> False Starts > by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Descendant of Jupiter by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Descendant of Jupiter by wille179 Description: Rainbow Dash wakes one morning with jewel embedded in her forehead. Imprisoned within it is the soul of Jupiter, the strongest and most tyrannical pegasus to ever live. Jupiter is forced to grant Dash a portion of his strength if she is going to survive the challenges ahead. (Start before S3, after S2. Set in same Equestria as Black Queen, Red King.) Tags: Comedy, Adventure, (some)Slice of life, Alternate Universe. Characters: Rainbow Dash, Mane 6, Scootaloo, Wonderbolts, Changelings Rating: Teen (violence) Despite the rock embedded in her forehead – and the voice in her head that came with it – Dash had to admit that this was a pretty sweet deal. All she had to do was keep some long dead dude trapped within her body and she got access to a kind of magic all for herself. What could possibly be wrong with that? Rainbow Dash gave her wings a rustle, savoring the feeling of her electricity arcing off of each feather. She lifted them high, the wind rushing in to gather under each feather. With a snap, Dash brought her wings down. She shot upwards at tremendous speeds. The air under her wings moved as if it was her own muscles, assisting her body upwards. In three flaps, a flash of light and violent boom erupted from below her. The blue pegasus turned an eye down to see the distinctive ring of a sonic-rainboom. In that moment, her ego grew to the size of Equestria itself. Two weeks ago, she had just managed to do her signature stunt on cue for the first time. Now she had done it going upwards. From a dead stand-still. In THREE WING FLAPS! She let out a squee of excitement, only for it to be drowned out by the roaring winds. ‘HA! You think you’re something special, Miss Warden?’ That would be King Jupiter, the sky tyrant of the old Pegasus Empire. He’s the reason for Dash’s newfound super-speed. As the strongest pegasus in recorded existence, Jupiter had been quite feared amongst all three tribes. He had grown so powerful that he had ascended into a wind spirit, his body literally made of the air that he so easily commanded. The ponies, in fear of what he had become, devised a plan to capture him and imprison the now immortal tyrant. Lead by his own daughter, Commander Hurricane, the three tribes united and sealed his soul within a jewel. Which was now fused to the skull of his distant descendant: Rainbow Dash. ‘Of course, gramps. Why wouldn’t I be?’ Rainbow Dash Retorted. ‘You said it yourself: I’m the magically strongest living pegasus in the world. Any other pegasus would have died if they had taken in your prison. And because I did, I’m faster than ever before!’ Jupiter yawned from within his prison, an impressive feat considering that he did not even have a mouth to yawn with in the first place. ‘The sonic-rainboom is a parlor trick. Half of my old army could do one without even breaking a sweat. Miss Warden, you can be so much more. You could be the queen of the sky. Let me out for a minute and I will make you so much more ~’ He ended the thought in a flirty, sing-song tone. ‘HA! Like I’d ever let you out!’ Jupiter growled at his stubborn container. It was not the first time she had stopped his attempts at freedom, despite how short it might be. He knew he could project outwards, making a temporary body for himself, or he could take over his warden’s body. Of course, he needed her permission to do either, and she could regain control at any time. The only time he could directly control her without permission was when he had the capability to save her life. If she died, he would be stuck in limbo for decades until another pegasus came along that was strong enough to contain him. ‘You told me yourself: the magic of your tiny prison forces you to do whatever I want. I can make you train me!’ Dash laughed to herself as she drew pictures in the sky with her namesake trail. ‘Then I’m practically guaranteed a spot in the Wonderbolts!’ ‘It’s nothing special, Miss Warden,’ Jupiter said to her. ‘One of my previous containers – number 48, I believe – was a Wonderbolt. He hated the paper work.’ The mare flipped and dove towards the ground. At the last minute, she pulled up. Her belly was tickled by grass blades as she flew inches above the ground at super-sonic speeds. ‘Paperwork? Cloudsdale already forces the weather ponies to do lots of paperwork. It’s the one part of the job that I hate. Last month, the stack was almost as high as Celestia herself! I’m no egg-head, but if there’s one thing I do faster than bucking clouds, it’s doing paperwork. Get it done the first night and you can snooze the rest of the month.’ ‘HA! I like your style, kid. You may jus-TREE!’ Jupiter shouted, taking control of the super-sonic pegasus’s magic. A surge of lightning shot out of her extended fore hooves and vaporized the obstacle an instant before she would have collided. ‘STOP! LAND!’ he ordered. Obeying, the startled pegasus banked to bleed off her speed. Her hooves touched the ground. A split second later, the wind that her stunts dragged with her blasted Dash from behind. It would have been a cool sight had she not been coughing up wood chips. ‘Miss, lesson one: if you are in the air, you pay attention to your surroundings above all else. I tried to distract you. You fail. I win.’ Rainbow Dash growled, mad at herself for being stupid and mad at her prisoner/mentor for… well… just because! He was right about that. Every single time she had been hospitalized was because of her own carelessness. What kind of element of loyalty would she be if her own stupidity took her away from her friends? No, she’d practice. Dash would train herself like she had always done before, and with Celestia as her witness, Rainbow Dash would out-fly even Jupiter himself! > Luna's Return by Prince Solstice > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna's Return by Prince Solstice Preface by wille179: This story was submitted to me by Prince Solstice as one of his abandoned stories. He asked if I would post it, to which I agreed. I gave this a quick once over to polish it up, but otherwise this is his original work. Description: Luna disappearing from the moon, and some final goodbyes as the brave Princess goes to sacrifice herself to save Equestria. Tags: Random Characters: Mane 6, Luna, Celestia Rating: Everyone “Please sister you must understand…” Celestia was practically begging by this point “No, I know what returning from the moon would bring. It has been so long since I’ve gotten to be loved for my magic. You can’t send me back, especially with it still lurking in the shadows above.” Luna stared up at the moon, it had begun to form a giant crack splitting it vertically. The aura of it was strangely dark, and the space around quivered. “Look,” Celestia sighed “I know what evil lurks on the moon, but you must understand. The fate of Equestria rests in your hooves. Even upon your return to good the sun was still getting harder and harder to raise. I wish I had never banished you to the moon in the first place, and I should have known better…” Luna interrupted “Yes, you should have known better! I knew it even back then in all of jealous rage. The moon is an evil thing, and spending an eternity alone with it has made it grow more powerful because of my magic. I can’t leave now, otherwise the night mares will return to your subjects, and cause them to be disloyal. You will still lose power and faith only weakening your abilities. Even worse, the evil on the moon is restless, I can feel it. There is another way, there has to be!” Luna had begun to cry, her mane had lost its flare and size. “I know Luna. I understand that the powers of evil will shift no matter what destiny we choose the fate of all pony kind rest in your hooves. Either you return to the moon, and the nightmares return, or the moon will shatter and release the true evil I imprisoned there in the first place.” Celestia kept her composure, and gave Luna a look of desperation and seriousness. Celestia knew Luna would choose to be banished again, at least she hoped. “What if…” Luna paused for a moment to recollect herself, “what if we destroy the true evil on the moon?” Luna returned the look of seriousness back at Celestia. “What? You really think it’s possible?” Celestia was shocked to hear this. “Not even I in my most powerful state was able to defeat that type of evil, Nightmare Moon was not even close to the evil’s true power.” Celestia looked up at the moon, the crack loomed certain death, and caused Celestia to shutter at the thought. “Well, the only way to defeat any darkness, is with light. He elements return was not just a fluke. They had to return for some reason. You were not able to defeat me as Nightmare Moon, but they were. Do you think maybe it’s time to train them, to maybe allow them to unlock their true potentials?” Luna moved closer to Celestia with concerned look in her eyes. “I know having something more powerful than you would put Equestria in danger of internal conflict, but it may be the only way.” “Sister, I have faith in all of the elements, they would not use their power to turn on me. Not like last time. Twilight Sparkle has shown devotion, loyalty, and faith. She has reunited the elements in a time we needed them the most. She was able to face her fears to make friends, then she faced those friends when they had no trust or faith in her, and she managed to best the evils attempts every time it tried to reign chaos upon Equestria. She is ready and so are the other elements.” Celestia looked over at Ponyville, sighed, and looked at Luna. “I do not want to lose my sister again, as selfish as that sounds, but if Twilight cannot properly unite the elements promise me you will make the sacrifice to stop it.” Celestia gave Luna a grim look. “You have my word, just promise me everything will be okay. I know that my return would be unavoidable in another thousand years, and I will return as Nightmare Moon again. Promise me you will be able to stop me a second time, and that you will still be here.” Luna’s look was one of grief and desperation. Celestia nodded, and looked Luna in the eyes. “We must try to release the Elements. They are again the final hope for your destiny along with my own and every pony else.” Celestia looked away from Luna and at the moon again. “I just hope Twilight is ready.” Miles away in Ponyville, Twilight was sleepless in observation of the moon. She awaited a message from the Princess as to what the buck was going on. Spike had fallen asleep on the floor next to her, but she remained up studying her telescope. Twilight thought ‘what is going on? The moon formed a horrendous crack, and it looks like black mist is seeping through it. I hope Celestia contacts me soon.’ Her eyes were set on observing the moon, and taking notes every ten minutes. The scientist in her couldn’t help it. She took a moment to get another cup of green tea from her third pot. Her thoughts buzzed as she sipped the warm beverage when a knock came at the door. Twilight put the cup down, and trotted downstairs to open it. She could hear some argumentative whispering behind the door. She opened it to find all of her friends huddled around the entryway. “Oh, uh, Hey Twilight! We were, uh, just stopping by.” Applejack gave a weak grin, Twilight could tell they were all concerned. “Look, don’t freak out. The crack hasn’t gotten any worse since it opened. Just don’t let your feelings get the best of you. I am sure the Princess will contact me soon, so just come in and keep quiet. Spike is asleep, and he is going to need it.” One by one the ponies shuffled in, each of their faces had a look of concern. Fluttershy’s, however, was the worse, she looked like she was on the brink of downright panic. She already had tears in her eyes. Even Pinkie’s usual smile had faded away, them coming over was not going to make anything better for any of them. Twilight even knew that she herself was on the brink of downright panic. She shut the door behind them and turned around to face them. They looked at her expectantly. “So, Twi, what’s going on with the moon?” Rainbow Dash was the first to break the silence. Twilight looked at each of them, and gave a sigh. “I don’t know, like I said, I am waiting on a letter from the Princess. I know it has to do with Luna’s return to Equestria. I also know that it isn’t good…” Fluttershy cowered and let out a fearful whimper. “but don’t worry, I’m sure Celestia knows what to do.” Above there was a burp and Spike came running downstairs with a sealed letter in his hand. “Twilight! A letter from the Princess arrived.” Spike handed Twilight the letter, and the room was silent in anticipation. 