You were in Ponyville. Funny, because you couldn't remember getting there.

The streets were eerily quiet. Not a single pony was out in the streets, and that was strange because it was midday. You had expected to see the dirt roads and pathways of Ponyville flooded with the many ponies that took residence in this quiet town.

But alas, not even from behind any windows could you see any signs of life or movement. You were a bit worried about that. Something about the place seemed off as well, like the last time you ventured here but much, much stronger than before.

Above you could see dark clouds swirling and flashing occasionally with menacing lightning. It wasn't the pathetic Pegasi clouds either, but rather it was an actual cloud from a human world, albeit with cartoony colours.

That was even more worrying.

Was that the shit-storm you felt was coming? Did the Universe see it fit to send a literal storm of bodily waste at you? You certainly hoped not. You didn't want any faecal matter raining down from the heavens onto you.

Only silence answered your unspoken questions. It was as if the air itself was sucking away all sound and removing it from existence. Or maybe the atmosphere had suddenly left? A quick breath in and out confirmed that there was at least some form of gas in the air, whether it was oxygen or not was an unknown. You could quickly check for that though.

You attempted to summon your Nanites but to your horror you couldn't. It's like they weren't even there anymore. You tried again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And then you realised that they were gone and panic gripped you with full force before you took ahold of yourself. You had gone on for countless aeons and beyond without ever using your Nanites. Hell, you forgot they were even in you. You didn't need them to survive.

During your little panic attack a pony silhouette appear from out of one of the darkened alleyways. You couldn't tell whether it was a mare or stallion as the figure was still mostly cloaked in the shadows.

“Hello?”

Your call went unanswered verbally, but the figure did rotate its neck...in a very unhealthy fashion. It twisted a full one eighty degrees before stopping and staring at you, meaning that her muzzle was over her back where you could see wings hanging limply from the joints attaching them to the ponies back.

The pony walked into the light and you were able to identify them as being a mare. There was...juices all over the mare. Whatever it was you had no clue of its origins and you didn't really want to find out.

Suddenly you heard moans and groans coming from all around you, finding yourself being approached on all angles. You had no idea how they snuck up on you, but they were closing in and not stopping. You needed a plan in case this...whatever this was, went to shit.

Unfortunately you weren't able to think up a plan as one if the mares latched onto you arm and wouldn't let go.

“Moo~ore...”

Before you had a chance to reply you suddenly found yourself covered in about twelve mares, each covered in slime made of sweat and other unknown bodily fluids.

“Ah! Get off of me you savage beasts!”

You shoved them off as well as you could but they kept on crawling back onto you like ants over an anthill. Seeing as this wasn't working you instead made an attempt to walk away towards the centre of town, where there was the least concentration of mares. In a fit of irritation you forgot your strength and punched one of the mares that had decided to jump on your back right in the face. The effect was similar to a high speed projectile impacting a watermelon, and her head exploded in a gory mess as bone pieces and grey matter rained outwards from your fist, showering the other ponies. Even without your Nanites you were greatly stronger than these little creatures.

To your absolute horror the mares around weren't horrified by the display of violence, instead they started eating the dead mare and picking up her blood and brain juices. It was high time you got out of there before they ran out of mare meat to feast upon.

You ran as fast as you could, which was laughably slow compared to your augmented sprints yet still leaps and bounds ahead of the small ponies in terms of speed and ability, both metaphorically and literally. You bowled over all the ponies that got in your way, and after running for about a minute you were clear from all the mares. Although you could still see them down the street, swarming like some kind of hive of angry ants.

What was with your brain coming up with all these ant metaphors?

You jumped through an open window on one if the buildings across the street to get out of sight. You found the house to be empty, much like the streets outside with the exception of the frenzied and cannibalistic mares. You began looking around the apparently abandoned home for anything you could use in this situation. Whatever the fuck was actually going on didn't really matter to you, just as long as you could get out alive then you would be happy.

The house was still filled with everything that you would expect; chairs and other assorted furniture, pictures of the residents hanging from the walls, rugs adorning the floors and overall looking like it was left in a hurry. In the kitchen you found things that could be useful in this situation should things get violent again, knives in the draw were pulled out and thrown onto the table. You found some duct tape and put that down in the table as well, along with other pieces of cloth, fabric and utensils that you had deemed useful.

You pulled the fabric over to you and held it in the shape of a box while duct taping it together to make the crudest bag you had ever seen, but it held so it was good for now. You then dumped the rest of the stuff you had collected in it, leaving out only two long kitchen knives.

You snuck around the house until you found something that you could use to attach the knives onto, a broomstick, leaning against the wall down the main hall way of the house. You unscrewed the end and brought the stick back to the table before taping both knives onto one end, each bladed edge pointing the opposite to each other.

You took another piece of fabric and tied it around your waist before attaching the makeshift bag to it so that it was hanging down the side of your right leg. It was then you realised that your cloak wasn't on you. Your underclothing was still there but the cloak itself was missing.

You turned suddenly at the sound of banging on the door, crude weapon in hand and raised. The door burst open and in charged a group of figures, hidden in the shadows but all definitely male. Among the group was one human, two Earth ponies and a single pegasus. They were talking to each other but you could not hear what they were saying to one another, a combination of the storm outside and their low volume preventing you.

They took notice of you and all turned to silence as they faced you. You tightened your grip on the wooden pole. As the figures came into view you were able to see them more clearly. You recognised the human as the merchant that you bought the bow from. The others you didn't recall seeing before; a caramel coloured earth pony, a big red coated earth pony, and a blue coated pegasus.

They seemed to all relax once they saw you in the light.

“What's going on?”

The only other human in the room was the one to answer, speaking in a harsh whisper.

“Keep your voice down!”

The others had all gone towards the windows, looking out cautiously and being careful not to be spotted. You could hear moaning and groaning coming from outside and every time the sound got to close the stallions looking out the windows would quickly duck behind the curtains before returning to their gazing.

You looked between the ponies, not all that sure what to do. Luckily it seems that they did.

“Let's move. You, come with us.”

You didn't really feel like sitting in a cramped house all day so you followed them out the back door and into the ever darkening streets of Ponyville. The small group of males stopped every time they heard something that they thought was another pony, dropping to the floors and trying to remain silent.

After a minute or so of this constant stop-start pace you decided to voice some of the nagging questions clawing at your mind.

“Where are we going? More importantly what's going on?”

“Shh!”

That was the only reply you got.

You were about to press your questions further when the nameless caramel coloured pony, who had taken to the front of the group, wailed in pain. You couldn't see from here as he was half covered in the shadows that seemed to be ever-present for some reason. He stumbled for a bit before falling onto his back with a dull thump as dust and dirt flew into the air, being assaulted by fives mares all at once.

The large red stallion leapt onto action by pulling his fellow away from the shadows and delivering a strong, bone-shattering buck to the jaws of one of the mares’ clambering over him.

You darted over to help the caramel stallion, pulling him further away from the shadows as the red stallion fought back against the group of mares with his strong hind legs. One mare got a solid kick to the head and her neck snapped backwards at an unnatural angle while another bit into the stallions neck in a horrific display of cannibalism.

Once you were sure the smaller of the two stallions was safe you turned your attention to the one being attacked, by now covered in blood and sweat as he fought off the insane and rabid ponies that assaulted him relentlessly. You could just make out more eyes in the shadows approaching the red pony, and he was too distracted with the four that were dodging his attacks in surprising displays of agility.

You ran away from the caramel stallion - being tended to by the human and pegasus - and charged head-on into the mass of mares that had trotted out from the darkness that had sheltered them from view. You flicked the pole in your arms and slashed at the nearest mare, blood pouring out in slopping spurts as she limped over onto the dirt, soon to be eaten by her fellows.

Your incursion gave the stallion the time he needed to kick off his remaining attackers and escape from the horde, returning to the others who were still helping the downed pony who had blood leaking from his midsection.

You gave one last swing at the horde before following the others as they ran off around the corner, slicing through another unfortunate mare’s neck.

You caught up quickly and came to a halt as you realised that you, along with the others, were trapped between two different hordes, one in front and the one you just ran from.

“Quick! Follow me!”

The others did as they were instructed and followed you as you ran at full speed before jumping and slamming your mass into the door of one of the houses that had boxed you in. You ran straight through the house and kicked down the back door, finding yourself out the front of Sugarcube Corner.

You saw Brute fighting with the savage ponies that had tried to storm the bakery. They had ultimately failed, though, due to the sheer force of the attacks that Brute was delivering. You and the others quickly ran over to his aid, although it appeared he seemed to be doing fine on his own, for now at least.

The wounded caramel stallion was grabbed from behind just as you made it to Brute. He was pulled back by no less than twelve mares that all tried to force him onto his back. He struggled but it was futile for he was outnumbered twelve-to-one.

You expected him to be eaten but what came next was even more putridly disgusting.

The group of slime coated mares stared rubbing themselves up against the poor stallion, coating him in a thick, sloppy liquid that clung to his fur and matted his mane. It only got worse as they started licking along his barrel and playing with his male-bits, making him ‘show’. They didn't stop there, however, as they began to lick and nibble teasingly at his growing member.

You were about to look away from the horrid scene when something even worse happened.

They started to tear into his flesh with their teeth, ripping of his dick and shredding it into pieces between them. Caramel had up until this point been struggling with them in an attempt to escape. Now though, he screamed in agony.

