Magnus: A Bum's Tale

by AvidSeason

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Human, Comedy
Length: 8299

What do you do when you're stuck in another world without a destiny? Hope that a fucking adventure can come along and change your life! Enter Noland Pont A.K.A. Magnus, the new Chess Piece. Let us see where his misadventures will take him.

Hi! I'm Noland or at least I was before all this. You can call me Magnus. It's my new name in this new world of Eques. If any of you aren't bronies or you're ignorant, then I'll enlighten you. That's the name of the planet hosting many different countries and races, including Equestria.

Now, Equestria is all rainbows and gumdrops, but I was unfortunate to not end up there but in the far northern badlands. A place where no life grows in the dull ,bleak landscape. Things are hard when you're not in Equestria. In fact, the species I've become is killed on site when born. Also, there's a war going on that's happening because of slavery and all that crap. It's a war that I have come to know too much about. How I got into Eques, how I met other "humans", and how much I've seen on this world. This is a bum's tale. These are the moments that have come too define me.

Be warned. I will switch between past and present tense. If you don't like that shit then don't read the fucking story I'm going to spend years on.

MLP is owned by Hasbro.
CGotG is owned and started by Blackwing "Griffin The Griffin" and Rust "The Legend of Echo the Diamond Dog"
All other things are owned by me except the music and the art.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-08 06:05:51 UTC

Prologue

My old man once said, "With crashes can come bangs." He was a wise man because when chaos is rampant only injustice can rain. Unfortunately, I may be part of the injustice at the moment.

"Stop thief!!!" Yeah... That's my life as about two seconds ago. This act was a living testament to the time I live in.Because either you're a big wig in your safe mansion, or just a lowly person living in the slums. There's no middle class anymore, and all that is because of Obama. All his talk about better economies, I shouldn't have voted for him. I'm lucky that some good people can visit in this small town to help those who need it. Otherwise things wouldn't be slowly getting better any time soon. In the end not even the government can help the normal people.

Thankfully, I escaped that old witch. I rounded a corner and waited for the voices of police and other people to leave. Carefully I looked around. No one was in the streets which was a rare occurrence. I sped along trying to find where I'm supposed to go. then I saw it. Two young kids in an alley. With a scrap of bread. I desperately need food. I approached them. They leaned back as far away from me as possible. Carefully I held both my hands up one empty the other with that pearl necklace I stole. Hopefully these kids will get better with my "help".

"Hey kids. Do you want to trade? With this you can buy yourselves at least 3 sandwiches." I whispered.

They didn't move. Carefully I inched toward them. Suddenly they took off taking my necklace with them. Sighing I head back to my base of operations. I guess this is the situation with that "have your cake and eat it too" scenario. I'm upset about the necklace ,but at least the economy will be slightly better.

Carefully, I inched through the streets avoiding any and all contact with police officers, rich guys, and people in general until I reached the local park. I walked along the path I've known for at least a year until I reached my home. A wet wooden bench under the shade of an oak tree. Yeah... home. I reached into the trash can pulling out some newspapers. There's less there then there was yesterday. I laid down on the bench and put the papers on m body and went to sleep hoping beyond hope that change would come. whether it be good or bad I do not care.

Before anything serious starts, I would like to say something about myself. I'm a brony. I have been one ever since I turned 21. Now I'm 24. You could say I'm a die hard brony, but ever since the bank took my house I could never see if there was any new content around or any cons. Even if I could the cops would probably find me around the same internet cafes around town. I've had to re-watch season 4 on an anonymous YouTube account.

I would give anything to be able to get on Internet again. Even if I had to watch that episode "May The Best Pet Win". Don't get me wrong it was exceedingly charming, but I didn't like it very much. Unfortunately,  I have never been able to check for any new episodes since I've run out of free internet hotspots. Now I'm poor as hell and sitting on a bench hoping I can find help.

Today was a cold rainy, day. The clouds were high in the sky deciding that today be their day to unload. The air was chilly as can be with the added use of water. Those were the first things in my mind as I awoke. Gently, I arose and sat on the bench with no where else to go. Thankfully, I had an umbrella ,so today wouldn't be a wet newspaper day, and when I looked around surveying the land around my bench like a landscaper I saw a man and a woman appear on the trail by my wet bench. Now this doesn't usually happen around this time of day and type of weather ,so you could imagine my surprise to find them strolling along.

The man was dressed in a twead business suit, a tad inappropriate for this weather, and the woman was wearing a satin dress that would surely be ruined in this weather if it weren't for the man's umbrella. It was rather clear to me that these folk weren't from around here as they were talking in a rather unique language and were wearing rather fancy clothes for this poor district of the city. I thought to myself, that's very strange for an immigrant to be all this way inland, but I guess tourists can go anywhere including this small town.  After they stopped talking, they finally noticed me.

