Hunter

Chapters

Prologue
The Hunting
The Dish Best Served Cold
The Scorn
The Others
The Broken Boy
The Pawns
The Unseen
The Badland
The Mother
The Crystals

Prologue

Author's Note

This is my first ever FIM fiction I have ever written. It will get pretty dark and will be pretty slow getting up, but please enjoy anyways.

Prologue

The night felt wonderful to her. The stars that twinkle in the sky…The ambient glow of the moon, a light that was neither painful nor vile in the slightest; a beacon of the night... It always made her smile.

Of course she smiled. She was the ruler of it. She was after all the Princess of the Night.

A small gust of wind tussled her mane of night slightly, a familiar presence appearing beside her. Celestia gave a smile and observed the scenery.

“Wonderful job as usual Luna. You make the night more beautiful every day.” Luna sheepishly nodded her head. Celestia had been giving her remarks and praise of the nights lately.

Many years had passed since Luna’s return from banishment. Things had grown distant between the once close siblings. Things have been very…awkward, to say the least, between them. Of course, they do not show this apprehension to the public; things could get restless.

The turmoil between the sisters wasn’t even the surface of the problems of the current era. Many things had happened in such a short amount of time. Discord was awoken, the Changelings attacked, Sombra returned, and Tirek had escaped Tartarus. These many catastrophic events caused unrest in Equestria.

Luna looked away from her sister and back to the night sky.

“Tis’ to be expected, sister. Night is the blanket of which I weave and comfort the lans with.” Celestia gave a wry smile, one of which Luna did not see. She didn’t say it, but it hurt to hear her sister talk in such old limericks. She did not experience how much language had changed the thousand years she had been gone. Hearing her talk was just one more reminder of what had been done so many years ago.

Celestia extended her wings and began to take flight.

“I will leave you to your duties then, sister.” Luna nodded her head.

“Fare thee well, sister. Pleasant dreams to you.” Luna said, whispering the last part. Within moments Celestia was off to her bed chambers, leaving Luna alone on her balcony

Luna stood there and breathed in the night air alone, as she had done for many nights before.

“Thy night is still young,” she murmured. “Perhaps I shall see what thy citizens are dreaming...” The horn atop her head began to glow a violet aura. She stopped almost immediately when she felt a small pin prick sting in her mind.

She blinked.

The feeling she felt was a nightmare in somepony’s dreams, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. It was the feelings that this nightmare gave her.

She had never before felt a nightmare like this. The magnitude of it was staggering; almost real. It was beyond unusual.

The feelings sent shudders down her spine. She turned her gaze towards the direction of the feeling; the same direction as the small town of Ponyville. She couldn’t help but wonder what created such a feeling.

Her horn began to gleam with a purple energy. She closed her eyes and felt her body melt away. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in the dream.

The princess of the night had to do a double take on her surroundings. There were strange buildings all around, all of which appeared very similar. They had a strange texture to them, one of which that appeared to not be stone, but not entirely appearing to be wood. She looked to the ground she was standing on. It was a dark stone. It appeared to be a single slab of smooth rock going on in both directions. (Note: Luna is standing on a residential street in a neighborhood)

Luna had never seen a place like this. It was otherworldly.

She held a hoof up to her head.

She felt lightheaded and out of breath…suffocated even. This place…The atmosphere…The deafening silence… It was so thick with dark feelings that it was making her feel faint.

She closed her eyes and began to wander without sight, moving towards the source of the dark feeling.

She spread her wings and began to glide deftly through the dreamscape. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel the landscape around begin to shift and change. Curious of what else this dream had in store, she opened her eyes and looked around. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Tall buildings with glassy windows stood high into the sky, some even taller than the Canterlot castle. Many of them appeared to scrape into the very sky…

Skyscrapers...

Loud screeching and screaming abruptly echoed in the soundless city, breaking the silence that filled the air to the brim.

She looked down to see what appeared to be two metal carriage of some sorts flipped over. There appeared to be nopony pulling either carriage. Luna gently fluttered over the site, just out of range to where she was able to observe the scene, but not be observed herself.

She listened as she heard a sound echo in the distance. It was a loud siren, one that steadily got closer. She watched as two white and red, box shaped carriages came rushing down the smooth stone road. She was in awe as the carriages appeared to move forward on their own. Even though there was nopony pulling either wagon, they moved at outstanding paces, faster than anypony could run. Luna assumed there was some kind of life spell cast upon the vehicles.

The carriages stopped just beyond the wreckage.

Several tall figures exited the vehicles, each one wearing matching uniforms. She observed them curiously. Many of them stood tall, several of them taller than Luna and taller than Celestia as well. They wore clothing all over their bodies. Luna wondered why, but she noted that they didn’t appear to have any hair besides what was on their heads. They didn’t have hoofs or tails either.

She watched as the creatures dragged beds with wheels and other equipment out of their carriages, moving in sync and in very trained manners. She watched as they started pulling bodies out of the flipped carriages. They pulled what looked like a young boy from the wreck and made attempts to put him on one of the mobile beds. He was crying and fighting, screaming curses and blasphemy so vulgar it made the princess’s face flush. Luna took a closer look at the boy and choked down a gasp.

A large piece of metal skewed all the way through the boy’s midsection, painting his clothes with red. He appeared to have a dark eyepatch over his left eye. How he was alive, even more to how he was fighting, was beyond the princess.

The boy stopped struggling when one of the tall creatures shoved a needle in his arm, flooding his veins with a clear liquid. He stopped kicking almost immediately. He looked up just as his eyes were fluttering shut. Luna couldn’t move out of the way fast enough.

He saw her.

He woke up.

He didn’t wake up in the literal sense, as he was still sleeping. Rather, when somepony saw the Princess of the night in their dreams, they always, regardless of who, immediately became aware that they were dreaming; it didn’t matter if they knew who Luna was or what she could do.

In almost all cases, this did not matter. In fact, it made the calming of the dreamer easier for the princess.

However… This was not a normal creature.

The boy moved so quick that his movements were merely blurs. The boy was standing on the bed immediately. He fazed through the hands of those that were trying to restrain him. He stood up and ripped the piece of debris out of his body. The metal became an arrow. He reached behind himself into nothingness and pulled out a strange looking bow. He notched the arrow, pulled back, and released. The princess couldn’t even react before it happened.

Luna screamed as she awoke. She was breathing heavy, a veil of sweat covering her body. She was shaking.

She put a hoof to her head and tried to calm herself to no avail.

“What...was that creature…?” she muttered, still gasping for breath.

Never before had that happened. Never before has Luna been affected by the effects of somepony’s dream. Never before has anypony manage to make their dream lucid to such a level.

Never before had anypony cut Luna out of their dream.

Her hoof trailed over her chest. Her heart was beating fiercely.

She could still feel the arrow...Still feels its presence so close to her. Never before had anypony attacked her like that.

She looked towards Ponyville. She glanced up at Celestia’s balcony. She looked back towards Ponyville. She contemplated telling her sister of what she had just seen. But at the same time, there was a part of her that didn’t want to bother her sister. Her sister was a very busy person who needed her sleep.

Besides...There was still a doubt in Luna’s mind of what had happened, because she wasn’t even sure what did happen.

She decided to conjure up a quick note to tell her sister of where she was going. She teleported the parchment onto her sister’s bed stand before extending her wings and taking flight.

The Hunting

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The Dish Best Served Cold

Three days later...

