Chapters New world, what will it be, what will it be?
I think I should explain myself. I am a ghost, a special ghost. To be exact, I am a boo. Not the generic boo that you would find somewhere in the forever forest, the boo's mansion, or rarely around the ever shade valley. I am one of the common ones found deep under volcanoes, or especially common in the ghostly galaxy. That's right, I'm a bomb boo.
...yeah I guessed you wouldn't know what that is, we are very rare. Bowser hasn't enslaved many of us, due to the fact that he can barely survive where we live. Of death, I guess. Of course, I let myself get caught by Bowser, as do a lot of us bomb boos. Only he can let us out of our normal homes to go throughout the world. We usually immediately escape his grasp, some of us just dragging him through the gate unconscious and throwing him in the castle, but I am getting besides the point...
A bomb boo is a black boo the same size as a normal boo. We are, as the name suggest, explosive. Only if we want to be, though. Most of us bomb boos actually have our explosives controlled, using them as weapons. Long range ones, to be precise. I am one of the ones able to do this, and many other things with my boo natural powers. I'll explain those later, anyways, I have two glowing golden eyes and the four almost useless golden fangs. Everything else is the same.
Now, I travel between dimensions. How? I don't know, I stole a talisman from Bowser, he didn't care, then I used it. Gave me the power, so I threw it at the koopa's head and left. Thus explains dimensional travel to whoever actually cared.
Anyways, my portal opened in a forest. A dank one, a friendly one, and a homely one. The rain and the fact that it was night time helped, I always liked those things, being a ghost and all. The forest I was in looked like forever forest, even some same features as if you go the wrong way you seem to wind up at your starting point.
I saw a couple of animals around the forest. A lot, actually. I saw a pack of wolves completely made of twigs and leaves. When they turned to me, they regarded me with confusion for a second before smiling and running off. It was strange, because I could not for the death of me tell how it smiled at all. Anyways, there were more creatures, who just acted friendly towards me, even some of the plants radiated some kind of friendly feeling. I really like it here.
The weirdest thing, however, was when a big scorpion lion ran up to me. It looked... playful, domesticated even. It saw me and kept following me around, casually playing with plants as I floated along. I decided to speak my first words out of complete boredom.
"Well, this is eventful." I said sarcastically. I wasn't a talker, mostly because of the fact most beings are afraid of me. All but the ones in this forest, for some strange reason.
"I agree, this is boring as anywhere in the forest on a Tuesday night." Said the lion thing behind me.
"Huh, so you can talk... interesting."
"And you can respond and understand me. Yay!" It said, excitedly.
"Can you not communicate with others? Considering there are others that are sentient on this planet."
"No, I can't. It just comes out as a roar, unless it is with some of the other creatures in the forest. The ones who cannot understand me, well, they run, or fight me. Like all the other manticores. It's no fun not being able to talk with the ponies." He said, sadly. I could understand his plight, not being able to talk to most other creatures from my world. It just came by as a menacingly playful laugh.
"I could help with that, actually. Being a ghost I could posses you and transfer lingual knowledge. It will half to wait until we leave the forest to find whatever civilization is close, though."
"Seriously?!" He squealed in delight, and tried to tackle me and like my face like a dog. Kinda funny coming from something with a scorpion tail. "That would be awesome! I could fit in and help them like I always wanted! But, they don't like my kind, carnivorous and all, maybe you could help protect me? I might need it..."
"You don't seem like you need protecting, but I will if you insist." I said, looking at his pleading whimper. If you haven't guessed, it was a guy, I could tell by the voice, if that rule was even followed here. That, and I kinda could just tell. It was a weird thing, but I didn't complain. "Oh look, there is the edge of the forest!" I happily concluded, and sped off towards to edge. Not that fast, mind you, but I had a companion.
That is something else I want to explain. As a boo, I can float forward very slowly and phase out, phasing in at the very least 10 miles anywhere I want to in at five seconds. If I go more than five, every one second adds two miles. Kinda like teleportation, but in a ghostly way. Yeah, that's how I explain myself. Says a lot about how much I know about my own damn species, huh?
I didn't notice the manticore that usually walked by me for a second, and I turned around. I was greeted with a strange sight. The manticore was trying to talk to a kid horse. Or pony, by the looks of it. I just vanished and watched what was happening.
"Hello, little pony, what are you doing in the forest?" My manticore friend said. The pony just shrieked, and balked away. He sighed, and turned to where he thought I was..
"Hey, um..." He started, then he realized I was vanished, but he thought I was gone. He turned his head left and right in confusion. I moved over to him and phased my arm like stub into his head so he could see me. He turned to me again. "Um, tell me next time that you could do stuff like that. Anyways, let's try the speech think agai-" He got cut off by the pony balked up against a tree.
"SOMEPONY HELP ME!!!!" I heard it yell. I understood it, that was a good thing, but it probably couldn't understand me. I didn't risk it, so I just possessed the manticore.
