> Two of a kind > by OrangeDJ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The First and Last day of my life > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1: The First day, and the Last. The suns rays peeked through my window shades waking me up. The smell of pancakes downstairs seeping into my nostrils. Just like every other day I'd wait till my pancakes got cold. Avoiding people was my specialty, I ate alone, I slept alone, it was almost as if I had lived alone. Same as always I pulled myself out of bed, groggy and half awake as ever. I managed to get myself over to my desktop, which is where i spent every second of my free time. I have to thank my parents for their high metabolisms, because living off pizza, slim jims and mountain Dew isn't exactly a lean figure diet. It went the same way it always did, browse the forums, check my skype for any messages i may have gotten after I went to bed, then Netflix. There had been a recent buzz about this show, "My Little Pony" I didn't exactly understand the hype behind it, it was a cool cartoon, but after all it was only a cartoon to me, I had gone through about two episodes before I decided to just watch some south park and order some more pizza's. I got a discount on them because I worked at the pizza-palace. I finally was forced to leave the house by the fact I was late to work, you cant exactly get around easy in New York at 5 a clock. Luckily I had my bike , I had gotten half way to my job when *Clunk* a cab door swung open, launching me into a faceplant on the asphalt. I hit the ground hard, and i could feel all the scrapes and cuts on my face, if what was left of my skin up there's could be called a face. The weird thing was, I didn't feel, actual pain, I could tell the wounds should have been there, but i couldn't feel them, I thought it might have just shocked me so bad I couldn't feel it, but after 5 minutes, still nothing, I finally get off of the ground, people crowd me to see if Im alright, I hear one of them say "He doesn't have a scratch on him!". This was great, I didn't exactly have a Leonardo Dicaprio mugg, but I certainly didn't need a cement makeover, with complementary bandages. The next part was stranger, when i got to my job, I kept having nightmares, while I was awake . . . . two powerful women like goddesses at each other's throats, each one screaming at the other "GIVE IT BACK" "NO! YOU TOOK IT FROM ME!" One with golden jewelry and rich creamy skin, her hair was too bright to look at. The other had Luscious Navy blue skin, with black spots, her wavy long blue hair sparkled as if sprinkled with the most beautiful of diamonds. Wait . . . Navy? Hair made of the color spectrum?! and why were they both NAKED!? "Maaan I really Need to lay off of the mountain Dew Code Blue, I heard they put something funky in a few of em and they had to be re-called." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dimensional Gap ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile in Ponyville Twilight was walking home from the library, it was getting close to night now. Normally twilight never stayed out this late, but this one book she had picked up, it was just too good of a read to put down, in fact she had gone through 3 that one day, "Spike, we need to hurry home, Everypony is heading home, the weather is starting to look really bad ." Spike grunts lifting up the heavy books, he had grown into a teenager now. and twilight had the figure of a young woman, her wings had grown in rather nicely, they looked beautiful even when they were folded against her back. " You try carrying these heavy books, there's about 15 here ,and only two of them are mine, Did you rent an entire section of encyclopedias again?" The horn atop twilight sparkles forehead, poking through her hair glowed for a minute, and spike's own tail smacked him in the back of the head. The winds began to pick up, small items were now moving around on the ground sliding, not exactly being picked up by the winds. Pinkie pie had boarded up her house, with her endless energy it only took her a few seconds to board up her home. Apple Jacks barn was locked up tight and she and her family waited inside, hoping that if it was a storm it would pass. Rainbow dash had been busy attempting to keep the storm at bay, but none of the usual methods worked , the clouds looked like it had no end and no matter how she tried to impede it, it kept pressing forward, like a marching army, and the clouds just kept getting darker. Fluttershy had gathered her animals in her home, one of the kinder stallions had helped her prepare, though, she didn't really have much say in that matter. Rarity refusing to leave her workshop, and determine to finish her latest creation decides "A little thunder and lightning isn't going to get in the way of my work". From The castle Luna looks on, asking her sister and troubled by the sudden storm that seems to have appeared out of , , and Celestia answers her sister " No, dear sister this storm has been coming for a long time now, approximately 600 years ago. Storms like this one are something more than just a sign, they are an omen." Then Luna asks her " Why don't you stop it then , Cant you do that?" Celestia looks at her sister's look of wonder and anxiousness "No, Luna, Even with all my power, this is something that I cant stop. I tried once before, and it brought me very near to death, If I tried again I'd surely fall, some things are fate I suppose" The lightning crackles booms and roars in the sky, as if something in the clouds was trying to tear its way out, all manner of creature fled from it now. This storm was large and powerful, it seemed as if the clouds were an army that covered the skies, and that the booming thunder was their footsteps. Not even Celestia herself could stop the storm, this truly was an unstoppable fate, but what exactly did fate have in mind? > Discord at my doorstep > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ~.Equestria approximately 1 hour ahead.~ Celestia and Luna were returning from the lookout of the castle to the throne room. Discord sits on Celestia's throne , a grin spreads wide across his face. Celestia's face however, was the opposite of his. Her face was one of complete outrage "Discord! Just what do you think you're doing!? I thought you said you would only use your magic for good!" The only response he gave her was a snort in laughter " I also said "Most of the time"." He looks through the stained windows at the storm, fuming and loud, like a large barking dog. " I didn't make this storm, All it takes to make everypony go running is a little noise and wind? might as well expose them to your snoring." A brighter shade of red couldn't be found anywhere, than the one on Celestia's face. Luna had to stifle her laughter by covering her mouth, but a small giggle slipped out anyway. "How dare you disrespect me in my own home !" Discord simply waved her off and hopped out of the throne, the guards moved in on him, their spears pointed directly at his gut. "Discord . . how about you go and stop the storm, if my sister can't do it, then you're the only option left." He teleported himself up into the air, floating ,and crossing his legs , while laying his head back. The guards were dismissed by Celestia , against someone like discord they wouldn't be much help anyway. " I don't really think I want to stop this storm . Its been a while since I've been able to watch some good ol' fashioned chaos" "But you have to, you swore you'd use your magic for good." Luna says trying to be as diplomatic as possible about this " Oh-ho-ho, i said "only" for good . . .sometimes, I chose when to use my powers." Celestia stomps her hoof, and then she got an idea . " It really is a shame you wont help us Discord." Discord his head high with a toothy grin. " And there's nothing you can do about it ." " Yes, and its also too bad you wont be able to pull pranks anymore ." The chimera looked at the princess with bewilderment, and distrust. " I can do anything I wish, if i wish it, but just in case I was interested . . .why not?" The room was silent for a moment , the silence's only filling was the thunder from outside, getting louder and louder each time, the number of booms was also growing, Becoming a more pressing issue, the booms were now rattling the walls of the castle. Luna was the only one really paying attention to the storm, she shuddered at the thought of what that storm was probably doing to Ponyville, and Canterlot right now . " Because , discord, What good are pranks-" The princess pauses interrupted by the thunder . "- if there is no one left to play them on? " Discord had to think for a minute, Stop the storm , or keep enjoying the fun he was having. " DiscooOO- oord! " Celestia yelled, after having been shaken by the rumbling of the thunder from outside. A deep sigh came from discord, he didn't really want to stop the storm, but he wanted to be alone again even less. " Oh . . .fine, but you both owe me, since I am the only one powerful enough to stop this ." Normally the one to give orders, Celestia couldn't stand to for once be at the mercy of someone else's whim, but there was nothing she could do because her magic wouldn't work