A boy in a white hoodie sat in a back alley of Canterlot, a daily paper in his hands. One of his eyes were concealed by a white eye patch. It was Trance, but the color of his entire outfit had went from black to white.

“Hm.”

He’d flipped through the paper three times, this time making four. He had an unsatisfied look on his face. He mumbled the headings aloud.

“Help wanted...Used carriage for sell...Looking for roommate...Cloudy with a certain chance to snow...Daily drag all around...” He folded the paper and looked at the date. This was certainly this days paper...

‘They haven’t said anything about it...It’s been three days...’

He folded the paper he was reading and tossed it in an open trashcan. He leaned back, feeling the cold brick wall against his sore head. He rested his chin on his hand. Using his other hand, he pulled out a metal broad head arrow and studied it.

‘Do they shrug off hits like nothing...?’

He frowned and mentally slapped himself.

‘Can’t be...Those ponies in jumpsuits went down fair enough...Sure can put up one hell of a fight...Besides...When I first hunted that green pony, a single shot brought him down...It was a bit stringy, but tasted a lot like venison...I wish I wasn’t interrupted when I was skinning the hide...’

He grinned slightly.

‘Heh...Ponies my ass...I’ve never seen a horse fight transitioning from four and two leg stances, much less have a horn and wings...’

He returned the arrow to his quiver and shook his head.

‘Still...It remains to be said that that dark horse is injured...Why hasn’t anyone said anything about it? I saw her go down...That lavender pony near her even cried out her name...’

“Princess Luna.”

He paused.

He stood up and dusted off his pants. He realized what happened, even feeling silly he didn’t realize it right away.

‘This princess was injured, but the injury is being kept a secret. If a nation was to learn that one of their leaders went down, there would be panic, possibly even martial law...That is what this place is scared of: chaos among the crowds. There is no other reason why they wouldn’t state this attack in the papers. Typical. It's not any different than where I'm from.’

He stared at the dirty wall in front of him. He couldn’t help but start laughing. He put a hand to his head.

“Three and a half days here and I already got this place by the ropes. I should give myself more credit...” His hand began to tap the side of his face as he began to summarize what he knew for certain.

‘I came here three and a half days ago. I hunted a pony, was seen by a pale yellow pony, then was chased by others. Night came and I beat three winged ponies in matching uniforms. I stumbled upon a crystal tree castle that I saw from the distant. That ebony princess, Luna, was there. I shot her, uncertain of her status, ran through the edges of the forest, then hitched a ride on a train to this city. Things have been calm since.’

He frowned deeply. He kicked the metal trashcan, denting and knocking it over.

‘Such sloppy work! God I'm a failure...! Why didn’t I make sure I killed that princess? And why did I hesitate when shooting her...?’

It’s true. His bow had an ungodly pull back of 120 pounds. It had more than enough force to pierce two people entirely, and seriously injure a third. It's ability to pierce armor literally classified it as a war bow. That arrow he fired should have went all the way through her.

Trance hesitated and he did not know why. Was it pity that stopped him?

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. The gnawing anger kept growing. He wasn’t able to stop it. Once again, unbeknownst to him, a dark mist started to flow out from under his eye patch. The eerie mist stopped as quick as it started.

‘I don't care who or what gets in my way. I need closure...I need to see that thing dead.’

He touched the thin chain that was hooked to his pants. He tugged the chain, pulling a small compact mirror out from his pocket. The mirror was made from a dark Bloodstone. It was engraved with many gems; Garnets, red Jasper, and red Diamonds bordered the crystal like mirror.

He looked at the back of the mirror for several long moments.

He still didn’t fully comprehend the power of the small mirror. This world was merely an experiment for a while; a toy that he wanted to play with. He just wanted to see where the mirror took him. However, this world had a surprise up its sleeve.

He didn’t expect anyone here to learn anything about him. However, someone invaded his dreams and learned something dark about him. He wasn’t sure how much they learned. But...

His hand trailed to the large scar near his midsection.

...They did learn enough. It was something personal.

He bit his tongue.

‘I don’t want to return home. Not until that ebony pony is dead...’

He started to taste blood. He stopped biting, not realizing how hard he bit his tongue.

‘Patience is a virtue though. Besides, it has been a eighty hours. The police at home should have calmed down by now...’

The chain attached to the mirror started to glow. The chain started to stretch, becoming several feet long. The glowing length of chain started to wrap loosely around Trance, from the ground to his head. The small mirror suddenly increased in size, becoming a full human sized pane of crystal glass. Trace looked to the castle in the distance: the capital of Equestria.

“Once I get what I need, I’ll be back to kill you for what you saw, Luna.”

The mirror fell on Trance, engulfing him in a blinding light.

In seconds, Trance and the mirror were gone.

A large stack of assorted books fell to the floor as soon as he left. Wide violet eyes stared into the alley way, her mouth in an unmoving circle.

“It was a human...!?”

Twilight Sparkle took to the sky and flew like a Rainbow Dash with rockets.

Being mortally wounded wasn’t all that bad.

In fact, it meant all the dark molten chocolate chip cookie cake that Luna could eat, hoofmade by Celestia herself.

Celestia stood idly by, wearing an apron that said “Thou shalt not weigh more than thy refrigerator.” An amused grin was on her face as she watched as her sister and counterpart stuffed her face with cake, occasionally slowing down and nibbling a cookie.

“I’m glad to see that your injury hasn’t wavered your appetite,” Celestia said with an earnest smile. Luna chugged half a glass of milk before sighing cutely.

“Of course! Thou hast honed her cooking skills to a fine point over the years.” She began her work on another cake. There was in fact a pyramid of them next to her dresser. It certainly was a wonder on how she didn’t fall into a sugar coma after the first cake alone. One cake had enough sugar in it to send a regular pony to the hospital with type 2 diabetes. Alicorn metabolism surely was an interesting thing.

Though, there was one occasion when a certain Element of Laughter got a hold of one of the princess’s infamous cakes. To this day, neither of them are certain how she survived eating an entire cake like nothing.

Celestia removed her apron and began to neatly fold it.

“This is wonderful,” Luna said suddenly, a small smile on her face. Celestia teleported the apron back to her personal kitchen.

“I’m not sure it deserves so much praise. I’m not that good a cook.” Luna shook her head.

“Not the cake. I mean us.” Luna sat up in her bed, careful not to falter the magical bandages around her chest in the slightest. Celestia had put quite a few enchantments on them. While she remained a bit sore, she was good as she was before the attack. “For the first time in years, I feel as though we are normal sisters.” Celestia blinked at her sister before giving her a smile that almost hid the shadow of doubt in her eyes.

Almost.

Luna sighed, looking as tired as Celestia felt.

“It has been quite some time, has it not?” Celestia dipped her head towards her sister.

“Indeed it has.”

They weren’t talking about their sisterhood anymore. They were talking about the figure whose dreams Luna saw, the very same figure who brutalized the top three Wonderbolts, as well as nearly ended Luna’s own life. They hadn’t brought the subject up since Luna had been attacked. Both of them weren’t entirely sure how to even go about the subject. It had been years, centuries even, since somepony had been attacked and murdered.

“I have heard from Twilight,” Celestia started,“that the one who fell victim to this...hunter was a simple gardener. He was getting on in his ages, but was a humble old man. His name was Hayseed Greenhooves, though everyone called him Mr. Greenhooves. He was apparently attacked on the pathway to Fluttershy’s home. He came over once a week to water her flowers.” She paused and sat down at the end of Luna’s magnificent bed, giving her a moment to digest this.

