Harmonious Stronghold

by Red Bomber

Rating: mature
Tags: Original Character, Trixie, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Human, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 19829

What happens when a semi RPG-character shows up in the Spectrum Universe along with the monsters that has been chasing after him? A chance for the PHL and the united Equus to show off their training.

A Spectrum verse story that is coauthored between Redskin122004 and I with the editors of almost everyone in the Spectrum Crew.

A dimensional travelling semi-RPG hero was forced to become a dimensional drifter through unusual circumstances. He suddenly finds himself in the world of The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum as his next destination in the middle of New York City. He thought he was going to get caught up in a battle between the PHL and the newfoals, but instead he gets pulled into a battle between the PHL... and the monsters that he has been fighting against throughout his entire journey. Now he must work together with the PHL to fight off the monsters invading the city and discover the true reason why he's being hunted by them and how he could fix it. In the meantime this is the chance for the PHL and their Equus allies to show the results of their training.

A bit of spoiler warning: You should read the story after reading the Sanguine Meetings and Bloodied Past chapter of the main story of The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side of the Spectrum as that's how much the protagonist knows of the main story, but you could read this story after reading the Final Words chapter of the main story since this is when this canon side story takes place.

Published 2015-02-24 01:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-07 05:45:45 UTC

Prologue: A Mysterious S.O.S

Prologue: A Mysterious S.O.S

Prologue: A Mysterious S.O.S.

Celestia sighed, stretching her wings as she stepped out of the Scribe’s ‘lair’, rolling them to get the blood flowing after nearly three months of sleeping. She grimaced as she thought back on the dreams she had while she slept, no doubt a side effect of the healing she went through. It all boiled down to the regrets over her past actions; from her callous dismissal of the changelings, to her self-assured and somewhat selfish actions with the ponies of the world.

The soul regeneration had prepared her for many situations and had boosted her confidence in dealing with the war and any future decisions she might make. But what it didn’t prepare her for, is what she would do after the war is over. She had conquered her fears of failure and had come up with several different plans and strategies to win the battle; it’s just that she had no idea on what to do once she had won the war or how the others will feel about her when this battle is finally done. Should she still be a leader when it’s all over, even after her previous poor decisions that didn’t result in unity but in factions? Decisions that only helped so few when there were choices that could’ve helped many?

Like the recent choice she made about plunging her world into a conflict that would no doubt leave many blaming her for the loss of lives. That maybe she shouldn’t have involve herself in the affairs of another world. That everything would’ve been fine if she had simply didn’t try to help that man who stumbled into her land and the world would still be in peace… But that’s not the kind of pony she is. She couldn’t just stand by and let this man and his homeworld be eradicated by a great evil that claimed that it was doing so in the name of harmony. She couldn’t let someone suffer a fate worse than death, especially if there’s something that she could do about it. Because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself for the rest of her life.

Despite this certain truth about herself, the negative feelings towards her decisions have -in fact- seemed to have gotten stronger since her rest. Instead of being something that occasionally crosses her thoughts like they usually do, those thoughts tend to linger much longer than they need to be, so much so that she’s spending more time trying to calm herself down rather than relaxing now that her restoration is over. It’s like an odd trade off; instead of worrying what would happen during the battle, she’s now worrying would happen after the battle.

Princess Celestia shook her head, summoning a reflective shield to take in her current appearance, distracting herself from the negativity with a bit of vanity. She was rather surprised by the lack of lines around her eyes that had gathered and hidden over the years now gone. Her mane was still its normal shade of pink, though it now had the brilliant shine that many ponies usually commented on when she had her… ‘other’ mane style.

Really, though, she didn’t like it all that much; it had shown up after she was forced to use the Elements against her sister so long ago, and nothing she tried back then had gotten it back to normal. After time had passed, many ponies came to believe that it was her normal mane coloration. To finally see the pink she originally had was a blessing.

She thought back to her old mane style, and for just a moment, the sneer of the true enemy flashed across the reflection, causing the princess to narrow her eyes in annoyance and frustration. This is getting out of hand; if she kept thinking like this, then there was a chance she would indeed become very much like her counterpart.

It’s about high time she talked to someone about this. Perhaps her sister and maybe even her favorite student would help her rein in those thoughts. But would their opinions actually help her in what she’s feeling? Would they be able understand the consequences and feelings that come from deciding to interfere with an entirely different world? If only there was someone she could talk to whom has made choices on that grand of a scale as well. Though there is one person she could talk to about this, but he likes to appear whenever someone least expects it, which makes finding him more difficult. Besides, it might not be the best idea to talk to the one who opened her eyes about her shortsightedness about that just yet, maybe-

“Princess Celestia…”

A faint voice called out to her, which sounded very familiar. Was that her own voice?

“Celestia…”

Could it be the Queen? But that’s impossible! Discord made it so she couldn’t communicate with her like this anymore. Did she find a way to bypass his spell?

“Celestia, please listen to me…”

Is that really the same one that talked to her on the first day she met Marcus? It didn’t sound like the Queen, who was snide and arrogant; this voice sounded sincere, worried, and strangely more humble.

“I know how it sounds... kind of strange to be hearing someone call you with your own voice like that, and I understand that you don’t trust me, as this spell only allows me sense your feelings, but not your words. But would you please listen to me? It’s very important.”

Queen or no Queen, it seems like the best idea is to hear this other voice out. But Princess Celestia wondered if she should call for help, just in case it was a trap. However, in the time she thought about trying to do something to alert her friends about this, the voice continued.

“I need you to help out a kind friend of mine. It may sound surprising to you, but he’s a human who goes by the name of Jarél.”

A Princess Celestia that wants her to help a human? It would certainly be strange for the Queen to use a human to help her, given her utter disdain for anything that’s not a pony. But then again, there are humans who are blind to the truth of the Queen’s nature, and would gladly help her in her conquest of their kind back on Earth. She’d better listen very carefully as for why she would be asking for her help.

“In a few minutes he’ll appear in your world and when he does another portal will open up somewhere around your world. Possibly in even your Equestria. You see, I gave him a farewell gift before he left my world, as a thank you for giving us a foothold in eradicating the barrier that would have destroyed our Earth.”

A human with an ability to destroy a barrier, just what kind of human is he and why would he be teleporting to this world?

“This gift allows me to track him, in a way. Once he gets close to a world that’s similar to mine, it’ll allow me to communicate with the Celestia that resides in this world, but only before he appears in that world. Because the portal he’s about to enter your world from will immediately seal itself as soon as he steps foot into your world, I won’t be able to communicate with you anymore. Before that happens, I need to tell you what you should do if you want him to get rid of the barrier of your world, and so the humans should no longer need to go into Conversion Bureaus to enter your Equestria.”

Wait, what? Did the other Celestia think SHE has Conversion Bureaus in her world? Why would she assume that, is it because of-

“I’m sorry for confusing you Celestia, but I must hurry and tell you what you need to do to help Jarél before he arrives in your world and help him in a way that I couldn’t in the time he stayed in my world. There are some things I needed to tell him now that I know more about the portals he uses to enter other worlds. But first, I need you to recognize how the magic of the portal feels. Jarél and the portal share similar energies; it’s very faint, I didn’t feel it until I examined the portal’s magic myself.”

Before Celestia could protest, she was suddenly aware of a strange presence in Equus that wasn’t there before. After checking herself over with a magical scan, she was glad that she found that nothing was different about her and even happier that she checked herself when she exited the “lair” by herself to compare the differences. The only difference is that she’s aware of another energy she didn’t know of before and that’s it. The other Celestia must really be in a hurry though.

“I’m sorry, I just need you to realize how different Jarél and the portal is when they appear in your world and how they are connected. Because I need you to…”

“… do this”

“find out…”

“a little odd…”

“… and maybe”

“… And that’s all I need to say. Its good timing too; I’m about to lose my connection with you. Please help him, and tell him if he could ever return to my world with his friends like he said, that we would welcome their help.”

And with that, the mysterious presence that came with the voice vanished from Celestia’s mind. There were several things to think about: the mysterious human Jarél and the portal. Why did he have to pass through this world? What should she do when he arrives, how would the others react to his presence?

And the most troubling thing was how the other Celestia thought she had Conversion Bureaus in her own world? Unfortunately, she only had time to think about one of those things as a brand new presence appeared in Equestria.

Chapter 1: Interference on the Other Side of the Spectrum

Chapter 1: Interference on the Other Side of the Spectrum

Harmonious Stronghold

Chapter 1: Interference on the Other Side of the Spectrum

Hello, my name is Jarél Saunders, I’m a hero from Earth and one of the greatest dimensional travelers.

Well, I used to be until I was dragged into an unknown portal that appeared from nowhere, which separated me from my only means to travel between worlds freely, so now I’m more like a dimensional drifter. Anyway, I better just give a quick rundown about myself first before continuing on with my story. What happened is that I somehow got dragged into a portal to Equestria, the land where the fabled show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic takes place. But I didn’t just end up in one Equestria, I’ve ended up being teleported through several Equestrias since the start of my “journey,” each with their own rules and realities. I even had several adventures in some of the Equestrias. Sound like a dream come true, right?

Sorta yes, sorta no. Turns out not every Equestria is a happy place. I actually had to escape from some of them as well, as some of them are pretty bad or “absorby.” In fact I just escaped from a bad Equestria just now, and I hope that by going through portal after portal I’ll end up home back to my family, friends, and my girlfriend. Though I eventually found out the cause of my teleporting problems and I made a vow to try and stop it and I hope that by stopping whatever it was that’s doing all of this to me, will lead me closer to home. It looks like my next stop is about here as I’m about to leave this endless purple space to another hole.

There’s a lot of white around here. And there’s the familiar feeling of being carried gently by the wind or something. In fact there’s a small place in the whiteness to put the “Now Loading” icon in that corner over there. Okay I think I’m ready, I’m being pulled in by something.

And then I find something beneath my feet. It seems solid enough. Slowly, I can see a room coming into my vision.

Looking around I think I might be in the middle of a hospital room, but there are strange vials on some of the desks here and there. I check the drawers and the walls only to find everything to be blank other than an odd picture with a pony and a human. Nothing that describes where I am. I can just hope I can talk the hospital staff into telling me where I am. I decide to look around for more clues only to find more blank books.

“Odd.” I mumble as I put the latest blank book aside, only to realize something that I should have noted when I first dropped in.

“It’s too quiet.” I turn to the door before quietly opening it. Maybe I was expecting the room to be sound proof or something, because I was waiting for the wash of noise to come over me… Only to hear nothing but the door being pushed open. I cautiously poke my head out the door, looking down the hall just to find empty waiting chairs and dime-a-dozen tables.

“Maybe they’re closed?” I think I said that for my own benefit than anything else. At least there aren’t any stains of blood or body parts lying around.

Yet.

For all I know it could be in the next hall. I hope I haven’t been dropped into the middle of a pony zombie apocalypse or something.

Alright, time to figure out what kind of world this is.