on the storm. Discord on the other hand was now flying directly towards the sky outside, The thick turbulence made it annoying to get inside of the thundercloud. But eventually after what discord would later come to call "Minor effort" he made his way inside the thick black clouds. Inside the cloud there was virtually no wind at all, and the only source of light was a large pulsing sphere of red energy, it beat like a heart, and every time it did, more thunder roared through Equestria. Thunder took its toll on discords hearing, and that was getting to be rather annoying. Blasts of magic seemed to do nothing to shut the pulsing off, in fact it increased their speed, it had taken him 5 minutes to absorb a fraction of the energy this storm possessed , and he wasn't about to be outdone by some silly storm, in fact he bet he could create a better storm himself. Then the idea hit him, He would counter-act this storm, with another one. Gathering his own magic, The powerful chimera combined it with the fraction of the original storm's power, making himself his own storm, this sphere was smaller, not to mention blue. " This will have to do, nobody's magic is better than mine! not even nature's!" Small and crackling with lighting, the blue sphere was naturally attracted to the red sphere, and was sucked inside of it. For a moment all thunder stopped, and the wind in Ponyville stopped too, all the towns-ponies looked outside to see if it was over, but their hopeful eyes turned to ones of dread when they realized that they were only in the eye of the storm. Magic from discord was now in the sphere and it was pulling him in as well now. " I'm discord! some measly storm can't destroy me!". After the two spheres had combined their color turned to a deep dark purple, creating a vortex under the storm cloud, unfortunately for discord, he was too busy being pulled into the sphere to notice. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dimensional Gap ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "What am I even doing with my life? working in some rinky dink pizza joint to help pay my way through art school , because i could never pay enough attention in class to go to a real college." I was the textbook definition of a real life burnout, and I knew it, I was the guy who had the brains, and the ability to get there, but I wasted it , because I was lazy. There was a first boom, it sounded like thunder that struck close to the store, then there was a second, a huge explosion. An explosion that rocked the store. The pizzeria shook all around me, and I had to hold onto the counter table to keep from falling on my ass. Those horns, those annoying horns from the cars that were flipped over. I tried to leave the pizzeria, but the door wouldn't open, like it was locked or something, and the back was now full of broken dishes, fallen trays and toppled boxes, I am NOT going back there. Well, after a few minutes of noise my ears adjusted, I pulled my self up from the counter top . Felt really . . .weak, when i did it too, I figured i suffered from heat exhaustion because it looked like the dough had rolled itself into the shape of a humanoid and was doing a dance routine "The hell, dancing dough ? I must have a concussion." Then the coffee machine started spurting out diet Pepsi, DIET Pepsi , which oddly enough I happen to enjoy quite a bit. Then ,all the sodas in the store started pelting themselves at me, this was beyond ridiculous. " KNOCK IT OFF !" I yelled at the top of my lungs, and for a split second I felt a heat all around my body, I closed my eyes for a moment because of the sudden light in my eyes. When I reopen my eyes the entire store is scorched, my work clothes are half burnt off, and in front of me , stands a giant dragon, eagle, snake . . thing! Whatever it was, the creature looked none too happy with me, apparently, if it had eyebrows, I scorched them off. I couldn't apologize, because the creature waved its hand, and my mouth was gone, not like shut, it was just skin where my lips should be. I Honestly thought the creature was going to eat me, It was a huge mish-mash of monsters after all. " I'm a creature you haven't heard of though you do know of where I'm from, had you paid more attention you'd know all about me and what I do". Okay, so not only does this creature know me, and who i am , but he knows what I'm thinking?! " The dragonoid monster smirked at me. "Oh and to answer what you're thinking right now, small creature, I can't read your thoughts, but i can read YOU" The amount of fear in my eyes must have been funny for him because he was laughing the entire time he was in the room. I was about to reach for the burglary alarm when my arm stuck to my side, the next thing I knew , my body was standing at attention, and being lifted into the air, nobody would bother looking in here or coming inside after that explosion, they all wanted to see what it was, or if they had good sense they were running away still. After I was lifted 4 feet off the ground my body layed back. It was being flipped in multiple directions by this dragonoid thing, He looked like a scientist ready to dissect a foreign life form, I knew it was a he, because of the facial hair and the voice, so there was no mistaking that. " Curious that something as small and weak as you could be the source " Source? What was he talking about? Most likely my BO, that's not my fault though honest! I shower twice a day! This pizza place is so hot and i sweat so much that by the end of the day It starts to smell, usually I manage to get home before that, but now, now I haven't exactly had a chance to leave. My vision starts to get a bit hazy, the feeling of having one eye see something completely different i saw from the left, it was, painful. . . my brain couldn't handle it and it gave me headaches. In my left eye I saw something, it looked like an abandoned village, or town, I was floating above it, and everything was so dark, it looked terrible. I almost was about to shut my right eye when i realized, the image of the pizzeria it was getting cloudy! The image in my left eye was pulling me in, and to top it off the dragon-thing ,and I were both fading . Yet on the other side we were fading INTO existence, the less of my hand I was able to see in my right eye, the more of it I could see in my left! The final thing I saw in my right eye was the store crumbling onto itself, would anyone know what happened to me? Would anybody even care? Probably not, they'd most likely assume i was crushed in the rubble. Eyes clenched shut in fear, thats how the hero of this story came into the world that I would later come to know as "Equestria". After a few minutes I finally worked up the nerve to open my eyes and see where I was, I was greeted by an image of The dragonoid from earlier and someone else, he was cloaked in a blue aura, but from what I saw he was a human like me. His voice rang out like the booming of thunder, in this stange void. " So you're supposed to be the one I have to worry about, psshh, forget that, You look pathetic" What was this guy even talking about? If I wasn't in need of some answers I'd walk- . . .float? over to that guy and show him who was the king of the jungle- . . .errrr cloudy void thing? A vortex opened up under me, swirling towards the ground, but stopping halfway, "What is going on!?" I SPOKE! with my mouth! My mouth was back! That poser with the blue aura was happy to answer, by blasting me with a bolt that sent me flying into a purple sphere. Did i mention how much that hurt, imagine dropping a radio that was plugged in straight into your tub while you were in it, and NOT dying, though, I don't know if that was the bolt or the series of painful shocks I got after I got blasted from the sphere by another shock. The lightning hurtled me toward the ground. My hair was in my face, my chest was on fire . I wanted to call out to someone for help, this couldn't be real. I'm not supposed to die like this, I can't just die with no answers or explanations, this wasn't the end right? When I tried to call out to someone all that came was a scream of pain. Hitting the ground with a "PHOOM!" everything around my impact radius shook, and before I completely blacked out I swore a heard a voice, like a little boys voice say " I swear, I saw him ride the lightning down here! I saw the who-" Enough of this, sleeping now. . . My eyes wouldn't open and my thoughts wouldn't gather , my body was in automatic shutdown mode, but this was different than regular sleep. This was as if someone pulled the plug on my body, and the last thing to lose power was my brain as it slowly went black, and my thoughts went quiet. > Cultural ignorance > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dark . . .why was it so dark ? I fumbled around for a bit, there was no light from the moon. Then again , I knew it wasn't night, I knew exactly where, and what I was, dead. I could float forever if I wanted to, never touching or reaching any- "OW!" What was that? Even when im dead I can feel pain? No, that shouldn't be, moving my eyes told me something was covering them, cloth, maybe, I was going to figure out what was going on. Maybe, hopefully, I was being