Mobius: Equestrian Adventure (Revamped! Old chapters included)

by Mobius of the Moon

CROSSOVER pt. 3: Oh HELL No!

"I've also seen that great men are often lonely. This is understandable, because they have built such high standards for themselves that they often feel alone. But that same loneliness is part of their ability to create."
-Yousuf Karsh

I flew through the air, beginning to panic. It was almost night. Dash had come up and joined me, saying that the other were now searching also. I had tried to make small talk, but Dash ignored me. After that we had focused on searching. Though our hours of searching had not revealed a thing.

Just as night fell, I heard a distant keening, sounding sad and lost. I looked in its direction and saw a ruined castle, "Hey, what's that?" I asked, pointing.

Dash looked in the indicated direction. "Oh, that's where we defeated Nightmare Moon." Oh, yeah... "Why do you ask?"

I put on a grim expression. "Go back and tell the others to head there. Pronto." I told Dash, and flew away despite her protests.
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When I arrived, I was already hearing manic laughter coming from inside. Without hesitation, I charged in.

I saw what was once a prestigious throne room. Bits of room were crumbling, and the tapestries were torn. Where the thrones once were, there stood two ponies. One was a black pegasus with a purple mane and tail that look like he was meant to be Elvis. That's right, I knew the guy. Anyway, the pegasus' eyes were glowing red. When my eyes reached his, my heart froze in horror and ice began spreading throughout my body.

No... not here... no, he can't...

The other pony was an Earth pony. He had a brownish-green coat, and a short black mane and tail. His cutie mark was an acoustic guitar. The ice sealed my limbs, and was going up my neck.

At the foot of the steps leading up to the throne, there was Mike. His face was a mix of horror and disbelief... his whole body was shaking. The ice closed over my head, and I walked slowly foraward, intruding on the conversation they had been having.

Hunter turned to me. "Oh, hello, Mobius." his suave voice dripped with acid.

I snarled at him, "Hunter! You have no right coming to this reality!"

Hunter tutted, "My, my Mobius, what happened to manners?" (you see, Hunter liked to put on the air of a gentleman. That was, until he got pissed) "I thought you were better than that!"

At this moment the earth pony spoke, "Greetings Hovermic." he said in a monotone voice.

He was apparently talking to Mike, as the pegasus shied back a little before regaining composure.

I blinked. "Wait... Hovermic?"

Mike stopped his quivering and looked at me, "Yeah, it's my name."

My mind drew a blank. "Then why-"

"Because." Mike stated simply, turning back to the pair on up the staircase.

Hunter grinned evilly... no, there are no words to describe his expression. He spoke with intended malice and hatred, "I'm so glad that you're here, Mobius. I was just getting to convincing poor Mike that you and those bitch friends of yours didn't need him." I dug my claws into the stone, making a grating noise. What had he just said?

Hunter turned to the pony next to him. "I've already convinced Mike's friend here to join me." Wait, Mike's friend? Did that mean that the other pony was... Dreamer?

"Dreamer..." Mike's voice was barely above a whisper. "You're alive...?" That settled it.

Quickly, I gazed into Dreamer's eyes and muttered, "Algiz." The rune appeared in Dreamer's eyes and I was allowed access to his memories.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
FLASHBACK: As Mobius sees it

Dreamer ran. He ran for all he was worth. He had lost sight of Mike a while ago, and had since almost been killed by that bucking dragon several times.

He had finally escaped it, and was hiding deep in a cave. He couldn't see or find his way out, but he felt safe somehow. He curled into a ball and fell asleep, his dreams plagued with the dragon's image.
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When Dreamer jerked awake, he was hoping that it really had been a dream. Hoping that he would see Mike there, laughing at him for being so afraid.

No such luck. He opened his eyes to darkness. He sat there for what seemed like forever, waiting for Mike to come find him. When no help came, he fell back asleep.
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The second time Dreamer awoke it was to wings. "Mike?" He called hoarsely. "Is that you?"

Instead of Mike, he saw glowing red eyes. Scuttling backwards, he stared in terror at them and squeaked fearfully, his usual braveness gone from his lack of light.

Suddenly the cave was filled with just that, and Dreamer had to blink several times to get adjusted. Eventually he made out the black pegasus with a slicked back purple mane, and an equally colored tail. Hi eyes were still a bright red. The pegasus said things that I wouldn't and couldn't repeat. Ever.

To abridge it, Hunter told Dreamer that Mike had abandoned him for his own life, and had always hated Dreamer anyway.

I wanted to scream that it was a trick, to not believe him. But I could do nothing and only watch as Dreamer agreed to the proposal given to him by Hunter.

END FLASHBACK

^*^*^*^*^*^*

I stood there in a mix of shock and rage. Hunter had found this poor young stallion named Dreamer through his trail of anguish that he had left. Hunter had then played his mind games with the stallion, turning him to... dare i say it... The Dark Side... only literally.