'My Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle, As you are probably aware, the moon has split down the middle. This is not an accident. We, Luna and I, were aware of what was going to happen, and knew it was only a matter of time. This is why I had to take drastic measures and force you to find the Elements of Harmony. This is the reason; the moon is actually a giant prison that contains an ultimate evil. Nightmare Moon was only part of the evil released. Now, without a vessel to harness that evil, the prison is tearing apart. It is only a matter of time before the moon opens its core and all of pony kind will be destroyed. There are only two options. First, I send Luna back to the moon, and she is banished for another thousand years in order to keep the evil at bay with her magic, or we destroy it. The Elements of Harmony hold more than just the power of friendship; they hold the powers of all ponykind, and have the potential to protect us all from this evil. You will become even more powerful than me, but first you must combine with your elements.' > The "Peace" Diaries by Prince Solstice > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The "Peace" Diaries by Prince Solstice Preface by wille179: This second story submitted to me by Prince Solstice is another one of his abandoned stories. He asked if I would post it, to which I agreed. I gave this a quick once over to polish it up, but otherwise this is his original work. Description: Journal entries made by Orange Swirl as he defended the northern borders of Equestria from the red menace known as Santy Hooves. Tags: Dark, Random Characters: OC Rating: Everyone Day 138: Somewhere along the Equestrian Border Fuck this numbing winter weather and this hell spawned Sargent of ours. Every damn day he goes over the orders to protect these boarders from outside evils we haven’t even seen. After months of boot camp I expect to actually be used for combat as part of this royal army for the “oh so mighty” Celestia and her solar empire propaganda. If they even knew about an enemy why the fuck are we sitting here dying of disease and frostbite? Sure they could send some magic our way, to maybe warm our ass up. No, instead this dreadful weather is for snowmen and these fucking penguins. It is fun to use them as a bit of target practice. Never knew penguins bled black. We have not had a single alarm raise, let alone a single threat be made to this forsaken fort on the edge of oblivion. No there isn’t any threat along this side of the border, but the solar empire would tell you otherwise. There are the gryphons which are friendly to the pony kind, the changelings which are on the opposite border, and the crystal ponies which just became part of Equestria. All of those places still get better supplies and troops than this cold wasteland. This is supposedly the most dangerous border because we don’t know who lives beyond it. What do ponies actually think that these places magically appear whenever they god damned please? The northern part of this world has no life in it, it’s way too damn cold. I know that as a grunt in the military I can’t question orders given to me, but I am sick of this shit. To sum up my thoughts, there is nothing beyond the northern border of Equestria, the royal Princess Celestia must have brain washed the simple pony folk of her oh so wonderful empire, and to top it all off I am stuck here writing this useless diary I’ve kept since boot camp in the hopes that I would finally get some action about fifty days ago. Am I upset, no, am I pissed off, yes. I want to shoot something, and Celestia forbid my rifle barrel being shoved down this dumbass Sargent’s throat. Signing off, One pissed off pony Day 142 Still on the a forsaken fucking border Wow, the first real alarm this place has had ever. It wasn’t from an enemy, but from accidental ordinance explosion. The fire is still keeping us warm, made me feel a little better. I am still pissed that I’m out here, but luckily I didn’t go AWOL. The bastard Sargent even lightened up a bit. It got weird when everyone wanted to roast penguin over this fire. Fucking new recruit decided to handle one of the disarmed ordinances. The damn Pegasus let the thing slip as he was flying off over the ammo dump. Turns out he picked up the wrong mortar shells. No pony was hurt, and even if someone had been hurt, no one here would care. I think the recruit was out of Ponyville; his name was like Didley Hooves or something. Poor bastard must have great luck because both of his ears have missing parts, and apparently he is the only one in his family with 20/20 vision. He may be clumsy, but the bastard platoon of ours calls him lucky now. Lucky he didn’t get blown the fuck up, and lucky that wasn’t all live ordinances. Most of the artillery and shit like that has been shipped off to a hole in the ground about five miles east. Who knew C-4 made a great fuel for fires, we’ve been feeding the fire old C-4 putty that needed to be replaced anyways. It took me a while to stop flinching every time someone threw that shit in the fire, wouldn’t think of a high explosive being stable enough to keep ponies warm for four days. By Celestia do I despise this fucking cold. It hasn’t stopped snowing for days now, everytime I turn around we are having to clear out our trenches just so we don’t lose them. I say just put a cover over all this shit and go home. We are freezing to death by the hour. We’ve lost more colts to frostbite than I can count anymore. Apparently this guard has been stationed here for four years, and I’ve already lost my faith in this empire. To myself, Orange ‘sherbet’ swirl Day 149 Fucking wasteland Ever watch a ponies nose break off from being too cold? Yea Lucky’s did. He forgot to wear his protective mask on field duty, and came back with the tip of his nose gone. He’s getting transported back to the base of operations about Twenty Five miles south, if you want to believe that’s its actual position. I’m a grunt, they don’t tell me shit. This shit sucks, Some grunt Day 153 Moving day Yay our borders have been