The man asked, "Sir, why do you sit here alone in the cold and dreary afternoon, when you could be off sleeping at home in your bed with your family."

Thankfully I understood him this time as he was speaking English instead of ...whatever that was. I laughed strongly at my misfortune as well as the man's lack of knowledge about bums.

"My friend, you are rather fortunate to have a world that isn't against you. Always trying to make your life miserable. I'm an orphan. My parents were killed in a robbery at least 5 weeks ago, or so the government says. I was lucky enough to get enough money so I could take a few years of college. Right now, I don't even have a girlfriend!" I exclaimed.

I don't know where THAT came from. I didn't even want to tell this man about my life, but I guess when you've been all alone you might want an ear to listen to you.

The man looked at the woman with questions in his eyes. I could barely see the slow shake of his head when he turned slightly to the woman. He got out a pocket watch, and stared at it intently. It was a rather fancy watch. Intricate designs littered its surface. I couldn't get a better glimpse though because after a few seconds he put it back into his business suit.

With a frown on his face he said to me," I'm sorry about your family ,but what about your friends? Surely, they would let you stay at their houses, and maybe even let you live off their income for a while."

I reputed by saying," If only my friends weren't all the other bums living here or always drunk with their fancy wine. I do hear they are trying to quit so I could go over there, but I sincerely doubt that they would not harm me in one of their few drunken stupors. Even if they don't try to somehow in this world we're now living in you have to be careful wit the people you see on a daily basis."

This time though the woman looked at the man. She had a glint in her eyes that could be seen from space. For a while, I just sat there looking at them. The absence of conversation told me they were going back to do whatever they were doing before until they slowly turned to me smiling wide. It was jarring to say the least. Then the man stated, "Would you like to come into our house. We have more than enough money to cover for you. Thankfully that stock crash didn't hinder with our currency."

I started. Who in their right mind would take a random bum off the street? Thankfully, my morals had led me to believe that all people are capable of doing something in the world. With an open heart I gladly accepted and started of toward their house with his .....wife I think.

As I walked along that cobble road, I thought about how many more people are like the man and the woman out there helping people who need it. Not many that's for sure. Only a couple thousand people can be helped in the world. I'm lucky enough to find some kind souls to help a bum of the streets. That reminds me I never did ask their names ,didn't I? "By the way, what are your names?" I ask.

They look warily at themselves, the woman says," Well we can't be introduced as random strangers I guess, but first I want to know yours."

Well they're either have very good manners, or they just wanted to avoid the question. We walk in silence as I ponder whether or not to tell them. As time goes on they begin to stare at me, probably wondering what I'm doing. Hastily I answer her question. "I am Noland Pont ,madam. Now what are yours?"

"You may call me, Eda, and over here is Joan." she replies. I look at both of them as they smile at me. They were being rather creepy and silent on the way to their house. It was After a while the rain begins to stop and the moon comes out to shine over the land.

"Where is this house anyway? We've been walking for over an hour and we're just now coming unto the city limits." I finally query my trusty companions.

"It's right here." She points to..... nothing. "What are you trying to pull? There's nothing there!." I tell them. They begin to mumble to themselves. I can only make out," ....good...can't see....glamour...the one."

Everything was quite unsettling, including that last bit I could make out. They turn around to me and Joan announces, "You passed the test congratulations! You have the chance of a lifetime! We can grant you your wildest dreams!"

I look at both of them astonished. I have dreamt of this moment for my entire life. I have always wondered what it would be like to win a... *sigh* This isn't a free giveaway. Where would they even hide the house I've always wanted? Certainly not here. I asked, "Okay, where is it? Where's my prize? Where's my chance of a lifetime? Because all I see is that we're in the middle of fucking nowhere!"

They stand there shocked and looked at their hands for some reason. For some reason Joan says, "How the fuck are you doing this?" Wat. "How are you frickin blocking me?! How are you stopping my control?" Well, I think that either A: they're trolling me or B: they're bat-shit crazy. "Dude, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about ,sooo I'm going back to my bench."

Eda says, "No wait stop we have your prize over here!"

I just calmly walk away. There's no need for me to be around crazy people. The world's already fucked to shit. There's no reason to fuck it more. When I finally walk far enough away, I retort, "If you try to contact me again, I WILL FUCK SHIT UP! I've had it up to here with trolls like you ,trying to spread hope to the hopeless just to put it into their face that no one will help them! I'm giving you a chance. Walk away from me. Do not do this again." If you can't tell I have varying degrees of anger issues.

"Stop!!!", they yell out as I walk away, but it's all in vain because I can barely hear them as I try to run back to my bench under that willow tree hoping for no rain to fall on my newspapers. I sincerely hope that they weren't trollers because if they had another guy, they would probably try to sabotage my newspapers.