It took all my restraint not to leap at Hunter and tear him apart, defiling his dead body in any way. Of course, Hunter would come back, just like me, but it would feel so good. I shook the hating thoughts away, This is no time for that. I thought severely. If I went berserk here...

Dreamer was staring in an emotionless way at Mike, "Mike... you left me for yourself." he deadpanned.

Mike looked as if someone had just used those words to kill him. I felt an odd brotherly flare to stand up for him.

“You’re the one who tackled the dragon! It's your own fault!” I called up at the odd pony. Hunter had obviously done something to him to turn him into this... thing that was standing in front of them.

“Because I have standards,” Dreamer replied, as if expecting my answer. “Unlike our singing friend here. I don’t let ponies just go and die so I can save myself.”

Oh, and Hunter has standards now too, huh? “You’re hanging around with him and you say you have standards?!” I retorted, gesturing to my long lived enemy. “I’m willing to bet anything Hunter is the problem in this world! He’s the one ruining lives!”

Hunter surprised me with what he said next. “Only half-correct, my dear, dear friend,” Hunter chuckled, the wickedness in his voice poisoning the air. “I am part of the problem, yes. But only because I acquainted myself with the real problem. The problem has been around longer than a few weeks. The problem has been around for nine years at least and it wasn’t until recently when it became too big of an issue for you fools to ignore.” Hunter looked at Dreamer. “Am I correct, problem?”

I saw the realization dawn in Mike's eyes, and I felt as if someone had smacked me upside the head with a brick.

"How..." Mike was beginning to cry, losing focus for what was really our problem. I could see the confusion and tension in him building.

“Mobius, friend, do you remember your criteria for villains? Dark past, stronger than they look, causing trouble wherever they go?” Hunter turned back to me, the manic glint back in his eyes.

“What about it?” I snapped. I was losing patience with this cur.

“Dreamer fits it all. His backstory is much like Mike’s, but without a happy ending. He has more power than you’d imagine. And if you connect the dots, you’ll see that everything bad that happened to Mike involved Dreamer somehow.”

“What?!” Mike pain dissolved and was replaced by anger. “How does that work?! Dreamer wasn’t involved with any of the bad stuff that happened to me!”

“It was Dreamer you sang with when you got your cutie mark that led to you getting kicked out,” Hunter interrupted before the singer could continue. His face was alight with the thoughts of the torture he was putting Mike through. “It was Dreamer you lived on the streets with for nine years. It was Dreamer who told you about the Ursas that would later invade Ponyville. It was Dreamer who suggested the move to Ponyville, which ended in his near-death experience and your loneliness.” Mike was flinching like when I said those memories to him, but this time he reacted differently.

Mike face bean to contort again with rage. I saw all his muscles tensing, then releasing. When I saw them bunch up one last time, I was to late to yell that he couldn't do it.

Mike charged straight at Hunter, the idiot.

Hunter just lazily flew upwards, then Mike changed course. He charged straight at his childhood friend and delivered a kick that sent the other pony flying into the wall.

“You! Are! Not! Dreamer!” Mike cried, his rage and pain contained in every word. “Dreamer was my friend! Dreamer cared about me! Dreamer cared about Equestria! He wouldn’t join up with a monster like Hunter without a reason!”

Go, kid. Give it to 'im. I thought fervently.\

“Did you not hear the reason I spoke of?” Dreamer replied, standing. Presumably because of whatever Hunter had been doing to train him, he looked unscathed. There was some damage, somewhere. I saw the faintest flicker of Dreamer's true self appear in the back of Dreamer's diseased mind. Dreamer was already continuing. “You abandoned me. I’m getting my revenge.”

No one should have to hear that from someone they had spent nine years of their life with. My heart wrenched at the look in Mike's eye.

Then we all heard the quite familiar voices of six mares.

"Mike!"

"Mobius!"

Hunter and Dreamer turned to the stairwell, where six familiar shadows were getting ever closer.

“The Elements of Harmony!” Hunter lost his gentlemanly and teasing air, instead sounding panicked. “We must retreat!” With a beat of his wings, Dreamer vanished into a ball of light that seemed to vanish into Hunter's eyes. The black pegasus flew out the window, flying away and disappearing like the snake he was.

“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked the instant she stepped into the room. The other five ponies followed quickly behind and surveyed the situation. “What happened?”

Mike and I looked at each other. We glanced at the spot where Hunter and Dreamer stood before, then at the window Hunter escaped through. A silent understanding had been made between us. We turned to the others and said simultaneously.

“We’ll explain later.”
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Later was, of course, the operative word. One day had passed since the incident, and none of us had spoken of it in the least.

We had arrived back in Ponyville shortly after night had fallen... again. We had all parted ways to get some well-needed sleep and I had opted to just find a tree. Mike had laughed, saying to himself, "Where have I heard that before?"

Then he'd made sort of an awkward offer. He'd asked if I'd like to stay at his place for the night- er, well, day. I had agreed, and we had gone to his quaint little house. Once inside. I began blurting out all the things that I hadn't said earlier, about the Darks and how I was great enemies with Hunter and how I was- you get the point, right?

