> More Than Just A Figure > by Undertotem > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 0 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Oi, Andrew, could you at least fix the the mess that you made at the couch. The consoles are everywhere and you bags of eaten chips are scattered all over the place. Fucking fix your shit, I'm not going to do everything for you." A male voice said, as he enters a bed room filled with posters of various things, and air-con connected to the wall, a white cabinet, and a desk with a laptop on top, opened. The figured that entered has a semi-fit build, with a pale tan skin. He also has a slightly wavy near red hair that reaches to his neck. He also has narrow eyes, accompanied with a thick black framed rectangular glasses. He wore a plain white shirt and blue checkered boxers. His name is Furoato Sho, a Japanese transfer student in America. "I'm watching something right now, I'll do it later." The boy named Andrew said. Andrew Hitchman has a slightly chubby body build, with brown messy hair on top, as well as hazel eyes, and tan skin. He is wearing a blue shirt with an "S" symbol on the chest and tan boxers. Andrew was watching on his tablet as he laid on his bed, ignoring his room mate as he continued to watch a children's cartoon "My Little Pony". Sho on the other hand got annoyed and stepped forward towards the bed where his friend laid. He then reached out and took the tablet from his friend and paused the playing video. "Bro, you can pause this shit, so get your ass up and fix the mess you made." Sho said as he tossed the tablet on the bed. Then he headed hot of the room, but went back inside again only to remind him of something. "Also, you have work today, so I suggest that you start moving if you don't want to be late." Sho said then left the room for real. "WAIT!! I have fucking work today?! FUCK!!!" Andrew said as he hurriedly stood up and started to grab clothes from his wardrobe. "Why didn't you say anything, AAAUUUUGGGHHH!! FUCK!!!" He said as he rushes towards the bathroom to make a quick shower. In a few minutes Sho's friend was fully dressed and headed to the kitchen to quickly heat up food using the stove. While Sho was in his room, door open, in his desk drawing, or rather animating. Although his animations are not of those of experts, since he only manages to animate stick figures fighting other stick figures. He does earn money though this through Patreon, as well as post his animations in Youtube to at least gather some people who like what he makes, so more patrons for his Patreon. Although it does give him some money, he is still a student, well a working student. Both him and his friend only works in weekends though, to pay for rent. He was doing his animation on his laptop when he heard his friends voice behind him. "Yo, I'm gonna go now, there's chicken soup on the stove, and I also brought some with me. Don't forget about the bet we made, you lost, so you have to watch at least five episodes, okay? Bye." Andrew said as he then rushed towards the front door and shut and locked said door. Sho on the other hand shook his head and stood up from his seat and head out to the living room, only to see that the room was still unclean. Sighing under his breath, he worked, fixing the mess made from the previous night and the night before. After finishing fixing he room, he then took his laptop and drawing tablet, set it on the couch table and then opened the TV for some news. Sho was animating his next animation video while listening to the TV's news, from what he heard, there was a scheduled electricity shutdown on the large part of their town, and that includes their street, due to the part of town having some electricity issues. So he stood up from the couch and went to another room, deemed the storage area, and took some candles, he then went to the kitchen only to find the thing he was looking for. A trigger lighter on top of the kitchen counter. He then took it and went to the living room and proceeded to light the candles alight, one on the living room and one in his room. Good thing that he was using his laptop to do the animation on, or else he would have to start to scratch if he did it on the desktop. Sho was spending the rest of his time finishing dare from the bet he lost in while waiting for the electricity to die out. What was the dare he was doing, you ask. Well it was to watch at least five episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Sho did not understand what kind of appeal of the show had in order to attract an adult audience. Not that he's saying that its wrong, it's just his way of thinking about why it happened. He manage to finish at least three episodes before the electricity shut all power out. With the candles already alight, he didn't have to go in panic to search for candles. The power was still out, but that didn't stop Sho in continuing his animation in his room, lit by a candle. The animation was called the "The Imitator 2" that's been hosted by Shuriken255 again, and to be posted in Hyun's Dojo Youtube channel. Good thing that he downloaded the music for the animation beforehand, since the animation is a music sync style of animation. The character that he chose for the animation was the first one he made, a tan stick man with armored gauntlets and greaves, as well as tonfas. The character was made when Sho was in his young years, and it further developed towards his teens. The stick man was inspired through several different types of martial arts, and hand to hand combat techniques, thus he gave it the name "Ballista", mainly because the character hits hard and hits fast. Not only that, young Sho decided to give him powers that control the elements, he just stuck with the power for a long time, but now just altered it completely different, so instead of controlling the elements, he now has control over energy or raw energy. He was almost finished with his work when a certain smell reached his nose. "Ugh!!" He grunted. "What the hell is that smell?!" He said as he tries to cover his nose, but the smell still prevailed. he stood up from his seat and took the candle near him and walked out the room. By then the smell got stronger, that he couldn't almost bare it but he still managed to take in a few breaths. That is, until he reached the kitchen. Andrew was behind the counter giving food to people and taking in their orders. That is until his break hits. normally Andrew was talkative, but somehow right now, he seems to be quiet. One of the employees saw this and decided to ask. "Yo, Andy, you seem quiet, what happened?" the co-worker asked. "Huh? Oh, um, nothing. Just wondering about some things." Andrew said as he puts a spoon in his mouth. "Like what?" The co-worker asked. "Well..... I was wondering....... did I leave the stove on????" He asked to himself. > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sho opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was blinding white, so as soon as he opened his eyes he immediately closed them and groaned as he put both hands to cover his eyes. Nani that fuck just just happened?? He thought to himself. after slowly opening his eyes and slowly moving his hands away from his face, his eyes adjusted to the blinding white that he is in. Once his eyes fully adjusted in the light, he took his time looking around. He noticed that everywhere he looked, the only thing he could see was white. He still wore the same clothes he had, so that's something. But as a few seconds turn into a few minutes, he started to feel nervous, and was bout to freak out. "Where the hell am I!?!?" He yelled questioningly at nothing. He waited for a response, but got nothing in return. His left eye twitched a little, then he looked down. Soon a faint chuckling could be heard from him, then it turned into a full blown hysterical laughter, then "AAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!" he screamed as he held his head with both hands. