A spin on general romance, adventure, dark, and sad; including Near Death and gore, between the Studious Twilight Sparkle, and Battle-Hardend Soldier Dusk Shine.
(All credit to OokamiTheWolf1 on deviantart for the cover image)
We all expect, from the start, for any story to start out happy, to get us motivated to read it. But, what if one's story starts tragic? Or... bloody? One stallion's story is not that of a natural one, nor of happy origin. But, all that changes when somepony decides to mess with Dimension Spells...
-...Pinkie, no. GET AWAY FROM MY KEYBOARD. You will not write this one.- (( Not a one shot, as obvious reasons should state. Rated Teen for now, will change later ))
1: Prolouge (Or a REALLY exagerated start to a story)
"Dusk, Get down!" The order was shouted, just before a barrage of bullets were fired from a Gatling gun nest. A Young lavender stallion quickly lowered his head, to avoid the fire. This soldier was the mysterious Dusk Shine. His past was forgotten, as harmony was no longer existent. this stallion was more known for his combat skills. "Why did it have to be ME on the front line...?"
Dusk Shine was always tougher then what most ponies would believe. They would've seen the nerdy stallion, locked up in his library, reading books, and non-athletic. This was wrong. Dusk had a hidden secret, that had protected Equestria on several occasions. Only those who knew were, of course, his mentor; Prince Solaris, and close friend; Prince Artemis. They knew for centuries of a legend that passed down to families of dormant powers, that HAD to be unlocked to use. Dusk Shine's family had the proper traits since the start of time, and continued on, from Generation to Generation. It all fell onto Dusk Shine, as of seeing his power potential. Being the student he had been, Dusk was to carry his family's legend-secret.
The Elements of Combat. Don't get it wrong, Dusk did have this power. Courage. The stallion feared little, showing bravery in the toughest situations. Strength. Dusk was not 'weak', as he had more muscle mass then Apple Bramble. He kept it hidden, as to not.... well, either scare or intrigue his friends. Apple Bramble is pretty much the Muscle of Ponyville, who has a build like Big Mac would, and the work collar, and of course, the colors and muscle. But, In a true size compare, Dusk would has the muscle mass twice as bulkier then Bramble. Intelligence. It goes without saying how smart Dusk is, able to recite the entire "Guide to Magic For Unicorns in Training" and "Physics and Magic, how they Add Together" books within 20 minutes, shortest summaries on record.
Then, came the Kingdom Wars. Everything, everyplace, went to an all-out hell. Ponies were trained, and armed. And Dusk was needed for the better part of protecting Equestria. His EoC suit protected him for the most part, giving him an edge over in battles.
You could say, he had everything at times. But, something.... was still lost to him.
Dusk growled some, and suddenly sprang up over the trench, somehow running through the bullets and his kinetic shields holding, as he took out his Assault Rifle, firing in the general direction of the gun. Though, the griffins had gotten smart. The Gunner was a distraction to lure Dusk out in the open. In the far distant was an entire sniper nest, three Griffons equipped with Heavy 50 cal. Anti-Material Snipers. each had a sight and laser trained onto Dusk. *BANG!* The first shot bounced off part of his armor, barely making a dent. *BANG!* The second round from rifle Number 2 only grazed his shoulder, penetrating the shield. *BANG!* *ZZZ-KCGCH!* The third rifle, barrel smoking, had been loaded with a Hard Point FMJ round. All around Dusk, every griffon or pony heard the sound of the bullet penetrating through skin. For Dusk... he had just been shot brutally. And this actually cut moral of all, not just his platoon. The bullet had pierced right through his shoulder, through the bone, and then somehow made its way through to his heart, the bullet breaking up by the time it reached the cardiovascular center of his body.
Dusk suddenly felt no energy to move. His rifle dropped from his hooves, as he slowly bowled over. All had stopped. Dusk had been killed in the most brutal way, and whoever fired the shot was now punishable by death. FMJ rounds were Banned World Wide in Snipers, as of an old law several thousand years ago. Dusk was now crippled over, as his vision slowly went black, his eyes closing up. The shouts and screams of terror, pride, joy, and remorse sounded throughout he battlefield, a mix of emotions.
Though, Dusk didn't hear all to any of that. All he could hear, was the terrified scream of a mare...
"Spike! Where is the Chalk?!" In another world, where harmony was abundant, a stressed Twilight Sparkle was busy with her newest assignment. "Twilight, how do you even know this will work? I mean, it seems... impossible!" Spike was hurrying down the basement stairs, carrying a small bucket of glowing blue chalk, going to where Twilight was positioned, sitting in the middle of her Temporarily clean basement. "You never know unless you try, Spike. The impossible can very well be a simple action." "That's easy for you to say, you have magic!" Twilight seemed to ignore the comment, as she picked up two pieces of chalk, starting to draw the outline for a rune. "Spike, this will be my biggest achievement yet! Have some faith. Now, I need you to write a letter to the Princess, tell her to come at earliest concern. I know this will work." Spike saluted his "Sister-Mother", and hurried up the stairs to the library's main foyer to get the needed materials.
