Chapter 1 - Shredded Spaces and War-torn Wanderers.
It had been a long day for Celestia. Not only had she the usual duty of raising the glorious sun to bring forth the day, a task that would require roughly a hundred lesser spell-weaving ponies by itself, she also had to constantly remain on the lookout for possible dangers approaching Canterlot due to the serious (yet vague) threat that was made against it. While this wasn't exactly a tough task, especially when compared to raising the sun, it was surprisingly taxing on the old Alicorn's mind. Her hundreds of years of experience may have given her patience, yes, but lets see you constantly observe the surroundings of your city through a spyglass for days on end? Even Celestia gets tired.
Like right now. After scanning for signs of danger for a good six hours she had gone to get ready for her niece's wedding, a task that apparently gave an previously unseen mass of Changelings the opportunity to begin assaulting Shining Armor's barrier. Then, after Twilight and the real Princess Cadence exposed the Princess at the altar as the phony she really was, Celestia found herself unable to match the power Chrysalis had gained from "eating" Armor's love for Cadence and trapped within a cocoon! And now that the trouble seemed to have finally passed, Celestia found herself looking forward to two things equally: Her niece's now rescheduled wedding and taking a nice long nap, possibly one that actually spanned the full night rather than just half of one, as was the usual.
Problem was, the trouble wasn't over.
All were just about ready to depart from the grand hall where the prior attempt at wedding Cadence and Armor had been held (minus Pinkie Pie, she was still trying to get a gob of Changling gunk off of her mouth) when Celestial felt a disturbance in the air she hadn't before. It was a stubble feeling, so subtle the other ponies in the room didn't notice it, but it was just so odd a feeling that it made the Alicorn uneasy. Then again, just about anything out of the ordinary would've made her uneasy at this point, after the day she had.
Too bad the multiverse didn't really care what the Alicorn thought when it ripped great big hole in existence as she knew it into in one of grand pillars that supported the room. Thankfully this didn't cause the pillar to fall, but what was on the other side of the rip in well, reality, really put her on edge: Rolling, grey static, like that of an un-tuned television screen. However as ponies had yet to make TVs, this reminded her all too well of something Discord did regularly back when he was in power.
Needless to say her memories of such staticy-holes in time and space weren't all too pleasant...
While Celestia was busy wondering just how something could blow a hole in the fabric of reality while the God of Chaos was still solid stone (she would know, she checked him personally just yesterday after all) everypony else had taken to staring at the gaping hole in all that they knew, probably having been alerted to it by the distinct sound of shredding fabric that had accompanied its appearance. Applejack was the first to speak.
"Wh-what 'n tarnation is that?"
"I-I don't know..." Twilight answered, taking a curious step the unnatural occurrence before them. "But... i-it looks like a portal..."
"A-a portal t' where..?"
As if in answer, the anomaly decided then and there to do what it had barged into their realm to do: Spit something out of subspace that didn't belong there before sealing itself again. What it was... Well, nopony knew. It looked almost like a diamond dog in the way it was laid out (looking bipedal and all) but more streamlined, more smooth in its bodily construction. Also noticeable was the fact that its legs were all wrong, with paws that were too large, legs too thick and knees too far down its thighs, not to mention the fact that its head was far too small. On top of this, it seemed to wear a suit of armor of sorts, battered metal strips could be seen running across its torso, upper arms, legs and even face, with a durable looking fabric in woven in between them. The only exception was where its face should have been: an eerie, blue, flickering light shone out of the gaps there...
Regardless of what it was, it was currently slumped against the pillar across from the one the rip had appeared in, and having been violently jettisoned from the land of static and slammed against the stone that was now behind it, the thing was probably hurting. Not that anypony moved to help it up, what with having been scared out of their wits and all. Even Celestia (whom Fluttershy was now clinging to like a frightened cat) was shaken by the sudden intrusion, and she had been expecting something to come out.
