With the body of a Majin, Eribia must take her place as this world's spirit of chaos.
A long... Long time ago, back before the Two Pony Princesses recovered the Elements of Harmony... there was a titanic battle between a Majin and a Spirit of Chaos, inevitably the Majin won and as a prize she consumed the spirit and was trapped in stone by the Princesses when they unleashed the Elements of Harmony.
Now, over a thousand years later, The Majin Destroyer is back and ready to kick some flank!
Eribia steamed silently in her stone prison. Normally, being conscious for over a thousand years without being able to interact with your environment at all would drive anyone to insanity. In this case, it had been something slightly different now that she had woken up with the sudden realization. One of the tendrils that made up the left side of her 'hairstyle' was frozen an inch too high. She had been able to ignore it for the most part of a millennium due to simply falling asleep and recovering from the several blasts that had managed to weaken her form.
The last fifty years though... she was fully awake and pissed off. "I can get the freezing me in stone part... but couldn't they have at least given me the decency of evening out my 'do first?" she repeated for what felt like the thousandth time as her mind drifted around to meet up with some of the other 'inmates'. She stopped at what appeared to be a poker game between a pegasus, a diamond dog and a minotaur.
The three of them smiled as the minotaur motioned to the empty seat. "Wanna join?"
"Sure... I've got some time to kill before I break out anyway." The Majin replied as she sat down. "What's the pot?"
"We're playin' for just some spare change... ten bits." The pegasus replied. "I see you chose the light heart suit today..."
Eribia smiled as her solid red eyes seemed to focus on the pegasus. "One of my favorites." She replied as she patted the poofy shorts that covered a pair of skin-tight pants. "The suit helps out with boosting the damage of my Ki attacks, so I have to make sure Celestia and Luna don't get the drop on me."
The unicorn laughed as he threw a few bits into the center. "I wish we had that kind of power to throw around."
"Huh... You think you could really take over Equestria this time?" The minotaur asked.
"It's not a matter of if... just a matter of how long before they try using those little trinkets against me again. I'm prepared this time though, giant rainbow death cannons have nothing on me when I actually go all out with my speed." Eribia replied. "Besides, I'm not even sure I want to take over Equestria..." The other players looked at her with small gasps of surprise. "I think I'll turn the whole world into my own personal playground. I 'ate' discord after all, I haven't even gotten a chance to see how extensive my chaos powers are."
The game itself lasted for about a half hour before the minotaur grumbled and tossed his cards down. "I fold... How the hell do you keep winning?"
Eribia shrugged. "For some reason my mind keeps thinking we're playing Blackjack... probably because I don't know how to actually play Poker..." She slowly got up to stretch. "Keep my winnings on the table... I don't need them since I have a feeling that my jailbreak is coming soon." The Majin 'floated' through the space that was a simulated reality until she came to rest back in her original position as a class began to approach her statue. "Oh isn't this ironic, the key to my freedom is in the hands of children..." she thought as she nearly shook with mirth. She had been given a front row seat to a rather entertaining bout of three fillies arguing with each other before their teacher stepped in.
"In a way... all three of you are right. This statue is a representation of the creature that absorbed Discord, as such it is considered a spirit of chaos just like he was." Cheerilee explained as she held her clipboard out to draw attention back to the statue of the Majin. "The actual name for it's species was never known, only that after it consumed Discord it continued to do what Discord originally had been doing. As such it has been classified as another species of Draconequus." She smiled at the three previously-arguing fillies. "Since you three have done such an excellent job displaying the theme of this creature though, I'm sure you three won't mind writing a three-page report on our lesson here today."
The maroon earth mare's expression changed to confusion as her class stared on in fear at... something behind her, causing her to quickly turn around and gasp as she came face to face with a pair of solid red eyes and a malicious smirk. "First thing's first... because I didn't get to tell Sunbutt and Moonbutt before they so rudely got me stoned against my will... I'm a Majin, not a Draconequus." The pink-skinned creature straightened up. "Two... they never even bothered to ask my name before getting me stoned... my name is Eribia by the way, so be sure to include that in future curriculum." The majin brought a gauntleted hand up with her index finger raised and her thumb against her middle finger. "And three... I don't like school, so I'm going to take my petty revenge out on you..." She snapped her finger, just as Cheerilee was about to scream an audible bubble pop could be heard as the earth pony mare was replaced with a potted daisy in the span of an eyeblink. The pink-skinned Majin knelt down to admire her handiwork. "oh yeah... I finally get to really see what chaos I can get up to..." She smirked before putting the flower back and snapping her finger again, disappearing with a similar pop as before.
@}~}~~~
Sweetie Belle shivered as the class waited with held breath to see if the Majin was going to come back. When it was obvious that she wasn't going to the unicorn filly spoke up. "...We goofed didn't we...?" She didn't need to look around to actually sense the nods that her entire class gave.
Applebloom gingerly stepped up to the flower and picked up the pot it was in. "We should really tell somepony about this..." She said as she tried to keep calm.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!"
The entire class leapt into the air at the scream, Applebloom nearly lost hold of Cheeri-daisy, before they all scrambled to find out the source of the scream. Half the class nearly laughed out loud at the group of guards who were trying to get one of the earth pony guards down from a tree. The stallion's scarred face was contorted in pain and anguish as tears freely streamed down his cheeks, an atomic wedgie leading to hanging from a tree had really not been how he expected to end his shift...
@}~}~~~
Eribia laughed wildly to herself as she idly flitted through the halls of Canterlot Castle, snapping her fingers to teleport from room to hall and hall to room until she had finally reached the Hall of the Elements. "Bingo!" She cheered as she walked up to the vault, pulled down on a zipper that appeared in the middle of the sealing spell and door that kept her from the six pieces of jewelry that would lead to her being locked back up. With a happy sigh she grabbed all six pieces before she closed the box and zipped the spell back up. "Yoink!" She giggled as she snapped her fingers again, making the elements disappear. "I might not be able to destroy them... but by jove you never know what you have until it's gone." She looked over to one of the stained glass windows and smiled as she brought her foot up to kick herself into a portal that sealed behind her the moment she left.
@}~}~~~
Eribia sat on one of the clouds overlooking the Ponyville town hall as she snapped her fingers, chuckling as she watched her magic unravel the order of the world. A group of bunnies had been given elongated legs, clouds turned into cotton candy that rained chocolate milk, corn in one of the local farm fields began to pop without being heated up. With each snap of her fingers the smile on the Majin's face grew until she had to roll back and let out a laugh as none of the ponies even seemed to notice her. After several minutes of side-injuring laughter she finally sat up in time to watch a single grey pegasus with a blonde mane bob and weave through the chaos like it was nothing.
Her face twisted into a confused frown just before the mare hovered in front of her and held out a package. "Special Delivery!" The mare declared proudly as one of her amber eyes focused on the slightly-glowing crimson eyes of the Majin. Eribia took the package before her nose caught a specific scent that immediately made her mouth water. The pegasus leaned in close and began to whisper in a conspiratorial manner. "Normally I don't know what's in the packages until the pony receives it but since I packed this one myself I can tell you there's four chocolate muffins in there..." She straightened up and saluted before taking off again, looking like a practiced ace.
Eribia sat there stunned as she looked at the packaging, it was simple brown paper, something about it made her feel... empty... as she looked at it. With a small sigh she snapped her fingers to make a glowing sigil appear with a Majin symbol in it, a quick motion had the box of muffins stored away in the dimensional pocket and managed to get rid of most of her empty feeling. She stood with a growl just before her mind tugged towards Canterlot Castle again. Stowing the anger away she snapped her fingers and appeared in one of the stained glass windows just as Celestia opened the vault door for the box the Elements had been in.
"I am truly sorry to ask this of you girls... but you must use the Elements once again to seal Eribia back before she can cause anymore damage..." Celestia replied as she took the gilded box out of her magical grasp and turned to the six gathered mares.
"Huh... Kudos for racial equality at least..." Eribia noted as she observed the pairs of unicorns, pegusai and earth ponies.
"Wait a minute girls!" The pink earth pony replied. "Think about this for a minute... Eternal chaos... comes with Chocolate Rain!" Eribia had to keep herself from laughing as that particular phrase reminded her of a video she had watched... oh... watched so long ago, she really did wish that she could connect back to wherever it was that she had seen that video, it was really funny.
Celestia let out a small sigh before she opened the box for the mares in front of her, leading to the six mares to gasp. "They're gone!" a white-coated unicorn mare with a deep royal-purple mane exclaimed, causing Celestia to gasp as well as she looked back into the vault.
"But! Only Luna or I could get past those spells! This doesn't make any sense!" Celestia exclaimed as she dropped the box.
Eribia actually managed to laugh this time. "Sense? What fun is there in making sense?"
Celestia growled as she looked around. "Show yourself Eribia!" She shouted as she charged up a spell in her horn.
"You've really gotta learn not to telegraph your attacks Sunbutt..." Eribia giggled as she appeared in front of the solar princess. Each of the ponies in the room were given only a few moments to react before the Majin brought her fist hard into Celestia's stomach, forcing the larger mare to double over with a gasp of pain. Eribia tsk'd a few times as she shook her head. "You've gotten slow in your old age Sunbutt... too many cakes and not enough exercise." The Majin looked over to the rest of the assembled mares with a small smile. "Hmm... how about I destroy you all right now...? get it over with so I don't have to worry about you ever finding those elements."
"What... What did... you do with them... Eribia!?" Celestia gasped out as she tried to keep herself from passing out.
"Oh my, you really can take a punch after all... fine, I'll be a bit sporting about it..." Eribia took a deep breath as she smiled a bit more broadly. "Twists and turns are my master plan, then find the elements back where you began!" With that finished the Majin snapped her fingers and disappeared again.
@}~}~~~
Twilight and her friends rushed to the collapsed princess once the Majin was gone. "Oh my gosh! Celestia! Are you alright!?" Twilight panicked.
The larger alabaster mare nodded as she slowly dragged herself into a sitting position. "I'll be fine Twilight... but..." She took a deep breath. "It's been a long time since I felt a punch like hers... I am glad she attacked me instead of one of you... there's no time to waste though... you have to figure... out where she hid... the Elements."
"It might be in that there fancy labyrinth-thingy y'all have out in the gardens... if the twists 'n turns thing is somthin' ta go by." The orange-coated earth pony replied.
"Applejack! You're a genius! She probably hid them in the hedge maze!" Twilight exclaimed. "Come on girls! We have elements to round up!"
@}~}~~~
Eribia sat on one of the cotton candy clouds as she stared intently at the box of muffins the grey mare had given her earlier. "Why do you taunt me so?" she muttered as she opened the box, each muffin she looked at only increased the gnawing emptiness in her stomach that didn't relate to hunger at all. She gingerly picked up one of the muffins and gave it a few tentative squeezes before she opened her mouth wide enough to eat the whole thing at once. She gave it a few quick chews before she gulped down the mostly-whole muffin, not feeling the slightest bit full as she reached a finger up to wipe away a raindrop that somehow managed to appear under her eye. It was only a few more moments before more of these strange raindrops appeared despite not a single white cloud being in the sky.
"What'cha cryin' for?" came a familiar voice, the Majin's attention snapped to the wall-eyed mare she had met earlier as the pegasus sat down on the cloud next to her.
"I'm not crying... it's raining..." Eribia replied, wincing as the grey pegasus placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright... you can cry if you want to... you can tell me about it, talking about your problems always makes you feel better..."
The Majin's lip wobbled a little as tears threatened to fall from her face, her willpower lasted all of five seconds before she leaned forward into the grey mare's bosom and began to sob. As startled as the wall-eyed mare was at first, she quickly got more comfortable as the Majin in her arms began to babble and blubber about the last thousand years of her life she had missed.
@}~}~~~
Eribia sniffed a little as she wiped her eyes. "An-... and then... after she had given me the belt buckle that completed my costume... I got sent here... I don't even know what happened to her... that meanie Discord thought that I was just some sort of putty for him to play with... he had fun for all of two minutes before I absorbed him... then those mean princesses came walking up to me only to blame me for what Discord did! Can you believe that!? No trial, no nothing! Just rainbow death cannon to the face and then stoned for a thousand years!" She emphasized the end by smacking the palm of her right hand with the back of her left hand. "Do you know how boring it is to not be able to move for a thousand years!?" The grey mare shook her head as she hugged Eribia again. "... I've had such a cramp in my leg for the past two hundred years that it's really not funny..."
"Well... If you ever find yourself in Ponyville... I wouldn't mind having some more muffins with you Eribia."
The Majin smiled as she finished wiping her eyes. "I'd love to have some muffins with you too Derpy... Hopefully when this whole mess blows over I'll have a bit more free time."
"You could come over now? I should have a batch of muffins almost done." Derpy replied with a smile as she stood up.
Eribia shook her head. "You head on out first... I think that there's something I have to do before we can hang out." The Majin stood with a smile as she watched the grey pegasus flit and flutter her way down into Ponyville. She made a mental note of the house that the pegasus went to so that she could visit later. "She's really nice... I think I'll keep her as is after I control the world."
With a small hop the pink Majin made her way to the ground only to stop as she heard an exclamation. "Now!" The source caused Eribia to hesitate when she turned around just before her vision filled once more with Rainbows for the first time in a thousand years. The colors only lasted a few seconds before the Majin blacked out again.
@}~}~~~
Rainbow Dash coughed as she pulled herself up from the dirt. "We got her... right?" She groaned as she shifted into a sitting position.
"I think so... she was too close to dodge the blast..." Twilight replied as she shakily began to stand.
"If... If uh... she got hit by the Elements... why ain't she a statue again?" Applejack pointed out as she got into a kneeling position, recovering slightly faster than the others. Each of the mares quickly looked over to where the pink Majin had been in slight fear only to have the fear replaced by confusion as they noticed that the creature left behind was quite a bit smaller... around the size of a filly.
Rarity took a few tentative steps closer. "Was it the same thing that happened to Princess Luna?" She asked hesitantly as they all began to walk a bit closer.
"Shoot... it looks like it... 'cept there ain't no armor litterin' the ground." Applejack replied before she began to look around. "Looks like everythin's back ta normal too..."
Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head as they all stood just out of arm's reach of the girl. "So... what do we do with her now?"
"We could look over her at my house..." Fluttershy volunteered just barely above a whisper.
Twilight nodded. "I'll have Spike send Celestia a message... since this is what's left after the Elements were done with whatever it was that they did let's hope that she's in a more talkative mood." Rarity's horn lit up in its normal light-blue aura, surrounding the unconscious Majin in her aura as Twilight made her way back to the library.
Wind whistled past Eribia's ear holes as she fell upwards. A pensive frown made its way onto her face as her eyes flitted across vague memories, memories that her talk with Derpy had finally brought back to the fore. Each one flashed in front of her as she fell up the cliff, a shattered memory, a fragment of a memory...
...Each one refused to be whole or disappear. Her mind was clouded with fragmented memories about being a human merging with the memories of a Majin who had ruled a country similar to the ones featured in Aladdin and One Thousand and One Nights. Her eyes flitted to a memory as an Earthling child who was nervous to ride her very first roller coaster, the fear that left the screaming child's mouth and finally the excited exhilaration once the ride was over as she begged her father and older sister to go for another ride. The red glow of her eyes faded a little before she looked to a Majin memory, of nobles who offered their daughters as sacrifices to their bubblegum-pink overlord as she casually consumed the girls and let their bodies help shape hers. A twang of regret as each of the beautiful women were absorbed to become part of a creature who could so casually destroy the world.
Was she human? Was she Majin? The last memory she had as a human played in clips and looked like something out of an old film as she watched the tall, petite brunette stand just a small ways off of a crowd in the Light Heart Suit she had recreated completely from scratch. It was so long ago that she had forgotten what Earthling name she had when she was human... Perhaps she hadn't even been human in the first place, that these memories were truly someone else's?
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Eribia leaned against a large stone column as she waited for her older sister to finish up her purchase, her eyes seemed to glaze over a little as she let her mind wander around the convention. It was a fairly small one, with several groups dedicated to having some sort of organized pen and paper RPG event going on as the noise in the convention hall was kept to a dull roar. Due to being so late in October she wasn't really bothered about having a relatively thick outfit on because of the slight chill that went through the building.
"Hey! Eribia!" The female voice caught her attention as she turned to a well-costumed Arkosian that stood at least half a foot shorter than her. "I didn't find anything that would go with my costume, I did find something you might like though..." the pastel-blue and pink Frieza clan cosplayer replied as she held out a gold-colored belt buckle with the stylized Majin 'M' on it.
Eribia smiled as she took the buckle. "Thanks sis!" She squealed as she pulled the smaller girl into a hug. "Maybe we can both find a pair of Scouters here to complete the looks, eh Frost?"
Frost gave a chuckle as she dug through a bag that was slung over her shoulder. "Already got that covered." She replied as she held a blue-colored New-Model Scouter out to the Majin cosplayer and took a green one for herself. In a blink the scene changed though.
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Eribia smirked as her blue scouter focused on the warrior standing at the end of the hall. Almost immediately it was obvious that the girl was a foreigner since her skin was a much lighter tone than the subjects she allowed to stay... that and the plate armor that covered most of her body. "You know, having so much metal on you out in the desert really can kill you before any monsters do..."
"Shut your mouth Demon!" The girl shouted as she brought her shield and sword into a ready position. "I will purge this world of your filth." With a surprising burst of speed, despite the armor, she managed to clear most of the room in a blur and brought her blade in a swift arc that forced Eribia to tilt her head back as the tip of the sword grazed her eye.
The Majin cursed as she took a step backward, sending out a Ki blast that was avoided by the armor-wearing paladin as she backed off as well. With a clatter and a small explosion Eribia's scouter fell to the ground. With a few small breaths Eribia composed herself. "I'd say you'd regret that... but you won't live long enough to regret it."
For her part, the paladin simply smiled before her form shimmered and vanished. "Without your demon artifact you won't be able to hit us..."
That caused the Majin to pause in slight confusion. "...Us?" she managed to say curiously before a huge, studded fist embedded itself in her face and sent her through the back of the throne with a loud crunch. Eribia quickly recovered as she rubbed her face. "Do you realize how much that stings!?" She shouted as she looked at her assailant, a burly woman just barely skirting the line of indecent exposure with the fur bra and loincloth she was wearing. The berserker scowled and let out a roar as she charged once more. Eribia gave her own scowl as she brought her arms up to block the barrage of attacks that the raging woman was landing on her.
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
"I cast a maximized lightning spell at it." A teen dressed as a stereotypical wizard declared as the small group of onlookers quietly cheered on the heroes, with only a few secretly rooting for an ironic twist ending for the group of heroes. Eribia watched with an interested hum as her older, yet shorter, sister leaned forward a little in eager anticipation.
The slightly pudgy man sitting at the end of the table behind a DM screen smiled as he rolled a few dice away from view. Once the clatter stopped he smiled as he looked back over at the group. "The arcane energy you channel gives off a heavy scent of ozone as the lightning arcs from the mystical sigils in front of your character's hand, the beam itself shoots around the raging barbarian and gives a solid strike just off the demon's chest, forcing it to take a step back and stagger..."
A girl dressed as a demon hunter from the Diablo Three game smirked. "I'm going to use my Rapid shot and Manyshot feats to get this fight over with quickly."
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Eribia let out a pained gasp as she tried to recover from the lightning that had struck her just as a wizard had faded into view, her eyes narrowed and she prepared a Ki pulse to try and knock the barbarian away just before several arrows impaled themselves in her left side, leg and arm. One of the arrows had even been lucky enough to get caught right in one of the four holes on her arm and sent a searing pain all along her arm as it broke her concentration. It was that exact moment when she realized the cut on her eye hadn't healed over yet being compounded with the fact that all of these seemingly-mundane abilities were actually hurting her just before the still-raging barbarian grabbed her by the throat with one steel-clad arm while using the other to repeatedly slam punch after punch into the Majin's stomach before she tossed the battered Eribia into the center of the room. "Puny demon..." The barbarian scoffed.
Her mind raced, "How? How could I be beaten like this?!" she began to panic as she struggled to stand. "I... I will not stand for this... I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!!!" She shouted as she brought her hands together in front of her and began pooling her energy into a destruction sphere. "I will drop a star on your asses!" She screamed as she threw the giant ball of energy.
Only to have her scowl fall into a look of shock and disbelief as the paladin appeared once again with a smirk and brought up her shield as the blast impacted with it. The energy was quickly absorbed by a symbol of a fist clutching a lightning bolt that began to glow as the Paladin aimed it at Eribia. "By Heironeous' might, I smite thee!" The paladin called out with a sadistic smile before a blinding white beam of energy shot straight for the Majin, forcing her to scream out in pain as she felt the energy of her attack at least tripled before being shot back at her.
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
The Dungeon Master smirked a little as he finished the latest roll. "Excellent job, with your hero point Heironeous has blessed your shield's reflection ability, the demon is definitely hurting now as it collapses to its knees.
The wizard smiled as he leaned back in his chair. "I use my Mystic Binding to pin it in place so that James can make the finishing blow."
The slightly pudgy man nodded before he looked to the teen dressed as Sauron. "Alright James, your paladin has the right away to perform the coup d'etat."
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Eribia tried to blink away the tears of pain that blurred her vision as the golden aura from the wizard's spell kept her in-place no matter how much she thrashed about. She slowed her struggling as she noticed the paladin stop in front of her. The scowl on the girl's face said it all as she drove the blade into Eribia's chest at a spot right about where an earthling's heart would be... and it certainly hurt like she had something there as she actually felt blood build up in her mouth.
"By Heironeous' grace I banish you back to the hell from whence you came, plague this world no more." The paladin recited calmly before she quickly drew the sword out and spun for a horizontal slash at Eribia's throat before everything blacked out.
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Eribia rubbed her neck as she remembered the feeling of being beheaded by a holy blade, it hadn't been just any blade, it was a sword blessed by the god of war and valor himself. It was the only reason why she hadn't recovered from any of their attacks, they had focused on getting weapons blessed by the gods themselves before taking her on. They had come prepared and she had underestimated them... just like Discord had underestimated her.
Once she realized that she was now upside down as she was falling upwards she finally reached the top of the cliff and seemed to be in a rewinding version of a leap of faith. Her outfit had changed from the light heart suit to a regular Buu Gi with a dark blue and violet color scheme as she slowly sat with her legs crossed. The horizon stretched out as far as she could see with something similar to an Aurora Borealis instead of a regular skyline. The now child-sized Majin plucked a few blades of grass as she sensed a presence trying to get into her dream, a small extension of her will later and she sat beside a filly that was about as tall as she was when she was standing, if not a little taller.
The dark-blue mare with an ethereal mane gave the Majin a curious look as she shifted her weight a little. "...Eribia?" She asked quietly, earning a nod from the child-like Majin. "wherefore doth thou look like a child instead of the creature that had threaten'd our country a thousand years ago?" she asked, hesitant to sit next to the creature that still radiated an aura of chaos.
"This is... well... I guess this is just me with an absorbed Discord... Nothing else..." the little Majin replied as she let the blades of grass float away in the wind. "I wonder what it will be like... starting over again..." she muttered as her green eyes focused on the grass just before it fell down the cliff.
Luna looked warily at the black scleras of the Majin's eyes as she decided to continue standing. "that will be something to break with when thou wake up. . . f'r anon, rest. . . thither will be a lot thou hast to dilate when thou awaken."
Eribia nodded a little as she looked back down at her feet and traced her finger around the edge of the fighting boots she was wearing. "I'll talk to you guys when I wake up then..." she sighed as she looked back out at the landscape that stretched beneath the cliff she had fallen up. Her Ki wrapped around her body and slowly lifted her off the ground as she began to float slowly away from the spot she had been sitting at, giving her a view of the cliff that had really only been a thirty-foot drop before she continued to observe what looked like a typical farming countryside without the actual farms.