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?! WHERE THE FUCK AM I!?!?"He yelled as he looked around fanatically, and when he couldn't take it any more, he yelled to the top of his lungs and started to run. That is, until he was hit on the head by a hand and he fell, face first on the "ground". "WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!" A voice yelled as Sho was hit on the head by the owner of the hand. *GAH!* "Nande watashi!?! Why the hell did you do that?!?!" Sho yelled as he held the top of his head with both hands. He then looked behind him, only to see a woman with red wavy hair, with laurel around her head, and wore a white toga, as well as looking at him with and annoyed glare. "The hell you say to me kid, wanna' kindly repeat what you said, I didn't hear you." She said as she gripped his head with her right hand and lifted him up eye level. "Aaaaaaaatatatatatatatata!!!! AAAhhhhhh, it hurts, it hurts, I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry." Sho said as he felt his head being crushed by the hand of the woman. The woman then unceremoniously dropped Sho, then put her left hand to her face and sighed to herself as she heard Sho whimper in the pain he's feeling. "Okay, look, lets restart things. Things are better to understand when both of us aren't angry, or freaking out, okay?" She asked Sho, and Sho nodded while still holding his head. "I will be direct with you Furoato Sho. As of now you are dead." The woman said to Sho who was sitting with her infront of a table, face to face. "Your cause of death was via explosion, that happened in your apartment, when the fire from the candle you lit, lit up the gas fumes that were in the air." She said with a straight face. Sho on the other hand had wide eyes and was shocked at the direct message sent. "O-oi oi, you must be joking right, please tell me that this is a joke." He said with a small laugh, but then his face turned to horror when he saw the woman shake her head. His mouth then closed and his face turned to "normal", but in his eyes, sadness would be seen. And after a few seconds of contemplating, he then closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them and looked at the woman. "Well, nothing I could do about it, *sigh*, well right now, who are you, are you god, and what's about to happen to me?" Sho asked the woman as he looked into her forest green eyes. "Well as for the first question, my name is Lauren Faust, for the second question, yes I am god, but not the god that you know of back on Earth. He was to busy dealing with other people and souls and I found you first. And for the last question, I plan to reincarnate you." Faust said with a smile, as Sho looked at her with a confused face. "N-nani????" Was all Sho could say as he stared at her. "W-wait, so I get to be reincarnated again, back in my world?" He asked with a small spark of hope. "Nope, sorry, I can't do that, by the law of the created universe, I can't resurrect a soul that I have no domain over. As I said I'm a god, but a god of a different universe, and not your universe. Your soul just happened to pop out uninvited in my domain, so I decided to take you in. I can't reincarnate you in your universe, because I didn't make it, but what I can do is to reincarnate you in my universe, and live a different life than the one you have previously." She said in a matter-of-factly tone of voice. Meanwhile Sho was shocked hearing this, not only that, the small spark of returning home vanished instantly after hearing the news. Sho was about to ask Faust something, but he was then cut off by her speaking once more. "And I have also decided on what to reincarnate you into, and as to what to give you as well." She said. "When I was looking through your memories, I was most intrigued with the concept of warrior that you have created. His name was "Ballista" wasn't it? Another strong character in my world is always fascinating to observe." She said Sho. Sho was surprised at what she said, then his face then turned into skepticism as he thought about what she said, sure being "Balista" was great, since he was inspired to go to the dojos of his home town just to learn martial arts, as well as look for martial arts facilities in the US. But he didn't like the fact that he was going to be turned into a living stick person. "Wait, so you're going to turn me into a living stick man how would that even work? And If you're looking for strong characters, then why not get the other "sticks"? You know like Steel Fist, with his mechanical arms, Jade, Shuiken, Gilded Guy, Yuipa, Jomm with his air compression katana, Yo-Yo with his Yo-Yo, One with his acid katana, Umbrella with his Hi-tech umbrella, there's alot of "sticks" out there, why me, I'm just a regular guy." He explained and asked. still confused as to why she was giving him this chance to be powerful. "Didn't you hear what I said a while ago, I didn't take you from your universe, you appeared in my universe, if I owned your world, it would have been easy to take warriors and put it in another world, but I can't, you are what I would call an irregular, since you just showed up in my universe. And as for the other question, no, of course not, you're not going to be turned into a "living stick man", you would be turned into one of us." She explained and saw that the boy visibly relax in his seat, but then stiffen as he heard her last few words. "W-wait, what do you mean one of us??"He said nervously, as he didn't know what he would turn into. "OH! Well, you would look similar to this!" She said excitedly as her body glowed and Sho had to cover his eyes at the blinding light. Once the light faded, Sho looked at the goddess Faust, only to see a strange mixture of a human and an equine, or more specifically, a horse that stood on two legs like a human would, with hands and arms as well as a horn on her forehead and wings behind her back. Sho was surprised, and as he looked closed he could have sworn he knew that facial structure somewhere, he just couldn't, pinpoint it. "N-nani???" He said as his eye twitched. "NANI THE FUCK ARE YOU?!?!" He yelled as he pointed a finger at the weird concoction of magical horse, human, and bird. He as no clue as to what kind of thing the one infront of him is. "For your information, I am what you would call a pony, an alicorn to be specific. Alicorns are basically the combination of all three pony tribes...." Faust said