The Life Of D-Pad: Brave New Worlds

D-Pad awoke to find himself all alone. He was laying on a brick path that seemed to be floating on nothing. He looked off the side of the path to see nothing but the void of space. Around him, islands floated around as white, rippling lights floated freely around. Stars twinkled as he started to make his way down the path.

“Hello?! Octavia?! Lance?! Vinyl?! Anypony?!” He shouted as he walked along.

The path shifted as he walked. Brick by brick, the path built itself to one of the islands. D-Pad walked cautiously over to the island. On it was a black unicorn stallion with a short, white mane and blue eyes. He had a white star as a cutie mark. He was looking around at the void.

“Beautiful, isn’t it…” The unicorn stated.

“Uh…I suppose…uh, could you help me? I’m looking for my friends.” D-Pad inquired.

The unicorn continued to look out at the void. D-Pad began waving a hoof in his face. The unicorn didn’t seem to be bothered at all by this.

“Hey! Bud! Anyone there? Yoohoo! Equestria to unicorn!” D-Pad shouted

“Huh? Oh, hi there…Wait…What are you even doing here?” The unicorn questioned.

“The better question is, where even am I?” D-Pad inquired.

“An even better question is why even are you?!” The unicorn replied with a silly look.

D-Pad looked at him in question. “…Riiiiight…look I just need to find my friends.”

“The earth is round, there is no up or down.” The unicorn whispered to D-Pad, then he floated upwards.

D-Pad raised an eyebrow as the unicorn floated upward. “…Did you even hear me?”

“Probably not.” The unicorn replied.

D-Pad face hoofed himself. “I am looking for my friends.” He stated in bemusement.

“Oh yeaaaaaaaah…no clue…” The unicorn replied, shrugging.

D-Pad groaned as he walked away from the unicorn and began scanning the area. As he did so for a couple of minutes, The unicorn floated above his head. D-Pad grumbled as he continued to scan.

“You know, you’re not going find them that way.” The unicorn commented.

“And you have a better idea?” D-Pad questioned in a grumbling manner.

“Yeppers! Where do you think they would be?” The unicorn asked.

“…What kind of question is that? I’m literally in a place I’ve never been to before. I have no clue…”

“SHSHSHSHSH…Hush my little dreamboat. The waves of knowledge are choppy, and your little brain sail can only take you so far…” The unicorn replied, putting a hoof on D-Pads mouth.

D-Pad gave him a look of confusion as he slowly backed away from the unicorn.

“Think, and you will find what you search.” The unicorn said as he jumped off the edge of the island.

D-Pad looked down where the unicorn jumped. He saw nothing but the starry void of space. He sat down and pondered what the unicorn said. He shrugged and began to look around at the other islands. He looked at one particular island.

“…There…My friends are there…”

The brick path began to form in front of him. It twisted and turned in an elaborate path that stretched out to the island. He stepped onto the path and began to walk along the path. As he walked forward the bricks behind him fell and began to float around in the void. As he made his way to the other island, he could see Octavia looking around in a panic.

“Octavia!” D-Pad shouted as he ran over to her. She looked to him and smiled brightly as the two embraced in a hug.

“Well, that was easy enough.” Lance said from above them as he fluttered down with Vinyl. “For a while there, I thought we were never gonna find you.”

“Oh hey! You found your friends!” The unicorns voice came from behind them as he walked up from the underside of the island.

“Uh…who…who are…you know, never mind. Just point us the way out of this place.” Octavia stated.

“Oh, you can’t go back. Your way to get back is kind of…well…” The unicorn replied, as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Kinda what?” Vinyl asked.

“…Kind of sealed up. See, whatever you guys did to get here pretty much closed up your portal.” He stated as he pointed upward.

As they looked up, they all noticed that one of the white rippling lights was a deep purple.

“What do you…okay…where in Equestria’s name are we?” D-Pad asked.

“You are all in the center of all universes. The gateway to all and any realm you wish to see. You are in the hall of the Multiverse. I am Starfall, the keeper of the Multiverse.”