All I can make out now as I'm running back into the city is," What..stop..shit...knock him out...TAKE HIM!"

Suddenly, I find myself becoming tense and I am now on the ground spazming out of control. Great, they have a Taser and DEAR GOD IT HURTS. Great, blackouts are happening. Hopefully when I wake up I won't be tied to a bed and be raped by both of these fuckers. With my luck, they are part of a gang or something hoping to get street cred because in this time anyone will do anything to survive.

Heh... Didn't think blackouts could look like this. A massive swirling black within the gray space everything was becoming. I don't know why I was tazed, but I do know that whatever type of Taser they had was enough to get me high. Ah well. All this pain will be over soon. Hopefully someone will find these two and get me out of their weird Taser, and maybe arrest them. Unfortunately, the cops might recognize me as the thief "plaguing" town, but if these people are going to lock me in a basement then I'll gladly accept jail time.

Chapter 1

I wake up and all I see is black and grey. At first I think they trapped me in a room, but  my body's free from restraints. That's good, but where am I? Well first thing to do on in any lost situation is to look around for familiar landmarks. With a shaky start I stand up. It's weird because everywhere I'm looking there's nothing except me. So how am I standing?

I carefully look down. Below me is a pillar of white that somehow can blend within the gray. It was about forever high and half and acre in diameter. Well familiar landmarks can just get knocked out of the park. I'm pretty sure I'm not even in the plane of existence for familiar landmarks. I'm probably still dreaming ,but if I'm just locked in a closet on acid I should probably check. I wave my hand around pretending I'm a conductor with an imaginary baton. All of a sudden music starts playing.

I think I recognize this tune from one of my video games I used to have. Unfortunately I can't remember which one. I continue waving my hand as I'm trying to figure out what the music was from, but as the music picks up strange things start appearing in the black. Eyes. Countless pairs of red eyes. Then they start coming. As they run I try to get a better glimpse at them. Heartless. You have got to be kidding me. That's the most clichéd thing to appear in a dream world. I mean come on am I in a remake of Kingdom Hearts.

I instantly stop the music and try to run from them hoping that whoever the god of dreams was could save my sorry ass. Wait a minute. I'm in a dream therefore these heartless can't hurt me. I stop, turn, and run my ass toward them at full speed, but to my surprise the heartless disappear.

Thank god. I think that the music may bring creatures to life in my dreamscape, or it may have been my realization that they weren't real. I don't really believe that without further testing I can't really know, so I pick the music from where it left off. They come back. Well, now I know that music really makes these creatures come to life. Instantly I stop the music. They go out with it. Now I know for sure about the whole Heartless scenario. I guess it's pretty understandable that things can be affected in my dream by music since it has such an impact on certain people. I really don't want to play any music any more though. It wouldn't help with the current situation.

I start walking hoping I'll run into something, until I realize that I can literally make anything here, so I literally pull a hover-car out of the black recesses of my mind. It basically was just a regular car except it had hover wheels on the under side that was kind of like the Back To The Future 2 delorean. I got in and turned it on with the key already in the ignission and I drive off.

It was kind-off boring after a while just hovering through this black and empty space. It was exciting at first because the pillar of white I think was an actual object, so I didn't know if the delorean would still hover in place. Thankfully I was not given a gruesome fate to an eternity of falling. Unfortunately as I got further away from the pillar of white it started to blend in with the grey of the world.

I kept on though because nothing ventured is nothing gained, because surely my mind wouldn't just have 1 object in this black-grey world. Eventually I couldn't see the pillar of white anymore ,so know I was just moving through the black veil. I wasn't even sure if I was moving or if I stopped at the edge of the black abyss thanks to no point of reference whatsoever.

After an eternity, or maybe 5 minutes, I run into people. Now imagine my surprise when it's those same fuckers that nocked me out in the first place. These things were probably from my subconscious which means they could try to make my stay here torturous. I pushed the cloaking field button that I materialized on the dashboard. Instantly I was just part of the same black grey. I slowed down the delorean because it still made sound with it's engine running at top speed.

As I crept slowly toward the pillar I could faintly hear more and more sound coming from the 2 apparitions in my imagination. Maybe they were talking about how to find where I was or just discussing how to quickly keeping me from the fun I was having. To my surprise they weren't talking about that at all.

Eda was saying," It's all your fault! His body could be broken and frightened in a place he knows nothing about! How could you just chuck him in there?"

Joan responded," Well, I didn't see you trying to do anything! I couldn't use illusions on him or any other type of visual stimuli in his brain! Wouldn't you had done the same?"

