The Dimension Travelers X: The Pony Gambit

Dimension Travelers X: The Pony Gambit

I have no plan, so let's just begin!

Trixie's POV

The day started out simply enough. I was to get a pet from Fluttershy because David thought it would help me if I had a loyal companion. The fact that any pet would be completely unimpressed by any boasting and would hopefully lead to me breaking that particular habit was merely an added bonus.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance, as a crisis was brewing. Thick, black smoke was pouring from a nearby mountain and I met up with Fluttershy on her way to town to warn everypony. But nopony took notice of Fluttershy's timid warning. However, Twilight Sparkle showed up and everypony listened to her warning about a dragon that had taken residence in the mountain.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full grown dragon doing here in Equestria?" Applejack wondered once we were all gathered in the library. It had been two weeks since the Ursa Minor had rampaged through town, so, along with David's vouching for me, I wasn't ostracized, but nor was I welcome with open hooves just yet.

In any event, Twilight informed us that the dragon was about to take a century long slumber and its snores were the source of the smoke. So Princess Celestia had issued an order for Twilight Sparkle and friends to 'persuade' the dragon to sleep elsewhere.

[Surely, there are other, less dangerous methods for dealing with this problem?] I asked David

[I can think of about half a dozen ways to fix this right off the top of my head, the least of which being a simple filtering spell. But far be it from me to question Celestia in her infinite wisdom. Or wonder why she or Luna can't solve the problem themselves. Far be it from this simple Pokémorph to question the will of a princess,] David responded sarcastically

[If you were a pony, I have little doubt your Cutie Mark would have something to do with sarcasm,] I quipped and David snorted

[It comes from years of practice and a few too many decades with a certain Time Lord,] David replied

The trek would take us two days and we prepared accordingly. On our way out of Ponyville, Fluttershy tried to duck out, but Twilight said that as the animal expert, her help would be essential.

"Hey Fluttershy, you've been practicing that flame shield, haven't you?" David asked

"Uh huh," Fluttershy answered

"Then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Besides, I've come across a fair few dragons and lived to tell the tale. So if push comes to shove, that dragon won't know what hit it," David assured her and we moved out.

By the time we made it to the foot of the mountain, it was already almost nightfall, so we decided to sleep there for the night. We got a fire started and huddled around for warmth. That's when a rather interesting conversation got started and it all started with David's stomach growling.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go hunting, see you guys in the morning," David said, but he didn't get far.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hunt? As in, going to kill and then eat another living creature?" Twilight asked

"Yes," David then pulled back his upper lip, "These canines aren't just for show you know. I need meat to properly function. At the moment, I'm living in a society of herbivores, ergo there's no meat readily available, and ergo I need to hunt. It's how things work," David answered

"But it's disgusting and wrong and did I mention disgusting?" Twilight responded

"You are an herbivore. Your body is designed to find grasses, fruits, and the like appealing through the senses of scent and taste. My species, on the other hand, is primarily carnivorous and predatory, thus my senses are attuned to the hunting down and then devouring meat.

"And don't even get me started on right and/or wrong of eating meat because I frankly don't give a crap. In fact, from a scientific standpoint, my fellow predators and I are the only reason the herbivores are still around! We're the population control so the healthy can thrive with enough resources and the weak and sick are eliminated. I only draw the line with sentient creatures. So before you go bangin' on my physiological needs, you should think about the grander role I play in the balance and harmony of nature!" With that little tirade over, David departed into the forest, leaving six dumbstruck mares. I was merely wondering what made David so short with Twilight and figuring it probably had something to do with low blood-sugar.

"He- but- ARG!" Twilight finally ground out and started working herself into her own little huff.

"Actually, Twilight, I, um, think David's right," Fluttershy said before quickly looking down. At first, I was surprised, but upon further thought, I realized that Fluttershy takes care of all animals, carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore. I guess those long hours in class were actually worth something. The others just stared at Fluttershy. I thought about enlightening them, but I was on thin ice as it was, so I kept my mouth shut.

The next morning, most of the six other ponies were willing to live and let live. Twilight, on the other hoof, was clearly brooding over her theological defeat and plotting a comeback. Somehow, I doubted that she would succeed.

Anyway, as we began our accent up the mountain, we noticed rather quickly that Fluttershy seemed to be rather unwilling to climb up the mountain. In fact, it seemed she was having minor to moderate panic attacks every time the dragon snored. Applejack wanted to bring Fluttershy up another way, but David found a simpler solution: He would carry the frightened Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry for being such a burden," Fluttershy apologized sometime during our climb

"It's fine Fluttershy, besides, you're the designated animal expert. I'm merely contributing to the cause in the only meaningful way I can think of that probably won't make Celestia any angrier than she already is with me. Even if it is a most likely pointless gesture," David replied and I wondered why he was being so considerate. Another one of those 'lessons in friendship' I presumed.

In any event, eventually we came to an avalanche zone and, of course, an avalanche was set off while we were walking through. I didn't catch what it was that made a loud bang and then caused Fluttershy to scream (later I was told that some falling leaves had set off one of Pinkie Pie's surprises and it had gone off in Fluttershy's face), but it was more than enough to cause an avalanche.

Somehow, we all survived, but the path was blocked. Thankfully, this turned out to be a minor problem, as David was able to clear the path using one of his many ways that he had learned over the years for manipulating things.