This feels really weird.
Your telling me, I have never possessed a manticore before.
How does the speech thing even work?
Well, it is simple, I just, uhh, teach the universal translator every ghost has to whoever I need to.
Why do you have a universal translator?
I am dead, the dead like to haunt, we need to know how things react to certain acts of scaring in order to scare them properly.
Huh, weird. Whatever, I am not complaining.
We finished our weird inner thought conversation as I phased back out of him, still vanished. The manticore decided to quickly try it out.
"Little pony, what are you doing in the forest?" The pony blinked, probably confused that it could understand the manticore and responded.
"I got lost in here..." The child... foal? Wait, bow, this must be a girl. So, filly? I guess that is okay. I turned around to see the edge of the forest quite near, and looked at her looking in the same direction, probably seeing nothing. Forever Forest logic...
The looked very scared, especially when the manticore spoke again. "Do you need us- I mean me, to lead you out of the forest?" He offered. The filly nodded its head excitedly and the manticore walked over to the exit, making the filly follow.
It took about 1 minute before we made it out, slowly, and the filly ran off, yelling something along the lines of 'thanks so much' before it ran. I used the knowledge I had to make it so they could understand me, and started slowly floating towards the town, followed by the manticore.
I looked up as I was floating to notice that it was still night time, and, even though I liked night, that doesn't mean the ponies will, to. I stopped the manticore, and floated to the ground to lie down. The manticore followed, and we fell asleep on the ground outside the everfree, peacefully waiting until morning.
I woke up very groggily from my sleep. It seemed like a deep sleep, with how hard it was to just open my eyes, but I didn't have much time to focus on that, as I noticed two very different things about me and my surroundings. Well, three. First off, was that there was a strange power in my body that mixed with my ghost essence to add something to my abilities or poisons. I have no idea. *noted, look into new thingy in my body*. Secondly, my manticore friend was nowhere in sight. That in itself makes me sad, because I was just getting to like him, but my translator ability should help with that. I love knowing where my friends are.
Anyways, thirdly, there are two very analytic dark purple eyes staring at me. Well, more of a surprised panic, now that I am staring into her eyes as well. How did I know it was a her? I could tell with the female hairstyle, if that is alike in every world, which in my knowledge is. Now she actually looks like she had a smug grin on her face, knowing I couldn't escape. I don't know how she knows this, or if she even knows I am a ghost, but I don't really care.
I took this pointless amount of silence to figure out what my power was by using it. Nothing really happened besides some green flames spurting from my hands, which just made the mare in front of me get even more full of herself. I looked into the power and what I know of green flames, and got, from what I learned from the manticore, changelings. Maybe she thinks I'm one of them? Well, from what I learned about changelings, is that green flames is transformation.
...Wait a minute. I can transform?...
...This will be AWESOME! I have always wanted to transform!
So let's see... gotta think of what I want to change into... Strangely the first thing that came to mind was King Boo . Pushing off the idea because impersonating the all mighty king of the boos, one of the most powerful ghosts in existence, wasn't a great idea. The next idea, though, was one that I particularly liked. Bullet Bill .
Now, I always liked the bullet bill. Being able to travel twice the speed of your normal bullet while being able to turn on a dime, AND being able to stop. Yeah, the bullet bill gets things done. I thought of the bullet bill for a second and activated my powers. I saw the green wall of flame form in front of me, indicting that I was about to change, and the purple pony called for help. I still understood her, like I did everybody, but I didn't have time to talk, I needed to get out of there for some reason.
The green flames faded away and the now two ponies in the room stared at me in surprise at my form, and fear at it at the same time. The rainbow maned cyan one was now actually looking smug, while the lavender one with the dark purple mane and strange pink extension was looking at me in fear. I had on my face the casual partially angry looking eyes of the bullet bill, the two fist ending white arm, and my gunmetal... uh, metal. I looked at them, as I was facing up, and I then looked up.
I could feel the heat building up at the exhaust hole, and I could feel the fire burning. Soon, the magic bars holding me broke, but I just floated there, waiting. The Rainbow one made a break for me, trying to hold me back, but before she got to me, I was ready, and I shot out of the ceiling, being followed by the pegasus. I thought at first nobody could fly as fast as a bullet bill, but she was keeping a steady pace as I was flying through the town.
The Chase is on, then.
I noticed I was flying through the town at breakneck speeds, a good ten feet above the actual people. I noticed my friend in the forest, but decided to leave him alone for the time being. I sped off in the opposite direction, towards some mountain, while turning on dimes to avoid the many buildings in my path. The mare behind me was gaining a little, bit by bit, she was getting closer. I had to shake her somehow, I didn't know how I could go faster.
