> Changing Fate > by Pax > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Realizations > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer; I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's Hasbro's brainchild, I'm just playing with it for the time being. However, I am willing to cease and desist if they command it. Now no lawyers can come crawling out after me. Deep within the ruins of an ancient civilization, a single pony stood against a massive army of demons, each of which were heavily armed, some with multiple arms, some with weapons for their heads, all with an odd skin color. Multiple weapons protruded from the stallion's body, his blood flowing down in rivers as he tried to stand. His normally brown coat was stained a deep red, his mane running full of bloody streaks. He thought carefully about what had led up to this point and why he was in such a deplorable position. The demons surrounding him closed in, their beady black eyes squinting in the low light, their weapons glaring off of the low moonlight, closing in on the bleeding and heavily wounded unicorn. Avery Whooves came home from another horrible and long summer day from work. His grey mane was disheveled with fatigue, his brown coat, glistening with beads of sweat, his 4 point star cutie mark, shining silver in the lamplight. He had to run back to his home because he couldn't afford to ride a pedicab back home. His apartment was quite messy with lots of debris scattered about. He set his saddlebags on the ground, taking a long sigh. He was exhausted from his efforts at his workplace especially his extra hours. He flopped onto his couch, instantly relaxing. He flicked on his TV, and a Daring Do movie popped on. "How I envy her," he thought. "How she goes on brilliant adventures, and earns fame throughout the planet. The only ponies I know who even come close to such fame are the Elements of Harmony." He got up from the couch and walked to the bathroom. Looking at the mirror, he reflected upon himself. He began to think about himself, attempting to understand his very soul. He hit the first wall. "But who am I then?" he asked himself. "I'm simply an average stallion living in this city. This city of thousands, one among thousands. A single brick in a building, used as a tower for the superior to stand upon. In all honesty, I'm no greater than the ants that infest the ground, the worms that writhe in the rain. But, these thoughts of mine, are they like that foal's game? Jenga, was it? Will the single brick be missed, or will the system collapse?" I think I should get some sleep for now, he thought. After all, he was exhausted. He could barely move. He would pursue this philosophy tomorrow. The next day, he awoke from his slumber and left for work. He got his morning coffee, and ate a few donuts as he left for work. As he arrived in his workplace, he saw a butterfly. A butterfly, works for his food everyday, flies cumulative miles upon miles, never complains, and yet he is set so lowly. How odd. Perhaps this philosophy of mine is not so stupid after all. Perhaps I shall continue to pursue it. As he continued, and as night began to fall, he saw a light in the distance, How big it looks, but... isn't that light coming from the Statue? That's a few hundred miles from the shoreline itself. I'm miles from the shoreline. It would be impossible to reach that place from here without a vehicle. He'd drown before he got close even. Speaking of which, doesn't it seem that way? Stars. The peoples of this world, they put their goals up high, in hopes of reaching them. But... What happens when they age? They leave their dreams and goals where they were, and pay them no mind. They live only for their job, shedding the traces of imagination and other things that they once possessed. The dreams are crushed under the brutal weight of the future, and the world slows down. The world is peaceful, but inefficient. Many children have the will to do what they wish, but feel they need to be older to do so. However, their dreams become crushed as soon as they grow old. They stand at the bottom, unimportant, unethical, unwanted. Only those who are destined to do so achieve their dreams. Can one truly fight off their fate? Or is it by will of God. Are we pulled by strings? Are we puppets to God's will, or can we bend our fate like the breeze bends the reeds. He left his desk, walked into his boss's office and asked his boss if he could take a vacation. His reason? He wanted to visit his parents. His boss allowed him to do so, on account of filing the rest of the shipping reports in advance for the next week. In exchange, he would only have a week to visit his parents. This was not the perfect amount of time he wished for, but it would have to do. After all, inspiration is like opportunity. It is fleeting and waits for no one. What you get is what you have. Still, he didn't argue, accepted the chance, and left his boss's office. He began to work at an extreme pace, finishing his reports in the brief hours remaining in his time frame. Sure they might not be perfect then, but at least they were relatively accurate. By the end of his shifts, he had earned his week-long excursion. He ran off to the bank and scraped together some bits. "Now where should I start?" he questioned. Then he had it. His old home in Trottingham would do quite nicely. He ran off to the train station and bought a ticket to Trottingham. His mind was abuzz with new thoughts and realizations. He jumped aboard the train, with his new realizations firmly in mind. I must get