…

…

Welp, looks like I have to venture further than the rooms this hall has. I think I was hoping for a lucky break that one of the offices and exam rooms had the answer.

I should have known better.

...

I ran and ran around the strangely empty building. It’s unnerving to find nothing there, not even random monsters, since they LOVE abandoned buildings, especially hospitals. At least then I’ll have something productive to do by killing all of them and getting stronger and richer on my way. But seriously, god help you if you ever end up in an abandoned hospital especially as one as confusing as this. Unless I’m underground or something, some of the rooms I’ve checked out appeared to have boxes in the wall, like it was planned to have a window but no one bothered to make it. I keep running around the building, opening doors and finding more empty rooms. Normally I probably wouldn’t even bother opening that many doors in a situation like this, but at some point one of them had a dimensional treasure and a new blade for my sword. It was kind of gold and almost looked like a lyre, only the rounded edge one is covered in gold but the main part of the blade has smooth edges on it to be shaped like strings. Soon after I found that, I became less scared for the next couple of minutes as I started to look in almost in all the rooms I come across, or at least ones that are unlocked and doesn’t seemed to be blocked on the other side. Eventually I became hopelessly lost again and the fear started to creep back in. I was getting frustrated at the situation I’m in and started becoming worried if I ended up being trapped in some sort of haunted building…

“I feel you...” My eyes widen as I turn around, my hand grasping my sword handle in hand the moment I heard the sinister voice speak to me.

“Who’s there? Helloooo! Is there anyone out here?!” I yell as I stand at the cross way of four halls, quickly looking around but saw nothing. I strain my ears to hear footsteps, but got nothing. So whoever it is; is either ghost monster messing with me, or I am dealing with a master assassin.

That or I am finally losing my mind.

I must have stood there for a long while because I actually felt a shift in the air, and not done by the A/C kicking in either. I snap to the hall behind me, eyes narrowing as I searched the single hall.

Nothing.

“I’m waiting for you...”

I turn back around to see… something walking down into a room. It was small, likely a child, wearing a bright red dress… That seems promising and/or painful, but she’s the only chance I got at finding out what’s going on here.

“Hey wait!” I bolt for her, doors rushing past as I finally cut around a corner. “Little… girl?”

Nothing. Just an empty waiting room and a bunch of wordless magazines. I examine one, stare at its cover, finding nothing but a blurred photo. It isn’t quite blurred, it’s like an image has melted and dripped down the cover. The pages… well, they aren’t quite stuck together, it’s more like they’re just one mass. What’s happened here? It’s like a bad copy.

“I see you...” *SLAM!*

I should've seen this coming! Never follow little girls in abandoned buildings, they’re either demons or completely messed up kids. The creepiness was all but slamming into my face! I storm up to the door, preparing myself to be stuck inside this room for a time. But the door open up easily enough.

The hall on the other hand didn’t get away unscathed. The entire hall, once pristine and clean, is now littered with broken chairs, tables, and trash! The lights begin to flicker, and I can’t help but swallow as images of blood and bodies flash and vanished from my view in the same second. Those bodies…. they aren’t right. They’re twisted and stretched, skulls bursting out the front of their paper-thin faces… Creeeeppy….

“Hehe” I pull my sword out as I turn around to face whatever horrors was behind me, only to see... nothing.

Somehow, that was worse.

My body was on fire, adrenaline coursing through my veins as the hall felt colder than before. I felt myself turn back around, seeing something bright and glowing standing at the end of the hall. I held up my sword as it growled loudly at me before vanishing, but the fun just didn’t stop there.

Oh no, it just had to one up that move.

The lights turn back on for a single moment, clarity of the hall’s damaged appearance cementing into my mind before everything begins shaking, an eerie wail scream out as the entire hall quite literally warps and rushes right at me!

I pulled up my sword to block, waiting for the blow, shutting my eyes as the wail grew to a high-pitched shriek, causing me to finally lose my cool.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed as loud as I could in complete fear while I swing my sword in an attempt to slice open whatever coming from my head. I must’ve been swinging my sword around for a good minute before I finally pry my eyes open.

“What?” My jaw was hanging as the entire hall was back to its pristine condition, like nothing ever happen.

“Over here.” The ghost girl’s voice call out to me further down the hall. Not like I have a choice now, stupid ghost… Though she could be a messed up kid who knows what really happened in the building.

Later, while I went down that hall with all the dull, life sucking pictures and boring color scheme, I was expecting some downright terrifying monster to pop out of the wall and try to consume my soul after that little episode.

But I got nothing. No monster, no little girl, and no treasure. I’m just stuck at whatever place the ghost is trying to lead me to.

Whatever was messing with me just wanted to do it for kicks because they left me alone for a very long time. Luckily, the appearing/disappearing bodies and wrecked halls were no longer an issue, but it still took me awhile to get out as whoever design the building was a madman. I found no signs or emergency exits the entire time I was looking for a way out.

I think at one point the ghost came back, because the feeling of being watched returned, but at least I arrived at what looked like a lobby with a single hall leading out of it.

Along with fresh air.

Finally. I just really hope there are no zombies in this world I’ve ended up in, considering what just happened earlier.

I think.

I take a quick jog to the exit, turn to look one last time behind me before running into what felt like a brick wall.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I look up to see a man in armor apparently glaring down at me from his visor, with a pistol and machete in hand. As I got up I can feel my muscles tensing as I took a defensive position.

What the shell! Where did he come from? I didn’t see anything around here that looked like a typical guard post. Was he just patrolling the area? I unconsciously rubbed my chest. Frowning, I stare at the man, wondering if he is just a patrolman. “Uh hey, did you know that there’s a ghost in here? I’m not sure if you know this, but this place is pretty haunted. I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be walking around alone. At least not without a partner.” Unless I stumbled into some sort of Resident Evil plot or is he some sort of awesome ghost hunter, I don’t think he’ll let me leave without answering a few questions. Though I’ll be happy not to do it here.

“Discord’s kleines Horrorhaus.” he muttered as he looked up, staring at something behind me. I swallow as I follow his line of sight to see a bloody little girl floating into the wall, blood-fill eyes staring back at me until into slip into the wall.

“Look out! She’s up to some-”

*click*

“Thing?” I falter a bit as I while going into my battle stance when I hear the familiar sound of a pistol being cocked, causing me to look away from the wall and saw the man was aiming his pistol directly at my chest while held a machete in his other hand. “Try again.”

Just my luck; I got scared by a ghost girl, got lost in a strangely designed building -I think TV tropes got a name for that- fought absolutely nothing, and now I accidently a tick off a guy in armor who’s holding his weapons like what a player character in Phantasy Star would’ve looked like when they point a gun at someone while holding a sword. This day is just a perfect day for me isn’t it?

“Look, listen, there’s a dangerous ghost in here and it’ll be in the best interest for the both of us to back away from the wall over there. Or better yet, just leave the building entirely!” I say while I grip my sword tightly. After a moment of silence, I decide another approach would be better, “Okay, if you don’t trust me I’ll back away from the wall at the same time as you. On the count of three. One, two,-”

“Drei.” A husky, feminine voice whispered near my ear before I even move a muscle. “Oh, that little trick will be the least of your problems, meine seltsamer Hut Freund.” I felt something sharp against my neck, along with dozens of points all across my body.

Suddenly I felt two more points pushing at my groin. Is this normally the woman’s MO or something? Whisper in guys’ ears and then threaten their balls. That’s kind of jerkish and to make matters worse, the misunderstanding has gotten out of control now. I was trying to save the guy, not start a fight, but it seems like from the way they have me cornered, it seems like I have no choice now. At least I might be able to drag the fight away from the ghost.

Noticing the look of defiance on my face, the man swung his machete which ignited into blue-ish green flames and grew five times its size into an oversize light saber-claymore. Oh boy, I’ll be at a big disadvantage at the start of the fight...

As if sensing my intent to still fight back, the man swing his sword through a pillar, which which went through it with no problem. Heck he swung that thing around like it weighed nothing… just like me and my oversized sword...

…Great, this would be too much of a hassle to try take on these two skilled warriors. One that is invisible and likes pointy objects, and the guy before me has both close quarters and range, with the apparent skill to dual wield both at the same time if his stance was anything to go by.

Their power and skills are a bit too complicated for them to be simple patrolmen, there’s no way I can find a weakness without actually fighting them first… And no matter how I look at it, this will be a long and difficult fight. Especially since they’ll have the advantage in the battle if we start fighting and one of them is freaking invisible! The guy’s slowly marching towards me like he has no concern for his welfare or that he’s worried about something. I have to make a decision quick.

Well... if they are patrolmen then they are weak against only one attack and that attack is...

“I give up!” I yelled out without moving due to the knives.

“Aw, I wanted to see what he could do. I have these new explosives that I wanted try out.” The voice whined out, clearly expecting me to do something beyond stupid. The voice was pulling away, but the pointy things were still in place. I saw what look like a shimmer of light, and I immediately thought of the Halo camouflage the Elites used. Instead of a hulking alien monster or some sort of skin-tight suit hottie, I saw a pony, a light green pegasus pony.

“Enough. What do you think?” The man’s voice was chilling, causing me to grimace at his tone directed at me. “Interrogation?”

“Maybe…” The green pegasus trot before me… How in the world was she holding the blades? Wait a minute, there’s some sort invincible magical energy connecting her to the knives, has she been concealing herself with magic?! “I haven’t had a good interrogation since Green Fields.”

“I.. Please, I didn’t do anything wrong. I am just lost.”

“Lost you say?” she tap her chin with her hoof. “How did you get lost here? Of all places?”

“Um, well… would you believe me if I told you I came from a different world?” I gave a nervous chuckle, only to stop as the dagger was now pointing at my right eye.

“Oh, that is a very poor answer.” She chuckle, “And then you will tell me that you have no idea what is going on. I don’t believe you.”

“What are you thinking?” The armor man asked, his pistol now level at my left eye.

“Perhaps a test?” She gave a small smile, as she began to walk around him. “Only a scant few will know of me, and my enemies can’t help but hiss in rage and despair at my appearance.”

What is she… whoa.

The green pegasus walk behind the armor man, and a familiar looking blue unicorn walk past him with a smirk on her face, domino eye mask and dozens of holsters for bladed weapons all across her body.

“Who am I?”

“What?”

“I am a mare that is responsible for many deaths of the Tyrant forces, many beings spit at my name for the destruction and death I leave in my wake.” I finally recognize the proud mare standing in front me, the so-called Great and Powerful Trixie, also known as the Blue Spy.

“Ah!” Before I could even speak, a voice pops up from behind the two. Only Trixie turned to look, the armored man didn’t even twitch. As soon as I look up I saw a tall white pony who’s a bit taller than the Major that has a large horn and wings. But what made her stood out was her flowing pink mane and tail behind her as if there was wind in the room and she was wearing golden horseshoes, (Or were they hoofshoes?) a crown, and some sort of collar. That pony behind them could be none other than Princess Celestia.