Eda shut her mouth as she stood in the quiet. Slowly and surely her cheeks start to turn red. "I guess I would ,but that doesn't mean we just chuck him in there. If he isn't alive, then we don't get another chance to play in the game. Your piece sucked a lot if I remember. She died the very 1st day." she responded.

This time Joan turned red, but with anger he said, "Yours didn't even do anything! He just sat there and stared at a wall because you didn't give him any intelligence whatsoever when he entered the game! Why did you even put an owl into the game in the first place?"

As much fun as it was seeing these two have a fight over a stupid game I really think it's weird that two apparitions of my mind were having a fight. How in the world could my brain have done that? I mean... it makes them  seem so lifelike. I crept slowly closer wanting to hear more about this predicament of theirs. "Can't you do a locating crypt to find him?" Eda said.

Joan fidgeted around for a while until he stated, "I would do it but I used a lot of my energy to send him here in the first place. It's going to take a while for me to recharge. Wait a minute ....why can't you do it?"

Eda huffed and turned around after she didn't think of anything to say I guess. Then she began doing something to the white pillar. Letters in strange characters began to appear whenever and wherever she touched on the pillar. After she made full circle, the letters started glowing.  Immediately they started floating off the pillar. It was rather interesting to say the least that my mind could come up with a way magic could be done. The letters then started to come together to form a sphere inside a sphere. They began to rotate faster and faster each going in a random direction ,but in one fluid motion. Then they stopped and flashed.

A bright light instantly appeared in the smallest sphere. It immediately formed into a beam. It was a surprise however when the beam hit my delorean. The cloaking instantly evaporated back into the blackness as well as the delorean itself. Unceremoniously I fell down onto my face. For a second there was nothing. Then extreme pain hit my face, my front teeth. OW. That's going to hurt in the morning. Wait.. Hurt equals pain. Pain equals life. Life doesn't equal dreaming.

Immediately, I'm sad to say is that I cried like a little girl. I don't know if it was due to the insane amount of blood pouring out of my mouth or if it could've been caused by the brash thoughts came into my head. Reality could just be fake. I couldn't be real. None of this can. Nobody can create apparitions out of nothing. I'm not special! Why me...why me...? Why am I suddenly turning crazy?

"Well... that's something you don't see everyday. A grown man in a ball crying his heart out. Get up man!!" yelled Joan. I tried following the advice of Joan. I couldn't act this girly. My manhood was in the balance. Eventually after about 20 seconds of crying my eyes out I got up and looked at them.

"Where the fuck are we and why was I able to create stuff out of thin air?" I could barely squeak out. I'm trying to stay in control, but when reality decides to ignore everything I expect answers.

"Noland, this is going to be difficult to explain." said Eda. She kept looking around as if expecting something to pop out at any given moment.

"This is basically the absence between universes." Joan bluntly stated. "Oh! Your omnificence is just a side effect due to the fact that you're touching the fabric of reality right now."

Eda turned sharply to Joan as I began hyperventilating. The absence of the universe means I don't really exist right now do I? Crap. Fabric of reality.... That means I'm destroying the universe with every step I take!!!!

"Janus! Why do you always have to be so blunt?!? Don't you see you're mentally damaging him?" Eda cried.

"Sorry. Geez why do you have to be such a killjoy, Metis?" replied Joan.  briefly stop the mental breakdown that's happening and try to ask a question. "Why are you calling each other different names?"

Joan stares blankly while Eda silently gazes at Joan. Inner mental battles be happenin. "Fine. I won't tell him, but how are we going to explain?"

"Alright ,alright. Noland, we are not who we've been saying we are." I guess that makes sense. Some people out there never want to use their real names. I guess since we're not with other people it's safe to use their real names or something. I honestly don't know why though.

"Okay, I can understand the different names situation, but why am I in this weird rift ,of sorts, between universes?"

Metis' gaze softens. She silently turns to me. "Noland, we're going to give you a choice. You can go back to your universe and spend the rest of your days as a street bum, or you can be our piece." She tells me.

Well, I guess this could be called the chance of a lifetime. I actually feel sorry for them. It looks like they're not used to doing...whatever this is much. "What does it mean to be your piece? I heard your conversation earlier, but you never really went on the details." I questioned.

"Becoming a piece is the greatest anyone could hope to achieve. A person, in this case you, is chosen by a god/goddess/gods/goddesses. The person will do whatever they want while trying to do the will of their gods. It's basically like that one game that your people made. I think it was called Dungeons and Dragons." she explained.

A god. Picking "pieces". It seems very familiar, but a god picking me?  "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Stop pulling my leg! Why would a god ever pick me?" I laughed hysterically while rolling on the floor. That was freaking ridiculous.

"Stop laughing and try to take this seriously! Who knows what your laughter could cause." Joan carefully stated. If these two were actual gods, then what were they afraid of? No god can be harmed. Unless of course, other gods were at work here.

