1. Cafe

View Online

I stood vigil over the pedestal, as still and silent as a statue. It was an easy thing to do since, well… I am a statue.

One thousand years ago I took up this position as guard for one of the most powerful magic artifacts in all the land, promising my Lady that I would be here when her sister returned from her fated banishment. Really though, all I had to do is stand here looking stoic until the sister came back. Then, I’ll unpetrify, give a speech about how the darkness will never overcome the light, yada yada yada, and if need be fight her off.

Piece of cake.

Or…

Maybe not.

The millennium of abandonment had left the Everfree Castle in a bit of a rough shape. And by a bit of a rough shape I mean half of the entire structure is destroyed by time and weather, and the other half looks like it might collapse if somebody looks at it wrong. Every carpet and tapestry were horribly frayed and bug-eaten, and the gold ornaments have long since tarnished. And at the center of it all, my stone body, standing beneath the collapsed ceiling and exposed to the elements, has cracked and chipped. I honestly don’t know what condition my flesh and bone body would be in should I unpetrify now.

I blame Luna and her lapdog.

Sigh.

I still remember how this whole situation started. Care to listen?

...

Who am I even talking to?

Let’s go back, 1,009 years before.

I was in a pretty good mood, all things considered. I stayed up super late last night, practicing for an upcoming esports tournament with the guys. Third place isn’t terrible, considering the caliber of players we were up against in the last tourney, but this time we’re aiming for the top spot. So, with bags under my eyes and sore legs, because I don’t trust myself to drive sleep-deprived, I pushed through the door into the coffee shop. I’d never gone to this one specifically -it’s not really on my route- but it was close enough and I know a guy who works here.

The sight of the absolutely crowded interior only put a slight damper on my mood. I stood in line for what had to be an hour before I finally got to order -the guy I know wasn’t behind the counter today- then sat down at one of the small tables that lined the outside walls of the shop as I waited for the barista to call out my order.

I passed the time with some people-watching. A few tables down, a guy was typing away on his laptop, and had a stack of notebooks next to him. Probably a student. At the same table, sat sideways in the chair and scrolling through images on her phone, was a girl with outrageously red hair. Standing in line was a guy with one of those overly-specific shirts you sometimes see in popup ads. Can’t tell if he thought it was good enough of a joke to actually buy, or he made it himself.

There were two guys standing right next to the pickup counter. One of them was completely average, while the other one looked straight out of a knockoff Seuss book. He wore a tailored suit, but every segment of it was mismatched, and a top hat, and he’d shaved off half of his mustache and goatee on alternating sides, leaving his face incredibly uneven.

“Hey can I sit here?”

“Huh?” I looked up. The man standing there was garbed in a blue hoodie and had mid-length straight, bronzish hair that hung down and covered his face. His chin was covered in a patch of hair that I wouldn’t quite call a beard. “Oh, sure. I’m not with anyone.”

“Cool.”

He sat down in the other chair at the table and rested his elbow on it, whipping out his phone and scrolling through images on it. Every couple of seconds his icy-blue eyes would flick over to me.

Already this guy was giving me weird vibes. Not quite as weird of vibes as the mismatched guy. Speaking of him…

“Attention! Attention everyhuman!” Came a voice I could swear I’ve heard somewhere before, then a thump as he jumped onto the counter.

I was distracted from the odd lingo he’d just used, when I tried to look up at him and found I couldn’t move at all.

“It has been an honor- Nay! A pleasure- to visit your little universe once more. I got caught up on all the things I was missing, and even got to update my Jokes and References book. But alas, all good things must come to an end. Do not despair, as I will be taking you all with me!”

This can’t end well.

“Without further adieu, welcome one and all… to Equestria!”

As he finished his speech, the sound of a finger snap rang throughout the shop. It took me about as much time to realize I could move again, as it took for me to realize I was falling.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

The guy who was sitting next to me was falling too, flailing his limbs and screaming his head off. I couldn’t see -or hear- anyone else, so it was just me and him. Far below, I could see a lake in the middle of a forest clearing, fast approaching.