… A Trixie that wears a mask and does killing for a living who is partnered up with a guy in armor and a pink hair Celestia. There’s no doubt about it, it looks like I’ve been teleported to the Conversion Bureau Spectrum World. A world where the canon Celestia and Equestria is supposed to help the humans fight off the Conversion Bureau ones from forcibly ponifying their world. So that would mean that the guy in armor is Stephan, one of the elite soldiers of the main group fighting off the ponies, the PHL. I think right now that very group is supposed to fighting with the canon characters... But wait a minute, why does Celestia have pink hair, didn’t it changed back to normal when Discord helped her deal with the Marcus’ memories?

“I see you got here before me.” Celestia said to him, which the Major only nodded his head.

“Our thaumoemotive indicators picked up the energy spike in the section of the city. It wasn’t magical nor was it chaos, it was something else.” I couldn’t help but grimace at the news, the fact they were able to pick up on the portal could mean that more people are on the way regardless if we fought or not. “I am wondering why you are here though, Princess.”

“For the same reason you are.” Celestia looked directly into my eyes and I straighten up best I could. “However, I am here for him, for he’s the source of the energy and I wanted to have a few words with him.”

“We all do Princess.” Trixie wary tone couldn’t help but make me feel like she was waiting for an excuse to hurt me. Then again, I am the intruder here. “But this could be a trap, we already had one from the Tyrant, this could be another. A PER member she managed to convince to come.”

I felt a bit insulted that she thought I was one of the extremist members of that group. Well technically I’m not in the group per say, but I did remember running into civilian types and extremist types of the group when I was in that Conversion Bureau world some time ago. Heh, I wonder how the extremists felt when one of their own members went out of their way to help me, Twilight, and Applejack out of trouble and find a way to help stop the barrier in their world. I hope they’re doing alright.

Oh right, better tell them I’m not in that terrorist group before I get dragged off to jail. “Look, I am not a PER member Trixie, I’m just a lost guy trying to find a way home.”

In retrospect, I think I should have kept my mouth shut.

One second I was trying to calmly explain myself, the next second I suddenly found myself with the business end of pistol shoved against my left eye, under my glasses and having a flaming sword at my throat.

“Wha-Ack!” That was really fast! I can move pretty well and keep up with most of the more interesting people of the multiverse, this guy just blew half of them out of the water with his speed.

“I don’t know how you know her name,” I can feel the rage coming from not just his voice but his entire body, “But you are not going anywhere with that knowledge. I don’t know how you got to this city, but you are not getting out.”

“I-argh, I didn’t mean to-” I swallowed as he cocked the hammer to his pistol, and I knew this was going to hurt. Even if I kicked him away, there was no way I was getting out unscathed. Sword at my throat and a pistol in my eye, not only will I end up starting the fight being weaken, I’ll be blinded for a while.

“Enough!” A magical wall appeared between the both of us and pushed me away from him, causing me to fall to the floor and catch a breath, only to see Trixie glaring daggers at me, her horn glowing with magic and I froze in place, staring at her in confusion. But it wasn’t because of the magic coming from her horn next to the striped blue and white mane that matched her tail, it was her eyes that got my attention.

Fear.

I couldn’t understand why she was afraid of me, she’s glaring at me like I just ruined her life and the only way to fix it is with my demise. I thought I was supposed to figure out who she is. That’s what she asked of me. I don’t understand what’s wrong with knowing her name. That is until... I thought about the implications of someone knowing her name back in the Empire… Did... did she get famous again as a magician? If that’s the case, then if someone knew her name would she be recognized instantly?… no that couldn’t be it… at least not for normal ponies. I think the newfoals will be able to point her out easily… and they’re more dedicated to the cause than the average pony in that world. I’m willing to bet that these guys will memorize every detail of a wanted perso-er pony and will be able to point them out much more easily than a regular pony. If that’s the case and they report back to the Queen… ohhh, I see what I did there now….

“He is not the enemy.” Celestia says in her royal canterlot voice, which is… different from the other Celestias I met. It seems to be coming from everywhere, and not coming from herself. She is not even shouting like Luna does, but in a tone that seem to demand attention, which definitely got Trixie’s as she’s covering her ears.

But it doesn’t do squat to calm Stephan down though.

“He knows her name. He is not one of the 200 that came here.” Stephan kept on glaring daggers at me through the translucent shield. Why did I say her name?… Wait.

200? 200 what?

“Believe me, Discord would know if the Tyrant tried to open a portal here. I doubt she would send a human to do her bidding.” Celestia raised a delicate eyebrow at me, feeling appreciated that she’s at least giving me the benefit of the doubt…. a little bit.

“Autsch! Lower the volume please.” Trixie groans, holding her ears somewhat. Celestia blinked before giving a small giggled.

“My apologies, Spy. Still, you have no reason to harm this human. He is not an enemy.” Celestia ceased the magical wall that was separating us, but I couldn’t help but swallow as Stephan glared at me through his one way visor.

“Then how did he get here?” Trixie demanded, rubbing her foreleg as she looked back to me with nervous tension. I can’t help but feel sad when she’s looking at me like this. I didn’t mean for this to happen, it just slipped out.

“Ha ha ha!” I couldn’t help but freeze up when the oh so familiar and hated laugh echoed behind me. “Well, well, look who came tumbling through the wormhole. Like my haunted halls much? Created this to give the rest of the world how it feels to walk the halls of a Conversion Bureau, with a pinch of Nightmare Night vibe thrown in to get the mood going. But enough about my wondrous creation, tell me about you! How was the mares of the world I last left you in? Were they ravishing and all consuming?”

I couldn’t help but tensed when I felt him put his claw on my shoulders and gave me a once over. “Look at you! You filled out a lot last time I saw you. Also I was wondering why there was all these little things popped up across the city. Yours I believe?”

Discord pulled out a large blue diamond from nowhere and showed it to everyone before giving it to me on my arms. Which unfortunately due to its usual strange weight, causes me to fall a little before it just floated in front of me. On instinct I quickly took my sword out and open it with a quick swing, then a bright light gently floated to my hand.

“Okay, that was a little different.” I say after I grabbed it, turned out to be just a standard potion I use. When I looked back up, I saw mixed reactions of everyone. “Oops, I wasn’t supposed to use my sword now, wasn’t I?” I said while scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

“Was habe ich gerade beobachtet?” Stephan kept his eyes on me, his pistol slightly raised in my direction.

“That is a nifty trick.” Discord chuckled as he floated over to Stephan to gently push his hand down. “Don’t worry, Major Kinky. He is a good guy. Its a large multiverse after all.”

Major Kinky? I could only raise an eyebrow at such an odd nickname before someone else continued.

“You met him.” Celestia said with surprised tone, which Discord laughed as he picked up my hat and plushies of Luna fell all around me.

All of them with anger on their faces… I can remember the embarrassment she felt when things were finally cleared up, except, for the fact that Discord accidently shipped me with her which caused more awkwardness, maybe… Wait a second, why am I reminded of THAT Luna, granted the expressions on the dolls looked the same when we first met, but… no, he can’t be the same one that-

“Yes, I am! This young man…” Discord snapped his claw and dozens of arrows appeared around me. “Is a Dimensional Traveler. Quite the odd one, he is. Really though its the-”

Discord pause in mid sentence, a rather devious looking grin on his face as he look at me. "Well, I should remind you that this little house of horrors is for Nightmare Night. Give the ponies of the world a little taste of how humans do horror. Like so."

I blink as he points behind me, I turn around to-

"ARGH!" Scream as a pair of bright blood-shot eye suddenly staring directly at me, causing me to back up and trip over to get away from the floating, bloody, little girl.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Discord laugh out loud as he float over to the little girl, gently patting her on the head. I couldn’t help but stare as her dress lost its blood red color and mended itself, her hair becoming much more longer, and the now one eye I could see losing the blood-shot look, now resembling a fully black eye with a white iris. Weird. "Okay now, you had your fun, back to your room and to your studies."

I held my hand to me chest, trying to breath and calm my nerves as the little girl rush away, giggling as she merge into the wall. "What was that?!" I ask as I got back up.

"A little tinkering with robotics, a little hacking on ancient supercomputers, here and there and everywhere across the multiverse, I gain some incredible ideas for many pranks involving electronics and robotics. Nothing world ending, mind you. But I digress just a bit, Erma is my pride and joy, I spent years in between the void to get her just right!" Discord was speaking as if he was a proud father, though considering the other versions of him... "I created her to be something similar to several creatures I saw, but I couldn't help but be impress with their abilities. Nightmare Night started to come up and I had to make something that would give ponies a truly terrifying night!”

“What is she?!” I couldn’t help but ask while I overheard Stephan muttered something under his breath about troublesome girl and Trixie giggling at whatever he said.

“Erma is a chaos-powered animatronic, built with my own two claws and paws. She is essentially, an AI, with some nifty abilities I taught her. Though I did scour the multiverse for dozens of protections, everything from the mundane like viruses to the supernatural like possession and such. By the way, if you run into a couple guys called Winchesters, I suggest you introduce yourself to them via phone. They will likely shoot you if you start busting out magic willy-nilly, especially the short one."

"You... created her?" Celestia asks in astonishment… Winchesters? Does he mean THOSE Winchesters?

"I did indeed. She is my pride and joy, I must admit though, after Nightmare Night, I will teach her other things. I could build massive war-machines, but the technical knowledge to even be maintain by normal beings like yourselves would be far above your current standard. Plus, it would take a lot of time to even build one as capable as Erma within an acceptable timeframe. I had to build Erma within the Void just so I can prepare her without anyone interfering with the process. Perhaps in time I will give her sisters or even brothers, but for now, she will do." Discord look to the wall with some fondness, Celestia even gave him a warm smile.

Wait… Discord… made himself a daughter? This is the first time I’ve heard of a Discord explain how he even got one. Most of them are just content to let other people figure it out for themselves. Well at least this daughter isn’t… her.

"Now then, lets take a look at you!"

He took a closer look at me, his eyes changing shapes while he did so. Cid his eyes shift into the Sharingan? Anyway, I normally wouldn’t allow Discord, any version of him, to get this close to me, but they always seem to invade my personal space no matter how much I distance myself from them…. even his hot seductive younger genderbent version wouldn’t keep her distance from my fa-errghhhhrghhrghhrghhh... So basically I can’t help but cautiously pull back from him..

“You… didn’t fix that problem, did you?” Discord grabbed me by the shoulder, the seriousness in his voice caused me to focus on what he just said.

“Fix what?”

*BOOM* The sound of a distant explosion threw me off, causing me to remember that I was in the Spectrum universe. I was in a city that was about to be attacked by scores of newfoals!

Talk about bad luck. I hate dealing with newfoals and extremist PER members, they’re the only ones that can-

“Headquarters! Whats going on?” Stephan bark out, his finger to his ear. His head shifts forward in surprise. “What?!”