The ever-hungry and lustful mares moved on once nothing remained of the poor ponies reproductive organs, instead piercing a hole in his chest with their hooves and eating his lungs and heart while he watched with the last moments of his life.

The crowd of ponies looked to you, and you barely registered your hand slowly moving to cover your crotch.

“Uh, hi...”

“Moo~ore... We need more!”

They surged forward as a wall of carnal flesh and lustful desire, charging forwards like a tsunami of flesh and bodily fluids, covered in both sexual juices and bloody stains.

“Nope.”

You ran as fast as you could, looking back just in time to see the others getting eaten. The red stallion was swarmed and had his limbs pulled apart in a flurry of sick crunches and agonised screams. The human launched flaming balls of magic from his hands, incinerating the ponies that got to close but he too was overrun. The Pegasus made an attempt to fly away but his back hoof was caught by one of the mares, allowing the others to climb up him like ants.

The only survivor was Brute, who had the common sense to run the fuck away like you did. He was trailing right behind you, licking up dust with each powerful stride. He was safe, so at least there was one other survivor.

Looking back in front of you made your heart plummet into your stomach. It didn't stop there though. It travelled at such a high velocity that it broke the sound barrier and pierced through the planets outer crust in its trajectory towards Tartarus, such was the terrifying sight that you bore witness to.

You needed to get a hold of yourself, you would not die like a coward. You steeled yourself, sucking the fallen heart back up at a speed so fast that it caught on fire and burned your anal cavity as it surged through your intestines on its metaphorical journey back into your chest. You felt it beat inside once more, and you prepared.

By now Brute had caught up and the two of you went back-to-back against the horde of ponies that numbered in the thousands.

The first one tried to swipe at you so you stabbed it in its eyes for its effort, gunk spraying out across you. They charged after the first one attacked.

You an Brute worked together well. As a mare got to close to you he would swiftly buck it away and if one Drew to near to him you would slice. Mares fell by the dozens around you and Brute, to the point where you had to climb over the mounds to reach the other attackers.

One mare got lucky and managed to yank your weapon away from, but that was unlucky because now you could use your hands. You punched forwards into the mare’s chest and pulled out a rib bone that you used as a makeshift cudgel, smashing it around the ponies’ heads, splitting them open and showering grey matter everywhere.

You went to crack another pony skull when you saw Brute get pulled away from by the mass of mares, disappearing in mere seconds. A pony took this opportunity to grab you around the angles and flipped you onto your stomach. You landed on a pile of still half-warm corpses and a puddle of blood.

You flipped over in time to stop a crazed mare from biting into your neck. With one hand you held the biting mare away and with the other you plunged the rib into her barrel causing blood and intestines to pour out in copious amount, drenching you with its sticky and foul-smelling liquid.

Before you could react another mare dove for you and landed in a position so that her bared teeth were right above your crotch.

She opened wide and-

“AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaahhh!”

You surged upwards in your bed so quickly that the small blanket covering you shot up and became entangled in the branches above your head.

You steadied your breathing. That specific Other would be purged from your mind the moment you got the chance; you did not want to be plagued by horrifying memories every time you closed your eyes. You didn't know what it was about this place that gave you terrifying dreams. Normally you would have lucid dreams, one of the main factors in your love of sleeping but here it seemed like everything was a horror show designed to make you want to gouge out your own brain.

You looked around and your eyes fell on something that made you angry. Gilda.

She was standing there silently and stiffly, sporting a shocked expression on her face that quickly turned to fear once she saw your furious gaze. In her front claws was the same slightly rusted sword you found earlier when looking through her belongings.

You lunged forwards and held the startled Gilda against the wall with your forearm, while your other went and grabbed the claw that had the sword in it, squeezing until she dropped it to the floor with a clatter of steel.

“Gak!”

“You! Why are you trying to kill me?”

“I'm not trying to- gurgh!”

“Bullshit. Why did you have a sword in your claw when I was sleeping, and what about the picture of me in your bag?”

Gilda’s eyes widened in shock from the revelation that you had looked through her things when she was away. Or it could have been the fact that you were crushing her windpipe with your forearm.

“I...was...get help...not kill...hunh...please...”

She began wheezing as she laboured for fresh air, something that you were determined to prevent until she answered you.

“Help with what?”

“I...can't tell you...from here...please...I don't want to die...”

She started sobbing and sniffing while trying to futilely remove your arm from her neck. You let go and allowed her to fall to the floor, where she immediately started gasping for breath. You weren't really going to kill her - that wouldn't solve anything, but you were curious as to what she needed help with, or whoever it was that sent her needed help with.

“Well? What is it?”

“I already told you before; the other nations are in a bad way, and need help with those skilled in magic or combat and you seem to be skilled in both of those areas.”

“I don't know about magic, but I'm definitely well-versed in combat.”

By now Gilda had shakily gotten back onto all fours and was looking at you...expectantly? Curiously? You couldn't tell what exactly her weird chicken face was trying to express.

“What do you mean you aren't good at magic? You took on an Alicorn and won!”

“Well that wasn't necessarily - wait, how do you know about that?”

Gilda stumbled with her words a bit and beads of cartoon sweat started running down her face, dripping down and seemingly disappearing into wherever they came from before they could hit the floor.

“Um, well you see I - uh, have...um...”

“What? What is it?!”

“I...ha, um...”

“Just fucking tell me!”

You threw your arms around in a fit of annoyance, almost decapitating Gilda in the process.

“I've been spying on you! Ok!”

“You-you what!?”

“I've been tracking you.”

“You have-what-arhg~rrrrrrmmm...”

You slowly raised your arms up to your face and rested them there while a loud groan emanating from your throat.

“For. How. Long.”

The annoyance in your voice was almost palpable.

“Um...since you attacked Nightmare Moon...”

Your hands slid off of your face and let them hang limply by your sides.

“How did I not see you?”

“I'm very good at my-”

“I don't care how good you think you are. How the fuck did I not detect you, like, on any frequency?! What, can you turn completely immaterial or something?”

“Yes.”

...

...

...

“...what did you say.”

“I can turn immaterial.”

“...Show me.”

To your astonishment Gilda just...disappeared. Even your spatial and temporal manipulators were having trouble picking up anything, which would explain why they didn't alert you to anything when she was hiding last time; the disturbance was small enough to be considered background interference and not strong enough to be considered anything of importance, so it would not alert me. You fixed that, now it would tell you whenever something like this happened again.

Gilda reappeared with a small flash of red light and turned to face you, grinning at your look of disbelief.

“How do you do that?”

“I'm not allowed to tell.”

“Tell me.”

“I told you I'm-”

“Tell me!”

“I'll get in trouble if-”

“I said tell me!! Now!!!”

You ran forwards and grabbed Gilda by her equivalent of shoulders.

“Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!”

You emphasised each shout with a violent shake of her shoulders, and after the fourth shake her eyes were beginning to roll around in her head in that weird, creepy way that could only be allowed in cartoons. This just made you shake faster.

“Tell me!!!”

“Ok! Ok! I'll show you!”

Gilda made an attempt to stop her spinning vision by grabbing her head in both claws and holding her head still. You watched intently as she slowly pulled out a bland silver ring from a small satchel that you hadn't noticed until now. She then put it on one of her talons and as she did so disappeared. The moment the ring appeared you had expected that to happen.

A moment of near silence passed, broken only by the sound of the outdoor wildlife and rustling trees, before Gilda reappeared with the ring in one claw. It stunned you, that is, the fact that something so small and simple-looking could essentially force something onto the border between existence and nonexistence. It led to other ideas in your head, and all the while Gilda stood there awkwardly, knowing full well that she was before someone that could kill her with a mere thought. That made you feel kind of awkward, since you were used to being in Gilda’s position, not the other way around as it was now.

“Pass it here.”

Your voice left little room for argument, and yet Gilda still looked a little hesitant. Yet she gave in and handed you the ring, passing the powerful piece of jewellery with a resigned sigh. You gladly plucked the small metal ring from Gilda’s sharp claws and turned it over. The thing didn't look to have anything special about it, no signs of advanced tech that your Nanites could pick up at least, and definitely no enchantments as you would be able to visibly see those. It was only small, probably just the right size to fit on your finger really.

You placed it on one of your fingers and immediately your spatial and temporal manipulators went fucking ballistic, and the problem was you didn't know what was going wrong. No warning messages or flashing holograms, no endless streams of data showing you the inner working of the problem, no visible signs of anything going wrong, only the pain. The pain was tolerable at first, starting as a dull aching sort of feeling throughout your very being, but then it spiked in ferocity and only increased from there, becoming more of a burning agony that coursed through your entire body and mind, like some kind of liquid neurotoxin injected into your bloodstream.

Fearing that something had been put into you and spurred on by the fact that this thing on your hand was causing your discomfort, you attempted to rip the damned thing off of you. To your growing horror you could not remove it, only claw at your finger as the pain grew and you started convulsing and losing control of your limbs. By now weird lines of pure, white energy begun dancing erratically down your hand and further along your forearm. It looked strange, like both a liquid and an electrical arc in appearance.

While you were busy losing control and rolling along the floor in a fit, you noticed that bits of you were flashing in and out of the material world. This became more and more frequent as the white energy seeped in further, but something was seemingly halting the toxic substance’s path; another, blue coloured energy was seeping out of the rest of your arm. The two coloured energies were fighting for dominance, sending of trails of both as they were flung into the air like water after a splash. It looked like the blue substance was winning through sheer overwhelming force.

