Ghirahim in Equestria

by Spokes

Aggressive Reconnaissance

*Set after chapter 6 of The Adventures of Vaati, universe tie in used with permission*

"There is simply nothing good to read in this infernal tree!" Vaati raged aloud.
He lobbed a rather Equine edition of 'Everybody Poops' into the growing pile by the kitchen door. Spike just entering the room with refreshments, flinched as the book glanced off the door frame.

"Whoa! Watch it Vaati! Don't break the spines!" Spike fumed. He caught a glance of the pile of the discarded reading material. "What....?...! Do you really have to do that every time you come here...?!" Spike sighed with resigned frustration, setting the tray of tea down on the desk.
"I just cleaned them up as well.."

He was promptly interrupted by a second book hitting in square between the eyes by a thoroughly board and non-caring wind mage.

"Oof!" Was all he could manage before he and the book fell back into the pile.

"Who honestly even puts the drivel in the adult non-fiction section!" Vaati continued to think aloud to no one in particular, his hands still running along the titles of books on another shelf.

Spike unearthed himself from the pile, shovelling some vampony romantic fiction from his head. He rubbed the rapidly forming bruise and gritted his teeth.
"Where you even listening!?" Spike glared at the mage.

Vaati stood up straight, still facing the shelf.
"Nope, nothing" He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with a hand. "Where is that blasted eye-scout anyway?" He finished annoyed while glancing out the window, his hand still near his face and arms half crossed.

"Vaati!" Spike shouted.

"Mmmm?" Vaati murmured nonchalantly, half turning to the little dragon up to his waist in literature.

Spike briefly faced palmed but then sighed deeply again.

It was always the same whenever Vaati visited, he had a whole flying fortress but absolutely nothing to do, at least worthwhile in the eyes of Ponyville's populace. Whenever he came to visit (an occurrence that was increasing, much to Spike's chagrin)he would set places he would visit. The first was always the library and he always made a mess. Always. He would do the same act in seemingly reviewing and re-reviewing the libraries archive in hopes of interesting material he had not read or didn't have. The result was nearly always the same: the same books were thrown in a pile, none of the new items they had in interested him and the mess was always cleaned up by the maid i.e. Spike.

Spike shook the last hardback from his foot and de-aproned himself before grabbing the first two editions he glanced at the covers and plodded over to their correct shelves.

He had tried to talk to Twilight about it, but she had politely dismissed it in her own way, mentioning 'tolerance', 'that's just how he is' and 'he isn't here much'. Tch, easy for her to say, she was either studying or out, never dealing with the mess.

"Well, fruitless as usual." Concluded the wind mage.

Spike perked up slightly, turning to him with a slight smile.

"You really need to diversify your reading material. I can't imagine the dissatisfaction your other customers must feel..." He commented, making to leave. "Perhaps some more...oh, tea? Very nice of you Spike." He added noticing the tray of snacks. He did a small ushering gesture with his hand. A small purple and controlled draft wrapped itself around the nearest cup. "I hope you remember I don't take milk..." He said as the cup briefly made its way over to him in mid-air.

Spike registering he had seen (and was helping himself to) the snacks he had made for himself and twilight, turned from stacking another couple of books, more panicked than before.

"No, Vaati there not for yo..!" He said hurried, dropping the books and running to the tea thief before he drank Twilights share.

He never finished his sentence as he neglected to step over the fallen equine edition of 'Everybody Poops'. Spike attempted to rebalance himself in vain and crashed headfirst into the central table flipping it over. Getting up while clutching his head, Vaati watched the now air-borne contents of the tray find their way back to earth onto the little dragon. Spike was disorientated as the scalding liquid brought an unpleasant warm sensation to his heat-resistant scales that surprised him again. He stumbled backwards, falling once again into the Vaati's 'definite-no' pile and yelped as the books consumed him.

The floating cup made it the last of the way to Vaati's hand where he calmly pluck it form the air and, with the saucer in his other hand, brought it to his lips. He calmly took a few sips with his little finger outstretched. He spluttered slightly and set the cup back down again more briskly, a grimace on his face just as a beaten and already exhausted Spike poked his head up from the pile.