as she continues to explain what her species is, but Sho was obviously oblivious to the talking, as his mind tried to reboot itself. His thoughts was suddenly cut off when he saw a white hand napping infront of his face, trying to get his attention. "Hey, hey, did you listen to what I said?" Faust asked as she snapped her fingers infront of Sho's face. "H-huh? What?" He said. Faust sighed, and held her forehead with one hand while shaking her head lightly. "Okay, look, I'll just give you all the knowledge that you need and in order to fit in, when I reincarnate you. But, I have a request, when you do arrive in Equis. Could you befriend my daughters, I won't force you to do it, but when you do, please be their friend. I feel like they have gone so long without someone there to talk to them like a regular pony, like a friend. Especially poor Luna." Faust said, although she muttered the last part. She looked into Sho's eyes, looking for confirmation or any acknowledgement, as if pleading for her life. "Wait, wait, wait, knowledge? Daughters? What are you saying???" Sho asked, still confused as to what she was talking about since his mind was still picking itself up together, from when Faust showed him what she looked like. "*Sigh* It seems that I have no more time. I will be sending you know into the new world. I do hope that you enjoy your new home. As for my daughters, just keep in mind that they are both alicorns like me. I will talk to you soon when possible, as for now, good luck with the new life." She said. Then her horn lit up and her eyes glowed as she casts a spell, to transport the foreign soul into the new world. Sho then took a step back as he saw the horse thing float with glowing white eyes. Then for some reason, he felt like there was a force holding him still. Unable to move, he started to panic, as he saw white light that came from the creatures horn start to surround him. Seconds passed and his panic started to fade, replaced by a calm feeling, like somehow, he should just let things happen. His body started to transform and his clothes started to change as magic start to fill his entire body. Sho felt stronger by the second, his mind started to expand, as knowledge and information start to flow in his mind. Not only that, in the briefest moments, Sho could see images of himself, fighting different types of people, with different types of personalities, and different types of weapons and powers. Soon the transformation finished and Faust returned to the ground. But for Sho, he barely had enough time to react, as a bright light consumed him, and he began to enter a portal with a splash of different colors. And soon he found the "exit" of the portal, a white light at the end of a colorful tunnel. As he passed the white "exit" he was then dropped to the floor. "GHAH!!" He grunted as he fell face first to the floor. "Aaahhhhh!!!" "What the-!?!" A pair of voices were heard as a bright light appeared and something fell. Sho groaned as he pushed himself up and puts one hand on the side of his head. As he slowly stood up, he started to inspect the changes of his body. The fist thing he saw was that he was wearing a black "leather" hooded jacket and a dark blue shirt with a thick light blue stripe on the left side, and upon further inspection, there seemed to be fur at the edges of the jacket as well as around the edges of the hood. Underneath the leather sleeves he saw what looked like steel plated gauntlets. He tried to move it around, but he barely noticed weight in them, as if it was as light as a feather. When he tried to make his fists collide with each other, sparks came out from the sudden forceful contact. He then wore baggy denim pants, but as he looked closer, he saw that his feet were no longer feet. Instead they were rounded out, like a hoof. He wasn't shocked by this, since his mind was changed due to the information stuffed in him, to fit the world he was in. But he did feel something hugging his calves, and when he lift up one side of his pants, he saw what looked like black steel plated greaves, just like the gauntlets he was wearing. He then felt something hit his leg, and when he turned around to look at it he saw a cyan blue tail, he already expected this since he was turned into a pony. When he removed his hood, a few locks of hair went infront of his face, it also had the same color of his tail, cyan blue. He didn't have any horn or wings, so he guessed that he was an earth pony. Sho doesn't have a mirror with him, but he was pretty sure he was a tan colored pony now, since he was supposed to be reincarnated as his "stick man", who is also tan. He really wanted to freak out, but due to his mind being changed with various of information, knowledge, and memories, he just thought 'oh well, guess I'm like this now'. He was so focused in inspecting himself that he was completely oblivious to his surroundings. That is until a voice called to him stopping his train of thoughts. "Who are you you foolish COLT!?!? To interrupt me in my conquest to rule over Equestria?!?!" The voice asked yelling. Sho had to cover both his ears due to the sudden raise in volume. "Aahhh~, Chikushō~" Sho said as he rubbed his now new sensitive ears. "Aahh~, yare yare daze, you know, your too loud. Would you kindly just shut your mouth." He said as he raised both arms and shrugged at the black alicorn infront of him. "You dare insult me you FOAL?! I'll teach you a lesson and put your head on a spike when I'm finished with you!!!" The alicon said as she summoned a scythe that looked like a crescent moon. She then rushed forward towards the tan stallion and swung downwards. The impact of the weapon hitting the ground was enough to make a smokescreen made out of dust and debris. As this happened, a scream went out, that came from another pony that was in the room. "*Hump* A colt that's all talk and no action, I could almost pity you, almost." The black alicorn said, but then she was shocked as to see nothing there, not even a dead body, once the smoke cleared. Then a voice called out from behind the dark alicorn, "Force is meaningless without skill. If it's a fight you want, then It's a fight you'll get." The tan stallion said as he punches both his fists together. He then placed his right hand waist level, but slightly further from the waist, and his left fist near his right shoulder, then his body seemed to glow with what looks like white and black energy. "C'mon, Fight Me!!!" > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight could not believe her eyes, a tan stallion with cyan hair, wearing a black furred jacket, with armored arms and legs, was facing off with Nightmare Moon. And the weird part is, it seemed that the stallion was winning, and he wasn't even using weapons to begin with. From what Twilight observed, the tan stallion seemed to deflecting Nightmare's attacks simply by slapping it, blocking it with his legs by kicking Nightmare's scythe, or down right catching the scythe with his bare hands and redirecting the attack. Twilight stared at awe at what was happening infront of her, that is until she remembered that she had to activate the spark on the Elements for it to work against Nightmare