> Princeps Contentiones > by Haffnium > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 0 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- “SPIKE!” Twilight was now yelling at the top of her lungs, just where was that baby dragon? ”SPIKE,” she called again knowing it was hopeless. He obviously wasn’t in the library or anywhere close by, considering how loud she’d been shouting. Suddenly she heard the door opening and Rarity entered with Spike sleeping on her back. “Sorry If you needed him, but he insisted on staying to help me with this large order that came in but sadly he couldn’t stay awake long enough, the little cutie.” “Thanks for bringing him back Rarity.” “Don’t mention it. I really need to be going now; Sapphire Shores needs this order by tomorrow so I have to run.” “Ok Rarity, thanks again for bringing Spike back.” Twilight turned to the sleeping dragon and decided to leave him and find the books she was looking for by herself. It hadn’t helped that Rainbow Dash had crashed into the library when she was trying to find it earlier, causing her to have to clean up and re-organise EVERYTHING. It took her a while, but she eventually found the black leather book she’d been looking for. She opened it up and began to read, her eyes rapidly scanning the contents. She finally found the article she’d been searching for and began to read, trying to piece things together in her head. Almost as soon as she had started reading she heard Spike coming down the stairs “Hey Twilight, what are you doing?” “Trying to figure something out” “What is it?” “Well, 2 decades ago in the Ponyville Schoolhouse, there was a colt who was endlessly bullied by everyone in his class because he not only had a blank flank, but also had an incredibly feminine face. Eventually somepony stood up for him but by then it was too much. The taunting and teasing angered and depressed him so much he suddenly lost it. Nopony knows what happened then but when Celestia arrived the sky was pitch black over Ponyville, even though it was the middle of the day, Schoolhouse was made of chocolate, the students all had carrots for legs and there was a huge crater where the colt was. Skip forward 15 years and you come to this.” She magically placed a report about a break in to Celestia’s castle, written by Shining Armour on the table. “Look at this Spike.” He began to read aloud to himself his eyes widening as he went along.” On the 27th of September an unknown, dark teal unicorn without his cutie mark broke into the castle by creating an impenetrable darkness to cover his tracks before working his way up the building to Celestia’s room. He locked the door so nopony could enter but nothing seemed to happen. Nopony could break through the door but they could hear what was being said inside. Celestia seemed to be quite calmly talking to the unicorn and saying that 1000 years ago Discord had created an egg from rock. When Celestia and Luna sealed Discord into stone, this egg was found next to him. It seems Discord needed an heir to continue his reign of chaos but he had been found before he could do so. Celestia now had to choose whether to take the prince in as her own or destroy it. She decided to take him in and try and give him a normal life but struggled, due to the fact his body was elongated, at the end of his arm he had a blade and on the other an eagle claw. His tail had a spike on the end, and he had two pairs of wings, one in the middle of his body and one at his flank which resembled a bat’s. It took a while but she eventually managed to make him a normal colt except for the wings, which she used a simple invisibility spell on, which she had to re-use every day to prevent them emerging again. Just as these words passed Celestia's lips a flash came out through the gaps at the side of the door, soon followed by gasps coming from inside the room. When all of this calmed down Celestia told the unicorn about a cult being formed to the north that, not only demanded that the prince of chaos be placed on the throne of Equestria, but also threatened all pony kind with destruction. The princess followed the statement explaining that the unicorn was the only pony in all Equestria powerful enough to get rid of the cult. Soon after saying this they said farewell and the unicorn then ran out of the door with a newly appeared cutie mark of a cloak on his flank.” “Wait so you think this unicorn is the one responsible for the incident at the Schoolhouse?” “Yes and Spike it’s called the PON3 incident.” “Where have I heard that before?” “I don’t know but here’s the interesting thing I want to talk to you about.” “Which is?” “Obscuro” “Wait Twilight do you mean THE Obscuro?” “I do Spike. I believe that Mr. Super Pony has a lot more hidden than we know.” “Like?” “1: he’s an alicorn with bat wings. 