My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Heart of Friendship

by ShadowDurza

Chapter 8: The Faceless Warrior

“North, Gilded Trail, Percival. North, Gilded Trail, Percival. North, Gilded Trail, Percival.” Applejack galloped northward in the streets of the market district, while passing humans could only leap out of the way or stare at the strange mumbling quadruped.

As Applejack repeated her helpful mantra, her eyes wandered to and fro, observing the humans as they went about their business. She was a little disappointed, but not surprised, to see that most of them were acting like nothing was wrong despite the several disasters that had befallen their district. From what she’d seen during her previous times in big cities, most folk tend to prefer to only pay attention to what’s directly in front of them with no time for others. But they seemed disturbingly aloof despite the sheer scale of the last one. “Or maybe they’re just used to stuff like that.”

Applejack focused on what was directly in front of her, repeating the instructions. Then she abruptly stopped and backtracked after seeing something utterly startling. Sitting at a cafe table, awkwardly fumbling with some silverware, Applejack spotted… Applejack. When she looked more closely at her doppleganger, it ended up making eye contact. Applejack cantered up to the table and cleared her throat. “I take it you’re not a changeling, aren’t you?

The doppelganger tapped their chin with their hoof and rolled their eyes back in concentration. “Changeling, changeling, that’s them pony-like bugs that can change form and eat love, but some of your friends showed ‘em a better way and they’re good now, right?”

Applejack blinked and pulled her head back in amazement. “Okay, that’s mighty amazing of you! Percival, I take it?”

The figure hops off her seat onto her hooves. “You take it right, sugarcube. And holey worm-eaten apples, is it weird to walk on all-fours!”

“Well, maybe you’d find it easier if you turned back to your normal self?”

Percival awkwardly breaks eye contact and gestures with their hoof. “Well, I would, but sadly I don’t really have a normal self…”

Applejack turns her head to focus an eye on them. “Pardon?”

“It’s rare, but not unheard of. In fact, a handful are sure to be born every generation. Y’see… Sometimes… a human’s magic has more influence over them than they have over it. There’s a fancy name for it… Something, Something, Disorder… But most folks have taken to calling it Embodyment. For me, my transformation element makes me turn into anyone that fulfills any one of a set of conditions, and as you saw before, it’s not just on the surface. Honestly, even I haven’t got it all figured out…”

An awkward silence broke out between them while Percival held their head low. Applejack trotted up to them and placed her hoof on her shoulder. “Look, hun, I admit I can’t begin to understand what you go through every day or the kind of life you’ve lived, but Madam von Wrinkle recommended you by name and-”

Suddenly, Percivil’s head jolted up as their eyes grew wide. “Madam von Wrinkle! The mall! What are we wasting time here for?”

Applejack’s face mirrored her Percival’s as realization hit her like a mule’s kick. “Land’s sakes! This was all so weird, I plum forgot! Let’s go!” The twin ponies took off, galloping southward.

Several minutes passed as they backtracked along Applejack’s path. Percival adjusted their pace to gallop besides Applejack. “I just want you to know, when I turn into someone, I don’t suddenly learn everything about them, just the stuff on the surface, the information, memories, and personality quirks they don’t mind anyone else knowing.”

Applejack flipped her mane in the wind. “I don’t mind nothing, I ain’t got nothing to hide.”

Percival smiled at her. “Well, that’s what I’m getting at! You’re a very open book that I can’t help but read! I remember the satisfaction of a harvest well-done like I bucked all the trees myself! I can remember the satisfaction of helping my neighbors on chores big and small! And I feel homesick for Sweet Apple Acres even though I’ve never been there! Honestly, I’ve never met anyone that embraced what’s real like you. Honestly, it’s just so liberating to finally be someone with so little to hide. Honestly… I feel like I’m saying the word ‘Honestly’ way too much!”

On that note, Applejack giggled and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s like that. But only because it matters to me so much!”

Percival repeated her action. “I’m so sorry. I always end up weirding people out! Usually, they don’t appreciate having someone else lay all their thoughts and feelings bare!”

Applejack turned their head to them. “You’re just being honest about your feelings, that’s one of the most important ways of being honest! Besides, you’re not telling me anything I or anypony else doesn’t already know. I appreciate hearing exactly what you think and feel when you think and feel it!”

Percival smiled at her and rolled her eyes. “Hey, all I do is just feel and think the same things you do!”

Applejack shook her head. “I don’t think so. In fact, the more I talk to you, the more I feel like I’m starting to know the real you!”