Moon. She hurriedly went towards the stone platform where the Elements laid, knelt down, and started applying magic to the artifacts. Ballista was having fun, somewhat. Although Nightmare Moon was strong when it comes to magic and her use of her scythe, he already saw a glaring weakness that his opponent has. True that Nightmare has combat discipline, and has a good technique when it comes to close quarters combat, but from what he could observe, she can't use both magic and fight closely at the same time. So, when ever Nightmare tries to strike from a distance with magic, Ballista would rush in and attack with a series of punches and kicks. Nightmare Moon slashed down with her scythe from her right, and looked at the tan stallion. The stallion then jumped back, seeing this opportunity, Nightmare aimed her horn at the stallion and fired a strong magic beam towards him. She wore a smug grin, knowing that her opponent had no way to dodge her attack since he was air borne. She smiled manically as she saw the stallions eyes shrink, only for her smile to vanish as she saw something unexpected. Nightmare Moon saw the stallions hands and hooves start to glow, and in an instant, the stallions body flipped backwards, completely dodging the magic beam, and landing a few meters away from her, only for the gap to close as soon as the stallion landed on the floor. Ballista rushed in, sidestepping the scythe that was still in the ground, and aimed a right punch to Nightmare's left shoulder, to create an opening. Nightmare Moon's body recoiled at the impact, staggering back as she felt the pain on her shoulder even though she wore armor. Now that there was an opening, Ballista then left kneed her to the stomach, as he stood on his right hoof. He then jumped up using his right hoof, not even bothering to land his left leg, and proceeded to to kick Nightmare Moon in the face with the same right hoof. Nightmare Moon on her part, felt pain from the impact, as well as intense heat along with the kick to the face. When she staggered back more, she looked at the stallion, and saw one of his hooves catch on fire. Ballista ran towards Nightmare Moon, seeing her wide open. As he got close, he lifted his right flaming hoof and repeatedly kicked his opponent, all the while with a grin on his face and a short laugh. "Aaaahahahahahah!!!!! Hora! Hora Hora! AAATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!!!!!!" He said as he kept kicking Nightmare Moon again and again at a very rapid pace. What Ballista did not notice was that Nightmare Moon was focusing most of her defensive spells on her body. After a moment of rapid kicks from Ballista, he then stepped back a bit and revved up his right leg, his leg encased in a blue energy as he prepares to round house kick his opponent to the face. Seeing this opportunity, Nightmare Moon then used her protective barriers around her body, to explode outwards, as soon as Ballista got near her. Ballista was then flung away from the dark blue mare, due to the force from the explosion. His body bounced on the floor a few times, before he slides to a stop by using both his hands. Ballista then stood up, slightly staggering, but as soon as he stood up, he was then sliced to the chest by Nightmare Moon as she passed by him, stopping only behind him. A few seconds only passed and soon blood spewed out from his chest. From behind Ballista, Nightmare Moon rushed in again, only this time, she was slicing away rapidly, cutting into the flesh of the tan stallion. After a few more cuts, Nightmare Moon swung her scythe forwards from her right, she then held her arm forward and spun her scythe like a buzz saw, finally she charged her scythe with magic and swung her weapon down. Focusing his power around him just before the scythe hits him, Ballista sped himself up, but from his point of view, everything else slowed down. Glowing blue, Ballista made a series of heavy hitting kicks directly to the face of Nightmare Moon, and finally finishing the kicks by flipping forward and hitting her on the face with his armored hoof. https://thumbs.gfycat.com/TangibleHardBlackrhino-size_restricted.gif (Click link to see how it should look like.) As soon as his combo ended, his vision returned to normal and Nightmare Moon was flung backwards. With out delay, Ballista rushed forward to deliver more kicks with it ending in a whirlwind of kicks. Nightmare Moon did not have time to react, and since she used most of her shield spell to interrupt an attack, she could not do much but take the attacks. "How am I being defeated by a mere colt, he's just a MORTAL, and yet I'm-" Nightmare Moon thought, only to be interrupted as a fist colliding to her stomach, followed by a fist to the face flinging her once again. She saw the tan stallion then run towards her, so she prepared to strike back. But what shocked her the most was that the stallion turned around while jumping back, soon she saw herself launching up into the air, and was then quickly brought down by a spectral fist. https://thumbs.gfycat.com/WelllitThoughtfulEmperorshrimp-size_restricted.gif (Click link to see how it should look like.) From afar, Twilight saw the battle between the two ponies and was experiencing both shock and awe from the rather violent display of skills. She could only do so much staring since some of the attacks of the tan stallion would make him disappear. She knew that getting rid of Nightmare Moon would be hard, but she did not know that the Mare on the Moon would be this violent. Twilight then remembered why she came here for. She ran to the broken remains of the Elements to try and figure out how to fix them. From outside, a group of mares heard the rather explosive commotion inside the castle. The mares then ran in to inspect what happened, only to find destruction to the already destroyed castle, a tan stallion wearing a black furred jacket, kneeling on the floor, Twilight Sparkle on the far end of the room, and a beaten down Nightmare Moon on the floor to their right. "Twilight!!!" They yelled out, three mares from the group ran towards the purple unicorn, while the last two quickly addressed the tan stallion. Ballista was panting, trying to get as much air to his lungs as possible. But due to the heavy bleeding and the subsiding adrenaline, the pain is just enough to blur some of his vision. "Heh, good thing I learned a lot of fighting techniques from Punch-mare and Kick-colt. Not to mention their extensive use and creativity of their powers make them unique, kinda' helped me make my own fighting techniques. Yare, yare daze, I haven't been beaten up this much since I tried fighting the Imitator, I wonder what's going to happen next." Ballista thought as he tried to rest his tiring body. Although he did not get enough rest since he was disturbed by two mares and was knocked down on the ground by one of them. "What did you do to Twilight!?!? Answer me or you're gonna' get it bud!!" One of the mares asked as she kicked him on the chest. He coughed out blood as he was forcefully send on to his back. From what he saw, a light blue someone struck him, only to be pulled back by someone orange. "Hey, now hold on there cowgirl, he's already hurt pretty bad. Ah