I noticed an alleyway, and I made a quick left for it. I moved up and back down again over the fence to the other side, then made a sideways upward C motion over a building, then straitened myself out as I kept my momentum and transformed into a Shady Koopa , upside-down, and inside my shell. I sped across the rooftops as fast as I could, and while it confused the pegasus for a little bit, she was on my tail again in no time.
I was skidding across the rooftops for a good 10 minutes before I was found again. I didn't lose her like I wanted to, but she wasn't gaining that fast either. What most people don't know, is that the shady koopa can move very very fast in their shells when upside down. It is a defense adaption from living so deep underground with flying creatures. She was gaining on my quickly, so I had to change my strategy a little bit. I changed quickly into a chromeba, and copied my form to ten, then changed back into my bullet bill form and sped off into ten different directions. She took the wrong bullet bill, and I sped off towards the castle.
It took another 20 minutes before I saw the castle. I could hear the frustrations of the rainbow one as she kept hitting the wrong bullet bills, but she eventually found me, the right one, and sped after me. I sped up as much as I could, and I could feel my body straining against the speed as I felt it change color. I kept speeding up as I felt my body change a golden color, feeling more and more pain as it engulfed me.
It eventually took over, and my entire body shined the gold shine of a Bombshell Bill . I made a golden trail behind me, speeding off to the castle. I could tell the massive increase in speed had helped a lot when I had heard from behind me a frustrated groan from behind me and a "I hate losing", so I felt I was safe. As soon as I was close enough to the castle, I tried to slow down, but I couldn't, even when I changed back into my bomb boo form.
I made myself able to float through things as the inertia did it's job and propelled me further into the castle. I went upwards, sideways, down, and turned around a few times before I ended up in a very dark looking room with a very startled looking midnight blue pony with a horn and wings in front of me. I fell to the ground, making myself tangible again, while uttering the first thing that came to my mind.
"Someone get the number on that cab..." I said, as I blacked out from the speed.
I woke up to what I expect is ten minutes later by being kicked in the head with a very hard substance. 'damn that Mario must have metal boots now... They almost feel like...' I pause in my thoughts for second. 'Oh, that's right, equine world.' I shake my head to clear myself of the mental smog and opened my eyes. I was greeted with fear from my mind.
I was staring at two stallions, both white coated pegasus with a blue mane and tail, body clad in golden armor. That and they are holding two spears at me with glares so angry they would have convinced me they had heat vision. Oh superman, you and your heat vision was so awesome. When I wasn't running away from you that is. Wait... OFF TOPIC! Damn it brain.
Anyways, I was also looking at the very alicorn. Alicorn? Meh, I'll figure out their true species name sooner or later, just glad I focused on human mythology when I had the chance in that other world. Right before I was chased by exorcists, priests, and self proclaimed paladins. I swear, the multiverse makes things hate me.
I tried to float up but hit a sturdy barrier, sending a pulse over an invisible barrier in front of me. Confused, I tried to transform into a bullet bill again, (new called 'classic' never dies..) and rocketed up, breaking the barrier. When I was about to go out of control, I changed into a chain chomp to restrain myself, wooden pole and everything, which seemed to kill two birds with one stone as I purposely flailed around the pole, getting a distance.
"So then, now that we have our boundaries set up, mind telling me why you thought trapping a boo was a smart idea? Especially one who can transform into a bullet bill and a chain chomp." I said, smiling the best smile I could on a chain chomp face. Nothing happened.
"What is a 'boo'? Is that what you are now?" The darker alicorn said, almost stepping into my boundaries
"Well, no, I am a chain chomp right now, and I recommend you don't enter the my limit, I might attack you on instinct, and while you may think your strong, a chain chomp will mess you up." I say. "Just look at these teeth, they are made to be able to crush diamonds without trying." The alicorn didn't move, but one of the guards from behind me did, and I didn't notice.
The guard, a unicorn stallion, rushed up to me with a spear that seemed to be made out of iron. I heard the ting of it, and instantly turned around and attacked the guard, ripping off his armor, mane, and parts of his coat as he tried to back away. He was left torn up, and I even headbutted him once, almost paralyzing him out of pain. He left the circle and I kept trying to tear him up for a second or two, before turning away and looking back at the alicorn.
The fear on everyone's faces was painstakingly obvious. They clearly never tried to take on a chain chomp before. "You see? That was on instinct, it took those few seconds after he left this land for me to come to my full senses. Don't let that happen to you." I said, warning and threatening her at the same time. To me, it was just a warning, but to her it was a threat.
Then she made the worst mistake she could have ever made. She attacked me with a beam. Instinct didn't even take over this time, my normally dark gray body turned a good crimson color. The princess didn't flinch in the slightest at this, thinking she could take me down. Boy, was she wrong. I lunged at her, breaking the post behind me. I smashed into her, and she tumbled pack and fell down. She quickly got up, shooting another shot at me but missing, letting me lunge at her again.
