A Twist of Fate
A Game of Innocence
Chapter 1: A Twist of Fate.
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It was done. Canterlot had fallen, and she stood, at the end of the throne room, basking in her self-proclaimed glory.
Chrysalis smirked to herself, and gazed out over the inhabitants of the city, where her army of changelings were rounding up the last of the rebellious stragglers, who continued to fight on, not realising that defeat was inevitable: they were hopelessly outmatched, and outnumbered. The changelings had been preparing for this moment for years, and it showed; not even the elite of the royal guard had the power to hit them, let alone stop them. In short, it was a joke.
There were however, two small concerns to Chrysalis, the first being that there was no sign of Luna. While normally this would be a disaster, Chrysalis rationalised that because she could overcome Celestia - the goddess of the sun herself – she could deal with this… ‘inconvenience’ if and when it became a problem. After all, Shining Armour was still supplying her with a steady supply of love; in a one-on-one she’d be unstoppable! She sighed and turned to face the occupants of the throne room, who had been silently watching her for some time now.
First there was Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence, as she preferred to be known as. She was alternating glares at herself, and worried, longing glances at her fiancé, Shining Armour, who stood, zombified at the side of the throne. The side of her throne. Cadence was a threat; a minor Alicorn could still out-power over half of her army alone. Chrysalis however, was not worried, because as long as Shining was wrapped around her hoof, Cadence wouldn’t do a thing.
Along the edges of the room, being held in check by her personal guards, who were the elite of the entire army, were all of the palace staff and all of the wedding guests who had been within 100 metres, of the throne room. Chrysalis had not wanted to take any chances, as it would have been possible for any one of them to go and retrieve Luna. While she didn’t fear the younger celestial Alicorn, she had no desire to tempt fate, instead preferring to find Luna in her own time, once the invasion had run its full course. In addition, Chrysalis could smell the fear radiating off of them; something she found sadistically delightful, and served as a ‘moral boost’ of sorts to her and her children.
She turned from the despairing prisoners and turned her gaze upwards, towards the ceiling. There, suspended in a green cocoon of her own creation, lay the defeated Goddess, Princess Celestia. While Chrysalis had no reason to hate the imprisoned ruler, she couldn’t help but sneer at her when their eyes met. Chrysalis knew that Celestia hated this, hated being helpless, and unable to save her ‘precious ponies’, whereas she was enjoying every minute: Chrysalis loved the feeling of power, she loved this feeling of conquering, and furthermore, she loved the fact there was nothing to be done about it!
Well… almost nothing.
She was admittedly anxious about the location of the Elements of Harmony, as they had rushed out of the throne room before having a chance to capture them. They were her second, and most predominant worry, as if they managed to get to the elements, well, there was no telling what could happen; they banished Nightmare Moon, turned Discord to stone, and drove Sombra, the ex-king of the Crystal Empire insane, and banished him into the shadows eternally. To think that she, after all of this planning, could still fail was sickening to her. I mean, the amount of preparations to pull this off had been an economic nightmare for her nation, and don’t even mention her ‘parliament’…
Chrysalis was drawn out of her inner-monologue as the throne room doors were thrown wide open, and in marched six very familiar mares… Surrounded and restrained by changelings.
Chrysalis’ mouth quickly widened into a full on grin, and threw back her head in a bout of maniacal laughter. To say she was happy would be an understatement; she was ecstatic.
“Ah, how wonderful to see you all,” she began, “I’m so very grateful that you could make it…”
Rainbow Dash was the one to speak up, “Yeah? Well we’ll see who’s laughing at the end of this, put ‘em up…” Dash then thought it would be wise to attempt to charge the Queen. She was wrong, as she was intercepted immediately by three changelings, and unceremoniously dragged to the ground.
Chrysalis’ grin grew even larger, “Oh? Is that so? Well, please do tell us all what you intend to do.” She then turned her attention to the remaining five, who had wisely not moved, nor done anything, other than send glares at Chrysalis.