Eribia let out a small groan as she blinked awake, her right hand gently patted several spots on her body as she groggily took stock of what outfit she was wearing before she pushed herself into a sitting position and yawned widely, testing the limits of just how far her body could stretch before she loudly smacked her lips together. A rumbling growl from her belly had the Majin sigh as she leapt off of the bed and began to plod her way downstairs while letting her nose guide her to the smell of food.
The sudden quieting of several voices went unnoticed by the Majin as she plodded into the kitchen. She arched her back to stretch as she cracked an eye open and gasped at what she saw. Eribia seemed to vanish before she reappeared next to the plate of muffins of various assorted flavors. Her eyes widened and twinkled with absolute joy as she looked upon the near mountain of muffins, a bit of drool trailed down the left side of her face before she licked her lips and began to dig into the pile of muffins with reckless abandon. Not a single crumb was spared its bubblegum-pink demise as she quickly changed from biting into the muffins to stuffing them in her waiting maw whole before chewing so that she could savor every crumb without dropping a single one.
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Derpy smiled happily as she watched the Majin dig into the plate of muffins that she had brought over when she heard that Eribia was at Fluttershy's house. "See, I told you she loved my muffins!" she giggled as she looked over at the mares that were sitting in the living room watching as the Majin devoured muffin after muffin in a way that should have bloated her or caused her to be sick in one way or another.
Celestia had a pensive look on her face as she watched the entire spectacle, "So Luna wasn't seeing an illusion... Perhaps she can be redeemed..." the marble-colored mare thought to herself as the Majin in the kitchen finally polished off the last muffin and pat down her stomach.
Eribia let out a small belch and smiled as she gave her belly another rub. "That hit the spot..." She sighed contentedly before turning around and freezing mid-step like a cartoon right before a chase scene would begin. Her emerald-colored eyes flicked from one mare to the next before they finally rested on an amber-eyed pegasus that was smiling and waving eagerly. She gave a small, cautious wave back as she slowly put down her foot. An awkward smile wormed its way onto her face as she looked at Celestia. "S-sorry for punching you..." She tried with a sheepish smile as her cheeks tinted a bit crimson.
Celestia smiled a little. "A late apology is better than no apology... although I wouldn't doubt that you won't be welcome in Canterlot for quite some time." She explained as she gave a small wave of her hand. "You were still under Discord's influence at the time as well, so that does make it easier to forgive."
"Yeah... Discord's influence..." Eribia replied with a slow nod as her gaze drifted to the floor. She blinked a few times before she looked back up to Celestia. "I... I don't want to seem rude... but... what's going on?"
"That is what we are here to discuss Eribia, since it appears the Elements turned you back into a child of your species... it would be best to at least temporarily put you with a foster family." Celestia explained. "While we had been debating, Miss Hooves showed up with a large tray of muffins and offered to look after you."
The wall-eyed mare smiled broadly as she darted over to grip the Majin child in a firm hug. "That's right! I get to take care of you alongside my little Muffin, Dinky!" she squealed as she hugged the Majin a bit tighter.
"That's... Great... Derpy!" Eribia choked out as her face was half-buried in Derpy's chest. "When do we... leave?"
"We're going to leave once the guard pony gets back with the adoption papers that will make it official... uh... do you know how old you are by the way?" Derpy asked with a curious frown as she eased up on her hug a little.
"Well over a thousand... with about four years of college art classes..." Eribia replied.
Twilight gave the Majin a confused look. "College?"
"Yeah, the school you go to after you're done with grade school because colleges have you pay to go to them out of your own pocket instead of out of taxpayer pockets." Eribia explained with a roll of her eyes. "I could have completed my degree in two years but I just didn't want to leave..."
"Why didn't you want to leave?" Fluttershy asked quietly as Eribia stood next to Derpy and brushed herself off.
"I met a bunch of friends, we used to keep in touch but I have no idea what happened to them, a thousand years is a long time to look for one of your missing friends..." Eribia replied with a shrug. "It's not like they suddenly became immortal like Majins supposedly are." There was a knock at the door to get everyone's attention before it opened to reveal a pure white pegasus guard clad in gold armor. Eribia made a slight surprised grimace. "yeesh... talk about gaudy..." She muttered just before the guard noticed her and shot her a glare.
He turned to the Princess and held out a small bundle of papers. "Here is the forms you requested Your Highness." The second glare he shot, however small it was, hadn't been missed by Rainbow Dash before the guard left the room.
"Wow... The guards must really hate you... I can't even get them to flinch without Philomena's help." the prismatic pegasus observed.
"Well, I did gutpunch Celestia..."
"Princess... Celestia." Twilight corrected out of habit.
Eribia waved a hand. "Yeah, whatever... Trust me Violet... When you've battled them at your prime, titles don't matter."
Derpy knelt down in front of the Majin with a serious look. "It's still respectful, at the very least you should have proper manners when talking to others, it helps get them to like you."
With a slight blush Eribia's eyes darted between both of Derpy's eyes before finally settling on the one staring directly at her as she let out a small sigh. "I'm sorry..." She said quietly before she looked around Derpy at Celestia. "I'm sorry for not using your title..."
The grey mare smiled before she pulled Eribia into a hug. "Even though you're not going to be my daughter immediately, since I still have to talk to my husband, I still want you on your best behavior... alright?"
"Yes Derpy..." Eribia replied quietly as she gently ran her fingers through the mare's soft coat.
"Great! Once Time Turner agrees to adopting you we'll get you enrolled in Ponyville Elementary as soon as possible!" Derpy explained with a smile as she picked up the Majin.
"School!? Why!? I just told you I graduated college!" Eribia complained as the grey mare hefted the child-Majin onto her shoulder.
"Because, any college notification you may have had didn't transfer to Equestria... so you need to be taught about Equestria and Equestrian education." Derpy replied as she happily took the adoption papers that Celestia held out for her. "And besides, I don't want my little muffin to get jealous of having a sister that didn't have to go to school despite still being a filly." Eribia's jaw dropped before she let out a groan that led into a whine.
"I don't want to go back to school again!" She complained as she slumped over Derpy's shoulder.
Derpy simply giggled. "I have to have this conversation with Dinky every year, you're not going to get out of going to school little missy, so make sure you get good grades so that Dinky doesn't have to graduate alone." She gently pet the Majin's back a few times. "Besides, Miss Cheerilee is great with foals, I'm sure you two will get along great in no time!"
Eribia winced as she remembered the name from the group of students that had passed the statue she was trapped in not even more than... hopefully a day ago. "...Aww... crap..." She thought as she imagined just how mad the maroon mare would be about being turned into a flower. "If I'm lucky... she won't remember it... yeah... Yeah... She's probably forgotten the whole ordeal by now!"
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
Eribia stood awkwardly in front of the curious and observing eye of a light-pinkish-purple filly as the unicorn poked and prodded the Majin. Dinky narrowed her gaze a little bit as her gaze moved over the tendrils that made up Eribia's bangs and 'combed'-back hair. The Majin flinched back a little as the unicorn straightened up with a discerning look for several seconds...
With a smile and matching squeal Dinky pulled the Majin into a tight hug, not unlike what her mother did, and began spinning around while holding onto the Majin with a surprising amount of strength for just a filly. "I've always wanted a sister!" She giggled as she continued to spin. "And now I have one! We're going to have so much fun together! We'll get to paint our nails and dress up and go to the arcade-..."
"Arcade?" Eribia asked with renewed interest as she used her Ki to stop herself from spinning, forcing the unicorn to stop as well.
"Yeah! There's one just down the street from the school, one bit will get you ten tokens to play." Dinkie explained.
"Welp... I know where my allowance is going to go..." Eribia mentally sighed as she set herself down.
"How did you fly like that? Do you know how to do magic?" Dinky asked excitedly.
Eribia thought about it for a few seconds. "Well... Magic and Ki, what I used, are two different things... and I can use both because the Majin race was created from pure magic." She smiked as she saw Dinky's awed expression. "Yep... I even absorbed Discord so I have chaos magic as well." She laughed as she looked at a pencil that was on Dinky's writing desk and snapped her fingers, turning it into a licorice stick. "I hope its cherry." Eribia muttered as she walked over to pick up the licorice and pulled a strip away to give it a testing taste. With a smile she peeled the rest of the strips apart at the top and offered them to Dinky. "Want one?"
The hungry look in her eyes betrayed her desire as she shook her head. "Momma says that if I have a bunch of candy before dinner it'll ruin my appetite..."
Eribia nodded. "When I was on earth my mom used to say the same thing..." She replied as she took the rest of the licorice and began to munch on it. "So... when's your father usually get home?"
"Oh... he should be back soon, right around now is usually when Minuette closes the clock store they co-own." Dinky replied with a smile as she made her way over to her desk to pull out another pencil. "I think Daddy will like you, and then you'll get to be my sister for real!"
Unnoticed by Dinky the Majin behind her paused mid-chew to look down at the licorice stick as her mind wandered back to the earthling who had cosplayed as the Frieza Clan character she had created. "... Is she my sister?... Is she alright?" were just a few of the questions buzzing through her mind before she smiled again as the unicorn filly turned around to face the Majin once more.
"Dad's home! I just heard the door, come on!" The excited unicorn exclaimed as she pulled the Majin along and kept her off balance.
@}~}~~~@}~}~~~
The Whooves home was mostly quiet as they all sat down to dinner, despite a few curious questions regarding her species Time Turner hadn't pressed the issue of interrogating the Majin too much before he relented and helped Derpy set the table. The silence was broken mid-meal when Turner decided to start up a table-wide discussion. "So, I was told about some interesting event that happened to the town while I was at the store today... somehow I had gotten off shift after everything was done so I didn't get to see these supposed 'giraffe-bunnies' or 'cotton candy clouds that rained chocolate milk'..." He explained as he speared a salted potato on his fork.
Eribia winced a little and gave a sheepish smile. "Y-yeah... about that..." The Majin mumbled. "I am the one who did that stuff... everyone got better... but... after being trapped in stone for a thousand years... I had a lot of magic that I had to burn off..."
The tan earth pony gave her a curious look as he swallowed the potato he had been eating. "Well, forgive me a bit if this sounds ignorant or something like that since I'm not used to actively using magic like unicorns and pegusai do... but... you had to burn off magic?"
The Majin nodded with a small smile. "To explain it so everyone can get a grasp on how magic works... Imagine a pony's magic initially being like a capped-off hose..." She began, getting a few nods from everyone at the table. "When a pony such as a pegasus or unicorn, which have active magic, begins to exhibit their magical abilities the pressure builds behind that cap until it pops off... the initial burst can be incredibly powerful and risky. Once they get past that initial surge though the flow on the hose evens out until it's a steady stream that they can use at any time, easily burning it off as they fly, use spells and whatever else unicorns and pegusai do. I haven't lost any of you, right?"
Time Turner nodded with a smile as Eribia noticed all their undivided attention. "This is actually a fairly accurate description so far." He admitted.
"Good..." Eribia replied with a smile. "... Anyway... since I was trapped in stone for a thousand years, that capped off my magical flow for that entire time... it built up a lot of powerful arcane energy that could have been particularly dangerous to this entire world if I hadn't released it in the form of all that chaos."
"What was the alternate option?" The tan earth pony asked.
"There would likely have been a crater where this planet used to be..." Eribia stated with a slight frown. "So... I took the lesser of two evils and decided to cause some much-needed change instead of planet bursting."
Time Turner leaned back in his seat and idly adjusted his favorite green tie. "I see..." He hummed as he casually inspected another potato he had speared on his fork. "I believe I understand why the Elements didn't seal you in stone again then..." That caused Eribia to sit up a bit straighter now that her interest was piqued. "You didn't actually want to hurt the planet... so they may have simply bled off that extra magic buildup."
"It certainly felt like that..."
The stallion smiled though as he leaned forward again. "On the bright side, Derpy had me look over the adoption forms and I'd be happy to have you as part of our family, we'll even get you enrolled in the local school by the beginning of next week." Eribia let out a small groan as she sunk in her seat, she could already tell that it was going to be a long year. "We'll go shopping for your school supplies tomorrow." Turner added with a smile. Eribia only gave a small nod of understanding as she ate another of the delicious salted potatoes.
"I really hope Cheerilee doesn't remember what I did to her..."
A rather scrawny earth pony stallion clad in a chainmail shirt and steel skull cap sprinted wildly through the sun-drenched halls of a very ornate castle, his hooves clacked loudly on the stone floors as similarly-clad ponies, griffons and minotaurs shifted out of his way once they noticed the brown sheaf of paper held in his grasp like his life depended on it. His eyes had shrunk to mere pinpricks as his eyes scanned around the hall for the correct path to take in order to reach his superior.
He slid to a stop just outside of a huge pair of metal doors, the name of the material itself lost to time, guarded by four plate armor-clad soldiers, one unicorn, one earth pony, one griffon and one minotaur. The unicorn guard noticed the seal on the scroll that the stallion held up before the guard's eyes shrank to almost the same size as the stallion's. "Go in..." She said quickly as she lit up her horn, opening the doors just wide enough for him to slip in before closing them behind him.
In the gigantic, circular room light flooded in from various stained-glass windows depicting scenes from various battles that had raged throughout the organization's history. The largest, behind the throne at the end of the room, depicted a bipedal figure in little more than a pair of baggy white pants and various pieces of gold jewelry facing down a dragon with nothing but his fists as he was surrounded in a fiery aura that matched his golden hair. It was an inspiration to all in their order... that any beast can be brought down with enough determination.
An elderly unicorn stallion, discerned only by the wrinkles on his face since his body seemed to rival that of many healthy earth pony stallions, brought the end of a golden-metal rod down on the steps that his throne rested on. The earth pony apprentice that had entered the room held out the scroll he had been charged with delivering as he dropped himself to his knees reverently. No words were exchanged as the elder unicorn brought the scroll up and broke the seal to reveal the message that had been so important. Silence reigned in the hall as the earth pony apprentice kept himself prostrated before the grand master and the rest of the warrior council, each steel-clad soldier representing each race on Equus looking between themselves as many silently wondered what had begun to cause the elder's gaze to narrow before he set the note to the side.
The unicorn stood, revealing a form that women of any race seemed to fawn over and spread envy among males, and spoke to the young stallion. "You have done your duty to the letter Apprentice... now that your delivery mission has been completed and no-doubt forced you to face many obstacles to arrive safely you may rest for as long as you wish. Upon the letter was a recommendation of a knighting ceremony once you are fully rested. The other news I will discuss with the rest of the council."
"Thank you Grand Master Solaire... It is an honor to receive such praise." The earth stallion replied as he slowly stood and brought a hand to his heart just before bowing once more. Once the bow was done he turned to leave quickly so that he could rest and recover from his journey.
Once the door had closed again the Minotaur of the council turned to the unicorn. "Grand Master... what news did the apprentice bring?"
The unicorn frowned for the first time that day as he returned to his seat. "The Destroyer has returned... as the prophecy fortold, we do not have the strength to fight her at her full power so we must act quickly, strike while she is still weak and protect the world." He pursed his lips with a frown as he looked at the one mosaic that many warriors missed directly above the door that led to the council room. A mosaic depicting a battle between the dark-skinned, golden-haired founder of their order and the pink creature that had been prophesied as The Destroyer. "Grand Warrior Tolon would not be happy about what we must do... but we must act now to save the lives of countless millions." He sighed as each council member directed their attention to the mosaic.
A pony-like knight turned his attention to the Grand Master, his cat-like amber eyes staring intently as his leathery wings shifted uncomfortably on his back. "Who shall we send?"
"We must not give her a chance, send a garrison to the Whitetail location in a way that will not be viewed as suspicious by Equestria, the Assassins will handle her." The unicorn commanded. "This council is adjourned for today." The other members nodded, quickly getting up from their seats and filtering out of the room before two white-robed acolytes walked up to either side of the elder unicorn with their heads bowed. "Please... prepare my tea, I have a missive I must write..." Both of the acolytes nodded before silently disappearing from the room.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
White Wash let out a sigh as he stepped into the communal shower and let the water wash over his dirt-caked white coat. At one point he had been considered for a position in the Royal Guard but his desire to paint, combined with his lack of physique for an earth pony, helped him hesitate when he was asked to join the guard. His mind flashed back to the day he had first been approached by The Order like it had been set to a permanent crystal recording.
The warm feeling of the shower was replaced by the biting cold of the night's rain despite the fires raging across the buildings around him, nature seemed to be trying to help with putting out the fires even as the paper-white stallion collapsed to his knees on the muddy ground, his cloak all but forgotten less than a meter away as he stared in horror at the devastated town littered with the corpses of several guards and civilians.
Had it been luck that an Order member had been passing through the area after the beast that had destroyed the town? At the time White Wash hadn't a clue as a bandaged hand gripped his shoulder and hauled him roughly to his hooves so that he could be face-to-face with a pair of weathered amber eyes that nearly matched the dirt-colored coat of the stallion they were attached to. The stallion in the tattered cloak and wide-brimmed hat spoke in an accent that immediately made White Wash think the earth stallion was from Stalliongrad.
"It's your lucky day... you get to help me slay a dragon, stay alive and you get to keep a few trophies." The male said gruffly as he let the younger stallion go before passing him a short sword. "That blade cost more money than you have ever seen... it's power makes it even more valuable... you drop it or let the dragon eat it and I'll drag you out of hell myself just to make you regret it... Am I clear, boy?"
The journey to the dragon's lair hadn't been a particularly eventful one, it had moved only once while they were tracking it but Domon, the stallion that had led him to the dragon, had quickly picked up the dragon's trail again anyway. Weeks he had spent training under the stallion that outclassed any guard he had seen gave the white-coated earth pony an insight into an organization founded to protect not just Equestria but the world while the pony princesses focused on their own country. The battle against the dragon itself had been a nerve-wracking experience when he went through it... but looking back... it hadn't been too difficult once they had disabled the monster's wings.
He was brought out of his thoughts as a pair of thin, feminine arms wrapped around his chest and a mare's soft chest squished against his back. "Hey Washy..." The mare cooed as her muzzle found its spot on the crook of his neck. "It's been a while... hasn't it..."
The earth stallion shivered a little as his hands covered the pale-violet arms of the mare. "Yes... I'm sorry that I didn't send a letter..." he replied quietly.
"It's fine... you're here now... and that's what matters..." the mare replied as she gently kissed his neck. "I heard through the grapevine that there's going to be a knighting ceremony for you tomorrow at noon..."
"That is good..." The earth pony replied. "... I missed you..." He said as he turned to take in the petite features of the pegasus that had hugged him. "Perhaps we should catch up...?"
"My room is free, my roommate was sent home because she had been injured in the line of battle." the violet pegasus replied.
White Wash nodded, "We lose too many good soldiers that way... but it's inevitable considering our line of work, Mint." He quickly turned off the showerhead and grabbed his towel from a nearby rack so that he and Winter Mint could dry off. "...how long?" He asked quietly as he grabbed his extra change of clothes.
"Two weeks..." Mint replied as she gracefully dried her wings. "More than enough time for us to enjoy ourselves..."
Once they were dry the pair made their way to one of the near-identical rooms for the acolytes and apprentices that filled the entire west wing of the castle that was built out of the side of a mountain, at any angle it seemed that the entire hall was built specifically so that anyone walking it would have a view of the sunrise or moonrise as both illuminated the hall. The pair of apprentices quickly made their way to a room on the second floor of the wing and made sure to lock the door behind them, they didn't want any guests after all.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
White Wash smiled as the sun warmed the room, the slightly-askew wings in part of his embrace brought a slightly wider smile to his face as he gently kissed Winter Mint's neck. "It's time to wake up Mint..." He cooed as the mare's ear twitched in response to his voice. "Celestia's sun is shining on a new day and Luna's moon has protected us through the night... Today we join the ranks of The Order's finest..."
Winter Mint let out a groan as she tried to snuggle deeper into Wash's warm embrace. "...'nother five minutes..." She groaned in protest as he gently began to pull away.
"I'm sorry Mint... we have to get ready, we don't want to be late for the Ceremony..." He prodded, getting her to let out another groan as she sat up and stretched, giving him a great view of her wingspan. "You certainly have the wingspan for Valkyrie..." The stallion commented.
Mint smiled wryly, "I have the strength for it too... it's why a few stallions had to see the medics a few weeks ago." They both shared a laugh as they quickly dressed, Wash put on a white, hooded cloak to go with his tunic and pants while Mint put on just her tunic and pants. It didn't take them long to reach the ceremony courtyard where many acolytes and apprentices had gathered as they waited on the ceremony to begin. A few of the apprentices had taken to sparring for the crowd, practicing non-lethal takedowns as well as speed. When the great doors opened on the opposite side of the courtyard everyone became still, even those who were balanced precariously on one leg while sparring refused to move as the doors opened.
The thestral council member walked out from the shadowed corridor and cleared his throat. "Everyone... take your seats..." He had no need to raise his voice or use a spell to make himself heard, everyone in attendance understood his command and quickly took their places among their fellows. "Today marks both a boon and a tragedy..." the thestral stallion began as he walked to the center of the courtyard. "This knighting ceremony is being held because three of our own have fallen in battle, their equipment and bodies were retrieved by their comrades but it is our duty to honor their sacrifice... before our ceremony can begin, let us have a moment of silence to pray for our fallen brethren and mourn for their passing."
The courtyard was almost silent as most of the beings in attendance muttered prayers under their breaths while a few of the newest acolytes spoke quietly to themselves. White Wash held the symbol of The Order that hung from a thin chain on his neck, a stylized sun with a crescent moon embossed on it, as he let out a prayer of healing for the families of the fallen. Everyone looked up again once a pegasus mare took the center of the courtyard. "We shall begin the ceremony now... Apprentice White Wash, Apprentice Winter Mint and Apprentice Swift Blizzard... please step up to the circle."
The earth pony stallion, his pegasus lover and a female griffon all stood in front of the pegasus knight as several members of the higher ranks in their order made a half-circle around them. A female griffon with plumage as white as snow and a coat as grey as charcoal stepped up to Swift Blizzard. The apprentice griffon straightened just a little more as her light-grey coat seemed to complement the older griffon's. "Swift Blizzard, you are being promoted to the rank of Valkyrie for your dedication in the field and your strength of will that very few possess, your armor is being enchanted as we speak and I bestow upon you the longsword 'Savage Seer'... May it protect you in all of your battles." She announced as she took a sheathed longsword from two white-robed acolytes and presented it to the lighter griffon.
Swift Blizzard bowed a little as she took the blade, letting her right claw grasp the fairly plain-looking handle and slowly draw the blade out of its sheath. "With this blade I pledge my life and soul to defending the innocent... to eliminate evil wherever it may hide... with this blade, I pledge every last breath to uphold the tenets of our Order and to never stray from the path that has been set before me. In the light of the sun or the light of the moon my steps will not falter and I will hold my faith."
The darker griffon smiled as she placed a claw on the younger griffon's shoulder. "Welcome to the Valkyries, Sister."
The pegasus that had spoken earlier stepped up to Winter Mint with a longsword of her own. "Winter Mint, you are being promoted to the rank of Valkyrie for your unwavering loyalty to your allies and your strength of heart, your new armor is waiting for you with Midnight Steel. I bestow upon you the blade Holy Lightning, may it strike down your enemies with your righteous wrath and let no harm befall those you protect."
Winter Mint took the blade with the same reverence as Swift Blizzard had before she drew the longsword, its handle was stylized to resemble a lightning bolt and the polished metal of the blade had a lightning bolt engraved on it. "With this sword I give my mind, body and soul to defending those who cannot defend themselves, to give a blade to those who need an ally on the battlefield and to stand even in the face of our darkest days. I will stand as the wall that strikes back, I will protect this world from those who would seek to destroy it."
