Wings of the Heart

by gundamexia34

Ch 1

“Hey! Hey!” a young male voice sounded at the edge of Tim’s hearing as he started to feel consciousness return to him. “Tim! Wake up!”

“Ugh…Dammit, who the hell is calling me at this time of the morning?” Tim said groggily as he reached out for his phone, not quite realizing what had woken him. When his hand grasped nothing but grass, he blearily blinked and propped himself up on one elbow, “What the hell?”

“Shh!” he heard the voice shush. “Keep quiet and get behind that tree!”

Tim slowly got to his feet, doing as he was told as he tried to wake the hell up. He was most certainly not a morning person.

“You have a death wish or a secret fetish of being eaten?” the voice mocked.

What the hell are you-” Tim was cut off by a loud roar, which startled him into being fully awake, “What the fuck?!” He whisper-shouted.

“Crap! It heard you!” the voice exclaimed. “Quick! Up here!”

Tim started to climb frantically, making it into the higher branches relatively quickly now that he was awake. He saw Gilgamesh, and his memories started to come back.

“Crap, crap, crap! Can’t you deal with this thing with your Persona?” He asked.

“We’re too close to the forest edge, and there is a village of some kind a short distance from said edge!” Gilgamesh shot back. “We don’t want any unwanted attention on ourselves!”

“...You’re being an idiot.” Tim deadpanned as he flicked his cat on the nose, “It’s better to be upfront and friendly with the locals, so why are we hiding from them? If Igor wants us to save them, they can’t be all bad.”

“That’s not the point!” Gilgamesh yelled back. “I have plenty of reason to not want to go all out on that Manticore! The two that most stand out is that if I revealed that I have a never-before-seen power, they’d take me away from you to try to find out what it is...and I’m still a bit tired. Forming that contract took a big chunk of my energy!”

“I doubt that they would do that. And if they tried then they’re gonna get a Blade Boomerang up their...Well, you get the idea.” Tim was firm in his declaration as he turned the dial of his watch a certain way.

“Tell that doubt to those mad scientists your parents saved me from,” Gilgamesh mumbled, barely loud enough for Tim to hear.

Tim stopped fiddling with his watch and wrapped his cat in a hug.

“I swear, I will do whatever it takes to keep that from happening to you again!” Tim gave a solemn vow as he went back to his watch after returning Gilgamesh to his ‘perch’, “Now, I’m going to get this thing taken care of, and we’re going to go and make you some more friends.”

“9! 6! 3!” A voice announced, making Tim grin.

“Got it. Watch and learn!” With that, he dropped down, the large Scissors Shield and enormous Blade Boomerang forming in his hands in a flash of light.

The manticore saw him and charged, which Tim deflected with his shield and then he used the sharp edge of the boomerang to pin it down by its throat.

“Alright, fuzzball, are we gonna have a problem?” He asked with a mad grin.

The manticore whimpered and shook its head.

“Good. Now get outta here!” Tim picked the boomerang back up and attached it to his back where it faded from view along with the shield, watching the massive predator run away into the bushes.

“I’ll be honest, that was cool,” Gilgamesh said as he leaped down from his perch. “So, were you serious about helping me get more friends?”

“Come on, Gil, you’ve known me for how long now? And when have I ever broken a promise outside of extenuating circumstances?” Tim jokingly scolded, “And even if you don’t get any more, you have me as a friend...No, as a brother, if you need me.”

Gilgamesh looked up at Tim with ‘teary’ eyes. “Thanks...by the way, the one broken promise involved your brief-”

“I said outside of extenuating circumstances!” Tim said as a reminder with a light blush, “That means when it was my own fault and not the fault of outside influences!”

Gilgamesh giggled a bit. “Gotcha,” he said with a smile. “Anyway, we should get out of here. If that Manticore was any indication, there’s bound to be-” He stopped talking and began sniffing the air. “Wait a moment...is that? ...Fresh Trout!” The cat then began running towards the forest’s edge.