“Major?” Celestia begin to ask him what was going on before I hear the familiar sound of some machine gun going off outside. I draw my weapon and run after everyone else as they rushe out the doors to the outside world, into the strange landscape of…

Pristine New York?

I thought I was in Boston for a moment, remembering that is where the story took place at some point. I can see the World Trade Tower from where I am at. I look to the side to see a Starbucks and the District Attorney's office respectively.

The Conversion Bureau that we apparently came from was located where the New York State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, I thought it was from a hospital. I wouldn’t think so strange about it but I think I’ll probably wonder why the hospital, isn’t stereotypically all white, well at first, before I remembered that hospitals were normal looking buildings and not miniature white houses like the last Conversion Bureau I’ve been in.

The shouts of orders drew me out of my musing when I saw familiar military humvees parked before me, as well as ones I never seen before.

“Enemy units coming through the park! Light them fuckers up!” The dark skinned man, Anderson from what his name tag said on his vest, ordered as they turned as one. I expected to see newfoals rushing through the small park, instead I saw large tigers…

With scales.

Those were not newfoals, they’re monsters! The same kind that I’ve been dealing with throughout this entire trip.

I watched in shock as the tigers jumped over fences and benches with ease, quickly drawing near before they were ripped apart by the combine fire of the small unit before I turn to see Stephan rush towards the strange armored vehicle and began to bark out more orders.

“All units! Rendezvous at the Tower! PHL units, pass out weapons and saddles to all Equus troops now!” Stephan jumped into the driver seat, revving up the engine and looking to the others. “Gear up! We’re moving out in 15 seconds!”

“I will take to the skies!” Celestia flared her wings open, turning to give Discord a small look of concern at the monsters. I couldn’t help but wilt somewhat as he glared at me, like this was my fault somehow.

“I will make sure they don’t go outside the city. Keeping them contain is a number one priority.” Discord gave one last glare before he disappeared with a pop.

He... he really hates me doesn’t he…? Just when I was beginning to realize that he was one of the Discords that I actually liked.

“Yo Sword Boy, get your ass inside now! No time to for dicking around!” The man named Anderson shove me into the passenger seat, my sword barely fitting between my legs and knocking against my chin. I turn to see several troops, some of them speaking to one another in confusion, Anderson jumping on the mounted gun located in the back. The radio blared out, the sounds of fighting echoing out of the speaker as units from across the city were requesting assistance or confirming Stephan’s order.

“Patrol 12 at Battery Park, we are pushing through these things!”

“Williamsburg Bridge guards are 2 minutes outs!”

“We need assistance! We ran into... knight centaurs? Whatever the fuck they are, those bastards take a lot of bullets to take down, even with our stuff on hand! They took out one of ours tires and stuck on 14th street near Union Square! We are running low on ammo!”

“We are near your position, hold on!”

“The Colonel is making his way there now!”

Why was this happening!? This shouldn’t be happening at all! These monsters were appearing all over the city? They should only appear when I was nearing the portal in deserted areas and I was in the middle of a city, in the middle of New-

“RAWGH!” One second the street we were traveling was cleared, the next I saw two large monsters tumbling onto the street and wrestling with one another. Stephan barely had time to swerve out of the way of the two fighting monsters!

No, not monsters, only one was a monster I deal with! The other was a dragon! I look in the mirror to see the two disengage to pale at their size. The dragon was bigger than the large scaled cat thing, more regal looking with deep royal purple. His green eyes burn with rage at the monster before him but even he was having trouble with it. We turn the corner of Church St heading south and the last thing I saw of the two was the dragon unleashing his dragons’ fire while the cat gave off another roar that was pushing against the flames.

I barely had time to wonder the scene before a blade punched through the armored door, nearly skewering me through! I watched in shock as the door was ripped off with ease at the galloping form of an armored centaur. He raised his blade to stab me again until the same pistol that was pointing at my face minutes earlier was now pointed at the centaur.

*BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM*

My ears were ringing, but the bullets barely phased the monster, quickly rushing back up to me.

That’s enough! I’m going to fight. I didn’t have room in here, so I have to make some. The centaur tried to stab me again, only to get kicked away from my foot. I reach up and hold onto the small round metal jutting from the roof and held on tightly as the military vehicle roared out to escape the chasing monster. But it wasn’t enough, he kept up and gave his own terrifying roar as he continued to pursue. I still had my free hand, I swung my sword at the persistent monster, only for him to block it with ease.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the others in the convoy fighting the pursuing monsters, even our mounted gunner was busy trying to take out large birds trying to dive bomb us.

Focus! I swing my blade and found myself being more than a match against this thing! But this thing was strong though, after it recovered from being hit, it slashed me a couple of times before I block its stab attack with a guard reversal, forcing an opening in its defense. Afterwards, I countered with a couple of slashes with my own and finished using my Revolution of Earth attack, basically I spun a vertical 360 uppercut in the air while hitting the monster with my blade and the magical rocks that came from the borrowed ground. It wouldn’t be the first time that I managed to perform these moves on a moving platform, but it is the first time I was able to do it while hanging out the side a speeding military vehicle. I was barely able to hold back on but the combo was enough to push the centaur back but not enough to finish it off, so it charged back at me with a slash, but I blocked it and I found myself crossing blades with it fighting to gain dominance over him.

“Get in!” I hear Stephan roar out at me, I finally notice that he is moving closer to the walls to shove the several ton armored vehicle into the armored centaur and grind him into the building. Quickly, I swing myself onto the roof, barely holding on as Stephan ram the monster into a passing Burger King, crushing and grinding him into nothing. “I said in, not out!”

“Busy!” I cry out as I stand up and swing my blade at the diving bird, the gunner quickly trying to reload and the monster taking the lull in bullets flying to attack. I saw sparks flying as my blade hit the beak and send it spinning out of control into a low bridge, nearly destroying it.

“Thanks, Dawg!” I hear Anderson called out to me, not even batting an eye at me in the process as he finish reloading the gun and begin to fire once more.

Just what I expect from a mixed military group that had to face off against an evil Celestia, they’re able to handle the monsters a lot more effective than I thought. Normally the local Mane Six or other fighter Equestrians would be the ones to handle them. But these guys didn’t even falter for more than a minute before they began to fight back. I scowl as another bird avoid the bullets by going ahead of us and try to dive at us from the front, giving a screech as it did so while I ready my sword to bat it away-

*CRASH*

I blinked as the monster was gone, tackled by a flying blur into a window, I watched as a pegasus jumped out of the window and hovered before the hole. The bird was struggling to bring itself out before the pegasus did some strange movement and the saddle explode into gunfire and lay waste to the trapped monster, killing it.

“Yo Sword Boy.” Anderson called out to me, grabbing onto my leg, forcing me to kneel. “Major isn’t kind on the cornering. Hold on little man!”

He wasn’t kidding, Stephan slammed on the breaks and took a turn on Liberty St, nearly throwing me off the roof if it wasn’t for Anderson. What I saw next nearly made my jaw drop.

I seen the World Trade Tower before my involuntary trip through the multiverse, and I seen many versions of it after it began, each one having its own flair to it, but all in all, very beautiful. This one was no less so, but it was the amount of firepower being thrown out of the Tower itself that gave it a haunting sort of beauty.

It was a Tower of death to all beings that attacked it. The ground was a littered with soldiers as they fought against the monsters that dared attacked them. Strange puppets with weapons of various sizes rushed the battlements, only to get torn apart by the withering fire of magic and bullets, and things I could barely guess at. Lizards on the roofs scream of fear induced cries, and while several of the griffons, Minotaurs, and even Changelings seemed to freeze up, the humans and ponies of the PHL did not. They roared out their own challenge, shaking the strange spell.

I look up to see griffons wielding human weapons, firing at the scores of flying enemies, the changeling and pegasi protecting them from any monsters that got too close to them. I turn to see Stephan pull himself out the vehicle, his sword blazing to life and swung as a puppet warrior managed to get through the killzone to attack him. I watch as he calmly cut it in half, the upper body flying above his head and land behind him as he walk to the defensive position. I was about to call out a warning to him as the puppet pulled out a dagger, only for several floating knifes pin its arms to the ground before it was shredded to pieces. Trixie melted into view, her snout stuck up high as she flicked her tail at the dissolving monster as she trailed behind him.

I raise my sword, ready for another rush, but it was all for nothing. Any monster that appeared was all but destroyed before they even had a chance to get close, many of which was because they tried to go after me as soon as I was within their sights. Also if they somehow did get near me, watching as one of the scaled tigers managed to get close, they would only run into a wall of magic and get torn apart. I couldn’t help but be amazed at the teamwork they showed. Focused and diligent, they didn’t even seem worried about themselves, but more for their people still trying to get to the Tower.

I watch as Stephan barked out orders, grabbing griffons and shoving them to the sandbag walls and pointing down the street to the gathering monsters attempting another charge.

“Bad mofo,” Anderson gently clamped a hand on my shoulder, guiding me through the checkpoints. “So you’re the intruder?”

“Yeah, I guess.” I’m pretty sure it was pretty obvious that I looked… a bit different from everyone else. “There aren’t anymore monsters around here right?” I cautiously asked, worried that the whole city might be in danger.

“Nah. But good try in avoiding the question.” Anderson gave me a grin, one that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I wasn’t trying to,” I groaned and rubbed my forehead, trying to remember how I got here in the first place. Since not so long ago I was having a conversation with Celestia, Stephan, and Trixie, “So, what gave it away?”

“Aside from the funky hat? Sword might not get someone’s attention, but your clothes are not standard issue… for us anyways.” Anderson chuckled as he looked me over. “Pretty sure I never seen your ass before, and I pretty sure you didn’t come with us.” Anderson raise an eyebrow at me and my confused look at his last words only to grimace as he look behind me.

I sense a feeling of foreboding dread getting near me. It feels like Death himself is right behind me, but the sound of heavy boots in armor and the cackling of fire approaching me made me realize who’s giving off that vibe. It was Stephan and he’s very pissed off. Seriously, I can sense the anger coming from the guy’s body. Very few people can do that from their body alone, which says alot about their fighting spirit, especially Stephan’s.

“You. Here. Now.” He growled as pointed at me, Anderson gave me a pitiful smile before heading towards the defensive wall. I couldn’t help but swallow as I made my way to him.“What are these things?”

“Just random monsters… I can’t exactly describe what they’re really are other than territorial beasties that will want to kill me everytime if I get too close to them.” I sighed and crossed my arms. “They, seem to appear everywhere I go for some reason.”

“Why. Are. They. Here?” Stephan growled. Suddenly I just felt scared of him but not because of his threat but more on the fact that I don’t want him to hate me and I can’t help but feel terrible… this has to be my fault regardless and I don’t want any of these heroes to get hurt because of me.

I clear my throat to calm myself and try to find an answer, but I only have guesses, “I don’t know, normally they only show up in places that are basically deserted. I don’t know why they tend to do things like avoid people and only attack them if they’re near them, but it’s true. It’s definitely strange that they’re an appearing like that.” I explained as best as I could before looking around, expecting to see panicked people running away from them, sirens blaring, screaming girls. But all I heard was the sound of gunfire and the shout of orders.