When the white light was so overwhelmed that you could hardly see it any more it suddenly flared even brighter than before, and you felt a sudden force push you backwards. The ring was sent flying off your finger where it lodged into the side of the wall. You too were sent hurtling at high speed, although you didn't have the luxury of simply lodging into a nice, soft wall. No, instead you smashed straight through it and uprooted half of your house in the process, massive chucks of wood the size of normal pony houses were sent flying through the air in random directions and smaller splinters were sent showering across the entire clearing.

You didn't even hear an explosion, although you felt the shockwave of it, so you assumed it was very loud. Oh wait, there was the noise. It was deafening.

You would have collided with the trees that made up the border of the clearing had the shockwave not passed you already, smashing the trees into tiny splinters and uprooting anything in its way; rocks, fallen branches and animals were not spared as they too flew into the air, forming a sort-of vortex of various debris. You were in the middle of it, and you could only watch, slightly dazed, as a manticore casually floated above your head. It looked just as dazed and confused as you were.

You collided with something hard so you looked up to see what it was. What you saw was some kind of lizard-thing, much larger than you although nowhere near as large as the bears you killed earlier. One of its heads looked at you curiously, despite the fact that it was hurtling along through the forest as well. You seemed to be moving faster than all the other assorted animals, most likely be aisle you were at the epicentre of the blast. You could tell because you were increasing the lizard’s velocity as well.

Without any warning one of the creature’s tails got caught on something on the ground, something beyond your field of view, and stopped suddenly and violently. You didn't. You kept on soaring through the air, tumbling and flailing about mere metres above the solid surface below you.

You tried to do something to stop your momentum but every time you went for magic a piece of debris or large rock would smack into your face, and every time you tried to command your Nanites you lost concentration and failed, also because of shooting debris.

After a while most of the raining bits of wood and rocks lost enough kinetic energy to fall to the ground, but you kept going. At this point it was becoming ridiculous. You surely should have burnt off all the energy from the blast by now. Yet you kept going.

By now you couldn't even see your house anymore, when you got a brief chance to actually see it, that was. You were still tumbling around after all.

It took you awhile, likely due to how dazed you were, but you eventually realised that there weren't any more large, pointy rocks that could hit you in the head and distract you from casting magic or taking control of some Nanites. And of course that was when you hit the dirt.

You slid across the floor, small rocks ripping bits of your flesh and cutting your clothes. You also happened to be face down, so plenty of soil managed to find its way into your many facial orifices.

Just as you were about to stop yourself you collided with something head-first, with enough force to shatter boulders. You kind of lost it there, and you promptly fell unconscious.

00-0-00

You were in Ponyville. It was funny, because you actually do remember how you got here.

Like before the streets of Ponyville were uncharacteristically barren, and that was not a good sign at all. Unlike before though you still had access to your Nanites, something that brought no end of relief to you. This time you pulled out a knife, just in case.

“Hello?”

Your voice echoed across the empty streets as you walked slowly and meticulously, eyes darting between the many dodgy houses that made up Ponyville.

You spun around when you saw a foal on the street suddenly get pulled into the house by an older pony, before all returned to silence. You returned to the direction you were heading in before a little more haste in your movements. Why didn't you just leave, now that was a question you kept asking yourself. For curiosities sake, it seemed. At least to you it did.

“Psst, over here!”

You looked around for the source of the voice, but it was so fast that you only narrowed it down to a single direction.

“Quick, hurry!”

Now you had isolated it to a single building; Sugarcube corner, to be exact. You saw a frantically waving pink hoof inside of an opened half door. You had a feeling you knew who it belonged to.

“Quickly, get in here!”

Your suspicions were confirmed when Pinkie’s head shot up and called you over into the store. Without thinking about it any longer you ran forward and dived through the open part of the door, just barely fitting through it.

“What? What is it?!”

You looked around frantically from your crouched position, eyeing the shadows with your knife in hand.

“Get down.”

Pinkies voice was a loud, harsh whisper. How she managed to sound loud and quiet at the same time eluded you.

“What?”

“Shhh!”

Again how does she do that?

Seeing as you weren't in any immediate danger you stood up and took in your surroundings, or at least you would have tried to had it not been pitch black. In fact you couldn't see anything, not even the entrance or the pink pony that called you in here. Maybe you were still in immediate danger.

As you were about to argue further to get some questions from the pink ball of magic she suddenly began calling out again, from where you couldn't tell for sure, again, because it was so dark. You could hear what sounded like Twilight and Spike talking to Pinkie, before a loud thud rant out as the door slammed shut, or at least that what you hoped it was.

You heard Twilight say something and then the darkness lifted. Literally lifted, as in, someone filled the room with photons after having been in a void for a while. It was very startling, but not as much as seeing six ponies besides you and in front of you, seemingly standing there as if they could see you all along.

“Can someone care to explain what's going on. There's not more primal sex beasts' outside, is there?”

The ponies gave you a bewildered look.

“Guess not.”

“Keep it down guys, she might see us.”

Pinkie was looking out the window at someone, she must have blinked there at some point.

“Who?”

You looked to Twilight as she looked at you; you and her had the same questions it seemed.

You walked over to the window to see what they were all complaining about. You saw nothing but a zebra in a cloak, not exactly something to shit yourself over. She was pawing at the ground, probably annoyed that everyone was hiding in their houses at her mere presence.

“Did you see her Twilight? Did you see... Zecora?”

The voice was much higher pitched than the other ponies, and you found that the voice was that of a foal and not an adult.

“Apple Bloom! I told you never to say that name.”

“What's wrong with her-”

You were cut off and ignored.

“Well, I saw her glance this way...”

You fell over when Pinkie pushed past you to get in Twilights face.

“Glance ee~eevilly this way.”

“... And then a bunch of you flip out for no good reason.”

You stood back up and dusted yourself off.

“I'm agreeing with Twilight here, what-”

“No good reason? You call protectin' yer kin no good reason? Why, as soon as mah sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her lil' horseshoes.”

“Di-ei-eie-id no-uh-oh-ot!”

“Do you even wear horsesh-”

“So I swept her up and brought her here.”

“I walked here myself!”

“For safe keepin'.”

“Applejack, I'm not a baby! I can take care of mahself!”

“Not from that creepy Zecora.”

You were really lost right now.

“She's mysterious.”

No she's not.

“Sinister.”

She didn't look it.

“And spoo~oooky!”

She didn't look it, and apparently Twilight agreed with you because she let out a groan as all the others gasped.

“Will you cut that out?!”

Rarity walked over to the window to get another look at Zecora.

“Just look at those stripes! So garish!”

Wow, fucking racist. But then again that is to be expected, what with the way humans were treated.

“She's a zebra.”

“Yeah, no shit dumbas-”

This is getting both ridiculous and annoying, what, were you invisible or something? Had that intangibility ring screwed you up?

“A what!?”

You threw your hands up into the air in a fit.

“Really. Are you fucking kidding me. Pinkie you told me about them so you should know what a z-”

“A zebra, and her stripes aren't a fashion choice Rarity, they're what she was born with.”

Rarity’s tiny brain couldn't handle the simple statement and she promptly fainted.

“Born where? I've never seen a pony like that in these parts, 'cept... her!”

“Who gives a shit where she's born, it doesn't fucking matter, she's here now and you're all being pricks about i-”

“Well, she's probably not from here, and she's not a pony. My books say that zebras come from a far away land. But I've never seen her in Ponyville. Where does she live?”

“Oh for fucks sake I'm not gonna bother anymore.”

You stood there contemptuously, silently fuming over these ignorant ponies with your arms crossed across your chest.

“That's just it, she lives in... the Everfree Forest!”

You heard a loud bang and before anyone in the room could react you spun around and threw out an arm, building knives as you did. The still atomising knives flew through the air, leaving behind trails of blue and white sparkling particles along with blue streaks of light. One imbedded in the swinging door, another hit wrong and clanged to the floor after hitting with the handle, and the last sailed past and clanged loudly against a pot. You missed whatever it was.

“Damn, I'm getting rusty.”

“Spike!”

Surprisingly enough the only one that noticed you throwing the knives was Twilight, and even she didn't seem to care that you almost impaled her companion-slash-brother-slash-whatever.

“Uh, sorry.”

And apparently neither did he.

“The Everfree Forest just ain't natural. The plants grow...”

“As they should fucking do-”

“Animals care for themselves...”

“Again they should do tha-”

“And the clouds move...”

“Let me guess, all-”

“All on their own!”

Well, they're good at synchronised speech, you'll give them that. Also Rarity seems to be good at fainting more than once.

“And that wicked enchantress Zecora lives there doing her evil... stuff! She's so evil I even wrote a song about her!”

“Good for you! No one here wants to hear i-”

“Here we go...”

Rainbow at least had the same common sense that you did, at least if her large sigh was any indication.

Pinkie Pie began singing a song, which you did your best to ignore. She even started doing weird dances and hoof movements. She sang about hypnotism and enchanting apparently being the epitome of all evil, something which was stupid since enchanting was a common magic branch, and dancing was just dancing...so...what the fuck Pinkie?

“Soooo... Watch out!”

“Wow. Catchy.”

After that you just zoned out, paying attention instead to the blades that had started dematerialising. These blades weren't made of steel like the others you had used; you hadn't had time to summon the steel. These ones were actually made of hard light, something that was obvious because it was flaking into many bits of white light before breaking down further into smaller specks of brighter light.