“Oi, oi! Wait up, you damn glutton!” Tim called as he ran after his friend.

---

Rarity was trying desperately to get her cat to eat.

“Oh, come now, Opal!” She said exasperatedly, “I went and bought this just for you, so why won’t you eat it?!”

She held out the trout again, and once more Opal turned her head away with distaste.

{Yoink!} And the trout was suddenly gone from her hand and a golden orange cat with black accents was a short distance away with the fish in question.

“Ah, you brute!” Rarity called after the new cat, “Can’t you see that I was trying to feed my dear Opal!”

{She obviously didn’t want it, which I can understand, based on her weight...no offense meant.} The cat called out.

{No, no, you’re right. I’m getting fat, and I need to cut back, but she refuses to listen to the veterinarian who told her that!} Opal responded, though Rarity just saw her shaking her head and heard nothing but a few meows.

“Gilgamesh, get back here!” Tim called as he ran up, “I told you, you need to eat less!”

{Tell that to the strange pony girl concerning her fat cat...again no offense!} Gilgamesh called out to Opal.

{And again, none was taken.} Opal responded amusedly, which Tim blinked at understanding before putting it down to being able to understand Gil, who spoke the same language.

“You know, he has a point.” Tim said simply as he looked at Rarity, “She does look a wee bit chubby, maybe feed her a little less often or in smaller portions?”

“How dare you!” Rarity said, going to slap him, only for Tim to catch her arm and glare.

{Uh-oh.} Gilgamesh ‘sang’ as he dug into the trout.

{What’s wrong?} Opal asked, concerned, {I know she was out of line there, but the way you said that gives me a bad feeling.}

{Let’s just say, attempting to use violence to defend being an idiot around him is not a good idea.} Gilgamesh explained. {By the way, you have some pretty thick skin...and that isn’t a fat joke.}

“Now listen here, little miss priss…” Tim said slowly, an aura of dark energy forming a demonic mask behind him as he looked up with a scowl, “You need to take a good long look at what you were about to do, and then think long and hard about what the consequences would be...Capische?”

{Ohhh, that’s what you meant.} Opal said, shaking in terror.

Rarity had it far worse though, she was about ready to wet herself.

“R-r-right, I...I think I’ll go inside…” She said as she was released before leaving a dust cloud behind as she ran into her shop.

{Well, that was fun...In a morbid sense.} Gilgamesh said as he finished up the last few scraps of the fish. {So, we’re new around here. Anyone who we can go to so we can get our bearings?} He then asked Opal.

{I would suggest Twilight Sparkle. She’s a friend of my owner’s. Incredibly smart, a little close-minded, but she has a good heart.} The white female cat said with a smile, {Follow me, I’ll lead you to her house. Oh, and my name is Opal, if you didn’t catch it.}

“Timmothy Pestarosa, though friends call me Tempest or Tim.” The lone human said as he patted her on the head, “And the glutton over there is Gilgamesh.”

{Said the sugar cookie addict.} Gilgamesh snarked.

“Oi, at least I know when to quit!” Tim protested

{For a month at least.} The tom whispered to Opal.

“Oh, can it with the flirting, you two!” Tim teased back, having heard the comment and deciding to embarrass his cat.

{Worth it!}

{Oh my…} Opal looked over Gilgamesh slowly, {I could do worse...Far worse…} Those words caused Gilgamesh to ‘blush’.

As she said that, she pondered on the mysterious duo.

Tim was an oddity, being calm one second, then an icy glacier of fury the next before falling back into playful banter. Gilgamesh gave as good as he got, and seemed to know just what to say to make the journey interesting.

{Is this a literal treehouse?} Gilgamesh asked as they finished passing through the town.

“...It does appear so…” Tim began deadpan, “Alright, I guess we should knock.”

And so saying, he walked up and did just that.

The door was opened by a purple and green ‘reptile’ that was dressed like a casual mid-teen. “Hello, this is meant to be a library, so knocking isn’t fully necessary,” The ‘reptile’ said with a bored voice, not really paying attention to who was there.