"Sorry, but why would a god ever pick me? I'm just some random guy off the street." I ask. Janus and Metis huddled together. I could hear hushed whispering. After a while, they both turned back towards me.

"Well there are certain factors that contributed to your choosing. The first being that your mind can't be tampered with. Some of the players have gods with them, so it wouldn't be good for them to be poking around in your skull." Janus says.

Eda then interrupted," The second reason is that we don't want to leave behind a kink in the universe that you belong to. You are nobody. A person that can be taken away from their universe and not be noticed." Well... that's really depressing.

"The third and final reason is because you're as close to the Center as we can get." Janus quickly tried to tell. The Center. Sounds interesting. "Uhhh....question! What is this Center you speak of?" I asked.

"If we tell you this will you finally stop asking questions?!?!" Janus yelled. I was blown back by the power of his voice.

The pillar shook as though the wrath of a hundred earthquakes were all happening at once. "Yes! Please don't hurt me." I quickly pleaded.

The shaking calmed down until it finally stopped. When I finally looked up Metis was staring at Janus as though she wanted to burn a hole into his head.

I'm now seriously doubting my earlier opinion that these two weren't gods. These two can literally shake the ground. The one who shook the ground is literally losing manhood by the second as he slowly began to look scared by the other. I'm seriously thinking that I should probably not do anything to anger them. When I finally stopped my inner analysis of the matter at hand, I finally noticed that Janus was getting hounded by Metis.

"Don't you ever try to do that again! After that display I'm sure he'll want to go back to his home. Apologize!" Metis ordered. After a while Janus turned around. Amazing! It looked like those simple words had made Janus go all teary-eyed. I could barely make out his whispered sorry. The only thing left to do I guess is show some form of mannerisms. "No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked all those questions to make you upset. I'll just only ask two more after you answer my other question. Is that okay?" He didn't reply ,but slowly nodded his head.

"Okay. The Center is the centerpiece of all reality. It's the original. We're all just variations of the same plane. Except Gods because we were created by the center." He mumbled out. Huh. The multi-verse theory was true. Surprising that is. Wait. "Why not just get people straight from the Center? It would surely be easier to do than get little-old me."

"Because Noland, nothing can get in and nothing can get out of the Center. There is no possible way for anyone or anything to do that. Not even Gods can tamper with it." Metis calmly stated. Huh makes sense. "Second question! What's different about my world? What makes it different from the Center?"

"The only thing that we could see ,that had any importance, was Obama Care. Other than that nothing." Janus listed. His eyes quickly shifted. Okay. Good to know I guess. Not really going to help me though because I have a feeling that he's not telling the whole truth.

"So.... What's your decision? We can't wait here all day." Hmm. Either stay in a world where crap always happens or go into the wild unknown hoping to do whatever the fuck I want. I think I'll go with Door number two! "I think the second option is better than the shit that I have to go back to." I answered. "Great! I'll just write the runes and you'll be off." replied Metis. She then began doing the same process as she did when she did a searching spell for me.

While she was rune making, I leaned over and whispered to Janus, "Dude, where am I going anyway?"

"Oh. We didn't tell you? Well... you're going to the magical world of Equestria. Surprise!!!" Huh. Equestria. Heck yeah! Best choice of my god-ridden life. I couldn't wait until I get there maybe explore the world, meet the Mane 6. The possibilities are freaking endless. While I was in my mono-rant about Equestria, I failed to notice that after Janus told me where I was going, Metis finished the symbols. They were rising . What happened next could only deserve this awesome song.

The symbols began to circle. As they went faster and faster, stars began to appear inside the circle. Worlds began to embiggen as the portal zoomed in on its target. I could just imagine it all as we were facing that planet. The vast ships sailing on endless blue around two main bodies . Islands speckled the East and West. Mountains loomed in the North. While, in the south a vast jungle appeared endless. I couldn't really see what was on the southern hemisphere though. We were facing Eques. How did I know? Something about it just spoke to me. As if reality was trying to drive the fact that this was Eques and to stop doubting shit. All I can say is that it's beautiful. It was almost like I could just look at it and figure out where the main countries of Eques were.

POV Change

"Do you think it was a good idea to push him in?" I asked. Metis turned around and glared at me. I swear that her gaze could make a planet come a flame. "Not really, but now we can't do anything about that. He's too far gone into the stratosphere." she brushed off. *sigh* Good. She's not that mad at me.

"I forget. Did we tell him about the new body scenario?" Metis questioned. My head went back to our previous conversation about how to get him to be our piece. I do admit that we had rough patches here and there in the plan, but all went well in the end. Nobody suspects that we ever inserted our piece. All went according to plan. Although I don't remember that we were going to tell him about the new body situation.

