An HiE Fanfic where you are teleported to Equestria to aid the Mane Six in a battle against a unicorn who has gained Discord's powers and plans to overthrow Equestria. Will you win? Will you fail? Will you try to join the forces of Chaos?
Takes place after episode two of season two, but before the two episode finale of season two.
The mane six defeated Discord, turned him back into a statue, and reharmonized the world. Fixing everything Discord changed. Ponies who might have been influenced by Discord's powers, and the few unfortunate ponies who had a portion of Discord's power put into them, were all turned back to normal, and other than a few guilty memories, or in the case of the latter, a bit of mild insanity, all was well.
Not everyone who had a taste of Discord's power disliked it however, and, in fact, one unicorn in particular, had asked for it.
No one knows what drove the unicorn to ask for such power, but once he had it the poor unicorn had gone insane, throwing a few spells around and casually warping the fabric of reality. One of those spells teleported him away from Ponyville before the Mane Six defeated Discord, and while the distance didn't stop him from being affected by the world's reharmonization, it didn't get rid of the chaos in him entirely.
It was so small, that with effort, the unicorn could have rid it himself. It wouldn't have been too hard. After all, his special talent was offering psychiatric help through joint lucid dreaming with his patients. It was a nice ability, but it left him bored and tired of reality.
So instead of using his knowledge of how the mind works and his ability to fix unwanted issues through lucid dreaming to rid himself of the small portion of chaos energy in his mind, he used it all to amplify it, learn from it, control it, and most of all, use it to bring his own dreams and desires into reality, and warp the minds of anyone asleep to make them his obedient minions. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem, one blast from the Elements of Harmony would rid him of the chaos energy even if he tried to hold onto it, and his powers aren't nearly as strong as Discords yet, but there is one area that he might have surpassed Discord in.
Subtlety.
Equestria needs help. Equestria needs YOU. You may not know why just yet, but you will soon enough. The question is: Do you have what it takes to help the Mane Six save the day? More Importantly: Do you want to? After all, if a unicorn can get a hold of Chaos energy strong enough to bring his dreams into reality, who is to say you couldn't do the same, with a little bit of help.
UPDATES ON THE LAST SATURDAY OF EVERY MONTH
NOTICE: The system I have set up for the story hasn't been tested yet, so comments, criticism, and ideas are all welcome and very much appreciated!
Hello! Before you begin your quest to save or doom the land of Equestria, you'll need to keep either a digital notepad or pen and paper, to keep track of the following:
INVENTORY: Various items you'll receive throughout your quest. Pretty self explanatory.
ENERGY POINTS: This represents the current level of energy you have. During your quest some of the things you'll try to do will be pretty darn draining. Without enough Energy Points, certain tasks could become more difficult to accomplish, or unable to be done at all. If you lose all of your Energy Points, you'll fall asleep. Normally you'd start off with 25 Energy Points, but you can start with 5 less or 5 more.
STRESS POINTS: Dealing with a crazed would-be-overlord isn't easy, but sometimes that's a good thing. Stress Points either REDUCE or INCREASE the amount of Energy Points and Friendship Points (which I'll discuss later) that are required for or taken away from various challenges. A high number of Stress Points can even serve as emergency Energy Points, but be careful. If you have 10 or more Stress Points at any one time, well, since when has having a mental breakdown ever helped? You start off with 3, 5, or 1, depending on your preference.
FRIENDSHIP POINTS: Friendship is Magic, and the bond you develop with the Mane Six is key in taking down Dreamweaver. The points you'll start off with are different for each pony, and are affected by dialogue options, and by completing or failing certain challenges. A large number of Friendship Points helps decrease negative affects from various challenges, and even allows you to solve challenges differently than you would normally. The type of challenges these rules apply to are different for each pony. Keep a different set of Friendship Points recorded for each character that joins your party.
HARMONY/CHAOSPOINTS: Harmony and Chaos directly oppose each other, so you can't have both at the same time. Zero is neither, 1 and higher are Harmony Points, and -1 and lower Chaos Points. These points come into play less than any of the others, but they'll be what decides the big outcomes of what you try to do. Start with 1, 0, or -1, depending on your preference towards Chaos or Harmony.
That's all you need to know! No coins or dice necessary! Next Chapter: About Yourself.
You're a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. A BIG fan. Maybe it's a secret only you and a few friends know about, or maybe you tell everyone you know about the show and try to get them to watch it. Maybe you buy tons of MLP merchandise, want to but don't have the funds, or prefer to just stick to watching the show. Maybe you check out all the fansites and have a large online circle of friends, or only go to the sites occasionally. Maybe you read fanfiction like you drink water, maybe you even write some fanfics of your own, or only read a select few that meet your discerning tastes. Whatever your situation MLP: FiM is one of your top ten favorite shows, and you've seen almost every episode thus far twice, maybe more. Right now you're eagerly awaiting the two part finale of Season Two, which is only a day or two away.