“Did he receive a proper burial?” Celestia nodded her head.

“The people of Ponyville buried what they could find.” Luna felt the blood slowly drain from her face.

“What doth you mean, ‘What they could find?’” The sun equine shook her head.

“There had been a small fire nearby. Some of him was cooked and eaten.” Luna covered her mouth with a hoof to prevent herself from throwing up. She swallowed very hard, her mouth dry. Luna could look past Celestia’s stoic attitude and see that she too felt equally appalled.

“So he practices Griffin customs.” Luna managed to say. It was no secret that the Griffins were omnivore. Their practices of hunting were mostly done on fish and small game and such. Though, there had always been a non spoken rule never to murder and eat a pony.

“Perhaps. It can be reasoned with that this creature was hungry, thus acted on predatory instincts of some sort. However...” Celestia’s demeanor suddenly turned dark. “...that does not justify him attacking you.” Luna was quiet.

“I suppose...” A void like silence befell upon the two. “I do question what I hath seen in that one’s dreams though,” Luna pointed out. Celestia nodded her head slightly, remaining quiet.

The sound of breaking glass brought both them back to reality as a lavender Alicorn fell through the ceiling skylights.

“Twilight?” both sisters mimicked at the same time, making them give each other a look. They turned back to Twilight. They both noticed that she was panting hard, gasping for breath.

“C-Celestia! I...I saw it ! That figure with one eye! It was here in Canterlot, near the bookstore!” Celestia stood straight up and was about to call for the guards, if it weren’t for the breathless Twilight putting her hooves up. “L-let me finish!” Twilight paused, taking several deep breaths. Luna looked at her funny.

“Why did you not teleport?” Twilight opened her mouth and held a up a hoof, preparing a logical explanation. She couldn’t think of one and found herself facehoofing.

“T-that is besides the point!” She shook her head rush off, her mind processing a little faster. “That thing that attacked Luna and Hayseed was a human!” They both gave her confused looks.

“You mean those creatures you befriend through the Crystal Mirror? The alternative reality of humans with affinities to that of your friends here?” Celestia questioned quickly and knowledgeably.

“Yes, but this one was different. I don’t know what it was, but I don’t think he was from the same place as them.” Twilight shook her head. Her eyes became pinpricks. “He had some kind of artifact. It looked like a smaller version of the Crystal Mirror, but it was different. He used it to teleport away.”

“Away? Away where?” Celestia questioned. Twilight shook her head, but Luna answered.

“To another plane of existence. Another world, if you may.” Luna shook her head. “It does explain why his dream was so foreign to me...” Twilight face drained of all emotion except for fear as she looked at the Princess of the Night.

“Luna,” she said in a voice that was so fearful that she completely captured both sisters’ attention. “I don’t know what you saw in his dreams, but I heard him say that he would be back after he prepared. He said that he was going to kill you for what you saw.” Luna’s face contorted to a look of fear, Celestia’s forming one of shock. They remained like that for some time, muddling in their own mixed thoughts.

“These are grave news indeed,” Celestia muttered out in a weak voice, one that had none of its usual regal power. “We do not know the full extent of what this human is capable of, much less this replica mirror artifact he has acquired.” She turned to the lavender mare. “Twilight, go to the Crystal Mirror. Look if anything strange has happened to it, like if it had been tampered with in any way. Once you do that, see if your friends in the other world can tell us anything about this one eyed figure.” She nodded her head, slightly shaken.

“Alright. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Her horn glowed bright as she teleported away, once again leaving the two sisters.

“Sister,” Luna started. Celestia turned to her. “If we can not apprehend this human soon, we will need to announce his presence to all our citizens. I fear that rumors have already spread from Ponyville to our streets.”

“I know. I worry how our ponies will react.” She frowned as she magically fixed the broken skylights. “I worry more of how the other empires will react. Tensions are strained as things stand.” Luna nodded her head in agreement.

“If one of us is to be attacked again, it shall spark turmoil. If I am to die, we will look vulnerable. It wouldn’t be long after until war would be declared on us and Equestria.”

The Scorn

Author's Note

Hey.
Yep.
It's not dead, I've just been busy and unsatisfied with a few things. Anyways, I hope you enjoy anyways. Please tell me what you like or don't like about everything. While on that note, if anyone is willing, I could use a proofreader to help check over my work. Either shoot me a comment or PM.
Thank you.

The Scorn

The carriage came to a stop, the shift in speed jolting the sun pony awake. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and watched as the chauffeur opened the door with a bow. She must have dozed off during the ride.

“We are here, Princess Celestia.” She shook her head and regained her regal composure before she stepped out of the carriage and stretched her wings, looking towards the grand marble steps of Manehattan’s oldest concert house, Fillymonica. The day was a bit foggy, giving the old concert house an almost ominous look.

“How many years has it been since I last saw these steps...?” she quietly mumbled to herself, gazing towards the ancient land mark. It shared many characteristics of the Canterlot Castle as that was inspired the architect to build theatre. She could still remember the founding of the very place, though she couldn’t recall the name of the mare who suggested it be made. The founding DID happen over 400 years ago.

“Princess?” Celestia turned to the chauffeur stallion, shaking her head.

“It is nothing. Merely memories.” The royal chauffeur nodded his head and backed down.

“Very well. I shall wait for your return after the show, your majesty.”

“Many thanks, my little pony.”

Celestia began to climb the steps. As she did, she looked around the tops and windows of the concert house. She managed to count seven of Luna’s night guards, each one very well hidden. Luna had assigned a squad of a dozen to watch over her just incase. She began to make her way inside, walking through the winding corridors to find the box seats.

It had been almost two weeks since the human had last been seen by Princess Twilight. Since then, both sisters, the Elements, and Shining Armor and Cadence had been working tirelessly behind the eyes of the public. While they did not want to spread worry or panic about the mysterious attacker, they were not certain that they could keep his presence concealed for too long.

The rest of the Mane Six have been maintaining order in Ponyville. Mr. Hayseed’s death caused quite a fright there, causing unrest in the small country town. Though the princesses asked that none of them speak of the one eyed figure, rumors had spread across the land.

While Luna’s recovery was quick, Celestia pleaded for her sister to stay at the castle as much as possible. She feared that until this human matter was dealt with, that it be best she stayed with as many guards possible. Luna consented with agreement, though she had apparently purchased a ticket for a concert in advance before she was attacked and didn’t want it to go to waste. Because of her confinement to the castle, she gave her ticket to Celestia, saying that she deserved a break. Celestia had been overworking herself as of late, as she was even starting to feel the fatigue from it. She had reluctantly accepted her gift.

Celestia could hear the music from the hall she was in. She turned the corner and was met with two night guards who were standing side by side near the door. They wordlessly parted ways and allowed Celestia to enter.

She found a royal seat prepared for her, which she made her way too. She noticed that she was not alone.

“Princess Celestia,” a clean cut stallion called from across the room. “It is an honor.”

Celestia smiled, recognizing that voice anywhere. He was one of the few nobles that were very tolerable. She turned to the white stallion in question.

“Good day, Fancy Pants. I’m surprised your niece Fleur Dis Lee isn’t with you. You’re both nearly attached at the hip. What brings you here alone?” He waved a hoof casually in the air.