“It's a work in progress.”

“This is all just a lot of gossip and rumors. Now tell me; what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?”

“Well... Once a month, she comes into Ponyville.”

Nope. Fuck that. You were going out to say hi right now, screw these stupid little ponies.

She was easy to find, both because she was striped and because no one else was in the streets to get lost in a crowd. Her eyes were immediately on you, again because it was just you and her on the streets alone.

“Hello. How are you?”

Wow, you really sucked at conversing with others.

“I am fine, if quite befuddled, everypony is absent and has left me all muddled.”

She rhymed. How. How can someone rhyme just like that?

“Yeah, ponies are really racist. They're actually scared of you though.”

She paused brieflyand brought a hoof to her muzzle in thought, probably thinking of a rhyme.

“You don't have to rhyme if you don't want to.”

She looked almost offended that you had said that.

“I mean, uh, not that you don't have to stop if its a cultural thing. I have met plenty of different cultures before; I am immune to any form of culture shock.”

It was true. You had once went to a solitary tier ten planet inhabited by isolated humans with very bizarre traditions, one of which was to mutilate oneself as a formal greeting. And that planet wasn't even one of the strangest cultures you had ever visited.

“I- are you joking, s-surely you must be fooling?”

She was stumbling over her words a bit.

“No, I'm fine with you talking however you want to talk.”

“I-I ok. I have an avid for rhyme; it is quite the habit.”

“I see. Anyways, what are you doing in Ponyville?”

You gestured around you with your arms, indicating the many flimsy buildings that were all around.

“I usually come in to collect herbs for my remedies, but the ponies often run and hide as if I were in league wit their enemies.”

“Well what do you need? I might be able to help you get some, although ponies treat me like shit as well, so no promises.”

“No need for your assistance; I'll simply come back later and hope for their acceptance.”

“Hey I'll walk you home then. I don't even know how I ended up in Ponyville and my home is in the Everfree, which I hear is where you live, correct?”

You pointed to the forest in which you had flown in from after today's earlier incident.

“If you wish to walk with me then it's not my place to ask you to flee.”

“Lead the way then.”

Zecora simply nodded and walked towards the forest. You followed closely behind before catching up and walking besides her. You didn't say anything, and Zecora didn't look like she was going to break the silence anytime soon, but that was fine with you.

The forest quickly filled up your vision and you entered into a part you hadn't seen before, or at least a path that you hadn't traversed before now. On either side were bright blue flowers with strange petals. Curious, you went over to one and was about to inspect it when Zecora stopped you.

“Beware of the leaves of blue, it's affects are much worse than any flu.”

You stood back up and turned back to the zebra.

“Of course. Shall we continue?”

Once again Zecora quietly nodded before trotting on ahead. When she wasn't looking you quickly touched the flower and collected some samples. You weren't like the humans here, and one of the best hints about you was that your body was completely immune to any foreign bodies, benevolent or otherwise. Even the microbe infested air wasn't a problem.

You had to hurry to catch up but when you did you heard someone shout out behind you.

“Apple Bloom?”

You turned around in time to see that little filly again and her annoying sibling.

“You get back here right now!”

“Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!”

You almost jumped out of your own skin when Zecora appeared besides you and started talking to the ponies.

“Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yourself, ya hear?”

The others all began shouting and yelling over the top of each other at Zecora, for whatever reason. All but Twilight, the only one of any of the ponies you had met, maybe with the exception if Luna and Celestia, that you found to have any intelligence. Even then that was stretching it a bit.

“Beware! Beware!”

Zecora backed away and started trotting away into a spontaneous fog that had appeared.

“Yeah, back at ya, Zecora! You and your lame curse are the ones who better beware!”

Do shut up Rainbow, no one likes your ignorant comments.

“And you! Why couldn't you just listen to yer big sister?”

Apparently you had gone back to being invisible again, yet you were still very much visible. You sighed and walked over to the small herd of ponies.

“I...I...”

The little filly stuttered before her big sister.

“Who knows what kind of nasty curse Zecora could have just put on you?”

“Just like in my song!”

Pinkie started dancing around crazily and began singing that horrible song to herself.

“You guys, there's no such thing as curses!”

You lifted your finger as if to get there attention to say something but they still ignored you completely.

“Well, that's interesting to hear coming from Miss Magic Pants herself.”

“My magic, real magic, comes from within. It's a skill you're born with. Curses are artificial, fake magic. It's conjured with potions and incantations; all smoke and mirrors meant to scare. But curses have no real power, they're just an old pony tale.”

Twilight gestured to her chest when she said ‘within’, but really Twilight? You were making an argument about curses, where your supporting evidence is magic, are you fucking serious?

“Just you wait, Twilight. You're gonna learn that some pony tales really are true.”

They all walked off without anything else being said, leaving you alone in the small pathway. You could either go home now or catch up to Zecora. You were curious as to what Zecora lived in, so you decided to try and catch up to your striped acquaintance.

00-0-00

It didn't take you long. Within a few moments you had caught up to the zebra and were directly behind.

“Did you really have to be so cryptic?”

Zecora hadn't been expecting you it seemed, as she tripped over and let out a startled yelp.

“You startled me.”

“Sorry.”

She stood up carefully and dusted off her cloak with a hoof. You found these creatures dexterity to be quite amazing, especially when they were only standing on three limbs at a time.

You helped her get re orientated and the two of you set off once more, Zecora being strangely quiet throughout the whole trip.

You arrived at a tree. All outside were bottles of various liquids held aloft by strings attached to the tree’s branches. Also outside were many masks that looked like they wouldn't even sit properly on an equine shaped head. Besides that and the window and door, the house looked just like any other tree in have forest.

Zecora walked forwards and opened the door, entering her home silently. You followed, assuming that she welcomed you in since you had been walking with her for a while. You had to crouch to get in though.

Inside you saw an empty cauldron and even more phials of various liquids, along with more strange masks as well. The whole house seemed to be confined to a single room, with everything Zecora owned either outside or in the room you were in now, which wasn't much. On the far side was a bed, the only piece of furniture you could see in the room. There was another back door entrance leading into a little garden with various growing herbs and flowers.

If you had to guess you would say that Zecora a practitioner of the alchemical arts.

Zecora went over to a shelf and placed her still empty saddlebags onto the floor, before taking out the few things that she had in there to begin with and placing them on the shelf.

Seeing as you had to struggle to stand up straight in the low ceilinged building you decided to sit down, folding your legs so you sat cross legged with your hands behind you for support.

From your new position on the floor you watched as Zecora went around her hut doing various things to chemicals that you didn't know the names of. She seemed to be very uncomfortable with you here though.

“Does his divinity want anything?”

Divinity? Oh, right. You were a supposed deity.

“Not really, unless you can tell me why you speak in rhymes and riddles in front of the ponies yet speak normally in front it me.”

“I-I'm sorry, I-I did not realise wished for me to speak like that, m-my lord.”

Zecora stumbled and prostrated herself before you. If Gilda was crazy then this zebra was insane.

“Uh...no. You don't need to. Like ever. Not even when your with ponies.”

“You don't understand. It is law, I have to speak like that before the ponies of Equestria.”

She still hadn't looked up at you yet and was still bowed over the floor.

“Why though?”

“N-not even I know why, but it is not my place to question.”

You brought a hand to your chin.

“I...see.”

The room descended into silence after that, Zecora still trembling in her position. Speaking of.

“You don't need to bow to me.”

She looked at you, showing a mixture of genuine shock and awe on her face.

“R-really?”

“Sure. Hey what are you making with all these potions and ingredients.”

“I'm trying to make a very rare and powerful potion; one that can give the gift of magic to all to drink it.”

She got up suddenly and walked over to her cauldron, circling her hoof over the rim.

“That sounds interesting.”

“Indeed it is, but I lack one final ingredient that I will have trouble finding and obtaining. The fur of an Ursa is not easy to gain.”

“What's an Ursa?”

She looked over to you, turning away from her metal cauldron.

“An Ursa is a mighty star bear, made of the very constellations themselves. They are nigh impossible to kill.”

“A giant star bear? I killed two of them already, you could have the fur from that if you want.”

“Y-you killed an Ursa?!”

“Two; one small and one big. Well, one big and one bigger but still.”

“T-two...”

“Yep, and the fur is all yours.”

She suddenly snapped out of her stunned stupor and entered an even more shocked and stunned stupor.

“B-but that's enough fur for thousands of potions! How did you kill

two

Ursas’?”

“I crushed ones spine with my weight, and the other one I impaled with a giant tree.”

“...”

Zecora went silent and fell on her rump.

“I can show you where they are if you want.”

Zecora merely nodded her head slowly, eyes still wide with...astonishment? Awe? Fear? You couldn't tell, reading facial expressions was never one of your strong points, and that was even more so for equines.

“Follow me then.”

You stood up, careful not to bash your head through the ceiling, and walked out the door, holding it open for Zecora as she silently walked out besides you. You walked off into the forest in silence.

00-0-00

“See, I told you!”

You now stood before the massive mound of bear flesh. Strangely it wasn't decomposing yet, and no hungry animals had even come near it from the looks of it.

Zecora for her part just stood there, mouth agape and staring at it in shock.

You walked over to the larger bear corpse and pulled at the fur, frowning slightly when it didn't fall out as expected. You had to actually apply force to remove some of strange hair strands. It was strange that it hadn't become loose, as that would be expected of a decaying organism.