“Guards, release her. She serves no threat, and it will be shown that I, new Queen of Changelings and ponies alike, am merciful, and forgiving,”
The guards stood down, and Rainbow was released, who flew upwards as soon as they let go, and appeared to hover for a few seconds, deep in thought and weighing up her options. Sending yet another glare at Chrysalis, she turned and flew back to her friends, who welcomed her back with a hug and hushed whispers.
The Queen however, was not interested in this, and turned towards the balcony, humming a tune to herself, proud, and smug in the knowledge that she could not be stopped now; not with both Celestia and the Elements hostage.
It was because of this, that she barely noticed a rising surge in magical power from within the throne room, centralising dead centre. Also, she alone, seemed to fail to notice the maelstrom of chaos crack through the seams of reality. However, she did notice the gradual increase of volume of an originally faint cry. A cry which went something along the lines of:
“-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr”
The pause after which, was tense. She turned; ready to give a verbal beat-down to whoever had the nerve to interrupt her daydream. She was however, stunned into silence when she saw the chaotic rip in reality gradually ebb into a pure white sphere. Whiter than Celestia herself.
“What trickery is this?!” She demanded to the room, now understandably very nervous.
Suddenly, a small shape was launched out of the sphere, a shape barely lager than the size of a colt, but hit with such momentum, it nearly send her off the balcony. A voice rippled through the now silent room:
“What the fuck just happened?”
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I hate Mondays. Always have. There’s just something about the way they consistently mock me, and cause me to waken at a time which should be criminal. But, of course, there’ the re-adjusting to work times which come after a weeks earned vacation, which always seem to hit the hardest.
So there I was, all snug in my little safe-haven when all of a sudden my traitorous body decides it’s time to wake up. Groaning, I turned my head, still in a state of half sleep, and glanced at the bedside clock: 6:04.
I was tempted to just dismiss it, just turn my back to it, and give myself another 5 or so minutes, which would then evolve into 10, and 15, and so on. But, it was my first day back to the office, and I really didn’t want to get fired. I mean really didn’t. So, sighing internally, I arose from the land of sleep, and went about my morning routines in a blissfully unaware state.
It didn’t last forever, and I regained my senses, as I was opening the door to my car, parked just outside of the family house. Having a familiar sense lingering in the back of my mind, I quickly checked that I had retained everything I had needed for the day: Keys – check
Lunch – check
Money – check
Phone – check
Pistol - … Nope
I debated leaving it, but the old saying ‘rather have it, and not need it, than need it, and not have it’ resonated within my mind. So, delaying for a few more minutes, I scavenged around the house for a few minutes, careful to avoid waking my parents, and kid sister. I ended up finding it, next to the toilet.
I was confused to say the least. But, to my own credit, I just dismissed it and went back to my pride and joy; my car. Picture the most amazing car you can possibly imagine, multiply it by 17 and machine guns and lasers to it. Then compare it to a 10 year-old mini, which constantly breaks down, and there you have it, my car.
Humming an energetic tune to myself, I opened the door, and clambered into the run-down mini. After a few stalls, and significantly more curses, I Set off for work.
I myself was an average 26 year-old; just taller than 6ft, dirty blonde hair, and virtually no muscles. I had one kid sister at the age of 9, and still lived with my parents, in order to have most thing provide for me (Hey, what can I say? I’m lazy). I worked as an accountant, in an office firm about 2 miles away from the house. I was a perfectionist; always striving for top marks in everything I do, and as a result, ended up leaving school with Numerous A-Levels, several more GCSE’s and after university, a degree in Astrophysics and a masters Maths degree. I was using the accountants firm as a stepping stone as sorts, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life there, but for now, it would do.
Now don’t start thinking that I’m a hard worker, I’m lazy, and I will always take the shortcut. That’s not to say that I don’t do the work given to me, but I do the minimal, while ensuring it is to a high degree. Confusing? To some, probably, but all you need to know it that I’m lazy, but will do what I’m supposed to do.
The firm itself was a rather small, humble building. It looked like a small apartment complex, but inside were a few different rooms, with numerous people at numerous desks. It held a relaxed atmosphere, and I must say I currently considered it a second home.