What... What is that? she found herself silently asking, It looks dangerous, whate-
"Nnnng..." The thing interrupted, slowly lifting its head from the limp angle that it had been hanging at. Its voice was unnaturally loud: somehow being able to clearly broadcast its small mumble to the entire room and cause Fluttershy to grip the Princess tighter. Its head wobbled just before reaching a proper upright position above the shoulders, however, so it brought a gauntleted paw to the side of its head in an attempt to combat its dizziness. Several moments later the flickering in its face-lights increased tenfold before suddenly shutting off completely, causing the thing to groan.
"D-damn.. Power cut out.." the inter-dimensional being observed in a now muffled voice. Apparently the lights were somehow tied to its volume, though only Twilight took to guessing why.
Speaking of Twilight, her brother was currently quietly directing members of the royal guard to surround the being at a distance, just in case it decided to get violent. Celestia of course agreed with this course of action, thankful that her Captain wasn't too intrigued/afraid of it to forget his job: protecting everypony else.
Unaware of the combat preparations going on around it, the thing proceeded to grip its head, or rather, its helmet, with both paws and attempted to pull it off, struggling in vain for a few seconds before the armor suddenly let go, causing its head to POP out, which exposed its real face to the onlooking ponies. Whatever the thing was it seemed to be made out of flesh, as that was the color of its face... Albeit pale flesh. It also had a vibrantly red red, curly mane which was damp with what could only be assumed to be sweat. It looked at its protective mask for a few seconds before closing its eyes and taking a deep breath, leaning its head back against the pillar behind it and sighing in what seemed to be relief.
"They made it out..." It breathed, "Thank gods, they actually made it out..." At this it smiled, even venturing a small chuckle. "Mission accomplished, I guess..."
And then it fell silent, opting to peacefully lie slumped up against the pillar behind it obviously enjoying the quiet. Quiet the guardsponies around it were careful not to break as they began to edge their way closer, having decided to press their advantage and neutralize this potential threat before it could, you know, become an actual threat. It was slow going though, as they couldn't really lift their hooves off the ground to actually walk forward due to the fact that even soft hoofsteps were loud when combined with a quiet marble room. And Horseshoes. Those definitely didn't help.
However, despite the quite clopping heading for it, the thing simply continued to lie there, blissfully unaware of the fact that it was about to be set upon by ponies just trying to keep their kingdom safe. It wasn't until they were roughly three feet away that the thing finally did something, and even then the action wasn't directed at anypony in particular.
"Y'know," It began to to mutter, causing the still-advancing guards to freeze, "I don't remember Limbo's ground being so hard... Or there being anything to lean against now that I come to think of it..."
Nodding once to itself, it sat up straight, causing something on or in it to pop and crack in complaint. Probably bones, because it winced. "Or ever being in pain here..." Sighing in annoyance, it ventured to stand, eliciting more sounds of body parts complaining at having to move again as they were forced to regardless. The thing simply forced them to move more in response, limbering up with a few stretches, which of course caused the ponies in the room to tense up, even getting the more timid ones to gasp.
"And I know for certain that nothing lives in Limbo," It stated in a level volume, no longer muttering now that it knew it wasn't alone, "So, it's safe to assume..." It slowly opened its eyes, which immediately flicked down into the eyes of the guard directly in front of it. It smirked a little when the stallion flinched.
"That I'm not dead right now." The thing finished, letting the comment hang in the air as it looked over the armored pony in front of it, whom had no idea what to do. Celestia did, however, having been able to follow some of what the thing, which was evidently male if its voice were anything to go by.
"Guards, stand down," She commanded, drawing surprised looks from everypony in the room, which she quickly quieted by observing: "If he were hostile, somepony would probably be hurt by now." Hesitantly the guards obeyed, either satisfied with her explanation or simply not wishing to be the only only who wasn't, so they backed away a distance before turning and taking their assigned posts about the room. The being watched them go with a mild interest in its eyes.
"Militarized ponies." It observed, chuckling slightly. "Next I'll be waking up someplace spiderkitties and landsharks..."