don't think that he could take more from the looks of things. Hey, are you alright, how you holdin' up?" The orange figure said to him as she reaches her arm out for him to hold on to. He reached for the waiting hand and was pulled up to stand, only to stagger forwards due to his weakness. "Whoa, hay now, take it easy. You doin' okay?" Ballista heard her say as he holds on to her shoulders for support. "D-Daijōbudesu, Daijōbudesu. Thanks for the help though, I was just resting for a while. That fight with the dark mare took a huge toll on me, hehehe." Ballista said as he stood straight and wiped the blood dripping from the side of his mouth. He looked at the two mares infront of him and smiled at them, his vision getting slightly better to the point that he could see their faces and what they were wearing. The orange one with the blond mane and tail wore a stetson hat on top of her head, a white tank top inside a red and white plaid shirt, jean shorts for her bottom wear and the hoof equivalent version of boots. "Die-joe-bud-what?! What did you just say?!?! You better take back what you just said to by friend or you're gonna regret it, and you still haven't answered my question, and what do you mean dark mare, do you mean Nightmare Moon?! Are you working for her, what are you planning on do-" The cyan mare was yelling at Ballista while she holds the collar of his shirt, only to be silenced by her orange companion as she pulls the shirt of the cyan mare. "Rainbow, stop assaulting everything you think is bad, that's going to be a bad habit for you." The orange mare said as she hits the top of the cyan mares head. "*Humph* Fine, as long as he starts explaining what he's doing in the castle and what happened to Twi-" The cyan mare said, only to be interrupted by a hand grabbing her shoulder, and was then thrown to the ground. "HEY!! What's the big ide-" Once again she was interrupted as an explosion happened infront of her. Her eyes wide as she saw the tan stallion that was previously behind her, standing, now infront of her, kneeling in pain. On the far side of the room she and her orange companion saw Nightmare Moon standing with fury in her eyes. Both saw the amount of offensive magic spells surrounding the dark mare, and both mares eyes turn into pinpricks, in fear as to what would happen if they got hit by the many spells. From behind them the other three mares and Twilight saw this, but they were too far to reach the two vulnerable mares. The magical blasts were fired and was quickly approaching them, the cyan and the orange mare shut their eyes in fear that they might get hit. "FACE THE WIND" was the only thing the two mares heard last before getting hit. They waited and waited, only to find no pain on their body. From behind the rest of the mares were at awe at what they saw. Ballista created a wall of "magical" wind to negate the barrage of magical attacks from Nightmare Moon. When the barrage stopped, his right hand glowed blue and from the palm of his hand, an blue sphere appeared. "HIKOU!!!" He yelled as he launched the sphere out of his hand and towards Nightmare Moon. When Nightmare Moon was hit, she staggered a little from the impact, but she was knocked back more, when a sudden collision of a hoof reached her chest. "SOZEN!!!" Ballista then yelled as he grabbed the left shoulder of Nightmare with his left hand, and propelled himself around the mare so that he would hit the back of the neck of Nightmare Moon with his knee, dropping her down to the ground again. Ballista then fell forward to the floor, but he pushed himself up, knees and hands on the floor. Slowly he stood up, resting his hands on his knees as fatigue overcame his body. He was panting really hard now due to the first blast hitting him when he protected the two mares. When he stood straight though, that's when every thing slowed down. From his point of view, he saw the mares smile slightly at him and the fact that their supposed friends are safe, but at that same moment, their eyes and expressions turned into that of shock and horror. Ballista did not know why their expressions were like that, but after a few moments, blood was ejected out from his mouth and his vision started to get blurry. He then felt pain on his chest and on his back, and as he looked down, he saw a blade was sticking out of his chest. His head felt stiff but he still managed to look behind him, only to see Nightmare Moon smiling at him maniacally. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW~" Nightmare Moons said. She then lifted her scythe up and charged it with magic, Ballista still on the scythes blade, then she swung her scythe launching Ballista along with a wave of magic. Ballista then hit the wall hard with his back, to the point where there is a small crater on the wall and a figure imprinted on where Ballista hit. Then in a few seconds, he got hit by the magic wave. He fell down to the stone floor, unconsciousness taking over his vision. The last thing he was able to see before darkness filled his eyes was a bright colored light, and soon he fell into the world of unconsciousness. > Chapter 3 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- *BEEP!* The sound of wheels and hooves echoed through out the hall way. Stallions and mares alike rushing around. *BEEP!* "Stay with us. Please, stay with us. Do you hear me, you're going to be fine." A muffled voice said. *BEEP!* "We need to focus more on the open veins then-, -unicorns start casting healing spells to stabilize him after I-" Another muffled voice said, slowly fading in and out. *BEEP!* "Healing Magic isn't working on him?!?! Well try harder!!! I'm not gonna' let this young stallion die!!" A muffled voice shouted from beyond. *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* *BEEP!* "He's loosing heart rate!!! Pump some more blood into him!!!" The voice yelled again. "Come on, don't die now, we're so close, just a bit more." The voice said. *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!* "Doctor!!! We're loosing him!!!" A different voice said. "Get the defibrillator now!!!" "Clear!" *BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!* "Again!! Clear!!! Clear!!! Clear!!!" *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!