Mike held up a hoof halfway through the explanation. "Whoa, whoah!" he said. "Slow down, there!" The words stopped pouring out immediately like he had turned off the faucet that was my mouth. I looked at him sheepishly and continued at a slower pace.

"Sorry." I said, settling down on the couch. "As I was saying..." I went on to explain how though there were Solars and Lunars, who were the bad guys? That role was taken up by the Darks, always plotting ways to cause misery, and Hunter being their ever-so-willing vessel to do so.

When I finished, Mike just sat there, a puzzled expression on his face. Then he looked at me and said. "Wait... so Hunter is basically like you?"

I nodded. "Yup. Can't die, lives forever, and is about twice as evil as your worst nightmare. Throw in a certain story called 'Cupcakes' and you've got his sadism in a box. If you multiply it by five."

Mike started, "Wait... you can't die!?... And, wait... Cupcakes?" He shuddered, and I raised an imaginary eyebrow. Did he know what I was talking about?

I stared at him, "I never told you I couldn't die? That's an important piece of info there. And Cupcakes?... Yes."

"Oh... and nope. You didn't say a word about never dying." Mike was giving me an odd look.

"Okay, don't go staring at me like all the ponies did last time!" I snapped. That was just the look everyone had given me when they had found out about my powers. So much for originality.

Mike and I ended up talking into the morning. As I glanced up at the clock, I noticed the time: 10:07.

"Well, we've spent a while talking." I said. Mike glanced up at the clock, too, and grinned. "That's okay, I'm used to no sleep."

I grinned, "Awesome. So am I. Hey, want to go get some muffins?" Ditzy had given me her addiction... and it was one I loved.

Mike shrugged. "Sure, fine with me." We walked to the door and opened it to the others looking at us. Twilight had her hoof raised as if about to knock,

"Oh, hey!" Twilight said. "We were just about to knock. Can we come in?" Hey, I was right! Mike and I nodded, still at the same time.

They all filed into the room and found some place to get comfortable. Suddenly the room got very stuffy and quiet. Two things I didn't like. Then something caught my attention. Mike was sitting next to Fluttershy. In the awkward silence, I strained my ears to get a better ear on what they were saying.

"I'm glad you're okay." Fluttershy said. Okay... more. Get... mushy. My mind then turned turned that last thought into something very wrong. Sometimes I hate my brain.

Mike hesitated in answering. "...Yeah. Why'd you all come after us anyway?" he spoke the second part to all of the others. I immediately switched my ears back to the whole room.

"Mobius told us to!" Rainbow said.

“After you ran off, Mobius admitted that he didn’t really even believe you were the problem,” Twilight elaborated for Mike. “He flew off to look for you, and Rainbow joined him. Apparently he spotted something in the distance and told her to go get the rest of us and meet him at the castle ruins”

“Good thing you did, too,” I nodded. Had they not come when they did, I have to admit Mike would probably be dead. “So, anything else? I highly doubt you came all the way here only to let Mike ask a question.”

The girls looked to Fluttershy, who squeaked with nervousness and scooted away from Mike. I grinned. I liked where this was going.

“Didn’t you have something you wanted to say, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, looking slightly confused. Surely she knew what was going on.

“Um…no…never mind,” the pegasus said in a tiny voice. I smirked and Mike glared. I wiped the smirk off, but I was laughing my ass off inside.

“Didn’t get much sleep?” Applejack chuckled at us.

"None at all." I corrected her, grinning. "We spent the whole night talking."

“You really need some sleep,” Twilight shook her head at me as she stood up, turning Mike, who looked indignant. “Mike, don’t bother using your sleep cycle as an excuse. You’re going to stay here and sleep. You had a rough day yesterday and need your rest.“

“Yes, mother,” I sighed, then saw the look on Mike's face. "Sorry."

“We’ll just be going then, if Fluttershy doesn’t want to say anything,” Twilight decided. Fluttershy shook her head and the mares went to the door. “See you two later.”

After they were gone, Mike and I looked at each other. A plot formed in my head. “Last one to the bed has to sleep on the couch!” With that I sped off, hearing Mike cuss more than once s he stumbled after me. He laughed though when I ran straight into the bathroom, and I muttered a curse under my breath as I heard the real bedroom door slam.

Going back down the stairs, I thought about the past three days. Things were cool now, except for the whole threat of Hunter and... Dreamer. I felt bad for Mike. He would have to fight his best friend. Thinking about Mike led me to a thought. The others had said Mike could sing. I grinned evilly. We'll just see how good tomorrow, then.

I drifted off under the watching eyes of the Sun Goddess.

Comments

[Nathan Traveler]

I just realized that there's a quote you could use later: "Time flies like the wind. Fruit flies like a banana." ~ Groucho Marx.

[Mobius of the Moon]

122598
GLORIOUS! I'll find a way to use it somehow.

[Aquilo]

:3 this story... megusta :3

[Ice]

......Evil cliffhanger? that's a new one.

[Mobius of the Moon]

123997
Thank you.