Twilight was focused, her tongue between her lips, to the side, as she got into her "Focused" mood, drawing out the outline of a rune, then the perfect circle of one. She then drew strange symbols and letters along it, as she prepped the rune. Once the drawing had been done, the rune started to glow the soft blue hue the chalk also had. Twilight, satisfied with her work, put the chalk away, and went over to a book-- Well... more like a tome. "Okay.... So, this is the first dimension spell known to work, but only to view, where as the rune one was not... recorded... Hmph, I'll see to it it DOES." Twilight placed down the tome on a table, and then went to stand a few inches from the rune. Her horn lit up, and the rune reflected her magic, glowing a magenta-purple. Her eyes were closed as she focused her magic into the spell she had spent a week learning. Putting it to use now, she took a bit of her blood, lining part of the rune with it,. The blood, of course, from a vial of her blood prepared earlier.
This caused the rune to react, and spur, as a magical tornado started to take place and spin, taking the rune with it. Twilight stood her ground as... whatever took form. After a few minutes, Twilight rose her head and lowered her magic. Though, she let out a blood-curling scream of terror, as she saw a stallion in place of where the rune and magic tornado once was, a blood pool forming under him. More to worry of, her magic already picked up strong magic, but minimal life signs from the stallion.
In the time this happened, Princess Celestia had arrived, just in time to hear Twilight, and view the stallion near-death in her basement, the stallion carrying the same magic trace of Twilight for an odd reason. But she could clearly see something Twilight couldn't. "Quickly, we need to get him to Canterlot Medical. There is only so much Ponyville could do, Canterlot will do more then save him" Twi had only gotten one answer. The Rune-Dimension Spell. Never recorded because of what may come out of it.
"Twilight, are you sure this will work?" "Its our best chance to save him, I'm doing it." "I know you are... I'm asking you if you believe it will work, rather then a normal heart transplant..." "...That only depends on if his body accepts it..."
*Beep....Beep...* Dusk was finally starting to awaken after a coma-state of sleep. To the VERY annoying sounds of.... something familiar. *Beep....Beep...Be-Beep... Dusk groaned as he woke, knowing the sound NOW. It was a heartbeat monitor. That Half-Double Beep was him forcing his heart to abruptly stop for a second. Or, that's the lie he wanted to believe. He was really SURPRISED that he was alive, remembering he had taken a bullet, that had ripped his shoulder and got close to his heart. He could feel, however, how sore his muscles were, and how he was very... in pain. He could feel his shoulder in a heavy bandaging, and... a soft hum of something. His chest also felt a bit heavier then what he was used to, even with armor.
Dusk finally opened his eyes. A blinding white light was what that shone for several moments, his eyes having a hard time adjusting. It took at least a minute, but he finally got used to it. He then lifted his head up, to take in his surroundings.
He was in a singular room. It was small, with a small bookshelf over in one corner, a window over on the other side, the bed he was in in the middle-back of the room. What he was really surprised about was the... Lavender coated mare laying on his bed, at the foot of it, holding a clipboard, and holding a bit of wiring in her mouth, and a few... tech-y parts laying on her side.
Dusk's eyes drifted away from her, and down to himself. His chest burned like Tatarus, what was causing-- Now, Dusk's heart stopped again for a long moment, because of full blown surprise. IN his chest was a hoof-sized hole, big enough to let a mare's hoof enter it, but not his own for some reason. Inside seem to be a crystal precisely cut to fit in it. And cables were connected to it, that led to a Giant crystal battery that sat next to the bed.
Looking it over, he had not been aware the pause in his heart-beat was monitored, and had jolted the mare awake at this. His sacredness, or curiosity, woke her, at the expense of her getting fearful. Dusk was her... well, subject/patient. She was overlooking him, even if her jurisdiction didn't reach as far as a Princess'. She gave a stretch first and a yawn, then she quickly sprang up but, misplacing a hind hoof, she scrambled and yelp out, before falling flat on her back, her several items taken with her as she tried to grab at the blanket.
Even though his body didnt wan't to agree, Dusk grunted as he moved t get a better look at her and what happened. HE was more confused then ever, at... well, how she acted. He was a soldier, disciplined and calm. But she was... well, one, freaking out probably. If he didnt have some of the best and worst training possible, well, he'd be freaking out as well. He cleared his throat, and then made to speak. "Erm... Ma'am, are you alright?"
The mare seemed to stop, before trying to get on her hooves in a more... "Calmer" manner, which still looked frantic to the stallion. She shook herself off, getting the blanket off her and piling up the random tech-scrap, before looking to him. Her eyes, a violet sunset of wonder. Dusk, in his head, thought these eyes of wonder...were, no lie, beautiful. It remind him of his mother.
She coughed slightly before standing up straight, then spoke. "Well, I... See you are actually alive. I'm sorry, I've just been exhausted. I've been working nonstop to keep you alive and at the same time try to make an critically needed crystal heart with a build in repulse-magnet to keep the shrapnel in you from killing your heart."