“SHUT UP!” I yelled over his panicked scream and the rushing wind. “Stiffen your arms and legs, you’ll fall slower!”

I’ve never gone skydiving before, but common sense and movies dictate that spreading yourself out increases drag and you fall slower. I did, however, know that no matter what speed you fall, hitting water is never as pleasant as jumping in from ground-level.

He managed to stop screaming right before he bellyflopped into the lake with a sound like someone getting slapped, except about ten times as loud. I curled into a ball, pinching my nose with the thumb and index finger on my left hand, and hit the surface turned slightly to the side. I sank to the bottom with an intense pain in my left shoulder and hip.

The lake was deep enough that I hit the bottom gently, and when I did I immediately scrambled back up to the surface, gasping for air.

My companion in this strange situation was a bit worse for wear, crawling up the bank and puking his guts out.

“Are you alright over there?” I asked.

“I’m… fine.” He said between heavy breaths.

I swam to the bank and pulled myself out of the water, then flopped onto my back, holding my shoulder.

“What… the hell is… going on.”

“Do I look like I know?” I bit back, jaw tight from the pain. “This is all that… that guy’s doing.”

He wiped his mouth with a sleeve and stood up, walking over to me. His mouth was stuck slightly agape, and his eyes were half-lidded. He swung an arm forward and bent over slightly to offer it to me. I took it, and he helped me move over to a tree, to sit against it.

I untied my shoes and tore off my sopping wet socks. He didn’t seem bothered by his. Probably wasn’t even wearing any.

“I can’t keep calling you “guy” and “him” in my head.” I said.

“Beck. My name’s Beck.” He introduced himself.

“Leo.”

We stayed there for a couple of minutes in silence, air drying. Finally, I stood up, pain mostly gone, and slipped back into my shoes. I looked up at the sky; The sun was starting its descent.

“We can’t stay here.”

“The hell not?” He challenged.

“You ever been stuck out in the woods at night?” I shot him a glance. He backed down rather easily, turning his head away. “That’s what I thought. We should head south. I didn’t get a good look while we were falling, but I think I saw something not-forest that way.”

Beck didn’t say anything else, but started walking perpendicular to the setting sun past me. I quickly started after him. The forest got exponentially darker as both the sun’s light dimmed, and the canopy got thicker and thicker. There was no clear path through the forest, but we did our best to avoid most of the denser patches of underbrush. Still though, my pant legs only lasted until they dried out before getting torn to shreds.

Even once the sun had completely set, we still wandered through the forest. The light of the full moon filtered through the leaves, casting everything in a bluish-white glow.

“Well looks like we’re stuck in the woods at night.” Beck said bitterly. “How far was this ‘not-forest’ thing anyways?”

“It couldn’t have been this far. We should be at it already, unless we started walking in circles or something.”

“I’ve been marking a tree every couple of feet. We’re not going in circles.”

“Marking them with what?” I stopped, and turned to face him.

He held up a hand and flicked open a pocket knife. Its blade glistened rather brightly in the moonlight, making me wonder why I hadn’t noticed him marking any trees with it.

“And you didn’t tell me you had that earlier?”

“No reason to.” He stepped around me and continued walking.

“No reason to?!” I sputtered. “We’re only out here surviving in the forest!”

“Tou- ow!”

Beck stopped, having run face-first into a wall. He took a step away from it, rubbing his forehead. I walked over to the wall and ran a hand over it. It was made of rectangular stones held together with what felt like hardened clay.

“That wall wasn’t there a second ago.” I looked back the way we came from. “Where was the last tree you marked?”

“Just a few back on the right.”

“Got it.”

I walked away from the wall, feeling along the trees below shoulder level for cuts on their bark. I felt up at least ten trees and found nothing, so I returned to Beck.

“Unless you were lying about marking trees, we’re definitely not in the same spot we-”

“Shhhhh!” Beck shushed me. He was kneeling down next to the wall, and replaced his ear to it.

“Wha-”

“Shh.”