“Fleur has a bit of late night modeling work and couldn’t make the show. I am here because my little nephew is performing to night. He is the one playing piano.” Celestia looked to the stage to see four performers on the stage. A young Unicorn with a light blue coat was seated behind a grand piano, a light aura of magic gently tapping at the keys. He looked like a younger Fancy Pants.

“The relation is striking,” Celestia replied.

Fancy nodded in agreement. “We have been told we shared resemblances before. Why, I remember one time when we were mistaken for brothers.” They both shared a small hearted laugh at the story. Celestia found herself more often than not enjoying the nobel’s casual and light hearted demeanor. He was such a refreshing change of pace when compared to most of the other high class ponies of Canterlot. He always did have a special air of confidence around him that rubbed off on others.

Celestia gazed at the other three in the piano Quartet. She couldn’t recognize the two viola ponies, but she immediately recognized the mare with the cello. It was Octavia Melody, the most popular cellist of the current age. She was quite a notable figure. Celestia could now see why Luna bought her ticket in advance. Octavia’s shows were exclusive and almost always sold out even for those of the highest caliber. Celestia would need to make it up to her sister somehow for making her miss out on such a show.

“Your nephew is quite something. He must be very skilled to meet Octavia’s standards. How long has he played?” He didn’t respond.

She turned to where Fancy was sitting. A tall figure in white and black was leaning back in his place. Celestia’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, her blood running cold. It wasn’t Fancy sitting there.

“The human...!?” she whispered to herself.

“Darn, you saw through my disguise,” he said sarcastically, though he was secretly surprised. She knew he was a human, yet he hadn’t told that to anyone in this world. It made him question if and where their previous interactions from humans came from.

‘Fancy...!?’

She glanced behind the seats to see Fancy Pants out cold, his bowtie and monocle tied around his muzzle. She looked over to the door to see both night guards missing. Her head snapped back to the figure next to her. He was casually leaning back in his chair, eyes fixated on the stage. The music’s intensity seemed to match the moment. His eyes skipped around the violas to Octavia, seemingly zoned in on her more than the others.

How did he move so fast so silently?! Her head was turned for no more than a few seconds!

“He’s fine, all dozen of your guards included,” the human casually waved off the unconscious nobel. “I merely put them to sleep so I could deal with you...” He started smiling in an innocent, earnest way that just made it all the more sadistic. He turned back to the stage ponies with a small frown.

“...which is what I would say if you were Luna.” Celestia stood and glared at the figure, her nostrils flaring. He appeared unarmed, but she’d rather not take any chances.

“You must come with me right now.” Her eyes became solid white. “I’d suggest not retaliating.”

He shook his head and continued watching the ponies playing their instruments, paying the volatile princess no heed. “Nah. I’ve got nothing against you. Just the ebony one.”

“I don’t think you understand.” Her horn began to glow as she took a step towards him. “You have no say.”

While this attitude was a complete contrast of her normally calm personality, Celestia did not take kindly to those who threaten her ponies, much less those who threaten her own sister. He had already claimed the lives of one of her ponies and she was going to be certain it doesn’t happen again.

But there was something else...There was something about this creature that scared her. He practically radiated an aura of danger that she couldn’t understand. It was like there were teeth around her neck, prepared to crunch her bones. It was an alien feeling.

The human peered at the venting princess. Celestia wasn’t even sure what happened next. The next moment was a blur. Faster than her ancient eyes could follow, she was on the floor. One of the human’s hands was gripping the base of her horn, the other a small metal box. He was so fast that Celestia wasn’t even sure he moved.

“Release me this-mph!” His hand moved from her horn to her snout, rendering her to mere muffles.

She couldn’t aim any combat spells at the human with him redirecting her horn, nor could she out match his physical strength. Any other of her defensive spells were too volatile for this small space. She didn’t want to risk harming any of her citizens as well.

The human begun to twirl the small box in his hands. “Say anything, and every living thing in here dies immediately.” The magical white left Celestia’s eyes as she struggled to escape his grip, but even being part Earth pony, she did little than annoy him. She was actually scared. He had her in a completely vulnerable state. She was suddenly forced up into a sitting position.

“Take a look above the stage,” he calmly commanded. “You see that big chandelier?”

Celestia had no choice but to look, though she didn’t need to see it to be able to know what he was referring too. She saw the crystal chandelier when she first looked at the stage. It was a gift to the concert house from the Crystal Empire so many years back. However, now that she gave it a second glance, she couldn’t help but see that there was something strange about the chains supporting it to the ceiling rafters. There were many objects strapped to the base of the chains, very faint red lights flashing in the dark. They were almost impossible to see unless you were looking for them in specific.

“This is a remote,” the human clarified, raising the metal square in his hand. “ I press this little button and the chandelier falls, crashing and killing all of those on stage.” Celestia couldn’t keep her disgust from showing as he released her. He wiped his sleeves and sat back down in his chair. He gestured for Celestia to do the same.

She thought about the situation. She could definitely save those on stage before the chandelier fell, but there was more to his words than that. When the human threatened her, he said that every thing in the theater would die. The chandelier isn’t capable of hurting anypony that isn’t on the stage. That means the human must have something else in store to incapacitate the crowd as well. She couldn’t act unless she knew the full state of the room as well as the capabilities of this creature.

He was well prepared.

She stood, her horn beginning to glow. The human suddenly coughed, his gaze turned away.

“I forgot to mention that there is a timer.” He reached into his coat and pulled out a ticking egg-timer. There were ten minutes on it. “When this rings, several pounds of explosives will detonate around the theater unless I disarm them, hence everything in here dying. Believe me when I say you won’t be able to evacuate everyone in time, much less find all the explosives that are in and out of the theatre.” He turned to her. “I’d suggest sitting down. This may be your only chance to have a chat with me.”

Celestia started to feel feelings she hadn’t felt in many years.

Anger and fear, more so than she would like to admit. Not only did he just manage to have Celestia rendered defenseless physically, but he also prevented her from performing any action to stop him from doing what he wished. She could attempt a group teleportation, but the magnitude of the spell would be beyond great, even for an Alicorn. Even if she pulled off the spell, there was still the off chance that she could miss somepony she couldn’t see. She couldn’t risk something like that.

She sat down slowly, still staring daggers at the human before her. “Who are you and why are you doing this?” she asked, her eyes as sharp as her tone, though there were hints of other feelings as well.

The human let out a low hum. “One step at a time, Princess. What’s the rush?” He smiled again in that innocent way. That innocent way that masked a killer. He turned away.

“My real name is Trance Hunt, but I’m normally called Trance Hunter.”

‘...Such a fitting name for a creature like this,’ Celestia thought to herself.

Trance stood suddenly and turned to her. He got down on one knee, as if he were honorably bowing. In that one moment, Celestia went from furious to dumbstruck.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question, your majesty?” She suddenly felt sick to her stomach and wasn’t entirely certain why. This creature’s actions seemed innocent and certainly were polite, yet they were matched with truly despicable motives. She wondered on just what level his skills of manipulation were on. Just how much psychological prowess did he possess? How far does he think ahead?

“I do not have a choice,” she stated, disappointment and defeat in her voice. From this angle, she noticed his visible eye was an electric blue. She started wondering why he wore that patch over his other eye. No doubt he was questioned about it regularly.

His next question she expected, but made her fall into silence nonetheless.

“Why isn’t Luna sitting in your chair tonight?”