2: he’s a dark teal colour 3: he can summon darkness either by magical ability or by his darkness boom and 4: he vanished into the Everfree forest a month ago and that was when everypony stopped reporting about seeing a pony with yellow marks in his eyes, which is a unique giveaway to the kind of spell Celestia used on him to turn him into a pony.” “So, what you’re saying is Obscuro is secretly the Prince of Chaos?” “I am Spike and-“ Suddenly an almighty thump came at the door “what kind of mad pony would be out at this hour? Spike can you get that?” “Sure thing Twilight.” Spike opened the door and a dark teal unicorn fell through, his build clearly of a stallion but with a very feminine facial structure. He was covered in blood and cuts and as he crashed to the floor, his black Stetson fell off his head… And yellow marks flashed in his eyes. > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proteans finally came back to reality. He couldn’t remember where he was or anything after running away from that Ursa Major. His eyelids felt heavy, every breath hurt his lungs and he had pain all over his body. He suddenly heard the clopping of hooves. A stabbing pain ran through his body and he forced his eyes open to look around. He was surrounded by ponies of all different colours. A purple unicorn was in the corner and she seemed to be ordering everypony else around, There was a pink one jumping around like a loony, handing the others first aid equipment. A white unicorn was in the corner decorating bandages with flowers. A blue pegasus was flying around trying to get various books on first aid. And an orange pony with a Stetson was trying to figure out what each of the different needles the pink one gave her had in them. A slamming sound came from the other side of the room and Proteans painfully turned his neck to see a cream pegasus walk through the door with a white earth pony who seemed to be a nurse close behind. “Ok Twilight where’s my patient?” The purple unicorn that was supposedly called Twilight pointed at Proteans and the nurse came over “Ah this will take a lot of bandages to fix up. Thanks for taking care of him girls.” “It ain’t no problem Nurse Redheart. We trust try’d ta keep him alive till ya got here.” “And it’s a good thing you did, he would’ve died from blood loss otherwise, judging by these wounds. If you girls don’t mind, I’d like to treat my patient now can you be a bit quiet?” The nurse was about to set to work but before she did, Proteans realised that she couldn’t find out his secret and bucked her in the chest before she felt his wing. The pain was unbearable but he managed to get on his legs and limp out of the door, his entire body writhing with pain as he staggered down the streets “WAIT MISTER,” He heard Twilight shouting after him, but continued anyways, picking up pace. Before he knew it, he was far away from the treehouse he’d just escaped from. His problem now was that he needed somewhere to rest and heal his wounds. But where? After what seemed like hours of agony, he found himself at a small barn. He slowly opened the door and when he was certain nopony was in there, limped in before collapsing on a bale of hay. After laying there for hours, he woke up to a surprise welcome. “HI THERE MISTER!” The sudden sound made Proteans jump, but he soon recovered and looked up, which was a choice he regretted because his wounds still hadn’t healed, and some of his cuts had some hay forced into them during the night. His eyes met those of a young filly with a big bow in her mane. “Oh sorry, ah mean hi there miss, I just thought because you have the same build as a stallion that” Proteans groaned “The first one was right” “Oh really your face looks like a mare’s. Well hey there mah name’s Applebloom” “Proteans” “No mah name’s Applebloom. A.P.P.L.E.B.L” “No” said Proteans cutting in before she could continue “I meant MY name is Proteans.” “That don’t sound like a normal pony name.” “I’m not a normal pony.” “Ya can say dat again.” “Oh thanks.” “Don’ mention it. So why ya sleepin down here?” “I ain’t got a house.” ‘OH NO’ Proteans thought to himself, ‘ I’m going to pick up her accent’! “Ah should probably tell mah sister Applejack ya down here.” “Nah I’ll go if you want.” “Nah it’s fine Applejack’ll probably let ya stay here for a while till ya can get a house.” “That’d be nice.” “Ah’ll go get her.” He waited for what seemed like an eternity before they came back and Proteans was shocked when he saw the face come round the