Percival cocked their head to the side. “What do you mean? Aren’t I saying the things you’d normally say?”

“If you didn’t have your own identity, you wouldn’t care so much about who you do and don’t turn into, or how much turning into them would bother them! You’re your own person underneath all that, it just lets you have a lot of perspective, which not a lot of creatures are lucky enough to have!” Percival smiled at her as a few tears streaked down their cheeks. Applejack frowned in concern over that. “Was it something I said?”

“No, it’s just that a long time ago, one of my best friends said almost the exact same thing! It’s just been so long, I’d nearly forgotten.”

Applejack smiled, but turned her head back forward as their destination came into view. “There’s the hole in the shroud! Let’s hurry”

Percival’s eyes narrowed as they lowered their head. “Right.”

They abruptly paused for a moment to let the sliding glass doors open and dashed through the hole into the strange environment within the mall. Applejack swung her head back and forth, clearly distressed. Percival got closer with a look of concern. “I know what you mean. It’s not like how you left it.”

The mall before was chaotic, but now it looked like an earthquake hit the place. Nearly all of the windows were broken with the ruined remains of the merchandise strewn about. Several of the walls were knocked down and potholes had opened up in the floor. And most of the lights went out, covering the mall in a weirdly obscuring whiteness. The pony and the transformed human looked at each other and nodded before turning and racing deeper into the mall.

Eventually, they came to stop and peered down at the main courtyard with looks of great worry. In the center, most of the younger or older mall goers were huddled together under a dome of energy that looked like a mixture of Twilight’s solid barrier with Rarity’s crystal segments and Pohl’s energy hexagons evenly distributed throughout with Micheal in the exact center holding his arms aloft. Each of the ponies plus Maxine and Pohl had rallied many of the more able-bodied and now armed humans, but they were barely holding their ground against their enemies.

The dozen monsters resembled crabs, but their shells were round and edged like a tortoise's, their claws were thinner and more open, and they each only had four very broad legs. The smallest among them were the size of cows, and the largest was the size of an elephant. Applejack whistled at the sight of it all. “Golly, those things look tough!”

Percival’s eyes narrowed. “I know these monsters… They’re not just tough, they’re smart too. Look!”

Every time Rainbow Dash and Twilight tried to divebomb one of the larger monsters, a smaller one would leap onto its back and make a jump at them, forcing her to break off her attack. Madam Maxine, wielding two swords, one shorter than the other, appeared to move with an unusual vanishing speed, but the monsters would surround her and box her in, forcing Fluttershy to airlift her out of harm’s way. Pohl, Rarity, and Pinkie pie were trying to hold the line in front of the barrier by launching onslaughts of party cannons, magic beams, and hexagonal prisms of energy, but the monsters were locked together supporting one another to withstand the beating, slowly but surely advancing on the civilians.

Applejack shook her head at the sight of it all. “How are we supposed to fight something like that?”

Percival backed away from the edge. “Only one way: Hit them with something completely unexpected!” Applejack looked at them with curiosity as Percival tightly shut their eyes, lowered their head, and tensed their whole body. “My element is mine, I am not my element... My element is mine, I am not my element. My element is mine, I am not my element!” Applejack’s eyes widened and her head raised as Percival underwent a startling transformation. (If their colors were normal) Their skin turned inky black and gained a texture similar to leather, their limbs and body morphed as their front hooves left the ground and divided into fingers, and their face began to harden into a white, featureless shell with two vertical slits. Applejack gazed in amazement at what she figured to be the closest thing Percival could get to their own true self. Then they straightened their back and shouted with a strange voice that sounded like countless voices layered on top of one-another. “I am Percival Sonoma! And I will protect those who cannot protect themselves!”

Suddenly, six long tapered knife-like objects with curving bladed crescents on the other end whose inward-curling edges faced outward appeared in a flash of (Normally) electric yellow light and levitated around them. They soon jumped over the side of the floor to Applejack’s astonishment, but the knives flew one after the other under their feet to support them. Applejack raced down the non-functioning escalator as she heard Percival shout with an amplified volume: “LOOK OUT BELOW!” The ponies and combatants paused their efforts and looked up with shock as they spotted a figure suddenly grow twenty times its size overhead. They rushed over to the other side of the courtyard as Percival fell, scattering the monsters and breaking their formations as he slammed down.

Suddenly, Percival shrunk back down to size as their weapons zoomed to circle around them. Then, they extended their arms as their weapons grew ten times their size and were suddenly coated by fire, ice, and electricity in pairs. They thrust his arms outward and the spike-like blades flew out striking against each monster and preventing them from moving back together in formation with the rapid swinging of their arms.