Nothing else, like I was in the middle of a ghost town-

Then a realization hit me, “Isn’t this a city? A place where there should always be crowded people except for abandoned buildings and streets…? Aren’t we in one of those streets..? No wait, didn’t we went through several of them?” What’s going on?

Trixie snorted as she look out to the street. “Definitely from another world. No spy of the Tyrant would be such a fool.” She narrow her large eyes, “Then again, he could be playing a fool.”

What the shell? Why is her first guess about me from another world? Darn it I’m confusing myself, I did say that earlier right?... right?

Trixie took a long look before rolling her eyes. “He forgot.”

Stephan facepalmed, groaning as he rubbed his head. “Herr, gib mir die Kraft nicht diesen Jungen zu töten.”

“Oh, I did say that... I think…. Listen-” I began, only for Stephan to point his blade at me, thankfully deactivated and not a flaming blue-green lightsaber.

“No, you listen. Listen well.” Stephan’s anger was clearly felt in the air as many of the nearby troops backed away when he started. “For every soldier under my command that is injured, that is on your head. For every death, it is on your soul. These monsters seem to be targeting you for some reason while they are attacking soldiers we need for Earth. Pray to God that no one dies here today, as it will not be me who deals punishment. It would be Colonel Renee.”

The thought of me being responsible for the deaths of and injuries of these important heroes almost caused me to shed tears. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ll probably be referred to as “kid” to them throughout my stay from now on, especially since I closed my eyes to stop a tear from coming. I… I really don’t want to be responsible for hurting those men, I really don’t want the monsters to hurt anyone period. But since they are extremely territorial of their small areas, they would attack anyone who is simply near them and because they seem to literally appear near people, they would attack them right off the bat. Talk about irony, I tried to get myself thrown into their prison so I can avoid a needless battle only to be thrown in the middle of a big crises. What’s more; is that these people have to use up their supplies to save themselves from the monsters. Now it really might be my fault if anyone is in danger in their future battles against the Queen due to that strange monster invasion from their lack of ammo.

“Then it’s all the more reason we need to kill all the monsters as soon as possible.” I reply with determination, “I can’t let anyone get hurt because of me. If they all are targeting me, then maybe it’ll be better if I try to lead the monsters away from here, or into a trap or something.” I thought out loud.

“No we can’t do that.” Stephan replied sternly, I can feel his glare through his helmet. “Who knows what will happen. I don’t trust you, but I am not letting you out of my sight. ”

“Ah, you’re right. I probably would’ve done the same thing in your position.” I said after flinching a little bit and then crossed my arms and looked at the ground. “What are we supposed to do then?”

“Tangos down Greenwich Street, Major! They got some heavy armor sir!” A shout of surprise got our attention. I turn to see what could only be a horde of monsters rushing down the street to us.

Puppets. At least a hundred of them rushing on spindly legs and holding up heavy shields. But it was the one in the back that got my attention.

It has a large round head with four large narrow eyes that seem to split apart into smaller pieces to look everywhere, with a very skinny tan wool body. Its mouth is sewed together in stitches, matching its evil grin. On the end of its tiny arms, wrapped around in its tentacle like grip were two long swords that was twirling them around in a creepy dancing stance. It seemed to be it was just like the other puppets but because it was occasionally pointing at me, everyone knows it’s the leader.

“Take it out!” Stephan bark into a radio, and I watch in shock as it swipe its other sword across its head, sparks flying as it block the bullet with complete ease. I couldn’t help but grip my sword tightly as the boom from the sniper rifle finally reach me. It tilted his head, its main eyes focus on me before it swung the sword forward, causing the other puppets to race forward.

“Defensive fire! Keep them back!” Stephan roar as he pull out another weapon, a submachine gun, spitting out bullets to the rushing monster. Shields held up by the approaching horde held back the fire for a few seconds, allowing them to gain ground until a tall, lanky Brazilian man with a mustache and pale blue eyes rush to the defensive wall and launch a rocket at them. The launcher looked odd - a bit more blocky than I would have expected a launcher to look.

I thought a rocket wouldn’t do much to slow them, until it broke apart into mini-rockets and spread out to the rushing shield line.

*BOOM*

The rockets split in midair into clusters of explosions, reducing the puppets to flaming splinters. I hold up my sword to block the heat and force, as I watch in awe at the amount of destruction that single weapon wrought.

That was awesome.

“YOU WANT SOME MORE?!” the Brazilian man yelled as he tossed the used weapon away and pull out another weapon to join the fight.

The rushing line faltered and began to fall, but something leaped out of the shredding bodies right at me! I stare at the Puppet as it fly across the killing zone, blocking bullets aimed at itself as he fell straight at me with its blade raised high to strike me down. I barely had time to raise my sword to block the attack!

*CLANG*

“Ah!” My arms felt like they were rubber! This thing was strong! It seems way stronger than it had any right to be! I manage to shove him off, swinging my sword in an attempt to slice him in half, but he just jump back, fully focused on me.

I jump back as well and use Dex to scan the enemy, “Master General Puppet, an ancient Battle Puppet that leads its spawn into battle,” It swung down both blades at me and then tried to scissor cut me, but I slid behind it and sliced it a couple of times, pushing it back a bit. “It uses its flexibility to enhance its swinging power to throw off defenders due to its wildly unpredictable attacks,” Would’ve been nice to know how fast it could go when it does that as well, because it swung its swords backwards at me in a spin and knocked me away from it before I flipped back and landed.

“An ancient wizard built and enhanced this puppet with battle magic to defend himself. The ancient wizard dabbled in dark magic to enhance the puppet further, but lost control and corrupted the puppet. It killed the wizard and set off to infect other puppets with its dark magic, forming an army at its call.” Normally that would hint that it’s weak against light attacks, but I know for fact that sometimes, enemies’ weaknesses are not as obvious. I use my Wind Cutter attack, by swinging sharp cuts into the air with green beams, it only got hit by it twice before it blocked the rest and tried to pierce me with its two blades. I blocked it but it still hurt like crap!

“Due to being made of wood, its susceptible to fire. It is also weak against water, causing its ancient wood to rot easily. It mostly stays in the arid areas and stays far away from water unless it is in pursuit of an enemy.” I finally got what I needed to hear and I’m so glad that it was pushing against me instead of using another attack; thanks to that, I rush behind him and swing an uppercut with the sword causing a water pillar from the ground and knock it into air. That technique is called the Water Fissure. It tried to recover but I meteor smashed it with an aerial Blazeberge, which is a charged up flaming sword, though the enemy didn’t hit the ground because it grabbed the ground and flipped upright with ease. Gotta note that it’ll probably recover from the air pretty easy for future attacks, but that doesn’t mean it’ll always do that.

Behind him, I saw Stephan turn around, bringing up his weapon and let loose a burst of gunfire. You can imagine my surprise when the puppet didn’t even move when it only swung its free sword behind his back without even turning, batting away the bullets with complete ease. I guess the eyes were not for show after all. I held up my sword and rushed forward to try to take it while it was short one weapon.

And like everything else that has been happening in this world, I was sorely and painfully reminded that the rules have been changed. I should’ve paid closer attention when it first rushed me, because I found myself not even coming close to landing a hit like when I first engaged him.

It was playing with me. Keeping me at bay even when I was swinging as fast as possible while it was defending itself from the hail of bullets.

At the same time. It even got a few slices in while defending itself, my frustration mounting at the absurdity of it all.

I gritted my teeth as I tried to use one of my more powerful moves to open his defense, only for him to kick out and catch me in the jaw and sending me on my back. It slam its sword into the ground and begin to spin around like a top.

I shook my head and quickly recovered from the dizziness just in time to hold up my sword to block the flying daggers he deflected that was being thrown at itself. I look up to see dozens of daggers shooting forward only to be blocked by the heavy armor of its limbs or sword. The daggers that clattered to the floor quickly rise back up in an aura of magic held by a flying Trixie as she melted back into view. She scowled as she threw a carrot of all things from her bag…

Why did she use carrots as-

*BOOM!*

He bat the improvised carrot explosive away, rushing forward to gut Trixie. I couldn’t let that happen! I throw myself before her and tried to block with my blade hoping to-

*SNIK*

Pain.

I watch as more of the blade slip under my sword and into my stomach, not even slowing the thing down as his sword skewered me. I couldn’t help it as I stare down at the blade in utter shock.

How?!

No, if that happens that means-

*SNIKSNIKSNIKSNIKSNIK-*

It wasn’t done! It use its other sword to knock mine out of the way before he begin to rapidly stab me in the gut at speeds I could barely follow. I didn’t know if I was being stabbed 10 times or 50 at how quickly it was moving. It stopped for a moment before pulling both blades back and shove them forward together, running the blades through my body like butter and hefted me up in the air before slamming me into the ground, forming a crater from the impact.

I barely had time to even focus as I was in blinding pain while I bounced off the floor with brute force and saw a large barrel sticking out of its chest, glowing with a bright light.

“Crud.” I tried to dodge the attack but was shot by the side of the beam. The way I was being hit by it reminded me of the beam attacks Smash Bros as I was stunlocked by the beam and it felt like I was being rapidly punched by multiple energy fists before I was knocked away when it was over. It’s a good thing I’m not in that world, otherwise I would’ve quickly been thrown out of bounds, but instead I slowly flew over the air which gave me time to flip back and heal myself with my light magic. Which caused a bright blue magical glow to briefly flash over my body before I landed to catch my breath. Man, that was brutal; I fall to a knee as fatigue from the quick battle finally caught up to me.

I look up to see the puppet charging at me, only for it to try and block something being aimed at it. Unfortunately for the monster, this caused it to explode and making it fall back as scores of bullets firing at it from various troops as they drove it back by sheer volume of fire.

“You’re still alive?” I look up to see Stephan looking down at me, his hand reaching down to me. I reach out with my hand and he grasp it to pull me up. “I would ask, but have no time right now.”

I was put off by his words, they were not filled with suspicion or anger, but relief. Trixie quickly gave me a look over, specifically at my gut before giving me a nod.

“You use magic.” She said as a fact, before I can speak further about it she turn and looked at the monster as it jumped around wildly, blocking bullets with its swords. “As Major said, no time. Monsters to kill.”

I watch as Stephan pull out his machete, transforming into his claymore while Trixie stood behind him, her blades hovering with her magic. It finally hit me at the change of attitude they gave me.

I saved Trixie’s life.

“Let us handle it.” Stephan swing his sword, his armor glowing brightly with runic writing. I open my mouth to stop them, but it was too late as Stephan called out to the others to stop shooting while he rushed forward.

They couldn’t handle this thing without seriously getting hurt! Well, actually I know they could probably handle it and live but still, I can’t let them fight alone. I got back up to join the fight but was met with a strange sight.