Zecora had walked up beside you at some point and was now examining the Ursa coat closely. She hummed to herself as she walked up and down along the wall of bear, occasionally tapping her hoof against it or pulling out a tuft of fur.

“This will be enough to make thousands of potions. Thank you.”

“No problem; I didn't know what I would have done with all this fur anyway.”

She hummed again in response, not taking her eyes off of the giant corpse.

“I may need your assistance in transporting this back to my hut. Could you possibly help me with that?”

“Sure.”

You had taken to sitting down against a tree some ten metres or so away from the larger corpse.

Abruptly, Zecora turned towards you.

“I will see you tomorrow then.”

She looked to the sky as it started darkening.

“It is getting dark, I must go.”

“Ok then, bye.”

You stood up once Zecora had disappeared into the tree line.

Now then, you needed to meet up with Zecora tomorrow with the fur she needed. Since the time on this planet was so short compared to yours you might as well just wait for tomorrow rather than walking home and then walking back. Plus you had to carve off this bear’s fur, so you had better get sarted.

You flicked out a blade and walked towards the downed creature, idly checking the sharpness of the weapon in your hand as you approached.

You plunged the knife into the bear and began your grisly task. While blood did pour out of the wound it did so in much lesser quantities than before, now it was more of a trickle compared to the torrent from last time.

You don't know how long it took you to skin the whole bear, but once you were done the moon was at its apex in the middle of the sky, and beginning its slow descent. To your left was a massive pile of the fur you had skinned while to the right was the now skinless Ursa.

You had time to kill while you waited now, so you thought you could spend it practising your conjuring skills.

You looked around for anything you could conjure, quickly spotting a few random rocks by the edge of the tree line opposite you. They would do.

You concentrated and formed the magic symbols, surprised at how easy it had become to do so. Within moments you had the spell done and a rift appeared. It didn't stay for long, depositing the rock you had woven into the spell in your hand and quickly disappearing. You were happy to see that the rock didn't seem to have any damage to it, and it lacked the signature black burnt stain that had been there on all previous conjured items.

You tried doing something different. Instead of bringing something to you, you would try to send it from its origin point someplace else. It seemed plausible enough, all that you would need to do is tweak the spell a bit.

After a bit of changing you decided that the spell should work the way that you intend it to work and tried it out. Once again the spell came quickly, much faster than your first attempts, forming the correct symbols before you released it. The stone you had woven into the spell disappeared in a rift only to reappear some twenty metres to the left of its original position. So it worked.

You spent the rest of the night continuously practicing all of the spells you had learnt, almost perfecting the illusion spells and getting more than proficient at conjuring.

When the sun came up you picked up all of the fur that you could and placed it on your shoulders, leaving about half of it behind. You set off towards Zecora’s hut just as the sun pierced through the tree line.

00-0-00

You made it to Zecora’s hut quickly, depositing the mass of fur in her back garden area but being careful to not crush any of the plants she was growing.

You walked back around to the front door and knocked on it a few times, creating several loud thuds as the metal in your bones collided with the wood, the only insulation being your skin and whatever minuscule amount of meat and fat was between that.

Several eons of lazy space travelling had not been kind to your muscles. Not that you really needed them.

You heard some stumbling and a moment later you saw a zebra in front of you. She smiled and welcomed you in.

“Have you brought the star bear fur?”

“Most of it.”

“Very good.”

You sat down on huge floor while Zecora walked out to her back door and saw the pile, upon which a smile graced her muzzle. You watched quietly while Zecora ran around and placed a variety of plants and herbs into the cauldron in the room, which, you now just noticed, was filled with boiling water atop a small fire.

For what seemed like hours Zecora put together ingredients before walking outside through her back door. She reemerged moments later with a tuft of that strange fur in her mouth. She measured its weight on some kind of mechanised device before placing the fur into the bubbling cauldron. The cauldron began bubbling even more, and the contents changed from a dark green to a bright purple colour.

Zecora moved away from the cauldron for some reason, which was enough reason for you to move away as well.

You could see why.

The cauldron exploded with smoke, billowing out pink fog and filling up the room. You walked hastily to the only window to open it, only to realise that it didn't have any glass panes or anything for you to actually open. That meant you had to wait for the smoke to slowly get sucked out of the window by itself.

Once the hut was cleared of most of the smoke and some visibility had been restored, you noticed Zecora walking back over to the cauldron with a glass phial. She dunked the phial into the liquid substance and filled it, placing a little stopper into the end to prevent any of it from leaking onto her floor.

Zecora took this strange purple potion and placed it near the window, where the sun could shine down on it from what few rays could pierce the think forest.

“It needs to settle in Solem’s sun for a few hours before it will be ready for use, until then I don't know what to do.”

“Well, we could start by bottling the rest of the...potion in the cauldron, at least before we think about doing anything else.”

“Very wise. Let us work then.”

Zecora showed you where she stored all her phials and instructed you to fill them all up with the chemical substance in the no-longer-bubbling cauldron while she set about finding cork stoppers for all of the containers, which, she had said, she kept outside in some kind of deep storage basement.

Seeing as you didn't truly know he affects of the potion Zecora just made you didn't exactly feel like getting any on you, so instead you carefully levitated all of the phials with you magic, using the opportunity to better your magical focus.

Within an hour of Equestrian time you had already emptied the entirety of the cauldron’s contents into exactly forty two phials, all of which were now floating around in the small hut in your blue magical aura.

Zecora came back in through her back door, a large cloth bag in her mouth. She stared in wonder at your display, which was confusing for you. You could lift this many objects with your Nanites without any problems, and magic was easierto use for this type of thing as well. Your Nanites tended to focus of the extreme minute details, while your magic was the opposite, encompassing huge quantities with little precision. Yet even this was considered a feat, it seemed.

You put the phials down on any surface you could find, leaving the floor littered with slightly glowing purple glass containers.

Words failed Zecora, so instead she ignored your stunt and set about corking all of the potions, placing them on shelves and near the one window, even tying a few to some branches outside of her hut, making sure all were in the light of day.

Zecora opened her mouth to speak to you but was interrupted by a sound of running hooves. From the sounds that were being made it appeared that one pony was running towards Zecora’s hut.

This proved to be true; the door slammed open with a small amount of force and a single, small pony ran in. Well, smaller than normal.

“Zecora! Zecora! Yah gotta’ help me!”

The little yellow filly was panting to regain her breath, yet somehow she could speak without any impediment.

“What is it young one? Surely it must be important to make you run.”

“More rhyming. Ooh, Yay.”

You threw your hands up into the air just to show the world how much you loved rhyming.

“Its mah friends and mah sister, they've all gone weird.”

“I'm no psychiatrist.....Damn, what rhymes with that?”

Zecora brought her hoof up to her muzzle as she mumbled that last part.

“Huh?”

The little filly tilted her head to the side questioningly, not having overheard Zecora’s comment.

“Nothing. Now what is it that ails you friends?”

“They've all got strange sickness’; mah sister is smaller than mah hoof, Rarity’s mane and fur are all messed uhp, Pinkie can't talk-”

That's probably a good thing.

“-, Fluttershy’s voice is all weird, Rainbow dash’s wings are stuck on uhpside down, and Twilight’s horn has gone all floppy!”

What!?! You certainly hoped that meant something different than what you thought it meant. Oh wait, she probably meant her unicorn horn. Hopefully.

“I see. This can only be the work of poison joke, a plant that has much in common with oak, but worse afflictions it can evoke.”

“Poison Joke?”

Again the little filly head tilted, his time to the opposite side.

“She means that blue flower that you almost stepped in yesterday. Your friends must have stepped in it. Here I can even show you what it looks like.”

You reached down into a little piece of folded fabric next to your coin pouch, pulling out the sample you had gathered yesterday, showing the blue flower to the small filly.

The yellow pony went to touch it but you pulled it out of her reach so that she didn't get infected with whatever caused the ailment to the others.

Zecora seemed to be freaking out a bit, though she somehow managed to look calm and collected, if that was at all possible.

When no one spoke and the room descended into silence you voiced your theories about the strange blue flower.

“Perhaps it's some kind of self sustaining virus that produces multiple strains, each with different and various ailments to those infected. If this is the case then a cure might have to be made for every variant strain. Hopefully one cure will be able to kill off all of the virus in one go, if it is a virus at all, that is. If it’s magic then I don't really know what to do, besides some analysis of the plant and the infected ponies. You guys got any ideas?”

You looked between the two, both had mouths open in confusion.

“I guess not. Zecora do you happen to know of any cure?”

She shook her head before looking back up to you.

“I-I- yes, I do. It's a simple herbal brew.”

“Excellent! I'll get going home then and see you in...say two hours?”

You tucked the flower back away for later study. It was an interesting specimen, and would undoubtedly quell your boredom for at least a few minutes.

With a final farewell you left the two to their own devices and set off into the forest, not choosing any particular direction just going any way your feet led you; you really just needed an excuse to walk around for a bit.

The forest was relatively silent, nothing but the...actually nothing at all besides the sound of your feet crushing the foliage and shrubbery beneath you. Nothing really concerning, especially if you could manage to kill those two bears; you doubted that they had any predators to fear.

You stumbled upon a small river cutting through the dense forest. It wasn't anything to be impressed by, only being a metre or so in width. Still though, water was water, and you liked to drink it on occasions, one such occasion being now.