The sky-blue pegasus mare placed a hand on Mint's shoulder. "Then welcome to the Valkyries, Sister..."
The thestral council member stepped up to White Wash with an appraising look. "Apprentice White Wash, from this day forward you will assume the rank of Brother, you will walk through the shadows as easily as you do the light, let no evil escape your blade. You will be the blade that can do what the light and peace cannot, you will strike fear into the hearts of the wicked and they will meet their end by your hand. Your armor is ready, as are your blades. I bestow upon you the Illuminated Serpent, let it be the blade that sends the wicked to their final judgement." He turned to take a rather ornate wooden box from a hooded acolyte next to him and presented it to White Wash, who took the box and placed it gently on the ground in front of him before he opened it.
The gold-bound hilt of the shortsword stood out among the rest of the gear within as he pulled the blade from among the rest of his new gear. Drawing the blade to reveal the golden serpent emblazoned on the blade he looked to the thestral with a fire in his eyes. "I will be the blade in the crowd, striking unseen at the wicked... I will remain unknown and will accept that my deeds will go without praise, for my duty and the knowledge that my work is done will be all I need. I dedicate every breath of my body to the death of evil, they will not hide from the retribution they deserve."
All three knighted apprentices sheathed their blades and bowed to their senior knights before they gathered what they had been given and waited for the assembled apprentices to disperse. When the six knights were left alone in the courtyard the sky blue pegasus mare looked to each of the new knights. "You are all being moved to the Whitetail location... there is a target in Equestria that we must strike before they become a threat. A terrible prophesy is on the horizon, we must take action before it can come to pass."
All three of the knights brought their legs together and clapped a hand over their hearts before bowing a half-bow. "Understood." they replied simultaneously.
The first day of school was... interesting. Unfortunately, Cheerilee had remembered every moment of being turned into a flower but when Dinky had explained that the Elements of harmony had made Eribia good again, even with Discord's magic, the maroon mare managed to find the will to forgive the Majin of her transgression as long as she promised never to do it again.
It was a weird promise too, something about hoping to fly and jamming cupcakes in her eyes, it didn't sound like a good promise to have. Sadly, the most interesting part of the class had happened when the maroon mare had introduced her to her classmates and a barrage of questions.
"Why are your nails black?"
"Why do you have that M on your belt?"
"Why are you pink?" Everyone turned to see Pinkie Pie sitting awkwardly at one of the desks with her hand raised just like the other eager foals, though she gave out a sheepish smile when they had noticed her.
"Um..." Eribia started as she looked at Pinkie. "...For the same reason you are pink I would assume..." She said with a shrug. "I was born that way... or at least began my existence that way." She turned to a slightly pudgy blue unicorn with an orange mane. "Yes?"
He brought his hand down and gave her an intense look. "Snips..." He introduced with a small smile before going back to the intense look. "What kind of creature are you?" He asked. "You don't quite look like an earth pony."
"Well... to explain..." She began. "For about the hundredth time..." she added mentally. "I am a being known as a Majin, I'm naturally good at using magic and I'm really strong..."
"How strong?" Snips challenged.
"I bench-press mountains." Eribia deadpanned.
A pink earth pony filly scoffed. "There's no way you could do that..."
Without missing a beat Eribia retorted. "Just because you can't do it doesn't mean there's no one who can."
"Oh please, everypony knows about the balances each species and magic form have." The pink earth pony replied. "Miss Cheerilee taught us that lesson last week." At Eribia's disbelieving brow she let out an exaggerated sigh. "Earth ponies have better strength and physique, Pegusai are lighter, can fly and are able to manipulate elemental magic and Unicorns are stronger in magic without being anywhere near as strong as an earth pony."
"Well, hate to break it to ya... but I'm a living exception to those rules." Eribia replied.
"Alright class, lets get ready for today's lesson..." Cheerilee announced. "Good work Diamon Tiara, it makes me proud to see that my lesson last week stuck with all of you."
The earth pony beamed at the praise as Eribia looked for a seat. Due to her new father's obsession with ties she had shaped a layer of clothes over her torso in the shape of a student blouse to go along with her baggy pants. With a small sigh she slightly adjusted the tie as she looked for an open seat. It only took a few moments for her to notice an empty one near a very familiar-looking trio of fillies... though for the life of her she couldn't place where she had seen them. She shrugged and decided it wasn't an important detail anyway, otherwise she would remember. The light yellow earth pony filly smiled as she turned to Eribia. "Name's Applebloom, it's nice ta meet ya." She introduced with a quietly-excited voice before she pointed to an off-white unicorn. "That there's Sweetie Belle, she's Rarity's sister..." Then her hand moved to indicate a slightly-waving orange filly. "And she's Scootaloo."
Eribia nodded to each one. "It's good to meet you..."
"So..." Scootaloo started. "What's your cutie mark?"
"My whatnow?" Eribia asked with a raised brow.
The three of them gave silent gasps before Sweetie Belle drew Eribia's attention to Cheerilee's uncovered posterior, which caused Eribia to wonder why so many ponies in town had shirts but no pants for several seconds before the unicorn filly began to explain about Cutie Marks... which turned into an entire half day listening to the three of them talk about how they're questing to find their marks so that they're not the only blank flanks in class anymore. Eribia partially zoned out on the explanation once the orange pegasus began to go on and on about how her personal hero Rainbow Dash had been the one to help five other ponies get their cutie marks.
"Eribia, if you would be so kind as to demonstrate to the rest of the class how to solve this math problem since you feel that you have no need to pay attention to the lesson..." Cheerilee prompted, rousing the Majin from her half-zoned mindset to look at the problem on the board.
3 * X + 5 = 35
"X equals Ten..." Eribia replied in just a few seconds. "I learned that in middle school... put something using the Pythagorean theorem on the board and I might have to take a minute to calculate it." Eribia explained before looking to the rest of the shocked class. "What? That theorem is complex, especially when you start adding decimals and have to solve for one of the shorter sides of a triangle." At their continued disbelief Eribia shrugged. "I got a B plus in college level math... over a thousand years ago, but I still remember most of it."
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Much of the rest of the class had gone the same way until Cheerilee announced Lunchtime and recess, letting the fillies and colts out to the playground as she looked over the possible lessons that she could use to test just what the extent of Eribia's education was. For her part though, said Majin was leaning up against the sole tree in the playground with her arms crossed in front of her chest as she watched the other students playing. She let out a small breath as she looked up to the branches of the tree and let her mind wander as she reached into a small dimensional pocket to pull out one of the still-warm muffins Derpy gave to her when she had been causing chaos in ponyville... blueberry if she placed the scent right.
The Majin was halfway through the muffin when the pale-pink earth pony whose name she hadn't bothered to remember began to walk over. "Well, if it isn't the newest daughter of Ponyville's clumsiest mare. Do you have a lame cutie mark like her and Dinky?" She sneered as a small group of students began to gather in a rough circle.
Eribia let out a small shrug. "Nope... don't have one..." She replied amiably before she took another bite of muffin. The eyes of three particular fillies lit up when they heard that statement.
"So you're another lame blank flank too!" Diamond Tiara laughed, not noticing the sudden look of unease that her grey-coated sidekick was getting.
The Majin gave a small hum. "I guess you could say that... just another lame person that only breaks boulders with ease, can fly and perform magic that would make Twilight's brain leak out her ears before she could comprehend it." she agreed.
"You can't fly." Tiara said, getting a few curious murmurs to go through the crowd as a few noticed the Majin's expression go from a neutral line to a small smirk.
Eribia looked over to Dinky with a smile. "I'm going to head over to the house real quick to see if Derpy happens to have any muffins ready, any flavor you want me to pick up for you while I'm there?"
As most of the attention turned to her the light purple filly squeaked. "J-just... a chocolate chip if mom has it..."
"No problem, I was hoping she'd have those as well." Eribia replied before she lifted off the ground and created a small backdraft that knocked most of the class, Diamond Tiara included, to their flanks as she took off at a speed that almost had Scootaloo call heresy for. Exactly five minutes later a pink portal appeared in the schoolyard at the base of the tree and the Majin stepped out with a paper bag. "Thanks Derpy, I'm having a great day so far... See you later..."
"Tell my little muffin I said hi!"
"Of course." Eribia replied with a smile before the portal closed. She turned to Dinky and reached into the paper bag so she could pass a chocolate chip muffin to her. "yo-... Mom has a really uncanny sense for when muffins are needed Dinky. I'm surprised she didn't have a Muffin instead of bubbles as her cutie mark."
Dinky giggled a little as she took the muffin. "Yeah... I tell her that all the time. She told me it's just because she likes to have fun and really knows how to look on the bright side of life... just like a bubble." Both of them left a stunned class in the playground as they went inside to finish their lunch, shattering the minds of the young could only be done so much in one day of course, no matter how entertaining it could be.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Cheerilee had been pleasantly surprised at how quiet the rest of the class had been once the bell rang for the end of the schoolday, for once Diamond Tiara hadn't antagonized anypony after lunch and the class at least seemed to have been paying attention to the lessons she had given. "Eribia... can I have you come up to my desk before you leave...?"
"Uh... sure..." Eribia replied as she hefted the shoulderbag that Turner had insisted in buying for her. "What's up?" She asked as she stood in front of the Maroon mare.
Cheerilee placed a stapled packet of papers on the desk, "This... is a special kind of test, you don't have to complete any parts that you don't know... but it will help me come up with a lesson plan for you while you are here, please fill it out and bring it back to me when you've filled in everything that you can."
"Okay... I'll definitely get it back to you soon then..." Eribia replied uneasily as she took the packet. "...I hate... school..." she thought darkly as she wished that the packet in her bag would just spontaneously combust while the teacher was looking so she had an excuse not to show just how much of a difference there was between her and the class. She also let out another sigh when she realized the wish wouldn't come true.
Dinky smiled as the two of them met back up outside of the school. "So... what did Cheerilee want?"
Eribia let out a small sigh as she noticed that Dinky was trying to subtly lead her to Sugarcube corner. "She just wanted to give me a test that would see what stuff she does need to teach me. I can only assume that most of this packet is going to be filled out before I turn it in." Their walk had descended to a mostly-pleasant silence for quite a while before they finally arrived at Sugarcube corner. "By the way Dinky... why are we here?"
"A lot of the girls come by this place to hang out after school... and since you seemed to hit it off with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and don't have a cutie mark of your own, you'd want to join their club so that you have more ponies you're friends with than just me."
Eribia smiled a little as she walked up to the door to Sugarcube corner. "Thanks for thinking of me Dinky... I'm happy to have you as a friend." She said just before she opened the door and stared down the barrel of a cannon. "...oh sh-..." She was interrupted as a deafening boom and a solid, yet quite pliable mass of batter slammed into her chest and splattered her entire torso in cake.
"oops... I put batter in the cannon again... sorry..." Pinkie giggled as Eribia blinked some of the batter out of her eyes.
Pinkie's latest, and so far only, 'Welcome to Ponyville/Thanks for not destroying Equestria' party was in full swing, with the guest of honor chowing down happily on a three-layer cake. The happy Majin let out a contented hum as she stuffed the entire cake, plate and all, down her gullet only to spit out and twirl the plate a few seconds later... Much to the irritation and utter bafflement of a violet-coated unicorn that was sitting across the dance floor from her.
Twilight's eye twitched as she watched Eribia put the plate over on one of the counters for dirty dishes before the bubblegum-like being bounced, literally bounced in one leap, across the room to land near Pinkie. "T-this... I... Does... No... Can't..." The lavender unicorn began to babble as her understanding of the scientific laws of magic were simply being shattered right in her face, leaving deep-piercing shards of theories that quailed under the onslaught of information that deduced that the being the party was being thrown for should have simply stopped existing because of how many logical paradoxes made up its being. With an incredible amount of willpower Twilight took a deep breath and composed her thoughts. "Calm down Twilight... Eribia is just being Pinkie Pie..." After a few more short breaths she finally realized exactly what she said and her eyes widened as she looked in terror at the pink pair of walking logical paradoxes. "...Oh god there's two of them..."
Meanwhile, Eribia was enjoying herself as she had started talking to the three fillies she had met in her class earlier, they happily accepted her into their club but told her there'd be an initiation later. "If it's anything like what I had to do my first time around College... I think I can handle it."
"Whad'ja hafta do in Collidge?" Applebloom asked with a curious look.
A wistful smirk played across her lips as she took a sip of punch. "Oh... what didn't I do would be a shorter list, I was a terrible student... but I always acted innocent and was gone long before anyone was wise to what I was up to so they never caught me." She looked back down into her punch, her smile fading as the reflection looking back at her was completely red.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Eribia had a cruel, twisted smirk on her face as she walked away from the burning wreckage of yet another village that hadn't paid its toll. A new one would spring up in a few months, for now though she had time to explore the world and see just what the world had to offer. Civilizations flashed by as mere memories as she grew into the legendary omen of great prosperity or great cruelty. So long as you could put up with her demands any enemy that sought to destroy you would be wiped off the face of the planet, their entire army would be wiped out in a single, devastating strike.
After a time it seemed that she could actually taste the beautiful women she had been absorbing, in a way it was true... she was merely absorbing them and adding their essence to her own, growing her magic and biding her time for when she could ascend to godhood. The taste of their magical potential had been enough to give her physical pleasure each time she absorbed someone.
Soon, each human just became another face... another creature that was so hopelessly beneath her that she didn't have to worry about her safety.
Then four humans approached her, cloaked in magic she hadn't been expecting... Destroyed her only method of tracking them... With the blessings of real gods they had slain a false god that had spent so much time above humans that she forgot she could still be cut down like the rest.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Her hand drifted to her throat, feeling along her neckline where the phantom pain of having a blade slice clean through still forced her mouth to twitch ever so slightly. The hollow feeling in her chest seemed to have returned as she continued to stare into her reflection's crimson eyes, thinking back to every person. At the time they had been little more than a blur of color before her gum-like blob engulfed them and brought the still-shifting blob back to become one with her.
Now... each face came back to her in what seemed to be perfect detail. Some held themselves in dutiful resignation, some held fear as their last moments of light had been a monster consuming them alive just to become her, some even had a dead look in their eyes as they had been passed off as the children of the person that was supposed to offer them even though the women had been enchanted to believe everything they had been told.
"Eribia... you all right?" Applebloom asked as she noticed the tears that had begun to drip down the Majin's cheeks. The way the tendrils that made up her mane seemed eerily like what happened when Pinkie got upset.
Speak of the devil, the pink party pony herself pronked over with audible springing sounds on each bounce. "Come on Eribia! No frowns here, let's have some fun!"
Two fingers to her forehead was all it took for the Majin to disappear in a blur and leave the cup of punch floating in midair for a few seconds before gravity decided to reassert itself. All four of the nearby ponies wore surprised looks as they stared at the empty air that the Majin used to occupy before Pinkie quickly dashed away.
Eribia had no idea where she had teleported to, she didn't care, she just didn't want to lose her composure in front of her friends. She only took a few staggered steps before she leaned against a large stone and slid down it into a sitting position. Her knees tucked against her chest as she pressed her forehead againt her knees. Near-silent sobs filled the scorched and blackened clearing as Eribia's form shook with each sob, fresh tears fell with every face that flashed across her memory. Some were her victims, some had been friends her human side had known... there was too much she remembered of either side to be able to tell properly whether the victims she had were truly hers or if they were just false memories planted there.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Dawn seemed to arrive quickly as Celestia and her eight guests descended into a large plain. The sky carriage touched down with hardly a sound as each of the carriage's occupants looked out the window at the figure leaned up against the stone pillar in the center of what looked like an ancient battlefield.
"Miss Whooves... Mrs. Whooves... I'm going to ask that only you two accompany me out to Eribia..." Celestia announced quietly in a tone that forced no argument before she opened the door and gracefully stepped out of the carriage with the grey pegasus and her light purple unicorn daughter. The soft silk-like material of Celestia's dress gently flapped in the wind as she approached the hunched form of Eribia.
Out of respect for the Solar Diarch Derpy refused to give into her instincts that were screaming at her to pull the little, hurt Majin into a warm, bone-crushing hug and never let go. "P-princess...?" She squeaked, flinching just a hair when the alabaster alicorn looked at her. Her slight fear shifted to relief when the princess gave a small nod, both Derpy and Dinky wasted no time in rushing over to the pink-skinned girl and pulling her into a firm family hug.
The sudden action gave Celestia all the view she needed to confirm her suspicions as she noticed the tear stains on Eribia's cheeks when she hesitated to return the hug. Her violet eyes flicked to an ethereal form that only she could see as her mind sent a telepathic message to the wolf-like biped standing mere inches from the gathering. "... Does this prove her worth?" she asked the lupine mentally.
The ethereal form gave the lupine a blue tinge all over its form as it pursed its lips and closed its eyes. "She will have to make the journey to Elysium in order to prove her worth... this proves that her heart is in the right place... as much as I wish it meant more, there are many trials and tribulations ahead." it responded before directing its attention to a burly lion-like biped.
"The Path to Elysium is closed at this time, we are trying to reopen it for you Celestia but it may be required to open from a remote location, possibly from the Elysium of another material plane." the lion grumbled as his paw grasped the hilt of a broadsword at his belt.
Celestia's eyes narrowed almost dangerously. "She would have to pass through the Plane of Shadow for that, and there's no guarantee that she would find her way back! She has no anchor here."
A third being, behind the statue passed into view through the gathered family. "There have been a large number of planeswalkers appearing lately... perhaps one of them could help her unlock the Path to Elysium by helping her to bond to an anchor as well?" The eagle-like female replied. "It is perhaps, our best option..."
"Allowing other planeswalkers to our plane simply invites the threats from their worlds to ours, what if we reach out and find something we don't have the power to defeat?" Celestia countered.
The Lupine growled. "We have no other choice, it could take centuries for The Path to be opened from this cosmology!" she explained as she rounded on the alicorn. "Two pieces of the Regalia of Evil have been recovered by the champion of evil... We need our own champion and she has the potential to wield the Regalia of Good. Your student has a good heart but she doesn't have the will to stand alone, the battle against the Regalia of Evil will be a one on one battle for the fate of this cosmology, Twilight doesn't have the will not to crumble under that pressure."
The Leonal nodded as well. "This Majin has been kept from acquiring any of the Regalia of Evil thanks to your efforts... as short sighted as they had been at the time, they still proved to be in our favor. A darkness that the Elements Of Harmony cannot possibly combat is coming and this 'Eribia' needs to rise as our champion."
Celestia let out a silent sigh as her gaze fixed upon the family behind the Avoral. "I wish that it didn't have to come to this..."
The Avoral placed a feathered talon on Celestia's shoulder. "None of us wish for events to escalate this way... but mortals must decide the fate of the material plane... not the celestials, we can only help when we can." She explained. "The final blow must be struck by a mortal hero." All three of the celestial beings faded as Celestia let out a small sigh, watching as the small family made their way back to the carriage.
Eribia stopped as the six heroines of Equestria stepped out with small smiles on their faces. "We were all worried about you..." Twilight started. "Maybe not as worried as Derpy was... but... you even had Dash worried."
"Did not... I knew she was alright... I just... wanted to make sure I could help..." The prismatic pegasus scoffed.
The Majin's eyes began to water again. "W-why?" She asked as her voice cracked a little. "Why were you worried about me? I... I am a monster... People... people lost their lives because of me..."
Pinkie walked away from the half-circle of mares and knelt down in front of Eribia. A second later the Majin was embraced in a warm hug. "Silly Erry... Monsters don't cry over the bad things they did..." she explained. "It's why we want to be friends with Princess Luna too... She cries over the ponies that were hurt when she became Nightmare Moon."
Eribia was stunned as she slowly completed the hug. "P-Pinkie..." She said quietly as the pink mare gave her a firmer hug.
"Besides, you have friends to help dry those tears and help you back up." Pinkie added with a smile as she bounced back to her hooves.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
"Monsters don't cry over the bad things they did..."
Eribia sat on the bank of the closest pond to Derpy's house as she thought about what Pinkie had said. She tossed another flat rock from one end of the pond and skipped it all the way to the other side before it made the dunking sound she preferred listening to. The more time she had to think about what had been going on in her life since she had been un-petrified the more she got around to being... happy...
It was a strange feeling, right now it was mixed with the empty feeling in her chest but the empty feeling was just cold, not painful anymore. The muffins that her 'mother' made almost constantly when she wasn't on her mail route certainly helped her feel a bit warmer, though it didn't help her escape the empty feeling for long.
A shift in the magical aura of the world around her caused Eribia to reflexively reach a hand in front of her face to catch a small, metal object that had been flung at her face. When she was sure nothing else was going to get thrown at her she examined the metal object, a police badge with a profile of a dog... or stallion... it was pretty vague. Despite not being able to sense Ki energy without a scouter, she could easily sense the magical aura of an extradimensional item. This thing had a spell on it, a powerful one to boot, and it seemed to be an anchor for whatever being the spell was attached to.
Eribia slowly stood and placed the badge in her dimensional pocket to ask Twilight about it later. "This... something's fishy about this..." She thought as her eyes shifted around. "This is some sort of artifact... these things don't just pop up for no reason..." A pink aura flared up around the Majin before she took to the air towards the library.
Episode 7: We Rejoice Because The Hurting Is So Painless
Twilight scribbled furiously on a clipboard held in her magical aura, the badge that Eribia had found was floating gently in a lazy rotation inside a glass sphere while several machines hooked up to it let out strangely soothing mechanical sounds while they scanned the magical signature of the item in question.
"This is no mere artifact... It's able to be classified as both a level seven magical item as well as a minor artifact, even the minor artifact status seems to be because it is connected to a single specific magical signature." Twilight muttered as Eribia stood by and grabbed a paper that had been fed out of one of the nearby machines. In a blur of violet Twilight snatched up the sheet and began to read off the reading. "It's a strong conjuration aura centered around dimensional magic... definitely arcane since there isn't a trace of any divine or primal energy... lingering particles suggest that it bounced through the Plane of Shadow so it's quite possibly from a different Material Plane."
"Wait... bounced through the Plane of Shadow?" Eribia interrupted as she gave the badge a closer look.
Twilight nodded as she used her magic to gently push the Majin away from the machine. "Starswirl the Bearded came up with a great many theories... but it was Mordekainen the Mad who had discovered that every Material plane in existence was connected to a single Plane of Shadows, where all darkness originates." She explained as she moved to a machine that put out yet another reading. "Some call it The Void but its real name is the Plane of Shadows. It's a really complex theory of dimensional travel... but the basic summary is this... if you try to go outside of the material plane you pass through the Plane of Shadows to arrive in an alternate material plane but to get to the inner and outer plains of existence you have to first go in before going out."
"And... how do you go in before going out?" Eribia asked with a confused look.
"You have to pass through the Ethereal plane, the source of spirits and phantoms. It's also referred to as the Astral plane." Twilight passed the Majin a device that looked like the beveled part of a top with several colored spheres on the flat part. "That is a cosmological map, it's the closest thing we, on the material plane, have to mapping out the inner and outer planes of existence."
The Majin looked at the map, noting the various colored spheres and the green squares along the outside rim. "Okay... what are the colored spheres?"
"The one in the center is the material plane, where mortal life exists, the white semi-circle represents the ethereal plane and the black one represents the shadow plane because both of those ones overlap the material plane, making teleportation possible." She paused before looking back over to Eribia. "Well... magical teleportation anyway... we didn't find you until morning because you didn't use a teleportation that bounced off of the astral plane."
She cleared her throat as she walked over and pointed to each of the smaller spheres surrounding the orange, white and black one. "The ones adjacent to the material plane are the elemental planes, they are the sources that keep the material plane in balance and provide the elemental energy needed to keep our world supplied." At the Majin's nod she pointed towards the green sphere at the top of the map. "This is meant to represent the positive energy plane, where the power for healing spells comes from... and the red one directly across from it is the negative energy plane, the source of harming spells and necromancy effects."