I was pretty sure there should only be one Stephan and Trixie. Not twenty. I watched as they ran toward the Puppet as it's head began to spin rapidly as the clones surrounded itself.

The Puppet General held out it's sword to block the incoming blow from behind, only for the sword to pass through as it was a ghost, several Stephans rushed him at the same time, along with Trixies with floating daggers right behind him.

I couldn’t let them keep fighting it alone even though they say they’ll handle it, so I tried to join in only for several soldiers to grab me. "Best you stay out of this." A Soldier with a french accent told me. "You will only get in the way."

I wanted to retort that but as I saw the illusions began to 'hack' at the monsters, I realized that none of them ever ran through each other. It was perfectly coordinate attacks that left no clue to where the real ones were located. All the while daggers were gouging out the crystals eyes while Stephan’s attacks began to appear on its body, but it was still going. I couldn’t see it but I could tell Stephan was getting annoyed that the thing was still in one piece and not in flaming pieces on the ground.

I watch as several Stephans pull back, pulling out their pistols to take aim while others took up a defensive stance. The General begin to spin its blades while spinning its body in an attempt to block from all directions, only to stop in place and struggle to free itself from nothing.

"What..."

"Enchanted garrott wires. Invisible to all eyes aside from the caster, charmed to keep the blood off it, and easy to pack.” Trixie’s voices echoed around the plaza. "Extremely durable, which is a nice bonus."

Nice, she is throwing her voice everywhere, to further confuse the monster and she could be invisible for all I knew. Though I’m not exactly sure why she explained it to me or explain it in the first place, other than a certain possibility that she’s probably enjoying the fact that I was in awe of her “performance.” Anyway, I hold up my sword, ready to finish it off before it can cause more havoc to the area until it stopped in place a gave a…

Roar?

I am not sure how to describe it, it was almost silent, but I could see the air rippling from it as it was screeching a terrifying wail. I blinked as several Stephans suddenly blink out of view, arrows punching through the concrete with ease. I barely had time to pull my own blade back to block one and I turn to expect several of the PHL members to be seriously injured by the surprise attack.

None of them hit the ground. They were hit, each one aimed at the heart, it was then I noticed it. Their armor, they’re not the same as the armor I’ve seen in other worlds, nor were they military standard that most militaries field. No, this was magical armor- No, that wasn’t right either. It’s a blend of science of magecraft, seeing as the stuff they were wearing are not simple metals hammered into shape and not looking like they stepped out of a steampunk era.

Stephan didn’t even budge, heck I don’t think he even noticed the hit as he was still swinging his sword to try and cut the monster in half as it broke free from its bindings. Trixie dropped the illusions and began to help Stephan by stabbing into its joints, trying to find a way to slow it down enough to finish it off which only helped Stephan score a few more hits on the enemy, but not enough to kill it yet.

I wanted to join the fray pretty badly, but considering they’re “realistic” and are in the dark that allies can’t “technically” hurt me in battle, I have a good feeling they wouldn’t appreciate me getting in their way.

It seems like Trixie and Stephan was about to overtake the leader with their teamwork, but both of their weapons were blocked by two puppets wielding weapons that appeared to be the opposites of theirs.

Well, for Stephan’s opponent, it was less blocking and more like sacrificing itself to the flaming claymore as it didn’t even slow down when it held up its axe and got cut in half for its trouble. Trixie’s wasn’t far behind, even with her knives blocked by a puppet’s standard sword and shield, it did little more than slow the mare down as she begin to systematically destroy it with her dozens of blades and rip it apart.

But it was enough to pause the dual trained killers, as many more puppets began to arrive; forcing them to fall back as more puppets slithered in from the army fighting the PHL to assist their allies. Another swordsman and axeman arrived just as their comrades fell apart, effectively replacing the two.

Stephan dodged a blow from the heavy axe enemy and ignored it to hit the swordsman one with a slice of his claymore while Trixie attacked the axeman puppet with several of her knives. Both opponents tried to counter attack but Stephan and Trixie and jumped back in sync gaining quite a distance from them and forcing their opponents to chase after them, while the reinforcements struggled to keep up with them.

I was about to jump in to help the two until a large shadow appeared under the General and several other puppet reinforcements, sparking confusing looks to all the fighters present. Suddenly several tentacle- no- hoof-like limbs grew from the the darkness, grabbing each of the enemies in a dozen ways before sinking them into the ground. Then just as fast as the shadow appeared, all the puppets were spat out and were instantly destroyed upon landing, except for the General. Its body looked like a person who has several bones broken, but since it’s an evil inanimate monster, it start to slowly get back up. I look back at the large shadow after hearing some warbling and bubbling sounds to see a strange horse shape being emerging from the darkness like it was on an elevator. Then I saw the shadow horse starting to develop features, such as a horn and wings. It came in a form of a dark blue alicorn with a literal starry mane and tail growing it from its head and butt. When it opened its large azure eyes, it had a curious expression on her face, possibly wondering how it had survived her attack.

Princess Luna has joined the battle and when I realized that, I remember that I gotta tell her something important considering her proficiency with magic, hopefully. Though I know not all magic is the same in all dimensions, I just gotta believe that she can use this type of magic as well as her shadow magic. But before I got a chance to say anything, Luna perked her ears and suddenly blocked an attack from a centaur’s spear with her horn. The way Luna is blocking it makes them seem like they’re both frozen in mid pose, with the centaur stuck in the air and Luna using magic to strengthen her horn to block the strike

“FOOL!” Luna yelled at her opponent before blasting it away with her magic, impacting the building and vanishing into black dust to indicate its demise.

...

Wait a minute. I quickly took a step to the side and narrowly avoided an overhead strike attack from another spear, just as I thought: The centaur attacked Luna to distract me for its friend to hit me from behind. It was definitely strange that the monster suddenly attacked Luna for a surprise attack if the monsters are targeting me just as Stephan said. But it also confirmed what he said about them: the monsters are here for me and would do everything they can to kill me.

I begin my counter attack on the centaur by swinging an uppercut with my sword and knock it into the air. I use my Swallow Waltz technique on it, by using my sword’s Sky scroll to give me more control in the air as I sliced through the enemy once, followed by two kicks to knock it a bit higher so I can repeat the pattern once more before finishing with an overhead slice of my blade to slam it straight into the ground.

Unfortunately, the centaur wasn’t destroyed and it got back up faster than I anticipated, using this moment to slice upwards at me with its spear before I hit the ground. But as soon as it tried to hit me the second time, I guard impacted by thrusting the flat of my blade against the spear to knock it off balance, giving me the opening I need to cut it twice with my sword before it exploded into vanishing dark bits. I have to thank the soldiers for weakening it with their guns before it attacked me, because I’m pretty sure I have to attack it a few more times before it died.

Anyway, with the centaur’s death, I ended up witnessing Luna blasting a puppet away from her with a horn beam and simply smacking the other with a forehoof which killed it. Then she bucked the other centaur to death when it tried to get her from behind again. When Luna turned her attention towards the fallen general, I was reminded of Stephan and Trixie and I try to check to see that they’re okay, only to see Stephan kill off another puppet with a slice of his sword and centaur falling over from Trixie’s thrown knife.

Sighing in relief that they’re safe, I look back to see a couple of centaurs along with a few puppets blocking our path to the general. “Dang it, they’re protecting him.” I ended up saying out loud.

“And they’re about to get reinforcements.” Stephan said while closing in on us from behind. His allies were doing such a good job keeping the rest of the enemies busy that I forgot that they existed but I also forgot that they can’t do it forever as little by little more enemies are slipping through their attacks and apparently, we all underestimated the enemy’s reserves.

“And their leader is about to retreat.” Luna stated as I looked away from her to see the general about to stumble away.

“Luna, how good is your water magic?” I say out of the blue, once I remember the enemy’s weakness. Luna tried to say something but I cut her off while I was charging my sword, “The enemy’s weakness is water, if you can hit with your water magic we might be able to stop it and if you need actual water in order to do that, I’m all ready to give it to you from my sword, just say the word.” I said as I finished charging the weapon.

Luna scoffed, “I don’t know what you presume about my magic. But if you can unleash the water right now, I’ll be able to finish our enemy depending on the amount.”

“Okay!” I said as soon she finished saying that and unleashed streams of water from my sword toward the retreating leader. Luna started to control the flow of water immediately, making it dark as she use it to hit and kill all the enemies surrounding us before siccing it at the general. But more enemy reinforcements jumped in the way of the blast taking it all before being destroyed right around at the same time my charged up water went away and allow the enemy to keep running away.

Darn it, they protected him once again. I don’t know why but I think if we got rid of the General it’ll be over for all the monsters, even the monsters that are not related to the puppet. But the strange thing is that I don’t see the darn monster spawning more enemies to protect him, so where are they coming from? If only there was someone ahead of him to stop him in his tracks.

“Cover thy eyes.” Luna commented idly, confusing me for second until something leaped out of the horde of monsters before a literal balls of flames impacted the group, causing them to be ripped apart.

That was the last thing I saw before I shut my eyes. Bright light threatened to shine through the darkness while a ringing sound filled my ears, until they eventually faded away.

...

“There’s the bastard!” I heard someone shout as my vision and hearing return, the weapon fire increased while I rub my eyes to see the General rushing up the building by its swords, madly jumping to avoid the gunfire.

“Sister!” I look back to see Celestia walking out of the flames as if she was merely taking a walk through the park. Like many of the other heroes or villains who walked through explosions upon an entrance. “Did thy truly needed to use your own body as a weapon?”

Celestia’s horn glowed, throwing out balls of flames towards other monsters, some destroyed in an instant while others were thrown back from the force. “Apologies Luna.”

Celestia frowns as she turns to see a charge of centaurs rushing towards her, horn glowing with intent as they rushed with their spears, ignoring the bullets that hit their armor.

Until a trash truck came flying out an alley, taking out the entire front line and crushing them.

“Huh?” Who in the world threw that?

I saw a man walk out of the alley, an insanely large pistol in hand, shooting out literally explosive bullets with each pull of the trigger at the stunned group of survivors that just had the charge obliterated by a flying trash can with wheels. Who is this guy, I don’t remember reading about hi-

“KKKRRRREEEEEE!”

I look up when the sound of screeching caught my attention, just in time to see the General appear on the roof and throwing itself off the building towards him, swords raised in an attempt to cut him two.

“Colonel!” Celestia’s horn flashed and a beam of magic flared out, but the General twisted its body out of the way of the beam. The man look up, a scowl on his face as he raise his pistol up with the barrel in an attempt to block the strike.

I wonder how that’s going to work, is there going to be a shield or...

*CLANG!*

Wow...

He just blocked the swords with just his bare pistol. I’ve seen similar stunts performed, but usually when the two combatants are in close combat and right in your face, never seen someone block an attack when they are falling from several stories up with just pistols. I wonder what that large gun is made out of for him to even block it like that? Heck, his arm didn’t even budge as the General landed, pulling both swords back to attack further, but the man simply held out his free hand, open palm at the deranged puppet killer.