“Oh. We’re new, here, so we didn’t know that…” Tim said simply, “You alright dude? You look exhausted.”

“Just the average day of Spike the Dragon, adopted younger brother of the town bibliophile and madpony,” he said, still bored in his voice.

“Alright, seriously, Opal? That’s the kinda person you lead us to?!” Tim asked incredulously.

{This must be one of her bad days. She’s usually not too crazy, but when she’s trying to understand something…} Opal gave the feline version of a shrug.

“Why are you talking to Rarity’s cat...and whose cat is that next to her?” Spike asked, taking a glance at the group. “Come to think of it, who and what are you?”

“Oi, that was pretty rude there, brat.” Tim said flatly, “And to answer your questions, in order: I can understand her, that’s my cat Gilgamesh, the name’s Tim, and I’m a human.”

“What I asked about you shouldn’t have been,” Spike said, a slight bit of confusion on his face for a moment. “Either I unintentionally picked up on some of Twilight’s old antisocial behavior, or your species isn’t around here often enough for many to know about.”

{I could have told him that.} Gilgamesh said, looking at Tim nervously.

“Well, the way you phrased it sure was. And I would think they wouldn’t. I was sent here from my homeworld of Earth after all.” Tim pointed out.

“Your homeworld?” Spike asked in confusion. “Was it banishment for a crime or something else?”

“Else. I was sent here to help against some kind of threat, but I don’t know what that threat is yet.” Tim explained.

“Well, I can honestly say that some sort of trouble will go down...eventually,” Spike said. “There was a week or two of ‘calm’ before Nightmare Moon showed up, and a similar case with Discord’s escape. Today marks day 10 of this most recent ‘calm’, so....”

{Talk about a literal calm before the storm.} Gilgamesh commented quietly.

“Sounds like the town is under a Chinese curse.” Tim said, shaking his head, “May you live in interesting times.”

“Anyway, from what I heard when you were talking a bit with Opal, you wanted to meet Twilight?” Spike asked.

“Heh, smart. Yeah, Opal said she could help us get settled in.” Tim stated.

“Well, she’s getting ready to go figure out some surge of energy or whatnot; I didn’t fully pay attention to what she was saying,” Spike said. “But I’ll see if she can at least spare a glance. So find a seat, get comfortable?”

“Surge of energy? I have a bad feeling about this…” Tim began as he followed the teen inside before a flash of light blinded him for a moment.

“Spike! I’m done researching! Now put these away while I go and get- OOF!” The feminine voice was cut off as the speaker ran straight into Tim and scattered the massive stack of books she was carrying.

When the dust cleared, the duo were covered in books. The pile shifted as someone got to their hands and knees, revealing Twilight Sparkle. From below her, Tim sat up and then locked eyes with her as the duo blushed.

“Omigosh! I’m so sorry!” Twilight said as she jumped up.

“Meh, it’s fine. Accidents happen.” Tim said, still a light shade of pink.

{5, 4, 3, 2, 1…} Gilgamesh counted before Twilight’s embarrassed blush changed to excitement.

“Oh, wow! What are you?! I’ve never seen anything like you before!” Twilight said eagerly as she flitted around Tim at high speed, making him blink.

“Oi, oi, oi! Calm down, lass!” He said as he tried to follow her movements, his light Scottish accent coming through more clearly with his stress.

“I agree. Calm down, Twilight,” Spike said. “You’re starting to act like Pinkie...again.”

Twilight blinked.

“Wait, seriously?! I’ve never been that bad!” Twilight objected.

“Your first week here, you discovered that this library has more works of Starswirl the Bearded than Canterlot ever had; then managing to perform 90% of spells in said works; getting excited about having the ‘Unofficial’ History of the Discordian Era brought here; and now right now,” Spike listed off. “And the last one included your voice changing pitches, almost matching her voice.”