"Is that so?" Celestia questioned, slowly walking towards the newcomer with a well-practiced benevolent smile on her face. Diplomacy with the Griffon Kingdoms required it, after all.
"Hell if I know, mam." He looked over at her, quickly finding he had to look up a little at her and not minding in the slightest. She doesn't have scythes for arms, after all. Though ponies don't even have arms, sooooo...
"The multiverse is funny like tha-" He stopped as a wave of pain suddenly washed through his mind, stirred up by the thoughts of those blade-armed beasts. "P-probably shouldn't have reminded myself about those..." He muttered after it had passed.
"I could be wrong but sudden headaches aren't a good thing for your kind, right?" Celestia asked, her tone as motherly as ever even as she prepared to erect a barrier about herself: She wasn't about to be defeated by a surprise attack twice today. He shook his head in response before turning around to look at the room. The wedding hall was a sight to behold, even if the ceremony was ruined by a foreign invasion attempt.
"I'll be fine, mam, though I appreciate the concern." He replied, admiring the beauty of the architecture around him, just happy he wasn't being attacked for once.
Speaking of attacks, now that she was closer Celestia could see just how many this being had been through recently. You can tell an awful lot about a warrior based on the state of their armor, and this one's armor was battered to all hell and dulled by gore. And unprofessionally made if the jagged look to the edges and the still visible welds were anything go by. Also of interest, there was this strip of the armor running down where one would guess his spine lay that was glowing a yellow-green with a gap of black at the top where it looked like the glowing should continue.
"Did you make this yourself?" Twilight asked timidly from beside Celestia in an attempt to break the ice, whom had failed to notice her student and her friends draw nearer while her eyes examined the being's armor. When the Alicorn shot her student a questioning look who shot one back that said "If you trust him, then so do I."
"No..." He answered, shoulders falling a bit as some apparently sad memories hit him. Twilight waited a minute before trying again.
"Then who did? It doesn't look like a professional job..." It took the newcomer a while to respond, but when he did everypony present could tell it was hard for him, at least at first.
"His... His name was Diaz. I... I don't know if that was his first name or not, I... I never thought to ask him. Didn't seem important at the time... He found me after I had just escaped again and... Well, he thought I was just another civilian that needed protection from the plague. Not that he minded, but..." He began to chuckle a bit at the memory, "Well, you shoulda seen the look on his face when I saved him from a 'morph. Bastard was happy as all hell that there was someone else who could actually be of some help instead of relying on him. Found me this engineer's RIG and started welding scrap to it so I wouldn't get cut in two by a Slasher, then handed me a this cobbled together Rivet Gun" -He idly tapped the weapon strapped to his leg, which everpony in the room somehow failed to notice- "and told me that everyone's odds of survival had just gone up by another five percent..." He chuckled again, though it was a sad one. "If he only knew how right he was..."
"What happened to him?" Celestia asked after a short period of silence, already knowing the answer in her gut.
"He... He kept a Regenerator busy so I could get the Civies to the shuttle... I... I don't..." He bit his lip, closing his eyes and looking off to the side, unable to continue.
"I see..." It struck Celestia that even though that this being had probably seen horrors she hoped most certainly would never grace Equestria, he still seemed young. At least in the face, anyway. She looked down at Twilight, who seemed to be sympathizing with the warrior before them. Same young eyes...
"He died for a good cause." He stated suddenly, walking away from the ponies before him towards a window. "One that I gave my life for shortly afterward."
"But you're not dead!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, exasperated with just how dark and depressive this guy was being and flying over to look him in the face. "You're here now, aren't you?!"
"Aye, that I am, but I know for a fact that I died. I know what dying feels like, and that was most definitely death."
"How would you know what dying feels like, have you died before or something?!" She pressed her face against his, figuring she had him backed into the metaphorical corner.
"Yes," He deadpanned, mildly amused by her attempt at a pep-talk.