"We were supposed to tell him? I don't remember you saying anything about it." I replied. I know that the answer will make her angry, but what can I say. I have a really hard time paying attention to non-important stuff like that.

"He's getting a new body and you didn't mention it at all!!! It's like I'm working with newborns." She screamed to the blackness. Ah well. He'll work it out eventually. A new body is a fragile thing if you're not used to it. Even more so, when you have powers you're not supposed to have. Thankfully we put him somewhere where he can't mess anything up than it already is.

"Noland is rather interesting. With no practice whatsoever he blocked any magic I tried to do. He really is one big conundrum." I stated.

"I agree, but it didn't seem like he blocked your magic. It looked like he literally sucked it into his soul." Metis calmly explained.

"Metis, you're weird. Somehow you can see into the planes of magic. I don't know why I can't." I sadly jibed. Metis stayed silent awhile staring into one of the many versions of the tear. She was probably thinking about his rare condition. She was also, probably thinking about the lie we told Noland about the Center. We just don't want to go there and get caught by other gods trying to find pieces, but it was a happy bonus to find that world where some of the humans eat magic subconsciously. That will surely come in handy when he wakes up during Discord's wrath.

Seriously, that god is like one gigantic baby. Whenever he doesn't get what he wants, he throws fits. Although, he's good at parties. I remember the last one I attended with Discord. It was a blur of sex, booze, and meth. Don't freaking know how he got meth to work since gods can't really get high.

Hopefully, Noland will find out about Metis' gift soon. Mine is awesome, but if he found out about it this early in the game then he would blow our cover. A light flashes over my body. Soon, my entire body has transformed into a regular Earth pony. I turned to find Metis transforming as well, but into a pegasus. Can't really be anything else since all of Eques has some type of racism. Guess it's time to start Phase 2 of The Plan.

Chapter 2

Owww. My head hurts. What happened last night? I gently arose from my slumber to find myself face-to-face with shrubbery, dead trees, and tons of smoke and fire all around me. It all came back to me. Janus and Metis. The conversations within the tear. Equestria. Immediately I tried to get up. Only to have myself fall onto my face once again. Thankfully no teeth were harmed in the making of this stunt. I looked down at me and tried to comprehend what I was seeing. Scales. Tons and tons of scales. Crap. What the actual fuck am I?!?

As the sun set on a glorious day in The Badlands, one could faintly hear a voice shouting absurdities into the sky. All in all, it was a rather, normal day.

After my brief freak-out, I sat on my butt, and tried to figure out what the actual fuck I was. What's my face doin?  My hand went to check the other place of my body. Scales like a dragon? Check. Tail? My claws went to my butt ,and found a rather large protrusion. Check. Penis? Quickly my hand goes down towards where my genitals used to be. *Phew* Check! I don't really want to become female. It's one thing to lose a species, but to lose one's masculinity is.....indescribable. Okay, spines? I put my hands to my back feeling the ruffled scales. How about wings?

I moved my claws up toward maybe my left and right side of my back shoulder blades. No. *sigh* It would've been great to fly. I sat down ,and began to think with my claws on my muzzle/chin. Well either A; I'm a type of dragon that has no wings, B; I'm a baby dragon or C; I'm a lizard. Can't really prove any of those options until other sapient species are met. Now what do I do?

In all the episodes and all the fan fictions that I've read, all the creatures that exist on Eques have some sort of magical power whether it be passive or direct. I slowly closed my eyes and searched.  Nothing new was here in my psyche. Since, I don't have wings I either must be attuned to the Earth or can use it directly. I put my hand to the tree and..... nothing happened. Hmmm. No instantaneous change in the tree. Guess I must be direct with my magical source. Otherwise I might be here a while.

I'm wasting my time. Magic IS important, but if I can't find basic necessities then all the magic in the world can't help me survive. I look around trying to find any signs of civilization. Unfortunately, all I can see is dead grass and sand. I look up. There in the sky is the sun. It's just sanding still high above me in a straight line. Well, there goes the idea of using the sun for directions. Hmmm. I'll just go left of the smoking crater that was my entry point.

5 hours later

UHH. So freaking bored. I've been walking ,and there's been no roads or buildings for miles. Thankfully, the sun is beginning to set which means I'm heading west, but I don't see how this information helps me when all I can see for miles is dead life. At first I thought this was a weird type of desert, but now I can only assume that this is The Badlands. Great. If I don't find any signs of civilization soon, I will surely die of dehydration or lack of food. "What the fuck am I supposed to do!?!" I shout furiously to the sky.

