The Dimension Travelers X: The Pony Gambit

Dimension Travelers X: The Pony Gambit

Things start to get interesting in this chapter.

Applejack's POV

"Boy howdy, I got my work cut out for me. That there is the biggest bumper-crop of apples I ever laid eyes on," I said to Big Macintosh

"Eeyup. Too big for you to handle on your own," He replied

"Come on, big brother, you need to rest up and get yourself better. I haven't met an apple orchard yet that I can't handle," I promised and accidentally poked at his broken rib. "Oops, sorry…I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end." I promised

"Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of," Big Mac answered

"Are you sayin' my mouth is makin' promises my legs can't keep?" I asked angrily

"Eeyup." He said

"Why of all the…" I ground out, I was properly mad now, "This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalist of friends and the most dependable of ponies?"

"But still only one pony; and one pony plus hundreds of apple trees just doesn't add up," Big Mac protested

"Don't you use your fancy mathematics to muddle the issue! I said I could handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to you! I'm gonna get every last apple off of those trees this apple bucking season all by myself!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I realized what I had just promised and knew that I was in a heapa' trouble, but I couldn't back down now.

Just as I was about to get started, the ground started shakin', and I knew that it could only be one thing: A stampede. So I gathered up Winona and some rope and took off after the stampeding cows. Thankfully, I was able to divert the herd before they got into Ponyville and made a real mess. I eventually got them to stop stampeding and they told me a snake had spooked 'em.

With all the trouble over with, I headed back to Sweet Apple Acres and finally got started on that apple bucking.

One week later

Lookin' back, I will admit that at the award ceremony I was more than a might bit tipsy from lack 'o sleep. You know you're tipsy when Pinkie Pie joins ya' in makin' goofy faces at your reflection. But at the time, I was concerned with one thing and one thing only: keepin' that promise to Big Macintosh and provin' I could take care of the whole orchard by myself. So I showed up, made a few faces, fell asleep for a bit, and then dragged my new trophy home. Maybe if I had stayed a bit longer, one of the other ponies woulda' put their hoof down earlier and saved me a lot of embarrassment. But there's no use dwellin' in the past.

When I returned to the orchard to continue bucking, I was a real mess; knocking over apples and missin' completely with my kicks in between falling asleep for a few seconds every now and again. One time, I almost nodded off for good, 'cept Twilight woke me up again. She then confronted me on why I was so doggone tired. Unfortunately, my pride wouldn't accept help at that point, so when Twilight offered it, I stubbornly refused. When she said there was no way I could do it all on my own, my dander got up again and I got even more stubborn.

The next day, I suddenly remembered that I had promised to help Rainbow Dash with her new flyin' stunt. So I rushed to where we agreed to meet and found her waiting impatiently.

"There you are!" She said exasperated

"I'm a mite sorry Rainbow. I was busy apple buckin' and I closed my eyes for a second and when I woke up, I was late," I apologized, "Now what's this new trick of yours?" Rainbow Dash then pointed to something that even I could tell looked a mite bit dangerous. But Rainbow quickly brushed away my fears and I climbed up onto the thing and tried to jump on the other end of the seesaw, but I couldn't see straight and ended up missin' more times than me and my sore rear end care to count. 'O course, the one time I do manage to land properly, it'd be when Rainbow Dash wasn't ready. But I didn't fully realize it at the time, so I returned to apple bucking.

Twilight came to visit me again that day, and after my ears decided to start working enough for me to understand her, told me that I needed help again. Still, my stubborn pride wouldn't let me accept help. That's when I remembered I needed to help Pinkie Pie, thanks to bumpin' my head on a low hanging branch, and wobbled off.

Out of all the disasters that happened during that apple bucking season, my 'helping' Pinkie Pie, was probably the worst of 'em. I was so outta whack that I couldn't even understand what Pinkie was sayin' and we ended up makin' muffins that went down in history as the worst muffins ever made. Even Pinkie Pie, the one who puts hot sauce on her cupcakes, declared the muffins as 'baked bads'.

Despite that, I still refused to let anypony else help me. It didn't help that the more tired I got, the crankier I got too. So my bad mood continued until I had to go help Fluttershy round up the bunnies so she could take count of 'em all. I tried to corral them, but between my bad mood and fuzzy head, both from lack of sleep, I treated 'em more like cows on the stamped than bunnies with the result being a bunny stamped. They tore through Ponyville and devoured every garden in sight.

After that, Twilight finally put her hoof down. At the time, I was in such a state, that I thought I had finished when I was barely even halfway done. When Big Mac pointed all those apples I hadn't gotten to yet, I finally gave up the ghost and fainted dead away. When I woke up, I knew that I had been beat and finally let the others help me. With everypony else helping out, all the apples were gathered in a matter of days. But on the last day, things got a little bit…weird.

Just as we were all about to head home, a white thing suddenly appeared outta nowhere. It was biped and had a glowin' blue stripe runnin' up both sides. On its head, was a zipper that was zipped shut. It was very thin and constantly movin'. But before anyone could do anything about it, the zipper opened up and it spoke.

"I have come for you, my liege." It hissed, facing David and then bowing slightly

"Are you blind, or just stupid? I'm not Xidvad and the Organization was dissolved long ago besides," David nearly spat, and then turned on his heel to walk away

"I have a message for you, my liege: Bad Wolf." At these words, David went completely rigid for a few seconds before marching back towards the thing.