“...I take it that this ‘Pinkie’ is random, hyper, and seemingly unable to be explained? Because that sums up her behavior rather well.” Tim deadpanned.

{Oh, you have no idea. At least Gummy, her pet, is rather calm in comparison.} Opal said simply.

{When you say ‘calm’, are we talking about a ‘sleepy’ calm, or just ‘high’ calm?} Gilgamesh asked.

{More of the latter, but not that bad. He just doesn’t talk much, or really care about anything. He’s simply the type to relax in a nice pond while the sun is on his back while his owner does her own thing.} Opal explained.

“So, like a cat, but I’m guessing he’s an aquatic animal of some sort from the ‘pond’ bit?” Tim asked.

{Yes, he’s an alligator, though he doesn’t have any teeth at first glance. They’re actually retractable, though don’t ask me how that works as I have no idea.} Opal said.

“Is she saying anything interesting?” Spike asked Tim, catching Twilight’s attention.

“Just explaining a bit about ‘Pinkie’ and her pet alligator ‘Gummy’.” Tim said.

“Who are you talking about? Or even to?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Opal.” Tim said simply.

“And...You can understand her?” Twilight started to look a little doubtful.

{Oh! Oh! Don’t forget me!} Gilgamesh said excitedly, sitting up on his hind legs and doing a ‘paw paw’ motion with his front legs.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you glory hound.” Tim said with a smirk, before turning back to Twilight.

{Do I look canine to you!?} Gilgamesh shot back.

“No, with that motion you just did, you look like a kangaroo.” Tim snarked.

{I’m not a marsupial either!}

“Oh wow, you really can understand cats! I have to get the others and show them!” Twilight said, running over to a mirror and touching a few specific spots, “Girls, meet me by the lake in White Tail woods, I have something amazing to show you and we can have a nice picnic at the same time!”

“Wait, who are you talking to? That’s just a mirror.” Tim pointed out.

“A communication mirror! Don’t you have those where you’re from?” Twilight asked excitedly.

“Nope. The closest we have is something called a telephone...Speaking of which…” Here Tim pulled out his own cell phone and blinked at finding it undamaged, “Huh, neat.”

He powered it up and blinked at the sight of both a new app and a new message.

“Hello, Tim.” The message began, “This is Igor. You can use this new app to get around faster. Time flows a bit differently in the Metaverse, so if you spend an hour in there, half that time will have passed in the ‘real’ world. Also, I’ve hidden several surprises in there for you to find. I believe you know them as Dial Fighters. For each one you find, its code will be added to your watch and you can access its abilities. Have fun searching!”

{What’s with the surprise?} Gilgamesh asked, carefully jumping onto Tim’s shoulder.

“Well, I suppose I am rather weak at the moment.” Tim sighed, “I only have two weapons. Admittedly somewhat powerful weapons, but they’re still only weapons. I’m guessing that having more weapons will give me more to choose from in bad situations.”

“Weapons?” Spike asked. “What’s this about weapons?”

“I have access to a couple of special weapons granted to me from some artifacts. I managed to adjust them to work with my watch, but there are other artifacts out there like the ones I found. I can find them, but it’ll take time.” Tim explained simply.

“What an interesting device.” Twilight said, looking over Tim’s shoulder, “Wait, what does that do?” She asked as she pointed at the Metaverse app. Unfortunately, she put her finger too close and touched the screen.

Suddenly, the world began to warp and shift around them all, and then they were in a red-tinted version of the library.

“Oh my Celestia! What happened?! Where are we?!” She asked in a panic.

“In order, you won the ‘Stupidest Smart’ award for activating something you knew next to nothing about; and we are in what is called the Metaverse, a parallel world that reflects the collective unconscious.” Gilgamesh said, as he jumped from Tim’s shoulder to a nearby table, revealing his chibi form.

“Gil, relax, she didn’t mean to.” Tim scolded, slapping him upside the head, “And calm down, Twilight. Everyone gather ‘round, I’ll bring us back.”