Dusk just sat there and listened. So he still HAD his heart, but it was... guarded. For the first time, not by magic...
She looked at the clipboard, and picked it up, looking over the notes on it. "Well, then again, I have every right to fear your death. Almost a month of work, and you were in a coma for most of it. Yet you were soundless, and... seem to be not a typical stallion. Well, typical means you are not normal, and thats obvious, due to what brainwaves I tried to study. I needed more time, but I also didnt want to lose you, no no. You are something else, with a soundless sleep and not one case of arousal from dreaming, which is seen in many stallions sometimes. Not all the time, no, that primal instinct has died down. Have to ask... Disciplined Soldier of sorts? I mean, you DID have a shared shoulder pad with a rank marking on it..."
Dusk had planed to interrupt her to speak, but she was spot on it. She had talked fast and seemed way into her thoughts. Where had he seen this before? Well, then again, he wouldnt really care, but he did. Sure, she was strange, but also efficient. "...Well, why would I have to explain myself? You seem to know what I would tell."
She scoffed, and looked Dusk in the eyes. A small spit of anger, which he noticed was actually a soft, and concerned madness (her face looking otherwise), was shone in the violet orbs. "I WANT to know about you. You... I pulled you from your own home. I am not sure if it was a good or bad thing, but, well... I feel bad for it. And I want to get to understand you, so I can find a way to make it up to you."
Dusk saw her sincerity in this, even if her face didnt give it off. What he offered was a nod, and a smile. A small one, but a smile none the less. "Well... Getting shot by an illegal type of... say, 'Perpetually Harmful Projectile', since... looking at this, I dont think you know technology widely enough to get what really injured me, and nearly dying... I'm considered dead home. Might as well get comfortable"
The lavender mare seemed to beam happily at this, and bounce around some. She sure was happy, thats for sure. She then stopped, and looked to him. "Wait, whats so powerful to rip through bone and flesh to almost get to your heart?"
Celestia stood upon the balcony to her room. She enjoyed her views of the city from here, a calming and relaxing sight. But, her eyes, and a bit of magic were focused upon the Medical Wing. She knew that this day would come. She kept close ties with a old friend, the gender opposite of herself. But, had not heard from him in some time. But, where one would think she was worried, she was crying in joy. She now knew what was happening within Solaris' world. War. A war that his prized pupil and soldier survived.
She had already cried what tears of joy she could spare into a hour ago, and was now sitting and observing, for reasons she kept to herself. But, her main concern was, how long could she hide this? It was going to go public sooner or later, and she didnt want Equestria to know that the stallion version of her own prized pupil existed. Not till he was needed. Then an idea struck her. Ponyville and Luna.
Dusk sat awake as he looked out the window of his room, in the hospital. The night sky... a sight he long for. Most nights, in his world, the sky was dark and gloomy. Nights came and went, spent in bunkers or out on the field. But this moment, it was something else. He was also slightly tired. He had spent the last few hours trying to tell his story to Twilight. All the questions she asked, it hurt his head trying to remember WHAT she asked. It seemed like there was no such thing as guns here, and it was all... Medieval weaponry. He heard of crossbows and swords, which look to be the same from 1200 years ago. He was surprised... but more importantly impressed. They have had no need because magic had accelerated as the weapons they needed in this Universe. Dusk had of-course, get the story of how he came here. He was shocked, but already confirmed with Twilight, which he finally learned her full name was Twilight Sky Sparkle (Which he said was cutely ironic), that they were the same, but not. Well, by the same, he meant the same pony in general. Just opposite gender and apparently mane and tail styles. But that was a naturally occurring thing.
Due to how late it was, though, Twilight had needed sleep since she had gone nearly 48 hours without any kind of rest, she had fallen asleep right there and then. Sitting next to Dusk, her head had found rest on his shoulder (Since she sat on his right), and calmly drifted to dream. He had no argument, he'd do the same thing with so little sleep. He looked to the calm night sky, the moon shining down, and the stars in the sky. He knew of Princess Luna and Celestia, and he had to admit, the Lunar mare knew her stuff. The night sky could never be as beautiful.
He looked to the large crystal powering his magnet heart, and then looked back. He saw the area of which Twilight used as her work area on his heart. He squinted a bit, not able to read what was on the various blueprints. He then noticed... he had no contacts in. The ONE THING, that was a little problem, made to halt his progress. He wanted to know what she had planed, and if he could do anything to get him out of this hospital faster. But, his line of thought was interrupted. He magically felt Luna nearby. But for what purpose? Well, that'd be soon answered. She flew past his window, with almost no wind trail. She was heading the way over the city and down the mountain. HE was curious... He wished to find out, but, alas, he couldn't do anything. Not with his condition.
As for the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville, they were all gathered in the Library, waiting for Luna to arrive. For they were all given letters to meet up, for a secret task...