And blast him with some sort of strong transparent energy force that sent The General flying, slamming through several cars and into a building, and with little care the man walked away from it towards them. Was that supposed to be some sort of telekinesis attack, like how I was able to see powers of the mind or the invisible strings of magic when unicorns use it to grab and hold things? Is he some sort of psychic?

With a screech, the General jumps out of the building, swinging its blades in apparent rage at the human. The man stops in mid-stride, looking back at the General with some surprise, bringing up his hand cannon and let loose several rounds. The General give off another screech as it dodges out of the way, the bullets hitting the walls and parked vehicles causing small explosions wherever they hit, sending up powdered concrete into the air. The General clicks several times, head spinning as it jumped into the rising dust, hiding its presence from the powerful weapon.

The man held the massive gun, not moving an inch as he kept his eyes forward at the cloud of dust that held the enemy within. I look to the dust, unable to see anything until something came barreling out, spinning at blinding speed directly at the lightly armored man. The man unload several rounds, the bullets being deflected by the monster, pulling his head back to dodge a wild swing. He launch a punch of his own with his free hand with the General taking the blow to its body with a crack, halting his spin.

The General screeches as it drops heavily to the ground, attempting to get its footing while it tries to attack further only to get a kick to the head with a rising foot to the face. Which is strong enough to make him backflip from the sheer force of the hit and get knocked back down into the ground with a vicious blow to the back of its head as it barely had time to finish one revolution, the ground splitting at the hit.

The man reaches down, grabbing it by the head and lift it with little difficulty, aiming at its chest with his pistol and pulling the trigger, several rounds slamming into its chest until it managed to pull its legs up and kick the man in the face. He was not prepared for the hit, looking more startled than in pain as the General landed on the ground with little grace.

The General closes in and takes a swipe at his neck, the man ducking below the slice and unleashing a devastating uppercut at its body. Not quite done with the attack, the man somehow manages to keep the general from being thrown off, either through his strange ability or something else altogether, as he hefts the body with his single free arm with ease. A scowl on his face as he spun around and slams the General into the ground behind him, bouncing off of it like a ball until the man grabbed its arm and threw him into a building across the street.

It looks like that’s the end of the enemy… That is until we saw a puppet slither to its general’s location and then followed by several more after it, enticing a few gasps and comments of disbelief out of us. More keep pouring in the building until a big ball made of puppets burst out of it and floated in place in front of the recently destroyed structure. An endless string of puppets are being pulled in from almost everywhere into the sphere as if they are being suck up by a large vacuum while the sphere started to get larger and larger.

I raise Dex to do a scan on the enemy so I can figure out what was going on. It ended up recognizing the two kinds of puppets, the General and its soldiers, as an enemy pair and gave a notice that new info tied to the General has been revealed.

“The true power of the General is not in the combat ability nor its army, but the fact that it wipes entire armies out on its own.” The voice explains after I activate it, watching as the huge ball of puppets slowly begin to float higher. “The ‘armies’ it fields can fuse into a larger puppet which is then used to destroy entire cities. Once the destruction is complete, it will break down to single puppets once again to keep itself hidden and save energy.”

“Aw…” I groan as I saw more puppets flying up into the air to join with the sphere. I ended up catching a glimpse of the General with its main eyes giving a single glow before the swirling puppets enclosed around it. “Nuts.”

I turn to see the soldier with the hand cannons frowning at the floating and fusing wood and metal, before looking to Celestia and jerk his head. “Think you can send it downtown?”

“Of course, Marcus,” the princess answered.

Wait, this guy is Marcus? Well... he definitely didn’t look like the big muscle guy I first thought when I read about him. Dark, close-cropped blond hair, icy blue eyes that spoke of a lifetime's worth of hardship. Tall and solidly built, as in looks-like-a-normal-person-but-probably-looks-ripped-if-he-takes-of-his-shirt solidly built. Jaw is squared. I guess you can say he has the face of a father… Huah, it feels a little ironic, Celestia has the look of a loving mother and he has a face of a hardworking father. And of a leader as well. Boy, I’d hate to be the poor sap who has to meet with him before they date his daughter, if he ever has one... I’d have to ask about the runes later if I get the time, to confirm if what I thought about them was true or not. Since everyone was saying that they were a bad thing to Rainbow Dash without explaining why...

I look up to see Celestia unleash a fiery spell, only for the enemy to resist the attack, refusing to move from its spot, much to her frustration. Celestia frowns as it resisted another blast of powerful magic, closing her eyes as Marcus mutters under his breath to think of a new plan of attack.

"Hold." Celestia said after a moment. "I believe I have just the spell."

"What spell?" Marcus asked as he turned around, blinking as Celestia's horn glowing with power.

"Solar Nova." Celestia whispered as she release the spell. Within the pile of puppets, a bright light burst through the gaps before an explosion ripped them apart, a bright red hot metal ball flying down the street before impacting through the building it came out of and lodging itself inside another one behind it, setting anything around up in flames.

“What in th-!” I was barely able to keep myself on the ground as the blast wave reached me; some ponies, humans, and various creatures of Equestria weren’t so lucky as they topple over.

Wow… If there was one thing that I know about of each Celestia I ever met in my journey, is that there’s a reason why the ponies, and even bronies, revere them as a goddess, even if a few of them refuse to acknowledge this.

By all accounts, all she does is mostly sit around… but when she gets off her throne, you had better hope you’re not on the receiving end. She really is a strong magical pony, while one would think she would be a pushover at first glance, but depending on who she is in each world, the unlucky sap would know the true meaning of powerful magic when they get on her bad side or when she gets really SERIOUS. How powerful is a Princess Celestia? Well, one of them summoned a sun like a bahamut and threw it at me. I swear if I wasn’t the seasoned adventurer I am right now, or when I fought that particular full-power-no-holding-back Celestia, I think I would’ve been dead.

“Sister!” Luna looks at Celestia with wide eyes. “You never knew that spell before! I didn’t think a spell like that existed! It was almost on par with the Solaris spell.”

“I…” Celestia shook her head, “I think it may have to do with the Scribe, I shall ask her when I see her again.”

Scribe? Who’s that?

There was a groaning sound of a building that got everyone’s attention. We all look to see a large arm of a familiar foe wrap itself around the building next to it like it was getting up from a nap. Quickly, Marcus called everyone over -except for me- to him. Though everyone didn’t huddled up together, they went close enough for Marcus to describe his plan to everyone and have a bit of walking space between them.

He stare at the rising monstrosity with a critical eye before grunting under his breath. “Damn, and no heavy artillery either. Alright! Lets see who I got.”

He looked to the group following him. “I got two Alicorns, Stephan, Trixie, a whole slew of tired soldiers and… a kid in a weird hat…”

Seriously, what’s wrong with my hat and why does he automatically assume I’m a kid?

“Got it!” he snapped his finger and pointed to the Princess of the Night first. “Luna, think you can hold it in place?”

She nodded. “I can, but not for long, as it seems to grow stronger the longer we fight.”

“That’s fine, we just need a minute or two. Stephan, Trixie; I need you two to cut open his chest. Stephan, use your sword to cut down its chest, Trixie will put some explosives on the edges to burst it open.”

“Got it,” Stephan answered and I pretty much waited for Marcus to continue his plan...

But… He didn’t say anything and simply left them to go towards Celestia.

How exactly are the two of them are supposed to do that when that thing was still growing in size? Trixie and Stephan notice the contemplating look on my face and gives me a grin and thumbs up. If it wasn’t for the situation, I would’ve nervously stepped back.

“Celestia, I need you to throw me at that sphere so I can rip it open. I should have enough strength to pry the metal ball open, so I need you to stick close by so you can unleash the most powerful fire spell you got.” Marcus relays as his eyes trained on the growing monster.

“The Ashes of Solaris is my most powerful fire based magic. Depending on what I desire for the spell to accomplish, it could melt stone and turn all organic matter into dust.” Celestia answers as I notice a small flinch at the growing circle of soldiers around them. Trixie look like she was slapped across the face while Stephan simply froze like a statue.

Well, it looks like there is a story behind that. A story that I’ll have to read later.

“Good.” Marcus watched as the monster finally finished building its body, now nearly complete with absorbing everything into itself with a few new changes to it. It’s massive in size, pulling itself from the building with its new thorns made of weapons sticking out of its tentacle hands and then it took several steps forward, making imprints on the ground with it’s new flatter boots made of metal, while its head was being form. Slowly but surely as it was finishing its formation, one giant glowing eye looking at us lowly beings that it could crush us with a single step. It also took the time to form a mouth filled with swords and axes, giving it a toothy smile at us, or more specifically at me. “Well, ain’t that charming.”

Agreed.

“Ready?” Marcus asks, giving Trixie and Stephan a sidelong look, both of them nodding. “Then let us proceed with this clusterfuck mission. Princess Luna if you will start us off?”

“As you wish.” Luna said with a smile, her horn flaring to life as she weaved a spell with a godly amount of power behind it.

The monster was just beginning to take its next step when its feet were covered in pitch black magic, almost looking like tar as it tried to continue its path towards us. It staggered as its forward momentum was halted, its arms reaching out to the buildings around it to stabilize itself, but these too were caught in the spell Luna casted. I heard another shimmer of magic out of view and saw Trixie growing wings before placing herself on Stephan’s back, then the magic around her horn flare brighter before they vanished from view.

Looks like the battle’s back on, I’ve been standing there throughout the battle, save for a few skirmishes, just watching the fight. I gotta get back in there. Even if their plan didn’t include me, I could probably help with Luna with keeping the enemy down.

That’s it! I’ll just use my Earth magic to help pin it down. I held my sword in front of me and magically change the current scroll on its hilt to Earth, before I ready the weapon behind me. I begin concentrating on building up its power as I made my way toward the enemy, running as fast as I could. I won’t stand by while everyone does the work! I could do it! I could-

*Plop* Run into a face full of wing. I couldn’t do anything else as the wing gently push me to Luna’s side, which it belonged to. “You’ve done enough for now.” I heard her say through her teeth as she concentrated on her magic on the enemy.

But her careful tone made it sound like she hasn’t decided if I was friend or foe yet, which left me concerned about what would happen after the battle and whether I should apologize about earlier... Anyway, I reluctantly backed up a bit and lowered my sword closely to me in a defensive position while keeping a close eye on the enemy. Maybe I can focus on healing them should they get hurt.

Suddenly, I see a flash of light appearing near the monster’s shoulder. I wondered what it was before realizing that Trixie must have teleported themselves several times above the monster to get a good lock on the thing. After all, it wouldn’t do well to be accidently fused with that thing due to a mis-port.

I watch as Stephan quickly begin to move on the wood and metal monster. Seeing him move is like watching a Jackie Chan movie, as he slides down to the neck area and jumping to hand-holds from ledges. No doubt the runes on the armor help him move quickly until he finally reaches just beneath the jaw.