Instead of continuing to try and ask what he was doing, or just standing there looking like an idiot, I joined him in kneeling by the wall. As I brought my head close to the wall I could hear, very faintly, singing. It was barely audible at all, but nonetheless petrifyingly beautiful. The voice sounded young, but had either an unnatural talent, or age beyond years of experience behind it.

In that moment I knew I absolutely must know who or what was the source of this sound. I felt along the wall, and soon found a good enough handhold to start with. I stuck the toe of one of my shoes into it and began climbing. The wall didn’t go above the canopy, but there weren’t any trees on the other side of it either, so as I reached the top and reached both arms fully over the wall, I could see an orangish-yellow light, like from a fire.

I maneuvered my body on top of the wall, finding it quite thin -thin enough that my shoes hung off both sides slightly. From up here the singing was much clearer, but as I peered down, I still couldn’t see who was singing! The courtyard was obscured by a curtain of steam wafting up off a pool, which I could see the edges of where torchlight cut through it.

As I was contemplating jumping or climbing down, the stone I was perched on gave way, making that decision for me. I tumbled against the wall and landed hard on my butt, sending a tingling, numb feeling up my spine. When I noticed that the singing had stopped, I cracked open one eye.

I then beheld a small white horse -no, unicorn, staring back at me with wide eyes larger than any creature had any right to possess. A pink mane hung in wet clumps, framing its… face? Is there a special word for the “face” of an animal, or is it just face? Anyways, pink mane, because what other color would you expect a mythical animal to be, framing its face perfectly, and the slight bit of red across its muzzle was not lost to me.

It seemed like we could both only stare at each other in surprise, until-

“GUARDS! GUARDS!” She screamed, scrambling backwards away from me.

2 Dungeon

View Online

I idly tapped my fingers against the metal shackle that was entirely too large to fit on my arm. My encounter with the singer had not ended very well for me. I was so dumbstruck with the whole situation that when a bunch of small horses (unicorn and otherwise) in armor, carrying spears came and threw me in the dungeon, I didn’t do much about it.

I heard footsteps coming down the hall and glanced up from the floor. It was another one of those small Unicorns (so I guess that makes those hoofsteps). He was mostly a dark blue, almost purple in some places, and I knew it was a ‘he’ before he even spoke because he had a freaking beard. His rather impressive facial hair was a light magenta with pink streaks, the same as his mane, which was tied back into a ponytail with an ornately carved golden cuff. A similarly engraved golden peytrel held up a quilted cloak that laid over his back. His hard orange eyes bored into me -if looks could kill I would have died right there.

“Such a pitiful little creature you are, peeping on my niece like you did.”

“Hey, if we were both standing up on two legs, I’d be taller.”

One of the horse’s eyebrows raised a full inch.

“That is the point you wish to contest?”

“If I knew somebody was bathing down there I would have not slipped and fell -actually, what’s the big deal anyways? You’ve got fur covering everything!”

“It’s “somepony”,” He corrected. I internally groaned at the pun. “And this is no matter of decency, but of secrecy. Not that I would expect you to understand the difference, they being only a few letters off.”

I’m sure he must have had on a cocky grin under that beard. You could sure as hell hear the condescension in his voice.

“I’m an alien not an invalid.” I shot back. “And what, did your sister have a scandal and come out of it with a kid that shouldn’t exist?”

He lowered his head slightly, leveling his horn at me. A corona of purple light burst from the large flutes at its base before quickly coating its entire length. I felt something tug at the front of my shirt, and looked down to see a similarly hued… glob of energy appear, before I was ripped from my spot on the floor and sent flying face first into the bars.

“You had best watch your tongue about the ruler of our nation, Human. Yes, I know full well what you are, what your kind is capable of, and what your goal is.”

“G-goal? I’m just t-trying to get home.” I struggled to say. It was kinda hard to breathe, being pressed against the bars.

“Don’t lie to me, Human. Your vile race has only one goal: the capture and exploitation of our most sacred of citizenry, the Alicorn princesses.”

“Alicorn? I thought you and her were Unicorns.”

“You thou- wha- how-” He sputtered, his grip on me loosening slightly. “You mean to tell me, that when you barged into the outdoor baths you didn’t even notice Celestia had wings?!”