I tried to stop at this point but instinct drove me to continue. She flew away, and, knowing I couldn't do anything, tried to fly up. I jumped out of the tower and the rage I had started burning my chains. My metal body changed back into a sphere with a more boo like mouth and my pupils disappeared entirely. My chains burned away and four infinitely re spawning fireballs took their place. I had turned into a fire chomp . I flew up as fast as I could, which was actually pretty fast, into the now night sky. I spit a fireball in a random direction and it almost singed her coat. Seeing her, I chased after her.
The pegasus guards were on my tail as I chased after the alicorn, the spears hitting me but melting off of my thousand degree body. The pegasus guards were uselessly trying to catch me, one even burned it's hoof trying to restrain me. I almost caught up to the alicorn when she fired another beam at me. If it was supposed to calm me, which I could feel it trying to do, the thought of her attacking me in my phased mind just angered me more, and my flames turned a bright blue.
I spit another one at her, almost spitting a full fledged blue fire bar at her. She just barely got out of the way as the fire came back to me, and I spit three more fireballs at her. She dodged all three, just barely, and lost her air balance. As the fire came back to me, I decided I could scare her into that town. I flew up to her even faster, propelled by my fire, and I could tell that the guard had given up when my flames turned blue. I got right in front of her face and let my eyes burn like the sun, scaring her into submission.
She plummeted to the ground before I came back to my senses. She almost hit the ground before I transformed into a red bullet bill and homed in on her. I reached her just in time to catch her. Now, what people don't know is, bullet bills can be really soft or really hard if they want to be. I was soft so she would have a good landing, then I changed back into my Boo form instead of the bomb boo I am used to.
I let her down before multiplying into 41 boos, 40 to keep her in one place. I floated towards her in our boo shield and apologized.
"Look, I just want to say that I am sorry for what just happened. I tried to warn you about the fire of the chomp family, but you still attacked me. Once you did that, it was pure instinct on what happened next. I have a better control on those instincts now, but I still can't control it completely. I am truly sorry about what happened. I hope you can forgive me."
She was silent for a long time, a very long time. She seemed to be thinking it over in her head. "I think I can forgive you if you say you couldn't control it. I have no idea about that species, and I was being arrogant about it." She said in a kinder tone than I had expected. "It was my fault that you had done that, I shouldn't have provoked such a violent species in nature." She finished.
"That is very good to hear. I don't think there are others in th-" I was cut short by a jolting pain in my body. A white wisp floating into my body. More and more happened before the boos around us turned around. They all started their maniacal laughter and staring at the newly gathered ponies around us.
"Is this species, I think you called it a boo earlier..." She started.
"Yes, a boo, this species has power in numbers. It is by chance the strongest undead species out there. They are grouped together, and when there is at the very least 15 in a group, they can combine into a form known as the boolossus. Then it increases in size exponentially." I split into 11 more boos, making the group excluding myself 50. 20 boos looked upwards and 30 looked at the ground. "I think you should calm down the ponies if you can miss..."
"Princess Luna." She ended for me.
"Oh, okay Princess Luna, try to calm down your ponies before they try to attack the boos again." She nodded, and flew up onto a stage.
"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE!" She shouted. The name strung a string in me, but I ignored it. The boos all looked to her with their normal malicious smile. They were surrounding her, and the ponies were on the defensive of being in front of the ghosts behind them. We all looked on with intent.
"WE HAVE COME TO NOTICE THE SWARM OF THIS NEW SPECIES OF GHOST LIKE CREATURES IN YOUR TOWN. WE HAVE ALSO NOTICED THAT YOU ARE ACTING HOSTILE TOWARDS THEM FOR SOME REASON WE CANNOT GRASP!" She shouted among the crowd, ending off looking at the lavender unicorn mare that kidnapped me before. How did she know she did that to me? Must be a mind reading spell or something wouldn't be the first time. "WE WOULD KINDLY ASK YOU TO STOP ACTING HOSTILE TOWARD THESE NEUTRAL CREATURES, AS I CAN SAY WE HAVE WITNESSED WHAT THEY CAN DO!" All the ponies nodded, and the boos were absorbed by me again, leaving only me left.
I faded out of existence for five seconds before appearing onto the stage, fading in. I turned my voice to be understood by the ponies of which I learned from that yellow filly, and spoke. "I am but one boo of many alone, I am the only one here, and I wish to come in peace. Can you accept my peace, and can you accept my apology for what I have already done here." I spoke. The Princess looked at me a bit more kindly for apologizing, while the ponies looked confused.
I transformed into the shady koopa, and some ponies gasped. I then transformed into a bomb boo, and more gasped, while the lavender unicorn looked sad. I felt sad for her to, and I changed into a bullet bill again. The rest of the crowd gasped as well and a rainbow maned pegasus flew up to my in my face. I was still a bullet bill at the time, so I had no response.