* Doctor Steed, a brown stallion with black mane and tail, wearing a doctors operation clothes, looked at the tan stallion infront of him. Flat lined. The operation room was silent, except for the sound of the heart monitor announcing the problem that they were trying to avoid. He knew that trying to save the young stallion would bear no fruit, but he did any way. With the amount of lacerations in the colts whole body, and the amount of broken bones, the some of the crew wasn't even sure if the colt would survive, and even if he did, it would only be a few hours at most. Having smooth cuts, it was easy to repair, but with the amount of it, some of the crew most certainly knew that the colt wouldn't make it. But they still tried, even through the weirdness that the colts heart was still intact, even after his chest was cut and punctured open, they took it as a sign that there was still a chance that the colt would make it. But then that's where everything was starting to fall apart. Magic wasn't working on him for some strange reason. Healing magic was supposed to be applied in order to increase the young stallions survival. The healing magic was being absorbed, but instead of sustaining or repairing the damage done, the healing magic showed no positive results. No tissues slowly being fixed, no reduced hemorrhaging, no constant regeneration. The young tan stallion was still bleeding. The crew tried to find alternatives, different ways to regenerate the body, but the magic was still being unfunctional. Doctor Steed sighed as he recalls what happened back at the entrance of the hospital. \\\\\*_*_*_*_*_|||||_*_*_*_*_*///// It was still dark outside but the sun was supposed to raise about 12 hours or so ago from what Doctor Steed heard. Maybe even more, he wasn't sure since he wasn't part of the festivities during the Summer Sun Celebration. From what he heard from the other ponies, Nightmare Moon was real and attacked the town hall, Princess Celestia was missing, eternal night was supposed to happen and other stuff he picked up from the ponies that rushed into Ponyville General Hospital for a safe haven. He didn't believe them for a while but he still listened to their absurd stories as he continued to look at patient profiles on the front counter, but then his beliefs were instantly replaced as soon as he saw injured and unconscious ponies being hauled into the lobby of the hospital. What changed Steed's mind was not solely because of the injury of the pony, but because what pony was injured. Royal Guards that were supposed to be guarding the celebration were either injured or unconscious, or even both, even a few injured regular citizens. He then told the nurse beside him, Nurse Redheart, to go get help from the other on duty doctors and nurses. Steed and the other nurses and doctors were now helping the injured and unconscious into rooms, patching their wounds and checking each one if there were any fatal ones. Thankfully there were no severe injuries or any fatal ones. Just some wounds and heavy bruises that would ache a lot on the next day. Things then were starting to become worry some for Doctor Steed, only for his worries to fade slowly as the sun started to rise up from the sky. He sighed in relief, now that the supposed "eternal night" did not happen. He took a moment of his time to stare out the glass doors of the hospitals lobby, staring at the bright sky. He was about to head back to check on the other patients, until a lout POP of a magical teleport sounded in the lobby of the hospital, taking the attention of the already retreating doctor. When he looked behind him, he was shocked to see the Princess of the Sun standing on the lobby of the hospital, along with six mares, five of which he knew (not personally, more like professionally, as patients). But what shocked him the most was what the Princess was carrying on her arms. "P-princess Celestia!!! It is an honor to meet you. What brings you he-" He said, with initial shock upon seeing the Sun Princess. But his words stop and a shocked expression shows in his face as he sees a heavily wounded tan stallion on her arms. Instantly, Steed rushed towards the front desk and grabbed the announcement microphone ------ and pressed the button. "I NEED SURGEON EXPERTS AND UNICORNS WHO KNOW A VARIETY OF HEALING SPELLS IN OPERATION ROOM NUMBER 5 STAT!!! I ALSO NEED IMMEDIATE MEDICAL CARE AT THE LOBBY, AND HURRY!!! WE HAVE A LEVEL 10 INJURY!!! Doctor Steed shock his head, trying to clear his mind from the fresh memories. He looked at the young tan stallion infront of him and sighed. He remembers the desperate face of one of the mares, as well as the helpless plead given by the princess herself, he remembers the tears that some of them shed, running down their faces. And now he looks at the lifeless body of a pony he couldn't save. Steed looked at the clock hanging on the wall and sighed again. He then turned to another pony beside him to tell her the date and time of death of the pony, as well as what words to say to the relatives of the pony. Unbeknownst to the ponies in the room a faint glow was emanating from within the chest of the tan stallion. Slowly, oh so slowly, getting stronger and stronger, brighter and brighter, to the point that one surgeon noticed it right away. (Start at 2:40) Soon all ponies in the room noticed a rather bright blue glow from within the chest of the tan stallion, more specifically the heart. What happened next is one thing they did not expect, a heavy pressure. The ponies in the room felt a heavy pressure over them, no, not in the room, the entire village felt the pressure. The heavy pressure of raw energy mixed with the abundunce of natural magic, all gathering at one point. Suffice to say, even non-unicorns could feel the overwhelming convergence of energy in Ponyville General Hospital. Back at the operation room, all the ponies were on the floor, struggling to stand up due to the extremely dense pressure. The body of the tan stallion was floating and glowing blue, most prominently at the heart. The scene that ponies are witnessing is that akin to a unicorn foals magical outburst, only much more ancient. A vortex of magical particles and raw energy was swirling around the heart, like that of a black hole. Soon the operation rooms doors burst open, revealing a barely standing white alicorn, and six mares, two of which fainted due to the extreme pressure while the rest looked extremely tired. But their tired faces soon turned into that of shock once they saw the floating body of the tan stallion. Everypony in the room saw the tan stallions body repairing itself, as fissures of blue energy errupt from within the gaping holes and wounds, the injuries slowly closing. And in a few minutes all wounds were closed and the body looked as if it was unharmed. Immediately a strong wave of energy was expelled from the tan stallions body, pushing everypony back. The body then was dropped back down on the operation table. And there was only one thing that made the doctors and nurses more shocked than the newcomers. *BEEP!