I walked up to my desk, and sat down, turning on the computer. I sighed as I looked through the work left for today. It was going to take a good 6 hours to do everything.
A voice from my left interrupted me, just before I had started as well.
“Hey, it’s good to see you back. How was the week off?”
I smiled slightly, and turned my chair, coming face to face with one of my long-time friends: James. He was the kind of person you couldn’t hate: laid-back, a laugh, and not a complete prick. I opened my mouth to respond, but before I even had the chance, another voice, to the right of my desk cut me off.
“I don’t even need to ask. I know he’s going to say pure hell, I mean who would love looking after their pre-teen sister for a full week? Not to mention that fleeting obsession she has with ponies… No, wait, what am I saying? He’ll have loved it. I’ll bet they went around frolicking in the grass together, and watched marathons of ‘My Little Pony’. Am I right? Or are you gay?”
I cringed inwardly. It is way too early for this. I turned again, and my eyes met the eyes of the grinning Connor, another ‘friend’ I’d known for years before the firm. He was a prick at the best of times, and one of those people who would mock you until the end of eternity if you gave them something to do so with.
“It wasn’t actually that bad,” I began, talking to the both of them, “She was quite for the majority of the stay, and all I had to do was make her food, and watch TV with her when she wanted me to. Although, as much as I hate to say this, you are half right Connor; she did make me watch every single episode, of all 3 seasons, of My Little Pony… Three times.”
At this Connor burst into laughter, and I cocked a brow, un-amused.
“Yes, well. Aside from that I enjoyed myself. And actually, the show itself wasn’t that bad, well, it could have been worse…”
Connor looked over at me, a half disgusted, half amused look on his face.
“ ‘Not bad’? Hah, don’t tell me you’ve become one of those faggot bronies?” He suddenly adopted a typical nerd-type tone of voice, “Hey, I love My Little Pony too! Want to go and watch all the episodes with me? You can join me and my 5 year old cousin, she’s really awesome!” And once again he erupted into fits of laughter.
I ignored the immature little shit, and turned to James, who had been quiet throughout the interaction with the clown. “Yeah, anyways did anything happen while I was away?”
He shook his head, and answered, “No, not really, Ben hasn’t been in for the past few days, I assume he’s ill, and Jack has took his own holidays, which started Friday, as for anything else office related, not really. But Connor did find a baseball bat, somewhere…”
Normally I would have taken this for every-day banter, but the way he said the last sentence made me think otherwise. Having been around these guys since secondary school, and realising that I could no longer hear Connor giggling, I butt two and two together.
I figured that, knowing Connor, and knowing James for his subtle hints, that Connor was stood behind me, with a baseball bat, preparing to hit me. Why? I have no idea. But it wouldn’t be the first time. So I did the only rational thing that sprung to mind: I braced for impact, and shut my eyes, as I knew that if I dodged, he would only be tempted to swing again and again. Besides, I had work to do, work which couldn’t be done until this had been taken care of.
However, something was off. Instead of feeling pain, or being unconscious, I felt like I was falling. In addition, I felt… tingly. Not a pleasant tingly either, but something which I would compare to the ‘pins-and-needles’ effect when you lie on it too long, in other words, something evil.
I opened my eyes, and was met with a surging cloud of... of…
I had no idea what it was, it looked like a spinning vortex of pure chaos, but because chaos isn’t a physical thing, I dismissed the idea, black lighting was sparking around me, and I appeared to be falling into the centre of it.
At this point, my brain found the ‘on’ button, and I regained conscious thought:
At those last thoughts, panic gripped my being, and I clenched my eyes. Using whatever strength I had left, I began to shout to the demons which inhabited this chaotic realm. I hoped at least one of them would hear me, hear my last curse, and hopefully carry it out after I had ceased to be:
“CONNOR YOU LITTLE FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR”
And then I saw it. No, not saw, for I had my eyes shut. I felt it: a small, but noticeable, bright white dot at the foot of the maelstrom - the epicentre - somehow, still viewable even through my shut eyes. Still shouting, I willed myself towards it, and to my surprise, felt my velocity increase. At the same time however, I felt the tingles all over my body intensify. It wasn’t painful, but it also wasn’t pleasant. I swear I felt parts of my body I hadn’t even known existed.