"Yeah!? And just why exactly should we forgive you for what you did?" She said in a tomboyish tone. She seemed suspicious for some reason, but I kept my form.
I changed back into a boo to respond, inciting only a strange look from her. "Look, all I did was cause fear because I was trying to escape being unfairly studied on or kidnapped. I don't know here, but kidnapping another sentient species where I come from is a crime punished by execution. I only ran because of the peace faring place this is. Maybe I was wrong." I said. The Princess didn't even blink, and instead nodded.
I was surprised at this, but it must be confirming that this was a very high punished crime. Execution maybe, so I wanted to be sure. "But I will say this, I don't want you to be punished, and I would rather have a peaceful time here, maybe even have a bit of fun in an athletic competition." I said, and looked at her. "Maybe even a race..." I said, and she lost her attitude completely, changing into a happy one.
"You may seem suspicious but if you don't want anypony punished AND you like a good race, you can't be THAT bad!" She said, and flew away. The Princess giggled, while I heard a couple chuckles from the crowd. "OH and if you want to prove yourself, enter the iron pony competition next weak!" She called back.
"Well then..." The Princess started, unsure what to call me.
"Just call me boo, I am the only one, right?" I said, and laughed. Never been one for creativity, but hey, I am partially right.
"Okay then, boo, I guess that is your invitation to stay here. Where would you like to live?"
"That dank forest over there. Reminds me more of home." I said without a blink.
I got surprised looking looks from the crowd, but nobody spoke up. The Princess nodded, and I floated into the forest.
I turned on my tracker and looked for my friend manticore. It took a while, but I found him in a tree hut home. I walked in and I figured out it was owned by a zebra, I could tell with the pictures on the wall. I noticed my manticore friend in the corner, sleeping peacefully, and I floated to my own corner to do the same. I fell asleep soon after laying down, drifting into the nights embrace. While this happened all in one night and the fact I have not been up for that long, it was still exhausting. I fell into the dream world, nestled up in my shadowy corner.
I woke up in the corner of the room that I fell asleep in. It was a bit more shadowy than I remember, but it didn't strike me as odd. I looked around the room, looking for anyone that was in the room with me. I noticed my manticore buddy and a zebra (zebra? Am I seeing that right?) doing what I assume to be cooking some kind of stew. Must be for the manticore, though I do get the weird herb smell... maybe potions? Whatever, I am focusing on something that doesn't concern me in the slightest.
I got up and floated around the hut to get a better look at my surroundings. There were a few tribal masks on one of the walls while their were stairs on the opposite side of it. I didn't want to look up there, as that would be an invasion of privacy. (When the heck did I start actually caring about privacy? Whatever, it's a good thing or something, so I'm not gonna complain.)
I looked to the wall opposite of the door to notice many cabinets filled with either vegetables or potion ingredients. Guess I was right when it came to potions, the second time, but still. Just then, I heard a whisper to look back to the corner I was originally in. I looked around, and around again, but I couldn't spot anything. That's when I noticed that I was still in the shadows. I looked around me, seeing shadows on all side, but still allowing me to see just fine.
I didn't feel very safe. I don't know full well how to describe it. I just feel very, very unsafe. Just in case, I wanted to change into something a bit more powerful than a boo. I scrolled through my memory. Of every minion and creature I have seen. I kept scrolling through the freakishly large database like thing that was the list of creatures before stopping on a certain creature. The gray shy guy .
I transformed into the creature. I felt my entire body cripple away more than usual. The shadows around me receded into my body as if I was absorbing them. This all went oblivious to the two potion brewers in the center of the room, who seemed content on ignoring me, not even giving the slightest glance at me. The transformation left me like a normal shy guy. Mask, clothes and everything. Under those clothes, under the mask, all I could feel was shadows. Myself, the shadows. I was confused at first, but then I realized something.
I am the shadows.
I was able to walk around fine, no difference from when I was a shady koopa. I tested it by walking over to the corner of the room to check out why I was needed there. I noticed the spot I was originally in was completely shrouded in a shadowy mist. Ignored by the other beings in the house, like normal. I walked into the mist, still confused.
I walked for a good five minutes, the first two confusing me, but the last three scaring me a little. I finally reached a door... of some kind. Now, I say of some kind, even though this looks like a normal door, because it has this weird feeling to it. Like if I go through it something bone shivering might happen. I look around the door, trying to get an idea of either how big the room is or if it leads outside.
My search seemed to have been in vain, as all I found out was the shadows lasted forever. I didn't get to see anything but the door. The only peculiar thing was above the door, a circle with an X through it.
I walked through the door, not knowing what to expect. I was hesitant at first, but I jumped up and grabbed the human like doorknob. I turned it with both my stubby hands and pushed it open, still dangling from the doorknob. I jumped down, and pushed the door closed behind me. I looked around to see only one thing. A desk and a chair in front of it. There was a note on the desk to.
