> All Trades > by Chemtest > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Mediocre > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- He gets out of bed, having had a good rest and a good dream. He looks to the mirror, and finds his form to look good. His hair combed good, his clothes of good quality, with a good looking face. He moves out a door, and enters into a different hallway in his good sized house. He walks down the steps, his good balance keeping him from tripping no matter how hard he tries. He moves into his kitchen, stocked with a good amount of different ingredients and utensils. He takes one of his handmade pans, one of good quality, and throws it onto the stove. He takes out three eggs, and throws them into the pan. Yet, they manage to crack themselves on the side, and get no shell into the pan. He turns the stove up to maximum heat, and walks off. He collapses onto the couch he made with his own hands, and finds himself comfortable despite awkward positioning. He flips on the tv, able to see it with his good eyesight. One of his own shows is on. It’s good, something you’d want to watch, but probably wouldn’t rewatch. He appears on screen as the main character, his face a shadow of complete despair. Yet, when he speaks, his line comes out good. Not awkward, but not a memorable delivery either. He switches the television off, and instead turns on the radio. One of his songs play, good for listening to in the moment, but nothing you’d want to listen to again immediately. There are no mistakes in the song, but it isn’t very memorable despite the fact. He sits there, his mind critiquing every little mistake he can pick out. Something a bit off key, or that fact that he just doesn’t like the genre. Yet, despite his efforts to hate it, he can’t. It’s a good song... even if he doesn’t want it to be. He sits like that for an hour, fighting with his mind in order to change his opinion on the song. He even tries praising it in his own mind, yet his praises don’t change it’s above average standing in his mind. After that hour, he finally gets up and goes back to the kitchen. He looks at his eggs in the pan, which have been cooking at maximum heat for an entire hour. They look good. Not burned in the least, nor even that hot. They are good. He sighs, and leaves the eggs in the pan. He never feels hunger anyway, he always just feels good. He moves to the door of his house, and sees a bit of thick rope there. He sighs, and picks it up. He opens the door, and walks out onto the lonely Kansas country road. Forest lines the side of the road, right next to his house. If is forest for miles, only stopping at the next house. He looks towards a nearby shed, and sees a whittled stool sitting outside of it. He moves to grab it, and moves into the forest. ——— Applejack looks, worried, at the machine around her. She smiles nervously, “Uh, remind me, Twilight, what this thing is supposed to be?” Twilight looks over at her, and floats a notepad to Spike, “It is a Mana Commanding Device, MCD for short. The MCD gathers nearby magic, and uses it to cast a spell of it’s own. I mean, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the simple part. It will gather mana, and will cast a teleportation spell. Haven’t programmed it for anything else, you see.” Applejack shifts her weight uncomfortably, eyeing up the cold metal, “And, uh, why do you need me to do this?” Twilight smiles, “Well, this is a machine designed mainly for earth ponies, and earth ponies are the safest choice. Pegasi and unicorns express our Mana externally, you see, which could mess with the machine. So we’re doing tests in order of danger. First earth pony, the safest, then unicorn, safe if not casting a spell, and then a pegasus after some fine tuning. Maybe even an alicorn if Princess Celestia agrees. Now, if you are asking why you specifically, it’s very simple. I need somepony I can trust.” Applejack raises an eyebrow, “Pinkie Pie?” Twilight raises one back, “You aren’t seriously implying she’s a normal earth pony?” Applejack nods, “You got a point, Twilight, you got a point.” Twilight looks over to Spike, “Okay, Spike, go ahead and get a drink if you want. I can take care of everything else myself.” Spike nods, and rushes into the kitchen, “You bet ya, Twilight!” Twilight walks over to a nearby switch, and smiles, “Alright, Applejack, you should appear in the middle of your Orchard. Please make your way back here, if you can.” Applejack nods, “Will do.” Twilight throws the switch, activating the machine. It begins sucking the nearby Mana into itself, and focuses it around Applejack. Then, when enough is built up, she disappears with a pop, and the machine shuts down. Twilight smiles, and walks up to the machine. She strikes off the earth pony test from the list, and writes down ‘unicorn test’. She steps onto the platform, “Spike, come flip the switch!” Spike rushes from the kitchen, glass of water still in his claws. He makes sure to be really careful to step over a wire right behind the switch. He smiles, and flips the switch. The sound of the machine picks up, and Spike takes a step back from the sudden noise. He trips over the wire, and ends up falling backwards. His cup of water goes flying into the air. Twilight reacts quickly, using a simple levitation spell to stop the water. Yet, it is only after she casts the spell that she remembers the danger within doing so. The machine grows louder and louder, confused on what to do with a spell going on within it. It begins to teleport Twilight, and smoke begins to fill the room. Then, with a loud pop, the machine breaks, and Twilight disappears. Spike coughs from the smoke, until he finally can see. When he looks at the machine, he sees the entire thing burned out, and a disturbing lack of Twilight. ——— Twilight looks around, only to find herself in what seems to be an endless black void. She looks all around, trying to see anything. Nothing. Just darkness, not even any Mana. Twilight almost begins panicking, but quickly regains her mind. She focuses, and sees the barest hint of purple in the distance. She gathers her strength, and swims forward, mind ignoring the breaking of physics within her swimming. She gets closer and closer, and can barely make out a portal. It seems to look into her library, and she swims faster. Yet, right before she can make out much detail, the portal closes. Instead, a figure stands there. Tall, bipedal, with darker purple robes that flow in a nonexistent wind. The figure looks at her, and shakes it’s head. A portal opens beside it, leading to some forest Twilight can’t see any detail in. The figure grabs her hoof, and throws her through the portal. ——— Twilight wakes up, finding herself in the middle of some forest. She sits up from the grass, and looks around. Her eyes lock onto a stool, knocked over. She looks at it for a second, and notices a pair of shoes. She slowly looks up, until her eyes lock onto the face of an unknown creature. A rope wrapped around it’s neck. Twilight reacts quickly, untying the rope so it drops the creature to the ground. She rushes over to it, and puts her head to it’s chest. She listens closely, and can barely hear a heartbeat. She sighs in relief, and picks up the creature with levitation. She looks all around, and sees through the trees, where a giant house is. She rushes towards it with the creature.