Her fingers traced the light blue and dark blue spheres on the top right and bottom left positions respectively. "The plane of fire and plane of water..." Next was the purple one in the top left and the green one on the bottom right. "Air and earth..." then her finger indicated the circle around the outside filled with green squares. "Then these are the outer planes... Since the badge in the energy field scanner is showing to have traces of shadow plane energy on it the evidence proves that the badge is from an alternate reality that has magic like we do."
Eribia passed the map back to Twilight as she took a seat in one of the wooden chairs set next to a small tea table. "So... that badge is from an alternate Equestria?"
"Well... it didn't have enough of a shadow signature to show that it traveled far so I can certainly bet that it's from another Equestria." Twilight replied as she pressed several buttons to open the glass sphere. "Whoever made this object is quite possibly as magically inclined, if not moreso, than Celestia herself." She said in slight awe as she gingerly took the badge from where it hovered and passed it back to Eribia. "It would be best to gain whatever spellcaster made this item as an ally... Without field-testing it though none of my equipment can tell what would happen when the badge is used or what specific creature or creatures it will summon."
"It's a police badge Twilight... unless your machine detected an evil aura alongside the conjuration one we're talking about summoning a cop or several cops... kinda like the royal guard... I really hope they're not like the royal guard..."
"What do you have against the Guard?" Twilight asked with a slight glare. "My brother is the guard captain."
Eribia rolled her eyes. "Where was he when I broke out of my stone torture prison?" the Majin retorted. "Because I certainly noticed a distinct lack of guards trying to apprehend me alongside the fact that you and your friends had to use the maguffins of the week in order to reduce my power."
"He was busy directing the royal guard to evacuate Canterlot into a more secure location before any chaos could lead to the destruction of the city or loss of pony life." Twilight replied a bit colder than she had intended. The bearer of the Element of Magic flinched a little as the basement door slammed shut, letting her know that Eribia had left... or at least wasn't in the room anymore. "...dammit..." the student-scientist muttered as she made the final preparations to shut down the machines that had been scanning the badge.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Eribia looked on in confusion as she noticed Spike sitting in front of a piece of technology that her human memories knew very well... A television set. "You have a TV?" she asked in disbelief.
Spike nodded with a small smile, indicating to have her sit down. "Yeah, the patent went to the princess and they're still pretty expensive... but the Princess sent it to us so that Twilight could have easy access to the current news in other places..." He looked around before he leaned in. "And right around now there's a station that uses animation to make shows... it's like comic books but with movement!" He whispered excitedly.
Eribia looked at the TV curiously. It certainly had a better screen definition than the original TV's back on the earthlings' world, a subtle sense of the machine revealed that it was infused with a special kind of recording crystal that made up the screen so the resolution could certainly be a lot better than the originals. "So... what show is on that animation channel?"
He smiled eagerly as he picked up a remote that looked like it was made out of various materials, "They just got the permission to make a Power Ponies animated show so that's all that's on right now aside from news feeds from around Equestria. It's definitely faster than the newspapers and several businesses that are a bit more successful have at least one to stream the news from." As he pressed a button on the remote though the channel had a light tan earth pony with a very profound mustache sitting behind a desk as a screen just off to his left displayed various ponies running for their lives.
"This just in, we're experiencing reports from local Baltimare news crews that the town is being attacked by an army of pony-like creatures, it is unknown who exactly is directing them but the Royal Guard has already reported casualties in the hundreds as the invaders are moving from block to block seemingly only interested in causing widespread panic and destruction."
Twilight stood behind the couch with her mouth agape only to recover just as she noticed Eribia move to the door. "Where are you going?"
"...Baltimare... I can sense the massive spike of necromantic energy from here, this isn't an army to conquer Equestria, it's here to destroy it." Eribia replied as she opened the door and let her pink aura flare out before she kicked off the ground and swiftly made her way towards the huge source of evil energy.
@}~}~~~ ~~~{~{@
Mordy scowled as he brought a steel rod that he had enchanted himself up to point at one of the negative energy-filled suits of armor, a white flash of light appeared for several seconds before the suit collapsed into a heap on the ground. "Damn..." He muttered as he pulled a chiseled pale sapphire from his robes and brought the gem up to his muzzle before speaking into it. "Swift, how did a necromancer of this magnitude escape detection!?" The grey unicorn asked into the gem as he brought the rod up to point at several more suits with the same results as the first.
A slightly older voice replied back through the gem. "It didn't... Razul is back..."
The grey unicorn's heart skipped a beat in terror as his commanding officer spoke the name. "A-are you sure?!"
"His energy signature is too distinct to mistake for anyone else... we're dealing with a lich, kid."
Mordy swore under his breath as he quickly stowed the gem, increasing the pace of his spells as he walked through the streets, thankful that they were only facing dread guards instead of more powerful undead as he brought his white-steel mace to bear on several of the shambling suits of armor. "Why don't these guys ever learn to quit?" he grumbled as he began to tear through the ranks of undead standing before him.
@xxxx[{::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::>
A burly earth pony stallion in a matte black set of full plate armor knelt before a jewel-encrusted skull that sat upon an altar, the original dark god long forgotten, each gem gleamed in the candlelight with the essence of stolen lifeforce. The room was silent for only a few moments before an echoed voice emanated from the skull.
"The time is almost upon us... scour the desert wastes for the orb... let no one stop you." the voice instructed, earning a nod from the armored stallion. "If you come across the changelings... bring me their queen, as long as it does not interrupt your primary goal."
"Yes... my master..." The stallion replied before he stood once again.
"Before you leave... the sword in the statue to your left... take it with you..." The stallion nodded once more as he lifted a longsword in a black scabbard decorated with images of bleeding alicorns from the hands of a pegasus statue. "It should help... convince... the sultan to join us..."
The wind whipped around Eribia's face, trying to claw at it only to realize that the Majin didn't feel any sort of pain from her speed as she raced towards the source of necrotic energy. "Dammit... why do I have to be the one saving people..." She muttered as Baltimare quickly came into view, as well as the mass of darker figures slowly making their way through the city. With one quick look around she angled her flight so that she could land near a relatively large group of necromantic spawn.
The Majin shifted her stance nervously as several figures that resembled ponies in plate armor shambled towards her with their swords drawn. There was no question that she would easily overpower them, that much was certain, there was just too many for her to take on in the city as the army of undead monstrosities overran the guards posted in the city. She grit her teeth as she reached into her dimensional pocket to pull out the badge, “I hope you brought an army…” The Majin muttered as she sent a magical charge into the enchanted item and prayed for a miracle.
The badge started flashing, first a red X, then a blue O. It repeated over and over until it finally stopped on the O. It then floated off the shield, enlarging until it was large enough for the princesses to pass through. With a flash, a lighter colored membrane formed within, and out stepped a curious figure.
He was tall, garbed in a black trench coat with a sword at his side. The odd thing was that his head was that of a blue dog, with lizard like scales along his cheeks.
“Hello hello hello, what’s all this then?”
Eribia extended her hand towards one of the shambling armor sets and unleashed a small pink blast of plasma energy to send the set of armor flying. “Undead army, they’re pushovers but there’s too many to handle without risking innocent civs getting hurt.” She explained as she grabbed the blade of another and snapped it between her fingers. “You got an army of your own?”
“Yes, but I don’t need it.” The figure reached into his coat and pulled out a small black box. “I am an army... SPD Emergency!” In a flash of light, he was garbed in dark colored armor, “Power Ranger in the house, sorta.”
He drew his sword, and started attacking the beasts with quick, precise strikes, “I got the civilians, you got my back.”
The Majin nodded as her form seemed to blur. Moving quicker than the naked eye could track, several of the creatures’ armor began to receive large dents that quickly made it more and more difficult to move. “They’re undead, so don’t worry about destroying them…” The pink girl explained as she reappeared near the newcomer. “There should be a single distinct creature controlling them, so if you can find it… try to kill it in one shot.”
“So, hivemind with central boss baddie? One sec…” He walked towards an undead and stabbed his blade through its head. “Let’s see, signal strength, direction, compensate for relay drones, account for ambient magic, got it, thank you.” He removed his blade, cutting its head in two in the process, “‘bout a mile and a half north by northeast, right in the center of this horde, in hindsight rather obvious.”
“Wouldn’t doubt that.” Eribia replied with a sigh. “The quicker we bring the necromantic anchor down the better…” A pink aura began to flare up around her as she vanished once more, crushing several helmets and punching holes through the steel chestplates. “We have to move quickly or else there’s going to be more casualties, we’ll get better acquainted after the fight.”
The Majin reappeared in the air near a mound of corpses that had a grisly-looking minotaur sitting atop it, his eyes and mouth were all sewn shut but it didn’t stop the monstrosity from looking directly at her. Eribia grit her teeth together as she tried to spot some sort of weakness in the beast’s armor, considering it was undead though… she didn’t hold out too much hope of that happening.
The stench of death was enough to make her happy that she could mostly ignore most scents as she rushed the burly undead behemoth. Neither of them shared a word as her fist met a flail made of steel and shattered it, a low growl emanated from its throat as the beast brought its arm up to block the rest of the punch. A sphere of pink plasma charged in Eribia’s free hand as her right fist dented the undead abomination’s armor. “Too slow…” She growled as she let the beam free to sear away the minotaur’s head and shoulder area.
The monster crashed to the ground with the rending sound of metal that forced Eribia to cover her earholes as the negative energy signature in the area slowly began to fade, each of the nearest Dread Guards collapsed to the ground in heaps of armor and weapons while the darkness in the immediate vicinity seemed to fade away like smoke in the wind. Despite the single strike she had to use to put down the monster Eribia felt more than a little drained as she slowly let herself land, keeping her senses aware of any possible dangers in the area.
cxxxxx[==============>
Eriba arrived in the town square, where the stranger was waiting for her, along with over a hundred ponies. “Hope you don’t mind, but I gathered up all the civilians while you were busy.” Suddenly, a mare started screaming, apparently she couldn’t find her daughter. “Oops, missed one.” He snapped his fingers, nothing happened. “Huh, stupid alternate dimension, let’s see, the current background frequency is, ah got it.” Before he could do anything, all of the ponies cried out in terror. Eriba and the stranger turned around to see a monstrous sight, a massive bipedal beast that seemed to be made from a graveyard. In its hand was a young filly, which it then proceeded to devour. While her mother’s screams tripled in volume, the stranger remained calm, “now I know exactly where she is, that makes things much easier.” He snapped his fingers again, conjuring a portal similar to the one he emerged from. Reaching in he pulled out the young filly, a little grimy but otherwise fine, “excuse me ma’am, I believe this is yours?”
The pink Majin gave him a look. “I’ll ask later… we need to take that thing down and we have no idea how many other people it’s consumed,” she said as she slowly began to flare her aura. It flickered a bit before she collapsed to the ground in disbelief. “...Uh… I think I still haven’t quite recovered from the Elements of Harmony last week…”
The stranger looked puzzled, “now why would a sweet little thing like you ever be doing in that thing’s crosshairs? Now just sit back and let Uncle Cruger take care of business. FIRST, I need to make a call.” Cruger pulled out the box he used to transform and flicked it open, holding it to his face like a cellphone, “Sorrow Song, Cruger, initiate Code Blue, yes THAT code blue, just use my morpher’s homing signal, it’s in crawler mode, Delta Gate ready, good, have the boys make sure it’s loaded for zombie, got a walking graveyard that likes eating ponies and I don’t want to just pop it like a grape, thank you bye.” Cruger put the box away, “alright now, 3, 2, 1, BEHOLD!”
A massive portal opened up not far from the monstrosity, discharging a mobile dog-themed fortress covered in flashing lights. With a mighty leap, Cruger leapt on top of it, “time for some zombie hunting, transform, Delta Command Megazord!” With a mighty lurch, it stood up on its back end, panels shifting around transforming into a massive humanoid figure, the walking graveyard barely came up to its waist. “Time for a hostage-ectomy,” one of the metal giant’s hands plunged into its chest as several portals appeared in the midst of the crowd. “1 little, 2 little, 3 little ponies, 4 little, 5 little, 6 little ponies, 7 little, 8 little, 9 little ponies, 10 ponies rescued today.” As Cruger sang, dozens of ponies poured out of the portals, presumably extracted from within the walking graveyard. Unfortunately, not all were as lively as when they had been stolen from the streets, though something to bury was better than nothing at all as the creature let out a roar of anger and began to slam its earthen fists into the arm of the machine that was violating it. “Aw, that’s cute, the little eldritch abomination thinks it can hurt my baby,” the machine removed its hand and backed up a few steps as several panels started to glow, “but, as they say in any good sci-fi story that has zombies, KILL IT WITH PLASMA!” Several intense beams of light burst from the glowing panels and the tips of its fingers, striking the beast and causing it to evaporate. When the beams finally stopped, nothing was left but a large pile of ash, “ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and you my friend, just got wrecked”
Several figures emerged from the ashes, corpses from the graveyard that had spawned the monstrosity. The zombies didn’t wander much before several plate-armored ponies and various other races began to make quick work of them.
Once Cruger landed on the ground a fair distance away from the gathered citizens a white-robed mare quickly approached him. Emblazoned across the left breast of her shirt was a symbol of a sun that had a crescent moon overlaying it. Her hood cast her eyes and most of her muzzle in shadow despite the noon sun that beat down on the surprisingly intact city. She held a hand up to get the newcomer’s attention. “There is much you need to know…” She starts in a rather urgent tone.
Cruger held up a hand, “if you’re going to stand there spouting off that my little pink friend is evil, I have two things to say to you. First, I judge ponies by their actions and her’s impressed me a lot more than a little miss cloak who says bad things. Second, in the words of the great JackSepticEye, FUCKA YOU BILLY!”
As Cruger walked away, the mare had only two thoughts on her mind, one was that this blue furred interloper was a potential complication, second, who was Jack Septic Eye? The woman pulled a pale-blue sapphire from her robe and spoke to it. “...the destroyer has more allies…” she said quietly before going to join the warriors already handling the zombies.
cxxxxx[==============>
Once Cruger had returned to the group of rescued ponies a wayward glance revealed the pink creature that had summoned him to be standing quite a ways off underneath the shade of a semi-standing tree that had miraculously stayed standing despite the attack.
“Good work out there, name’s Anubis Cruger by the way, but you can just call me Cruger.”
The pink being nodded. “My name is Eribia… you did some pretty good work out there yourself…” She complimented with a small smile before going back to a slight frown as she looked at the gathered ponies. “As if there wasn’t enough already that showed I’m not part of this world…” She sighed.
Cruger frowned slightly, “guess I’m the first other Displaced you’ve met huh? Looks like I need to educate ya on the subject.”
Before either one of them could continue, they were interrupted by a Royal Guard, “her highness requests your presence at Canterlot Castle as soon as possible.” Behind him was a royal chariot, presumably to ferry them on there way.
Cruger sighed, “mind if we discuss this later? Keeping Celestia waiting isn’t a good idea, and I get a bit sleepy when traveling.”
“No problem, although I can get us there faster than that ridiculous cart can.” Eribia replied as she put her index and middle finger to her head. “Grab on…” She requested.
Cruger sighed, “I hate porting when I’m not the one doing it.”
“Oh don’t be such a baby… I’m not teleporting, I’m using instant transmission.” Eribia explained.
“I never said I wouldn’t, I just meant I find it extremely disorienting,” Cruger grabbed onto Eriba’s shoulder, “and just because you call it something else doesn’t mean it ain't teleporting.”
No sooner had Cruger finished his sentence than a cursory look around him revealed that they had been standing in the middle of the main hall of Canterlot Castle. “It’s not just called something else Cruger…” Eriba started.
“Do you disappear in one location and appear instantly in another?”
Eribia let out a sigh. “Finally! Someone who gets it, it’s not teleportation because I’m not bouncing off another plane of existence, I’m just appearing… instantly.” She replied with a smile before she started making her way over to the massive doors. “Sunbutt couldn’t wrap her mind around it the first time I did it either.”
“Well in my dictionary, the definition of teleporting is the act of disappearing in one location then reappearing in another, no matter what method you use.”
“And that’s why mine is different… I don’t just disappear and reappear, I just move.” She replies as her path is blocked by a pair of spears crossing the door.
Cruger looked impressed, “interesting technique, I fold space-time so that two different locations are touching. I believe we are expected gentlemen, the Princess requested our presence.”
The first guard, dressed in a helmet that had a red mohawk instead of the normal blue, gave a partially bored look to the both of them while the other guard in a plain gold helmet openly glared at the Majin. The first spoke with a tone that mirrored his face. “There’s an audience already in progress as well as several cases already waiting… the Princess doesn’t have time at the moment for a diamond dog and the spirit of chaos.” He explained. “You can take a position at the back of the line with the chance of being able to attend the night court once her royal Majesty retires the day court until the morrow.”
Cruger frowned, “alright, look bub, there are two things you should know. First, if someone says that they were summoned by the Princess, you should ask if they were expecting someone instead of assuming they’re not, which if they were, they wouldn’t be happy if their guests were cooling their heels. Second of all,” his voice, while not changing at all, caused a cold feeling of dread to wash over the guard, “I am not a Diamond Dog, savvy?”
The guard gulped, “yes sir.”
Cruger’s grin returned, “good lad, now why don’t you run along and confirm our reservation, party of two from Baltimare.”
The guard saluted, then passed through the door as fast as he could without appearing to flee, even though it was obvious to everypony present that he was. The second guard though, didn’t flinch from the gaze he continued to direct at Eribia. “The princesses sent no missives regarding a special audience for this Monster, you might as well take a seat anyway because the…” His face seemed to contort into a slightly deeper scowl. “great lord Ankhman is currently disputing a case with her majesty.”
Cruger chuckled, “that won’t be necessary, judging by how much of a blowhard this Ankhman sounds like, I believe we will have our audience in 5, 4, 3, 2…”
The door opened to reveal the first guard, “I’m sorry sir.. The princess sent no message to Baltimare regarding a reservation for anypony…” He stumbled a little.
Cruger sighed, “Tia, do you drill the ability to detect sarcasm right out of these yahoos? Just tell her that the saviors of Baltimare are here in response to her royal summons. If she asks how we got here so fast just tell her we teleported here.”
A voice called out from their left. “Ah! thither ye are, i wasn't expecting thou until thou couldst attend mine night court, since thou happen to be hither already then we can find some way to keep busy while we wait f'r mine sister's day court to end.” A dark blue alicorn mare stated with an obviously-hesitant smile as her eyes continued to flit from noble to noble.
“Well, I was all ready to take the carriage you provided, teleporting was technically her idea.” Cruger turned to the guards, “sorry, got my princesses mixed up. Don’t you just hate it when one of them summons you with a member of the other’s guard, no offence Luna.”
“It matters not, we will hast a good time until mine sister is ready.” She replied as she indicated one of the halls off to the side she had come from.
“Sounds good to me, by the way, if you’re serving tea, I’ll have Zebrifican Red, if you have it of course.”
“We hast Zebrican Red, though I can only assume that 'tis similar.” The lunar alicorn replied as she led them away from the main hall. “Prithee, betoken me how thou came to be in the service of miss Eribia?” Luna prompted as they made their way out of earshot of the gossipy nobles.
Cruger chuckled, “betoken, not sure if coincidence, or if multiverse has sense of humor. Anyway,” Cruger pulled a badge out of his coat, “I believe that this is familiar to you miss Eriba?”
The Majin nodded. “Yeah… that’s the thing that disappeared when the portal was made around it.”
Cruger nodded, “after you used it to summon me I assume. This is my Token, now you can see why I chuckled at Luna’s phrasing. Anyway, mind if we continue this discussion in a more comfortable environment, it’s a bit of a long one.”
Luna nodded as she waved a gentle hand. “certainly, we're heading to mine private quarters as we speak, I beliv'd that it would be best to partake in the 'small talk' while we travel'd.” she explained.
Cruger nodded, “quite understandable. How about we brag about our victories, I once bested the dragon king in a hoof wrestling match that lasted three days and three nights, sustaining myself on nothing but will, focus, and peanut butter chocolate chip wraps.”
Luna smiled and managed to look a bit pleased with herself. “Hah! we once best'd the great spirit of chaos her-. . .” She hesitated as she looked over to Eribia. “er. . . I cullionly. . . we fought the great dragon Frontyr, who had forc'd an entire kingdom of saddle arabia to bow to his will.” she continued.
Cruger glanced at Eriba, “the spirit of chaos huh? Top this, less than an hour ago, Eriba and I saved the city of Baltimare from a horde of bloodthirsty zombies, one of which was the size of a small castle.”
Eribia frowned as Cruger looked at her. “I wouldn’t say chaos… but…. I’m not exactly a perfect hero either…”
Luna suddenly stopped and flared her wings to indicate a dark blue door. “look! we're hither, come, into mine cubiculos so that we may speak privately!" She practically threw open the doors, which were mysteriously lacking guards, to reveal a room that matched her… almost to a T. Aside from several pictures of her with a coal-black alicorn stallion most of the room was set in fairly sparse night-sky-themed room.
Cruger sat down in a chair, “now, before we get into the present, let’s talk about the past.” He turned to Eriba, “now, let me paint you a picture. You’re at a convention, you’re wearing a costume of one of your favorite fictional characters but it’s missing something. You run into a mysterious merchant who just so happens to have the missing piece at a ridiculously low price. You buy it, and five seconds later you’re in Equestria. Does that sound familiar?”
“...No… it doesn’t.” She replied with a shrug. “I don’t remember a merchant of any kind.”
Cruger nodded, “what about the rest of it? Anything about that scenario ring a bell?”
Eribia scratched her head. “S-sorta… some of my memories are about a convention… but… they’re not all clear.”
“Well, we can skip the specifics about how it happened for now, what matters right now is what happened next.” Cruger took a sip of his tea, “liquid Nirvana, anyway. You my dear girl, are what is known as a Displaced, one who was displaced from their world, into an Equestria. There are several of us, though counting you I’ve only met two so far. By the way, do you know of a show call My Little Pony?”
The pink girl shook her head with a slight frown. “Never heard of it.”
Cruger took another sip, “well, it’s not too important, if you don’t want to know why I asked, you don’t have to know. Anyway, in addition to the whole reality jumping thing, all Displaced have another thing in common,” he pulled a necklace off of his neck, “the ability to create a Token. Just before I arrived, you found a silver police badge, am I right?”
Eribia nodded. “Yeah… Twilight found out it was a Class Seven Magical artifact… whatever that meant…”
Cruger whistled, “assuming we both use the same Clover artifact scale, that’s impressive. An individual Element of Harmony is an 8. Well anyway, this is the Token of Umbra, the Overlady. Tokens are basically calling cards for the Displaced, using one summons the appropriate Displaced to your Dimension. So, care to make your own?”
She gives him a small look before she slumps back in her seat. “I… I don’t actually have the magic to create something like that… if I hadn’t been hit with the Elements of Harmony a week ago I might be able to,” she muttered.
Cruger smiled, “that’s quite alright, it’s easy. Step 1, choose an item that represents you.” The Majin pursed her lips as she looked down at the belt buckle attached to her poofy combat pants.
“This buckle is really one of the only things I actually own…” she explained as she put a hand on the gold-colored buckle.
Cruger smiled, “that should do nicely. Mind giving us a duplication spell Luna?”
The dark mare nodded, “Of course, one moment while I prepare it.” She replied as her horn lit up and encased the buckle in a dark blue glow. A few seconds passed before an exact duplicate landed in Eribia’s lap.
“Thank you, now we can move to step two. Put some of your energy into it, you don’t need to do a whole lot, and give it a… let’s call it a Phrase. Just speak a few words that say who you are and what you stand for. Do you remember hearing something like that when you picked up my Token?”