corner. “Howdy… Wait ah remembers ya you’re that stallion from last night at Twilight’s.” “Howdy and yeh I am.” “Why d’ya have ta attack Redheart? What did she do to ya?” “I can’t explain.” “Why not.” Applejack forgot all about the wounds and nudged Proteans in the side “GAH” Proteans collapsed to the ground in pain. He eventually got up “Ah’m so sorry I didn’t mean ta-“ “Don’t worry I’ll be fine just don’t do that ever again.” “K ah’ll try mah best ta remember.” “Thank you now if you don’t mind I think I’ll go before you forget again.” Proteans reached for his Stetson and was shocked it wasn’t there “Where, where’s my-“ “Hat? We all decided to give it ta Rarity to look aftah.” “Rarity?” “She’s dat white unicorn from last night.” “And she’ll be where?” “She’ll be in her shop in town.” “Thanks Applejack it’s been great meeting you.” “Good ta meet yah mister...umm.” “Proteans.” “Good ta meet ya Proteans.” Applejack spat in her hoof and reached out, Proteans did the same and they shook hooves before Proteans walked away “Hope ah’ll see ya around Proteans.” Applejack said as he walked away. She felt there was something special about that stallion but she had no idea what it was. “Hey big sister.” “Yes sugarcube.” “Yawl right? You’re as red as those pink mare apple ya like so much.” Applejack realised she had been blushing all the time she’d been talking to Proteans. But this didn’t help because she just started to blush even harder “Ah think somepony’s gotta crush on the new guy.” “I DO NOT!” This just made Applebloom fall backwards with laughter. And as Applejack said those words she wondered whether Proteans felt the same. It was a struggle but Proteans eventually got to the shop Applejack was speaking of. He didn’t mind saving ponies, but he almost never had to speak to the people he met. His nearly 1000 years with Celestia had taught him manners, so at least he knew how to be respectful. Problem was that when he was with Celestia he normally couldn't speak to anypony except for the two princesses until Celestia had finally managed to successfully turn him into a pony, but by then he had to go to school so the only normal adult he spoke to was his teacher. The truth was he wasn't use to conversation or being around anypony else.He'd always lived in solitude and once he'd got his hat back he'd return to his old life. And never return. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proteans walked into the shop (or boutique as the sign outside said.) His legs still hurt but he could drag himself through town quite easily making travel possible. Despite his leg healing, he was still covered in blood and cuts causing some ponies to give him weird looks as he passed but he was finally at the shop, and once his hat was placed firmly back on his head, he could leave society for good. “Welcome to the Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique and magnifi- AHH look at you! How COULD you go through Ponyville like THAT?” “Nice to meet you too Rarity. I heard that you have my hat.” “Oh THAT…” “Wha-wha what’s wrong with it?” “It’s just…. black is SO last season.” “And how do you know it’s not SO next season?” “Hmm… I never thought of that, maybe it will be so next season, I mean look at Obscuro he only wears black.” “Actually it’s mainly dark red.” “Trust you to know that, you’re OBVIOUSLY a big fan with your mane and tail like that. But that aside, his suit is simply divine, I bet once he comes back EVERYPONY would LOVE to wear some stuff inspired by him.” Proteans was shocked, people actually LIKED what he did? When the cops came after him, he assumed they must all hate him for what he did but no, it seemed like everypony idolized him. “So where were we? Oh yes, here’s your hat.” Proteans didn’t even realise Rarity had placed his hat back on his head, as he was so lost in thought “Oh thank you, I’ll be leaving now.” “WHAT? You can’t go out like that!” “Why not?” “Look at yourself, you’re COVERED in blood. I’d be surprised if everypony in ponyville didn’t think you’d been mauled by an ursa major!” “Well that is kinda what happened” Proteans muttered under his breath “What did you say dear?” “Oh nothing, nothing.” “Ok, if you go upstairs and turn left you’ll find the shower. Go clean yourself up and I’ll see if there’s a first aid kit.” As Proteans stood there cleaning himself and getting the last of the blood off, there came an almighty knock at the front door of the boutique and he heard a very lively mare coming through the door. “Hey Rarity I’m having the biggest party EVER! We got games, drinks, food, and even music from Vinyl Scratch!” Proteans’ eyes widened when he heard this. He dried as well as