You're alone, watching one of your favorite episodes either on the Hub, or through the internet. you're unwinding after a stressful day, or maybe getting a morning dose of awesomeness before beginning one. Maybe you have your own Original Character, and occasionally drift into thinking about their adventures in the land of Equestria. Maybe you wish you could go to Equestria and visit, or stay forever. Maybe you think magic and adventure exist and are just waiting for it all to begin, or maybe you're content with your life on earth, and enjoy what you've made for yourself here.
Regardless of what you're reasons for watching this episode right now are, or what you want out of life, you certainly didn't expect that today, the device you were using to watch an episode of MLP would spontaneously explode, and that a light green vortex would suddenly pull you in.
Your vision left you the second the vortex pulled you in. In fact, aside from a sensation similar to when you lean too far back in a chair and suddenly realize you're about to fall, you didn't have any senses left at all. You were right in the middle of trying to figure out what just happened (and trying not to freak out) when, with another sensation, this one similar to getting punched in the stomach, you found yourself laying on your stomach on a hardwood floor. You try to move, but it feels like your arms and legs are asleep, so instead you focus on listening, and realize someone is jumping around you.
"Hah! It worked! It actually worked! Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle were right! I successfully pulled a human into Equestria! Hahahah!" You aren't familiar with the voice, and you force your head up just enough to get a good look at the source of the noise, not entirely sure if you heard everything right, or if your mind is just playing tricks on you. You open your eyes, and after a flash of light and color, everything regains focus. You see yourself staring at a cyan pony with a lyre cutie mark, and a huge grin on her face.
"Lyra? What?" You mumble, still heavily disoriented from the spell. As you regain feeling in your arms and legs, you slowly move to a sitting position, and you realize you just said something you shouldn't technically know. You begin to think of a way to counter the obvious questions, but to your surprise, she doesn't look suspicious. In fact, she only looks more excited, and begins laughing again.
"Hah! The knowledge spell worked too! It already knows my name!" Well, you certainly weren't expecting THAT. "You know about Twilight Sparkle, the Elements of Harmony, Discord, Princesses Celestia and Luna, and all sorts of other things too right?" You nod slowly, attempting to soak everything in as the unicorn nearly gives a squee of excitement.
"I can't believe all of this is actually happening! Twilight and I were supposed to do the spell together, but, well-" suddenly a large booming noise, like thunder, comes from outside, and for the first time since you've got here you see Lyra drop the grin, and look genuinely worried.
"THAT, is why Twilight couldn't help with this. Dreamweaver some how got wind of our plan and ambushed all of Ponyville. The Elements of Harmony are fighting him off right now, but they need your help. The Elements don't actually have their... Elements." Lyra explains, giving an annoyed glance at the ground as if bothered by her own phrasing, but you understand well enough, and get to your feet.
"Yeah! Good! You get up, I'll lead you outside. Watch your head. I can answer a few questions on the way to the door, but we really need to hurry!" You stand and realize you are only a few inches shorter than the ceiling, and idly note that you'll have to duck past every door between here and outside. You also notice something incredibly strange...
You're wearing a different set of clothes.
Instead of your usual attire, you find yourself wearing a purple t-shirt the same color as Rarity's hair, and white pants the same color as Rarity's coat. Considering the colors and the fact that the clothes fit exactly how you'd like them to, it's easy to tell who made them. After the pants you see a pair of black boots, made of some material that feels both incredibly durable and comfortable. If you wore glasses or contacts before coming here, then you find that you no longer seem to need them. You also notice what you guess is the summoning circle used in whatever spell brought you here, and also several sets of clothes just like the ones you are wearing, but in different sizes, scattered all over the floor among stacks of open and closed books.
You process all of this in a few seconds, and hear another boom coming from being you. You turn and see a large window, and while your vision is blurred by the light rain, you see the Mane Six in the distance, surrounding a cloaked unicorn.
"Come on!" Lyra says, rushing out the room and turning left.
What's your plan?
-Ask Questions- Get some knowledge while rushing to help the Mane six.
-Demand Answers- The Mane Six can hold their own for a bit longer, but you REALLY need to figure some stuff out before you can decide what to do, or even what you CAN do.
-Demand To Be Sent Back Home- Someone else can save the day. You've got too much going on at home to be here right now, and you aren't entirely sure you're the right one for the job.
-Rush Outside- Questions can wait, the Mane Six need you NOW.