I went over to the desk slowly, afraid as something would pop out at me. Halfway there I just said 'screw it' in my head and walked towards the desk, losing all my fears of the dark or the shadows instantly. I am a freaking ghost, I gotta suck it up.
I sat down in the rather comfy leather chair and looked at the paper. It was a strange piece of paper, and just looking at it, it seemed to scream 'READ ME'. That, or there was a piece of paper above it with an arrow pointing at the other paper saying those exact words. I didn't mind, and looked at the paper.
Hello there, creature. I believe I have found a new employee, if you are reading this paper. I am a being known as the Operator, and that circle with an X through it is my symbol. If you are here, that means you heard the whispers and decided to follow them. Good for you, this means that whoever you are, you are worthy to help a demigod at his job.
The paper ended there. I flipped it over a few times before quitting on it. I was about to get up before I looked at the paper one more time, just to be sure, you know?
By the way, you might want to look up.
I was surprised at the new note, so I looked up across the desk.
There, sitting down, was one of the worst nightmares of the human world. Slenderman, If I am correct. He simply stared at me with his blank white face. He tilted his head as if in question, and I did the same. One of the tendrils from his pitch black suit squirmed out of his back and pointed at the paper.
So, will you be my new and first employee?
I looked up at him, and he tilted his head again. I thought about it. Working for an apparent demigod. He certainly looked the part of a demigod, so I nodded before tilting my head. He seemed to get my call as he pointed his tendril back at the page. He looked happier as soon as I nodded, though. His tie bounced up a bit as he looked to have brightened up by my nod. I looked down at the page.
I am very happy, elated even, that you accepted my offer. I am glad you could even answer yes to a question such as this. This job, here, requires you to be able to transform into a pony though, to blend in with society. As a pony, your body will be like that normal, but I expect this creature you are masquerading as to be the one doing the job.
The Job itself, though, is the big turn off. I need you to help me do the job of the world of the dead in this realm. You will see certain auras around ponies, griffins, dragons, and every other sentient on the planet. They will either have a red aura, a black aura, or no aura at all.
What you need to do is.. er.. how do I explain this.
You need to make sure that the ponies with red auras die that day the way they are supposed to die. You will know when that is to come, so make sure it specifically happens. If you get a tingly feeling from the shadows it means that it is time. If you see a pony with a black aura, you need to torment them with a natural shadow invisibility. You need to weaken their psyche so you can drag them into the shadows, killing them.
For their punishment, however, their souls will be sucked here, to the void, for a century for cheating death at their death point. Knowing all of this, do you still accept this job?
I looked up at him, and as always he was tilting his head. He seemed to have a little bead of sweat on his forehead, as if predicting that I would say no. I considered the options, and he pointed down again.
Of course, you would get payed in the currency of this ream as well as having a protected and substantially increased inside of whatever house you decided to take. Though you won't get control of the shadows like that one guy .
I looked up at him again and nodded. Thinking it over while reading the benefits letter led me to believe I was doing work for the gods basically, which I kinda am. That and I would be taken care of financially wise. That was a bonus. He looked giddy for a second and pointed down at the paper once more.
Good then, good then. You may leave now, the door is over there. There are a few ponies that need to be dealt with though, so this will also be your first test.
I looked up and he was gone. I walked back to the door and opened it, only to walk out of the forest as a pony. I was immensely confused by this, but I didn't question it. I walked out of the shadow, just like I had walked into them. I guess it was my new pony form. I noticed that I could change between two forms. A unicorn and a pegasus. That would be helpful, but I guess it is needed for the job. You know, for pegasus ponies.
I looked at my body itself. I was a bit taller than your average pony, but not as tall as princess Luna. I was thin, to. Even though I felt strong, I was thin. I had either a normal sharp ended horn or bat wings, and a normal medium flowing tail and partially shaggy mane. They were both pitch black. My cutie mark was a red circle with a red X inside it, just like the symbol from the door.
Happy with how I looked, I went into town. I decided that if I had to be there for my job, I would have to live there. I would also need a name...
I thought about it for a good long minute, thinking of other names that didn't fit right, until I got the perfect name. Ghostly shadows. Ghostly for being originally a ghost, it will give people a good way to recognize me, and shadows, since I am basically working for a demigod of shadows. That, and, my job. Yeah. No explanations that I will give necessary.
I walked into town when I noticed one thing. There were no black auras, so that meant I didn't have my job to be done. I could also notice one more thing. Everypony was looking at me with a bit of fear in their eyes. I was in my pegasus form...
Introductions are annoying pt1
I did a double take to look at my wings again. I was thinking to much about my job to remember I had bat wings. I also didn't notice that there were no ponies with bat wings. What do you expect, I was a fire chomp so pissed off I had blue flames. What do you mean it wasn't something to get mad at? Do you know how easily the chain chomp races get angry? Coupled with being attacked, I am surprised I didn't immediately turn into a white flamed fire chomp. Anyways, getting off topic...