That was the last obstacle and we were at the dragon's cave. Twilight gave a job to everypony except David and myself. I wasn't pleased, but David convinced me to just let Twilight try out her plan first. That didn't last long as we got confirmation on what I had suspected: Fluttershy is afraid of dragons. The others weren't amused.

"That's fine Fluttershy, everyone's afraid of something or other," David said

"Yeah, like how David's afraid of spiders!" Pinkie Pie chimed in

"Yeah, like how I'm afraid of… Pinkie Pie, how exactly do you know I am less than fond of spiders?" David asked and I found it creepy as well.

"Because if I made a prank that really truly scared you then it wouldn't be a funny prank!" Pinkie Pie explained, or as closed to explaining as she usually gets.

"Moving on then…I can just go in there and beat the dragon to a pulp and then tell it to get its scaly derriere out of Equestria. Problem solved!" David decided

"No! Princess Celestia entrusted this mission to me so I'm going to carry it out!" Twilight Sparkle protested and David quickly found the nearest rock and began beating his head against it.

"Didn't we learn this lesson when Applejack nearly worked herself to death?" He asked through grounding teeth. "I'm fairly certain we did!"

"That didn't constitute an order issued from the Princess herself!" Twilight countered

"I have half a mind to teleport right to Canterlot and ask her straight up if I can just kick the dragon out of the country. But given that you're being exceptionally stubborn at the moment and it's more than likely that Celestia will just troll me, I'm just going to sit here and when you come crying to me with your roasted rear ends I will take great pleasure in reminding you that I gave you a fair chance. Now, if you'll excuse me, I feel in the mood for a nap!" With that, David leaned up against a rock outcropping and seemed to fall asleep.

Twilight wasn't happy with this turn of events, and so marched into the cave herself. The dragon didn't even give her the time of day and then breathed a whole lot of smoke right in her face. David seemed to find this amusing, judging from the badly contained snickers coming from him.

Next Rarity gave it a shot. She was actually doing fairly well, she went with buttering up the dragon, but then she had to go and mention his hoard while she was wearing some of it. That was the end of that attempt and more snickers ensued.

Pinkie Pie tried by getting the dragon to laugh, but he was still ticked off from Rarity's attempt and promptly roughed her up. Rainbow Dash then decided that enough was enough and charged into the cave and tried to hurt the dragon. By that point David wasn't even trying to pretend he was asleep anymore and was outright laughing at the idea that Rainbow Dash thought she could single-hoofedly defeat a full grown dragon.

With that, the dragon decided it had had enough and came out to confront its hecklers and hurled them all into a rock by merely breathing on them. David decided it was time to intervene and save the 'I-told-you-so' for later, but Fluttershy, of all ponies, beat him to the punch.

"How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?!" Fluttershy shouted and then flew up and landed on the dragon's snout. "Listen here, mister, just because you're big, doesn't mean you get to be a bully! You may have huge teeth and sharp scales and snore smoke and breathe fire, but you do not, I repeat, YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS! You got that?" The dragon then cowered like a beaten dog; all the while Fluttershy was glaring at him with some kind of super-stare. "Well?"

"But that rainbow one kicked me…" The dragon protested weakly

"And I am very sorry about that, but you're bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures," Fluttershy said

"But I-" The dragon started

"Don't you 'but I' me, mister. Now what do you have to say for yourself?" She waited a few moments. "I said what do you have to say for yourself?" The dragon then broke down in tears and Fluttershy comforted it! She then sent the dragon on its way.

"That was surprising…I was honestly not expecting that," David remarked and I was likewise impressed. So we joined in on congratulating Fluttershy for a job well done.

Once the dragon was gone, it didn't take the pegasi long to clean up all the smoke and live returned to Ponyville standard. Well, at least things don't get boring.

Three Days Later

It was late in the afternoon and everypony was just wrapping up that day's work. David and I were working on my illusions at the time and I was practicing by making an apple while walking through the marketplace. That's when all Tartarus broke loose.

Several things came flying through the marketplace and they caused a panic. They looked an awful lot like Nobodies, being predominately white and wispy looking, but instead of bipedal humanoid, these were quadruped equine. Right where a Cutie Mark would be on a normal pony was the symbol for Nobodies.

"Please tell me those aren't Nobodies," I almost begged.

"They are, but that isn't the worst part. These Nobodies have been harvested. Their hearts were forcefully corrupted by an outside force. When I find whoever's behind this…I WILL DESTROY THEM!" With that roar, he quickly destroyed the Nobodies, but I was still having trouble processing what it meant. Someone was going around and purposefully creating Heartless and Nobodies! The difficulty for me was accepting that someone had that power and was evil enough to use it.

"Why? Why would anyone do something like this?" I asked

"There are a lot of reasons. Nobodies and Heartless have multiple uses. Cannon fodder, messengers, recon, and many other things that I know of and probably a lot of things I don't know. But it's such a terrible disregard for life in general and the sanctity of the Heart, Body, and Soul that I really don't want to research such things. In any event, I'm gonna head home and see if I can start tracking down the one responsible. You should go home too," With that, David left and I was left alone with my thoughts.

I guess that was the day that really set my life in a new direction, away from 'The Great and Powerful' path I had been going on. When I realized that such a great evil existed, I felt a deep need to revile it. But to do that I had to get rid of those bad habits that had plagued me and become a better pony for it. It's never easy, but I wouldn't give up.

I pulled that one out of nowhere. I'd appreciate any comments because I'm not particularly happy with the pacing of this chapter. Until next time!