Just another Pony.

Just another Pony chapter 24- Testing out the merchandise

I woke up rather forcefully from the bed. The last thing I remember is ordering from that black smith, so I will have to go pick my weapons up. I'll have to stop by Ponyville to get some of my bits first, though. That shouldn't be as much of a problem as time consuming.

Celestia walked into my room, quickly guessing that I didn't have a good night's sleep.

“I presume that you did not sleep well?”

“Correct. How did you know?”

“It's easy to see. Especially considering all that you've been through in such a short time. My student is very easily found by adventure.”

“Celestia?”

“Yes?”

“I have a question.”

“Ask it and I will answer within my power.”

“All right. I haven't heard from either of my other personalities ever since I woke up from that fall.”

“It may be just a side effect.”

“I'm not sure, is there anyway that you can go inside my mind and check them?”

“As a matter of fact, I believe I can.” She said while putting a hoof to her chin in thought.

“Come with me, Tybalt.” She instructed.

I followed her into her royal study. That place is huge!

She levitated a book out from the bookshelf and set it on the pedestal.

“Come over here please.” She instructed me.

I moved to the point that she indicated. She lowered her horn onto my head, and both of us started glowing. I felt her magic move through my mind... and I found myself in a hallway that had many labeled doors.

“Here we are.” She said.

“Where are we, exactly?”

“Oh, just your mind?”

“This is what my mind looks like?”

“Hopefully not; this is just your representation of your mind.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. As you might have guessed, these doors are all labeled. The labels show what memory is inside.”

Weird. I remember going here when I changed Rarity's rock encounter. Or, at least a place similar to here.

She started walking to the doors and reading the labels. She stopped at one particular one and beckoned me over.

“Is this door the door that contains your previous life?” She said, pointing at a door that said 'Earth'.

“Yes, why?”

“May I open it?”

“...”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing. If you want to open it, then I can't stop you. Just a warning; it is very bloody and you will see a lot of death.”

With that statement she hesitated before carefully opening the door. I was expecting what came through. My entire life on Earth flashed before my eyes, and it did so to Celestia too.

Within another full minute, we both appeared back into the hallway. Celestia seemed a tad bit disturbed from the encounter.

“That was... very interesting.”

“We should go.”

“Go? But we haven't checked to see if the other two are here!”

“Can we please just go; I'll just find them later.”

“Alright.” She said.

Her horn glowed, expelling us from my mind and setting us back into the study. When we both looked we saw Princess Luna watching us.”

“Sister? Is thou busy?”

“Not at all. I just finished.”

“Dare we ask what thou was doing?”

“Just helping my friend here.”

“Ah yes, thou is well known to us. Tybalt, I believe thou's name is.”

“You are correct.”

“Both Tia and Twilight has told us much about thou. We hope that we can meet thou more in depth later. Tia, we hath just received an urgent message from Twilight. We need Thou to come with us.” She left, beckoning for Celestia to follow her.

Before she left, I told Celestia of my plan, “Celestia?”

“Yes Tybalt?”

“I will need to go back to Ponyville to get some of my bits, because I ordered some weapons here.”

“How much were they?”

“120 bits, wh-”

I was cut off by a bag appearing in my face.

“Celestia?”

“This is from your account in Ponyville. 120 bits.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“Anytime. Please take care.”

“I will. You take care too.”

Celestia went with Luna, and I started my walk to the blacksmith again.

****

“Spike?” Twilight called out.

“Yes?” Spike appeared over the edge of his bed, yawning loudly.

“Have you seen Ty?”

“Not since you two left, why?”

“No reason. It's just that he didn't come back to Ponyville with me and now it's morning! I'm starting to wonder where he is now.”

“Don't worry Twi, he can handle himself.”

“I know that! I'm just starting to get worried is all. He hasn't come back from Canterlot, so he might be doing something to the Princess. I just hope that he will be able to come home soon, it's a bit dull in Ponyville sometimes.”

“Boy, don't I know that.” Spike rolled his eyes.

“This may be serious Spike!”

“Come on! This is Tybalt and the Princess you're talking about! If those two team up, not even Discord can beat them! You're just being overly paranoid.”

“I hope so Spike.”

“Like I said, you don't need to worry! He'll probably be back today, if not, just send a letter to the princess.”

“You're right Spike. Thanks.” Even with Spike's reassurances, Twilight was still unable to find solace in the fact that Tybalt is protected by the finest guards available. She was right to worry. What she didn't know though, was that an extra terrestrial power was hunting him...

****

The gate keeper was walking through his hall of memories. He remembered all of the details without even having to enter each door. He looked over his shoulder, making sure that he was still being followed by the entity that was called 'Thunder Runner'.

“Thunder Runner?”

“Yes, Gate keeper?”

“You know of your position, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You are the sworn protector of the light.”

“Yes, I know.”

“And your opposite, the one that you call 'Thunder Bolt' is the advocate of evil.”

“Yes, I know all of this. Why tell me again?”

“Because you must know something about Thunder Bolt and Tybalt.”

“What is it?”

“Tybalt believes that the creation of Thunder Bolt was purely an accident. Thunder Bolt knows that this is not the case. He just used the circumstance of his friend Fluttershy and her 'stare' to infect Tybalt.”

“Infect?” She was getting worried.

“Yes. If left unchecked, he will mentally destroy Tybalt, sending him into a rage, likely killing his loved ones. If this happens, all that Tybalt knows of himself will be gone, so we will have no chance to bring him back. You must prevent this from happening.”