Still screaming my ‘battle cry’, I charged at full speed towards the ever growing dot. I hit it, at a speed nearing supersonic, before an explosion of white enveloped me, and a feeling of weightlessness accompanied it. I now felt numb, something which after the previous experience, was a blessing, and I was given a few moments to get my bearings. My body felt wrong however.
No, it felt different. It felt natural, and I could still move my four limbs, however, there was also a feeling of… power, a feeling I couldn’t quite describe. I felt stronger, but also, more fragile, if that were possible.
This feeling wasn’t to last however, as I felt myself jolt forwards once more, as the world around me quickly, blended into a large room. I barely had time to register the colourful inhabitants, and what appeared to be a very large black bug, which I ungracefully barged into. To its credit though, it only stumbled forwards a few paces, whereas I was stopped in my tracks, now bearing an uncomfortable headache.
In the ‘shocked silence’ I had unwittingly created, while shutting my eyes and trying to ignore the throbbing in my skull, I unknowingly asked the question held by every single living being in that room:
“What the fuck just happened?”
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My voice, it was different; younger. It was how I had sounded as a teen, just before my voice broke. I blinked, confused, and as light entered my eyes, my brain was overloaded with images vivid with colour.
For example, standing directly in front of me - giving me a glare which could melt ice - was Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings. I had recognised her immediately, and was stunned to say the least.
It didn’t last however, and, I laughed; a good, true, honest laugh which broke the silence which had become almost painfully thick.
“Well, this is unexpected. Nice going brain: a dream featuring ponies. How original.” I laughed again, and turned my attention to the Queen, who seemed to stand at about three times my size. It was unusual, Alicorns (and others of their size) were twice the size of ponies, and therefore should be roughly the size of an average human.
So why the hell is she so big?
I was brought out of my thoughts however, as the Queen seemed to regain awareness, and regarded me with something similar to a smirk, “A colt? Truly I had overestimated you Celestia. This was your backup plan? Hah, unicorn magic you know is inferior to my own; I did defeat you, an Alicorn, after all. Furthermore he is just a child! Not even of age,” She then turned to me, and began pumping magic into her malformed horn, turning it a sickly green, “No matter, his death shall be swift.”
A colt? Unicorn? What the fuck is she… Oh. Well brain, this dream got slightly less original. I’m a pony am I? And a child at that? Well, she’s going to get her ass kicked regardless. I’m a unicorn: I has de Magicks.
The beam of magic shot at me before I even had a chance to react. I would have died there, had I not been encased in a purple sphere, and brought to where the elements were being held.
My saviour, Twilight, turned to Chrysalis, “No! He’s just a child. You would gain nothing from killing him.”
I looked over to her, who seemed rather frantic, and smiled. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll handle this.”
Her eyes widened, and she snapped back at me; “No you shall not mister. Let the big mares do the talking. You’ll get yourself killed. It’s children like you who…”
Ignoring her, midsentence, I turned to Chrysalis and willed myself to the space in front of her. To my delight, and her surprise, I did so instantly. Not wasting any time, I launched myself off the ground, using all four hooves for leverage and uppercut-ed her directly in the chin. She was sent flying backwards, and slammed painfully into a support column where she then crumpled down to the bottom, injured.
I however, hadn’t noticed this; as I was too busy being surprised at how I was floating. I did however, hear gasps around me, and I turned, only to see a light caramel wing flapping in a rhythmic way.
Wait, I’m an Alicorn? Well brain, it’s once again becoming original…
…
But, if I’m on level with a God in terms of power...
Chrysalis’ voice shrieked out over the sounds of mutterings and whisperings my actions had caused, “Why are you all just standing around? KILL HIM!”