"Egh! Milky. Oh, so horribly milky." Commented Vaati.

Spike glanced at him with a tired gaze.

"Ruined." Vaati glanced around. "Much like the library now....." He finished quietly.

He looked to Spike again and smiled mischievously. "You are quite the klutz sometimes Spike."

Spike gave a defeated and thoroughly annoyed sigh. Vaati set the cup and saucer down on the rim of the table that was now on its side, protruding into the air.

"Well, you seem to have your hands, or claws, full. I best be getting off now anyway." He glanced out the window again. "That stupid scout is probably stuck on a weathervane again..." He grumbled.

He turned back to Spike with a friendly smile. "Goodbye then." He made his way quickly to the door and left without further comment or chance to be called back.

Spike looked from the closed door where the perpetrator escaped from, to the cracked, broken table, to the drinks and biscuits framing the mess and staining some novellas, and then to pile he was situated in. He let out a very long groan and let himself fall back into the pile again, pulling a dictionary to cover the hole.

***

Eye-scout #7456 knew it was in trouble. The devilish pony was not only holding it firmly so that it was completely at his mercy but it was stopping it from back to Master Vaati. That was the worst possible circumstance. #7456 did it's equivalent of sweating just thinking about it. It would just half to tell Master Vaati he was stuck again. The consequences of him finding here would half to do. It would be better than him finding him if he hadn't come back at all.
He firmly closed his eye and chimed psychically again, calling to his master and shivering in the pony's magic as he did do.

"You can't call him. Your in my own little dead zone. No reception, magic or psychic, here I'm afraid." The devilish pony said calmly, eyeing it with his own unblinking, visible eye.

#7456 stopped chiming, knowing this to be true. It's cries felt so hollow, like he was simply screaming in his own mind or whatever dark magic simulated a it's mind.

"Anyway, your here my little friend to serve a very special purpose. I'm going to use you as a....envoy of sorts." The pony calmly explained.

#7456 was quite confused at this point. This pony was very different to the ones it had seen or Master Vaati had knowledge about. For one thing, it wasn't infuriatingly nice. The pangs of pain from his binding magic that tightened on his every syllable, had showed that much.

"Do you know what that means, shadow beast?" He continued. He knew it was a shadow beast. Just what was this pony? "It means" He began again. "Your going to be a little back door into your master's head." He finished with a slight flourish.

#7456 began to panic. It writhed and chimed harder than it ever had before in it's brief existence. It never wanted to fail Master Vaati of course, but it was even worse to be used against him. It knew of it connection to Master Vaati's mind and knew what could happen if that was exploited.

The magic tightened, the once yellow binds increasing in size and turning a blood red colour. #7456's movement was all but stopped and the devilish pony smiled almost whimsically at it's efforts.

"Loyal to oblivion. How pathetically noble." He spat, disgust flashed on his face.

"Hold still." He demanded, creping his hoof closer to #7456's unblinking and emotionless eye.

The hoof drew closer but began to fragment at the end. Parts od the skin seemed to go rigid and flake off like pieces of glass, falling away as little 2D diamonds as if flicked through a vacuum, dissipating into the air. The hoof began to shed more as it came closer, making out a different form underneath. The hoof gradually fell away to form a obsidian hand, fingers outstretched.

He was a demon! Of course, the knowledge, the magic the execution! #7456 tried to chime this revelation one final time, that there was a demon with powerful magic in Equestria but it was to no-avail.

"Pathetic construction." The demon mused, with the slight smile again.

He suddenly snarled and let out a small furious yell as he plunged his first fingers into #7456 eye. The pain was on a whole level #7456 thought it wasn't even built to feel. It was the last thing it felt before Ghirahim rushed into his body with his conscious.

Originally being a construct himself before his conversion to a demon, Ghirahim knew not only what and how a simple shadow beast was built but knew, more importantly, what it was like to be one. This made the process of him seizing the scouts mind and masking himself as it incredibly easy.

He followed the line back to his master. The trail was also trivial to follow as it was the only one like it. No interference, just a straight line to the controller. Ghirahim travelled the line and waited at the threshold at the other end. There was no tells or defences in place on this root (there was no real need to have them) so Ghirahim could prepare for a full breech.