punked, yeah, all of this was some big elaborate prank, and I'm gonna meet Tracy Morgan backstage. . .right? Try as I did I couldn't move my hands, it was as if I had forgotten how to work my own body. Seemed that speaking wasn't possible either, because my mouth wouldn't open or close, all throughout my entire being I wanted to be free, I wanted to know where I was ,and I wanted to go home. The back of my spine arched, my body! it was responding! My head laid back and I felt a tingling, then a lot of heat, the cloth wrapped around my eyes burned away instantly, but I had no burns on me. In the beginning there was nothing, and someone said "let there be light", BUT THEY DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT BLINDING ME WITH IT! Took me a full minute for my eyes to adjust to the room's light, it had been put directly in my face, like one of those dentist chair lights, except it was replaced with high beams from a Mercedes Benz. This light annoyed me, it hurt my eyes, all it required was me putting my hand up to block the light with my hands, and it shattered, the smoke rose up through the ceiling, but unless these people had bloodhounds I wasn't very worried about that. Now to get a look at the room, as I sat up, I took it all in, bookshelves, books, scrolls? Oddly enough I knew this place, I had been here before, I don't think I was here directly though, but then why would i remember this place? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight and spikes side of the story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Apparently, spike smelled smoke coming from somewhere downstairs, " Oh no, Patient 01!". Normally Twilight would have been fine with that name, but after Dash ribbed her about it she resigned to give it a better name . . .eventually. She fixed her hair as best she could and ran down the stairs, right behind spike. Sitting there flexing its arms was some strange , creature, thing. Apparently it hadn't noticed them yet, Twilight wondered how because she and Spike had just RUN down the stairs. "What do you think it is Twilight?". If there was anything strange or unexplainable going on in Equestria, chances were that Twilight had read a book on the subject, thrice. Unfortunately for both of them she hadn't, and was now at a loss for words " I . .I . . I-I don't know spike " She whispered back. " You don't know ?! What do you mean you don't know !?" He yell- whispered back, which was as redundant as stealing a jewel and arming the alarm as you left. Twilight's eyes grew wide with uncertainty, " I meant just that, I really don't know what it is, but if we ask it, maybe it will tell us". Twilight slowly approached the strange creature, slightly excited as she did, ever curious of things she had never heard of. "Twilight! don't get near that thing, it might hurt you!" it seems his loud whispers of warning did nothing to deter the young woman from her lust for knowledge. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back to my perspective ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was sitting up now, swinging my legs and clenching my fists, I still couldn't hear a single sound. my hearing was definitely shot. My head still hurt, and images of a man, the one who shot me own from the sky, were still blaring in my mind, making the pain worse. Being caught up in the pain from my head, none of my senses turned to the purple young girl who was now standing to my left, eyes wide like a toddler who caught a glimpse of his next piece of candy. She was about 5'9, her appearance caused me to freak out and fall off the side of whatever I was sitting on, turns out it was an examination table."Wh-Wh-WHY!? Why are you naked!?" I shouted, hiding from behind the table, I'd seen horror movies, random naked girl? always kills the stupid pervert guy. "Naked?" she said with her head tilted, she was obviously confused. Getting a better look at her, what kind of perverted anime con had I walked into, this girl had spray painted her body pinkish purple, dyed her hair purple and pink, and tied wings to her back. Despite the fact I was scared out of my mind right now, I had to give this girl credit that her body did look really good, she had these perky B-cups, I tried to avoid looking at them, but I'm a guy, and my eyes were listening to my other head right now, luckily she couldn't see that part of me because i was crouched behind the table. " Yea! naked! You aren't wearing any clothes, normal people dont just walk through their house naked!" I yelled from behind the corner, okay, I admit it, now i was definitely staring. but its not like I'll ever have this happen again, so why not? "I don't know exactly what normal is where you come from, but here we only wear clothes as a special occasion, unless of course, where you come from this is a special occasion?" Great, juuust great, I somehow wandered into a nudist colony, then again, when you grow up around everyone else naked, it doesn't seem as sexual to you I suppose. " N-No, but still this is weird, who even are you anyway?" I was less afraid of her now, she seemed serious an matter of factly about everything she was saying, oddly enough, it wasnt helping my situation downstairs so I stayed crouched. "I am princess Twiligh-" "No, really , who are you? this joke stopped being funny 10 minutes ago" I interrupted her, yes it was rude but I was tired of playing these role playing games. Visibly fuming, the young woman was obviously insulted. Maybe she thought I was playing her game wrong or something? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Twilight's view ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Naked ? " I had never even heard such a word before. Using my translation magic, I could hear everything he was saying in Equine, but certain words just sounded like nonsense to me, probably something in his language. Apparently wherever he was from, the social norm was to always be wearing clothes, I didnt see much sense in that, but from the look his face wore, he was obviously disturbed by the social norms here as well. Just where exactly was this creature from? I tried to tell him my name, when he asked it, but he insulted me! I'm royalty and he insults me with disbelief?! After I took care of him in my home no less. " I don't know how you introduce yourself where you're from, friend, but here we introduce ourselves first and then ask the other pony's name." "I'm not a pony, I'm a human" I'd never seen a "human" before, he looked a little bit like big macintosh, only skinny, with greasy hair, pale skin, and a bit of a dull look. In fact he was rather unimpressive altogether, I seriously doubted he tamed lightning and rode it down to ponyville. The only redeeming thing about him really, was his face, not ruggedly handsome like Macintosh, or charmingly handsome like a prince. Cute, was more the way I'd describe him, like a colt all the fillies would fawn over, he looked pretty young as well. maybe a colt in our age system. " What exactly is a human? Do they all look the same? " He seemed mad, like I had offended him or something, is asking questions banned where he comes from or did i say something rude? " No, "Twilight" we do not all look the same, everyone looks a little bit different, some alot more, some a little less. The way he said my named bothered me, it was like he was calling me a liar to my face, I was honestly trying to be as hospitable as possible about this, but this human was making it really difficult. " Why do you keep saying my name like that? you say it like I have a reason to lie about who I am, no other pony in all of Equestria looks like me, has my cutie mark, my talent with magic or a cutie mark like mine, not to mention a dragon for a friend as great as spike.." The human's eyes got wide when his attention turned to spike, apparently he didnt have dragons where it came from either. Its home seemed relatively tame now, either that or he was VERY sheltered from things for his whole life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And back to my view of things again ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It was a dragon ! a real life dragon, with smoke fuming out of his nose and everything! I wasn't convinced at first, i thought it was just wicked make up ,and some body paint. but when he opened his mouth to talk, smoke rolled out, and he looked pretty pissed at me. When the girl called out to him I realized what had been right in front of my face. "What is it spike?" I realized exactly what was going on immediately, it was like logic, my eyes, and my 8 year old self were having an argument in my head. I couldn't believe where I was, and all the reasoning in my brain didn't want to believe where I was, but my logic didn't apply here, I was at the mercy of this world's logic and physics. "So you're really Twilight sparkle? If you're really Twilight then prove it, show me some magic, and I'll believe you" Spike turned his attention to me, I took to calling him Spike prematurely because secretly i already knew where I was, I was in Twilight's home. "Okay, but in return you have to tell me everything you can remember about yourself , including how you got here, alright?" "Thats fair