"WHO TOLD YOU TO SAY THAT?!" He roared; a feeling of furious power leaking from him and, understandably, the thing shrunk back.

"Forgive me, but it has been so long since I received that message that I have forgotten who gave it to me." It replied, still cowering

"And how long ago was that?" David asked briskly, the rest of us were too confused to say anything.

"I received it before the time of the ones known as Luna and Celestia rose to power," It answered and we were all stunned

"You should have faded by now; why haven't you faded back into Darkness?" This question was asked with a slightly fearful urgency.

"The one who gave me the message place a spell on me so I would not fade." It said

"So much for that being impossible," David muttered so that I almost missed it

"Please, my liege, I have completed my mission. If it pleases you, could you Dismiss me?" The thing sounded like it was begging.

"Of course." David replied and then sighed before snapping his fingers. The thing then vanished in a bunch of white sparkles while making the strangest sound. David then started walking off.

"Wait!" Twilight called, "What was that thing? Where did it go? What's 'Bad Wolf'?"

"Go home, all of you. And when you get there, pray harder than you have ever prayed for anything in your life that you will never have to find out the true meaning of the words 'Bad Wolf'." Something about the way he said it made me suddenly very afraid. He said it like if we found out the meaning of the words, then we'd be dead…or worse.

Twilight Sparkle's POV

I wasn't the kind of pony who was going to let David just dangle that kind of mystery in front of me, so after a quick stop at the library to gather some writing supplies, I went to his house. I found the door unlocked, so I let myself in. Inside, there was music playing; nothing I recognized, but it sounded very sad. When I found David, he was just sitting in a chair and looking at something in his lap.

"Even after that warning, you've still come looking for answers? Haven't you ever heard the saying 'curiosity killed the cat'?" David asked, without turning to look at me

"But satisfaction brought it back," I replied

"Touché…but Twilight, there are some things that can't be unlearned; certain secrets that are secrets for a reason. Are you sure you want me to burden your soul with the knowledge I posses?" He questioned, "And know this, Twilight Sparkle, the answers you seek are scattered all throughout my life. Once I divulge one bit of information, you'll look for the next and the one after that. Greater than you have been driven to madness because of the things I know and have experience. Are you willing to take that risk?"

"Growing up, my books and their knowledge were my only friends. Even now, when I have the others, learning new things is what I live for. It's part of who I am and I can't deny that part of myself. I want to learn everything you can teach me, to be told everything you can tell me." I replied and tell me he did. That afternoon, David told me the story of The Oncoming Storm, his companion Rose Tyler, and the day all of reality was almost destroyed.

"The last time I heard the Words 'Bad Wolf' was at the funeral of my brother Joseph," David told me

"What killed him?" I asked

"Old age," I gave him a surprised look, "My brother was human. In fact, all of my immediate family was human. The only one still alive is my youngest brother and even he's a withered old man. A few of my nieces and nephews are Pokémorphs, but I was the only one out of my siblings. Anyway, ten seconds after I heard those words, Time itself began to burn. It took us almost a century to fix it and make sure no one remembered…I still don't know who said it to me or what caused Time to burn."

He also told me of the Nobodies and Heartless and The Key that Connected Them All. I headed home just as the twilight was fading into true night and as I digested what I had been told, I found a new respect for David. When I was a young filly, I had met some of the veterans from the last war over a hundred years ago. Most of them were suffering from what I later learned was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and none of them were able to really function in society. Yet David's life sounded like nothing but one big war, and somehow he could still function normally. Whether it was because he's a Pokémorph or not, I'm not sure, but as I went to bed that night after penning a letter to Princess Celestia, I wondered what it would be like to witness one of David's battles for myself.

David's POV

I was under my Arwing when I heard her come in. It didn't take her long to find me, but I continued what I was doing.

"May I help you?" I asked casually

"I want you to tell me what that thing that appeared at Sweet Apple Acres was," Celestia demanded

"It's none of your business; and even if it were, my telling you wouldn't do you any good," I replied

"Answer me or else-" She began

"Or else what? You'll banish me? I'd like to see you try. Or maybe you want to fight? I've gone up against creatures that would eat your precious sun as a snack and beings that could snuff it out with a single thought. I walked away. They didn't. A power greater than either of us wants me here and only Death Himself could drag me away. I don't care what you have to say, because I don't answer to you," I said, "But just to show I'm not entirely unreasonable, I'll spill my guts if you can answer a riddle."

"A riddle? You won't have to wait long, I assure you," Celestia returned confidently

"Riddle me this then, how do you destroy something that never really existed at all?" I asked and as predicted, Celestia didn't have the faintest idea because the first step in solving the riddle was knowing what a Nobody is. "I'll let you show yourself you, and don't let the door hit you on the way out." With that, a silently fuming Celestia left. I knew I should have been playing nice with the local 'all powerful' princess, but at the time, I just didn't care. I was too busy trying to figure out who sent me that message and why. After all, when someone tries to get your attention using words with such great and terrible connotation, it has to be important.

And that's chapter three, in the history books! As you can see, I'm not wasting any time here because the game's already afoot! With relationships between David and the Princess of the Sun strained, a mysterious message of what could be imminent disaster or someone seriously rattling David's cage, and the question of how exactly a demon got into Equestria in the first place, only I know what I have planned, you just have to keep reading to find out!

I don't own MLP: FIM