I was about to make a move when I noticed a particular lavender mare call out from the crowd. "Oh my god, a bat pony! A real BAT PONY!" She yelled, and everyone shook their head and looked on in amazement. I was confused so much at this, I didn't even notice the shadows curling around my hooves, not making any height.
Everypony just stood their, and I did my best to fly away. Apparently, wasn't that hard, since most pegasi couldn't keep up with me. Which is weird, in my opinion. Also, how the heck do I know how to fly? I'ma just chock it up to instinct. Anyways, I was soon caught in a purple aura and dragged against my will to the very tree I had to ram my way out of last time I was here. How did I notice this? There was still a smoldering hole in the ground right next to it. Looking down from the magical glass like thing, I could see the very lab I woke up in.
My sight taking didn't exactly last long as I was thrown inside the library, not caring and just become intangible so I didn't knock anything over. I passed through three tables as I skidded across the ground that I should have fell through, and even snuffed out a few candles and blew a ton of books everywhere. Serves her right, kidnapping me. Twice.
I turned into a normal boo once again and floated a bit above the ground and tables, the messed up books and burnt out candles and became tangible again. She looked at me with a ton of shame in her eyes before breaking down onto the floor, crying. She must have recognized me, I thought, before going down to her to comfort her.
As I got about half way down, she looked at me with complete desperation in her eyes. Coupled with the sadness, it looked like the most effective puppy dog eyes I have every seen. I nodded at her, kinda weird being a ball, and she started stuttering, but still able to be understood.
"I...I am so sorry for what I did. I kidnapped you twice, I can't believe I was so caught up in studying a species to not even consider the particular creature is was studying's feelings. Can you please forgive me? I doubt you will..." I stopped her when I gently brought my arm under her muzzle, slowly having her look me in the eye. I looked at her for a small amount of time before nodding. I decided to talk, as well.
"Yes, I can forgive you, I have gone through worse scholars and scientists than you." I said. She looked at me with a curios face like, 'what do you mean?' I just responded with a, 'you don't want to know' face. She just nodded. "And honestly, I wouldn't mind telling you a bit about the species you saw me transform into. I will be sure to cover any of the species I can remember." I floated towards a sofa and lied down onto one end of it. I was just sitting upright like it looked like I was floating, and looked at her.
She nodded and went over to the sofa, pulling a desk, chair, quill and pen up to the sofa to take notes. She started by introducing herself. "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia." She said in a proud tone. I didn't know who the heck Celestia was, so I made it look like I knew.
I introduced myself as well. "Although I have introduced myself as just boo, my other name, I guess, is ghostly shadows. Relates to my nature and job. And before you ask, I won't share my job." I said bluntly.
She started off her questioning on the basics of each species I knew of. I started off at the goombas and their toad brethren. I had to explain the race thing to her at first, making sure she knew how the two species were related. The I got over to the koopas, the most abundant race. Explaining to her how they differ in race as the magikoopa, hammer brother and his two brothers, boom boom, the paratroopa, and ending off with the spiked koopas, spinies, and the sumo koopa.
I explained how, in electrical prowess, the sumo koopa is actually a koopa who was tested to be combined with an amp, one of the more special creatures of my world. This, through species, combined the amp and the different races of it into koopa society. I had to explain how the amp was a sub species/other race to the chain chomp, the fire chomp, the silver/gold chomp , and a distant relative of the bob-omb. I had to show hew every creature. She originally was exited to hear the concept of an exploding creature that does it naturally, but when she saw I was literally a walking time bomb that can explode an endless amount of times, she subsided.
I told her about how the spinies were related to the lakitu in a more.. powerful way than just same species. This also led to the lakitu and it's ability to control clouds with not even a second thought. She compared this to pegasi, for some reason, I didn't have time to judge.
Once we were done, she asked if she could see my bat pony form. I was cautious about it, but let her see it anyways. She did a ton of un comprehensible readings on my body, because for some reason bat ponies were very rare, when I noticed something. I saw a black aura in the town through the walls. I quickly explained to Twilight about two more species, very fast. The bullet bill, she gasped when she saw it, recollecting how I broke the ground with it, and the shy guys and their resourcefulness. I didn't give her any information about shy guys besides 'you don't want to know anything about these guys' and ignored her protest.
Apparently she had two copies of this because she just had a surprisingly speechless dragon just burn it. The ashes danced, but I didn't really care, I had a job to do. I said my goodbyes and everything, before shooting out of the library, still a bullet bill. I remembered to open and close the door this time, and sped off towards the black aura. It was at a an apple orchard, from what I could see from the air. I had flown up so nobody would see me.