I guess. . ." A horn on top of Twilight's head glowed with pink energy, after about 3 seconds my upper lip started to itch, and within 10 I had a fully grown mustache. "This is the same magic you tested on spike when you first came to ponyville!" Both of them now inched towards me, speaking over each other and asking me multiple questions "How do you know that? Where did you come from? Are you the one responsible for creating that storm?How long have you been watching us?" Talking was a non option for me, so i just waited for them to run out of questions, or breath, either one worked for me. Though, when I thought that, the oxygen in the room all gathered around me, pulling itself out of their lungs, I freaked out of course, and when I did the oxygen returned to them. " Jeezis! I'm sorry I'm sorry I swear I didn't mean to do that, weird stuff like this has been happening since that dragon eagle thing showed up!" Unanimously now a single word passed from their lips "Discord . . ." From the way they sai it I could tell that their encounters with him weren't all that *pleasant* either. I tried my best to explain to them where I came from, how I was shot out of the sky by another one of my kind ( I left out the blue aura part). I told them the reason I knew a few things about them, the entire truth, in my world all of them were nothing more than moving picture images, and they were in fact imaginary in my world, yet famous. Spike sat on a stair rubbing his head, the guy looked like he was trying to put a puzzle piece somewhere it didn't fit and he couldn't see why. Twilight on the other hand, had an odd smile "Then this proves me right !!" she was giggling and bouncy, it was the middle of the night, she was naked, and yet here she was bouncing and giggly! She sat her desk, with a mad grin on her face and started writing on some odd scroll looking thing she had pulled out from a high bookshelf, when she finished that she pulled out a piece of paper and started writing again. "Not to be rude Twilight, I'm sure you got enough of that from me already, but what exactly are you so giddy about, and what was in that scroll." She doesn't answer me at first, in fact she walks right past me, and hands the roll of paper to spike, who instantly burned it up-wait, no he didn't burn it, he sent it somewhere. "Did that letter just go to princess Celestia?" I hoped she wouldn't ignore me this time. She turned her head to me, finally giving me some attention, heh, that sounds pornographic. "Oh! I'm sorry, some times I get so wrapped up in my work. The scroll was . ..ermm, a theory of sorts, no one believes me yet, but I was right about nightmare mo-Pincess Luna, and I was right about you so I can firmly say Im right about this too. I guess you know about spike being my little delivery system too huh?" A burp echoes in the room for a moment, and spikes eyes grow wide when he reads the note " Uhhh Twilight? you should come read this" Unbeknownst to me the letter read out " So the "Human" has finally woken up? Excellent, I have to come see him for myself, It is of the utmost importance you do not let him out of your sight at any time under any circumstance! Myself and Luna will arrive at noon tomorrow, I trust you can handle this yourself, you were my student at one time after all. ~Celestia" They both looked at me with a strange wide eyed gaze. I returned their stares with one word only "What?" > Persecuted > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Three hours, for three hours, Spike, Twilight, and myself sat up all night taking. There were questions asked, answers given, and I drew them a few pictures to help them understand better, I was an art student after all.The more I told them about my world the more I began to wonder how to get back to it, this place seemed nice, and I wasnt exactly in a hurry to leave, but being here was eventually going to have some kind of drawback. Unfortunately I couldnt think of any, If I could just learn some magic I'd be all set, With that thought I settled the debate taking place in my brain and heart. "Hey heart?" "Yeah brain?" "I'm pretty sure he's gone tyrannical overlord on us" "So abandon ship?" "ARE YOU STUPID?" "You're the smart guy running everything, if I'm stupid doesn't that make you stupid too?" "Outwitted by an overrated pump, just great." Did that really just happen, not only did my organs have a conversation but I HEARD the conversation! My body seemed completely fine now, which is strange considering I fell over 20,000ft from the sky and into the hard cobblestone ground. Just how the hell did I survive that, magic or not my body should have been paste on impact, not even little chunks, just a greasy, bloody, handsome . . paste. Was I some kind of freak now? Probably not considering I was a freak before, but this was taking weird and combining it with an acid trip! Earlier I had been avoiding asking this question, I didnt want to let on exactly how much I knew and how much I didnt know. Dying to ask about what should have been an immenent demise I finally broke down, i had to know, how did i survive? People dont just fall 20,000+ft and wake up the next day refreshed after all. "Okay guys, so from the show and from you I've gotten most of this puzzle solved, but you seem to have forgotten to tell me how I survived that fall, I mean, from the looks of things its only been a few hours, and I can walk and move like I only took a nap." Spike turns to Twilight, and she turns to him, they both looked like I raged through the little town-village . .thing, and woke up with no memories of it. WAIT I DIDN'T DO THAT RIGHT?! "Actually . . ." Spike pipes up, smoke rolling up out of his mouth. "We were hoping you could tell us, the other thing is . . .You haven't been asleep for only a few hours, its been a week since you crashed here in Ponyville" "Rainbow Dash brought you in here, you were covered in some strange purplish crystal. We honestly had no Idea if you were even alive,, on the third day the crystal broke off into pieces, barely breathing, but somehow you survived. After that we called a doctor to have a look at you, he wasn't sure if you'd ever wake up." Okay, so not only did I fall from the sky and nearly die, after being shot by the only human I've seen in this place, but now I'm being told I have been missing in my world for a week! Everyone is probably sure I'm dead, mom'll probably have a small funeral, never knowing I'm alive and well in a room with a purple naked horse girl and a naked dragon teen. At least I'm alive, not sure about well yet. Before I actually notice it the sun rises, I couldn't be happier , after all this sleeping I definitely need to walk, and even though I didn't want to admit it, I secretly wanted to try out my powers. "I think I'll go outside and regain my motor skills" As soon as I got near the door and began to open it ,it slammed in my face! "No! uhhh, you can't leave, because, uhhhh, my friends are coming to see you soon!" I didn't know it but Twilight had her friends over quite alot, and then my mind created its own happy place, 6 naked young women? In a house alone? Imagine any activity women would do together , now imagine they were all hot , suddenly any activity seems erotic. I hadn't actually seen the rest yet, but if twilight was any indication of their sexiness I'd bet my manhood on it. "Friends you say? and when exactly would they be coming over?" "oh, in about an hour or so before noon though one in particular will be here earlier than the rest." The teenage dragon snickered as Twilight rolled her eyes at him "S'not my fault I'm so awesome that she keeps coming to see me." Was there some kind of joke here that I missed or something? "Last I remember its YOU who keeps bringing her over so early in the morning, just because you're 17 doesn't mean you can just have fun with your girlfriend whenever you want, adults have responsibilities too." Ever have one of those moments in time where everyone in the room knows whats going on except you, yeah you too? Great I'd hate to spoil that with actual answers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Currently at Celestia's castle ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A gale of wind swirls into the castle, presenting itself in front of Luna in her chambers, who had currently been bored at the state of affairs, as troubling as the storm a week ago was, it was the only entertainment she had had in a long time. Needless to say she jumped at the opportunity for something eventful to hasppen. " Does anyone have manners these days? Or do we all just decide when to intrude into a castle at our convenience? What kind of magic is this anyway?" The gale spoke with a voice that boomed thought the room and crackled, yet no one outside, not a single guard managed to hear it. " The human that fell from the sky, you and your sister must banish him to a distant star, one where his evil magic cant harm anypony." Luna actually perked up when the gale called him evil "Is he evil? Truly so? A force to be reckoned with even?" "Yes, and he grows stronger by the day! I have seen the future and it is one of loss an suffering, but if you helped me stop him now we could prevent the coming