The human cocked his head to the side. The ticking of the timer beat like a metronome with the music

“Could it be that I have killed her?” Celestia narrowed her eyes on Trance. As she was about to open her mouth to retort, he blinked.

“Could it be that she isn’t dead?” He stood from the chair. “Could it be that she is resting up in Canterlot Castle as we speak?” He began walking around the small box room. “Could it be that her sister, Princess Celestia, decided there was a threat so great that she would confine her sister to the Canterlot castle, in hope that the guards and castle would intimidate said threat into backing down his original intent, whatever that may be?”

Celestia’s face may have been void of expression, but the same couldn’t be said for her mind. Too many thoughts raced through her head. She began assessing the situation she, her sister, and all of Equestria was in. All were being threatened at the same time by this single creature of an unknown caliber.

She decided it was best to answer none of his questions, mostly because he already knew the answers to them. His rhetorical appeal left little to be desired.

“Why are you doing this?” Celestia questioned, leaving all emotion devoid from her features. The creature stopped pacing. His white hood seemed to contrast so much against the dark wall behind him. The way his eye glared at her from under his hood was unnerving.

“We all have things we want to forget,” he began. “I have things that I want everyone to forget. Everyone.”

He paused for several seconds. He began to chuckle quietly, placing a palm to his head. Celestia was about to respond, but his chuckling became a groan. He ran a hand over his face. Though he was young, he suddenly appeared several years older. He appeared alone and broken for a moment. His attitude immediately changed, completely catching Celestia off guard. He looked tired. When did he last sleep?

“I’ll cut you a break,” he said. “I’ll keep citizen casualties to a low. I won’t kill less I deem necessary. My business is with Luna, not with your populace, not with you. Let me explain one thing though. I will do whatever it takes to finish what I started.”

Celestia’s throat felt dry. She’d dealt with ambassadors and dignitaries from other nations across the world. She’d played politics as old as politics themselves and knew all the games of the speech trade, or so she thought. This creature wasn’t an ambassador. He was alone. He was his own population, citizen, and leader. He felt that he didn’t need to worry for anypony but himself. It was sad to see a mortal with a twisted reality like his, but that solitude gave him a strength of his own.

Celestia shook her head ever so slightly, “Please do not do anything you will regret,” she began. “I can obviously not allow you to intentionally hurt my citizens or sister, but perhaps we can help you,” she said with hope in her tone. “Perhaps Princess Twilight and her friends can teach you the magic of friendship. Perhaps you can change your ways. I have been alive for centuries and can tell you that violence is never the right answer.”

He observed Celestia for a very long time, as if he was contemplating her offer. His cyclopean gaze drilled down deep into her very being, though her poker face remained steadfast from years of training. You could probably crush a pony with his gaze alone.

He smiled almost woefully.

“Sorry Sunny Sides.”

Come again? What did he just call her?

“Your words are as hollow as your expression,” he continued. “No one here would ever accept me for what I am. I am the single most hated creature from my world.” He pressed a button on the remote in his hands, causing smoke to flood the concert houses, screams of the noble patrons audible. His grin changed back into that sinister look of his.

“I lied. There never were explosives. Only distractions. None should be harmed if you act fast. Seven seconds till the chandelier hits the stage,” he said before he bashed a nearby window and leaped out into the fog, swinging from a nearly invisible cable.

His words and actions were so sudden.that it left Celestia in a baffled stupor for a moment. The cables holding the ceiling ornament snapped in rapid succession, breaking her out of her momentary lapse.

Celestia would have gave chase to the human, but her ponies were her main priority. She focused her attention and levitation magic to slow the falling chandelier of crystal to a stop. Those on stage quickly realized the immediate danger above them moved. Only after they were off stage did she gently set the crystal chandelier gently down.

Celestia began to mentally prepare a speech to her ponies about this hunter, because he had already escaped into the night time fog. There was no hope to conceal his presence after tonight.

In the chaos of smoke bombs going off, no one seemed to notice the three blue eyed figures who saw the entire scene between Celestia and Trance play out. They exchanged glances before teleporting a safe distance outside, far away from the chaos. Green fire engulfed all three ponies, revealing green-black bug creatures with wings.

“Dis seems like somethin to report, huh?” the first one asked, a strange accent in its voice. The others nodded their heads.

“Yup. Definitely somethin to report,” another said said in agreement. They paused.

“We should go now,” the last one said.

“We should,” the others agreed.

Green fire engulfed the Changelings, a trio of Pegasus appearing in their spot. They flapped a few times before taking off and flying out of Canterlot.

What they failed to see was the figure in black that blended in with the roof of a nearby building. He whistled a little tune.

“Green fire...Shapeshifters...Blue eyed spies...Reports to a higher authority...Naive princesses...”

Trance looked to the night sky, observing the moon’s brimming glow. There were several cables, hooks, and nooses hanging over his shoulder.

“How much more complicated do I wanna make things...?” He paused his out loud monologue.

“Exactly...what do I want to do here Jack...?”

The Others

Three days later...

The frown on my face deepened. I heard the defiance and door slam even from my distance. I folded the paper airplane and tossed it gently towards the home’s open window.

Like she had done before, she tried the neighbor next door. More yelling, more apologizing, more door slamming. I barely had time to finish the paper airplane before she got to that one.

I hadn’t meant to stumble upon her. It happened on accident. Then again, no one stumbles on purpose.

I’d been following Celestia, gathering intelligence per se. Ever since my last appearance at that concert house, she’d been going town to town giving speeches about me, informing all the ponies that I was very real and very dangerous. Every time she’d done so, she’d give different pieces of advice depending on the location. I hadn’t been found yet because I was smart. You wouldn’t expect your enemy to be right under your nose the entire time, or right under your carriage.

Let me just say it is very hard to prop yourself under a royal carriage for unspecified amounts of time. Especially a moving one. Flying a mile high. With winged guards flying beside it. While holding onto all my stuff, a gear bag and bomb bag.

I was glad I wasn’t afraid of heights. I wasn’t really afraid of a lotta things now that I think about it. It’s hard to be afraid when everything else is scared of you.

After her little speeches, some of which I got to say were pretty damn good, Celestia would go into a usually two hour or so meeting with the town mayors and officials, giving me plenty of time to survey the land and conduct research on my targets. Most of the information seemed like complete bogus, but things were very different here.

Every bit of info was worth weight that carried the hammer.

God we could be so cryptic...In the end, I guess that didn’t matter.

Currently, Celestia was back in Ponyville, a place of threats around every corner. Folks here were very stricken at the death of the one pony I killed and cooked. I learned his name was Mr. Hayseed.

Apparently eating one of their own kind was a big deal. It was duly noted. I probably wouldn’t eat them anymore. It wasn’t cannibalism and I have no quarms against the practice, but there was always something strange in the prospect of eating something I could hold a conversation with.

Anyways, during these political meetings, many of which are a complete bore fest with nothing of substantial worth, I go wandering to get a better lay of the land. I’m great at hide and seek, but I’m just mortified at how easy it is to sneak around these ponies. I could have robbed many of them blind if I wanted.

Some of them I did rob. This one guy was flashing cash all around and was practically asking for it. He even had three money bags on his ass, so I assumed he was filthy rich anyways.

They used gold as a common currency too, which actually surprised me. Can you imagine using a gold coin to pay for a couple of apples? I sure as hell had some better ideas on how to spend them back home.