Eribia slowly stood and shook her head before she looked down at the belt buckle. “...Cruger… I am Eribia, a warrior with mixed memories, the resident spirit of disharmony and chaos… I give you my token.” She said quietly before holding out the buckle to him.
Cruger frowned, “you didn’t hear my phrase, need to do some error checking when I get back.” He looked over the buckle, “looks good, now we can move on to the last step,” he opened a small portal, “throw it into the void. It’ll automatically multiply and go to any Displaced they gravitate to, if you want to of course.”
The short Majin shook her head and pulled the token away. “This one is specifically for you… I… Considering how I used to be, I don’t want to take any chances for what might pick up my token and use it for… less than good reasons.” She explained.
Cruger closed the portal, “a reasonable precaution, I rigged mine to explode if used with ill intent for the same reason, of course it required several additional spells, but your way works to.” He snapped his fingers and a second buckle appeared in his hand, “this one stays with me, and that one is rigged to automatically create a copy whenever you want, no sense having to do this every time, is there.”
She nods. “So… I saw that one of the guards approached you earlier… did she thank you?” Eribia asked slightly curiously as she sat back down.
Cruger leaned back in his chair, “to be perfectly honest, I don’t remember. Assuming you’re talking about that business in Baltimare, the highlight was seeing that mother reunited with her daughter, although beating the tar out of that walking graveyard was fun.” He pulled out his black box, “I am a cop, both because I was Displaced as one, and because I chose to. Now, something tells me you need to make a similar choice. Do you want to be a hero, or the villain you were Displaced as?”
“Walking graveyard?” Luna asked curiously. “A… a corpse gatherer attacked Baltimare?”
“Twenty or so stories tall, made of soil with a bunch of tombstones mixed in, eats ponies and spits out zombies?”
Luna frowned. “There is only one who knows how to create such an abomination…” The mare let out a sigh. “But he was cast into the prison plane of Carceri by my father…”
Eribia looked at her with a puzzled frown. “Who would that be, exactly?”
“The DemiLich Razul…” Luna replied with her own frown. “...If he is back then it is certainly cause for more haste than my sister believes.”
Cruger nodded, “looks like swapping stories about first coming to Equestria will have to wait. I may not have the authority in this world than I have in my own, but I highly recommend a full council, the princesses, the elements, everypony. You can save briefing Eriba and myself until then.” Cruger stood up, “if you want me to fetch the elements, just say the word.”
The dark mare seemed to consider his offer for several tense moments before she slowly shook her head. “nay, Razul hath proven himself to be a powerful wizard as well as warri'r beyond many a mortal hero on this plane. To gather the elements and more than just mine sister would be folly. . .” she looked to Cruger with a slightly pained expression. “It would doth nay good to send the six of them up against him. Our only chance rests with Eribia herself.”
Eribia let out a loud sigh. “Well… I would, in a way, consider myself more than mortal…” She replied. “But I’m nowhere near my full strength, how strong is this guy?”
Cruger frowned, “given the fact that he summoned a literal army of the undead, without being present himself, I’d say pretty strong.”
Luna nodded. “Shouldst Razul succeed, this entire world will be lost to the undead. Nary place shall be safe and yea his allies, if they art not undead already, will be the first to fall 'ere he conquers this world. He was a powerful wizard in life, death hath only made him stronger.”
The door to the room opened once more, permitting the only remaining princess in the castle to enter. Upon her face was a graceful smile, one that seemed more at home in front of nobles than in a quieter setting like this, as she elegantly took a seat among the gathered beings. “I decided to end the court a little early today Luna… When word reached me of Baltimare I had only one guess as to where our unexpected guests had gone to.” The alabaster mare looked over to Eribia curiously. “I would have thought that you were supposed to be in school at this time of day though…”
“A test I had done for the school turned out that it was literally only history that I had to learn and I’ve been studying up on that privately with Twilight the past couple days.” The Majin replied with a shrug.
Cruger returned to his seat, “well, now that all the princesses are here, I suppose we can begin the briefing. Though I still say the Elements should be brought in. They should still be effective against the hordes of the undead, even if they’ll do diddly squat against their master, Razal was it?”
Celestia took a small breath. “I was hoping it hadn’t been Razul… this does make the situation quite a bit worse.” She replied. “The Bearers have never taken up arms against anything of this sort… even the dragon I had… um… mistakenly sent them up against, was still not immediately out for blood.”
Cruger grinned, “mistakenly sent them up against? Whatever you say.” He coughed, though it suspiciously sounded like ‘Princess training’.
Luna gave her sister a flat look. “Mine sister had gotten into a precarious rum and tea card that day. . . believ'd it would be funny to request six untrain'd civilians to 'ask' the dragon to leave.” She sighed as she leaned back in her seat. “this is what we art suppos'd to hast guards f'r”
Celestia at least had the dignity to look like she knew she had been in the wrong on that call. “Either way… because of this turn of events we’ll be having the bearers train among our guards, that way they can at least know how to swing a sword and not chop their own hoof off…”
Eribia rolled her eyes. “Sunbutt… trust me, those guards will be the reason this place falls, if you want those six to get stronger, you gotta have them train with me.”
Cruger steepled his fingers, apparently in thought, “while I agree that guard training might not be the best option, I don’t think you have the necessary experience to train them, especially considering the rush job you’ll have to make it. We need a third option.”
Celestia looked at Cruger with a slightly… less worried look. “Since our enemy is a Lich he has formulated all of his plans around time, it’s likely that his fastest plan will be to wait until the Elements are dead and gone before he enacts them unless we push him to think faster. Since we currently have no idea where he is or what he’s up to aside from collecting a very specific set of magical artifacts… All I can say is that we know we have the time to train them.”
“Besides… I’d be following the Roshi school of training, no techniques needed and results in less than eight months.” Eribia replied with a slight smirk.
Cruger sighed, “while I admit that technique did create Goku, you seem to have failed to take something into account. If Razul learns that the bearers are learning combat, he will move up his timetable, assuming he hasn’t already because of our little encounter. Assuming he knows about it, and I’m going to err on the side of caution and say he does, he’s going to be keeping a close eye on you.”
Eribia rolled her eyes. “They’d just be doing weight training. The Roshi style of training specifically emphasizes it not looking like combat training. If anything it would look more like they want to get in shape instead of learning combat. It would also provide the bonus of not needing to teach them how to use a sword.”
“Alright, but if they attack one of your training sessions, I reserve all right to say I told you so. However, I’d recommend that you do two things to help camouflage it. First, exempt Twilight. If we put her to work on research duty as well as learning combat magic from the Princesses, yes that means you too Luna, we can make it seem less like the bearers are being prepared specifically to combat his return.”
Celestia shook her head. “Twilight already knows combat magic, she refuses to learn offensive combat magic.” She explained. “Besides, if Twilight is exempted from the training it would show unfair favor towards her.”
Cruger grinned, “as for the first part, show her the aftermath of the Baltimare incident, that should change her mind. And the second, Eriba could give you some notes so you can do it yourself. I never said exempt her from training period, just from training with Eriba. Anyway, for my second suggestion, get some additional students. If it looks like it’s not just for the bearers, Razul might underestimate it.”
Celestia let out a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her muzzle. “I hate to do this to them… but there’s no other choice right now…”
Cruger frowned, “there is another choice, sit on our butts eating cake until he comes to destroy us all.”
Celestia gave him a glare. “Are you insinuating something about me?” She asked as the room seemed to slowly begin heating up.
“I believe he was not being specific sister…” Luna replied as she quickly placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “It is probably a custom where he’s from to call one of the hosts fat.”
Cruger grinned, “nope, in my dimension I helped raise you two, so I know that Tia here has a bit of a weakness for cake. By the way Luna, I don’t recall saying your sister was fat, what made you say I did?”
“It was assumed due to the last noble that had a passing mention of simply sitting in one place gorging herself on sweets instead of the actual work that she does.” Luna replied. “It wasn’t long before that noble found himself homeless and without home protection.”
“Huh… I would’ve thought you would be the one with the explosive temper…” Eribia stated as she put her hands behind her head.
“Explosive being the operative word, Eribia…” Celestia replied. “Dealing with petty nobles day in and day out does wear thin on the nerves after a thousand years.”
“Well, I have a method that works for my Celestia,” Cruger replied, “set aside some time each day to go to town on a punching bag. If you are especially mad at a specific somepony, put a picture of their face on it.”
“Tried it… nearly burnt a hole in the old castle… I tend to visit my father when I need to calm down if my tea doesn’t work.” Celestia replied as she levitated one of the cups over to herself before taking a sip. “Ugh… Zebrican red…” She sighed. “I don’t understand how you can like such a bitter mixture Luna.”
“It grows on you after a while…” Luna replied.
“Not that this hasn’t been an entertaining tangent, but we should get back to the matter at hand,” Cruger said, taking a sip of his own tea, “so, the solution we’ve come up with so far is to subject the bearers to the Roshi method, along with a few civilians to try to hide the intent. Now, about what I said earlier about assigning Twilight to research, we should put together a team of Equestria’s best and brightest, I don’t care which race, and put them to work on learning everything that they can about the Necromancy Razul uses. If we can learn enough about it, we might be able to figure out how to better combat, maybe even how to neutralize it. Best case scenario, we can track Razul so we can hit him hard at a time of our choosing, instead of waiting for him to reveal himself on his own terms.”
Luna actually rolled her eyes this time. “The necromancy he uses is the same that anyone who studies that school of magic uses, he simply knows more about it than we could reasonably expect any of our wizards to learn in a short time. Even I learned the necromancy school from one of my father’s acquaintances.” Luna explained. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had to fight him, this is simply the first time he’s been collecting artifacts to form the Regalia of Evil Might.”
Cruger raised an eyebrow, “why do I get the feeling we’re about to get a history lesson?”
“I don’t know…” Eribia replied. “Do you want a history lesson?”
“Does it look like we have a choice? This Regalia of Evil Might looks like the linchpin of his plans, if can figure out how to counter it, we figure out how to counter him. Go ahead Luna.”
She nodded. “We match him with the Regalia of Good Might, all three pieces of which are located on the outer Plane of Existence, Elysium. All three pieces are gathered from the Regalia of Might sets when that cause needs a champion for a cosmological debate.” Luna explained. “While the Regalia of Neutrality has been lost to time and the Regalia of Evil was spread across the material plane… we simply have to reach Elysium in order to claim our champion’s regalia.”
Cruger grinned, “well it just so happens that I am a master of Dimensional magic. While I sincerly doubt getting the Regalia will be as simple as you claim when we get there, getting there will be cake, no offence Tia. So, when can we get started?”
“Reaching Elysium is not as… simple as it sounds…” Celestia replied. “This plane’s connection to the Path to Elysium has been broken, what we have to do is send Eribia to another Equestria to reach Elysium there and fix the path here so that she may undertake the journey to our Elysium.”
“Aside from that information, our plans can begin immediately…” Luna added. “We shall instruct half the bearers here, likely miss Rarity and miss Pie will be trained among us, while Eribia shall train the Apple Family mare, the weather mare and the veterinarian.”
“AND whoever else wants to, remember we want to keep this as low key as possible.”
Luna scoffed. “Low key… Nay! Our bearers shall be trained among our guard in the old ways of training, so that they may too become, as they say, huge… once more.” The darker mare exclaimed as she rose to her hooves and quickly strode to the walk in closet. She flung the doors open to reveal links upon links of what seemed to be heavy training weights. “While my sister may have been downed in one strike, I shall not be, and neither will the guards that I shall train!”
Cruger put his hand to his chin, “that might just be sufficient camouflage. Anyway, my task will be to chart a course to Elysium. Although, how can we coordinate while in separate… lightbulb!” Cruger pulled out a copy of his token, “now, if I add a communication spell to my token, and set it to use the Void as a carrier wave,” his token glowed, “boom, real-time, interdimensional, communication. That should do the trick. By the way, any documentation on Elysium for reference I could borrow?”
Luna strode over to a large chest in the closet and opened it. With a quick search she pulled out the same top-shaped object that Eribia had recognized from earlier. “That… That’s a Cosmological map, right?”
“Yes, we have multiple for when my sister and I wish to speak with our fathers.” Luna replied as she brought the object over to Cruger. “That is an estimation for how the inner and outer planes of existence are arranged.”
Cruger looked it over, “yes, I recall feeling something like this when I was experimenting with subspace, but I think you got the scale a bit off. Anyway, a visual aid will be a big help with my calculations.” He stood up, taking the map, “anyway Eriba, one last lesson on the Displaced before I go. Normally a Displaced’s visit automatically ends after a time, but you can return them early by saying ‘X, our contract is complete’, replacing X with the Displaced’s name of course.”
“I see… but… would I be able to get you to hook me up with some training weights? I have a feeling that I’m going to need a lot of them.” Eribia asked.
“Tungsten, or depleted uranium?”
“Whichever is flexible and can be set up in twenty kilogram increments for chestpieces and ten kilogram increments for wrist bracers and greaves.”
“I’ll see what I can do, I do have my own R&D department working for me after all. Now, if you don’t mind?”
Eribia took a small breath. “Cruger… our contract is complete.”
A portal opened behind him, “well, guess we have some work to do. Before I go, Luna, identifying his magical signature will let you track him, I’ve done it several times before, so you can have the research team’s public mission be to identify the creatures while they are actually isolating his signature. And Tia, you are looking a bit on the pudgy side, just saying.” Before anyone could respond, he stepped through the portal, closing it behind him.
Eribia’s eyes widened as Luna slowly looked over to her sister. “Dude… you do not say that to a woman… ever…” Eribia said ominously as Luna tried to console her shocked sister.
Eribia frowned a little as she finished using her magic to fashion another crude stone turtle shell. Her mind flashed to the conversation she had with the blue lizard-dog... he really did look like a special breed of Diamond dog, as pictures from Luna's past had indicated. She didn't want to include the Elements in this, it was her fight...
But it was better to have some allies just in case. The Majin grit her teeth as she looked over to the piles of stone turtle shells. Soon, soon she'd have ponies to train and help take her mind off of the imminent threat. Her thumb ran across the smoothed stone as she let her mind wander again.
cxxxxxxxxx[{=================>
The pink Majin grit her teeth as she squared off against the bulky half-robed man across from her. He turned his head slightly to spit into the dirt. "Pathetic, you don't have anywhere near enough Huge in you to even consider facing a wizard of my caliber." He scoffed as he slowly began to walk towards the Majin. "I will teach you to be Huge..."
Eribia reeled a little in shock at the declaration. "W-what?"
"You heard me, you're no proper rival if you aren't strong enough to face me. We shall start with the basics, from there you will learn my technique." The bulky man replied before he seemed to vanish, only to reappear and strike the Majin hard in the stomach. "Soon, a strike like this will barely make you flinch..." He explained just before Eribia blacked out.
cxxxxxxxxx[{=================>
It had been a rigorous training indeed, her body grew and screamed at her to stop more than once. Each time she had kept going though... each moment had brought her closer to the moment when she had finally absorbed her rival, gaining his power on top of her own.
She frowned as her memories brought up the absorptions again, each face seemed burned into her vision as she found the tears painfully stinging her eyes once more. The drops of moisture began to stain the dry stone in her grasp just as it finished shaping itself into a crude turtle shell. She was forced to place the shell down as she rubbed at her eyes, trying to stop the flow that only seemed to get stronger the more she tried to push down her emotions.
"Why...? What happened to me?" She grumbled as she shifted herself against the rock she was using as an improvised seat. "I don't even know who I am anymore..." she muttered as she wiped her face. "...Why do I have to be the good guy? Why can't I just... why..." A slowly-dawning despair seeped over her. "...I don't even know what side I want to be on..."
~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~
Princess Luna stood in front of the six mares that had been known as the Bearers of Harmony, her appearance quite a bit more... intimidating... with several bands of large, black training weights strapped to her arms and legs. Another set was strapped in a dual bandolier-style across her chest, though those ones were slightly larger. "Bearers of Harmony, three of you shall be selected by myself to train among our guard and assure my sister that the future of Equestria is in capable hands. The rest of you shall train with miss Eribia, we make this a contest between the two of us so that we may see who's training method is better." She explained with a slight discerning frown.
Rainbow Dash had her interest piqued. "A contest? What does the winner get?" She asked with moderate interest.
"We have yet to discern what spoils shall go to the victor, although I have picked the mares who shall accompany me back to Canterlot for the training." Luna replied, making all of the gathered mares except for Rainbow Dash freeze in slight apprehension. "I shall pick Miss Rarity, Miss Pie and finally... Miss Sparkle... if the three of you would wait in the chariot, I shall have a private word with the remaining three."
Each of the surprised, well... not so surprised in Pinkie's case as she continued to bounce her way out to the carriage sputtering and blabbering seemingly endless strings of nonsense, mares made their way out of the Library before Luna rounded on the three remaining mares.
"Rainbow Dash, Applejack... Miss Fluttershy... you three shall be training alongside a group tutored by Miss Eribia, take thy training seriously... it is meant to help you defend yourselves should something as drastic as another dragon arrive to ponyville and not have as weak a will as the one that young Fluttershy faced down." Luna explained.
"Jus' hold on a minute there! What do ya mean we're bein' taught by that snake in the grass Eribia?" Applejack asked warily.
Luna let out a small sigh. "Dark times are ahead now that the Elements have been awakened... the fastest way to render them useless is by striking at those who wield them. Should someone dark enough wish to keep the threat of the Elements at bay, they need only prey on the weakest link. By undergoing this training it will make each individual link stronger." The dark mare replied. "And yes, by being taught by Miss Eribia you shall learn techniques from a far-flung alien society, this is a chance to learn from her as much as it is a chance to have her learn from you. After all, the greatest teachers learn as much from their students as their students learn from them."
~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~
Applejack looked on curiously at the turnout for the open tryouts that Eribia had been hosting, it seemed the chance to learn how to get as strong as the little pink hellion had certainly motivated a few of the townsfolk.
"Hey... AJ... get a load of Snowflake..." Rainbow Dash chuckled as she drew the farm mare's attention to the hulking behemoth that looked more like an earth pony had sprouted foal wings. "You think you could take him?"
"Dash..." Applejack muttered with a sigh. "He's a bodybuilder... he's all show, kinda like you. He lifts in order to impress, not get all that much stronger."
"Hey! I'm not all show!" The cyan mare protested as she hovered off the ground.
Applejack opened her mouth to speak, only to look on curiously as the pink creature that had terrorized Equestria a thousand years ago slowly floated down with a giant rock and a huge box. "Wow..." Eribia noted curiously. "There's a lot more of you than I thought... I'm going to need to make more turtle shells." Fluttershy's curious glance went unnoticed by the Majin as she cleared her throat. "Well... I had honestly thought that I was going to get maybe... six, seven students if I was lucky... um..." She set down the huge crate before she shifted her grip on the giant boulder. "This is good though, it'll be a great competition this way." Eribia visibly seemed to brighten as she simply let the boulder drop next to her.
Many eyes widened as the boulder shook the ground nearby, its impact had left several cracks in the ground as it embedded itself in the ground at least several centimeters. A quiet "woah..." from Rainbow Dash seemed to voice the opinion of the entire gathered group of ponies.
"Those of you who can push this boulder without magic will be considered to have graduated my training and will be considered potential rivals for myself. Take a good look around... anyone and everyone in this crowd has the potential to move this boulder." Eribia quickly walked up to the bulky white pegasus with a squared manecut. "The first lesson in this training will be that there are no shortcuts..." She explained as the pegasus seemed to cower away a little, as if he could sense something about her. "Anyone caught using steroids like this stallion here will have their progress reset immediately." A quick snap of her fingers and blinding flash of light left everyone gawking at the new sight.
The previously-praised bodybuilder of ponyville, Snowflake, now looked much more like his name would imply. His posture was slightly hunched though his build was more on the underweight side even for a Pegasus. At the attention of the crowd he slowly began to cover himself up as if he were aware of just how naked he felt without all of his muscles. Even Rainbow Dash was stunned at the change as she slowly tried to make herself an inconspicuous face in the crowd.
Eribia quickly brought Snowflake to the head of the group and passed him one of the turtle shells. "I sincerely hope that I can one day see you all as rivals instead of students." She said almost as quietly as Fluttershy would as she noticed Snowflake struggling to stand with the shell on his back. "Don't worry Snowflake, you'll get used to the weight. This will help build your endurance as well." She turned to the rest of the group. "The first ponies I want to get these shells on will be the pegusai and unicorns, I'll make more for the earth ponies tomorrow."
"Why do the Earth ponies get to be exempt from the shells today?" One of the pegusai called out, his darker green coat seeming to almost blend with the grass they stood on.
"Because their natural enhanced strength means that unicorns and pegusai need to work on building muscle first before they can really be on the same level." Eribia replied curtly. "You will all be able to lift this boulder when your training is done, need I really say more about the results than that?"
There was a murmur of apprehension as three unicorns and four more pegusai, Rainbow Dash included, shuffled up to the crate to grab a shell. Rainbow's eyes widened as she lifted the shell out. "What the heck are these things made of?! They weigh a ton!"
Eribia let out a chuckle. "No... this boulder weighs half a ton... those stone shells only weigh twenty kilograms, once you get used to those shells we'll move you up another twenty kilos."
~~~~~~~@~~~~~~~
Sergeant Greave panted hard as he was pushed to his limit, sweat dripped down his face and landed on the stone-like track that the Princess was running the rest of his platoon on. The incredible weights wrapped around his arms and legs forced them to cry out in protest because they had grown lax from his days as a recruit. His bat-like wings fruitlessly flapped, trying to ease some of the weight off of his legs to no avail.
It wasn't his fault that he continued running for two reasons though; the first was that his princess was watching, even in all the weights she was wrapped in she was still able to lap every one of them without their weights. The second reason was the fit and slightly swaying hips of the female PFC in front of him. He took his mind off the pain by putting his mind on rather vivid fantasies of what he would do if he had such a beautiful mare all to himself, a small smile played on his lips as his eyes lingered a little on the mare's cutie mark.
She was Private First Class Lightning Strike if his memory of the waning moon with a thunderbolt superimposed on top of it was correct. She reminded him a lot of his sister; strong, independant... and more than happy to break with the tradition of the Patriarchal Thestral society. His sister had taken up smithing, while Lightning Strike had signed up to be one of the first Lunar Guard upon Princess Luna's return.
"Enough! Thy laps are done, now that our warm ups are complete we may move onto the actual exercise." Luna called, much to every guard's dismay.
Eribia smirked as she dodged Dinky's quick jab, the unicorn's speed had certainly been improving over the past two weeks. Even if the Majin had to wear her own two hundred Kilogram turtle shell in order to give her enough of a handicap, Dinky was doing surprisingly well. Eribia brought up her left forearm to block a roundhouse kick before she quickly grabbed Dinky's leg and heaved her over her shoulder. The pale purple unicorn let out a small yelp of surprise before she recovered and managed to just skid across the ground. "Excellent work Dinky, keep this up and I might just have to move you up to the forties." Eribia praised as she got into a ready stance.
"Thanks sis!" Dinky squealed excitedly as she hopped up and down. "I can barely feel any weight from the shell anymore."
"Well then, I'll have to move you up to the forty kilogram shell anyway." Eribia chuckled as she relaxed her stance. "Let's go check on the other trainees." She suggested just before the little unicorn filly tackled her... well, tried to tackle her.
The first pony Eribia met up with was Snowflake, who certainly seemed to be building some of his muscle mass back, except this time it was because of the forty kilogram shell on his back that was forcing him to work out his wings as well as the rest of his body. Eribia smiled as she saw him making his way up to them. "Hey Snowflake! Beautiful day, right?"