disaster!" Luna prances around him, a smile worn on her face " I dont know if you know this, but I was thought to be "Evil" once " Now the gale becomes defensive " Yes but this evil cannot be swayed, cannot be turned to reason." Still prancing Luna begins to laugh a little at the gale " The only ones who cant be turned from evil are the ones no one bothered to save from themselves. My sister and I will make him see the right path if he is as evil as you say, now . . .You have entertained me so you can go ahead and leave now, before I do call the guards" Feeling ignored the gale goes silent " . . ." and dissipates after a few moments. The wind blows through the window and the presence that was in the room can't be felt anymore Deep in the bitterly cold frozen mountains of the north sits a human, the only other human in all of Equestria was . . .sleeping, apparently. Wanting to avoid creating a disturbance he had stowed himself away in the mountains, where no one would look for him. As the spiral of winds came upon the sleeping human, he woke up, his blue aura now restored to him. The gale was his own version of astral projection, allowing him to be anywhere without going directly to that place. He sat up, feeling rejected and angsty, Why wouldn't that princess see reason? He knew he was a stranger but she should have at least been on her guard. He only wished that instead of Luna, it had been Celestia in that chamber, she would have heeded him. Down an icy frosted cavern that seems to swirl on into infinity, at the very bottom of this cavern, the blue aura'd human bashes against the walls of the cavern . On the walls of the cavern are images, carved into the stone, obviously ancient, these were left here before many of the current ponies in Equestria were ever a thought let alone born. DAMN IT , CASSIUS YOU ALWAYS SCREW EVERYTHING UP! "It's not my fault! Normally the bolt would have gone right through a human, not to mention the impact should have splattered him!" BUT HE ISN'T NORMAL IS HE!? Honestly you are such a twit Cassius did you trally think you could stop fate? "I thought If I killed him I could rewrite the future, but instead I made it happen, This time I can deliberately change it" Looking to the wall 5 images shined, glowing with a strange power, They look ancient , despite the glow the carvings still looked worn and decrepit. "The previous 3 images have already come to pass, I have to stop this one here, or its game over". Fourth in the order of images is a carving of the other boy who landed here, he was standing over Cassius' body. a very large chunk of the wall was missing, but the final image was that of Equestria, but it was now a barren volcanic wateland. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An hour away from noon in Twilight's house ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ " Where's Spike? and whats taking him so long" Twilight looked up from the book and lowered her glasses off her face ever so slightly, it looked pretty sexy. Like that erotic librarian fetish, she fit that look well, I had tried to convince her at least 5 times to put clothes on, she only consented after she had read that letter, and I wanted to know why, every time I brought the letter up though, everything would get all awkward. "Spike always takes his time when he visits Rarity, and after they've both been *taking their time* they'll need to take a shower, and during that, they'll probably take more time, that's why I sent spike early, its been an hour and a half now so they should be here soon." She said that with slight annoyance, In my own mind it took me a second to connect the fact that she had totally just brushed over the fact that her . . friend. . .son, dragon . . .thing was sleeping with her friend constantly. Knock knock knock Instead of Spike and Rarity at the door I was pleasantly surprised, it was Fluttershy. Fluttershy was nothing like that, she had a body like a 23 year old mother before her pregnancy started to show, glow and all. "Fluttershy!" i bursted from behind Twilight. "H-Hello, uhmmm, errmmm, I'm sorry but I just can't remember you, and thats strange because i never forget a face, have we met?" I felt kind of, I dunno, off place that she didn't recognize me, On one hand I wanted everyone to know who I was, yet on the other not to disappointed because she might have been scared of me. " A human!? The only other of his kind here tried to hurt him? Oh you poor little guy, are you still hurt?" Twilight had explained to her how I got here apparently. Warm butter . .that's what I felt like in her arms, nothing mattered, four thousand years wouldn't be enough time to spend in this girl's arms. "I'm fine now, I umm, I guess" I don't think she was convinced, because she kept hugging me like I was an injured animal. have to get out of this somehow before she starts to see me like one of her pets. Some girls responded with a motherly aspect to things they view as weak or frail, and while that was nice I wasn't about to become a helpless little creature. I wasn't in Fluttershy's arms anymore, now I was in the sky, again hurtling to my doom AGAIN. Then I felt arms holding me, they weren't as soft as fluttershy's so I know she didn't help me, in fact it felt like a boy my age was holding onto me so that I didnt fall. "Hey thanks ma-" I was turning around to get a look at who saved me, needless to say it was the athletic one, but I couldn't remember the first half of her name, only Dash. "Are you trying to make a habit out of slamming your face into the pavement at 100 miles per hour?" "Yes, that's what humans do we flaunt our immortality by trying to kill ourselves in vain." "Really? you guys are weirdos" "I was being sarcastic" Probably not a good idea to piss dash off, especially when she was carrying me. I really hated this feeling, being at the mercy of someone else, it was like being a caged dog. The urge to wriggle out of her arms overcame my senses, and soon enough, there I was, falling again "Hey what are you doi- oh no!" This time when my powers activated it would be of my own free will 20, 000 ft come on brain make this work. 15 000 ft shazaam? 10 002 ft I need this to work. Krackoom! I think I shattered the sound barrier there, but more importantly I WAS FLYING. I knew that if this stopped at any moment I could die, but being able to fly? Dash had actually seen what I did and flown to catch up to me, why was she so darn fast? "How are you DOING that?! where are your wings?!" "I kind of don't need them I guess" Dash and I spent some time learning the mechanics of flight, though I could swear I was missing something. At Twilight's house Luna and Celestia had just arrived a swarm of guards behind them, Naturally as the older sister Celestia spoke first. "So, Princess Twilight, Where is the human? "I ummm, uhhhh" I could hear a scream of disbeleif, even all the way out in cloudsdale "You WHAT!?" Celestia yelled when Twilight told her where I had gone. "Well" Luna interuppted "We have to assume he knows we are looking for him then." The two princess looked at Luna , and Twilight asked "How do you know that Luna?" A small smirk lined her face, and she laughed a little bit, "Apparently, not only did he cause the storm, but he's evil, and his power will continue to grow everyday he lives. That's according to whoever it was that contacted me. in whispers in the house someone said the name "Sombra" but noone knew where it came from. Celestia had gathered everyone in Ponyvile, most were being nosy and wathing what she was doing in twilights home anyway, but now they were all in the middle of the town, being addressed. " As far as we know, and as evidence suggests this young human is wanted for insighting panic and threatning to destroy, not only myself but ponyville as well, seeing as Luna, Twilight and I are the only ones capable of dealing with this threat we will stay here and wait for him to return." "Princess Celestia wai-" " No Twilight, this time I will stop the senseless destruction, for good." The ponies of ponville cheered and roared as if war heroes had come home, unfbeknowgst to them the nails were being shut on their coffins with what was about to happen because of this decision. > Public enemy #1 . . .2 and 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Flying was fun and all, it was the falling part that was annoying, my powers were beginning to respond to me, but only when i was about to die. My powers still wouldn't respond when I wanted them to, only when I needed them to. "Hey , Dash?" "Yea? What is it?" " Before I came here, I met this dragon, chicken, lion . . .thing." "You mean Discord?" "I guess, he was kind of too busy making fun of how small and weak I was to tell me his name" "That sounds like him, but why would you wanna even talk about someone like that?" " I think he brought me here, or he did something to me, every time I've used my powers it felt like there was something stopping me." "We usually try to avoid him kiddo, so finding him might be a little har-" Our conversation was interrupted by me plummeting again, the fear hadn't passed, because if my powers had any kind of limit and Dash wasn't able to figure out that my powers weren't coming back . . .well you know where this is headed. Instead of blue arms around me like I expected, or my powers coming back online one humanoid hand stretched out and grabbed me by the collar. Blue smokeish fog rolled off the humanoid's arms, and i recognized him instantly "Relax, I'm not gonna shoot you out of the sky . . again, in fact I'm actually here to help " This guy shot me in the chest with a lightning bolt and sent me hurtling 20, 000ft into the ground ,left me for dead, and now he wants to say he's here to help? fuck him man, fuck him! "ARE YOU SERIOUS? YOU TRIED TO KILL ME A WEEK AGO, AND NEARLY SUCEEDED! WHY WOULD I LET YOU EVEN BREATHE THE SAME AIR I DO?!" Crimson violet was all I saw, I was absolutely overcome with rage, Clouds were swirling around me, even Dash was caught up in the swirling of the clouds "Because if you don't let me help you then you are going to keep hurting innocent ponies, and ultimately destroy Equestria" That statement caused me to lose momentum, chances were if he was gonna try to kill me again he'd just have done it quickly and gotten it over with like before, besides if he wanted to kill me I probably couldn't stop him. Clouds in the sky ceased to swirl around him, Rainbow dash easily caught herself once the cloud released the blue pony girl. Our protaganist's luck however, was not so fortunate, in the sky, his cloud mishap had attracted the attention of a certain Alicorn with rainbow hair. Celestia herself was now heading to the scene of the disturbence. "Sister! wait!" a familiar voice from a rather fair looking blue skinned Alicorn princess of the moon. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a few minutes earlier ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Celestia, you can't just lock him up like that"! " If he's getting stronger everyday what good will a dungeon do ? The older sister turned to Luna, at first annoyed, then thinking, then finally resolved " You're right Luna" The younger sister sighed in releif "Banishment to a far off star would solve our problems much better" Twilight slapped her palm against her face, this was ridiculous. why was Celestia so high strung about getting rid of the human, he was, admittedly plain, but he didn't seem like a threat. Amidst the bickering between the three about what should really be done as they heade back to twilights house, a swirling of dark clouds appeared, a vortex underneath it, it was good that it as nowhere near any residences or towns. And we bet you can guess what happened after that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back to me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is, is that . . CELESTIA?! Christ! Why the hell did she look so pissed at me? I hadnt done anything wrong, at least on purpose . This is right about when I'd high tail it outta here and go hide somewhere, unfortunately I was being held up by the collar and at the moment if this was a game my powers weren't in any type of mood to play co op. Struggling wasnt my best bet, but I knew Dash was nearby, and I'd yell for her to catch me when . . .if I managed to get free. Maybe it was this guy that was nullifying my powers, I dont know, naked pony women, chicken bear dragons, and blue glowing humans? Nothing made much sense in this crazy world I'd been brought to. "Let me go. . . ." My captor seemed to be confused by my words "Cant do that, your powers wont be coming back this time" Well that's just dandy, I didn't really believe him, but if he really went through all the trouble of catching me and not letting me fall to my death, chances are he wasn't lying. "Yea? so? You tried to kill me a week ago, why re you suddenly saving me now?" "Because if you die while you're tainted you'll go nuclear and wipe out half of Equestria, even from up here, as much as I don't like it, I have to fix you, so these people wont di-." "That's far enough you two! I've heard quite enough from the both of you, and now I can see you are both responsible for this chaotic mess. I should have known, no one person could be that powerful." Twilight and Luna were trailing up to her, the younger sister looking very annoyed, and Twilight looking very worried. "W-Wait Princess, we are trying to prevent any future destruction! According to the only other human I've ever seen here, somethings wrong with my powers, its messing with my abilities to control them!" Celestia didn't seem to budge emotionally, she looked angry at us both, like we had offed her pet bunny or something. " Banishment sounds like a much better alternative . . . " Despite Twilight's pleas , and Luna's calling to her sister trying to get her to regain her senses it was painfully obvious where this conversation was going. Even the guy who had been so calm and suave was looking a bit worried now, I didnt even have time to gather my thoughts for what happened next. "Find Discord . . . get him to undo whatever he did to you . . ." "What are you two-" Those were the last actual words i heard from anyone for a while Shhhhzzzzkkk! A portal opened up behind my back sucking me into a void of blindingly white light, it noodle-ified me, yet I didn't die like I would have in a black hole. Tumbling backwards, for a really long time, and an even longer time, maybe this was that guy's plan. Stage all that to imprison me in a void forever? If it was he was pretty smart about it, because I never saw it coming. Now I was doomed to float for the rest of my natural life, or forever if this portal kept me in stasis. seconds turned to minutes, and minutes into hours. WAS I REALLY GOING TO BE IN HERE FOREVER?!?! "No" a voice rang out, yet i couldn't see where it was coming from. Maybe i was imagining things, I was floating in a void it should have been visible. "You aren't crazy either" I searched with my eyes as i tumbled backwards "Then where are you?!" "Simple, I'm inside you" A young girl, no more than 16 appeared on top of me, standing on my chest , at least i was on my back floating instead of tumbling now. "I . . .can't really talk much longer, only to tell you that you wont find discord so easilly, or . . .*cough* reason with him when you finally do. . ." "Why whats wro-" Then I finally noticed it when i examined the girl more closely her skin was an almost pale white, and her hair and eyes were a bright fiery red, but around her neck . . . Around her neck was some sort of purple glowing collar, and it seemed to be choking her. She looked almost ready to tear up, one eye wincing in pain, I tried to arch my back up to take the collar off her, but she pushed me back and warned me "Don't". However the look she gave me was of pity, not for herself but for me, like she felt truly sad for me. " When you find Discord, you'll have to outsmart him without using your power . . .*cough* I know you can, after all-" A small shimmer and she faded in the middle of talking, like a program being deleted. Within an instant I was lying in a field somewhere, I turned my head to survey my surroundings . . .grass lots of grass, some hills, ooooooh even some dirt. I really was in the middle of nowhere, looking up straight at the sky tole me it was still noon, "Okay . . . I know I was floating for at least 3 hours, and yet the sun is still in the middle of the sky . . . whats going on ? I'm tired of getting tossed around by fate like some cheap rag doll, When I find Discord, he was answering my questions. I had reached my 3rd hill, and that's when I heard a groan of pain, lying in the grass was a rather tough looking pegasus, I was kind of intimidated just from looking at the pony , though from the angle it was laying, and my distance, I couldn't tell if it was a mare, or a stallion. From what I could see it had yellowish skin with short hair . short . . fiery hair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Meanwhile ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Sister be reasonable!" Luna cried out to Celestia "What would you have me do Luna? Let him go?! they are obviously working together, you heard them, and you saw him help the boy escape!" "Maybe we ALL need to calm down . Mr . . uhhhmmm-" "Cassius. my name is Cassius" He said, finishing the nervous mares sentence. "Right then Mr.Cassius!" Twilight said as she perked up "We'll need you to come with us, any and all details of what is going on can be discussed and we'll proceed from there sound fair?" Cassius slowly nodded his head his eyes traveling from Celestia's glare, to Luna's gaze which almost screamed "I am so sorry" and finally back to twilight. "Alright, that seems fair, with one condition . . ." The three arrived in the middle of Applejack's farm, tired, irratated, stressed, but each of them eager to have this over and done with. "so . . ." Luna beckoned to cassius "So what? You haven't asked me any questions." "Lets start with how you got here" Said twilight, who really looked like she was a referee between luna and celestia. "Portals. in my world I was just an average everyday person, no powers, no flying." Then Celestia interrupted him "So go back. Why don't you use your powers to make a portal back to your world and send both of yourselves back?" Next to her Luna threw in her own opinion of the way Celestia was behaving toward Cassius "You're being rude Celestia, he doesn't have to go anywhere. . .could you please explain to her, and the rest of us what is going on now?" With a snap from his fingers a blue mist appears in the air, images of our main character exploding in one large nuclear blast, decimating Equestria, half would be wiped out in the blast, the other would be poisoned by radiation. "THAT'S why I'm here, If you locked him up or attempted to banish him his powers would counteract yours or explode, or he'd wait in a cell like a ticking bomb until he finally destroyed everything, and he still wouldn't be dead. At least until his powers aren't bottled up anymore, after that he isn't my concern" He looks on the ground and plops himself there, slightly tired "I'm stuck here, forever, with no way back despite my most powerful abilities. I cant get back, and I'll be here until the end of my natural life." Twilight asked him urgently "Why cant you, if you were a normal person in your world, then cant they use their power to bring you back?" Cassius laughed, and twilight stared at him, confused by his laughter Celestia looked irritated, par usual lately, and Luna looked concerned. "In my world we are all the equivalent of earth ponies on your world, no magic, no abilities, nothing. Whats more you all exist in my world too, and you're all famous. In my world you are all moving picture images with voices provided by others or a "cartoon"." Twilights mouth gaped open when he reaffirmed what the other human had told her "See?! Celestia I had always told you there were alternate worlds, and there world has a sort of warped mirror that lets them peer into other universe but not completely, just like how i imagine a universe of people like him but who flew inside machines or crawled up wall-" "ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE ! !" Celestia hollered "Twilight these are stories and nothing more! these newcomers have obviously indoctrinated you!" With Celestia angry and yelling Cassius instinctively backed away slowly, sensing the danger. A red aura an to envelop Celestia, almost like fire, and the tint of her skin was hanging too. As logic and reason began to fade Luna picked up her voice, tired of being pushed around by her sister she pushed back, quite literally, shoving her sister over. When Celestia retaliated it was by no means physical , she sent a beam of solar energy right at Luna, There was a flash of light, a yell , and then another flash of light. and where Luna had been, was nothing but scorched earth. > Details are such insignificant things,they spoil all the fun ! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following the blinding surge of light , neither Cassius, nor Luna were anywhere in sight, with not even a single strand of hair left behind. Twilight had a sneaking suspicion that princess wasn't as successful in her attack as she thought she was, but dared to say nothing. "Twilight . . . " The fair purplish skinned mare replied slowly with a stutter, for fear she'd be next, she wasn't even referring to her by her regal title anymore ". . .Y-yes Princess Celestia? " " Hmmm, yes, from now on, you will address me as QUEEN Celestia. Is that understood Twilight ? " Celestia had just outwardly told Twilight that she was taking over her duties, and her position. For now though, it was the most wise to go along with her, and try to fix whatever was wrong with her . The creamy skinned mare gazed to the sky and watched as a small piece of the moon crumbled in the sky, but the latter part remained intact. Grumbling under her breath Celestia mumbled "I still have work to do" with red energy rippling off her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Approximately 2 minutes in the past at the moment of the blast ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Luna awoke groggy and weak, the same way a colt would on a day when he had to go to school. Luna twisted to her side, to try and push herself up to sit up and properly figure out where she was. There was only one problem with that, not only her arm, but her arm AND her leg on her left side were missing! She was disfigured, she couldn't go back out in public like this! "Oh, i see you're finally lucid" a voice rang out from deep within this strange bluish, and rather icy looking place. "Who are you!? Come out so I can see your face!" Per the blue mare woman's request Cassius came out of his icy cavern, with the tray full of bloody bandages and medical supplies he'd swiped throughout his time in equestria. "I know I'm no medic, but i hoped i patched you up ok- ooof!" Cassius didn't get to finish his sentence. He was thrown into the icy wall by Luna before he could finish his sentence . "I don't quite know what you're talking about, but you're going to undo whatever you did to my left torso, and for your own sake it'd better be sooner rather than later ! " Rubbing his head and using his own powers to pick up the supplies and carry them, the young man stands up, with a familiar small blue fairy looking woman jumping out of his forehead. " You dense damn woman! Do you see where you are? " Luna took a second to calm down and view her surroundings. " I'm in an icy cavern, and majorly disfigured!" Luna, now pointing directly at Cassius yelled "What did you do to me?! why am i missing two limbs!" The glowing fairy like woman laughed and grew to a height of about 5'3 "Him!?" she laughed "Unless he's found a way to impregnate females by staring at them like a housemaid then you're fine ." She paused to point at Luna's missing limbs. " As for those, once you clear your head, you'll remember who took them from you " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile in the grassy field with our Protagonist ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Is . . . she, STROKING HERSELF!? " The young mare on the grass wasn't in pain but was in fact, in heat of some sort, and had been enjoying herself in the middle of nowhere. Just as I was about to get the hell outta dodge I hear her call out to me " A- ANARCHY! I NEED YOU! " " What? Anarchy? that's not my name, why are you calling me that? " She was silent, lost in her own little world over there, but managed to pull one hand away long enough to make a finger motion for me to come to her. "If I try to run, I'm probably gonna get caught anyway. If I go to her I'm signing my own death certificate" "Ooooh, anarchy don't make me wait . . ." "Hey! Why don't you come over here?! " That was about as far as my wits went , I could really die out here, so whatever trick this obviously was, I wasn't exactly gonna rush into it. The fiery haired mare sat up, like some kind of possessed rag-doll, and a new voice, more masculine and raspy came out of her. "Oh, you're not going to come to me hmmmm ? not even going to take advantage of this lovely young mare ? You've peaked my interest yet again boy, come and find me . . ." A large pinkish purple plume of smoke rose out of her mouth, and traveled right past our hero, revealing a that he was in a forest the whole time, the girl became a wilted gigantic venus flytrap, and the plume of smoke continued flying behind him, and he began pursuing it. " Strange names, possessed mares in heat, and illusions GREEAAAAT ! " The voice rang out from the purple plume that somehow always managed to stay at the exact same distance, whether i slowed down, stopped , or picked up speed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back in Twilight's neck of the woods ( Ponyville : Fluttershy's home ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ " And that's why we have to pour all of our energy into figuring out how to change Celestia BACK " "Twilight, dear, are you sure you didnt hit your head and imagine all that? That's a bit much for someone like Celestia" Said Rarity "Besides" Interjected spike " Even if she's changed, we're talking about what is basically treason here, if we fail we'll be labeled traitors, and she may not be as merciful as she was with Luna." "Spike , she was already suspicious of Luna, and I know she's suspicious of me, she's just going to keep going down the list of people close to her until eventually, it meets your names . Something is changing her, I've seen it, whenever her personality becomes darker there's this red glow that comes off of her. " Fluttershy asked softly "W-Well what about the elements of Harmony? Can't we use those to help her? " " She has those on lockdown, even I cant get to them," Twilight replied downtrodden " and to ask her would be to risk exposure right then and there." Rainbow Dash interjected in defiantly, and without a second thought lifted herself up into the air on her wings while she talked. " No elements of Harmony, No real freedom, if the normal methods wont work like talking or using magic to change her back directly, then what are we supposed to do, I'm not about to lie down and wait for the end to come!" Instead of twilight, Pinkie Pie answered her cheerily " Well, since those two boys seem to be the common denominator in all this why don't we just ask them? After all, every time Celestia began acting strange it was because she was around one of them!" "No pinkie that wouldn- WAIT THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY! But how could you have possibly known that?" The Purplish skinned mare asked, only to be replied to by the pink skinned mare. "Simple, Plot convergence, once all the pieces are set it all begins to come together!" The other 5 of the mane 6 understood none of what she said, so she simplified it " Since whenever the boys show up, trouble starts, they probably are the cause and the solution!" "Ummm, Twilight?" Dash asked "Could you simplify that for me, and then tell me why , and how exactly we're gonna find those two anyway?