My response was a sound that came from above me. I looked back up and there was a piece of paper flapping in the non-existent wind. Over and over it flipped and spiraled showing multiple times that it had writing on it. I waited until it was within reach ,and plucked it out of the air and saw that it read;

Noland's "How To Use Janus and Metis' Gift Guidebook"

Step 1: Calm down.

Step 2:Think about where you are.

Step 3: Think about that sight we showed you in the rift.

Step 4: It's magic.

No other options except to try it. I sat down and closed my eyes. I think it might help me concentrate on the task at hand. I then brought the two instances in my mind. A dark and desolate landscape filled to the brim with dead plants sat next to that wonderful view of Northern Eques. The two sights disappeared from my mind. Crap! Did I not do it correctly? About 4 seconds later, another image appeared. This one showed Northern Eques, but it had a nice little add on in the middle of a blackish, brown landscape. A tiny little blue arrow you usually find on GPS's.

Nice. I stood up afraid that the image would go away, but it remained. Hesitantly, I opened my eyes in fear that one of Eques' many beasts had found me. Thankfully not, but the image remained in my sight like it was on a visor I could pull up and down without fail.

With newfound hope I calmly turned in the direction of many volcanoes. Thankfully, in this universe my fellow dragons can help me. If not, then I'll just casually sneak into their hordes and "borrow" the gems that I need. Yeah. Guess I'll have to become a thief to survive the harsh world. What else is new?

As I began my walk, I soon noticed that little things were happening in my mind. Memories of the past soon played out amongst the new. It was weird remembering something that I couldn't remember before, like me going to Disneyland, of all place, with my younger parents. *sigh* It's been so long since I last saw their faces. Hmmm. I wonder f I can remember anything else. As I walked I tried to bring out more memories, it worked ,but with a small price. As I pulled newer memories in the older ones chose to sneak back into the dark crevices from which they came in the first place. Don't really know if that's a good or bad thing.

Stop. I cannot dwell among things past. They will only cost me pain or grievance. It would be better to try to be productive. With how I'm to greet myself among my "people". I looked at myself. I did rather seem among the smallish variety. That could either mean I am a younger dragon, or I'm as tall as I'm going to get. They both technically don't matter until a dragon points out some weird cultural or social norm that I'm to follow. After my ,hopefully brief, visit to the land of dragons, where SHOULD I go?

I have no set destination. I have no risks except being killed. I guess I could find a magic user and see if I can harness this..."well" I have. Until I can actually see a problem worth solving, I guess I'm stuck in Eques with nothing to do. I mean I could go see the main 6 ,but I don't really want to do that. I could set up some weird sort of paradoxical shift and disturb reality as I know it.

Also, meeting the main 6 is boring and could likely get me murdered. When I meet them they'll probably be like" Oh NooOOoo! There's a dragon. Quick blast it." and bish, bash, bosh I would become dead or alive and trapped for eternity because humans are possibly the most chaotic of all beings, second to Discord of course, so yeah. I'm definitely going the non-killing/destructive way.

I probably should've paid attention instead of planning for the road that's ahead because I just walked right into the mountain. As I came back to reality at its finest, I noticed that the landscape had changed dramatically from when I last checked it. Instead of the dead plant life, I was greeted with lava rivers that pooled slowly and basalt covering everything in a near 3 mile radius. Also, there was a MOTHERFUCKING mountain in my face. I quickly stepped away from the mountain to look for a way up it. Surely, there'd be fellow dragons up there. Maybe they could help me get food because I really need it my stomach's starting to get hungry, and I don't want to eat myself,

Unfortunately, there seemed that there was no way to get up there. That makes sense actually. What does a race that mainly revolves on greed do to protect its hoard? It makes it nigh impossible to get to it, but how in world will I get up there? I look around hopefully for a set of stairs or maybe even handholds. Nope. Fate just wants to fuck me in the asshole. Why would they put a staircase up? They have GODDAMN WINGS. *sigh*

I lean against the mountain trying to make hope in a bad situation, when something suddenly happens. My arm slightly goes down into the mountain ,and I hear a faint whooshing sound. There to the left of me lies a big circular hole cut straight into the mountain. I cautiously move my hand away from the button, and go over there to see what's inside. The first thing to catch my eye were two sets of stairs going at about a 45 degree angle up. The first had longer strides, no doubt for a bigger dragon to climb. Thankfully the second set of stairs was enough for me. Then I noticed the entrance It was massive. It was really massive. Oh god. I'm a baby dragon aren't I? Why else would the entrance be bigger than Spike's weird growth spurt thing?

Okay. Okay. Calm down. Be a man. Even if you aren't an adult you can still act like one. Time to take a course of action. For now, until further information's found. Act like a child. If you're to stay alive, then you have to conform. With a breath, I stepped into the mountain's entrance, and went up the second flight of stairs.