* > Chapter 4 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A sea of white, dull yet expressive. A place where suffocating closeness will be felt, yet the field is expansive. A place where time has no meaning, yet tells so much history. Where it is both tangible and intangible, a place that exist and does not at the same time. A place, where if one were to see, they would find eternal insanity and enlightenment. A place where all things started, yet where all things ends as well. In this place, only those who are part of it, are able to harness what resides within. In the valley of white, a speck floats. To others, this is a sin to the purity of the white plane where the speck resides. But who is to complain if the only thing within the white is the speck. Slowly, very slowly, the speck drifts through the endless white void. With tattered clothes and a bleeding body, this thing, deep asleep, oblivious to the surroundings. (Finish the video if you want.) The speck was unnoticed by two other specks, one in blue clothing, and the other in black clothing. Both seemed to be fighting, for an indefinite amount of time. Both running through the white void, on an existing ground. Neither one losing or wining, but somehow have an advantage against each other. Waves of pressure emits when one of the specks deliver a powerful blow, the ground cracks and fractures, craters are made, yet they disappear the moment you leave your eyes on them. (Finish the video if you want. Although at the end they still continue fighting for the sake of narration.) As time passes, the speck laid waiting, waiting, waiting, for something else to happen. The floating speck, still asleep, but this time somewhat aware of their surroundings. Soon, a ripple through the white appeared. A black inky fluid pours and drips from an endless ceiling, down to the endless floor. The black slowly falls, like a tar or oil being poured. The white, seeming to mix within the black, slowly shifting along with a accent of blue, and together, they form a pillar of sorts. This was then noticed by the two other specks, as they stopped fighting to observe the phenomenon. They then continued fighting, ignoring the strange occurrence. Slowly, very very slowly, the speck continued to float forward towards the pillar of sorts. The speck now fully conscious, upon noticing the black and white swirling pillar, did not feel fear or anxiety, but somehow, comfort. As the speck neared the the pillar, the speck was slowly being swallowed by the inky blackness, until the speck was fully consumed. There, the speck felt like drowning, suffocating, finding it hard to breathe even though the pillar does not restrict air within. And soon the black pillar disappeared slowly, drained form its existence along with the floating speck. From far away, an inky black leaks into the white plane forming yet another pillar of black and soon disappearing like the first one. As the view expands, more black masses emerge at random times and disappearing at random times as well. And rested on a palm, the black masses within the white void, nothing but a mere insignificant speck, a being looked at its palm, focusing on the appearing and disappearing black masses. And from the once floating speck that recently disappeared, a voice was heard within its mind. TRAIN. GROW. POWER. Furoato Sho suddenly woke up, heavily sweating after a dream that he couldn't remember. He didn't know what made him wake up, but his senses are now on high alert. He quickly looked around and scanned the room to assess his current situation. He now finds himself in an unfamiliar room. The room had white walls with a tan wallpaper with a simple design about 3 feet from the ground. In the room, two tables are found, one beside the bed Sho rests on, and another on the opposite wall, opposite of the bed, with a chair beside it. To his left, a rather comfortable looking couch rest on the same wall where the head of the bed is, between the couch and the bed is a table. To the right of the bed, is the window, looking out of the building where the stallion resides. Sho looked to where he laid on, seeing a white clean blanket. He felt something on his left wrist, a small paper cuff with words imprinted on it. He then lifted up his covers and look within, and he sees what appears to be white patients gown. On his arm appears to be a device strapped around his arm, linked to a device beside his bed, monitoring his heart rate. He then looked around again, and soon he notices somethings on the table opposite of him. Without delay, he set aside his covers, removed the device from his arm, and walked towards the table. He saw his clothes, his black leather hooded fur jacket, his dark blue shirt with a single stripe of light blue on the left side, his baggy denim pants and underwear, all neatly folded, although tattered looking due to the fight from the fight before. Beside his clothes were his steel plated gauntlets, and beside that were the two tonfas that he previously kept behind his waist. He could still remember it "clearly" before loosing consciousness. A fight between him and another, a darker alicorn, one he does not remember the name. Last thing that he remembers was being struck from behind and the feeling of intense pain, and after that, nothing else. "Sonogo nani ga okotta nodesu ka?" (What happened after that?) He thought, as his eyes wander towards his black steel plated gauntlets. He moved forward to take the gauntlets, but his hoof made contact with something, hitting it in the process. When he looked down, he saw the same black steel plated greaves, one toppled over due to the contact of his hoof. He looked at his belongings for a short while, and soon focused from within himself. At a near instant, the clothes, and the gauntlets, disappear with a shine of blue light. And at the same instance the gown that he wore disappears and on him a black jacket with a rather high collar appeared, inside he wore a white tank top, his pants less baggy and slightly tighter looking. On his head is a black cap with a white triangle within a circle on the middle of the cap, and on his hand are gloves that cover only the palm of his hands. (Something like this, no face mask) A few seconds after his clothes appear, a new set of gauntlets appear worn on his hands. One that is mixed with leather and brass, looking kind of like it came from somewhere industrialized. Four crystals that seem to glow blue, is embedded on the forearm of each gauntlet. A switch is found at the end of both gauntlets and out of that are wires that connect to various places within the gauntlet, seeming to give it power from an unknown source. Putting on the final touches of his clothes, mainly the black steel plated greaves on his hooves, he stood up and created the final piece of his set of clothing. For Sho, he always admired the styles of gas masks, so to complete his looks, A blue light appeared from his left hand and there spawned a black gas mask that fits his muzzle, and at the center of the mask is a white glowing triangle within a circle. Upon putting on the mask on his muzzle, he faces the window and stares towards the busy town full of active ponies. He stares for a while admiring the view, that is until his ears flicked towards the door and he heard voices behind the door behind him. "Quickly, something bad must have happened to him!" Sho heard a muffled voice of a mare behind the door. The door then crashed open, and Sho heightened his senses, prepared to retaliate if needed. As he turned around, he then saw a face of a panicked mare with white coat and light pink mane and tail. With her are two of what seems to be guards of some kind. "Halt! Stay where you are!" One of the guards said in a commanding voice. "Ehhhhh~ So that's what royal guards look like" Sho thought as he stood still looking between the two guards. The guards then move forward, spears drawn and pointed to the suspicious stallion in black, standing in a high priority patient room. Unknown to the guards that the stallion that they were trying to arrest is the high priority patient. As the two guards walk nearer to Sho, Sho raised his hands up in a halting manner. "Ohhhh, matte, matte, matte (wait, wait, wait)!!!" He said as both his hands are directed