"That's what I thought, so quit being so gloomy and-" She began, fluttering away triumphantly before doing a double-take when she actually processed what he just said, "WHAT?!"
"You heard me," He replied, a small smile on his face as he turned around to face her. "I've died a few times. It's not pleasant. Don't try it." Dash just fluttered there, mouth open in disbelief as Twilight took a step forward.
"But that's not possible! Ponies only die once, then they pass on to Hades and get to be with their friends and family for the rest of eternity! They don't come back and die again!"
"One problem though: I'm not a pony." The obviously not-pony being pointed out, unimpressed by her attempt at denying what he'd experienced firsthand.
"So? Dragons, Griffons and Diamond-Dogs go there too! Surely your kind has some kind of afterlife?"
"We do." He conceded, drawing a triumphant smile from the young unicorn before he continued, "The majority consensus anywhere I go is that there are in fact two afterlives for mankind: Hell for the wicked and Heaven for everyone else. But don't go there, for some reason." His face hardens as he goes further. "No, instead of getting sunshine and lollipops and whatever else they get in Heaven or even the eternal fires of Hell, do you know what I get? I get this grey and darker grey hole known I call Limbo for an afterlife. Do you know what I do in Limbo? I wander. I wander for days and weeks and months and years on end, looking for a way out! Because Limbo is nothing! It's just this little pocket of reality that nobody does anything with, hell I don't know if anyone besides me even knows it exists!" He was yelling at this point, and he stopped himself so he take a few calming breaths before continuing.
"The only saving grace about this place is it's got holes in it, ways out of the gray into the spaces between realms, other places I haven't been before. Entire universes full of things I can't fathom, not until I see them myself anyway. So I wander Limbo for what would be years, if time even exists there, to find one of these staticy-holes so I can try again. Try and live a life worth something to one of the gods so I can get some freaking closure.
"You've got no idea how horrible it feels to throw yourself in front of an explosion to save the girl that you love only to die and not know what happened to her. To not know if she survived and was able to avenge your death, to save the freaking planet from a madman bent on killing everybody who wasn't employed by him. Or to be struck down as you fought your way to a portal that lead to the deity that was filling your world with monsters. Or to be launched into space and not know if the civilians on that shuttle you got them to managed to find someplace safe from the living dead." At the mention of the 'morphs another wave of pain ran through his mind, causing him to grit his teeth in frustration.
"And those are only the ones I can remember anymore! After drifting for so long, after plunging myself into that cold, flickering nothing in between realms so many times I've found that my memories aren't there anymore! I know I had a childhood, everyone does at some point, but I don't remember it! I know I had a life before all this- this pointless wandering, but I don't remember it! I know that during that life that I don't remember I had a family! Siblings, parents, pets, uncles, aunts, grandparents- guess what? They're all gone too!" He was crying now, but he didn't care: This was the first time he'd told anybody about the memory-loss, and godsdamnit, if felt good to get this off his chest. "I am nothing, I have nothing, and all I get out of life is nothing.
"But that doesn't matter, does it?! The gods don't care if I'm nothing because, guess what?! This nothing's awfully good at protecting those that are something! So who cares if I'm broken beyond repair so long as those that actually matter get to fulfill their purpose, right?! Right?!!" Finally done, he dissolved into tears, his mind having decided to give up coherent thought for a while, just as his body decided now would be a good time let his legs give way. So he sat there, letting his emotion run down his face and his pain work itself out of his heart. The last thing he expected from the ponies that he had just yelled at was some help, so it came as a complete surprise when one of them decided to do the one thing that could help him at this point.
Fluttershy hugged him.
You'd think that someone hurting as bad as he, someone who's suffered through years of, well, suffering, would shove her aside, recoil from the physical contact, to do something, anything to get this mare away from him so he could work it out on his own, as he's always done. But he didn't. As Celestia had observed, he was still young at heart. The young want to be held and comforted when they feel broken inside, right?
Damn straight.