He felt the controller in the town along with the other virgin minds of the other technicolor abominations. He was close, unaware and completely unprepared. This was going to be easy.

Ghirahim pushed. He felt another wave of his energy stream from his body down the line to his disguised and waiting mind at the border to the controllers. The energy clashed with his consciousness and he rode it and shaped it as it hit the barrier.

***

Vaati was tired of the monotony this town seemed to hold. With his fortress back he thought he would be able to be at peace again. But instead he found its empty halls and dim inhabitants incredibly grating and found himself wanting to leave its desolate depths more and more. Thus he made more frequent trips to the town below in hope of finding something else to do. However on these trips nothing amused him, he caused trouble by being in the way and the atmosphere of it all made him remember why he longed for his palace back in the first place.

It was a vicious cycle and one he was determined to break. He had really been avoiding the reason why this happened, but he was becoming more used to it as of late. The situation was that he needed and adversary or a problem to solve.

He didn't need any stupid cycle and a degrading purpose, dammit. Had left that behind (albeit unintentionally) and he had never looked back. No, he needed a problem to solve, a situation that he could plan for and solve himself. Whether he got his hand dirty or not didn't really matter, but he has a whole army that was just going to waste up there.

Vaati gazed pensively up at the sky landmark his fortress had become as he walked into the centre of town. It hung over the settlement like a dark thunderhead, unsure of whether it would simply be or destroy the time with electric-y ferocity. He looked around at the denizens that went about their business on another beautiful day.

They always looked happy. That is until they noticed him. It was hostile. No, it was much more sad than that.

It was fear. They feared him. He represented everything they never had any concept about before he arrived. Fighting, war, death. True evil....

Would they ever accept him? Could that even be done? Would they ever even smile at him. Just the average jo on the street, could they even say hello?

Or would he always be revered because of fear? His potential for destruction.

Hated.

Vaati swallowed forcefully, bringing his head up and refocusing his gaze to break himself out of his depressed reverie.

Just where was that stupid scout anyway? He glanced around desperately, any attempt at distraction.

Vaati called again. No reply. That stupid scout was probably.... Wait, something was different. The call, the connection, has felt...heavy.

Before he could ponder this sensation any further, the connection burst forth down his end, the reply he certainly wasn't expecting.

Vaati cried aloud in genuine, surprised pain (something he hadn't done in quite a while). He clutched his head and screwed up his head, gritting his teeth as he fell to his knees.

Voices spun in his head. Each on taking asking a separate question and rapidly multiplying. It was painful, incredibly unwelcome and very disorientating. Other sound and sensations were dulled out as the voices took it in turns to shout and speak.

Vaati's own thought process seemed just as chaotic as them as it tried to make sense of the situation; It was still in the 'What in Din's name?!' stage. The voices multiplied again, now numbering in the thousands, and stopped trying to talk in turn just to scream and chatter together.

Vaati cried out again at the renewed and more intense pain. It was so intense and internalised it derailed any rational solution or assessment he had been creating. He fell on to his side, automatically adopting the fetal position, his hands still on his ears almost crushing his skull.

His screwed up and agonised face couldn't make out the crowd now forming around him, everypony incredibly concerned and scared for the wind mage seeing his pained behaviour.

The voices began shouting their questions completely in unison now, with brief pauses before the next deafening chorus.

Vaati cried out again at each on as they hammered his brain. He lost count of how many times they shouted, feeling as if the voices were all he'd ever known.

After what seemed like forever the voices stopped, gradually dying down but saying different things. What they said were the answer to each others questions but to Vaati, this only registered later as he was just glad for the silence. The voices became more of a whisper but then suddenly cut out jarringly to Vaati as if forcibly retracted.

He eased his hands of his head and relaxed his whole body out of exhaustion, his mind still spinning and ears still ringing.

As his perception of world came back to him, so did and endless chatter. Vaati clenched his ears again with eyes wide open.

The surrounding crowd was in frantic panic, each pony rapidly talking to others about what was going on or how to find a solution while others simply cried or panicked out of fear.

One voice or sound or rabble that Vaati could make out was calmer than the others.