You carefully sat down by the river’s edge, mindful not to slip into the slowing flowing steam while leaning in to drink some of the water in your cupped hands. It tasted like any fresh water would, but it was refreshing nonetheless.

Having had enough of the clean water you sat down upon the dense foliage, crushing it down into a comfy be d with your weight.

With time on your hands you once again evaluated your situation. Your magical skill and knowledge was growing at an exponential rate, becoming more and more easy with every use. You had yet to see any negative side effects of living in an environment where it was lacking detail, and you had yet to experience any more drastic mood and personality shifts, leading you to believe that you just had a mental breakdown caused by excessive stress, something you were usually very good at handling. You had found a way home, or at least an attempt has been made to get you home, its effectiveness having yet to be seen.

You brought a hand up to your necklace, where the fusion devices were. You had taken off the construction module and placed it on the table in your house four or five days ago in the belief that it would be safer there than on your person, a mistake now that you thought about it. What was more it was still there, within the grasp of anyone who entered what was left of your house. That meant it was in the presence of both Gilda and that red mare, Shae.

That would be your next course of action then; finding someplace safe for the module to reside until construction was complete, since neither you nor your house were a particularly stable environment. After waiting here for...ten more minutes.

You stood up and turned away from the river, as you did so you noticed a timber wolf on the other side of the river staring at you. It glowing eyes didn't leave you for even a moment, its piercing gaze looking almost sympathetic.

The creature stared for a few more moments before tilting its head slightly downwards and leaping into the think bush behind it, disappearing from view. How strange.

Ignoring the odd occurrence you continued on your way back to Zecora’s. Since you couldn't remember exactly which direction her hut was you pulled out your map, the hologram appearing and projecting outwards, filling the surrounding air with a multi coloured, three dimensional map that was roughly five metres in diameter.

The map was much larger this time; you had decided to play around with it to understand how to use it better in the future. The majority of the map - the flora, earth and any other natural structure - appeared as a soft white light in the shape of the environment, with the corners of all those objects having a sharp, also white light although much brighter than the other parts, to the point where it made the duller colour almost seem like a different colour entirely.

The only highlights to the map were any buildings, places of interest - designated so by frequent visitation, animals, and you. The map had set it so that any creature showed up as the same colour of magic that emanated from them when casting magic, ergo you were blue while that timber wolf - now about fifty metres away, according to the map - was a deep green.

The buildings showed up as a bright yellow, with outlines similar in fashion to those of the environment, animals, and the other surroundings. The only exception being your home, which was an identical colour to you. On the map your home looked normal, but you knew that it would probably be a smouldering crater by now.

Zecora’s hut was just to the west of where you were currently standing, the same trail that you walked on the map showing you the way. Anything beyond the small pathway became fuzzy, almost static, as you had yet to walk there yet, something that didn't happen with the large majority of the rest of the map because it wasn't as crowded out in Ponyville.

You walked through the hologram down the trail, deactivating it once you had passed through it completely, the particles of light breaking away and flying off in random directions until they fizzled into nothingness.

It was a surprisingly short trip back, partly because you didn't recognise any of the plants you passed; each and every one of them a fascination, just waiting to be studied by someone. Such fascination was why you had chosen to just idly wander the Universe in your starship.

You found the small hut amongst the thick forest, approaching it from the back door entrance, passing past the bear fur and all of Zecora’s plants. They, too, were another curiosity.

Since the door was already opened you entered without knocking first.

“Hey Zecora, I'm back. Have you made the- what the shit is this?”

Inside you found Zecora’s cauldron knocked over, with its green, bubbly contents spilled all over the floor. Many of the glass phials you had carefully placed about the hut had been smashed to pieces, with their contents leaking into the wooden floor.

The elements were all in the room, apart from Applejack, who was strangely absent. All those that were in the hut though seemed to be infected by the little blue flower that you held in one of your many pockets.

Oh, you found Applejack. She was tiny, even by pony standards. She only came up to your ankle, if that. She was gripping onto Zecora’s ear, as if she was trying to break it off.

Before you had run into the room, everyone seemed to be assaulting Zecora, but the moment you had entered they all turned to face you.

Twilight was the first to speak up, walking towards you and pointing an accusatory hoof at Zecora.

“Its Zecora. She's cursed us! I didn't want to believe that she cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!”

Rarity joined in, shouting towards you while stomping over to Zecora and glaring...at least you think she was glaring. It was a little difficult to tell when she had hair over her face.

“She made me look ridiculous.”

“She made me sound ridiculous!”

Fluttershy?

“Oh...hmm, ha...ha... Ha ha... Ha ha ha ha heh!”

You couldn't take it. You fell onto the floor in a fit of laughter. T-that voice! With Fluttershy? Between your bouts of mirth you could see Fluttershy shying away behind her mane in embarrassment.

“She made me speak ridiculous!”

Pinkie made you laugh even harder. Despite her voice being completely destroyed by blue dots along her inflamed tongue you could still understand her word for word, partly because you were good at deciphering things and partly because of some inbuilt translators. That just made it even funnier!

“She ruined my horn!”

Twilight pointed to her floppy horn in anger. Now that little pony made sense.

“How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?”

By now your laughter had died down and you had collected yourself, lifting yourself into your usual crouching position.

“You put this curse on us, now you're gonna uncurse us.”

Rainbow Dash flew forward towards Zecora but you stopped her by grabbing her tail before she could tackle the zebra to the ground.

Before you could stop this from escalating Zecora lost it, glaring at the ponies even more fiercely and trotting up towards Twilight.

“It is unwise to venture down this road. Your actions will make my anger explode!”

“Ugh, fucking rhymes.”

“Where is Apple Bloom!?”

Twilight smacked her head against Zecora’s, returning the death stare.

Just then you saw the little filly from before walk into the hut from the front entrance, carrying saddlebags that looked too large for a pony her size.

“Zecora! Ah think ah found all the things ya asked for. What in Ponyville is goin' on here?”

“These brainless idiots are attacking Zecora.”

She looked up to you with wide eyes before looking back to the assembled ponies.

“But why?”

You shrugged your shoulders, a gesture that was lost on the ponies in the room.

“I don't know.”

“Apple Bloom! You're okay!”

Applejack let go of her sleeper hold on Zecora’s ear and pointing towards the small pony.

Apple Bloom for her part just looked confused.

“Why wouldn't I be?”

Twilight suddenly leapt across the entire room and landed in front of the little filly in a defensive stance, still looking hatefully at Zecora.

“Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup!”

All was silent, until Zecora and Apple Bloom both burst out laughing at the accusation.

“Oh Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally get in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse.”

That was a statement coming from a magical talking pony...where did your life go so wrong.

“Apple Bloom, sweetie. You can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse.”

Twilights voice was laced with a care that was directed to Apple Bloom, yet was entwined with skepticism, one if the only traits you valued about these ponies. Too bad they always seemed to apply their skepticism at inappropriate times.

Still, Apple Bloom was defiant.

“This isn't a curse.”

Zecora stepped into the attention of the group of ponies.

“If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact.”

“It was a warnin'. About that blue plant. It's called Poison Joke.”

“That plant is much like poison oak. But its results are like a-”

“Stop!”

You flailed your hands in the air.

“I can't take any more of this rhyming. Zecora, if it was cultural or traditional I would hold my tongue but it isn't, it is because of some stupid law that not a single person in this hut could give a flying fuck about! So please, shut up with the rhymes! Speak in a way we can understand without riddles! Please!”

She paused.

“Very well.”

You let out a relieved sigh and lowered your arms.

“Thank you.”

Zecora returned her attention to the ponies.

“As I was saying, the poison flower is dangerous. Its leaves will create a nasty side effect if it contacts a ponies’ body, intended to be only as a joke.”

“What in the hay does that mean?”

The mini-jack has spoken.

“It means this plant does not cause injury. Instead this plant will just torment those who are plagued with it just to get a laugh from its victim.”

“...Will somepony please get her to talk normal?”

You clenched your fists angrily.

“Fucking dumbass! I just did!”

Twilight trotted into the cluster of ponies and tried to explain the concept to the apparently simple-minded pony. She was slow even compared to the other ponies in the room, with the close second either being Rainbow or Rarity, although Rarity seemed to have some modicum of intelligence.

“I think what she's saying is that when we ran in to save Apple Bloom, we ran into the poison joke. All our problems are just little jokes that played on us.”

“little jokes?! Very funny.”

Applejack let out a snort of annoyance, before Rainbow flew onto the scene.

“Ok, fine. But what about the cauldron?”

“And the chanting?”

“And the creepy décor?”

“Ornaments from my native land where I am from. This one speaks 'hello', and this 'welcome'.”

“Not welcoming at all, if you ask me.”

“The words I chanted were from olden times. Something you call a nursery rhyme.”

“But the cauldron... The Apple Bloom soup?”

You zoned out after that, instead flipping at a loose piece of fabric that you made, watching as it rebuilt itself into its original form. It was immensely more entertaining than the discussion going on between the ponies and Zecora.

They seemed to reach an agreement over their petty, stupid argument, and they all departed, including Zecora, leaving you all on your own in the little hut. You would have liked a little warning at least, before being randomly left alone, especially since you were here to help Zecora.

You stood up and stretched, surprising yourself when you heard sounds akin to grinding metal coming from your back. You weren't used to any sound coming from your back; stretching was merely a way to work your muscles, and your bones never really collided or ground against each other.