The changelings in the room, who since my arrival had been in what seemed to be a daze, now all enclosed on my position. I set myself down on the ground, and thought about how I was going to deal with them.
Well, I know fuck-all about magic, but willing it to happen worked last time, so that’s one thing out the way. But how can I do this? My mind reeled back to games I had played which involved magic. Ok, Skyrim, don’t fail me now!
I imagined energy condensing above my horn, and willed a black hole-like object into existence. The guards around me, seeing this, hesitated for a second, and during this time, I magically threw the orb to the ground.
The effect was immediate. The orb expanded into something resembling a doorway, and through it, stepped a Flame Atronach. The changelings, at this point, stopped dead. I summoned another two; Storm and Frost.
“Subdue the changelings. The large one is mine,” I spoke calmly, but with power, and the elemental trio obeyed: they leapt into battle, and hammered the changelings with apparent ease.
“Cadence,” I shouted at the young Alicorn, who had been watching with a horrified silence, “You need to get Shining to snap out of it, I can’t hold it forever.”
She looked over at me, slightly fearful, and hesitated.
“NOW” I shouted at her, which seemed to do the trick.
Cadence didn’t hesitate again. She ran over to Shining, who still stood, zombified, but was intercepted by Chrysalis.
“No. I will NOT allow you to stop me. You, Mi Amore, will fall NOW!”
Before Cadence cold stop herself, Chrysalis had fired a beam of pure energy at Cadence. It would have severely injured her, as Alicorns are immortal, but that was her biggest mistake. Energy can be moulded, and so mould it I did, and I changed it into a beam of revitalising power, which struck Cadence head on. In an instant, she charged past Chrysalis, and stopped in front of Shining.
Chrysalis had turned around in order to stop her, but was tackled from behind by myself. I currently wielded a large scythe, infused with (what I hoped were) strengthening runes, reminiscent of Deaths Scythe from Darksiders.
“Still just a child?” I mocked.
Chrysalis, turned to me, and without responding, charged at me. Her head was down, horn yet again swirling with powerful energies, and so I did the same, readying a shield, which stemmed from my horn.
Her bolt fired before we clashed, and my shield did its job; I was unharmed from the blast. However, I had not compensated for the concussive force behind it, and as such, was sent flying backwards, at a very high force, and smashed into a column. Horn first.
You weren’t supposed to feel pain in dreams, but in this one, the pain was akin to agony. My horn felt shattered, and even though I put all my will and conscious thought into expelling the pain, nothing happened. And so, the inevitable happened; I blacked out.
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Chrysalis stood, tired as she watched the Alicorn fall unconscious. She wasn’t satisfied however, as she wanted his pain, his blood, his death.
“Guards, kill him,” she ordered. When no compliance was given, she turned, only to find the battered and broken bodies of all of the changelings of the room. Some had been burned, other frozen, and some writhed in agony as electricity sparked from their bodies. However, as horrified as she was at this, that wasn’t what commanded her attention: The ponies had backed themselves to the sides of the walls, and Shining Armour, and Princess Cadence, were at the end of the room, floating, and wielding magic of unimaginable scale. Chrysalis barely had time to widen her eyes, as a pink bubble erupted from the two, repelling her, and her changelings outside of the city. The power was so great; it sent them flying over the known lands, and into the bad-lands of the south. All Chrysalis had time to do was shout, and despair over their lost chances. She had been defeated.
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Back in the throne room however, problems were only just beginning, as although they had - in the end - been victorious, Celestia, Cadence, Shining and the Elements now crowded around an unconscious colt.
An Alicorn colt.
Some wanted him banished for his actions, claiming he was too dangerous. Some wanted him rewarded, for his heroic actions saved the day. Some thought he should be imprisoned. One thought he needed a party.
After a lengthy discussion, numerous arguments, and a tea break, a verdict was reached:
He would be treated in hospital for his wounds, as his horn was cracked very badly, and it seemed unlikely he would use magic for a long time. After which, he would be interrogated, and a final judgment would be delivered.
All there was to do now, was wait for his awakening…