POV change

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A lone dragon with blue scales and red ridges, easing into his before-prime was flying frantically towards the volcano he called home. Now normally Crag was a calm-headed dragon, but the unspeakable has just happened. A Mage-Drake had infiltrated their home. He was pretty sure it was a Mage-Drake. Who couldn't spot those horn-like claws in the sunlight? Now, this normally wouldn't put everyone on edge because usually you could easily deal with the sub-species, but that was when they were adolescent. This one was one in its toddler years.

No knowledge was ever recorded that any Mage-Drakes had reached that age. It could only mean that this Drake was incredibly crafty, or that it was good with magic. Both of these options meant that this "dragon" could probably outmaneuver any situation that called it to be violent or witty, and if that's the case then the whole of the tribe would be in trouble. And so, Crag hurried towards Elder in hope that in his years he would have any information.

When he finally reached the top of the volcano, he looked and saw where he spent his whole life. The lava pits to the eastward rim, the caves that hoarded the separate hoards of many dragons, to the south was the meeting cave its magesticness only rivaled by its gem-engraved walls, and finally to the north was the Elder's home. Hurriedly, he flew towards Elder's home in dire need of him not to be taking one of his century naps.

"Elder! Elder! Quickly there's an emergency!" he yelled. Unfortunately, Elder was taking one of his century naps on his personal hoard that he always kept underneath him. His white scales shined at one point in his prime, but now they were dull and dirty. Years of impatience for lava baths had finally done him in. "Elder! WAKE UP! THE TRIBE NEEDS YOU!"

Yet another misfortune was that Elder, with his age. had also at some point lost his incredible hearing he had when he was  a youth. Crag was at an impasse. Should he use the one thing that Elder was afraid of? He would probably et punished, but this moment was dire. "Elder quick there's a snake infestation!"

Immediately the dragon opened his indigo eyes, stood up to his full height and yelled the following five words, " AAAAAAAAAAHHH! Get them off meeee!" Yeah Elder was afraid of snakes of any kind. He could face the most dire monsters of the Badlands, but he couldn't face any snakes. So when he heard those words he began rummaging through his pile searching for the one thing he cherished, a dull sword made of the sharpest materials he salvaged from a  battle, diamond dragon scales. Now diamond dragons are a rare sight. Usually, the diamond dragons are born and bred deep within volcanoes, their teeth were sharp enough to cut through anything except that black onyx, so when Elder in his prime defeated three of them, and made a sword out of their hides without getting a single scratch he was instantly ranked up to the Chief's executive warrior. Now he was in his senior year waving his arms about trying to get imaginary snakes of his back, his tattered wings, and his arms by rolling on the ground, it was a hilarious sight.

Now Crag respected the Elder despite him not being any of the "Seven Lords". After all, Elder was elder for a reason, but he couldn't stop laughing even if his brood-mate were there trying to get him to have sex. Elder than proceeded to stop searching for his trusty blade and stared where he thought was the intruder. "Who are you and why have you made me an ass of myself?"

*sigh* "It's me. Crag. Quickly there's an emergency that must be addressed!" he exclaimed. Elder looked at him. In his eyes you could see how old he was. Wrinkles adorned around his eyes as he turned to ask that one question that Crag didn't think he would like.

"Alright, what is it that you want me to tell me? It had better be important." he stated. Crag nervously shifted about as he began to speak.

"A toddler Mage-Drake has entered the secret passage for battle-worn dragons as well as for ones that have lost their wings."

"I'm sorry ,but did you say a Mage-Drake has breached our walls?" he asked. Crag nodded furiously. The Elder sighed as he turned toward the lava pits for that was where the exit to the afore-mentioned tunnel led to.

"We should best be ready for anything. He could murder our kinfolk if he's managed to survive from a quick death by his own tribe. Rally all the Onyx dragons we have, and if you think we need more summon me. I might be old for my age, but I can still kick his sorry hide back to Tartarus." he ordered. Crag bowed and immediately flew away to the caves that housed all assortments of dragons. They lived in a good home. Every dragon had almost a full hoard. It was a good life, but that Drake could end it all.

Elder sighed as he watched a dragon he barely remembered fly away towards the caves. He was afraid of what was going to happen next. It had been told amongst the dragons for millennium about a legend beyond ages. He was afraid that he was the legend since he has lived so long probably hiding and killing just to make it through.

Elder sat down and began to polish his sword with a jeweled rag he found in the corner. He was afraid that the legend was coming true. He was afraid for his tribe and for his life, because the oncoming storm may sweep all things clean from the slate. He was sure that the revenge of a thousand brief lifetimes was coming to bring chaos and destruction. As he sat there polishing his sword the wind decided to blow into a slight chill. Yes. He was quite certain that the one called Magnus was coming.