he could and with his mane still dripping, bolted down the stairs before his bad leg kicked in and he was forced to hobble the rest of the way. “Wait a minute. Did you just say Vinyl Scratch?” “Well yeah she’s a good friend of mine.” “Where, When, Who else is going?” Proteans was practically interrogating the pink earth pony “The high street, all day tomorrow, And ALL OF PONYVILLE!” “Thanks miss…um” “Pinkie Pie.” “Thanks Pinkie.” And Proteans left the boutique with a still wet mane and a determined look on his face. Vinyl Scratch… We meet again. The next day Proteans woke in the barn again to the sound of Applejack and an unknown red stallion unloading buckets full of apples. “Ah know I said ya could stay yesterday but I meant in the farm house not out here again in the hay.” “Yeah but it’s comfy out here.” “Oh Proteans ah’d like ta introduce ya to mah big brother, Big Mac.” “Hey Big Mac nice to meet you.” “Eeyup” “So Proteans, Yah on the mend?” “I don’t know, I only just got up.” He brought himself to his hooves and found his legs no longer hurt as much as they had the day before. “Yah never told me what did yah do ta get yourself to be in that condition?” “I was in the Everfree forest and let’s just say you shouldn’t sleep in an ursa major’s cave.” “Yah decided ta sleep in AN URSA MAJOR’S CAVE?” “Well… Yeah.” “Dat’s mighty brave of ya sir but mighty stupid too.” “You could say that about sleeping in your barn I had no idea who owned it, It could’ve been a mad stallion with a knife and a book full of torture spells instead of the beautiful mare I got instead.” “Aww shucks.” Applejack turned a bright red that made Proteans chuckle under his breath “Well you are the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria.” He threw a wink in Applejack’s direction causing her already bright red cheeks to go brighter than he thought possible. “Well I’d better be going now, before you melt.” “Are ya sure sugarcube? Do ya want some breakfast? We got everything from Cocoats to Celestios.” “Nah I think I’ll pass I’ve really got to get going I have to meet up with an old friend.” And with that he turned and walked out the barn. ‘wow I’m GOOOD’ Proteans was satisfied of how he easily seduced that mare ’It’ll come in handy’ he thought to himself, his ability to seduce mares always had been his talent though never his cutie mark. It was the reason he decided his name should be Proteans in the first place as the word proteans means subconscious flirting like when a mare starts playing with her mane upon meeting a stallion. Proteans decided to stop congratulating himself and focus on his task for the day: Meeting Vinyl. The street was done up with streamers, balloons and banners saying ‘WELCOME TO PONYVILLE PROTEANS’ He knew there was a party today but he had no idea who it was for and to find it was for him was quite touching, He’d never had any friends before and couldn’t believe that somepony that only saw him lying wounded on a bed would go to this much trouble just for him. He got to the Town Hall and saw 5 ponies and a griffon setting up various pieces of equipment. A voice came from behind him and although it had changed from the last time he’d heard it he knew what mare it belonged to. “HEY GUYS I’M BACK” Proteans turned round, smiled the biggest smile he’d ever smiled and he threw himself on top of Vinyl “Woah dude seriously” Vinyl playfully pushed Proteans off him. “I know I’m famous, and sexy, and all around amazing but you gotta keep control, I gotta mare friend ya know she wouldn’t be too pleased if she found out some other mare had been smothered on me!” “First of all I’m a stallion. And second of all have you really forgotten me?” “First of all I’m a fillyfooler nice ta meet ya second of all yeh who the hay are you?” “Well at the moment my name is on literally every street.” “OH so you’re Proteans always wondered when I’d meet ya. HEY GUYS.” He beckoned the 5 other ponies and griffon over. ”This is Proteans; Proteans meet Mic, Tombstone, Glaze, Bluskittle, Lulz and Jackleapp.” “Hey” Proteans turned to face Vinyl again “Do you remember how the Ponyville Schoolhouse was destroyed 20 years ago?” “Wow, that’s overly specific but yeh what of it?” “How did it happen?” “Well there was a fire in the cafeteria and then it reached a store of gas canisters being kept for the summer sun celebration and the whole place exploded.” “Thanks that’s all I need to know.” “Urrh it’s fine I guess now I’m gonna go finish setting up with those guys.” Well that explains a lot, Celestia your little memory editing spell has taken away the one mare I ever truly loved and the only friend I ever had. And now you’re going to pay…