extended even farther North. Guess what, it’s still fucking ice. Even worse we ran out of old munitions C-4 to burn. We actually have to find trees now. Oh, wait, there are no trees in this barren battle field, which has yet to have any battles fought, if there were even enemies to fight. I hope there are, I’d rip out my own bullet wound just to shove a bayonette down those assholes throats for showing up four years late, and then I’d use their corpses as fuel for a fire. I am not a very happy earth pony like I once was. I would give anything to be back at my shop in Manehattan. Although I think I might serve hot coffee at my ice cream parlor from now on. Cold shit never bothered me before this. Celestia please smite me already. Waiting to die, Orange Swirl Day 160 Some hope Apparently the barren wasteland has more than just fucking nothing. A scout patrol came back to report some other scout patrol of some unknown ponies. I swear to Celestia that if they are just hallucinating again, I’ll go out to find any living thing just to kill it. Not even the fucking penguins come this far, so I’ve been bored as shit just sitting here obliterating snowmen with rifle grenades. Yea there are some perks to being part of a bastard platoon in a place where no action has happened ever. Either way it’s either use them the munitions for practice or let them go bad and be useless. They might forgive you for shooting the rifle grenade too close to them, but they never forgive you for a faulty gear in the grenade tube, mostly because you killed your entire squad. At least our shit still works in the cold. I think I’m going to shoot the Sargent with this grenade launcher if he doesn’t shut his yap about being loyal to your country bullshit. It’s not a country, and it isn’t even that free. If I recall I paid out the ass in taxes to the royal solar council composed of a greedy bitch of a goddess and her also greedy sister. Who else is a fucking alicorn anyways? Cadence rules over crystal-ville and that hasn’t been around long enough to suck some more of my money up. I hope the shop is keeping my wife and kids afloat. This war isn’t ending or really beginning anytime soon. I wish I really knew why we were up here, because if it is to just protect our borders then we have some shitty intell about what we are protecting it from. Especially this frozen fucking wasteland, it has no purpose other than to be cold. From Shithole with love, The Icicle Day 161 Shithole number two The base is official, and these fuckers better be lucky I have a sense of humor still. There is way too much complaining about the same shit we all deal with, so I have some fun. This morning because I was on early morning patrol I just created a shit ton of snowponies. I even gave them antlers and came back to base to trade shifts. The guy goes out on patrol for ten minutes to run back scared shitless. I was able to hold back enough of a smile when a squadron went out to find that they were all fakes. Needless to say I still got in some trouble, but it was worth it. I even got a couple of high hooves for the prank. This shithole needs some warmth. Smile, Ora > Weeping by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weeping By wille179 Description: Joseph is an extremely quiet introvert. He averages less than 100 spoken words per day. He is also a brony. His younger brother, Mike, is a super extrovert and insanely popular at school. Mike hates MLP, or anything his brother likes. There is one exception: Doctor Who. Now the two brothers are trapped on Equestria as their favorite monsters. It just so happens that these two weeping angels look a lot like Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Tags: Comedy, Slice of life, Cross Over (Doctor Who), Human, (some) Dark Characters: Mane 6, Derpy, Doctor Whooves, OC humans Rating: Everyone or Teen (12 hours after arrival) Joseph could feel their gazes upon his petrified body. It was something of a sixth sense. He knew instantly when a pony was looking at him, when they weren’t, and what objects were around him. He had also noticed something else: while many of the ponies looked at him, time seemed to speed up. Then, as fewer and fewer ponies could see him, time seemed to slow. At last, the last pony looking at him blinked. Instantly, he felt life return to his limbs as time reached a crawl. He stepped off of the pedestal he had been perched on and moved to safety. In this state, the ponies appeared to have spotlights shining from their eyes. Joseph assumed these lights marked their fields of vision. Having already figured that he had become a weeping angel, Joseph moved to avoid the fields of light. Some would slowly close while others would open or turn. Even the slightest touch from the eye lights meant that he was seen. In his attempt to escape the Ponyville town square, he had gotten spotted several times, not being fast enough to avoid the lights. But upon being seen, most ponies would blink in surprise, freeing him to move once more. So long as he avoided being seen, time barely moved at all. Joseph ducked into a side street and hid behind one of the buildings. Now hidden from sight, he could finally look himself over. It only took a few moments for him to realize that he stood in the body of a statue of Celestia. He dared not look in a mirror, for fear of being trapped for an unknowable amount of time by his own eyes, which he now realized that he could not close. Prioritizing his needs, Joseph set out. He needed to find Twilight Sparkle. She could possible free him or at least direct him to someone – be it the princesses, scholars, or zebra shaman – who could. Failing that, he could go looking for Time Turner, to see if he actually was the pony form of the doctor. This was a last ditch resort, as he would probably be unwilling or unable to help. Joseph also had a need to find the source of this strange feeling in the back of his mind. For some reason, he was convinced that it was someone he should be looking for. Joseph had unconsciously started calling it ‘other.’ Finally – though this probably should be his highest priority – was food. The weeping alicorn smirked to himself as he pondered, ‘Where is Diamond Tiara?’ Mike was not amused. He had been trudging through this forest for hours with no idea where he was. Mike raged inside his stone body. ‘Where the hell am I? How the hell did I end up as a fucking horse with wings?’ A squirrel saw him, causing him to freeze in place. ‘Why couldn’t I just be a normal weeping angel? Fuck… I’m starving’ The poor squirrel chose that moment to blink. The predator pounced, tapping the squirrel with his hoof. The squirrel vanished and the stone alicorn smiled at the surge of energy. ‘Ten years,’ Mike thought, knowing just how far back he had sent the little critter. Continuing his walk, Mike eventually noticed the forest was thinning out. In time, he stepped out into a clearing lit by the evening sun. He stood on a hill overlooking a small village a short distance away. Had he had any blood, it would have been boiling. ‘For two years, I put up with Joseph’s weird obsession with ponies. Now there’s a whole town full of these retarded things? Great, just great. Ha! At least I won’t be hungry any time soon.’ The predator descended the slope leading to the town, briefly wondering where this ‘other’ was. > My Little Pony: Pot is Magic by Prince Solstice > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My Little Pony: Pot is Magic by Prince Solstice Preface by wille179: This is the third of Prince Solstice's unfinished stories that he sent me. It is unmodified from its original version. Description: Weed just became an illegal substance in Equestria. The recent generation of the legendary Cannabis family have been raised by their grandmother. Headband, Big Bud, and Plum learn the trade of growing pot and how it has kept their family alive. Now they have to think of tricks to keep the business rolling due to the newly formed Equestrian Drug Service. The family will have to think of new ways to outsmart the E.D.S. Tags: Random Characters: OC Rating: Teen “I’m sorry mam, but the rules are the rules are. You cannot continue to grow this plant.” A brown colt in a trench coat and fedora had stopped by a small farm house oddly built at the bottom of the hill. Out front were about thirty to forty marijuana plants. Each one a different strand, and in the middle of them there was a dark red colt that wore his brown hair rather long. He had stopped working to eye down this intruder. “But- I don’t understand. What are we going to do in order to survive?” a light green mare had a look of concern. “Well, I’m sure you’ll figure something out. There are plenty of other ways to make-“ He was cut short by an older dark green pony. She had a raspy voice and spoke up behind the light green mare. “Now you listen here! We have been growing this wonderful plant for so long, we all have a cutie mark that is related to it. It took generations upon generations to get this farm this big, and it continues to grow under this new one!” The old mare stamped her cane down. “Hell! What else are ya’ll going to take away?!” The lighter green mare stepped in front of the older mare. She gave the colt a look of disgust “You best leave now I think. We have a lot to think about and to discuss. Plus I don’t think Big Bud likes your presence very much.” Big Bud the red colt from the field had come up behind the hatted colt. “Nope” Big Bud spoke in a pretty deep voice. He sounded a little irritated as he walked past the colt. “and frankly, this blows.” His long hair hid his facial expressions. However tucked behind his ear was a joint. The light green mare gestured for the agent to leave while they all gave him a disapproving look. The Solar Empire had passed a recent decree that all uses of the cannabis plant are punishable by law. If caught with the plant, then the violator could serve up to twelve years in the dungeons of the Canterlot Castle itself. None of the family knew why, other than the face some ‘research’ had been done to show that the plant could be linked to adverse effects. “I just don’t understand.” The old green mare stepped out onto the porch. “What are we going to do Headband?” She gestured for Headband to come over to the other chair. “They’ve done this once before, a long time ago.” “Granny Haze, I’m sorry to > Ash by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ash by wille179 Description: During his attack on Ponyville, Discord decided to summon a creature from another universe and fuse it with a pony to make a scary but harmless freak. Too bad the creature he got was more dangerous than he knew. Terrifyingly dangerous. So what do you do with a discorded pony that can turn into a predator that is dangerous to the very fabric of reality? Tags: Dark, human Characters: Braeburn, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Celestia, Mane 6 Rating: Teen A very long time ago, there was a world with some magic. It was weak, but useable. Within this world, there was an infectious disease. The local name for it translated to 'muggle plague.' The bacteria would feed on it's host's magic supply, rendering them unable to cast magic until they cured the infection. One day, a few of these bacteria fell through a naturally occurring portal between universes. They landed in the primordial ooze of a young, very low magic world. The bacteria adapted, managing to pull more magic out of the air to survive. The bacteria eventually ran afoul with some of the larger, native single-celled organisms. These larger cells ate the bacteria, but instead of killing them, they ended up merging to form a single being. The descendants of this fusion, which eventually became humans, would grow up seemingly without magic. They would eventually look into their own cells, see the functioning remnants of the alien 'muggle plague,' and call them 'mitochondria.' At some point in time, a spirit of chaos from a very high magic world would see these humans and take one for himself. He had never heard of mitochondria. (3 months after the recapture of Discord) Applejack couldn't understand why she was here. She didn't know why the Princess had summoned her and her friends. She didn't know why the Princess had asked for her specifically. The mare didn't know why she was being escorted by a small platoon of both solar and lunar guards into the caves below Canterlot. But what AJ saw next practically broke her. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why cousin Braeburn was in a cage. The cage itself was massive, large enough to hold a fully grown dragon, but with bars close enough together that not even a foal could slip through. Within the cage stood a platform made of some metal that the farm mare could not identify. Surrounding the platform was a web of razor wire and a spike pit. The whole setup was designed to kill the occupant of the platform the moment they try to leave it. The occupant being Braeburn. He sat on the platform with his eyes closed, humming to himself despite his situation. He was also missing his signature vest and hat. "Princess! What the hay are ya doin' with mah cousin? Why is he in a cage?" Applejack hollered at Princess Celestia. There was no effort made to tame the anger in her voice. The Princess replied, "Applejack. I know you are angry, but before I explain, take a very good look at your cousin. Tell me what you see. Tell me what you feel, or rather don't feel." "Ah don't know what yer gettin' at, but alright." AJ turned to observe her cousin. It was subtle at first, but the longer she looked, the more obvious it became. Every little detail, from his posture to his fur was slightly off. His head randomly twitched every few seconds. His voice sounded empty, fake. Even the air in the room seemed off. As AJ stepped towards the cage, the air grew still and felt... unnatural. By the time she was a few inches from the cage, her body was numb and she was thoroughly freaked out. The Princesses words came back to her and she realized what was wrong. She was in a CAVE and yet could not feel her connection to the earth. "Princess, what is that thing? That ain't Braeburn! There's somthin' wrong with it! I can't feel the earth when I get near that thing," Applejack said while backing away from the cage as fast as she could. The princess sighed. "I'm truly sorry, Applejack. This is what is left of your cousin after Discord attacked Appleloosa. For reasons we don't know, the magic of the elements of harmony did not restore him." Celestia turned to look in the cage. "Braeburn..." His eyes opened, revealing one eye fully dilated while the other was constricted to a pinprick. He turned his head so that only the former was aimed at Celestia. "Yes, ma'am?" "Would you be so kind as to introduce your cousin and her friends to Jack?" "Sure thing, partner! Ah'd love nothing more than to traumatize them with mah little monster!" He said with way to much excitement. The way Braeburn said it made it sound like he really would enjoy causing her pain. A guard barked out, "BACK! Everypony back!" The guards scrambled to get as far away from the caged stallion as they could. AJ and her friends were practically dragged towards the rear of the room. Yet at the same time, every pair of eyes were upon the prisoner. Said prisoner was laughing like a madman. Braeburn laughed as his body began to grow. He laughed as his neck stretched longer. He laughed as face began to reshape itself, as his ears moved down his head, his eyes shrank, limbs sprouted out of his neck, and his orange fur receded. The transformation lasted only a few seconds, but what remained afterwards was definitely not natural. Braeburn's old body had grown above Celestia's height. Where his neck should be sat the torso - rippling with muscle - of a giant hairless chimp. His head, despite being so strange, still retained hints of Braeburn's old face. The whole thing stood two and a half heads taller than Celestia. The ponies watching the scene nearly lost their lunch. AJ and Twilight did. AJ because that thing was her cousin, and Twilight because she was hyper sensitive to magic. During his transformation, the ambient magic in the cave plummeted, throwing every unicorn in the room off balance. But Braeburn wasn't finished just yet. He laughed as his body began to grow taller again. This time, however, the barrel of his pony body began to shrink. His four legs fused into two. The remaining fur and his tail retracted. What was left was a giant, hairless chimp that stood double Celestia's height. The former Braeburn turned its other eye to Applejack. "Hello, dear. I'm Jack," the creature said in a changed accent. "P-p-p-princess... W-w-what is that thing?" Twilight asked. Every single pony in the room was shaking in fright at the creature in the middle of the room. "Jack calls himself a human, and that body mid transformation a centaur. He has been helpful in our quest for information, but Discord's influence has left him less than sane. His mind shares the body with Braeburn, but the chaos has left them collectively a violent, hedonistic psychopath. The worst part, it seems, is his diet. He is both an omnivore and a manavore," Celestia explained. Her explanation was met with five cries of "He eats meat?!" and one cry - from Twilight - of "He eats magic?!" Twilight almost peed herself. The creature in the cage was quite literally the antithesis to her. Twilight's entire life's work - her special talent - could be quite literally negated by this impossible creature. She knew true fear when she recalled a scientific journal on the properties of magic. The scientists had attempted to drain an object of all of it's magic. Supposedly, nothing had happened until one of them went to touch it. The wooden block disintegrated into a fine ash on contact. Without magic, it literally could not hold together. Jack, with a single touch, could instantly kill any living thing, stop any spell, and erode almost any material in existence. Jack was a predator with the power to destabilize the local laws of physics and use it as food. Twilight screamed. > Equestrian Digital by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Equestrian Digital by wille179 Description: (2nd person) You are an electrical engineer and computer scientist. You arrived in Equestria years ago. Now, after having successfully created the first portable computer for Equestria, you accidentally discover a simple property of magic in regards to how it interacts with your machines. It’s time for you to revolutionize their world all over again. Tags: Human, Random, Slice of Life Characters: Rainbow Dash, OC Rating: Everyone ‘It makes perfect sense! Unicorn brains use electrical impulses. Unicorn brains control magic. Computers use electrical impulses, so why couldn’t they also use magic?’ you thought to yourself. Quickly, you grabbed your pencil and began to sketch out your idea. This could revolutionize the world all over again. Equestria is still just at the beginning of its digital revolution, the one you brought. But this idea could shake the world up again. (Two months later) “Ugh, why do I have to wear this thing, Anon? I can barely move,” Dash whined. She was covered head to hoof in wires, batteries, and circuit boards. Electrodes connected to various points on her body, mostly clustered around the base of her wings. The most prominent feature was the row of spine-like structures that stretched from her forehead all the way down to her tail. The whole setup weighed about thirty pounds, which is quite heavy for a small pony. You chuckled as you walked over to her. “Just wait and see, little one. I promise that if it works, you will love it. I put tons of work into this.” You reached down and pushed a button on one of the circuit boards. A tiny green light lit up indicating that it was on. “Okay. It’s ready. Say it.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, then said, “Activate.” The contraption lit up with a blue light, as if a unicorn was casting a spell on it. However, there were no unicorns present. In fact, the two of you are alone in the middle of a field. A second passed before Dash reacted to something only she could see. “Whoa. What is that?” “You are seeing the user interface,” you explained to the pegasus. “It is an illusion spell projected into your eyes.” “You’re not a unicorn. How can you use magic?” she asked. “I can’t. You are wearing the prototype of my greatest invention: The prosthetic unicorn horn. It drains the wearer’s magic to cast pre-programmed spells. Wearing it, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies should be able to cast complex magic with little to no training!” you said. Your heart beats with pride at your invention. “Come on. Let’s try the levitation program. Now that it’s active, the horn should be able to interpret your thoughts. To the left side of your field of vision, there should be a list of the spells I’ve installed.” “It only has two, Anon. Levitation and tracking. That doesn’t seem very cool,” Dash said, disappointed with her tiny selection. “I was expecting something awesome, like laser blasts or explosions!” “Well excuse me. It’s hard to translate magical theory into C++, let alone modify it so that a pony who has never used magic in her life could understand it.” You pick up a pebble and hold it out in front of you. “Look at the entry for ‘levitation’ and imagine it lighting up.” “Okay. Now it says ‘select target,’” Dash said. You held up the stone in your hand to show it to her. “The stone? Okay.” Your stone was enveloped in a blue aura, but did not move. “Whoa, that feels weird.” “What? Are you alright, Rainbow Dash? Do you want me to stop it?” You ask, worried. She’s not supposed to feel anything. She shakes her head. “No, it kind of feels like when I’m making lightning. It’s tiring, but not unpleasant.” That must mean that she is feeling the magic drain. You probably should see about making the fake horn more efficient. “Now,” Dash said, “What are those thing sticking out of the rock? They were not there until I started the spell.” She is referring to the user interface you built in. “Those are the vector markers. Manipulating them causes the object to accelerate in the corresponding direction.” “Equestrian, please,” Rainbow deadpanned. “Sorry. Pull them with your mind and the object moves that way. The more you pull, the faster it goes. Pull the other way to slow it down. The program automatically compensates for gravity, so you don’t have to worry about it dropping if you get distracted, say, by a certain pink mare we know and love.” Pinkie Pie sneezed. The flour she was measuring out flew everywhere, much to the amusement of the Cake twins. “Awww, I love you too, Anon!” She looked towards one of the bakery walls and said, “Yes, I know this gag is common in anime, but the author really likes it.” [A/N: Pinkie, go back to your side of the fourth wall. Off you go.] The pebble, enveloped in Dash’s blue light, lifted itself out of your hand. It zipped back and forth across the field. After a minute or two, however, the light flickered and went out. Rainbow Dash slumped down, panting. “Aww, come on. Why did it stop?” “That would be the fail-safe. You ran low on magic, so the fake horn stopped the spell. I designed it that way so that you would not hurt yourself. I guess your magic reserves are not nearly as high as a unicorn’s. I will have to work on its efficiency, and maybe see about making it smaller.” During your explanation, Rainbow Dash had managed to catch her breath. “I can’t wait to play with this thing more. Just think about it: Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pegasus in the world now does magic like an alicorn! So AWESOME! Come on, you have to make more spells for me! Please!” “Relax,” you say while stroking her colorful mane. “With Twilight’s help, I plan to make a horn that can cast every spell ever created.” You pause for a minute, thinking. “With magi-tech, we could do so much. Games that come to life with illusion spells, automated magic, AI unicorns… I have lots of work to do,” you said with a chuckle. One thing you knew for sure, Equestria’s future will be digitized. And it will be glorious. > Daring Do's Challenge by wille179 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daring Do’s Challenge by wille179 Description: Daring Do, the world’s most famous explorer and the last in a long line of treasure hunters, died yesterday. Today, a letter written by her appeared in every newspaper in the world. (Part of a larger story in production. Heavily inspired by One Piece and Ready Player One, but not a crossover. Related to the previous short ‘The Descendant of Jupiter.’) Tags: Adventure, Comedy, AU Characters: Daring Do, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie Rating: Everyone. (Full story will be teen-mature.) “RAINBOW DASH!” Someone shouted from below. The addressed mare pulled out of her corkscrew dive and landed by her addressor, Pinkie Pie. “Look look look! Read this,” she said while shoving a copy of today’s paper in her friend’s face. “Pinkie Pie, what’s got you so excited?” Rainbow asked her longtime