back my dreams. I must return to the time when I was still a foal. I'll achieve my dreams, and shoot down the stars, to light the way of my descendants. A step on the stairway to heaven. This time around... No holds barred! I'll do anything in my power to light the way! he thought. > Dreams Reborn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer; I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's Hasbro's brainchild, I'm just playing with it for the time being. However, I am willing to cease and desist if they command it. Now no lawyers can come crawling out after me. When Avery arrived in the train station, he marveled at the place that he lived in as a child, and grown up. New buildings had appeared, and many old ones had disappeared. All in all, it felt nostalgic, but only slightly. He wondered if fate had done that on purpose, in order to try and stop him from rebelling against it. Regardless, even if fate had destroyed all evidence of his dreams, he would seek them out, even if he had to die to do so. Well, maybe not die. After all, his dreams might be the complete opposite what death would. Regardless, he was determined to find something, anything that might help him toward his goal. He exited the train station and headed toward his parent's house. His parents would be quite useful. After all, he lived with them in that brief time of his childhood. However, the new roads and the years he had spent away from Trottingham made it hard for him to find the way back to his house. He had been wandering for a few hours, hopelessly lost, before he finally succumbed to the rising confusion and got a map of the neighborhood from a street vendor. He had both met and heard of a few new characters in Trottingham. It turned out that after he left his home for Manehattan, Trottingham had gotten a new mayor. The new mayor had dictated that many new buildings be built and renovations and expansions to be implemented on existing structures. For example, the stadium was made much bigger and as a result, tourist income had increased, making the new stadium essentially pay for itself. Furthermore, the increased income had also allowed the mayor to expand the business district, advancing the place economically. Many people had moved out of the suburbs and into the city and in the wake of their mass exodus, their empty houses were torn down, and new houses were built in their place. All in all, Trottingham had developed greatly under the eyes of the new mayor. However, it was not one hundred percent a mega-city; it still had a ways to go to achieve that status. As he walked onto the porch of his old home, some nostalgia came up and Avery smiled softly. He turned and knocked on the door, patiently waiting for an answer. When the door opened, Avery was knocked over by the concussive force of a phone book speeding to the head. His father was the one who had thrown the phone book. When his father noticed that it was not a salesman, he quickly helped Avery up, and got him an ice pack for his head. "So then Avery, what brings you back home?" his father asked. He was still quite embarrassed that he had nailed his own son with a phone book, but at the same time, happy that he had come back to visit. "Oh nothing, much, just trying to bend fate to my will and accomplishing my dreams, sort of thing," Avery replied. "Wait, what?" his father asked. He wasn't sure if he had heard him clearly enough. Did he say something about bending fate? "I'm just a bit nostalgic, Dad," Avery replied. His father took upon a look of relief. "Well, if you want, you can sleep in your old room, we've kept it exactly as it was, when you left. Haven't touched a thing. Your mother may have come through and dusted a few things off, but that's about it," his father told him. "I'm not going to be here long, only about a week or so. Thanks," Avery told his dad. Avery and his dad were always on good terms. Once upon a time they had been on bad terms, but after an accident involving a burglar attempting to attack Avery's father and a young Avery coming to his rescue, they had been on good terms. The burglar was stealing their valuables, and was going to kill Avery's father, but Avery heard the commotion and tackled the burglar, his only thought to protect his father. In the time that Avery had caught the robber off guard, Avery's father managed to call in the police. The burglar landed a few slashes on Avery, but the police surgeon managed to fix him up. After the incident, they father and son both recognized that if the other had not existed, they would have died. So in the end, they simply felt indebted to one another. Avery trotted up the stairs and headed to his old room, his icepack still applied to his head. He somewhat dreaded the moment his mother came home. His mother was always quite irritatingly nice to him. A few times, he suspected that his own mother was in love with him. Still, he had a bit of love for her, but not a lot. Upon entering his old room, he searched around for a clue, anything that would so much as a hint of what his dreams were. He remembered his old journal that he used to record his life. When young, he had been diagnosed as clinically depressed, but he had taken his medication and got over it. In the meantime when he was taking medication, he was to right a log of his days, everything that happened to him, what he dreamt that day, etc. Perhaps that could give him a hint. He went over to his desk and flipped threw a few drawers. In the bottom of the 2nd to last drawer, he found it. Elated by his discovery, he whipped it onto his desk and began reading it. He started with entry number one. "Hello, Journal. Apparently I'm supposed to write down what happens to me on each day. I particularly feel it's useless to even use this thing, but my parents told me to do so. Anyway, Today, I went to the psychiatrist and got the results of my personality test. Apparently I scored highly in "Depression," whatever that is. As a result, they have me eating these icky pills and writing in a journal. Today was like any other. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep." This piece of information wasn't very useful, but he had to soldier on. He continued reading until he found a brief hint of his dream. On the 37th entry, it mentioned his dream. "Hello, Journal. Today, I learned about an ancient race of creatures from one of the books I checked out at the library. It was in the adult section, but it's actually really quite cool. Apparently, long ago, a race of beings ruled over the planet, and enslaved the ponies. But the thing is, they couldn't use magic, and weren't actually very strong. Instead, they used technology in order to keep all the other creatures in line. It said that some of their technology was so powerful, one weapon of theirs is said to be able to fry an army of dragons in an instant. It says that they don't know what happened to them, but when I grow up, I want to be an archaeologist and figure out about these so called humans. If I can figure out the secret to their technologies, I may be able to replicate them, and combining that with today's magic, I can make some of the most powerful magical technologies! Hahaha!" So my dream was to become a great inventor after learning about the technology of a long dead race? Well, I guess that's something to work with.Avery Whooves thought. He searched deeply into his childhood and tried to find more on this. His older brother, Doctor Whooves, had left to go to Ponyville to work on clocks and stuff. It had been 20 years ago. Avery's brother was about 11 years older than him. Avery always told his dreams to his older brother, but had been ignored. Doctor never referred to Avery as annoying, but instead kept it internal. They'd known each other for a good 9 or so years before Doctor left home and went to Ponyville. Then Avery realized. Doctor was always revered as a prodigy. He had maintained a 4.0 grade point average with at least 5 advanced classes every year. But, Doctor didn't go all out. No. Instead, Doctor moved to Ponyville to tinker with clocks. Why? Someone as smart as Doc should have been able to at least become a high-ranking scholar somewhere. But what had happened? Time. Time must have worn him down and he let go of his dreams. He flipped through his journal quite quickly. He stopped on a page. There. He himself clearly stated that Doc had once told him that he once had a dream to revolutionize technology. However, that had never occurred. This philosophy of mine is way more important that I thought.Avery thought deeply. If his brother, the genius, the prodigy, the gift of God was crushed by Time, then he knew that the road would not be easily. Perhaps his brother had the strength to walk this road, but not the will. Whatever, it didn't matter to him. He would succeed and prove that Fate does not bind us. He would! His realization of his own fate, stood out firmly amongst his other thoughts. His adrenaline started pouring through himself, he became rather excited at the thought of accomplishing his dream, and being imprinted on history. > Within Oneself > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer; I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's Hasbro's brainchild, I'm just playing with it for the time being. However, I am willing to cease and desist if they command it. Now no lawyers can come crawling out after me. After his mother had returned, she was greeted with a joyous sight, her youngest son had returned home for a short duration of time. There was a minor debate on the fact that he wasn't dating, married, or even in any state of romance. However, she didn't seem to particularly care, and she began making a most excellent dish to celebrate his return. When it was done, they ate heartily and retired to small talk soon afterward. "So, you still haven't met anypony that you want to settle down with?" his mother asked for what seemed to be the millionth time. "No." Avery said grimly. "But with a face like that, you should have mares falling at your feet!" his mother whined. "Actually, I have your face. And the only reason why mares would fall at my face, is by fainting from disgust." Avery retorted, hiding an insult behind a thin veil of words. Unfortunately his mother picked up on it, and said,"That's not a very nice thing to say to your mother!" and slapped him. She slapped him quite hard an a thin trail of blood leaked out of his mouth. "Ow..." Avery said, holding his jaw. His mother was mortified, at the fact that she had drawn blood. Avery held his jaw and retired to his sleeping quarters, and his father looked equally embarrassed and offered an ice pack. Avery lay in his bed, facing upright, and drifted off to sleep. Deep below the earth, a being wrapped in chains and marked with multiple magic seals. It was intrigued by this strange being. A being who had shook its ties with Fate and walked upon Chaos. If it could undo its mortal shackles, could It not do so too? It stirred and the chains rattled, a few bursting out of place. It smiled, and began to bide its strength, as it knew it could now