He broke out in a goofy grin and took in a small breath. "YEAH!" He replied in a tone similar to his bodybuilding days. "It's an amazing day out! That's why it's perfect for training!" He shouted gleefully as he continued his skipping down the path that Ponyville had installed around the town a week ago. Several ponies followed in his wake, mimicking the skipping action the white pegasus was doing as they each hollered greetings to the Majin and her adopted sister.
Eribia hugged Dinky by her shoulder with one arm. "Now that... is what I call beautiful... no need to worry about anything, just training to become stronger... You know, I actually think you might be as strong as Applejack right now... She's just using a twenty kilo shell too." Eribia mused as she watched the last pegasus pass. "I better get to making you that forty kilo shell, that way you can surprise mom by being able to lift up the house soon."
Dinky giggled as she nuzzled her adopted sister. "I'm just happy we get to spend time together, sis." She sighed happily before she straightened out. "I'm gonna head back to the house so I can finish my homework, I can't wait for the new shell!"
Eribia turned her attention to the air before she slowly let her Ki lift her off the ground almost-effortlessly. With a quick burst of speed she made her way to a bunch of clouds hanging relatively low in the air and gingerly sat down so she could look out over the horizon. Her memories of the people she had consumed returned once more, though this time there was something different about them, they began to get... fuzzy, blurry... nothing too much different but each memory did begin to blur.
"...Perhaps I'm done being sad over my past mistakes..." She thought with a small smile that graced her lips. "Cruger believed that I wasn't a monster..." She crossed her palms in her lap as she watched the sun dip over the horizon, signaling the beginning of night. "Sunsets are so beautiful... the merging of night and day..." she sighed wistfully as she watched the sun finally droop below the horizon.
cxxxxx[=======>
White Wash frowned as he pulled his dagger from the neck of the manticore that had been unlucky enough to wander from the Everfree. He quickly wiped the blade off in the grass to clean most of it before he brought both of his hands together in a silent prayer. After about a minute several Unicorn Order Knights approached and assisted in moving the creature back to the Everfree so that some other carnivore could be fed. "Damn shame..." Wash said quietly to one of the unicorns.
The tan unicorn nodded a little. "It always is when you have to take a life... don't let it get any easier kid, if it gets easier then you're as much of a monster as the creatures we fight."
White Wash nodded as he followed his superior. "When will we be going after the target?"
The tan unicorn let out a small sigh. "Everything just got quite a bit more complicated..." He began as he guided his subordinate through the underbrush. "We just received information that Razul has come back... so we have to keep an eye out for any of his necrotic minions... as well as his second in command."
"Who's his second in command?"
"We don't know, but he's always got one... and they're always equipped with very corrupt weapons. So we can't take any chances, I need your team to look into what The Destroyer is doing while keeping an ear out for any leads on the whereabouts of Razul."
White Wash lifted a brow. "You really think he'd come this close to the Royal Sisters?"
The tan unicorn looked at him with a joy-less deadpan. "Son... Razul was only able to be beaten last time because of our founder's help. Every time in history that he's emerged he's come back stronger and stronger. We're not even sure our Order can handle him this time." The stallion let out another sigh. "Come on... we need to get something to eat... it's gonna be a long night." White Wash simply nodded as he followed the officer.
"...sometimes I really hate my job..." he thought with a mental groan.
cxxxxx[=======>
Eribia let out a small breath as she got up from her cloud, the slight chill of the evening air didn't even seem to register to her as she felt her magical senses begin to pull her... somewhere. Like a beacon of energy, she felt her arcane senses pulling at her to go faster and faster until even the air barely made a sound as she soared through the air. She finally registered where she was, in a way, when she stopped flying and began to look around. "Where in the world am I?" she muttered as she finally noticed the rather dry, rocky terrain.
She landed quickly and quietly among what seemed to be an ash-covered forest with several red-colored and spiny leaf-plants sprouting out of the ground. A curious hum left her throat as she continued to explore a little bit.
It was... quiet. The silence itself didn't seem overbearing or pressured in any way though, the word that came to Eribia's mind was that it was peaceful. The ash gave the entire place a smoky scent that would have burnt her lungs just a little if she actually had to breathe. She blinked once as she started to really think about what that meant for her... living creatures needed to breathe... but now, now she was a Majin, created from magic.
"What... am I?"
"...Unique..." Came a soft, male voice from nearby, causing the Majin to spin and face the newcomer. A slightly-hunched dirt-brown unicorn smiled at her as he slowly walked closer. His walking staff actually made quiet, audible taps against the ground as he walked. After a small chuckle he did a little bow. "Forgive me... I haven't introduced myself. My name is Farlaghn, what's yours?"
"Eribia..." The Majin replied cautiously as the unicorn stopped a few feet away.
Farlaghn hummed a little. "A very beautiful name... if I may, what brings you to this remote part of the world Eribia?" He waved a hand as he continued walking. "Come, we can speak in a place a bit more relaxing than the middle of an ash field." Eribia followed him quietly as the pair made their way to what seemed to be a small campsite set up among a ring of stone pillars. Once the old stallion was seated on one of the fallen pillars he smiled and lit the fire with his magic. "So... what brings you here?"
Eribia took her own seat. "Well... something about this place has a very high magical force... I could feel it all the way from Equestria."
With an impressed hum the stallion nodded. "I see... do you know what it is you are seeking here?"
The Majin shook her head. "I have no clue... all I know is that there was something here that was an incredibly powerful source of magic." she explained as she snapped her fingers and caused a marshmallow on a metal stick to appear. "I just had a feeling that I had to come out this way..."
"You're not wrong about this place resonating with magic." Farlaghn began with a smile. "This place has a natural connection to the Elemental Plane of Fire. Because of that connection it allows a direct connection to that elemental plane without needing to traverse the Astral plane." His horn glowed as the ground in front of him began to shimmer. "Finding places like this will help you make your journey a little easier... but traversing the outer plains can be a very dangerous thing, I speak from experience."
The shimmering ground took on a roughly circle-shaped mirror and began to show scenes of a world covered in lava and fire, any solid ground that there was seemed to be cracked and baked with heat. "...There is a power you will need in order to complete your journey though ..." He let out a small sigh as the view began to change, shifting to what looked like an oddly-detailed mosaic. "...To find Elysium you will need to be able to sense the soul of the plane, not just the magic. The final bridge of your journey will require more power than you can currently muster..."
"What do you mean?" Eribia asked quietly, entranced by the mosaic and the familiar-seeming figure that was depicted across from her.
"You are currently stuck at a fraction of your true power... not by the will of the Elements, by your own..." Farlaghn explained, gaining a confused look from Eribia. "You have the power of an incredibly powerful spirit of change as well as the magical power that was bestowed upon you when you were given a second chance."
"Second chance?" Eribia asked as she sat up a little straighter.
"You... are not the true Eribia, the original is dead, never to return... but you... you are her attempt at redemption." Farlaghn replied. "A merger between Majin and Earthling."
"How do you know about that?"
Farlaghn smiled as he began to stand again, letting his cloak slide off to reveal a much younger uni-... Alicorn stallion with a ruddy brown coat. "Because... I am Farlaghn, god of roads and patron god of travelers the multiverse over." He chuckled. "As a god of travel and a few other domains as well I know a lot when it comes to someone suddenly getting thrown across planes to another world entirely." At Eribia's shocked silence he let out another boisterous laugh. "It was me arriving from the Elemental Plane of Fire that drew you here, not the ambient magic in the area. Don't worry though, as a god I am... It's against the rules for me to interfere directly with mortal affairs, it's not very sporting after all when you simply step in and solve everything with a wave of your hand."
Eribia spluttered a few moments before she got up. "Rules?! What rules?"
"The rules of the games we immortals play..." Farlaghn explained with a smile as he turned her attention to the fire. "You see... forever is a long time to live, when you ascend into godhood you pretty much get to the point where you've done everything yourself and begin to see the multiverse as a strategy game." The flames themselves seemed to fan out in a way that looked like a television made of fire. "So, to keep ourselves entertained, gods give mortals interesting lives. If it weren't for us not wanting to be bored, history wouldn't be inspired by change... admittedly, wars wouldn't happen...but hey, you can't have everything all sunshine and roses or else life gets stale."
"So... everything that's going on... is because this is all just some game...?"
"Basically... it gets a bit more complicated than that but two major players this round have decided they want their champions to have the Regalia of Might just to see how powerful they can get. They've spent the last three hundred years looking for the perfect candidates and Hextor finally sprung his champion out of Carceri... so you, Heironeous' champion... have a time limit of about, oh... I'd have to say about a year, to get that path fixed and scamper on back here at full power or else you're going to lose."
Eribia gave him another confused look as she walked towards the fire, intrigued by the scenes that flashed through the flames just long enough for her to make out a few faces she was familiar with and a few faces that she wasn't. "...How do I unlock my full power then?"
Farlaghn shrugged. "I wouldn't have a clue... I ascended because of my unquenchable desire to travel and explore the cosmos. Though I think it would be best to speak with Kord, he seems more your speed when it comes to power." The traveler waved his hand and extinguished the flames. "I think in this world he takes the shape of an earth pony by preference... so it may be a bit easier to find him by his magical signature."
Eribia nodded a little as she straightened herself. "I... Thank you, at least now I can start to understand why it's me that has to be the hero."
"Oh! And before I forget, it would be best if you don't summon any of your displaced buddies to fight Hextor's champion... he and his minions know some powerful magic that would render them unable to leave for quite some time and could possibly make it so they never leave." Farlaghn explained as he slipped his cloak back on. "Have a safe journey back to civilization."
Eribia smiled and waved to him. "...I'll keep this world safe, just you watch."
"Don't worry... I certainly wouldn't want to miss this for the world."
Eribia sighed a little as she flew through the night air, despite the chill she couldn't think of anything other than the man connected to the badge she was scrutinizing. She let out a sigh as she held it close. "...The games gods play to keep themselves entertained..." She muttered bitterly as her fingers clenched around the police badge. "It's so stupid... but it makes more sense than anything else I've thought about..."
The spires of Canterlot Castle in the distance had her mind drift to just what kinds of dangers she'd be exposing her friends to, what she'd be exposing them to if she left. Her flight slowed until she was simply hovering in the air and looked down at the badge. "Cruger... why do I get the feeling you'd know just what to say to keep me going?" She half-chuckled as she let her index finger trace over the stylized dog head. Her smile turned into a frown as her mind ran through the possible scenarios that could happen because she summoned him.
"Would they attack you? ... Are they attacking you now?" She whispered just before she stashed the badge in her dimensional pocket. Part of her wanted to return to Canterlot and Ponyville, to keep up the training that she was instilling in her half of the Bearers of Harmony...
...But another part of her wanted to find Razul and take him down before he had the chance to get the final piece of the Regalia of Evil. The feelings pulled at her and forced a stressed breath out of her mouth as she continued back towards Ponyville. That was where she was needed right now anyway. Even the wind had decided to leave her alone with her thoughts as she soared back through the air towards ponyville.
When the town finally came into view Eribia slowed her flight once more until she was simply at the speed of a lazy float. "...what am I doing...?" She muttered as she landed on a cloud that had drifted across her path. "Am I really a teacher to these people? I..." She cut herself off and sat on the cloud with a sigh. "No... I'm not a destroyer, I'm a hero... I'm going to be a hero. Until the day I defeat Razul I'll keep training these townsfolk and make them strong enough to handle whatever comes their way."
With a determined look she stood once more as the chilly night air wafted over her figure and managed to ruffle the folds of her pants as well as the flaps of her scarf. "Until the world stands with me, I'll keep helping it up." Her voice, though somewhat faint as she declared her conviction, had its meaning secretly felt by every citizen of the town. As a small smile began making its way onto her face she slowly leaned forward and let gravity take hold so she could free-fall for several moments before letting her aura flare up and send her rocketing towards Ditzy's house.
[In the distant future of one week later...]
Eribia smirked as she brought her forearms up in an 'X' pattern to block Rainbow Dash's drop-kick. "Come on Dash! With speed like that Fluttershy could teach you a thing or two! Put some effort into those strikes!" The pink warrior taunted as she quickly grabbed the prismatic mare's leg and flung her across the temporary battlefield into a well-placed boulder. Applejack watched in slight awe as her friend slowly began to pick herself up from the remains of the boulder.
"Well I'll be... Dash, I don't think yer supposed ta be able to crush a boulder like that..." The farm mare started before Eribia's fist met her jawline.
"And you're not supposed to be slacking off during training, I bet Twilight's even stronger than you by now." The majin growled as Applejack skidded across the ground. "You might be able to lift larger weights than dash but it doesn't matter how much you can lift if your enemy knocks your ass to the ground." Eribia straightened her stance as she watched the two ponies pick themselves up from the dirt. "You both lack coordination... you fight as individuals when working as a team would make you stronger. I get that you're both rivals... if you don't start working as a team though, everything you fight for could be lost as fast as I can snap my fingers together."
Rainbow Dash winced a little as she managed to stand up straight, several discolored marks showed through her coat before she gingerly applied some of her body weight to her left leg. After the punch to her jaw though, Applejack wasn't faring too much better. "Well... I think I'll go meet up with Zecora and see about that hot springs offer she had..."
"Yeah Dash... I think I'll go with ya, those welts are gonna hurt in the mornin'..."
"Oh no, those are going to hurt halfway through your baths." Eribia replied. "But... I will concede that you two have gotten much better... and if you see Snowflake, let him know I didn't forget that he was supposed to be here at two today."
Applejack chuckled once more. "Sure, I'll tell 'im... see ya tomorrow Eribia."
The majin's smile fell a little. "Don't worry about it, use tomorrow to recover, you'll barely be able to stand tomorrow." She walked over and patted the farm mare on the shoulder. "You might actually want to recover for a few days." Before hearing either of their replies the pink Majin took to the air and began a slow flight to Canterlot.
A few thoughts crossed her mind as she flew, blurred faces, hopes, dreams... for once the silence of solo flight was giving her a bit of doubt. A lot of her power was taken away when the Elements had hit her but she could still feel so much of it hidden away... as if it was just behind some sort of valve and was waiting to burst.
There just didn't seem to be enough pressure...
"Perhaps Cruger might know... he's got that whole... wise old man-vibe." She chuckled to herself as she pulled out the S.P.D. badge that he had given her. "Actually, a visit across dimensions sounds like a nice idea... perhaps I could take a break from feeling so... odd..." Eribia muttered.
She brought the badge up to about shoulder level. "Hey Cruger... do you have the time for a half-chaos spirit to come and relax? I need something to take my mind off of my work since it's just too quiet."
Wash sat back in his chair as he rubbed his face. "So... how long is it going to take before we get that anti-magic in?" He asked his companion.
The brown unicorn chuckled and shrugged. "Honestly kid... there'll be a royal wedding before we'll be able to get our hands on something like that."
"But Celestia isn't even dating anyone..." White Wash groaned as his head hit the table.
"Neither is Luna, although I heard they have a niece... unless she's an alicorn too though she might have a wedding in our lifetime." The brown unicorn chuckled.
White Wash brought his head up. "They have a niece?"
"Yeah, just like how Blueblood is their nephew... at least, I think it's like that... I heard about her around the same time as I heard about Blueblood so I don't think she's actually Celestia's daughter."
"Well... where is she? if Eribia is back she might make a move against her as well, we already know she's trying to convince the Princesses that she's reformed." The newest assassin exclaimed.
"She's fine, she has several Valkyries covering her in case Eribia should attack." the elder assassin replied. "...and if my intel is correct, you should be hounding those anti-magic providers, she's apparently seeing someone in secret." He chuckled as the white unicorn quickly bolted from his chair, leaving it spinning for a few moments until it clattered to its side. "Heh... kids... always in a hurry."
“Cruger… um… I’m not quite sure how to travel across dimensions…” Eribia explained to the badge.
“Not a problem,” Cruger’s voice replied from the badge as the sound of rummaging leaked through, “Eriba, I summon thee!”
Eribia’s eyes widened a little as it felt like a fishing hook had sunk itself right behind her nose just before reality made a really strange vlorp sound, making a slight ripple in the air as she disappeared.
========<=>========
With a solid thud and the universe making a prolv sound in response to her entry the pink Majin landed on a cold tile floor with enough force to knock the wind out of her. “Oh… perhaps a more stable portal would be better… getting turned inside-sideways, even if you’re made of bubblegum, never feels good.” She groaned.
Looking up, she saw Cruger, with his morpher in one hand and her Token in the other. “Could be worse, I know this one girl who jumps dimensions by getting eaten by a Void Dragon.”
“Honestly… compared to what I just went through… I’d be willing to give that a try.” Eribia grumbled as she slowly began to sit up. With a slight wobble she managed to get to her feet and pat some of the dirt off of herself. “So… what can we do first? blow up a mountain?”
“No,” Cruger said as he walked towards an elevator, “first, you tell me exactly what’s got you so wound up over some pulled pork sandwiches. Then we’ll see if your problems warrant a heavy combat exercise in the simulator, this Equestria doesn’t have a lot of mountains.”
Eribia sighed as she fell into step next to him. “I could actually go for a pulled pork sandwich… being a half-magical being who doesn’t need to eat, sleep or breathe kinda makes me miss being normal… that and how the entire world feels like paper mache if I don’t hold back.”
“Ah, I remember feeling like that when I first cracked subspace,” Cruger replied, “although I learned how to cope. Quick pro-tip, find a way to limit yourself, then a way to switch between limited and full throttle modes quickly.”
“That’s the thing though, I’ve been in my limited power form so much that at least a good seventy-five percent of my power is still locked away, I could easily create a crater just by unleashing my power alone… Sure, the Elements of Harmony got rid of a lot of my magical power, left me with just Discord’s, but I still have all of my Chi and that’s even locked behind a reflexive barrier” She leaned up against the side of the elevator and began to rub her forehead. “I just… I’ve held back so long and I know that I’m going to need everything I have in order to defeat Razul… I have nowhere to really let out all of my power without causing too much destruction.”
“Have you tried high orbit?” Cruger asked as they entered the elevator.
“Well, no… only because I don’t want to destroy the atmosphere on accident…” Eribia replied honestly. “I… well… I can feel that I have so much power, but I haven’t ever had a need to use it all… and now that I need it, I don’t have it.”
“Well,” Cruger replied, “it’s actually good that you have this problem, if you’re having trouble controlling your power when you’re at 25%, imagine how dangerous it would be if you were at 100%?”
“Exactly, which is why I wanted to talk to you… I was hoping that you may have a way to help.” Eribia replied as she shifted a little to lean up against him, her head only coming a little past his waist.
“Well,” Cruger said as the elevator opened, “how about after dinner I take you to where I mastered ftl travel, by the way, there’s something you should know.”
“What?” Eribia asked as she looked up at him.
“Nothing too earthshaking,” Cruger replied as he exited the elevator into his apartment, “remember the Elysium jump you had me working on?”
“Yeah… did you already make the connection to the elemental plane of air?”
“Try Elysium itself,” Cruger replied with a smug grin on his face, “took me a while to piece things together, we call it something different here. Anyway, I’ve done the math, our respective Verses are coming into alignment, tomorrow will be the best time to do it for, oh I’d say 72 years give or take.”
“That’s amazing! We need to get there to fix the connection to Elysium on my end then as soon as possible.” Eribia said with a smile as she began to bounce around the room. “by the way… where are we?”
“My personal apartment,” Cruger said as a timer dinged, “and that would be dinner.”
“Ooh! Do you think I’d be able to have a chance to beat up the best fighters in this world before tomorrow?” Eribia squeaked. “So many fights to be had… I hope you made a lot of dinner!” she squealed with excitement as she began to explore.
“Well, let’s see,” Cruger said as he lugged a pot from the kitchen, “there’s Lord Iron Arm the Wise of the minotaurs, wait, that was a thousand years ago, he’s out. Fang the Book Hoarder? nah, the only reason we fought that one time is because he wanted access to SPD databases, I gave him limited access. Although, there is this one guy I know.”
“Well… is there anyone like you I can fight? I want to fight as many strong fighters as I can.” Eribia replied.
“He’s known by many titles, to the Dragons, Scalebreaker; to the Griffions, The Untouchable; and to the Diamond Dogs, The Blue Alpha.”
“Hmm… I wonder who he is… I really wanna deck him in the shnoz… although, he might go down in one hit.”
“Alright, but can it wait after dinner?” Cruger asked as he heaped some meat on a bun, “I really hate fighting on an empty stomach.”
“Why would you be fighting? I’m going to look for this blue alpha guy, I should probably negotiate with a diamond dog.” Eribia said as she sat at the table.
“Seriously?” Cruger deadpanned.
“Of course.” Eribia replied with a cheeky smile. “Big guy like you doesn’t look like a guy with any of those names, so I’ll just have to find the guy that does.”
Cruger facepalmed, “Can’t tell if you’re joking, or just dense.”
“Of course I’m joking, I’d be happy to wipe the floor with you.” Eribia laughed.
Cruger chuckled, “Exactly how much combat experience do you have?”
“Well, I remember a lot from my previous life as Majin Eribia… the world destroyer… so… apparently my tactics were usually blow up the world.” She admitted sheepishly.
“Well,” Cruger replied as he licked off some barbecue sauce from his fingers, “I have over 20 years of experience, plus I’ve bested no less than two beings who held the title ‘Lord of Tartarus’, three if you count Tirek. I doubt I’ll go down in one hit.”
“Eh, you don’t look like you could stand too many if I did go all out.”
“Well,” Cruger said, “we’ll just see when we get to the Rock, you can breath in space right?”
“What part of ‘don’t need to breathe’ didn’t you hear?” Eribia laughed as she swallowed one of the sandwiches in one bite.
“Just double checking,” Cruger replied, taking a look into the pot before scooping himself another sandwich, “so, anything else you need to get off your chest, or was it just the over nine-thousand power level that’s got ya in a fit?”
Her smile fell just a little. “Well… that… and what I did before the Elements of Harmony hit me a second time, really it was more about what I did the first time around… I just… I’m not quite so sure I was supposed to be the one picked for the regalia of good…” She leaned back a little, crossing her arms over her chest like she was cold. “I… before the Elements hit me the first time… when I woke up in Equestria… I kinda lost myself, when I first noticed that unicorns were the strongest beings that could focus magic I began to absorb as many as I could so that I could build up my magical power quicker… I was also a little taller too...”
Cruger sighed, “Man, can’t say I can help ya with that one. Getting royally pissed off and ending someone is an experience I’m familiar with, and no I am not going to share it with you. However, I might be able to point you in the direction of somepony who’s gone through something similar.”
She lets out another small breath. “I think I’ll just go with a battle, I need to build up magic a different way than I used to… then again I think the whole fact that I’m part Discord might have something to do with what’s going on with me.”
“Fair enough,” Cruger replied, “but when you get back, ask Luna about Nightmare Moon. So, ready to rumble?”
“Yeah, whenever you are.” Eribia replied.
“Just let me change into something more appropriate,” Cruger said, pulling out his morpher, “SPD, Emergency!”
Eribia closed her eyes as her form shifted into something a bit more form-fitting, much like a flight-suit. “So, you wanted to suit up before we got there? or did you want to fight in your apartment?”
“Option 1,” Cruger said as he opened a portal, “did you forget the venue? Unlike you, I can’t breathe in space so good.”
“Oh yeah, welp… let’s go.”
“Wait till you see this,” Cruger said as they walked through the portal. “Welcome to the SPD Extreme Combat Training Grounds, aka The Rock. It’s the largest asteroid in the Equestrian asteroid belt, it used to be second largest until, well let’s just say there’s a reason I only develop new techniques up here.”
Eribia chuckles as she steps out onto the rock, letting her Chi flow and swirl around her like a pink flame. “So, how much of a warmup will we be doing?”
Cruger drew his blade and gave it a few lazy swings, “First to three hits?”