...One of these ponies greatly intrigued me though.

She was a Pegasus with a gray coat, pale blonde-green hair, and a bubbles on her sides.

What made her special was her eyes. They were completely out off sync. She had a very bad lazy eye and I wasn’t sure if she was born with it or if she gained it through an accident, but I leaned towards genetics seeing how she seemed off balance yet had no physical conditions that hinted mortal injuries.

From what I gained from following her around, she is a mail delivery girl of sorts. From some of the conversations I heard, I pieced together that she had had a package that was addressed to someone in this town, but the address was blotched with ink and unreadable. Despite that, she still strived to try and deliver the package. She’d been going door to door trying to find out who the package went to all afternoon.

For some reason, almost everyone she went to outright called her a stupid horse and shut the door on her. Many went the extra mile and insulted her further, generally calling her a cross-eyed retard before politely slamming the door in her face. Some of them, however, did have the good grace to not insult her. Some were even polite. Some were the wrong kind of polite, speaking slow and quiet like she was brain hurt. She seemed slower than most, but she was definitely not a retard.

The bottom line is that most of these ponies royally pissed me off so much that I almost went on a chain killing spree on several different occasions. I settled for writing very well thought out and well written anonymous death threats, which I folded into airplanes and tossed into most of their houses.

I didn’t understand it though: their kind of mistreatment towards her. They treated her badly even though she was no different than them. She did look slightly different, yeah, but that was no justification for their treatment.

Her flaws were fine; they were what made one an individual. She was how she was. Her dedication, temper control, and sweetness seemed to outweigh her image alone. But even though she was great, they still treated her like the ground and walked all over her.

And the thing was that despite their treatment, she still looked for the owner of the package. She smiled every time she opened a door. The smile was so real that I couldn’t believe it was fake. I don’t know why she kept opening the doors. Why would you open a door when you know you’d get mentally slapped?

I sort of knew why she would act that way. I was different too. The blindness in my eye was proof. Because of something so minor, because of something so trivial, kids from my home went to great lengths to try to hurt me mentally, sometimes even physically. It made no sense.

This mare put up a kind front and tried to act nice in hopes that others would show kind affection back. I did it before, but I never did get the kind treatment I yearned for. It’s one of the reasons I was how I was now. I stopped because it never worked.

And despite it not working for her, she still did it. She had to have liked being hurt. It was the only reason I could think of as to why she would do what she did, why she would put up with their words.

I watched as she approached another house. The Unicorn that answered the door wasn’t ecstatic about it seeing the cross-eyed Pegasus, but she wasn’t mean about it. She politely refused having ordered anything and closed the door. The Pegasus apologized for wasting her time through the door and made to move. She took to the sky. Out of serious curiosity, I continued following her.

It was late, so next to no one was out which made stalking much easier. I watched deftly from the shadows as she glided just above the buildings, her delivery satchel weighing her down somewhat. As I continued tailing her, I was cautiously watching my sides for any stragglers who might see me. The sun was almost completely down, so everyone was pretty much in their homes by this point. Not her though.

I watched as she landed into a very open park. She plopped down on a bench, her bag next to her. I heard her sigh heavily and close her eyes.

“This isn’t good,” she said aloud. “I visited every home in Ponyville, but I still couldn’t find out who this package went to.” She didn’t seem to notice me as I approached her.

“Mind if I sit here?” She jumped slightly, her derped eyes opening up. I half expected her to scream, the other half plead, and somewhere in between run away, but she did none of this. She struggled for a moment to focus her eyes somewhat on me, though one of them was still badly askewed. She smiled and scooted over despite my looming stature, the machete strapped to my thigh, quiver at my hip, and bow on my back.

“Sure!” she said gleefully. I blinked before sitting down. She must’ve not known who I was. That or she was fearless.

“Aren’t you out late?” I asked. Her smile fell a bit as she looked down at her bag.

“I’ve been trying to find who ordered this package. Somepony is gonna be upset when they don’t get it.” She looked back up to me. “By the way, I’ve never seen anypony like you before. I’m Ditzy Doo, but everyone calls me Derpy Hooves. What’s your name?”

I cringed on the inside at her innocence, cringing again when she told me her name and nickname. That was just sad.

“My name is Trance,” I answered politely. Her face scrunched up in thought. I was a cold hearted serial killer, but even I thought that face was cute as it was strange. I made a mental note to find out how the muscles in their face worked.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard that name before,” she replied. I was honestly surprised she didn’t, what with Celestia going around with speeches dedicated to me. None of them were very positive of course, but hell! A pony princess thing was giving speeches in my name! When was the last time anyone royal even gave a worthwhile speech?

“Can I ask what you what you were delivering?” I asked in an attempt at shifting the conversation off of me. She reached down and pulled a box out of her satchel. How she did it with hooves, I will never know. It was another note I pinned to the corkboard in the back of my mind.

“This is what I was delivering. It’s really heavy too,” she said, dropping it on the bench. I blinked at the sound it made when she dropped it. “It’s heavy, so I think it's something like crystals or gem-”

“Rocks,” I said dryly. I pulled out my machete and cut down the side of the box. Several heavy rocks tumbled out the side of the box. A note with RETARD written on it in big letters fell out as well.

Holy fuck. I wanted blood.

Ditzy picked up the note and studied it with her left eye, her good eye. “Ohh...Looks like somepony was pulling a prank! Aha haha...!” she said laughing quietly, though there wasn’t any joy. Seeing her lie to herself like that made my heart break a little. I grabbed the pony by what I think was her shoulders.

“You are not stupid.” I coldly said to her. “I’ve watched you for a few hours and I know what you're doing. You're faking it. Why? Why do you keep doing it? They don’t deserve a lick of kindness from anyone, especially not from you. Can’t you see they don’t like you?” She blinked, taken aback at what I suddenly borderline shouted at her. Her mane fell over her face, covering her good eye. She was about to cry.

“A-are you gonna eat me now?”

I released my grip on her. I wasn’t surprised.

“You knew who I was.” It wasn’t a question. It was a definite statement. She slowly nodded her head in a frightful way, as if she expected me to suddenly clamp my teeth on her. “You didn’t run when you saw me. Why?”

“I-I was scared to run,” she admitted. She curled into a ball, hiding her face with a wing. I stared at the poor animal as she quivered in a ball.

“I do not touch the victims,” I muttered under my breath. She apparently heard me.

“Why not?!” she yelled through muffled feathers. “Everypony else does! I’m just a stupid Pegasus who messes things up!” I started getting irritated and grabbed her by the shoulders again. I must’ve lost control of my strength for a moment because she actually whined when I grabbed her.

“Look at me! I told you you’re NOT stupid!”

She cried looking at the ground. “I am stupid...!” she screamed.

“You are not!”

“I am!”

“You are not!”

“What would you know!”

“I know everything! I’m a goddamn genius!”

“If you’re so smart, then you’d know I’m stupid!”

“What!?”

“I am stupid! I am just a weak stupid pony that messes everything up! I am, I am, I AM!”

I went silent. I couldn’t believe how delusional she was. Her scars didn’t run on the surface of her skin. They went deep. How long had she suffered mental abuse to become like that?

I slowly shook my head. “You're actually very stupid. Stupid for thinking you’re weak!” She flinched at my words. “A weak person doesn’t take an entire town’s abuse standing up with a smile like you! Know YOUR WORTH!” I was on my feet and shouting.