escape. Avery dreamt that night, but it was not one of his normal dreams. It instead was a nightmare. Many many many different apparitions of pure malice filled his dream, attacking him in droves. He fought back, but there were endless hordes of them. He became more overwhelmed by the moment, and was constantly being beaten down every time he attempted to get back up. He bled as he was pummeled, by them, his pain ever growing. I shall not die here.he asserted, and pitifully tried to drag himself away. He awoke with a start, his nightmare, leaving him panting and sweating. Avery relaxed, and tried to slip back into sleep. He couldn't fall back asleep though. The adrenaline from his nightmare yet lingered. Instead, he thought. It's said that dreams reflect something. If so, what was my nightmare?he thought. It could be anything. It could be a hidden feeling of despair, threatening to drag him down, or perhaps an outer thing. Heck, it could be that slap that his mother dealt hours ago. He was confused, and could not sleep, so he got up. He headed for the kitchen, and made himself some breakfast. It was about 3 am, and the sun had not risen. Still, he decided it would be kind of fun, to see how it is outside during the night. He got some cereal out of the cabinet, and poured it into a bowl. He proceeded to devour the snack voraciously. He brushed his teeth, went downstairs and exited the house. Outside, there were few lights, and the area was quite quiet. It was empty, except for the expanse of the night sky. It was quite a beautiful sight. He sat on his porch and stared out into the expanse of navy blue, occasionally dotted by pinpricks of light. And that wasn't the end of it the moon was huge, and shone with a silver light, and rather than repulsing one's vision, the moon brought his gaze back to it over and over again. "I never noticed how beautiful it was in Manehattan. All the city lights and sky scrapers blocked out the night sky. Now that I'm back here in Trottingham... Wow," he said. Far Away in Canterlot, a certain blue alicorn sneezed. "Sister, are you coming down with something?" Celestia asked. "No," Luna replied. "I'm immune to such viruses." Back in Trottingham, Avery sat still, waiting for the night to pass. As time slowly slipped by, Avery got bored and began running laps around the neighborhood. He ran around 10 times in a row, before finally stopping against a sign post. His stamina had increased, but only minorly. Out of breath, he walked back to his parent's house and hopped onto the couch. He had burned at least an hour, but it was still only sunrise. Once again hungry, he slipped into the kitchen, and made a sandwich. He quickly ate said sandwich, and turned on the TV. What he saw he was not ready for. "Breaking News Report from Las Pegasus, I'm here where a massive earthquake has just resulted, not only that, but there appears to be a powerful magic field surrounding the area, forcing almost all civilians to flee. Now I'm here with the head of the geology community, and what would you say is the cause of all this?" the News reporter asked holding her microphone toward his mouth. The head of the geological community snatched the microphone, and began to speak. "What has happened here is completely unprecedented. Apparently, an underground disturbance has resulted in massive earthquake that has spread across the area, and has destroyed multiple roads, opened many sinkholes, and has resulted in multiple fatalte. From what we can tell, the underground disturbance is undetectable. We have yet to locate it. In the meantime, all those in nearby the Las Pegasus area, you should run for higher ground. We have learned this much about the source; It isn't done yet," he said, shaking the camera for extra effect. "It is of great importance that you leave the area, until we can identify the source. Thank you for your time." Hmm. Now isn't that weird. All those fancy magical gizmos of theirs and they can't find the source of an earthquake? That's weird. They should be able to detect anything within at least 30 kilometers below the surface. Unless its past that point. Then we won't be able to find it. he thought. He decided that if he wanted to go and find the ancient civilization, he should find the location of one of the places where the civilization once resided. Flicking on his old computer he tapped out the password and began to search across the world for a spot. He located one in Southern Equestria, located near the Badlands. From the description, it appears to have been a mining district. However, the understanding of the technology in the mining district is yet unknown. It didn't matter to him though. He would figure it out. By his standards, his dream was actually pretty dangerous. Rushing into an abandoned mining district? What if a support post broke and there was a cave-in? What if he accidentally walked into a stream of poisonous gas and died? So many if's were not in his mind. He became metaphysically blind. He subconsciously refused to see his path, and instead walked wherever he wished. He became a mortal of Chaos. As per a god's words, "No one, not even fate can decide what those fools will do." In Ponyville, inside a cottage, a certain draconequus became intrigued by his actions, as he could feel the ripple in the chaos that he had to regulate. He smirked faintly, before returning to his slumber beside a pink and yellow pony. The draconequus thought, No one has taken a path like that, or rather a lack of one in a long long time. Perhaps I should visit this being sometime.