“Sounds good to me, perhaps when we’re done here I can fight your strongest fighters? see if they can handle an interdimensional warrior yet.” The Majin chuckled as she vanished, reappearing for a roundhouse kick towards Cruger’s chest.
Cruger vanished and reappeared on a nearby asteroid, “Well, you’re currently facing the strongest fighter in this verse, so I guess we’ll find out. By the way, you didn’t wait for the starting signal.”
“Neither do our enemies, besides… we’re just sparring aren’t we?” Eribia smirked as her pink aura flared up and propelled her towards him in a mere second with her fist on a path towards his face.
Cruger caught her fist just before a gong sounded, “And that would be the signal.” Cruger pulled her in and landed a knee in her gut, “That’s 1-zip by the way.”
With a slight scowl Eribia brings her other fist up and unleashed a beam of pink energy at the Shadow Ranger with a shout.
Cruger backflipped out of the way, Eriba’s proximity allowing him to hit her with a bicycle kick in the chin, “2-zip, I’d watch that temper if I was you.”
She vanished once more and reappeared several rocks away with her hands outstretched to her sides with energy sparking along her arms that coalesced into two spheres of energy. She brought her hands together and unleashed a huge wave of energy. “Final Flash!” The Majin shouted.
Instead of dodging, Cruger charged at, then straight through the beam. He emerged in front of Eriba, armor glowing red hot but otherwise intact, and flicked her on the forehead, “3-1, by the way, I specialize in fighting straightforward fighters like you, you might want to expand your repertoire.”
“Well, sometimes you need straightforward… it’s better to know who you’re fighting anyway…” Eribia pouted.
“True, but taking them by surprise when they think they’ve got you figured out is even more so,” Cruger replied, “admit it, you didn’t see how I took care of that last move coming, did ya?”
“From what it looked like your armor barely managed to keep you from getting vaporized.” The child-like Majin replied as she took off the rock.
“To be honest,” Cruger replied, “I was intangible for most of it, only reason I turned it off a bit early was to give you a hit, and because it looked badass.”
“What? So now you’re part ghost-boy or something?” She scoffed. “Sounds like something out of a cliche superhero show.”
“Can’t say I’ve watched Danny Phantom before, you know,” Cruger replied as he opened a portal home, “but it should teach you the merits of being unconventional with your powerset.”
“What are you talking about? I shoot energy death beams and can move faster than the naked eye can track…” Eribia asked with confusion.
“And I can outrun the Enterprise D,” Cruger replied, “in fact, that’s what got me thinking about my unconventional usage. By the way, I’ve got an idea you can try for when you get home.”
“The what?” Eribia replied in continued confusion. “Wait… is that one of those Star Wars things that everyone was going on about on earth?”
“Star Trek,” Cruger corrected, “don’t mix the two up if you’re near a fan of either unless you want them howling for your probably bubblegum flavored blood, you want to hear my idea or not.”
“Sure… it couldn’t hurt.” Eribia replied.
“Instead of a single giant death laser, try deploying your chi in a swarm of smaller beams,” Cruger replied as they went through the portal, “could be useful if you’re dealing with a swarm, like how zombies tend to do.”
“Do you mean like the spread energy wave?”
“Possibly,” Cruger replied as he closed the portal and demorphed, “your current moveset is geared towards single targets, not the best choice against a zombie horde, unless you count the thing I blew away with my giant robot.”
“My chi attacks are primarily meant for one on one combat, my fists are fine against multiple opponents.” Eribia replied. “a zombie horde isn’t really what I’m supposed to fight anyway…”
“Fair enough,” Cruger said before yawning, “sorry, I’ve had a long day, and we should probably get ready for the jump tomorrow, can we call it a night?”
“You can rest if you want… I still want to fight someone… I’ll find someone to spar with, where’s your training room?”
Cruger handed her an access card, “Simulator’s on level 48, map’s by the elevator, try WCS 42, elder dragon hoard, should tire you out.”
She nodded and made her way down to the elevator so that she could train. With a sigh she let the elevator ride take as long as it needed to. Eribia looked at each of the walls surrounding her as the elevator made its way down. “Perhaps… perhaps instead of fighting… I should fly… I’m on a different world after all, making my own tour of the world could be useful…” She mumbled as she pressed the ‘first floor’ button.
Before she reached the bottom, the doors opened on level 48 to admit a unicorn in SPD gear. “Oh,” she said, “hello, didn’t think anyone else was up.”
“Yeah… gonna head out for a flight, I’ve got a lot on my mind and it was mid-day when I left my world so I didn’t realize that it would be night here.” Eribia replied. “Who are you?”
“Oh,” she said as she pressed a button, “I’m Tome Guard, I was just getting in some practice in the simulator, you know Cruger finally managed to make Princess Twilight change her mind about having guards. Cruger’s going to start handpicking Troopers for the job soon, I hope I get picked.”
“I’m Eribia, on my world I’m known as the ‘new spirit of chaos’.” The pink majin chuckled. “Do you happen to have a ship you can take? I’d be happy to have some company.”
“Sorry,” Tome blushed, “some of the unicorns are training in those ‘helicopter’ things, but I’m more interested in the containment spells, wards and such are my special talent after all.”
“Hm… perhaps you could teach me some?”
“Maybe,” Tome said, “although they can get pretty tricky, the first ward I ever did had 3 separate layers, although it did earn me this.” Tome tapped a patch sewn on the shoulder of her jacket, which depicted her Cutie Mark, a book secured with silver chains and a shield shaped lock.
“Well… I’m half-discord, so I’m pretty sure I can get the hang of magic without a problem.” Eribia chuckled. “Okay… maybe a little less than half but I can still do plenty of magic… it’s just not quite as reality-bending anymore.”
Tome sighed, “Alright, I can put some notes together if you’re still here tomorrow.”
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be here a while.” Eribia replied as she waited for the elevator to get to the first floor. “Man… this place is big…”
“You’re telling me,” said Tome, “I’ve heard a rumor that one of the A-Squad guys still gets lost.” The elevator dinged, “Level 22, this is me, see ya Eriba.”
“A-squad?” Eribia asked curiously as she held the door open. “H-how long do you plan to be awake?”
“Well, I was thinking of doing some light reading for a bit,” Tome said, “but I take it you have something else in mind?”
“I was thinking… perhaps a bit of education… I’m pretty good when it comes to planet-busting… but not much else.” Eribia admitted sheepishly.
Tome sighed, “Come on, we can start with basic runes.”
“I’d be glad to.” Eribia chuckled as she got off the elevator.
========<=>========
Her breathing evened out as her mental world swirled in a sea of colors, memories of other lives seemed to paint the scene before her in vast swaths of color until it settled on a vast field, surrounded by two huge fields of crops. The Majin looked around as she began to walk towards the town in the distance. The wind whistled gently around her as she took her time, the scent of fresh-cut wheat carried on the wisps that brought a smile to her face as she started getting closer...
The wind took a stronger shift though. As it picked up the scent of burned fields and death lingered in the air as the peaceful visage of a town was replaced by still-smoking ruins. Her feet seemed to barely touch the ground as she found herself sprinting the remainder of the path until she stopped... slack-jawed in horror that brought her to her knees as the devastation that appeared before her stabbed a chilled dagger right through her heart.
The burned corpses of humans, elves, dwarves and several of the other races that made up the tiny town's population were strewn about in the sulfur-smelling wreck of the town. Eribia drove her fist into the dirt next to her, all the strength in the world and she couldn't even muster up enough to crack the dry stone she had collapsed on.
...Everyone had died... everyone had died because she had left... because she had abandoned them...
She wanted to get stronger but none of the strength in the world had been there to protect the innocent from getting murdered by one of her most hated enemies.
========<=>========
Eribia jolted awake in a cold sweat, panting hard despite not needing to breathe. Her breaths came in short pants as she tried to calm her mind, "It's just the memories... of... of..." as much as she wanted to admit it was the memories of the people she had consumed in her previous life... she couldn't bring herself to do it, each day the faces had begun to fade and the memory she had re-lived was much too real to be the memory of a person she had absorbed before she had died.
When she finally managed to ease her breathing she laid back down and timidly drifted off to sleep once more.
Eribia breathed slowly in and out as she stood in the middle of a wasteland, her eyes were closed as her aura began to flare up around her with pink flames. “Oh… I missed letting out my power…” She mumbled as more and more of her power began to flow and crack the ground. Her body began to swell a little as the power flowed to her muscles. “Wow… I… I really am out of shape…” She sighed as a wave of energy swept away from her and kicked up a huge dust cloud as she collapsed to her knees and shifted back to regular size.
Around her the wasteland shimmered and shifted until it revealed a huge, paneled room. “Alright… I think I’m good for a little while.” Eribia panted as she shifted back into a sitting position.
With a woosh, the door opened as Cruger walked in, “Enjoy your morning calisthenics?”
“Yeah, a few more days of that and I’ll be able to bring out my full power.” Eribia replied with a smile.
“Well sorry if I’m cutting it short,” Cruger replied, “but we have a Deus Ex Machina to grab.”
“It’s not quite a Machine God… it’s more of a power boost.” Eribia said as she rolled her eyes and made her way over to the door.
“It’s a set of armor made by divine beings for use in theological debates and your adversary is looking for its evil counterpart assuming he doesn’t have it already,” Cruger deadpanned, “that sounds like a Machina to me.”
“You do realize that Machina is latin for machine… right? And that Deus Ex Machina means god of machines…” Eribia chuckled. “I’m actually hungry for once… do you guys have fifteen layer chocolate cakes here?”
“Celestia probably has at least three in her private stash,” Cruger said as he shouldered a large backpack that was leaning on the wall, “but why don’t we wait until after, Pinkie’s probably gonna throw you a party when you get the armor. By the way, a Deus Ex Machina is one of those things that a hero pulls out of their ass when all seems lost and use it to save the day, think Rainbow Power.”
“It’s something I have to get because it will put me on equal terms with him, the regalia of good might would cancel out the power of the regalia of evil might.” The pink child explained as she flourished a hand. “If not for the fact that the regalia of evil might would make him stronger than me I would wipe the floor with him…”
“Either way, we might as well get going,” Cruger replied as he pulled an ornate golden key out of his pocket.
Eribia nodded once more as she made her way over to him. “So… step one on our journey to Elysium?”
“That’s easy,” Cruger said as he inserted the key into thin air, “we go through the door.” Cruger turned the key, causing a door to appear out of thin air, the key in its lock. “Welcome, to the Divine Court,” Cruger said as he opened the door.
The young-looking majin looked around slowly as she walked through the door with him. “Kinda nice…” She said with a slightly impressed tone when she saw the sheer size of the place. Her eyes tracked over every inch of the elaborate decorations around the room that seemed to have bits of influence from civilizations Eribia had never even heard of as the world seemed to ring with a melody that seemed alien, yet familiar.
“That it is,” Cruger sighed, “haven’t been been here for a while, wonder what’s changed?”
“Not a whole lot, Mr Anubis,” said a voice.
Cruger sighed, “I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s just Cruger.”
The owner of the voice chuckled as she came around the corner, “You know I’m teasing, who’s your friend?”
“This is Eriba, my first student,” Cruger said, “Eriba, meet Faust, Alicorn of Fate, First Chair of the Divine Court, mother of Celestia and Luna, etc.”
“Good to meet you.” Eribia replied with a bow. “I’m Eribia… the spirit of chaos and planet destroyer.” She said with a smile, clearly trying to hide just how nervous she was.
“Oh you don’t have to go into detail,” Faust replied with a grin, “I know everyone.”
“She’s not kidding,” Cruger said, “Faust has the ability to see the past of everyone she meets, although she generally sticks to just reading the cliffnotes to allow them some privacy.”
Eribia chuckled a little. “Well… where are we heading in order to get to Elysium?” Every ounce of her body wanted to keep moving and slow down at the same time, the combination was just odd enough that she took note of it but still made an effort to pay attention to what Cruger and Faust were both talking about.
“Um, we’re there” Cruger said, “don’t you remember what I said about it being called something different here?”
“Oh… well… I’m still working on that… so… how do we use this place to repair the path to Elysium in my world?”
“Mythbusters style,” Cruger said as he pulled an object from his pack, “with gratuitous amounts of high explosives.”
“But I don’t need to use dynamite in order to make things explode… and how does explosions repair a bridge… or path…?” Eribia began to chuckle.
“Well, I have an answer to that, technically three but that’s besides the point,” Cruger said. “First, we aren’t using dynamite, we are using resonance ordinance keyed to your dimensional signature. Second, I said we’re in Elysium, but we’re in mine, not yours, I’m going to use the RO to temporarily make a gate between the two for us to cross. Finally, you use explosives to fix a path, when it goes through a collapsed tunnel.”
“I see… that does make a bit more sense…” the Majin replied as she leaned against a nearby pillar.
“Sense or not, you might want to take cover,” Cruger said as he used his magic to set up the bomb in thin air, “this is gonna be big.”
“And where would I take cover at that wouldn’t get me caught in the blast?” Eribia asked with a raised brow.
“Over here missy,” Faust said as she raised a shield. Eribia nodded a little and floated over so that she could stay within the shield.
Cruger finished checking the bomb, then went to join them, pulling a detonator out of his pocket. “Well, in the words of the irreplaceable Scott Savage, firing in 3, 2, 1.” Cruger pressed the button, causing an explosion that literally punched a hole in reality, “Well, that’s our ride.”
“This seems… incredibly unstable…” Eribia commented as she looked at Cruger. “Seriously… just using explosives to do this seems like it would break the fabric of reality more than fix anything.”
“I know what I’m doing,” Cruger said as he walked towards the portal, “I did the math five times, then again once a week while I was waiting for everything to line up. Plus, the explosion was laced with my own magic, it’ll hold plenty long enough for both of us to go through, then collapse with no permanent damage done to space-time, you coming or what?”
“Yeah, whenever you’re ready.” She replied.
“Well then, in the words of the greatest time traveller in the history of fiction, Allons-y!” Cruger jumped into the portal, Eriba following.
With the feeling of reality shifting its gravity sideways for a moment the pair of dimension-hoppers found themselves standing in the center of a large garden that was suspended in the air with waterfalls pouring from fountains that seemed to have nearly endless amounts of water. The air itself seemed to be filled with a relaxing aura that pleasantly asked them to relax and enjoy themselves with the beauty of the world around them.
“I… I’ve never seen a place so beautiful…” Eribia said in awe as she slowly began to float off the ground. “I… I want to see everything about this world… but don’t feel any need to hurry…” The strange feeling she had felt in Cruger's version of Elysium seemed to have returned in double, no, triple the strength as she began to feel her senses sharpen and focus on every detail her mind was quickly processing about this new realm.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Cruger said as he pulled a lawn chair and a book from his pack, “now, what say we chill until something notices our presence.”
The pink majin landed on the platform again and slowly walked over to the edge just to gape in awe. “Those… that… I… that’s the biggest plain that I’ve ever seen…” she said with awe as she fell to her knees and simply let her eyes flow over the landscape.
On a platform that was a few hundred feet away several green pegusai brought trumpets up to their muzzles, seconds later a beautiful tune began to play from the brass instruments while something that seemed like the remainder of an orchestra began to join in.
Eribia laid back on the grass of the rather large platform that they were on and once more began to meditate, despite the large amount of stress she had accumulated from worrying about the jump to Elysium from her world her entire body began to relax. Her vision seemed to focus on the almost-invisible lines of magic that were drifting from her and merging with the leylines of the plane she was in. Soon enough her eyes closed as she finally began to feel something she had thought she would never feel no matter how long she had lived...
...Peace...
Her mind finally began to clear as she simply let her magic wander, felt it as her magic began to bring her memories back, the memories of her own adventures before she became the planet-destroying monster she was. Each one that her mind lingered on seemed to pass years by her in the blink of an eye, allies would grow old and succumb to the sands of time and shroud of death even while she took on whatever shape she felt like.
"How dare they..." She blinked as her mind processed the first phrase that had come across her mind when she had realized how many friends she had lost. "How dare they leave me alone like this..." regret and sorrow pierced the spot where she believed her heart would be had she been a living creature... though Elysium seemed to react and the magic within the plane began to wash over the wound like a warming salve that numbed the pain, whispering comforts that there would be more to move on to.
Each time her mind focused on something in her past that hurt Elysium's magic responded with a gentle caress and a whisper of comfort, not replacing the pain, sorrow or anger... simply saying it would be okay in the end. Each time she moved back over her old memories the pain was still there... but each time she came back to them the pain was less and less...
Something began to pull at her senses... something faint but familiar... it was tough to focus now that she felt so at peace but she still fought on, searching for that feeling. Brown... Brown and white... black mane... mane? Was that the word? Yes, that was the right word, though just as she began to get a slightly clearer image her concentration was broken.
“As I said, I’ll do what I can,” Cruger replied before turning to Eriba, “ready to go?”
The pink child shook her head. “no thanks…”
“That’s what I mean…” The Navy Alicorn stallion said. “After a while your desire to leave disappears and soon enough a mortal will forget their life and desires… unable to leave of their own volition.”
“Good think my method probably won’t require her cooperation,” Cruger said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, “Eriba, our contract is complete.” With a vlorp, they were transported from Elysium to Eriba’s Ponyville, “You weren’t kidding, that did feel weird.”
“Of course it does when you do that… we just got torn between two realities…” Eribia groaned as she began to get up from the dirt.
“Sensei!” A certain white pegasus called out as he managed to round up several of the nearby ponies. “Where have you been?”
“What are you talking about Snowflake? I’ve only been gone a day…”
“Nuh uh… Nightmare Night is tomorrow, you’ve been gone for three months.” The pegasus replied.
“Oh yeah, probably should have mentioned,” Cruger said, “the rules of Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey apply when you’re visiting another ‘verse.”
“Such as?” Eribia asked. “Aside from the spending a day on your world is three months here of course…”
“It could have just as easily been the other way around,” Cruger replied, “the relative flow of time between verses is never constant.”
“Well… how long has it been since I called you to my world?” The pink child asked as several of the townsfolk began to crowd around them. “Alright everyone! I’m heading to Sugarcube Corner, you guys can tell me your progress there.” she sighed.
“Sugarcube corner, sounds good to me,” Cruger said as they started walking, “by the way, assuming you were talking about the first time, about a month.”
Eribia let out another small sigh. “Sounds about right then… it was a little over a week the second time I called you.” She explained as the bakery quickly came into view. “What is really all that different about your world compared to mine? I did only get to see the inside of your base after all.”
Cruger tapped his chin in thought, “Well, admittedly I only saw the inside of your verse’s palace and Baltimare, but offhand I’d say they’re pretty similar, except mine has less zombies, more giant robots, is a little further into the future, and omnivorous Equestrians, assuming yours aren’t of course.”
“I haven’t really checked on their eating habits… I do know that they have these Equestrians have really big reptiles that they’ve used kinda like humans used horses back on Kalendas. Different breeds and everything from your typical beasts of burden to trained war mounts.” Eribia said as she entered the bakery, “Pinkie! If it’s okay I’d like a white chocolate parfait!”
“Comin’ right up!” Came the bubbly tone of the well-known party pony.
“Don’t have that at home, then again one of the more subtle effects of my arrival in my verse was a spike in tech-level,” Cruger replied, “I’ll take the chocolatiest thing you got.”
It was a few seconds before Eribia noticed just how quiet the bakery had gotten, till she noticed everyone staring at them. “...And when were you going to tell me about your boyfriend?” Pinkie asked with a pout from behind the Majin, making her jump.
Cruger chuckled, “I’m not her boyfriend, I’m her mentor. Besides, she’s not my type, no offense.”
“Oh, it’s okay, everyone knows I’m supposed to meet everyone who’s new in town… so… what are you? You look kinda like the shepherd breed of Diamond dog… but you’ve also got scales like a dragon.” The pink pony takes a huge gasp. “Are you a half dragon, half diamond dog!? AWW! I bet you are so awesome at outdoor grilling! Do you breathe fire like Spike does!? And if you do, is it blue like your scales?!” she began to ask excitedly, every ounce of her previous upset mood gone.
Cruger sighed, “I’m not a Diamond Dog, or part dragon. I’m actually part of an alien race known as Sirians. Although, like Eribia, I used to be a human before coming to my Equestria.”
“Oh…” Pinkie replied in a much more quiet tone. “Well, you should probably stay away from Twilight then… Celestia knows what she would do if she found out you were an alien.”
Cruger glanced around, “She’s in Canterlot right?”
“Yeperoonie! But she’s coming back for Nightmare Night with Spike… I think she said something about the princesses in her letter, OOH! I can go get it for you Eribia! I’ll be right back!” The pink party pony replied before she seemed to zoom away upstairs.
“Ooh… wow… I know I’m not good at sensing energy… but I think that chill I just got was from Luna’s power… Her magic has started growing off the charts.” Eribia said in slight shock as she looked in the general direction of Canterlot.
“She’s Celestia’s sister, an ancient immortal alicorn, and raises and sets the moon, you expected her power to be average?”
“Of course not… but… wow… I… I really think she’s a lot stronger than I was at my full power… if her magic matches her Ki… I… I wouldn’t stand a chance in a one on one duel with her.” Eribia sighed as she sat at one of the booths.
“Power isn’t everything,” Cruger said, “want to know something?”
“What?” Eribia sighed as she put her chin on both of her arms.
“My magic levels, they’re average,” Cruger said, “during our little sparring match, if it was just a matter of power, it would have been the exact opposite of what actually happened.”
“That’s because it was supposed to be a warmup, I wasn’t trying to kill you… normally all I have to do is punch my problems a few times and they either go away or become a crater…”
“Wouldn’t have mattered,” Cruger said, “you may have had more power, but I had more experience, a larger repertoire of skills, and superior equipment. In terms of pure advantages, I had you beat 3 to 1. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be proud of your power, you should, I’m saying that you need more than just power.”
“Well… I’ve got no one who can really do that… most of the people here prefer one on one bouts, anything else is either a war with armies going at each other or what even the criminals here think is unsportsmanlike.” Eribia replied. “Even when I used to fight against Luna and Celestia, on even terms with both of them I might add, they never both attacked me at once… they were too proud to do it until they had to use the elements…”
“That’s something I can help with,” Cruger said, “you know the webshow RWBY?”
“Uh… I think I saw a trailer for it once…” Eribia replied as she rubbed the back of her head.
“Not a problem, intimate knowledge of it is not required,” Cruger said. “Anyway, a RWBY Displaced by the name of Sun created his own Beacon Academy to train Displaced. I’m going to be a teacher there, and if you like I can enroll you.”
“Uh… sure… sounds like that could help, then I could take up the mantle of Planet Buster again.” Eribia began to giggle.
“Sounds good,” Cruger said, “also, think you might reconsider sending out your Token?”
“I might… well… do you want to stay for Nightmare night? You might be able to talk to Twilight without her dissecting you if she thinks that you’re wearing a costume…” Eribia replies as she starts to smile a little.
“Sounds good to me,” Cruger said as their orders arrived, “although, hmm I wonder?”
“Wonder what Crugey?” Pinkie asked as she leaned on the table in front of him, her work attire giving him a fairly generous view of her powerful, yet soft frame.
"Wow... Pinkie must really like him... or she could be a bit oblivious... could she be both?" Eribia thought with a mix of confusion and jealousy as her own hand idly touched her own flat chest without realizing it.
“Back in my Equestria, my birthday’s on Nightmare Night,” Cruger replied, “I was wondering if it still counted if I was in another dimension.”
“Of course it does my puppy pal! What kind of cake do you want?” Pinkie asked with glee as she pulled him into a hug, smooshing his face into her generous bosom.
“Chocolate fudge,” Cruger mumbled, “and don’t you dare go easy on the frosting.”