Curious, you touched your spine with a hand, feeling your pronounced bones sticking out even more than normal. Nothing too noticeable, at least with a shirt on. You had never been anything but skinny, borderline anorexic even, with the only time even coming close to anything resembling muscle mass being the more...exciting days of your life.

You walked out the door moments after your inspections, walking back towards your home. You knew how to travel between Zecora’s and your own homes, so the map wasn't needed. From here, it would be a semi-long journey back home, about an hours walking distance. That's implying walking though.

You set forth at a light run.

00-0-00

You didn't slow down or speed up until you reached the clearing where the Ursa corpses were. You slowed to a stop. Something came to the front of your mind, something you had noticed before; this planet’s cave system, it seemed weird last time you were in one, unnatural in its formation.

You walked up to the cave entrance, peering in. It may have only been a few metres large or it could have spanned kilometres for all you knew.

Creating a small, bright white light with your still-growing illusion art skills you entered the darkened cave that seemed to sap the light from the air, making your little orb of white look like some kind of wavering liquid, casting long shadows over everything.

Such a strange anomaly did not deter you.

Increasing the power to the spell, you walked forward further into the cavernous space. It was understandably big, considering that that Ursa creature had lived here before its demise, about a hundred metres to the ceililung at the lowest points, and about twice that in width.

Due to the darkness that enshrouded the area you could hardly see anything, everything more than a few metres away being reduced to nothing more than a blurry outline. Precisely why you fell over something.

You looked around from your position on the floor, illusion fizzling out and plunging the room into utter darkness, leaving you effectively blind.

The floor was damp and the air felt humid, something you were just noticing now that you were on your stomach, for some strange, bizarre reason.

Fumbling around the ground, you attempted to find what you had tripped over, eventually grasping something that felt vaguely familiar.

Pulling the object in front of you revealed what it truly was.

Its features was somehow enhanced by the poor lighting, the human skull seemed to scowl back at you.

Yeah...now would be a nice time to leave. You had done exploring the strange cave anyway. Just one problem though.

Which way was out?

Rolling onto your back you looked around for any indication of light for which you could use to find the entrance and leave, hopefully sooner rather than later. Whatever light-cancelling field permeated the area made that task impossible, though, so you would need to find another way out.

You sent out a pulse of Nanites, whose normal bright blue lights were dimmed to a dull glow in the cavern. They went outwards, and after a few metres you could no longer see them at all. You could still feel them though, and a few thousand of them had managed to escape out of the dark cave.

The exit was directly behind you, so you crawled around on your stomach until you were facing the correct way before lifting yourself up off the floor and slowly walked forwards. As you went further the darkness became greyness, almost like the light cancelling room was being overpowered by something else.

Gah. Too much light.

Walking past the cave entrance was like walking through a wall of light. On one side no light could exist and on the other it permeated the very atmosphere itself. It burnt your eyes, forcing you to bring up your hands to cover them while they adjusted to the sudden light change.

Rubbing your eyes you looked around the area, finding it to be exactly the same as it was before you had left it. From here you could see that the Ursas’ still weren't decaying, even after having their skin peeled and having their flesh exposed for nearly a whole Equestrian day.

You began walking back to your house, passing through a narrow area of forest that lacked any vegetation that connected the clearing you just left to another, much smaller clearing.

Something whizzed through the air past your face and into the forest behind you. Great what was it now?

Several armour clad ponies jumped out from the forest into the narrow passageway, each wielding something that looked like a crossbow in either their magic or a contraption attaching it to their legs if they weren't a unicorn. All of which were huge by Equestrian standards, coming up to your waist, almost twice the height of any of have other ponies you had seen, barring the princesses.

The small group was only seven ponies large; three unicorns, two earth ponies and two pegasi in all. They all wore similar armour made of bits of leather, fabric and metal woven together into intricate patterns of spirals and runic symbols, similar to that of magical symbols.

“What is it now?”

One of the ponies answered your question by firing its projectile weapon at you, sending a tiny metal rod through the air at high velocity.

You responded by running to the tree line and pulling a large, thick tree down for use as cover. From your position behind the log you could hear the pegasi taking off and hear the sound of magic buzzing and thrumming through the air.

“What the fuck is wrong with you ponies?!”

You had to roll to the side as one of the projectiles tore through your tree cover as if it wasn't even there, very nearly impaling your shoulder.

You leapt out from cover and ran towards one of the unicorns, a mare by the looks of it. She turned her horn towards you as it crackled with green energy before launching a massive fireball towards you, its giant green girth surging towards you with a fury.

You jumped to the side, using a tree as a springboard and breaking it in the process to angle yourself so you could continue running. You heard the fireball impact something behind you and felt a heat wave wash over you from even further back.

You used your momentum gained from the stunt to knee her in the chin, immediately finding something different about these ponies.

They weighed much, much more. Not anywhere near your current weight, but probably close to your weight before your bones were infused with the metalloid that was still there. Almost like a normal pony.

Regardless, your attack held enough energy to fully fling the mare into the air, tumbling around and dropping her crossbow in the process.

Before you could react a weight slammed into you from behind, a brave earth pony stallion having wrapped his forehooves around your neck in an attempt to...something. You didn't rightly know what he was attempting to do really.

It became clear what he was trying to achieve. The only other earth pony, also a stallion, had taken aim and was now pulling the release mechanism with his strange hoof contraption.

You reacted as well as you could, considering how rusty you were with your combat prowess. You jumped into the air, spinning around on all three axes while simultaneously coordinating it so that the bolt impaled directly into the poor fool on your back, who you then landed on as you hit the ground, driving the rod all the way through him. You were quite lucky the projectile was as short as it was.

You didn't stop. Rolling to your feet and charging at the one who accidentally shot his ally with the intent to kill, only being stopped by another, much larger force colliding with you from the side as the only pegasus mare hit you. You flipped horizontally through the air rapidly, so fast that all you could see was a blur of blue and brown, bits of green smearing into existence occasionally.

You hit the ground hard, rolling for a bit before coming to a stop and quickly got back to your feet. Just in time for a unicorn to fire a bolt, which you barely had time enough to raise your hand in defence.

The rod impaled your hand but only went halfway through it before losing all momentum. You had expected to just be able to pull it out and be done with it but that proved to be wrong. Very wrong.

Your hand burned, in more ways than one. Looking in absolute horror you saw that your Nanites, who up until now operated without any flaw, were corroding away into nothingness, such destruction stemming from the offending object in your hand and spreading outwards like a mini electrical storm. Your hand also happened to be on fire.

You yanked the metal rod out from your burning hand, but the damage was done; your Nanites were temporarily out of commission, and the flames had already burnt down to your metallic bones, leaving an almost perfect cut straight through your hand that ceased to grow larger now that the cause was gone.

Within seconds of the flames dying down your bodies own enhanced healing kicked in, albeit much, much slower than the Nanites.

You lacked the time to contemplate it further as the pony you had crushed and impaled before got up and was charging at you again. These ponies didn't go down easy.

You crouched down low as he was upon you and flipped him over your back into another pony who was attacking from behind, with just enough time to grab the stallion pegasus as he flew at you. You spun sideways through the air while throwing the stallion in your hands at the two who were trying to get up, barely dodging the other three projectiles that whizzed past where you had just been standing.

You landed with a soft thud in a crouched position. Seeing as all the ponies assaulting you were momentarily distracted - either with standing back up or reloading their crossbows - you took the opportunity to quickly and crudely bandage your wounded hand with a bit of fabric constructed with your other hand, seeing as all Nanites in the afflicted one wouldn't respond.

You finished just as the ponies prepared their weapons, with less than a millisecond to spare before you were being shot at again.

You dove to the side while simultaneously using your magic to uproot multiple trees to use as a shield, all compressed into a single square block equal to your height and about half a metre in thickness. All the bolts impacted and dug into the wooden shield, none going fast enough to actually hit you on the other side.

With your shield in one hand your melee options were down to none, especially since you couldn't see anything past your wooden barricade without looking around and risking having your head impaled, so you chose to use a more distanced approach to this fight.

You held one hand behind your back while channeling magic into it from the surroundings, preparing to momentarily drop the shield down low enough to release death upon the group. Now.

You pulled the shield down quickly but brought it back up just as fast, feeling something heavy impact it followed moments later followed by a blast of heat. You could feel the wood burning with a brilliant pink flame; within moments your shield would burn all the way down to your hand, so you had to think fast.

Fuck it.

You dropped your shield and brought both arms to your front, the left one now fully coated in bright jumping flashes of electricity after soaking up so much magic. You poured more magic into you right and unleashed the pent up energy upon the unsuspecting ponies before you, all of which, bar one, jumped to the side.

The electricity surged forwards with enough power to vaporise solid iron, ionising the air as it went, filling the air with a harsh buzz combined with an even louder sound of thunder. Within the blink of an eye it was upon the poor stallion who hadn't reacted quickly enough, however something unexpected happened.

Instead of converting into a fine read vapour as you had expected, your lightning clashed against what looked like a hard light dome comprised of connected sparkles that shone over the pony like a beacon. You kept up the attack in the hope that you would be able to overpower whatever shield was guarding the pony, however the other ponies were now back on you, bearing crossbows and magic in kind.

You relented, dodging to the clearing that you had slowly been getting closer to since the fight broke out. It was a small thing, only twelve or so metres in diameter with a roughly elliptical shape. Little was there in the way of cover, with the exception of a few large rocks that littered the fern and grass covered area.