“Why me?”

“You are the complete opposite of Thunder Bolt. That means that only you can balance him out. Beware, though, as you may too come under his power. I'm sorry to put you through this, but Tybalt will make or break the gates. You have the power to control it. Either let him be infected by your twin's evil, or work with Tybalt to keep the light shining in his eyes, as it should in all creatures.”

“I understand.”

“No, you don't. I am sorry, but not even you may understand your situation. Come; I want to reveal to you the secret of the anthropomorphic bipeds that created the machines with the power to break gates.”

This was more than Thunder Runner ever bargained for. When she woke up in that bed, she had no say in it, no opinion. Now, the fate of all of the universes rested in her hands.

The Gate Keeper showed her to a door that was named 'The Lionbanes'. The door itself was boarded up with magic, as if no one should ever enter it again.

“This door is protected by magic that only the Gate Keeper and his superiors can break. I warn you though, this door should not be treated lightly. If in the wrong hands, the enemy could use this door to gain the technology, to gain the machines, to gain the power to control the gates.”

The Gate Keeper touched his staff to the door, and through what looked like extreme effort, the door opened. It revealed a vast and beautiful universe, filled with gassy moons and solid planets. The Star of the universe was visible, and it possibly acted as a sun. It was beautiful as far as space can go. The planet that seemed to be in the center was a brilliant dark blue, as multiple moons orbited it. It was wonderful.

“This universe is called Gamma Orion IV. Off limits to all but the Lionbanes when it existed. The planet before you is the nicknamed 'Blue Planet' as you can probably see. The blue is just the clouds, underneath those clouds though, lie an industrial complex.”

The Gate Keeper stood aside to let the Pegasus entry. When she stepped inside, the vision was whipped to beneath the planet's surface. What she saw astonished her.

There were factories everywhere. There were blue clouds from outside, but inside they were all of a sickly grey. There were massive assembly lines, transporting machine parts to one massive factory. Those machines must be the ones who will soon destroy gates.

The Gate keeper had appeared beside Thunder Runner.

“See? Factories everywhere. This planet is far beyond polluted. If these were humans, they would have died from the pollution long ago. These beings are extremely resistant to most toxins, including the ones that they make themselves. See those assembly lines? That is where they are constructing the ships and robots to take the universe over.”

Suddenly, a furred biped emerged from a factory. Instead of a nose it had a long trunk similar to an elephant. Instead of eyes, there were the collection of eyes similar to a fly's. Instead of legs, they have hooves similar to a pony's. Even the body itself was a sickly green.

“Not a very pretty race.” The Gate Keeper added.

“How did they get like this?”

“Corruption. Believe it or not, this race used to be the perfect embodiment of good. The pollution here hasn't killed them, but they have mutated far beyond original recognition. Before, they had next to no pollution, vast white sky scrapers, Massive civilizations, and most importantly, a working government.”

The Gate Keeper seemed saddened by the turn this race took. He waved his staff and looked away.

“I have watched the memories of this race. It deeply saddens me to see them like this. Even more so to find out that their own creations destroyed them. Evil creatures, they were called.....” The Gate keeper recalled. “Ahh! They were called reapers, yes.”

“Reapers?”

“Yes. The Lionbanes did not give them those names though. That is just what we have came to know them as. The reapers of light. The embodiment of death.”

“May I ask, what defeated these things?”

“There is no clear answer to that. Some say it was a hero, sent down by a power above. Some say that evil turned upon itself. Some say that they were never actually defeated, they're just waiting to come back alive one day. I am the only person who actually knows.”

“What was it then?”

“A hero. One that not even the power above has seen. Unmatched, and he came out of nowhere.”

“What was it called?”

“He was called Tybalthor.”

“So you mean..."

“Yes. Your Tybalt is the spirit and soul of this hero. He does not know it though, and Thunder Bolt seeks to take advantage of that.”

“This...”

“Is much worse than we know. Even that I know. There is still much for Tybalt to learn, still much for him to do. His comforting life as he knows now is about to crumble. He will need all of his strength to pass these tests ahead of him. He will also need all of his friends, from his partner Twilight to her mentor Celestia. I will personally have a word with Celestia concerning his duties.”

****

I found myself at the blacksmith (not without some directions again) and found my newly crafted weapons done. I handed him the bag.

“120 bits. Count them if you will.”

“No need. I know that they are all here. Come with me; I need to fit these to you.”

The blacksmith led me to a room. He levitated my purchase towards my hooves, connecting them with a blinding red light. It felt like all of my nerves in my hooves were being rearranged, making way for the new item.

A few minutes later, the blacksmith stepped back to admire his work.

“There. Those are permanently bonded to you, so don't try and go taking them off.”

I looked down. I saw wto pieces of metal on my hooves, each one resembling the ones on Princess Luna's hooves.

“Go ahead. Think that you want your spikes.”

I did, and sure enough, two 7” blades came out of the hooves. This could be dangerous to me too.

“Do they really need to be this big?”

The blacksmith was gaping.

“What did you do?”

“I don't know! What DID I do?”

“When most ponies get those, they're only a couple inches! Yours are swords!”

“Well, I don't know why!”

“Interesting.”

“Well, I'm off. I hope to see you again Sturm Brightblade.”

“Anytime. I hope to see you again too.”

I walked back to the castle, eagerly waiting until I get back to Ponyville.

****

Author's note: Sorry it took so long with this chapter! I got addicted to Tribes: Ascend and am working on three other fics that I haven't posted. Cheers!