There was silence as the ponies all stared at Starfall.

“What? You’ve never seen a deity-like being? As I believe, your world is run by one, or so you ponies call her that.” Starfall commented.

“Wait…how d’you know that?” Lance asked.

“I spend centuries watching over all of these universes. It’s bound to happen that I look upon your universe once in a while.” Starfall stated as he levitated in a reclined position.

“This…I can’t even muster the words to speak about this situation…” Octavia sighed in befuddlement.

“Well, you got plenty of time. You’re stuck here until that portal to your world opens up.” Starfall stated as he floated above their heads.

“And that could take how long?” Vinyl asked.

“…Give or take a millennia or two…” Starfall replied, smiling nervously.

All of the ponies’ jaws dropped. “WHAT?!?!” They all shouted in unison at Starfall.

“You used an astronomical amount of magic to get here! It’s not my fault!” Starfall commented.

“…When I get my hands on the Elements of Harmony, I’m gonna melt them down…” Lance growled.

Starfall’s ears perked up. “Did you say Elements of Harmony?”

“Yeah, that’s how we got here. They did this weird swirly thing then got sucked into this white light, which then sucked us all in. Then it must have brought us here.” D-Pad explained.

“I see…this does change things.” He responded as he grinned. “And…you got the Elements of Harmony from a mare named Starlight, correct?”

“…Yeah…how’d ya know that?” Lance asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“Let’s just say we have a history…a very, veeeery long history that would bore the daylights out of you and slowly drive you mad…gloriously, gloriously mad to the point at which that might cause you all to hang yourselves and strip the flesh from your bodies. ” He replied smiling sweetly, although giving off a sadistic tone.

“…Okay…” Octavia said as she and the other backed away from Starfall.

“…Er…what was I saying? Eh, doesn’t matter. Anywho, I think if you got back the Elements of Harmony from this place, I should be able to open the portal and send you all home.” Starfall stated, clapping his hooves together.

“Awesome. Let’s split up and look around this realm for…” Vinyl began.

“Um, sorry to burst your bubble but finding them is far more complicated then that.” Starfall interrupted, to which the ponies looked at him in question. “Let me explain. What you know about these Elements of Harmony is that they are six artifacts that have properties of harmony. Pulled from the Tree of Harmony to defeat Discord, they represent six elements of friendship.”

“Okay, so what’s that got to do with that?” D-Pad asked.

“I’m getting there.” Starfall replied. “Brought together, they can be used bring peace and balance back to Equestria. However, there is another purpose of bringing them together. If brought together under the right conditions, they can be combined into a…well for lack of better words, a super element. This “super” element has the ability to stop evil dead in its tracks, make the weakest ponies ungodly strong, and can even make blackest hearts turn pure.”

All of the ponies looked at him in skepticism.

“I know, it doesn’t seem possible, but it is. Unfortunately, you got to see what happens when they are brought together under the wrong conditions.” Starfall stated.

“And you would know this because?” Octavia questioned

“I know a lot of things about your world, Octavia.” She looked at Starfall with surprise. “Oh yes, I know all of you. Vinyl, Lance, and D-Pad.” He continued as he pointed to them as he said their names. “I know pretty much everything. Things from what has happened, what’s happening, and what is going to happen. Trust me, I know what I’m talking about.” Starfall responded.

“So…where are the elements?” Vinyl asked.

“Well, what I presume happened was that Starlight was trying to make the super element, but did it under the wrong conditions. Discharges of biding magic, that white light you saw, should have bound them together. But without the right spell, it could not bind them correctly, hence turning the white light into a dimensional rift. Now once inside the rift, I presume the elements found their way into other dimensional rifts. With that much magic coursing through them, I surmise that the dimensional rifts opened up and sucked them right in like water through a straw.” Starfall explained, to which he made a slurping noise.

“Well…bollocks…So we got nowhere to start.” Lance grumbled.

“Not necessarily.” Starfall stated. “All it takes is a keen eye and knowledge of the place.” With that, Starfall began to look out at the void.