So, it should come as no surprise that he sorta glommed onto her and cried his heart out into her shoulder, which she gladly gave. You know how Fluttershy is, right? If so, you also know how her friends are, and that such a sight kinda broke their hearts to varying degrees. Heck, it even broke Shining Armor's heart a little bit, and he was the hardened Captain of the Gaurd who still didn't trust the new guy. The end result was a group hug centered about the sobbing stranger that excluded only the Solar Princess, because she only hugs her family (or Twilight and hers, for whatever the reason) and her guards, because they happen to have excellent discipline. Princess Cadence, much to Armor's surprise, was right up in there with the younger ponies because, well, she's kinda the Goddess of Love. Strong maternal instincts go hand-and-hand (hoof-and-hoof?) with that.
Needless to say this sudden flood of acceptance and sympathy from so many sources overwhelmed his broken-hopeless feeling and quieted the extra-dimensional one down real fast. The ponies backed off shortly afterwards. With a large inhale through the nose, he stood up again, a small smile on his face.
"Thank you," He muttered, looking at the mares before him, which earned a chorus of 'Don't mention it's from them.
"It's not like we'd leave anypony t' cry alone, mister..?" Applejack continued, looking for his name.
"Gallant," he answered, confidence (and voice) now restored.
"Ehh, 'Gallant' what?" The farmer pressed, looking for the rest of his name, which earned a shrug from the biped.
"Just Gallant as far as I remember. Subspace stole the rest a while ago I guess."
"Well thats-"
"That's just dreadful!" Rarity interrupted, over-dramatic as ever. "To not know your own name, how do you manage?"
"But I do know my name: It's Gallant. That's enough for me." Gallant replied, not seeing the big deal. "Its not like I've forgotten who I am, I've just always been called Gallant. Not knowing the rest doesn't bug me. Now, not knowing my own family bu-"
RIIIIIIIIIIIP!
Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by the familiar sound of shredding fabric as the hole in all that ever was and would be in this reality tore its way back into the pillar from before, startling everypony (body?) in the room.
"What now?" Both Celestia and Shining Armor asked in unison, both obviously annoyed that nothing was giving them a break today. Gallant took a couple steps towards the anomaly before doubling over as another stab of mental pain attacked him, growling after it had passed.
"Trouble, that's what." He sneered, drawing the "Rivet Gun" strapped to his leg and leveling it at the static.
"T-trouble?" Fluttershy squeaked, not liking the change in Gallant's tone at all. Pinkie finally peeled the green gunk off her face to answer for him (don't ask how it got there in the first place, or how it took so long to get off her, or if that's the reason why she hadn't spoken before now, Dash wouldn't like it)
"Big trouble." She affirmed, sounding dead serious. Serious Pinkie-Pie never was a good sign. Gallant nodded in agreement before double-taking at her.
"How would you-"
"Pinky-Sense." She stated grimly, "Now, eyes forward Shooty McShooter, we're you're about to have a Regenerator on your hands!"
"Regen- WHAT?!" Panic was evident on Gallants face as his face snapped forward so he could look back at the hole, in which the static was somehow starting to look more violent, "Regenerators can't be killed!"
"Then get a bigger gun!"
"How?!"
"Like this!" Pinkie bounded up to stand atop Gallant's shoulders (Somehow fitting two hooves atop each of them) and yell "DEPLOY: OVERDRIVER!" at the glowing strip on his spine, which in turn caused the digital construction module in the armor to flare to life. Admittedly Gallant had completely forgotten about the things he had stored in the suit's data-banks, but-
"How the hell did you know about that?!" He demanded, starting to grow more afraid of the mare on his shoulders than the unkillable Necromorph that was apparently on its way to rip them apart.
"Pinkie-Sense!" She yelled back, grabbing the freshly digistructed gun from behind Gallant, jumping down in front of him and forcing the weapon into his hands after ripping his Rivet Gun from his grip and holstering it.
"Now go make Mamma proud!" Gallant just sputtered nonsense syllables for a few moments before shaking it off: No time to be confused, time to roll with it.