When everyone was close enough, Tim pressed the app again and the world returned to normal.

“See, we’re fine. Though you’ll be able to understand Gil and possibly Opal and other housecats now.” Tim said calmly.

“Fascinating!” Twilight exclaimed.

{Don’t get too excited...yet.} Gilgamesh warned the lavender unicorn. {Save some of that excitement for that sudden picnic you spontaneously requested.}

“Omigosh! You’re right! Come on, Spike, we need to make some sandwiches or something!” Twilight exclaimed as she dragged her ‘brother’ into the kitchen.

“Welp, this is going to be...Interesting? Yeah, let’s go with that.” Tim deadpanned.

---

“Come on, it’s not much farther!” Twilight exclaimed, leading Spike, Gilgamesh, and Tim toward the picnic spot. Opal had left to go back to the Boutique where Rarity and her sister lived. Despite her issues with Rarity, Opal rather liked her sister Sweetie Belle.

{You said that almost two kilometers ago!} Gilgamesh complained. {Why do I get the feeling that distance is about as messed up as that Mementos in that game I watched you watch.}

“Well, it wouldn’t be so hard on you if you slimmed down a bit, fatso!” Tim teased, not even being out of breath.

{Not exactly the point I was trying to get at. She made it sound like a ‘short’ distance, as in a kilometer at worst...not nearly 5!} Gilgamesh shot back.

“This is nothing! You’re just outta shape!” Tim shook his head as he finally took pity on his pet and picked him up, “Seriously, you need to eat less, and work out more. We are putting you through a tough physical regime soon.”

{Yeah, yeah, you’ve got endurance on me, but I could outrun you in a dead sprint anytime.} Gilgamesh said, relaxing into Tim’s arms.

“In this form, yeah. In chibi form? Not a chance in hell.” Tim countered, scratching Gil’s ears.

“Even though I can understand him now, it’s still weird that you talk to him as if he is about as smart as...well, us,” Spike said.

Tim winced and shared a look with Gilgamesh, silently asking for permission to explain what happened to him. Gilgamesh simply nodded in approval and jumped out of Tim’s arms and moved closer to Twilight.

“The thing is, Gil’s always been smart. As long as I’ve known him, he’s been able to understand me perfectly.” Tim began, “But that’s because of what happened to him before we met. See, my parents were part of an animal rescue group, and we got Gilgamesh from a lab where he was experimented on.”

As Twilight gasped, Tim sighed.

“From what little I understand now that I’m older and looking back, they were trying to increase his intelligence with genetic modification while making sure his brain kept a similar structure. Back then, I was just a kid and it all went over my head, so I might have misunderstood.” Here, Tim looked at Gilgamesh for confirmation.

{You pretty much hit the nail on the head.} Gilgamesh confirmed. {And let me tell you, genetic modification to the brain is like several migraines concentrated to one millimeter cubed...and think how big a cat brain is, and multiply that starting pain by how many cubic millimeters that is.}

Twilight’s eyes widened and started to water as she lashed out and scooped the golden cat into her arms in a tight bear hug.

“I’m so sorry that that happened to you! Nobody deserves that!” She declared solemnly.

“See buddy? I told you, not everyone is like those scientists.” Tim smiled, “Looks like you’ve already made some more friends.”

{I can feel that!} Gilgamesh strained to say. {But if I’m not let go, I don’t think I’ll live to enjoy them!}

“Oops!” Twilight loosened her grip to something more comfortable and started to run her hand along his back, “Sorry, I forget my own strength sometimes.”

{Why you...you…} Gilgamesh looked like he was ready to cuss her out, but began to relax. {Mrrooow...That feels good…….}

Tim just chuckled as he watched his pet bond with his new friends, and speaking of friends…

“Hey, are those your friends up ahead?” He asked Twilight as he pointed to the top of the hill.

“Oh, yes! Come on, you have to meet them!” Twilight smiled as she started to run with one arm holding Gilgamesh and the other dragging Tim along.