-Jump Out The Window-Wait, seriously?! It'll get you outside even faster, and you THINK this room is on the first floor. MAYBE second.
-Jump Out The Window- My gosh, you're actually going through with this?
"Hold on Lyra!" You shout, turning to the large round window on the opposite side from the door. "I think I have a better idea!"
Now, uh, when you say that... What do you mean exactly?
-Attempt To Open The Window- Jumping out of a window that may or may not be on the second floor is dangerous enough. You certainly don't want to add broken glass to the mix.
-Just Jump- TRUE HEROES DON'T WORRY ABOUT BROKEN GLASS! Besides, there isn't an epic but harmless explosion to follow your dynamic exit, so the shattered glass falling around you will help add some dramatic flare to you awesomely saving the day.
You follow Lyra down the hall, it's surprisingly easy to keep up with her, and attempt to get her attention.
"Hey Lyra, hold on a second... I have some questions I'd really like answered." You say, waving at her, and she slows down a bit to talk, though for your benefit or hers you aren't sure. She seems rather tired, perhaps summoning you here has drained her quite a bit.
"What's up Human?" She says, flashing a grin that lasts only for a second before looking serious again. "What'd you like to know before we rush to help save the world?"
Good question. What WOULD you like to know?
-"Who's Dreamweaver?"- Probably a good idea to brush up on who this new villain is that's terrorizing Ponyville and apparently successfully fighting off the Mane Six.
-"Why Me?"- You're probably even more curious as to why exactly you were summoned, and what exactly you can contribute to saving this world. You're fairly awesome, you'll admit, but this seems a little over the top.
-"What's the plan?"- Best of all, probably a good idea to figure out what you're supposed to do once you get out there and face this guy.
-"What's up with my clothes?"- Now THAT is certainly a good question.
You blink twice as Lyra runs out of the room, and lift a hand as if that would get her to stop.
"Wait, Lyra wait, come back!" You finally shout, rubbing your forehead with the hand you just raised. You're getting a killer headache from all of this possibly being a hero of another world you previously believed was entirely fictional, and possibly WANTED to be entirely fictional.
"Huh? What's going on? What's up?" Lyra shouts as she rushes back to the room, almost tripping over her own hooves in her hurry to get back to you. "Are you alright?" She says once she's stopped running, and realizes you look a little upset.
"Maybe? I don't know." You respond, the headache finally dying down just a bit, and Lyra opens her mouth, attempting to find something to say, but unable to.
"This is just a lot to take in." You finally manage to explain, and suddenly the flood gates are opened. "I mean, suddenly you're telling me that magic and other universes or dimensions or whatever and all sorts or other stuff actually exist and I'm supposed to be the hero here, but I don't even know what's going on! I mean, I was just relaxing and watching cartoons before all of this happened! Now I'm expected to fight some guy strong enough to hold his own against THIS world's heroes, and I'm not even considered a hero in my own world!" You finish ranting, and rub your forehead again, your headache coming back.
"I... I understand this is a huge ordeal we've thrown you into, without even asking, but we REALLY need your help." Lyra says, and you nod slowly.
"Can I just ask some questions before I go charging in to try to save the day? I really need to get some stuff in my head sorted out first." Lyra quickly nods, and you can tell she wants you to hurry, but is trying to be polite.
"Sure, what do you need to know?"
Try to be quick, the fate of Equestria is at stake. What do you need to figure out before you're ready to save the day?
-"Why'd you summon ME, what am I supposed to do here?"- Kind of a loaded question. I mean, this isn't really something that can be answered easily, but it IS important, so...
-"What Happened To My Clothes?!"- A reasonable thing to be freaking out about, even though it really isn't a good time for it.
-"Can I Get Back Home After This?"- Probably a good idea to figure this out at some point. If everything falls apart, you'd like to know if you'd be able to get back home and live to fight another day, or maybe make a last stand in your own world if it comes to that.
-"Can You Bring Any Other People Or Weapons Here?"- If reinforcements are something they can bring over here easily, and they're just bringing you because they think you're all they need, you'd like to get that fixed and bring some friends and maybe a tank over here.
No. Oh heck no. This isn't happening. You can't do this. You WON'T do this. This is too much. You can't save this world, you didn't even know it ACTUALLY EXISTED until not even five minutes ago!
"Lyra, wait!" You shout trying to keep yourself calm. Honestly, you're a mix of freaked out and angry, not necessarily at Lyra, just at your situation. You need to explain that you aren't the right one for the whole 'Saving Equestria' thing without sounding like a jerk. You ARE a big fan of the cartoon, after all. You just don't want to risk life and limb fighting against an enemy that's most likely much stronger than you. I mean, HE'S HOLDING HIS OWN AGAINST THE MANE SIX! What could you do compared to that?