‘Ah fucking IDIOT…!’ I was mentally cursing at myself, not the mare.

I don’t know what it was. Maybe it was a moment of boiled anger. Or passion. I don’t know what it was that drove me to follow this mare. I don’t know what it was that drove me to say what I did. I don’t know why I even bothered with such an outburst. It was against everything in my body to try and intervene as I did. I have no idea why I did what I did.

...Or so I say. A smart person can’t lie to himself that easy.

I wasn’t entirely speaking to her. I was speaking to myself nine years ago. It’s the real reason I was so worked up over this Pegasus. She was in almost the exact same predicament I had been in. But that wasn’t the point.

The point is that there had been a lot of yelling tonight, plus I was wearing the white side of my hoodie at the moment. It didn’t exactly blend with the night. Maybe that was why despite my and the mare’s little episodes, I felt as though I was being observed.

I glanced behind me to see multiple faces, thirty two to be precise. My eidetic memory let me work faster than most, so I knew the number dead on. The first one was Celestia. The second one was Luna. The other thirty figures were armored guards with spears on all sides, fourteen winged guards, sixteen footmen.

Both princesses looked as surprised as I did. I couldn’t quite comprehend how deep in shit I was, but if I was in a pool, I would be at the side labeled deep end. I wondered how much they had heard.

While I could take a shot at Luna from where I was, I had the strangest urge not to kill in front of Ditzy. I pondered the strange thought for a moment as I quickly wiped the expression off my face.

“Sunny Sides and your sister, Little Zany! We meet again!” I said while turning and doing a mock bow. My disrespectful nicknames knocked them out of the stupor. Nicknames were something I was notorious for giving even in my world. I was honestly a bit happy with myself for coming up with one for Luna so quickly on the spot.

The sun princess stepped up,“Please come quietly Trance. No pony needs to get hurt. There has to be a peaceful way to solve your problem.” Celestia spoke to me. The guards surrounding me brandished their spears. I peeked over my shoulder to see Ditzy glancing at me from under her wings.

“Thy shouldn’t test us Trance,” the ebony one spoke at last. “A mere mortal could not defeat us.” I could feel my blood boil as I faced the night princess. If there’s one thing I hated, it’s when someone talked like they were better than me.

“If you can bleed, you can die,” I said certainly.

Luna looked at me in an almost disappointed way. “Please do not retaliate. There is no where you can run, nor can thy can hide from us under the night.”

I was an escape artist and magician. In a sense, I was a modern day Houdini. Saying something like I can’t hide rubs off on me the wrong way. I even more strongly resented anyone saying I couldn’t escape. Besides, I had a trick up my sleeves.

Two tricks actually.

I felt a cylinder slip partially out of my sleeve and into my right hand, the darkness concealing my actions. The same process happened in my left. Many holes covered the right cylinder, the other having a plain smooth surface. Loud pings cut through the deathly silence, several ears twitching at the noise. Two small rings fell to the grass, both gleaming under the moonlight.

I cracked a small yet devilish smile.

“Catch me if you can.”

In rapid succession, I tossed two objects into the air and pulled my hood over my face and plugged my ears.

One object revealed to be a flash grenade, blasting the air with both an ear deafening ring and a vicious bang of blinding light. The partner object turned out to be a smoke grenade, blowing up and shrouding the area in a gray smoke.

In the chaos, I pulled off my double-sided hoodie, turning the white side black before slipping it back over me. I scooped up my bags and bolted out of the cloud of smoke, small wisps of smoke following me out. Everyone was too disoriented to notice or react to me.

I dashed through the park and into the suburban areas that I’d followed the mailmare through, trying to process my next thoughts.

‘I had to make distance from them. I could run to the forest. I may be able to outrun them.’

‘No, that’s a stupid idea. I’d done some landscaping, but I’m still too unfamiliar with that forest. They’d probably catch me in a straight footrace before I fully disappeared into the thick foliage.’

I rounded a few simple cottages, my shoes pounding against a cobblestone road.

‘I could get to the railroad I’ve seen and hitch a train.’

I breathed at a steady rate, keeping my pace as I heard flaps of wings through the air as well shouts to find me. I shook my head.

‘No time...There’s too many looking at the moment. They’d expect me to try a speedy getaway...No time to think...Dismiss the first two thoughts and go for a third…’

‘Hide somewhere they wouldn’t expect me to.’

The cobblestone beneath me evened out to a smooth stone surface. I found myself in a market square of some sorts. I took a very deep breath, the smell of ginger and sugar flooding my senses.

The smell was so sickly sweet it made me stop and retch on the spot. I looked up to see what appeared to be a store straight out of Hansel and Gretel, one that had a frosted candy roof. There was no way under any circumstances would anyone see me willingly walking through the door of that store.

I heard galloping in the distance.

‘I’ll go through a window.’

I unsheathed my machete and ducked to the side of the store. I found a low window that I jammed the machete into. I was met with no resistance at all as I levered the glass panes up. The naive ponies of this place didn’t even have latches on the window. Figures.

I rolled my eyes and dove through the open window, performing a near silent roll in the process. I quickly shut the window behind me and pressed my back to a wall. I did a quick survey of the room. There didn’t appear to be anyone on the store floor or behind the counter. The sound of trotting got louder. Light’s even appeared to be shined through all windows of the store. I clicked my tongue against my teeth and ran deeper into the store. I hopped over the store counter and ducked low. Lights shined directly into the store, lights so bright that it killed my night vision. They remained for a moment before dulling down.

I sighed a breath of relief. I set my bag on the ground next to me with a thunk.

With a thunk?

I moved the bag to see that I had set it over an almost invisible wooden cellar. I lifted up the hatch to see a set of old wooden stairs lead into darkness. The old cellar seemed like the perfect place to hide for the time being. I doubted anyone would expect someone on the run to hide somewhere smack dead the center of town.

I grabbed my bags and stepped into the cellar, slowly dropping the cellar door back into place. The stairs creaked, echoing through the darkness. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a fancy silver plated lighter. I flicked the flint wheel as the gas ignited into a small flame, illuminating a limited area in front of me.

I slowly descended the stairs, each creak of the stairs shouting in the unmoving quiet. It felt like forever until I reached the bottom, where I sighed and dropped my luggage.

I sat down on the bottom steps to catch my breath. I pulled down my hood, thankful for the coolness of the cellar. While I was removing my hood, however, that’s when I noticed the banner above me. I raised the lighter a bit.

“Welcome to Ponyville Cyclops thing-a-ma-jig…” Every letter was glittery and in a different color.

'What the fuck?'

I looked in front of me to see the cylinder of a pink cannon pointing straight at me.

'Ah sh-'

*BOOM!*

My eardrums were nearly blown out of commission as the cannon fired point blank in my face, lighting up the room and hitting me with confetti and streamers. The sound staggered me to the floor, my vision shaking. I assumed this was what it felt like to get hit with a flash grenade. Damn that’s effective...

“SURPRISE~!” an annoyingly high pitched, familiar voice screamed, my ears still ringing. Great, I wasn’t deaf. “Welcome to Ponyville!!!” If hell had sound, I imagine it would be her voice. I wish I were deaf now.

I grabbed on to the stairs and hoisted myself up, the black blotches in my vision clearing away. Several candles spread around the room had somehow gotten lit, basking the room in light. I saw a single pink pony, one that was smiling broadly with a platter of cake in her hooves. I’d seen this same pony the day I shot Luna. Her and some mare named AJ were some of those looking for me.