"....al....ight..?......ti!.....Vaati..!.....hear......me?.....ti!"

He knew that voice.

Vaati looked around again, properly taking in what he saw this time now that his mind had pulled itself back together.

A form came together that was in the foreground of his lopsided vision. Yellow body, pink hair and those teal eyes.....Fluttershy. Vaati's mind processed what he saw properly which he considered an improvement, combined with the fact that he could now actually asses his process.

But there was still that chatter and the pain.

"Make them stop..." Vaati croaked from his dry mouth. He couldn't here his own voice properly, that wasn't good. But he was sure he at least formed that particular sentence.

Fluttershy's head whipped back to Vaati's head when she heard him talk.

"What?" She whispered urgently, face worried as ever.

"Make.. them....stop......talking...hurts" Vaati said again, it was harder to stop now. The chatter...it brought so much pain.

Fluttershy's face registered her understanding and she frowned with resolve briefly before getting up from Vaati and ushering the crowd to quieten down.

Vaati saw her dart back and forth around the edges of his vision as she tried to ease calm and urge others to quieten down. Vaati saw her become more frustrated and nervous when her efforts become undone by others in the crowd getting others upset again. She started to shout and panic herself when nopony listened to her.

Her shouts dissolved with the other as Vaati made out her almost shaking a melodramatic Daisy out of her horror stricken stupor as his eyes rolled upwards and his eyelids closed shut again.

He clamped his ears shut tighter.

"Why won't they be quiet?!"

He screwed his face into a pained grimace again.

"What are they so scared of?!"

Vaati gritted his teeth in anger.

"Just....... Be. Quiet...........!"

Vaati's eyes opened again aglow with dark energy accompanied by a slight rumble in the earth.

Fluttershy spun round and was the first to notice this. She simply registered it as something bad. She spontaneously grabbed Daisy and bolted from Vaati.

The ponies had stopped panicking now, noticing the glowing and angry, wind mage they surrounded. They only noticed their fear to late.

Vaati gave a long scream as an influx of purple energy swarmed his form and then went slamming outwards. The ponies caught in the face of it were propelled outwards, slamming into others as the wave of anger dissipated the crowd. The bystanders went flying, each slamming into the ground again, struck by the magic and shock, nopony was left standing.

Fluttershy's pre-emptive manoeuvre had not saved her but had spared Daisy from some of the force. They came to rest a few meters away, Daisy already out cold from shock and the general "horror of it all".

Vaati laid in a tired silence for the longest time. But instinctively picked his form up very gradually. Vaati opened his heavy eyelids through a longing to simply see again.

He did not like what he saw.

The ponies had been scattered all around, the ones closet out cold and probably with bones broken. It looked like a foal had dropped a cluster of dolls from a great height. Vaati didn't want to draw the correlation between this and a hauntingly similar battle field he had once witnessed in Hyrule.

He stood there, panting. The only sound he could hear.

"Vaati...."

Vaati automatically turned to the sound of the soft voice. Fluttershy sat with daisy slumped near her staring solemly at the mage. She was in shock to as she wasn't crying.

"I'm sorry..." Vaati murmured.

World went black again as he fell from consciousness and words the earth. The sight of Fluttershy calling his name and scrambling over to him was the last thing he registered before embracing the solace of the dark

Author's Note:

Whew, finally out. This has been sitting in it's file for too long, exams and my laziness to edit it (it was NOT double spaced before....) postponed it's release. But yeah, got to thank LoreSiravant again for his permission to use Vaati, this story was inspired by his and to introduce the dynamic of one of my favourite villains meeting his very well fleshed-out Vaati. Check out his story, seriously it's awesome. This will be a alternate future kind of thing with Ghirahim being a dick and Vaati stopping him being the main thing. But I've got plan's for this. Oh yes, big plans.

Comments

[Crona]

Finaly a new chapter.
I have been wating for this a long time

[Spokes]

2688784
Sorry man, this has actually been done for quite some time.... but it's summer now in little ol' England and I can finally start making this interesting.....

[LordSiravant]

Excellent as always, good sir.

[Spokes]

2689639
Merci

[Scarlet_Firesong_Wolf]

Wait, wheres the rest??