It wasn't long before I reached the orchard and turned into a bat pony again and flew down to the ground. I was at the entrance, but I still couldn't make out the forms. I walked closer, folding up my wings. I noticed two ponies talking on a hill, one of them with the black aura. One of these ponies was an orange pony with a blonde mane tied up in a ponytail. Ah, the puns I could make with that. And the insult. Stupid brain, not the time.
The second pony, however, had a distinct shift about him. His form kept fading a bit in and a bit out under his black shadowy aura. The form that was hazy was a simple light blue coat with a black combed back mane. His tail was completely unkempt and un cared for. I could see only a weird insect thing under the hazy form, looking a bit like a pony with a horn and insect wings. I didn't particularly care about it, besides the fact that I needed to torment it's mind, and I knew exactly how to do just that.
I walked up to them, the orange pony noticing me and acting more happily towards me. "Well howdy their, stranger! The names Applejack, what's yours?" She asked. Ponies seem to be very neighborly to other ponies. The insect pony just now noticed my wings.
I was about to answer when he asked about my wings in a very openly insulting way. He even snorted. I just responded by looking at him with a malicious glare, knowing I had to torment him made it easier if he got onto my bad side. I am a ghost, after all. Applejack just looked at him with a disappointed look before I responded. Again.
"My name is Ghostly Shadows, or just boo. I sure you both remember me from the small speech I gave showing peace, correct?" I asked, and they nodded. "Oh, and the wings," I unfurled my wings. "I am a bat pony, which means I have these awesome looking wings. Nothing to really care about in my opinion, I don't find that special." I said, getting a nod from Applejack as if saying, 'you're alright.' I looked at the other pony with the black aura and asked the groundbreaking question.
"So, what's you're name?" I asked. I didn't know it was a groundbreaking question until I noticed the bead of sweat on his head. It appears he was acting as an infiltrator of some sorts, one that would be easily caught with the giving of a name. He stuttered, but eventually answered clearly.
"My name is... " The earth pony started to answer, then thinking to himself for a split second. "Cold Shoulder." He said, convincingly. I didn't really care for his name, and Applejack didn't seem to mind the weird name.
"Well then, ah think ah'm going to go back to buckin' apples. Seeya Cold shoulder n' Ghostly Shadows!" She said, then galloped the way to the barn in the distance.
I noticed Cold Shoulder start to walk off, but I caught him with my hoof. "I want to talk to you a bit more." I said, then made him face me. As soon as he did, he was shivering. The fact that I did what I did made him scared in a sense, so he should be easy.
"So, Cold Shoulder, have you been in any life threatening situations recently?" I asked. He thought about it for a moment, then responded with a more mean answer.
"Why do you want to know, and what business do you have in the matter?"
"Just doing my job." I answered. All he did was nod after that, realizing he should have been nicer.
"What is this job of yours?"
"Not a job you want a description of. But I want to ask you one more thing. Just turn around." I said, and started up the illusion. He turned around to see whatever was the fifth most terrifying thing he would ever see. See, this job requires complete mental breakdown. You need to scare them and torment them so much you take a cleaver and cut their mentality in half, right at the brain stem. They need to be paranoid about everything. Scared of the dark like it's a death wish, and more importantly, scared of everyday life in general.
Changeling POV:
I turned around to see what this strangely eerie pony wanted me to see, and as I took my first looked at it, I wanted to wrench my guts out. Behind me was the disembodied head of the changeling queen. The very queen I needed to guard, and now feed with gathered love. It was crying to. Wailing. It was stuck to the table, and I noticed it wasn't disembodied, only it's head was showing. Under the curtain covered cart she was shackled by the hooves and wings to the cart itself. There was iron pouring through her porous holes. I couldn't take it anymore, and I screamed. I screamed as loud as I possibly could. I just wanted this torment to end. Seeing this confirmed that I failed my job. It all became shadowy as I turned around.
I couldn't even describe what I was seeing. Surrounded in shadows was a small creature, reaching up to where my neck starts, staring at me from inside a pure white mask. I couldn't see anything by pure shadows inside the mask, and I could swear I saw a smile in it's eyes. It was wearing a gray cloak, a belt, and of course it's mask. Nothing but shadows was visible by its form. I don't know why, but this thing screamed pure terror at me. My mind was going ballistic at this thing. The creature itself was silent. Staring into my soul with every second. My mind trying to push it out. Doing anything to get away, but I was locked in fear. The shadows all dissipated from around him, even from inside him. His cloak was blown away, as was his mask. Al the shadows were gone, and I turned around to find nothing there, not a trace of the cart.
I turned back to where I thought the little shadow being was, and all that was there was Ghostly Shadows. I was scared, I was crying inside, but I was just looking pure shock and terror in my own eyes. I looked at him, not sure of what to think. I saw some of the shadows still breezing off of his own actual form, slowly disappearing into the sky of Celestia's day. He looked at me with a grin. A malicious grin like before, the same one, and he asked me a question.
"Why are you afraid of the dark, Cold Shoulder?"