"Yes, mam!" He replied, face hard again as the portal flared then spat out the expected Necromorph, which crashed into the opposite wall just like he had not even an hour ago.
"Everybody take cover!" He bellowed as it quickly righted itself using its blade-like arms, drawing a savage grin from Gallant when it turned to face the source of the noise: him.
"Time to get back to work."
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Just going from the description this is going to be good. The concept of reincarnating martyrs is interesting, and seeing what it entails should be a pleasure. I'll post my opinions after I actually read the chapter.
Ok, attempted to post a long comment on this but apparently got rejected or something. Main idea was good story, Gallant needs more flaws to give him something something to overcome.
2424332
Glad to hear you like the general premise of the story, and also grateful that you took the time for a bit o' constructive criticism. Rest assured that I do in fact have quite a few flaws that will be presented in the following chapters, but I decided against throwing more at this one because it was already so long and wordy, especially when compared to the first crack I made at the concept. He's actually got a form of mania when it comes to battle, especially when backed against a wall, suffers from extreme social retardation (especially when compared to the Ponies), and gets obsessive over pet-projects incredibly quickly, just to name a few. Like I said in the initial pitch, his mind isn't exactly whole anymore, and I intend to have fun with that.
Also, good sir, Chaos or Harmony?
From what i've read about him i already like him, but really? Pinkie Sense? Please don't continue to use it as a Deus ex Machina device to have her explain stuff she has absolutely no right to know about its used far to often and is bad storytelling if not used in proper context.
Try to keep a a lot more vague when using the Pinkie Sense, like her telling him that its going to be a real bad doozy that's coming out of the portal or that he really should check if he doesn't have something better then a rivet gun on him because she has a feeling, is ok.
Other then that its a great start.
2426472
Oh and i forgot: hes not really mentally stable so CHAOS!!
2426472
Sorry 'bout that, bud, but Pinkie's... different in this rendition. Bubbly as ever, but not exactly the same "Pinkie" that we know from the show. Explanations will be given, don't worry about that, but that'll happen far later on in the story when we find out it isn't just our little party pony in that skull of hers. Needless to say somepony had to bring Gallant here, right?
I'd say more, but then that'd be SPOOOOILLLLLLERSSSS~~
2426476
Figured that'd be the first vote received, humans being humans and all. xP
Current tally:
Chaos: 1
Harmony: 0
2426554
For now ill be wary about that Pinkie stuff because she gets used too often as a "get out of explanation free" card.
And it has nothing to do with humans being humans it has to do with the fact that he is probably insane to the point of acting rational, because no human mind is capable of handling whatever he is going through and stay intact
2426665
Aye, he's been through a hell nobody should, and it'll show. Just wait until he gets into it with that hulking morph in the next chapter, that's were the cracks will really start to show.
"MAKE US WHOLE, MOTHERFUCKER!!"
Oh how I love dealing with Marker-Taint~
But personal insanity aside, the influence the audience exerts over him is a way to change who he is via changing the way his tech may be used. You don't have to pick Chaos just because he's bat-shit insane ATM. :P
2426766
or to be more precise i like batshit insane characters that do crazyawesome things that surprise the hell out of everyone around them!
And i like batshit insane and it just fit here
2425471 Ah good, I was wondering if he had some as of yet unrevealed flaws. Also I vote harmony, just because otherwise Gallant would probably be rejected by his newfound equine aquaintances.
2426877
Then you'll probably like what I've planned in this next chapter, Mr. Penguin: Stay tuned.
2427229
You don't have to worry about that right off the bat at least, the stuff he salvages/makes from the scrap parts he finds won't be too crazy to begin with even with gung-ho Chaos decisions made by the readers until later on, when magic starts being thrown into the mix by whatever unicorn-companions he makes along the way. Then things'll get fantastical: Digi-Claws and Temporal- Accelerators are just a couple of the later possibilities I've come up with so far...
Current Tally:
Chaos: 1
Harmony: 1