Applejack quickly raced up to Percival. “If you can keep them confused, I can herd them all together in one place! Can you do something with that?”

Percival’s mask-like face turned towards Applejack. “Actually, that’s exactly what I needed! Go for it!”

Applejack raced off to the outer monsters and started slamming into them with her shoulder and shouting at them, forcing them closer together. “HYA! HYA! GET ALONG THERE LITTLE CRABBIES! GET ALONG!”

Soon, the monsters were all huddled together in one spot, forced in place by Applejack’s jeers and penned in by Percival’s weapons circling around them. Then, Percival stepped up to them, bent down, and slammed his hands into the floor. From the points of impact, a (White in the anomaly) black tar spread out towards the monsters. The ground beneath the creatures turned completely black and they all started sinking into it. Soon, all the monsters were hopelessly entrapped in the dark and sticky pit.

Applejack circled back to Percival, who’s knives returned to his sides. “Yee-haw! Job well done, Perce’!” Applejack held up her hoof. Recognizing the gesture, Percival held his hand low and Applejack smacked it.

Meanwhile, Micheal lowered his composite barrier and the crowd met up with the combatants and started celebrating, hugging, and crying tears of joy. The ponies, Maxine, and Pohl soon raced up to the pair. After spotting Percival, Maxine paused and placed her hand to her chin. “So, they’re up to six focuses now. Interesting number considering…”

Meanwhile, the ponies rallied around Applejack. Fluttershy got closer and made a big grin. “That was amazing, Applejack…! I couldn’t have done it better myself…! Especially since they kept sneaking up behind me when I tried to do my stare on one of them…”

Twilight soon trotted forward. “It’s good that we took care of this problem, but we’re not out of the woods yet!”

Maxine stepped forward and held out a hand, her (normally) vivid crimson swords disappearing in two flashes of the same light. “She’s right, you know. As long as we’re trapped in this veil, we’re at the mercy of a mad human that clearly cares nothing for our wellbeing until we meet their demands.” She stood in front of Percival, hands pressed together. “Since you came here with Applejack, I assume you know why I wanted you specifically, my dear.”

Percival hesitated for a moment before nodding, and suddenly their weapons disappeared as they morphed into the likeness of Maxine. Applejack raised her eyebrow and turned toward them. “I thought you said that you couldn’t find out what other folks wanted to keep hidden.”

Percival sighed and held their head low. “Normally, I can’t. But if I can directly touch their heads, I can bypass that limit. I don’t enjoy it, though.” They look upon the civilians forlornly. “But sometimes, we have to do things we don’t want to for the greater good.” On that thought, Pohl, peering out from a ways behind Maxine, holds his head low and looks away.

Maxine turned to face the crowd and cleared her throat to get their attention. “We might have won the battle, but we’re not out of danger yet. We might not like it, but if we want to make it home tonight, we’re going to have to comply with the demands of the one that holds us in bondage. There’s no reason to suspect that they believe that they may have been wronged for a rational reason, so odds are, the one among us may have done it without realizing. Thankfully, we have someone that can peer into each of our minds from an external but sympathetic perspective. I myself will be the first to volunteer.” She turned towards Percival and nodded. Percival hesitated for a moment, but soon raised their arm and placed it upon the crown of their twin’s head. They made a sharp intake of breath, but she continued to make direct eye contact with them.

Percival turned towards the crowd. “It’s not her.” Maxine walked next to them and placed her hand on their shoulder.

“I suggest we form a line. This could take a while.” However, Pohl raced towards Percival and eagerly gestured for them to place their hand on his head. Percival appeared shocked at his sudden enthusiasm, but stepped forward and quickly shifted into Pohl’s visage, then placed their hand utop their new twin’s head.

Percival rapidly flinched and shook their head. “I am… Percival… Do you really feel… that you… abandoned her…?”

Suddenly, thunder rang throughout the mall, making everyone flinch. The strange light receded from the surroundings, returning everything to its proper hues (Especially to Rarity’s relief). It all came to swirl around and disappear at a figure that was not there before, but seemed to have been standing close the whole time. It appeared to be a hunched over old man with a long walking stick and a gray hood. They hobbled right over to the real Pohl and aggressively shook their oversized cane. “Thought you could get away with it did you? Thought you could promise your life to my only daughter and abandon her when the going got tough? THOUGHT YOU COULD JUST-”

The old man suddenly came down with a severe hacking spell and dropped his walking stick as he doubled over. Maxine, Micheal, Percival, and the Ponies raced over to help him stay on his feet. However, they are unnerved as his wheezing erupted into a sinister laughter. “You know, I was hoping that you’d stay the coward I know you are just to keep my spell going. I was prepared to kill everyone in this whole stinking mall to know without any reasonable doubt that I’d gotten to you. That one great big spell was all I had, and now I have nothing but the satisfaction of forcing a confession out of the dirtbag that seduced and abandoned my daughter.”