Trixie is quickly pulling out several things from her bag while keeping an eye on Stephan in case he fell. I bite my lip, hoping the monster wouldn’t notice them, but it’s too busy trying to free itself from Luna’s grasp.

I turn back to said Princess, seeing a small amount of sweat beginning to show on her face as she keep the monster in place. That made me worried, Luna’s no slouch either in the strength department either, since on some worlds she’s actually stronger than Celestia.

But even Alicorns have limits, and this ‘General’ is showing some impressive power, though that’s probably because Luna had to spread her attention to multiple areas of the monster rather than all of it at once.

“Come on, Stephan.” I hear Marcus mutter under his breath. “This should be a cinch, you been through worse.”

I turn back to see Stephan finally reach the center of the upper chest, Stephan gripping the lower jaw to steady himself. I saw him turn to Trixie, giving her thumbs up with Trixie waving her hoof to him, dozens of small items floating around her.

“Showtime.” Marcus leaps up onto a caved in vehicle, slamming his hands through the hood. “Celestia, ready?”

“Of course.”

I stare in shock as Celestia levitates the truck beside her, taking aim with Marcus on the hood, a smirk on his face.

I look back to see Stephan activate his sword, taking a single small hop back and slammed his sword into the its chest. The wood and metal doing nothing more than slowing his fall as he cut through it.

The four story puppet seemingly froze on the spot, only moving when Stephan was halfway down its chest before it finally began to thrash.

“Hng!” Luna grits her teeth, redoubling her efforts on containing the giant monster. Celestia and Marcus both look to her with concern, but she waved them away with her wings. “Fret not about myself, keep with the plan!”

I turn back to see Trixie diving after Stephan, placing those explosives along the cut as she flew to the armored major who was hanging at the bottom of the chest of the General, his blade deactivated and lodging him in place. Trixie places the final explosive before reaching him, hovering below him to catch him. Stephan place his feet on the monster, yanking back to pull his blade free, Trixie wrapping her forelegs around him before vanishing in a flash of light.

“Ready!” Marcus barked out, giving Celestia a small smile as the hovering truck stilled in mid-air.

There was a moment of silence before a massive chain of explosives ripped its chest open.

“Throw!”

Celestia throw her head forward, the truck with Marcus shooting forward like a bullet, the smoke from the explosion parted as the truck slams into the lower chest region, causing the monster to jerk back.

“Rgh!”

“Sorry Luna!”

I just managed to see Marcus shot up before both of he and the truck were crushed into the chest, but…

Marcus didn’t have much of a soft landing either from the wild movements he was making. Though I think it was less of being in pain and more of landing wrong. It didn’t slow him down much as he quickly jump up to the sphere hidden the chest, slam his hands into the sphere and begin to pull. Celestia wasn’t idle either as her horn began glow with magic, the very area around her was being affected by the spell as her mane started to drift upwards from the force. Her eyes narrowed as she turn to fully focus on Marcus.

“Luna,” Celestia call out to her, Luna open her eyes, exhaustion beginning to show. “Once I am gone, release your hold on it.”

“Of course, Sister.” Luna managed to give a smile to her before her horn began to flicker.

It’s always touching to see the two princesses talk to one another, especially when they’re working together and agreeing on the same thing.

I look back at Marcus, seeing a piece of metal fly out from his grasp before he began to punch into the sphere several times before jumping away like a bullet. Celestia vanish with a flash of blinding light and appearing right when Marcus pulled away, glowing brightly with magic.

“ASHES OF SOLARIS!”

There were no words. I couldn’t describe what I was seeing, only that a small star appeared where Celestia was floating at, before it grew almost a hundred times in just as many seconds.

“BRACE!” I hear someone shout, before the backlash of air came rushing up at us. I manage to swing my sword in front of me and impale it into the ground, holding tightly while the backlash wash over us. I look back up to see the monster being torn to shreds by a miniature sun. Piece after piece by the hundreds are being absorbed by the light as the General Puppet Master is giving off a dying wail and then, just as soon as the “sun” vanishes, there was nothing but a huge hole in its chest. It stand there for like a second before finally dropping down into the ground as if it was in slow motion, while pieces of it float up into the air, blackening and then disappearing with blue lights.

Marcus was still in the air before landing a few yards from us, taking a kneel to soften the landing. As he got up, dragons flew by and he said something into the comm unit. But I couldn’t hear over the cheering from the other soldiers but he seemed to order everyone who could fly to watch the puppet’s demise since I saw griffons, changelings, and pegasi accompany the dragons and landed near the spot where the enemy died. As more species of Equestria fly by I remember something important that I needed to do right now.

“… Luna?”

“Hm?” She hummed in response while she watches the street with concern, waiting to see if the enemy had any sort of last ditch plan in action. I doubt it though, not with that spell Celestia unleashed on it.

“I’m sorry, that I tried to give you an order.” I immediately bowed as I turned to her and mentally facepalm myself for doing an anime thing like that. “It was just that it was a crisis and I didn’t want it to get away and,”

As I raise my head from that position, I realize I somewhat forgotten that I’m kinda closer to Celestia’s size, and stopped myself from looking up at her when she was actually a bit shorter than me, like the usual size for most humans rather than horses. “I didn’t mean to boss you around, I’m sorry.” I finished saying after I sighed while I kick the dirt a bit.

Luna raise a hoof in my direction without breaking eye contact from the monster’s destruction to stop me from saying any more than I had to. “I understand. Under normal circumstances I would’ve reprimand you for pulling something like that by now; however, given the situation, I would’ve done the same thing.” The Princess of the Moon concurred before looking straight at me in the eye with a serious look on her large eyes, which would’ve been more intimidating if she didn’t have to look up at me, but it’s still a nerve wrecking stare all the same. “But I am more curious as to how you know the monster’s weakness.”

“Forget about the monster’s weaknesses, I want to figure out how you know who I am.” Trixie says as she walk towards me and Luna with everyone else.

Stephan was holding on to the speakers on a walkie-talkie before a voice was called out “Hundreds of minor injuries, about a dozen broken bones or fractures, and two counts of emergency surgery, but those two will pull through. Looks like we escape this cleanly, Marcus.”

…

How can that be cleanly? I look around to see the human and PHL members giving bright smiles to one another. How…?

How can they smile like that?

I feel horrible, more horrible than the time I tried to help someone in my earlier adventures but only made things worse. Luckily things turned out well when I managed to fix my mistake. But it was still worse than that... And yet all these people around me seem so… happy at the news.

I pause to think about the world I am in and the kind of people that I’m with. These are soldiers, people who has been fighting in battles with more risks than I have ever been a part of. These people can’t bounce back from injuries like I can where in each of those battles, a single bullet is all that is needed to end a life. They’ve been fighting like this all the time, that is until the Conversion Bureaus. Now they’ve been fighting enemies that force their own allies to fight against them and they’re not like the potions I’ve seen in the other Conversion Bureau worlds I’ve been in, where the victim’s personality is basically the same, just not too keen on violence. Their ponifications are much worser than that and not to mention, it really just takes one potion to turn several people at once… I never really thought about it till right now. How many people did they lose every time they fight against the Tyrant’s forces?

I paled when I thought about earlier chapters, Marcus losing so many people under his command and that was just a memory. Even with magical armor and weapons were just coming out, the Tyrant forces would always walk away with new blood after every engagement. I remember that Marcus was losing before the story even began and it’s about him finding real hope in the canon characters helping him to save his world. But that hope was almost dashed because….

Two people almost died…. because of me… it’s my fault that they’re out two men.... and it’ll be my fault if it what happens today will really dampen the war effort later... At least it seems like there are no more monsters, so... so that’s good right? I-I gotta make it u-

“Alright, lets get everyone back to the Tower! You, Jacobs!”

“Jarél.” Someone corrected the first voice.

“Whatever. Come on. Lets hear your story, it shouldn’t be the strangest thing I heard all day.” Stephan said loudly, snapping me out of my depressing thoughts. “Got a long day and don’t want to keep everyone waiting for a debriefing about your arrival.”

“Yeah.” Marcus agreed with him, giving me a strange look as he walks up to me.

Wait a minute.

“Speaking of everyone,” I look around as I only saw more soldiers just closing in on me, some getting ready to raise their weapons, most likely at me, “ I-I’m glad that you guys managed to evacuate everyone in this city, somehow. I just don’t think I’ll… take it if more innocent people and fighters got hurt because of this.” I sadly say as I grab my wrist. Was it really my fault that the monsters were attacking everyone?... Discord seems to think so.

“What do you mean by innocent people?” Marcus questioned, taking me in fully for the first time since he got here.

“I-I mean people who can’t fight. Normal people who are not part of this army and are trying to live life as normally as they could.” I explained, but the confusion I was receiving made me feel like I was missing something important. “I’m still surprised a city as big as this managed to have no stubborn civilians trying to stay in the city, what with the big battles that is happening on Earth right now.”

“Kid, you’ll be happy to know that there are no civilians in this city…” Marcus started.

“Phew that’s a relief.”

“Because this isn’t Earth.”

…. “What?”

*Click*

I looked at Marcus, as he pulled out his monster sized pistol and pointed it at me, along with a dozen other troops who did the same. Celestia was rather startled by this change of mood, but grimaced in understanding. She was looking directly into my eyes and all but told me not to play for time or games.

“So that leaves the question on who in nine levels of hell are you?”

Author's Note

Wow, this is the first time I did a collaborative story with someone. It was really an interesting experience. I'm just glad that I was able to complete it with the Spectrum Crew's help. If it wasn't for them you'll probably be seeing a lot of out of character stuff from everyone involved. I'm glad that Redskin showed me the great benefits of actually writing a story alongside each other metaphorically speaking. It allowed us to bring out this great story together.

Though I have to admit right now, that if this story seems like it was suffering from tense problems, you can actually blame me on that part, because when the story was finally finished: I tried to make the story in present tense and man that was pretty hard. I'm thinking for the next chapter, I'll just stick to past tense since it makes things easier for me. Also, writing of plans about the next chapter, I have to tell you guys that this story really is a preview of most of the main characters skills and abilities in the main story. This means since the story is told through my post-adventure self-insert's eyes, I don't think you'll see much of the other characters' abilities as he'll be much more active in battle and the only time he'll most likely see them is when he finishes his current enemy to see one of them kills theirs or they're all fighting the same opponent. So he won't be standing there as much as the other characters.

Oh yeah another thing about the fighting is that some of it is based off the Tales of fighting style, at least when it comes to Jarél. The reason I'm saying that right now is that I remember that Tales of Hearts R for the PSVita is out right now. I didn't even know that until we're almost done writing the story. So as a random promotion to that game in this note is that you should probably go get it if you are a fan of the Tales of series and you didn't know about that 'till now. I think that's it for now, I hope you enjoyed the story so far and you'll stick by for the next one as everyone tries to figure out what's going on.
Edit: Sorry if there's any inconvenience while you read the story, I managed to fix the missing paragraphs now.

Chapter 2: Briefing Overload

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