Now exposed, the ponies’ had an easy target to fire upon, as such four bolts whizzed through the air towards you. You leapt to the left, hiding behind a small-ish rock that only just covered your frame entirely. You peeked around the stone to look at what had become of the stallion that should have died.

He was fine. The only change that was visible was the metal in his armour, which was glowing hotly and vibrating within its leather confines. You deduced it as being some kind of battery that stored harmful energy which it then released it gradually. You had encountered these before, so you knew that they were a fucking pain; the only way to break through was to overpower it to the point where the battery either died or exploded.

You didn't know the extent of what it blocked though; some of these batteries could block anything from radiation to kinetic force to everything and anything in between. So you devised a test.

You levitated a small rock the size of a bit and started adding kinetic energy to it. Within seconds it was already vibrating in the air...and then shaking. You released it.

It shot through the air with tremendous speed, almost enough to break the sound barrier. It impacted the same stallion as before but this time his shields didn't save him. Instead it passed through as if it wasn't even there at all, snapping his right foreleg in half like a twig, eliciting a loud pained scream from him as he dropped to the ground.

The others paid him no mind and instead began barraging you with those nasty bolts, each one hitting only the rock you crouched behind.

You closed your eyes and looked around, seeing the world through magic and locating the complex structures of the ponies behind the dull veins of magic in the rock in front of you.

You pulled your hands out in front of you and coordinated the lines of magic using your hands as a template; whenever they moved, the magic you were focusing on would also move. With this you pulled all the magic out of certain areas on the ground, leaving gaping voids of nothingness around them. Your fists trembled as you forced the magic veins to your will until they snapped.

By the time the unicorns felt something off about their surroundings it was already too late.

Several explosion rocked the ground at once, sending out blasts of pure energy into the area. One particularly unlucky stallion was surrounded by three explosions at once and his shield was obliterated, the metal in his armour detonating as well and impaling him all over his body.

You ran out from cover and sent out more electricity towards the remaining ponies, destroying another two shields but leaving those that were protected unharmed.

The ponies retaliated by shooting out more bolts, one of which impacted your humerus while another went through the gaps between your ribs into your left lung.

You stopped. You could feel blood leaking into your lung, and feel blood dripping from your arm as you fell to your knees.

Before you the ponies lined up, silent as they were when you first encountered them moments ago. Even the one that was impaled got off the floor with a groan to stand before you. What the fuck would you need to do to kill these things?

As one, the ponies pulled out their crossbows and took aim, all while you feebly removed the bolt in your arm and the bolt in your chest, each leaking red vital fluids at an alarming rate. You wouldn't die from lack of blood loss; your spatial and temporal manipulators could operate your cells under their own power without need of any outside interference, and they themselves were eternal and everlasting: the one blessing to all from the tier one higher ups.

No, but the ponies could certainly do that if you weren't careful about your next move.

With resounding clicks the bolts slid into place and were ready to fire. You had one shot to not fail this and die.

As they fired you slammed your fists into the ground, sucking up all moisture into a single wall which you instantly froze into a solid.

The wall wasn't enough to completely stop the projectiles, but it did slow them down to the point you could effectively dodge all of them at once, which you did without any delay.

The wound in your chest made it difficult to bend over while the one in your arm made it painful to move your limb at all. This would be a problem if you didn't quickly find a way to kill these things. Well...it didn't fail you last time so why should it now?

You ran to the tree line and uprooted the closest stubby tree, hoisting it above your head like some kind of giant wooden war hammer before charging towards the stallion who was the weakest link; the one who had already been crushed, electrified, and impaled twice.

With a scream of pain the stallion was flattened, the sound of snapping bones filling the clearing as no doubt every bone in his body did snap.

You threw the tree to the side, into the other ponies who had leapt to safety away from - What the fuck! He's still not dead!

The stallion was slowly rising up from the ground, bones somehow completely intact.

“Naaaarrrh!!! Why won't you fucking die!!!”

You charged forward, no longer caring about the bolts as they dug into you. You grabbed the insolent little animal by the neck, choking the life out it as you raised it to your face in anger.

Something in your mind snapped, of that you were sure.

You punched into the creatures barrel, ripping out any organs you could get your fingers on while he screamed in pure agony. You weren't done yet.

You penetrated his upper chest this time, grabbing a left rib bone and tearing it away with a reverberating crack. You pulled out lung tissue and then his heart, holding it before him like some kind of trophy as you squeezed and made it pop like a big, red, juicy, water balloon!

By now the stallion was a meaty mess, naught but a gargling sack that choked on its own blood and bodily fluids.

With one last pull you ripped the two sides of his rib cage open, letting all his remaining organs fall to the floor with loud slurping thuds.

You discarded the useless vessel and turned around to face the other meats, all now quivering before you like they should be. Such mere animals should not even be allowed to exist in the face of a God such as yourself!

“Ha. Ha. Ha ha. Heh ha he hah. Ha ha ha ha ha!”

With manic laughter you lunged towards the nearest flesh sack, futilely attempting to escape your divine fury by shooting more bolts into you as she screamed in fear.

Ha ha, yes! Your screams please me! Your pain makes me stronger!

You tore her in half like a piece of annoying wet paper, letting her bleed out across the grass while holding onto her hind half before ripping that in two as well.

Where's he next one for meeee~ee, heh he!

You looked for your next meal; the other earth pony stallion catching your fancy. In the blink of an eye you had him in your grasp and he screamed oh man did he scream but the scream was sooo~ooo goo~ood and invigorating! You decided you liked this one, so you would play with him first.

Holding him by the tail you slammed him into the ground with the force of a carrier ship, plowing dirt and meat in equal quantities. You lifted your new toy again, before slamming him over to the other side, repeating the process and getting faster and faster until all that was left was a pulpy smear with bits of fur and bone. Clinging to it in a delicious fashion.

Awww, not fair! My new toy!

“Whoooo~oo’s neee~eext?”

You turned to the remaining four ponies, all of which, in a surprising bout of intelligence, decided they should run. In a bout of not-so-much-intelligence they decided to run as a big group, making them easy pickings.

However, you couldn't let them get away now, could you?

You smashed your palms into the ground and electrified the entire clearing, making the whole area look like an orgy of epilepsy and flashing blue and white lights. It didn't stop them entirely, but it did slow them down, which was all you needed.

You leapt high into the air and landed on a convulsing pegasus mare, who screamed in fright and fear for her life.

These animals might be worthy of being my pets!

You held her in front of you. To her, you must of looked like a vengeful dark God; arcs of powerful lightning dancing across a bloodied and impaled body with enough strength to crack the earth and move the heavens, all with an insane smile on his face.

“Ooh, you have lovely wings my dear...”

Her eyes widened in realisation and she started bucking futilely against your chest, but it wouldn't stop you...

You grabbed her left wing suddenly and pulled it right back, smiling further as you heard and felt it snap in half and crumble in your hands, feathers falling to the ground in heaps and blood spraying across your already coated face.

She was sobbing helplessly now, so you ended her quickly with a swift snap of her neck and crunch of bone.

You would need to finish off your fun soon; the electrical storm you had summoned was beginning to dissipate, and the ponies would begin moving once more.

More! More!

The other pegasus, one of the two stallions left, was next.

You landed on his back softly, so as not to spoil him before you could do any fun damage.

You held a foot to his back, pressing him to the ground while bending over. You reached down, ignoring his cries of mercy, and lunged into his skin, grasping his spine before ripping it away from the useless creature it had been in moments earlier, bits of meat and nerves still dangling from it.

The only two left made one last desperate attempt, but more lightning stopped them just as quickly.

Ha ha! Fools!

You walked over to the closest pony, the stallion of the two unicorns left.

Your hand sprung forwards and grabbed his horn, twisting it off with a satisfying crunch, filling the air once more with screams of agony.

Your vision was a swirl of uncountable colours and sensations as you forced his horn to your will and started channelling magic through it, making it burst into hellfire, freeze and crack with electrical energy all at once.

You weakly backhanded the whimpering stallion across the clearing, where he slid to a stop ten metres away from you, conveniently right next to the only other remaining pony, so that you didn't need to walk very far once you were done with this specimen.

You lift him into the air with one hand, the other holding his horn like a knife.

You stabbed him, sinking his own horn into his chest and feeling the pain of magical backlash as the arcane energy attacked everything in the vicinity. Pain was good, pain is good.

The pony writhed in absolute agony as he was burned, frozen and electrified to death with his own magic before slumping over, dead.

Now then...what the fuck was that all about?

You looked over to the mare, desperately trying to climb over steep rocks that she had cornered herself against. Tears stained her fur, and her companions blood soaked her armour. She seemed to be the youngest of the group, and was the first one to fire at you.

She saw your gaze and whimpered while hiding beneath her own hooves for protection.

You looked to the pony in your hands, still with his own horn stuck in his neck as blood gushed from the gaping holes in him, then back to the mare by the rocks.

“You can go now.”

She had not been expecting such a casual tone from you, as proven by her stuttering voice and shaking hooves. Still though, she did not need to be told twice as she was off into the forest within seconds.

Now then, you should get home; sleep was a very nice thought.

You didn't make it ten metres before collapsing into a black void.

Author's Note

I apologise for the slowness of this update, but I've been working on another story as well (which will hopefully be up one here soon. Maybe.) which means that updates for this will be much slower, as well as real life getting in the way and slowing down progress - how dare it!

Also I hoped you enjoyed the gore-fest 'cause its only going to get worse!