“I wouldn’t dare! Eribia loves to be my taste tester for my sweet treats! She’s always the first to make sure they’re enough to make ponies leave with a belly full of happiness!” Pinkie giggled as she straightened out and began to bounce away.
“She’s not wrong… I might not need to eat… but it certainly helps make me feel normal, Pinkie’s been one of the biggest supports to making me feel-...”
The door to the bakery nearly crashed off its hinges as a grey pegasus slammed through them and tumbled through the bakery just before bouncing off of one of the patrons and landing in a very alert position as her golden eyes scanned the room. As soon as one of them locked onto the pink Majin though, there was a grey blur before Eribia was pulled out of her seat and into a bone-crushing hug. “Don’t you ever leave for so long without telling me again! Do you hear me Eribia! I was so worried about you…” Ditsy sobbed as she squeezed the Majin into a hug.
“Something you want to tell me Eriba?” Cruger asked, with a massive smirk on his muzzle.
Ditzy gave a mostly-confused look to the Sirian at the table. “Who’s your friend Eribia?”
The pink mass that was forcefully pulled into a hug managed to wiggle away just enough to get some air. “Well… Cruger… this is my mom…" She began before motioning between the grey mare and the Sirian, "Mom… Cruger… He’s a cop…”
The grey mare let out a gasp. “Did you get in trouble while you were gone!?”
“No,” Cruger said, “I’ve been teaching her a few things.”
She gives him a scrutinizing eye. “What kind of things…?”
Pinkie bounced up with a smile. “She’s been going over to his world to learn how to be just like him… I think she’s got a crush… or it’s the other way around.” She says with a smile, causing the wall-eyed mare to almost focus both of her eyes on the leader of the space police.
Cruger sighed, “I’m not teaching her to be like me, I’m teaching her some basics so she can be the best her she can be. By the way, anything else you want to tell me Eribia?”
“Other than the fact that I’m a creature that you probably know about already… nothing comes to mind… why? are you trying to get with my mom?” Eribia asked, getting the grey pegasus to blush.
“But… mister Cruger… really?” Ditsy asked with a flustered sputter. “You’d be interested in a mare like me?”
Cruger sighed, “No, I was referring to the fact that apparently Eriba’s crushing on me.”
“Am not!” Eribia shouted. “It’s clearly your own fault!” She exclaimed as she brazenly and accusingly pointed a spoon in Cruger's general direction.
Ditsy chuckled a little. “It’s alright mister Cruger, will you be staying for Nightmare Night tomorrow? There’s been rumors that Princess Celestia might actually leave her study to visit the Equestrian cities tomorrow.”
“But of course,” Cruger said, “I’m actually going to be having a Nightmare Night/Sorta-Birthday Party as well, consider yourself, and your daughter, invited.”
“What about Dinky though…?” Ditsy asked.
“Of course she’s invited! Everyone’s always invited to a Pinkie Pie Super Duper Birthday Party!” Pinkie exclaimed. “You could even bring Time Turner! He could use a break from his clock business.”
“To be honest,” Cruger said, “I was actually talking about Dinky. If I wanted to invite Eriba, she’s right there, you’re invited too by the way.”
“I kind of assumed so…” Eribia replied. “...I could use a bit of fresh air.” The child-sized Majin said as she passed a few bits to Pinkie. “Want to join me for a walk around town to see how everyone’s training is going?” She asked Cruger.
“Don’t see why not,” Cruger said as he finished his cake, “might try sparring with them myself, might do them some good.”
Eribia pried herself from her adopted mother’s grasp and began to walk towards the door. “I’ll see you later mom… tell Dinky we should meet at the usual place.”
“Okay Eribia… see you later…” Ditsy said with a smile as her wings fluttered a little and she turned to Cruger. “Please… take good care of her when I’m not able to…” She asked with a pleading look.
Cruger grinned softly, “Whenever I can, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
Cruger grinned as he put the finishing touches on his costume, “Not everyday you get to have your birthday twice in one year, huh Eriba?”
“Certainly not.” The pink child replied with a smile as she pet him on the shoulder.
“Well,” Cruger said, “we’d better get to Sugarcube, don’t wanna be late.”
Eriba had to admit, Cruger’s costume was very impressive. It was a set of golden plate armor, intricately engraved, with a matching axe and shield. Her own costume consisted of a dark grey jumpsuit that had a white chestplate and matching white boots and gloves, a curved shape that looked a lot like a leaf was emblazoned on the upper-left portion of her chest. “Then let’s go, can you fly? Or do we need to walk?” She asked with a smile as she walked out of Ditsy’s home.
“I can teleport, but I’d rather walk,” Cruger replied, “might as well see what everypony else is doing.”
“Fine, besides… It’ll be nice to have a look at the town just before the real Nightmare Night starts.” Eribia chuckled as she brought her hands up behind her head and walked at a leisurely pace in the slightly-chilly night air.
The various ponies were dressed up in every kind of costume imaginable. Witches, firefighters, one filly was even dressed up as a ladybug. Although, their homes were just as extravagantly done up, there wasn’t a porch in town that didn’t have at least one Jack-O-Lantern sitting proudly.
“I don’t know why… but… I remember the human that I used to be stopped celebrating whatever holiday was like this one back where she was… I… I think it was right around High School.” Eribia sighed. “It’s… a little hard looking around like this actually…” Her pace slowed just a little more as she watched all of the ponies making their way towards Sugarcube corner. “Even among this sea of color… I don’t know, I just feel so… alien…”
“Well, I know something that might get in the spirit,” Cruger said as he picked up some pebbles from the ground, “I assume you know Bu’s signature technique?”
“...who?” Eribia asked.
“The guy you were Displaced as?”
“If you couldn’t tell… I’m not a guy.” Eribia replied. “Actually… now that I think about it, my current form is actually a mix of the original Eribia, a human… who’s name I haven’t been able to remember, and Discord.”
“Well anyway,” Cruger said, “you’re close enough that it should still apply, and if not you can use your Discord bit to compensate. Anyway, Majin Buu liked to turn his victims into candy. Think you could do the same to these?” Cruger held up the pebbles.
“Oh… that… well… yeah.” She replied with embarrassment as she pointed at the pebbles, a quick flash of pink later and there were several hard caramels in the palm of his hand. “That one… was actually one of the few powers I got to experiment with before everything went sideways…”
“Well, it’s the perfect power for today,” Cruger said as he popped one in his mouth, “tonight’s all about the candy, costumes, and one other thing.”
“Admittedly I’ve only gotten caramels to taste right… so I’m kinda limited in that aspect.” Eribia chuckled just a little. “So, what’s that third thing?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” Cruger said, “let’s just say it’s related to why I asked you to talk to Luna.”
Eribia nodded just a little as she picked up a few more pebbles and turned them into chewy caramels. “So… uh… how often do you have to fight on your world?”
“Let’s see… back before my Discord sealed me I got in a major confrontation every month or so. It’s been quiet since I’ve gotten out, but evidence suggests that thing’s will be picking up,” Cruger said, “of course if you’re talking small fry, every week or so.”
Eribia nodded. “Oddly enough, outside of that attack on Manehattan… there hasn’t been anyone for me to fight…” She tossed another caramel into her mouth. “In a way, that whole training the town thing was… something to help.”
“It’s done more than help!” A muscular white pegasus with a buzz-cut blonde mane replied with a smile as he picked up the diminutive Majin. “Applejack’s made enough cider to get the entire town set for the night with Cider. Though you’re going to have to stay away from the adult party when Nightmare Night is done.” He chuckles.
Eribia frowned at the pegasus. “You do realize I’m a lot older than you… right Snowflake?”
“Then why are you still a child?” The pegasus smirked.
“Because she acts like one,” Cruger smirked.
“Of course she does, but she’s the best… second-best thing to happen to this town since the Apple family set up their farm here.” The white pegasus laughed. “So, where are you two off to?”
“My semi-birthday party,” Cruger said, “didn’t you get your invite? I’m reasonably sure Pinkie invited the whole town.”
“She did, but that’s not going to start for another hour.” Snowflake replied. “Anywhere in particular that Eribia was showing you to?”
“No Snowflake… and I distinctly remember you not showing up to our last sparring match…”
The pegasus got a little nervous. “I had a family matter I had to deal with… Cousin’s in town and I had to say hi.”
Cruger frowned slightly, “That all you were doing?”
“Of course not… had lunch, talked… found out how he was doing in that crazy monastic order thing of his he had joined… turned out he’s been doing pretty well, even found himself a girlfriend before he left.” Snowflake replied.
“Fair enough,” Cruger said, “just tell him to be careful about that order thing, wouldn’t be good if he joined a cult by accident.”
“Oh no, this order’s been around since Celestia… Princess Celestia, had that whole nightmare moon incident with her sister, they’re a bunch of ponies, griffons, minotaurs and… uh… well… anything else really, that go out and fight monsters to protect the innocent. He’s real good at that stuff.” Snowflake replied. “Princess Celestia herself is the one that established it.”
“Fair enough,” Cruger said, “just as long as he doesn’t get too overzealous. Just because something’s a monster doesn’t mean it’s evil, Eriba for example.”
“Well yeah, but he goes after stuff like dragons that raze towns, manticores that attack outlying settlements, monsters in general that attack for no reason than to cause suffering.” The pegasus said with a smile.
“That seems fair enough,” Cruger said, “but tell him to be careful all same?”
“I’ll be sure to.” The pegasus replied as he let Eribia down from his shoulders. “Take good care of her.” He laughs before flying off to Sugarcube corner.
“So, what will you be doing when you head back to your world?” Eribia asked.
“Get ready,” Cruger said, “as I said, things back home will probably be escalating soon, I’m already getting some bleed through.”
“What kind of bleed through?” Eribia asked curiously as she walked a little closer to her friend.
“Crybots, and an enemy giant robot,” Cruger replied, “at the current rate I’ll probably start running into monsters of the week soon after I go back.”
Eribia nodded as she made her way toward the bakery that was their destination. “You know… I wonder just how Luna’s going to look when she gets here… as far as I know she’s been training non-stop since the last time you were here.”
Cruger grinned, “Assuming we’re when I think we are, you’ll have the chance to ask her before the night is through.”
“Of course, after all… Twilight did notify the town that Princess Luna was going to be attending… although, apparently the day courts haven’t seen much of Celestia since that incredibly rude statement you made when you left… in fact, I really should give you a punch in the future children for that.” Eribia narrowed her eyes a little as she looked up at him. “Why would you even say something like that?”
“It was a joke,” Cruger chuckled, “besides, if she’s to have a chance against mr big bad, she’ll need to be able to handle that kind of thing at minimum. Here’s today’s lesson, not all attacks are physical.”
Eribia sighed. “Whatever…” She looked off in the distance. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a proper drink… I’m not even sure if they’ll affect this form… you think you’d like to join me at the adult party where they serve the Hard Cider?”
“Why wait,” Cruger said as he pulled a bottle and two glasses from a portal, “tell me, ever try mead?”
“No… but I’d rather wait until after the kids are done with their Nightmare Night festivities.” She says. “It keeps me from thinking of ways to project a negative impression.”
“Not a problem,” Cruger said as he put them back. Casting a glance towards Canterlot, he grinned slightly, “By the way, you might want to cover your ears, if you have ears anyway.”
“Why?” Eribia asked as her head shape changed to make her ears less obvious.
Cruger grinned as an airborne carriage came into sight, “Let’s just say that Luna doesn’t have an indoor voice.”
“She spoke indoors just fine with us when you came by…” Eribia replied as the carriage landed, letting a dark curtain pull away from the covered carriage in a swarm of pitch-black bats.
Standing in full light of a shimmering moon was the very bulky form of the princess of the night, towering like an amazon over the populace with teal eyes that were hardened with years of battle. ”CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! WE HAVE COME TO GRACE YOUR TOWN WITH OUR PRESENCE, TURNING THIS INTO A MOST GLORIOUS HOLIDAY!”
Eribia blinked a little. “Wow… you weren’t kidding.”
“Royal Canterlot Voice,” Cruger said, “still makes me flinch.”
”WE SHALL TURN THIS HOLIDAY FROM ONE OF FEAR INTO A GLORIOUS FEAST!”
“Did you hear that!? Nightmare Moon is gonna feast on us all!” Pinkie squealed before she and a large group of foals began to bolt away from the clearing. Leaving a shocked populace and a princess who stood with her mouth agape in confusion.
Cruger sighed, “Pinkie, why do you have to do these things?”
“Because that’s who she is…” Eribia sighed in response as she watched the princess ineffectively attempt to get the populace to mingle with her, though the armor made of training weights didn’t exactly help her image… neither did the flowing dark cloak that helped make her look like a warlord.
“Well, can’t say I didn’t expect this,” Cruger said, “think you can calm Pinkie down? If you can get her to stop screaming, the kids should follow suit.”
“Eh… I’m sure it’ll sort itself out, Things that deal with her generally solve themselves in the end anyway…” Eribia said as she pet him on the arm. “Let’s go say ‘hi’ before she makes a fool of herself and gets mad at the town.”
“Might as well,” Cruger said as they walked towards her, “and it looks like somepony else has the same idea.”
“...Commendable costume, you even got the bells right…” Luna finished as the two displaced approached.
“Thank you! You’re the first one who realized who it was without making some sort of ridiculous assumption… I mean, it should have been easy, I did model my costume after the most famous unicorn in history after all.”
“That he was,” Cruger said, “although I have no idea why he was so obsessed with bells.”
“That’s because sound can help with meditation, when you have a gentle jingle or a gentle hum you can focus a lot easier.” Eribia replied.
“Exactly! How do you know about that Eribia?” Twilight asked with slight astonishment
“I am a Majin after all… a being created mostly of magic…” Eribia replied. “It kinda comes naturally…”
“I have to admit,” Cruger said, “I didn’t know that. Still doesn’t explain it though, when I said obsessed, I mean obsessed, his birthday cake was shaped like one for Zordon’s sake.”
“Hey… you can’t beat a good-sounding bell… that reminds me, Luna… you look like you’ve gotten much more toned.” Eribia stated with an impressed look as she looked at the mare of amazonian stature.
“Thank you for your compliment, we have been trying to get our Sister to do the same, but the words from this heathen last we met have kept her from even attending court.” Luna finished with a slight glare at Cruger.
“Like I told Eriba,” Cruger said, “it was a joke. Sheesh, you’d think being over 1000 years old would give her at least a partial tolerance to that kind of thing.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed dangerously as her hand quickly shot out to strike the Syrian across the face. “My sister doesn’t take such insults lightly, and the fact you lasted this long without imprisonment is a testament to her leniency. Be sure not to try my patience.” The Night Princess almost hissed.
“I suppose I deserved that,” Cruger said, “tell Tia I’m sorry when you get back?”
“It will likely take more than a ‘Sorry’.” Luna replied. “Unlike in her youth my sister is a much more sensitive mare now, so many a noble has grated on her frayed nerves the past millennium that your words were the… ‘camel that broke the straw’s back’ as it were.” She huffed.
“Okay… well… I’ll admit I really wasn’t expecting the Princess to be confined to her chambers over what Cruger said either…” Eribia started as she tried to keep the two of them apart. “But… shouldn’t we be getting to the party? I mean… Pinkie would be awfully upset if we missed such a great one… Right Pinkie!?” the Majin ended with a slightly elevated tone.
As if on cue a pink and white blur dashed between Luna and Cruger, with only a moment’s notice to realize that Eribia wasn’t between them anymore.
Cruger sighed, “Well, I guess that’s that. Come on Luna, looks like Pinkie’s not interested in being at my party.”
“HOLD IT!” Came the high-pitched shout that paused the Syrian in his tracks, well… more like everyone in the area paused in their tracks. “I’m the one who planned the party, of course I’m gonna be there you silly puppy.” Pinkie giggled before looking over at Luna, her face turning from mirth to shock and horror. “NIGHTMARE MOON! RUN!” She screamed before bolting away.
“And that’s why you’re on the verge of being uninvited,” Cruger said, “Luna’s just trying to have a good time and put it behind her, but you’re just assuming that she’s still Nightmare Moon because she’s had a little growth spurt, not to mention planting that idea into everypony’s heads. Only a real mean pony would do something like that, and I don’t invite mean ponies to my parties.”
Pinkie glared at him as she seemed to reappear on his other side. “What? So you think spoiling the spirit of Nightmare Night for the kids is more fun?” She accused. “They’re looking forward to the end of the Nightmare Night Trick or Treating you know. Or should I tell them that I had to cancel the super-awesome Cruger party because he didn’t want the kids to enjoy the holiday?”
“Did you forget, this is Luna’s first Nightmare Night,” Cruger countered, “all she knows about it is that it was created because of a stupid story that Nightmare Moon ate ponies. Now how would you feel if someone made a holiday where ponies had to make an offering of cupcakes because they thought that you’d turn them into cupcakes if they didn’t?”
“Pfft… that’s ridiculous, ponies don’t taste good as cupcakes. Besides, the holiday would be about me passing out cupcakes because that’s just how great I am.” Pinkie giggled.
A dark-navy hand placed itself on Pinkie’s shoulder, causing the earth pony mare to turn towards a pair of vibrant teal eyes. “Oh but Miss Pie… Ponies make absolutely delicious meals!” Nightmare Moon hissed with a fanged smile. A shriek of fear pierced the night air and the chicken fainted on the spot, causing the nearby foals to make a frantic dash towards Sugarcube Corner. With a laugh Luna hoisted the unconscious mare onto her shoulder. “We read up on the local customs since our return Sir Cruger… in a way, we… I quite enjoy this method of celebration a bit more, it helps with the process of making one’s blood race without risking bodily harm.” She smiled as she pet him on the head. “Thank you for sticking up for me… but it’s much better than the fear of a battlefield.”
Cruger grinned, “Well, to be honest, I prefer the dressing up part myself.” Cruger then waved one of the caramels he had under Pinkie’s nose, “Wake up, I still have a point to make.” It seemed all for naught as her muzzle seemed to clamp down on his whole hand without moving too far. A faint giggle wiggled its way out of her throat though, so it seemed that the fainting spell was an act to scare the foals. “Anyway, as I was saying,” Cruger continued, “if you were so upset about Luna getting rid of the Trick-Or-Treating, my second favorite part by the way, why couldn’t you try explaining all the good stuff about Nightmare Night to her? Either way, replacing the offering with a feast sounds like a good idea to me any way you slice it.”
“Duh… because she already knew it…” Pinkie replied as she sat on the Princess’ shoulder. “Spike’s been at the library the whole time Twilight’s been up at Canterlot, we planned for that entrance.” Pinkie explained as she tossed a chewy candy in her mouth. “B’shides, we w’rs alr’dy planin’ a... “ She gulped down the candy. “We were already planning the feast to happen after the trick or treating, it was supposed to be part of your party.”
Cruger facepalmed, “You mean I planned that whole epic speech to get Pinkie to accept Luna, and I use it on the only Pinkie in the Multiverse who did it on purpose? With her Luna’s approval and support!?”
“Yepperoonie!” Pinkie giggled as she popped another piece of candy into her mouth.
“Well, you can’t win every battle Cruger.” Eribia laughed as she started to hover off the ground. “Maybe you could learn something from her, eh?”
Cruger sighed, “I need chocolate, let’s just get to my party.”
It wasn’t long before the party was underway, with Princess Luna sitting in one of the largest chairs in the building. her posture was relaxed, with one arm resting on the arm of the chair as she eyed the gathering with a smile. “How are you enjoying your celebration of birth Sir Cruger?”
“Pretty good so far,” Cruger said, “I don’t remember mentioning it, but Pinkie made my favorite, spaghetti bolognese. Not to mention, great company, and I think that cake she made is 45% frosting by volume.”
“And all natural ingredients!” Pinkie cheered from the impromptu konga line that sprung up in the middle of the bakery.
“Verily, we use no artificial sweeteners in our country.” Luna called out as she raised her mug of cider, which was met by several varying mugs of cider throughout the room.
“Well,” Cruger said, “I suppose now’s a good a time as any to indulge in my little habit. Anyone up for a bit of a singalong?”
“Of course! We must raise our voices in celebration!” Luna cheered as she got up from her chair, wobbling just a little as she stood. “Woo… not used to the strength of this cider yet…” She muttered.
Cruger grinned as he pressed a button on his morpher, “Well, I think you’ll love this.”
As the drums started, holographic screens appeared in front of everyone present, with a little bouncing ball to track the lyrics. By the end, every hand had a mug of cider, not all of them were still full. Even Eribia had shifted her appearance to look more like an adult as even she sported a thick blush on her face while banging against a pair of drums that seemed to have come from nowhere. Luna was laughing as she sat back in her chair. “Oh… Sir Cruger, the words were a little different but I should have guessed you would know some of the old Diamond Dog Mining songs.” She giggled as she downed another mug of cider. “Ah… sweet memories of times long past… good times, when you had to think with your axe and only had to carry out what wasn’t nailed down in a dungeon.”
“I’m not a Diamond Dog,” Cruger said, “although that does sound pretty interesting.”
“Oh yes, Lord Barkus the third was indebted to myself for single-handedly clearing his mine of Destrachans that had decided his dogs were a decent meal.” Luna said with a smile. “We drank a fine dragon wine that night… didn’t regain my senses for three days afterward.”
“Well then, maybe you’ll appreciate this,” Cruger said as he pulled a bottle out of a portal, “my own personal blend honey whisky, aged a thousand years, mostly because that’s how long I was sealed, but fine none the less.”
With a snap of her fingers Pinkie, in a bit less modest of a chicken costume, appeared with another mug so the Princess could hold out a fresh cup. “Let us see then.”
“Just so you don’t get any misconceptions,” Cruger said as he poured them each a glass, “this doesn’t have a high alcohol content, it’s the flavor that makes this special. To friends, old and new.”
Luna’s eyes seemed distant as she looked into the mug. “To friends lost… may their memories live on so that they may never truly die…” She said almost quietly. Eribia leaned back in her chair as she eyed the drink, she blinked away a couple of tears before quickly starting to drink.
Cruger frowned, “I know that feeling all too well. Here’s to you Judge, give ‘em one for me.” With that, he sipped his drink, reminiscing about his original team.
After putting her mug down Luna stood and let her horn glow, it fizzled a little the first time she tried to use her magic but she managed to create a small portal that she reached into. “For those of you who are interested in the best of weeks that you will likely not ever truly remember… make sure thy children have someone to make sure they attend their normal day activities….” She announced before muttering something about using drunk casting.
“Okay,” Cruger said, “I’ll bite, what are you planning?”
She pulled out a very round bottle with a long, narrow neck. “A drink that was given to me a thousand years ago, after nearly another thousand years in the possession of an ancient red dragon.” She said with a smile. “The last time I drank this… I woke up a week later with a blanket of mares.”
“Sounds… interesting…” Eribia said with slight interest.
“I think I’ll pass,” Cruger said, “I think I need to head home anyway.”
Luna gives a shrug. “More for us then… but… Sir Cruger… You’re still an asshole for calling my sister fat.”
“Woah… Luna?” Eribia said with shock.
“It is true…” Luna stated adamantly. “...He’s simply not a complete one… just in certain areas.”
“Yeah, for example,” Cruger said as he reached into a portal, “I know how to say sorry.” He pulled out a cake, written on it was ‘Sorry I called you fat, Cruger’.
Luna took the cake and put a stasis spell around it. “I’ll be sure to give it to her… not sure how receptive she’ll be for it…”
“That’s all I ask,” Cruger said, “enjoy the whisky and dragon wine.” He opened up a portal and stepped through, “Oh, before I forget, Eriba, don’t forget what I said about talking with Luna.”
“Yeah… yeah… I’ll talk with her plenty…” The majin replied. “Our contract’s done…”
“See ya later, try to keep the drunken escapades off Facebook,” Cruger said as he ducked completely through the portal and closed it behind him.