friend. “JUST READ IT!” The pink mare practically was vibrating in place. She bore a smile that was so large, it seemed physically impossible. “Fine. To the creatures of the world…” Rainbow Dash began. To the creatures of the world, Let me introduce myself. My name is Daring Do. For over five hundred generations, my family has given rise to the greatest treasure hunters of all time. The treasures you know of are only a fraction of my family’s true wealth. I estimate that the contents of my trove approach the value of three-hundred-billion bits. If you are reading this, then I died sometime within the past week. Worse, I died without an heir. This is where you come in. I am giving it away. All of it. However, you have to find it first. A small fraction of my treasure has been scattered around the world, into sixteen tiny bunches. Each bunch, at one million bits value each, also contains one of the sixteen keys required to access the extra-dimensional vault that contains my wealth. Get all sixteen, and what’s mine is yours. Now here’s the catch: only two keys can be obtained by any one member of the eight great races. Two keys for the unicorns, two for the pegasi, the earth ponies, the sea ponies, the zebra, the griffins, the dragons, and two for the minotaurs. That means, to get my treasure, you will have to work together. Once the keys are found, however, anyone can use them. Now, to make it more fun, I had my treasure enchanted. In the major cities of each nation, a display board has been erected. It will display the names and faces of all who have found my treasures and how much they have found. It will also display the names and faces of whomever currently owns any of the sixteen keys. Why not make it a game, I say? Beyond that which I have already said, there are no rules. Anything goes. My treasure belongs to no one nation, meaning everyone and everything is fair game. What do you say? Are you Daring enough to Do it? Before I finish this letter, let me address two more points. Firstly, many of my adventures started out as tips that pointed me in the right direction. So to add to the realism, each key has a riddle that points to another race’s key. But I have to help you with key number one, first. Five syllables: Nightmare Moon, round two. It’s a pegasus key. My second point is the grand prize. If the group who manages to acquire all sixteen of my keys meets a certain condition, an additional prize will be presented to them: the Quill of Faust. No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. And no, I never lie. I really do have the Quill of Faust. Legend says that whomever uses the Quill shall be elevated to godhood and gain complete control of a universe made just for them. Why have I not used such a powerful artifact for myself? It’s partially family tradition, but really, I don’t want to be a goddess. It would take out all the fun of treasure hunting. But you are not me, are you? Now, I ask you again. Do you want my treasure? Do you want to be the next great adventurer? I dare you. For the last time, Daring Do. P.S. Have fun! ;) “No… Way… THIS IS AWESOME! PINKIE! Let’s find that treasure!” Dash screamed. “And I know just where to start!” Pinkie screamed back. “Huh?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head. “Daring Do said the clue was ‘Nightmare Moon, round two.’ That’s when she got free from the moon! And where did we fight her?” Pinkie moved her head closer to Dash’s face while coaxing her friend’s train of thought. Dash screamed, “Pinkie! You’re a genius!” “No I’m not,” Pinkie Pie retorted, “I’m a baker! Come on!” The pink mare grabbed her rainbow manned friend and sprinted for the Everfree forest. “AWWW YEAH! Castle of the Pony Sisters, here we come!” Dash yelled, still being dragged by the hyper, pink mare. “FOR TREASURE!” The two best friends stood outside the abandoned castle. Memories of their adventure here wafted through each of their heads. Dash recalled having been tempted by the Shadowbolts on this very spot. As they stared into the open chambers ahead of them, they felt their hearts flutter in their chest. This time, there was no Nightmare trying to end the world by eternal darkness. There was only a treasure worth a million bits. And one of Daring’s sixteen keys. Oh, and an unknown number of death traps installed by the one mare who had more experience with death traps than any other individual on the face of the planet. No pressure. Pinkie and Dash turned to look each other in the eyes. They blinked, then burst out laughing. “Ready, Pinkie?” She grinned, wider than before. “Ready, Dashie! Let’s go!” Together, they took their first steps into the dilapidated castle. All hell broke loose. A battered and beaten earth pony stood leaning against her companion, who was in a similar state. There was no doubt that they would live, but they would have quite the story to tell. Before them rested a treasure chest, the lock broken off. Slowly, the pegasus lifted the lid. The telltale flash of magic being activated filled the room. When the light cleared, Dash and Pinkie found themselves staring at gold. Lots of gold. A million bits worth of gold, to be precise. The gold, however, failed to hold their attention long. Resting on top of the treasure was a little white ring. Pinkie tried grabbing the ring, but her hoof went right through it as if it was not even there. “Pinkie, Daring Do said that it was a pegasus key,” Rainbow commented. Dash reached out to grab the ring and was rewarded with a solid object. The ring began to morph until it had assumed the form of a glowing, white key. The two friends smiled at each other. Princess Celestia had just finished reading Daring Do’s letter when a guard burst into her throne room. He kneeled before the princess. “Your majesty. Two names just appeared on Daring’s board.” “Well, that was fast,” Celestia remarked. “Tell me, who are they?” “Rainbow Dash and Pinkamina Dianne Pie, elements of Loyalty and Laughter, respectively,” the guard said, still kneeling. “They possess the first of the pegasus keys.” A yellow pegasus floated above Ponyville without flapping her wings. Nodding to herself, she said, “perfect.” Her body began to fade away into nothingness as she returned to the astral plane. The grey maned spirit of adventure had work to Do.