“Psst…D-Pad…” Vinyl whispered to D-Pad.

“What?” D-Pad whispered back.

“I don’t know if we can trust this stallion. He seems very…strange…smart, but strange.” Vinyl commented in a whisper.

“Me either, but what other pony can we turn to? He’s the only one here.” He replied in a whisper.

“FOUND ONE!!” Starfall replied in a giddy tone. “I can send you there first thing in the morning!”

“First thing in the morning? Why not send us there now?” Lance questioned.

“Dimensional traveling is not as simple as it seems. There’s a lot of physics and sciency stuff involved. Why just setting all of the rifts up takes hours of time. First I got to…” Starfall began.

“No, no, shut it. Spare me the details, I seriously can’t stand any more of your science bullshit.” He grumbled as he rubbed his temple.

“See, it’s impatience like that that led to your father leaving your mother, Lance.” Starfall commented.

“DON’T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY, YOU BUGGARING BASTARD!!” Lance roared.

The ponies went silent. Starfall shrugged. “Whatever. I’m going to go get that rift prepared. You guys should get some rest.” With that, he flew off.

Lance was still seething with anger. “Lance? Are you going to be alright?” Octavia asked, concerned.

Lance took a few deep breaths. “Yeah…yeah…I’m fine…” He stated as he turned and began to walk around the island. The rest of the ponies looked concerned at him.

“…Hey Lance! Wait up!” Vinyl shouted as she ran over to him.

“Oh…hey Vinyl…” He said as he tried to look as calm as possible.

“…What happened that you don’t wanna talk about your parents?” Vinyl asked.

“Vinyl…I just…I really don’t want to talk about it.” He sighed.

“But why keep it all inside until…”

“STOP!! I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, OKAY!?!?” He shouted.

She looked at him in surprise.

“…I…I…I’m sorry…I…I shouldn’t have yelled at you…” He apologized.

“Is it really that bad?” She asked in concern.

He stood there, hesitant to say a thing. After a minute, he nodded his head.

“…I got ya…look, when you’re ready to talk about it, you can always come talk to me about it.” She responded, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

“…You…really mean that?” He asked, to which Vinyl nodded her head. “…Vinyl? Can I tell you something?”

“Sure dude. Fire away.” She stated.

“Okay…I…I…I been thinking about how to go about this, and I really don’t know how to tell you. I never really had any experience in this, so the only thing I know to do is be blunt…I…I really like you…in a sense of like…like I feel like my whole world feels complete with you…like I want to be around you…like…like you are the most beautiful mare that I have ever seen…” Lance stated as he looked deep into Vinyl’s eyes.

Vinyl’s cheeks turned a bright red as she looked back at Lance. “…y…you…really think that?” She asked.

“I know it sound’s weird being so blunt, but I really don’t know any good sappy shit to tell you, so I just said what I thought. Vinyl…when this is over…do…do you want to go on a date?” He asked.

She blushed even brighter. “…Uh…s…sure…I..I would like that.” She replied. She then walked back to D-Pad and Octavia.

“Wow…I’ve never seen that look on your face.” Octavia giggled.

“Huh? Oh…right…yeah…” Vinyl responded, though she seemed a little out of it.

“What’s up? You’ve never been asked out on a date before?” D-Pad chuckled.

“Oh Tartarus, when I work at the nightclubs I get asked all to go out on a date. Sleazy and drunk is not the best way to approach a mare, let me tell you. But Lance…he…he seems so…different from the rest…he looks so innocent…and…y’know it’s kinda nice not being asked out and the stallion isn’t slurring his words.” She stated.

Octavia yawned as she put a hoof to her mouth. “Goodness. I didn’t think I was that tired.” She spoke as she yawned again.

“Yeah, we should really catch a few winks before we go out on another wild adventure.” D-Pad joked.

The mares laughed as Lance walked back over to them. “Well, at least this time let’s try not to put me in a cast.”

They all laughed heartily as they all bedded down for the night.