“Is that what an Alicorn is? Just a Unicorn with wings?”

The unicorn before me lifted one of his gold-shod hooves and smacked himself in the face.

Did he just… facehoof?

“Oh what a wonderful situation we have here.” He said, words so full of sarcasm I was surprised the stuff wasn’t dripping out of his mouth. “Well I definitely can’t let you out any time soon, not after blabbing a state secret like that. On my name as Nova Shine, brother to the Queen and sorcerer of the High Court of Everfree, you are never leaving that cell.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a certain someone sneaking up behind the unicorn.

Looks like mr Shine here wants to leave… If he sees Beck that’ll turn out badly. “Do you really have to? Not like I can tell the other little horses that your niece has wings when I get home.”

“And where exactly is “home” from here?” He asked, narrowing his eyes on me again.

“Heck if I know. One moment I’m waiting for my coffee, then some guy snaps his fingers and I’m here.”

The grip on the front of my shirt loosened considerably as the unicorn’s eyes widened.

“Snapped his… fingers? That… that couldn’t possibly be- gaugh!”

The unicorn crumpled to the floor as Beck slammed a table leg into the back of his head. The glow of his horn faded and I fell back from the bars.

“Thanks for the save, but how did you get out?”

“These ponies don’t seem to be able to grasp the concept that everyday clothes can have pockets.” He said, tossing away the now broken table leg, and pulling his knife out of his pocket.

“You didn’t… y’know?” I asked, miming a stab towards the unconscious unicorn.

“No. I used it to pick the lock. They didn’t bother guarding either of us.”

Beck knelt down next to the cell door and stuck his knife into the lock. A few seconds later the door swung open. I slid out of the shackles, which surprisingly didn’t come off when the unicorn grabbed me, and exited my cell. I went to grab the unicorn and throw him into the cell in my place, but as my hand passed his horn a spark of purple jumped from it to my hand.

“Yeouch!” I leapt back a few feet and shook out my hand. “What the hell?!”

I looked down at my hand, finding that the skin had been blackened all up my middle finger, partially up my ring and index fingers, and in a starburst shape on my palm. But even as I stared at it, it looked like it was healing.

“Double what the hell?”

“Ignore him, let’s get out of here.” Beck insisted.

And so the two of us started running. The way Beck had come from just led to more cells, so we went the other way. The long, carved stone tunnel lined on one side with standing torches eventually led to a set of stairs, at the top of which was a large wooden door. I got to it first and juggled the handle.

“Locked.”

“Not for much long-”

“Wait.”

I pressed an ear against the door, and could hear the rhythmatic clip-clopping of hoofsteps on the other side. Once they had faded into the distance, I stepped aside to let Beck pick the lock.

The first thing I noticed when the door swung open was the forest-green unicorn sitting on the red carpet in the adjacent hall, right in front of us. Thankfully she was looking to the side and didn’t see us right away. The second, was Beck’s look of surprise slowly turning into a glare aimed in my direction.

“Oh, Lord Shine, did you get anything out of the prisoners…” She trailed off as she turned towards us. “PRISONERS!”

She leapt to her hooves and leveled her horn at me and Beck. Unlike the last time a unicorn pointed their horn at me, no grab-blob appeared anywhere, and instead a ball of painful-looking energy built up on the tip.

I instinctively raised my arms to protect my face from what I knew was going to be some sort of attack. The ball of energy launched from her horn, but collided harmlessly against a rippling barrier in front of me. While both me and the mare were surprised, Beck took the opportunity to make his own attack. He lunged at the mare and coiled around her like a snake, forcing both arms around her neck. She tried to pull him off with her horn-grab-thing, but his grip was just too strong. After a few moments, her eyes fluttered closed and she went limp. Beck slowly let go of her.

“What are you?” I asked.

“Don’t you ‘what are you’ me.” Beck stood and stared directly into my soul. “What are you? What was that shield thing?”

"Do you honestly think I know? I don't. But you? You know exactly what you're capable of. No normal person can just, choke someone unconscious like that."

"This is going in circles." Beck growled. "We can finish this once we're out of this castle."