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile in the deep Icy Caverns ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Okay," Luna said, having finally been brought back to her senses, and her memory restored. "So, even if you saved me, if you were a second faster , my left torso would still have limbs!" The 5'3 fairy woman giggled "Well it's not exactly like you're stuck like that " Luna's eyes shot directly at the woman. "So you DO know how to restore my form" Cal rubbed his arm nervously, let me tell you about how I got here, its important." Cal then explained to her what life was like as a medical intern, studying to be a doctor. How he found the show MLP, thanks to his roommate. "After a few days of watching it, i started to hear a voice, I thought i was crazy, but what was crazier was when it started telling me to do things like jump over buildings, or try to move things with my mind. One day i was so fed up, so tired of wondering if "hey maybe i can do it, that i tried, i tried moving a car and you know what happened? Nothing, not a darn thing." Luna was confused "Then how can you . . ?" "Simple, once Cal stopped rejecting me, then i could give him the knowledge and the power he wanted, it took him a while to actually start trying and stop testing my words out to see if they were true, and i told him that's what it would take." "Okay . . ." Luna interjected. "But this has nothing to do with my problem-" "Ahem!" Cal groaned, annoyed at being interrupted by both women. "As she said, along with that power came knowledge, knowledge of what I could do, and the consequences of doing them, how does this pertain to you you ask, well that's simple. "I can give you an intangible construct made out of my energy, that will replace your missing arm and leg as if they were the ones you were born with, however, since it is my energy, and still connected to me there is a cost." The fairy woman began laughing hysterically "C'mon Cassius, fess up, it's only a cost for her loverboy!" She barely could finish the sentence in her mouth before she was rolling in the air with laughter again. "Tell me what!? What's going on " "Its . . .uh, well Luna, y'see, ummm, what exactly are the terms of marriage here?" The young Mare blushed and cocked her head a bit "Wait, you can't possibly mean . . ." " Well, in order for me to transfer my energy to you, you have to accept me, into your own being, and i have to do the same for you, that means memories, emotions, thoughts, all of them would be shared between us, all the time., but it's the only way i could make my energy yours, i could also teach you tricks, like how to morph you arm and leg, but its up to you , Luna." Unfortunately for him, Luna didnt seem too enthused about the idea in fact her exact words were "NO! Why would I subject myself to being extorted into marriage, and give you ll my memories, and thoughts, even if you saw and heard some of them, why would I give you my current ones ! How dare you presume id be okay with this i don't even kno-" Luna never got to finish that sentence, because on her forehead, a slender glowing blue finger was placed on her forehead, silencing her, and causing her to shut her eyes, likewise on cassius' head the woman's finger was placed, and his eyes as well, were closed. Simultaneously their eyes opened, with a strange white gloss over them, and once it was over, both of their irises glowed with a brilliant blue light. Cassius turned angrilly toward the fairy woman, who had just invaded both their privacy, but all he managed to get out of his mouth was a Y- consonant before he was being embraced by Luna's one arm , and she was thanking the woman with tears in her eyes. "Thank you! both of you! thank you so much!" "I didn't want you to find out how I really felt about you that way, but at the very least you know now . . ." Luna then turned and blushed a bit " I- I meant about, saving me, and trying to warn me, I owe you . . .a lot , but I need time to think about this, and well, you know, us being bonded forever , but at least now I know I can trust you." Cal didn't even need to guess, their minds were melded, while he was in love with her, she didn't love him back, Luna wasn't sure about anything, all she knew was that she was forcibly attached to someone who she considered a trustworthy friend. "You can, you can call me by the short version of my real name, call me Cal ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back in the Forest with our mane protagonist (bad overused pun ahoy) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I finally stopped, after about 5 minutes of chasing this thing my legs gave out from tiredness, a lifestyle of pizza, chicken Parmesan subs, and mountain dew was to thank for that, i was way too out of shape. As if to taunt me, the plume of smoke floated at the same distance from me as when i first started chasing it. " You know what?! Fine! Forget this I'll find you myself " I said as i did a heal face turn and walked in the opposite direction of the smoke. "What are you doing? Don't you want to find me?" The pinkish purple plume beckoned to me " Leaving, and you obviously aren't going to be any help finding you, so I have no choice but to look around myself." Immediately the plume of smoke vanish, leaving behind a cackle and the words "well done, you have matured while you've been away, come and find me." a path lit up, with complementary neon signs that read "This way Anarchy" At the end of the path was a lake, in the middle of this lake was a small peice of dry land, and on that land stood Discord, the one I'd been trying to find all this time . "You know, when I first met you, i found you to be, all together unimpressive, naive, smelly, and a little bit ugly . " I grumbled listening to him lord over me "Now though, I've seen that you aren't all that naive" I wanted to retaliate at that, but i needed his help so I wasn't going to bother. " I was surprised that such a small creature could hold so much raw potential for power and chaos, and then I remembered, 500 years ago." "Hold on," I interjected "Whats this got to do with me Discord" "You address your father by his first name? You don't seem to have learned manners in your time in that world" My eyes widened and a strong burst of rage crawled up in me that I couldn't suppress. "DON'T YOU DARE EVER SAY THAT TO ME, I ALREADY HAVE A FATHER, THERE IS NO WAY YOU'RE MY FATHER!" Discord laughed, rolling around on his mini island on the lake " Who do you think your abilities came from!? why do think you're here, and speaking of family, you and your brother have been fighting a bit to much don't you think?" Every time I felt my own rage surge through me i felt like i was suffocating, like I was an angry bulldog on a leash, trying desperately to break his chains, but whenever I tried they would only tighten. "That's right , Anarchy, son of Discord, brother to Calamity. But we can h"ave the reunion later son, first, I'm going to remove the leash from the pup, and see just how badly he'll tear up the furniture . A red glow overtook me all I could see was red, and for me, that meant I was losing conciousness. The last words I could hear were "Have fun son, I'll pay you a visit after you play with your friends a bit ." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rainbow Dash's perspective ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Why did I have to get picked to look for this guy?, he could barely fly a few hours ago and now he's suddenly super important ?" I'd been flying for what felt like forever, just flying and scanning for anything that looked like the kind of big announcement of "hey, i screwed up again! come help me!" Whenever something happened involving this guy, it was pretty big, and pretty loud.too. Scanning the horizon i saw the tip of a large round red surface, but couldn't quite tell what it was. getting closer evealed a large pulsating red dome, with every pulse it enveloped more of the gigantic forest, until finally it was domed completly by the energy. Every pulse pushed me farther and farther back, even at top speed, until finally, the energy condensed, sucking me towards it, I had been only 200 yards away and was now 50. The final effect for me, was kind of like a rock flying from a sling shot and launched into another one that was still being pulled back, and when it was released, I went flying out of control, a less experienced mare would have broken their neck and crashed, Somehow i managed not to break my neck being cocked back by the force, but i was going to crash into the ground, hard. Then the was the issue of being caught up in this explosion of energy.