"Huh? What's going on? What's up?" Lyra shouts as she rushes back to the room, almost tripping over her own hooves in her hurry to get back to you. "Uhm, are you alright?" She says once she's stopped running, and realizes that you look rather upset.
"I uh..." You say, trying to find the right words for this. "I'm not a hero." That's a good start. "I mean, I really don't think I have any special skills that are going to save the day, especially if he's already able to fight the Mane Six all at once on his own. I don't know why your spell brought me here, but I don't think it got the person you need. I'd really like to just, uh... Go back home. As soon as possible." Your voice and expression are both apologetic, and a little nervous, but there's also an edge of determination in both of them, and after a few seconds of staring, Lyra looks at the ground.
"Uh, okay, yeah, sure, if you really need to. You didn't ask for this or anything." Lyra says, looking back up at you again with a pleading expression. "Could you try to help anyways though? At least for right now? I mean, the Mane Six are likely going to lose this fight without your help, and I don't know if I can get you back home and get another Human here in time for them to help. The spell that summoned you here should naturally take you back home if your life becomes severely threatened, so you don't need to worry about, uh, dying or anything." Lyra explains, wincing a little at the mention of death. You watch Lyra dig her teeth into her lower lip, and she lowers her head to hide her face as she continues. "Although, we're dealing with a guy who specializes in Chaos magic and mind controlling people when they fall asleep, so I can't honestly guarantee your safety." You nod, definitely wanting to get the heck out of here against an enemy like that.
Your resolve wavers however, when Lyra looks up at you again. You aren't entirely certain, but you think you see tears in her eyes.
"Please stay? At least for this one fight? We really need your help. I..." The next line hits you like a physical blow, even worse than the spell that teleported you here. "I really don't want to fail my friends, especially when their lives are in danger." Lyra seems to be struggling to maintain eye contact with you, and you think you see a tear fall.
You feel a sharp pang of guilt for what you just did, but what you need to ask yourself, is if that guilt's strong enough to make you risk your life for a world you might not even be able to save anyway. You aren't a hero, at least, you don't think you are, but will you try to be one anyways?
-Leave- You aren't a hero, the spell made a mistake. You'd be doing a huge disservice to Equestria if you tried to save the day while already knowing you wouldn't be able to. Best to get out of here ASAP, and let the real hero get here. They'll know what to do, and they'll even be able to do it. You probably have some major problems at home to deal with anyway, and you can't afford to disappear from your own world for more than a few minutes.
-Stay- You don't think you can do this. You REALLY don't think you can do this, but Equestria needs, you, the Mane Six need you. You need to push your own fear aside, and try to be a hero. After all, maybe there's some sort of ability you have here you aren't aware of yet. Also, you REALLY can't say no to Lyra after all of that. You think your heart might burst from the guilt if you did.
-Help For Now- You need to get back home soon, and you really doubt you're the hero destined to save the day, or anything like that. Still, if you leave now, you just might end up dooming all of Equestria. Help the Mane Six for now, and once the Big Bad is pushed back for a little bit, you can all get to work getting yourself back home, and the real hero here.
You dart after Lyra, almost hitting your head on the top of the door frame, and nearly running into the wall of the hallway after trying to turn so suddenly. You manage to dodge everything perfectly though, mostly through sheer luck, and quickly catch up to Lyra.
"Let's go save the world!" You say, giving a large grin to Lyra, who returns it.
"Heck yeah!" Lyra shouts. "Anything you'd like to know before we get out there, though? It'll likely be pretty crazy once we join the fight." Lyra says, slowing down a bit and breathing a little heavy. You're surprised that you're actually getting ahead of her, and you don't even feel tired! Maybe the spell that summoned you here took a lot more out of her than she's been letting on, or maybe you just have superpowers here.
"Nah," You finally say as you get down the hall and rush down the stairs. "I have plenty of questions," You explain, "but they can wait til after we win this fight. Who knows, maybe we'll beat him for good right here and now?" You can't help but feel confident, not with Lyra grinning back at you and with you feeling like you could run a marathon without feeling tired. You aren't sure what exactly is making you feel this great, your strength and energy aren't normally this high for this long, and you don't know how long it will last, but you have a feeling that it'll last just long enough for you to get at least one good punch in, and right now you feel that's all you'll need to take him down.
You jump over a couch, nearly hitting your head against the ceiling, and give the door a dramatic kick, slamming it open as you rush outside.
-Time For An Awesome Fight!- You ready to kick some tail and be awesome?!