"R-right."

We started walking through the castle, taking the path of least resistance, while trying to be sneaky. Whenever we found a path that had guards, or just any of the ponies in it, we'd find another. Eventually we got to a long hallway, and spotted a set of large wooden doors at the other end. That was about when the pressure in my head started.

As we ran down the hallway, the pressure in my head began to grow. It felt like I was sinking head-first into the Marianas Trench, the closer we got to the doors at the end of the hall. I wouldn’t let myself show any sort of weakness to Beck, but I slowed down my pace nonetheless. And of course, he noticed when I did.

“Keep up. We’ve got to be close to the exit by now.”

“I’m trying.” I tell him through grit teeth.

We finally got to the doors, and Beck brought a hand up to push them open.

“Beck, wait,” He lowered his hand and looked at me. “Whatever is on the other side of that door… It's powerful.”

“What?”

“The, uh… the shield thing. It’s more than just a shield, it’s an energy that’s in the air around us, and I can sense and manipulate it. Except, right now manipulating it is only instinctual. Whatever this energy is, it’s been getting denser closer to those doors.” I explained. “I feel like I’m going to get swept up in a raging torrent If we actually step through them.”

Beck gave me an odd look. Well, odd for him. I think he was expressing concern for the first time since we arrived in this world.

“How long do you think you can stand it?” He asked.

I took a deep breath to try and steady the pounding in my skull. I was half tempted to tell him we should turn around and find a different route. But, I was finally starting to get a read on his personality. He wouldn’t accept that.

“A couple minutes max. I’ve had some pretty bad headaches in my life, this is just one more.”

He nodded and turned back to the doors. He pressed his hands against them, and after straining for a moment, threw them open with a single mighty heave. We both ran through before seeing what room awaited us.

On the other side of the doors, was the throne room. At the other end of the room, sitting atop a magnificent, half-silver half-gold throne, was an Alicorn easily taller than me or Beck. She had a pure white coat like Celestia, but a deeper red mane rather than pink. Just staring at her, I could tell that the good foot and a half of horn protruding from her forehead was the source of the powerful feeling I was getting.

She had been looking down at, and probably talking to, the blue Unicorn in robes similar to Nova Shine’s, standing in front of the throne. But now, her attention was on us. The unicorn turned around to see what she was looking at, the bells on his wizardly hat jingling as he did so.

“The prisoners!” He exclaimed. “How did they escape? No matter, I shall-”

“That will not be necessary, Starswirl.” The Alicorn spoke, stepping down off her throne. “We will handle this.”

“This is bad,” I said. “She’s the source of it.”

“No kidding. With her attention on us, even I can feel it.”

Her horn lit up with golden-hued energy, and the doors slammed shut behind us. Beck and I shared a glance, plan forming almost instantly between our pupils. Her horn-aura shifted slightly and seven balls of golden static peeled away from it to float in the air around her. The static balls were launched towards us and we both ran in opposite directions. Beck turned and dashed directly at the alicorn, while I stopped and held out my scarred hand towards him, bracing my arm with my other hand.

I focused on Beck, and on the memory of the shield I created before. I imagined an impenetrable dome of energy surrounding him, and after a few moments it appeared. The alicorn looked surprised, and looked over at me. This in itself was almost enough of a distraction for her to miss Beck lunging for her neck. She quickly turned her attention back to him and lit up her horn, firing from it a lance of blazing light that shattered the barrier I created, sending a spike of red-hot pain up my brain and sending Beck tumbling to the floor.

As I was still reeling, I suddenly found myself enveloped in a bubble of golden energy, totally unable to move. Beck was put in a second identical bubble and we were both floated over to in front of the Alicorn.

"My Queen," the unicorn -Starswirl- stepped forward. "Did you see what this golden-haired Human did?"

"I did. He cast magic. He cast magic," her expression softened considerably, "and did so without becoming Changed. Perhaps we started off on the wrong hoof. What are your names, Humans?"

The Tournament of Chaos: By the Light of the Sun

by Crimson Trident

1. Cafe

2 Dungeon