towards the two guards. The guards on the other hand stop for a second at the gesture towards them, both wondering what the stallion was saying. While behind them, Nurse Redheart was worried as to where the patient was. But the more she observed, the more she noticed small similarities of the stallion that she's seeing to the patient that was confined 5 days ago. But her thoughts were then disrupted as two bodies slammed to the wall to the right of her. Pushing the guards with a wave of energy from both raised hands, Sho stared at the airborne guards as they hit the wall opposite to him. The sound from the crash was loud enough to be heard through the walls and along the corridor, that it alerted some of the other guards that were guarding inside the building. Hearing the rush of guards towards his room, Sho looked back towards the window and opened it. He then looked back towards the white mare nurse that was standing at the frame of the door, and he gave her a two finger salute. He then proceeds to teleport himself on the otherside of the window, his body going static and glitch-y, and then disappears in a flash of light, only to reform on the otherside of the window. Falling down from 5 stories, Sho landed on the ground with a rather sizable crater on the ground. But due to his rather alarming escape, a group of pegasai guards came out of the building from somewhere, along with a group of unicorn and earth pony guards. Seeing this Sho picked up the pace and ran away from the building as fast as possible, that is until his path was blocked by a group of guards. Making it easier for the guards, Sho decided to play with them for a while. Every time they would attack, he would warp backwards or behind them, dodge multiple attacks from various angles, deflect spears and swords away from him, and even surprise them with a Fakeout. Fakeout, a move where Sho would make himself intangible, visible, but intangible, digitizing or glitching a part of him or his whole being just before an attack hits. And after Fakeouts, he would then jump back avoiding an attack from somewhere else. Sometime he would grab the back of their heads and shove them towards a different direction, or towards another guard. Mostly, Sho isn't making any violent physical reactions, only slight kicks, pushes, or trips, but all in all harmless. Twilight and Spike along with their friends except for Applejack, were walking towards the hospital to visit the young stallion that saved them from Nightmare Moon. They've been visiting him for the past week, checking up on him since the magic surge. Sometimes they visit in groups a few times only about one or two were able to visit. For the girls, it has been a rather interesting week for them. From Twilight running away from most of the townsponies because of tickets, to Applejack saving the town from a stampede, to Fluttershy saving them from a dragon. Not to mention, the small increase of guard activity patrolling the town due to the sudden outburst of magic, ordered by Princess Celestia herself to keep an eye out for the young stallion. As the group started to walk closer towards the hospital, they heard voices shouting and grunting, along with the sound of metal clanking. Concerned the five ran towards the noise, only to see a group of guards being played around with, by a pony wearing black clothing. Twisting, flipping, vaulting, and dodging, said pony in black clothing avoided most of the attacks that came towards them, the ones that do manage to hit just passes through. The girls and Spike, didn't know what to do at first, but since the royal guards were the ones having the trouble, they decided to help them, well mostly. "Okay Spike, I don't know whats happening here, but I need you to go back to the library and send a message to Princess Celestia on whats happening right now. Hopefully she arrives soon." Twilight said to her dragons assistant. She then looked at her friends and said, "Come on girls lets see what we can do here." She then went towards where the fighting is happening, and the others soon followed, although Fluttershy followed reluctantly. Sho was having fun, to say the least, laughing at the missed attacks while also destabilizing the energy around him, making magical attacks fizzle out. dodging one last attack, Sho jumped back and continually flipped by springing both arms and legs upon landing, and landed on all fours. He then slowly stood up, his upper body slightly bent forwards, arms dangling, right leg forward, and left leg at the back. He then raised his right arm up but his left arm aimed at the ground, he then clenched his right fist and opened his left hand, then punched the ground with his right. For the guards and for the newly approaching mares, all was tense, for the guards mostly. Suddenly, loose dirt and stones started floating around the area. The guards didn't know what was happening, but they knew that something was up, and that something was made by the stallion infront of them. The earth pony guards then took a defensive barrier, preparing for something to happen, the pegasus guards took to the air, waiting to strike, and the unicorn guards prepared their spells. About this time, the group of mares arrived as they saw the guards take formation and the floating dirt and stone. Then, that's when they saw it, the gloves of the stallion glowed, more specifically, the crystal stone embedded on it. The stallion then suddenly raised both arms into a somewhat defensive position, both arms vertical and infront of the shoulder, the crystals shining, but not blinding. Then suddenly, the floating dirt and stone suddenly shot forward, towards the stallion guarding with his arms, but it did not hit him. The stones and dirt floated infront of the guarded stallion, then it started to fuse and shit within each other. And soon it covered both of the stallions arms and gloves, protecting them, like a suit of armor. (Right most gauntlet) Sho, after creating his new weapon to play with, raised his head, and looked at the guards infront of him, not noticing the mares to the side. Then, he smiled. At Canterlot Castle "What does it say Princess Celestia?" A voice of a gentle wise old man said. "Hmm... It seems that the guards that I have placed in Ponyville are having problems Strike. And since the letter came from Spike..... *sigh*, It would seem that I would need to intervene before things would turn to the worse." Celestia said to the butler. "If I may Princess, I would like to accompany you, seeing as this problem might be too much for the guards, it would be a problem if nopony was there to protect the princess." The old butler said. Celestia sighed then smiled at the old gray coated unicorn stallion with whitening mane and tail and a goatee. "You're really not letting me go alone are you?" She asked and sighed again. "Very well then, you will be my guard for today, so protect me oh mighty stallion." Celestia said haughtily, but she then smiled and laughed a bit after doing a small joke. "Well let us see what this problem is." She then said, as she prepared her teleportation spell. And in a flash of light the two were gone, and all was left was a cup of tea on a table, still warm.