Everyone was utterly speechless at these words of unparalleled malice that came from such a small and frail figure. The Ponies had faced hatred on this level before, hatred willing to destroy the world, but it still shook them to their cores. Suddenly, tears started streaking down the old man’s face. “She was an ether-tribesmen through and through: Despite her weak heart, she was independent enough to live well on her own, but she drew in so many promising men vying for her hand. Kept secrets too, the only way she’d disappear to get hitched is if she knew she chose a spouse I’d never approve of.”

Then the old man shook off the unwanted aid of the surrounding people. Then, he aggressively hobbled right over to Pohl, who shrunk back under the scrutiny of his accusing finger. “Strangely, I used to be proud of the fact that I knew next to nothing about my own daughter and was always finding new surprises, but now it causes me nothing but pain wondering why my wonderful daughter would choose an addled, malformed, idiotic, shifty-”

He was suddenly silenced by Madam Maxine manifesting and pointing one of her bright red swords at his face, her expression turned from pity to anger. “I’d suggest you save your words for the Central Forces and the court.”

The old man sneered at her and spat, but held his tongue. However, Percival marched right in front of him and turned into his likeness. “Nasya was the one that annulled their marriage, not Pohl!”

This information caused the old man to suddenly go rigid and drop his walking stick. “WHAT?”

“She chose Pohl because she saw in him what she respected you the most for in its deepest form: In spite of everything, even the hand life itself dealt him, he just kept moving forward no matter what!”

This stuck the old man utterly speechless, his glassy cataract-ridden eyes wide with shock. His calmer twin continued. “For as long as she was able to understand, she hated herself, and thought you must hate her too. Because for her to be born, her mother, your wife, had to die. But then you told her that the ability to keep moving forward required the greatest strength and love of them all. And she wanted Pohl to keep moving forward even if it had to be without her, so when her chronic condition took a turn for the worse, she forced Pohl into consenting to annulling their marriage.”

The old man started shaking, and this time, Fluttershy was the only one that rushed to keep him propped up. “H-H-How do you know all of this?”

Percival pointed at Pohl, whose face was now buried in his hands. “I know because she told him, and he knew her well enough to know that seeing what you’ve become would make her heart split open all over again!”

The old man just stood there for a moment, looking down with an expression of extreme shame. Fluttershy bent down to grab his walking stick in her jaws and hand it to him. Suddenly, a dozen armed humans in polymer armor moved in to surround the group. The old man stepped forward and raised his hands. As the Central Forces apprehended the perpetrator, Percival got a look of shame of his own. Applejack noticed and cantered over to them. “The truth is hard to hear. But it’s even harder to tell, especially when it’s needed the most. But the fact that you could do it regardless shows that you truly care. Just give them a while and they’ll come to accept it.”

Percival shifted back into Applejack's likeness and smiled at her. “That means a lot, especially coming from you.” They brightened up at the sight of the ponies approaching the pair of them. “Tell you what, let’s all have a pot of tea at the Gilded Trail, on me!” They giggled at the sight of the ponies’ looks of disgust. “Don’t worry! They’re the only place that cultivates a patch of real tea right from the surface! It’s why they’re the only place that’s been in business since we all got down here! And from what I can tell in this body, it’s as good as the stuff in your world!”

The ponies looked greatly relieved and started trotting along.

Rarity held her head high. “A cup of tea sounds absolutely lovely!”

Pinkie started hopping along the way. “It’s been way too long since my last tea party!”

Fluttershy gave a gentle smile. “After what we’ve been through, tea sounds nice… right Twilight…?” After a moment without an answer she turned towards her friend. “Twilight…?”

Twilight looked lost in thought for a moment, then shook her head and looked at her friends leaving. “Tea! Sounds great! Sounds great…” Twilight turned towards Madam von Wrinkle, who along with Micheal, were offering their sympathies to a depressed-looking Pohl. When she saw Twilight, she just smiled and made a dismissive hand gesture. Twilight, with a look of apprehension, turned towards her friends and trotted along, following Applejack’s twin.