever you are? I need to find what fell here!” Jake pushed more energy into his weary legs, moving after the mystery pony, but no more than ten feet away from where he started he found himself at a worn, old dock with a single aged rowboat tethered to it. Looking at the dock, Jake realized he was on the far end of the lake, and he could see Ponyville in the distance. There was a small island in the middle of the lake, one that only he and his pegasus friends could reach due to the deep water only a human like Jake could enjoy swimming through. “Hmmm… maybe there?” Jake quickly untied the rowboat and started for the island.
The trip didn’t take long as the lake wasn’t that large, only costing Jake ten minutes of effort. He was also happy to use his arms for a bit after all that running. As Jake arrived, he scanned the area with his flashlight and quickly spotted a cluster of rose bushes that were roughed up as though something or someone had used them as an impromptu landing pad. “Hello? Hello?! Is anyone there?” Jake cried out, running toward the bushes. “If you can hear me, answer me!” Reaching the bushes, he recklessly stuck his hands in and pulled the plants apart, ignoring the pain as dozens of tiny thorns dug into his arms. “Again, is anyone here? Are you hurt? Hello?”
Peering into the bushes, Jake saw a small impact crater . Lying there amidst the broken brambles and ruined flowers was a small filly, no older than six years old by the looks of it. Her coat was a dark purple, her mane only the slightest shade lighter. Amidst her coat and mane were tiny flecks of white fur, giving Jake the impression that he was looking at the night sky itself. Her eyes were shut and her breathing was ragged, dozens of tiny cuts crisscrossing her torso thanks to the thorns on the rose bushes. But one thing above all else caught Jake’s eye as he gingerly lifted her out of her prickly bed. “An alicorn? How is that possible? I thought there were only the four. Wouldn’t a new one cause a bit of news? Well, no point worrying about that now. Come on little one, I’ll get you patched up and then tomorrow we can work on finding your family.” Cradling the sleeping filly in his arms, Jake turned around and made tracks for the boat, and after that, he planned to take her back to his house on the edge of Ponyville.
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It's a thing! A new thing! Let us watch the new thing!
Another Ashfur fic? Sign me the hell up. Tracking.
Who'd voice the Tantabus?
I am already invested in the adorable shenanigans that are coming. LET'S DO THIS!
Alroght, let’s do this!
9489871
eric cartman thats whoo lol
9489818
Buddy, I don't even READ displaced stories.
This looks interesting...
Interesting start! I'm curious to where this leads!
Oh boy. Here's hoping the Tantabus doesn't still want to do the whole 'apocalypse' thing when it gets itself back together...
Though I wonder what it's like for it now, now that it's in the real world and not a dream.
images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71FOFacwMBL._SX425_.jpg
Here we see a wild Ashfur working on a new fanfic, and I have no idea where I am going with this joke...
You got my curiosity
9490588
I do however
be careful too mutch negativity could scare them off
9489818
You have an unnatural obsession with Displaced.
9491100
Displaced is when the main character gets turned into a character from other media, yeah? We don't do thag here.
9491111
I know what it is; just stating that dude sounds completely irrational. A statement I still stand by because he kind of just pulled it out of his ass for no reason.
9491010
And now we hear the wild Ashfur's favorite song, the Rickroll
I am so ready for this! Bring on the fluff!
Hmm... I'm generally not a huge fan of HiEs (except one that I'm supposed to still be editing), but I've been a fan of AltU Tantabuses since another author's stories came out (not gonna promote another author's story in the comments, that's a dick move). So yeah, I'll keep track of this one.
Whenever I look at the title, I can't help but think of this song.
Interesting. Look forward to more
Can we get more of this please?
9491499
It's weird. Like sitting worrying about octopus attacks while you eat lunch.
Well as long as the story is good it really shouldn’t matter if It’s displaced or not. I’ve read a few and found some that are each different in most ways. Some fall into the same stereotype, while others are a bit different with a unique spin. :3 Especially if it’s underrated. The like to dislike ratio and features within the website don’t do justice to some of the fimfictions that I’ve read. Kinda wish there was a filter wording within the website..... no offense to anyone who likes writing and reading porn, but I’m kinda tired of seeing them within the front page of the feature box whenever I want to find more mature fimficts. It’s annoying when I want to find some newly produced works of fiction.
9531313
A good tip for finding some gems on the featured box is turnung on the mature filter. That bas a different featured list, all without porn! Great for finding new reads.
Jake found the Tantabus in a thorny rose bush in this story.
Twilight found Nyx in a thorn bush in "Past Sins"
Is the first a reference to the second?
9558145
Who's Nyx?
9558152
I guess that would be a no.
Nyx is a main character in the story "Past Sins" by Pen Stroke. Its the 3rd most viewed story on the site.
She is what came from a thwarted attempt to resurrect Nightmare Moon after her defeat by the main 6.
I had figured it could have been a reference because the Tantabus had been created by Luna, then a piece became Myst who was found in a thorny bush. Parallel that with the fact that Nightmare Moon had been a part of Luna, In "Past Sins", the remnant of Nightmare Moon that were left after her defeat were gathered and Nyx came from that and Twilight Sparkle found Nyx in a thorn bush.
Seemed similar enough that it could be a nod, but I was wrong.
9558569
Huh. Well i guess i have a thing to go read now. Honesly I was more thinking about the thick underbrush near my real world home that is full of wild raspberry plants. Delicious, but VERY thorny... so worth it though.
I like that, a capable human and your own way how the world there works or affects him, even if it should only be slightly different.
I'm interessted but I'm curious how interessting this story can be should really hardly anyone see her.
9489886
LLEEEEEEEERROOOOOYY!!! JEEEEEEEEEENKINS
9558624
That moment when you accidentally replicate the entrance of an OC that originated from a dark spot in Luna's past, without reading the other fiction.
Past Sins was being written somewhere between the end of the first season and ended not long after Luna Eclipsed back in the first quarter of season 2.
Back when fanfics were shared Google Docs.
Frequently, the Docs had anonymous text chat. When a new chapter of one of the big fics dropped, the chat would be a constant flow of" Anon#### has entered the doc" and "Anon#### has left the doc".
Sometimes, people would talk in the chat.
One of my favorite memories of the Google doc days, was when one of the later chapters in Past Sins had just dropped. There was a point towards the end of the chapter where someone shouts in the chat "FUCK YOU <significant antagonist>" or something very similar, and others that had recently started reading would shout not to spoil it.
This was happening every 5 minutes.
When I reached the spot where those others reached, it was my turn, to pause my reading, and to scream "SCREW YOU <significant antagonist>".
I'd suggest reading it, if for no other reason than to read one of the big significant fics that were born during season 1.
I think Past Sins got updated/rewritten to accommodate Cadence and Shining Armor (I think it ended after the pair were announced (to incredibly negative reception), but way before the season 2 finale where the pair first appeared (to lots of positive reception)).
I think you can still read the original on Pen Stroke's profile.
Though try to avoid Past Sins from altering the fic that you had already planned. Whether it be "I should change this so people don't think I'm copying Past Sins word for word", or "this worked great for Past Sins, so i should include it into my fic".
It's your fic.
If some things happen to be similar because your plans had already had that before you heard about Past Sins, then just remember that great minds think alike.
Just because the Simpsons did it first, doesn't mean that you're not allowed to do the thing, in your own way
I'm intrigued on how this works out.