“I’m Pinkamena Diane Pie! But all my friends just call me Pinkie Pie! Or Pinkie, or Miss Pinkie, or that pink pony, and OOO one time I got called annoying and that was weird because they didn’t say pink, which is in like every form of my name because I’m like the picture of pink and-!”

Her ear twitched twice as I swung my machete at her. She dropped the cake and bounced back right as the metal grazed her skin. A thin cut barely deep enough to draw blood opened up right on the side of her neck. Some of her blood managed to splatter onto my weapon. She reached up to her neck before looking at her hoof. The tip of it was painted red. Her pupils shrunk and her hair literally deflated all the way.

“I’m gonna tear your heart out for blasting me with that cannon,” I muttered through clenched teeth. I don’t know what it was, but I was really pissed at this pony in particular. I don’t know if it was because I hated the color pink or if it was just her voice.

I ran my tongue over the edge of my blade. Her blood was strong and irony, but literally very sweet. She had such a high sugar to blood content that I was shocked she was alive. Her blood was disgusting.

I flipped the machete in my hand before holding it in a reverse knife grip. I stepped forward and swung once more for her neck, determined to end her with my second swing.

*CLIIIING!*

'...Oh…?'

There was a large meat cleaver blocking my blade. I was not certain, but I think she’d pulled the blade from out of her straight hair.

“That hurt...” she squeaked out in a dejected tone. I watched her as she dragged her own tongue across her hoof, licking her own blood from it. She shivered, her eyes closing in euphoria. She opened her eyes half way, still looking at me with shrunken pupils.

Well fuck. That’s not good.

I took a single step back. I gazed at her as she mimicked a stance similar to mine, somehow managing to wield her knife the same way I did my machete. She held the pose for a moment before dashing forward and trying to cut my midsection. I raised my blade and block the blow. She was stronger than she looked. She was almost able to force my blade back.

She crouched low and hopped back. She licked her butcher blade before lurching forward with a cold and calculated look in her eyes. I swung my blade with both hands, managing to stop her attack. She used the momentum from my swing to fall backwards a safe distance away. Our eyes met for a solid five seconds before a small dagger was flicked at my head. I managed to move, but the blade still nicked by my cheek. In the seconds I was dodging, she had once again closed the space between us. I barely had time to raise my machete over my body before her heavy cleaver once again aimed for my neck. Sparks literally flew from the clash of metal, making me question what her knife was forged from.

Our faces were inches apart, showers of sparks flowing down from our weapons. I looked lazily at her. She looked back at me ecstatic, a smile blown out of proportion on her face. The sparks brought out that cold look in her eyes. I had that same look in mine.

I stepped back and swung for her face with my left fist. She seemed to predict my movements like psychic, cleanly dodging and smoothly swinging back. I bounded backwards, avoiding the attack.

I started questioning and evaluating this fight. I had never fought someone like this before. No one had ever been on equal ground with me. Not like this. Even though we were both pulling our punches, it was obvious to both sides that we were we were equal in the moment. I’d truly attempt to kill her, but I wanted to test her first.

I wanted to know if she was worthy to take on Jack.

I tossed my machete into my left hand, the pink pony once again mimicking my actions. We circled one another before we both charged at the same time. Our weapons danced against each other, lighting up the room. I smirked, sending my right fist directly into her cheek. I was confused the next moment.

My vision flashed black. I found myself disoriented on the ground, my hand gripping the side of my face. Pinkamena was in the same surprised state as me. We both swung with our free hand/hoof at the same time. It was a double feint.

I recovered faster. I picked my fallen blade up and dashed forward. She grinned and repeated my actions again in picture perfect performance, our weapons colliding in a show of fiery sparks.

We both jumped back after another waterfall of sparks cascaded from metal to floor, both of us taking a moment to catch our breaths. Her eyes narrowed slightly, her tongue lapping up blood dripping from the edge of her weapon. I hadn’t realized it, but there was a numbing pain across my right shoulder, a gash a few inches long painting my jacket. I don’t even remember her hitting me, but it didn’t matter. I had enough.

I reached into my coat, pulling out an ornate silver flask with a gold trim. I spun the cap off and swallowed a mouthful of a devastating brew, the pink pony making the mistake of only watching me. I quickly replaced the flask in my coat with my silver lighter. I flicked the flint and held the flame close to my face. Her smile faltered for the first time since this battle.

‘Burn.’

I spit a gout of flammable battle brew from my mouth with great force, a torrent of toxic mix hitting the flame. The liquid became a spinning torrent of flame trailing right toward the pony.

Tears fell from her eyes as she screamed out an ear piercing wail as the burning brew contacted the middle of her left foreleg, the smell of singed fur and burning flesh filling the cellar.

Her crying was justified. Battle brew is an old trade spirit mixed with chemicals. It has been tinkered to burn bright, hot, fast, and to chemically burn the nerves as well as physically. It causes the worst possible burns that painfully burn for days even with treatment. Water will not put it out and will do very little to alleviate the pain.

I watched the burn do its work as she rocked back and forth on the floor, her knife all but forgotten. She clutched her arm, panting, wheezing, shaking, and crying from the burn that hurt literally like hell. The flame had barely touched her for a few moments before burning out, but that was all it took. The damage was done. She would have scars on her skin forever. I was surprised she didn’t pass out from the pain.

Very few would consider it, but it was an honor to be burned by the brew and live. Burn victims suffered in agony like none could comprehend. I’ve heard stories of people that have committed suicide to stop the pain.

I stepped forward, kicking away the butcher knife for good measure. Diane was laying flat against the floor, bawling her eyes out and clutching her arm, still in a daze from the pain. I leveled my machete by her neck. I suppose it was an alright fight.

“H-eh…”

I froze, almost dropping my weapon.

“Tee-hee heh ha~! Ah hahaha hehe!”

She was grinning and laughing through her tears. How the fuck…?

“That was so much fun~!!!” she playfully sang out, squishing both hooves against the smile on her face. The sobbing pink mare suddenly lurched forward, tackling me to the ground. I was too surprised to react. “You are abSOlutely irresistible!”

She jumped off of me and dove into a corner of the cellar. She rapidly rubbed both hooves against her hair, making it puff back up into its original form. She smiled and winked at me once before curling up into a crying body on the floor.

I did a double take on her spontaneous actions. The situation quickly dawned on me.

‘I lost the minute she fired at me.’

That confetti cannon shot she hit me with was very loud. I stayed out of irritation. That was where my margin of error started.

I didn’t even have time to pick up my bags before I was forced to the ground by an unseen force. It was like gravity suddenly concentrated down on me. All I really knew was that I really hated the feeling of restraint like this.

“Are thy ok Pinkie Pie?” Princess Luna asked with worry lacing her voice. I couldn’t even see what was happening from my angle. I heard the clatter of several guards climbing down the stairs.

“This meanie broke in and hurt me!” she cried out.

She was smart. She was skilled. She was a damn good liar.

I managed to turn my head to the sound of her voice. When I did, I saw her eyes flash me that sadistic look again. I should have known better. I should have known not everyone could be ignorant.

All I know at the moment was that this was not over. No, I was not done testing her.

She silently mouthed me three words in the dark. I swear I could hear her voice in my head.

‘Welcome to Ponyville~!’

...
...
...

Wind whipped through her mane. The air was hard and heavy, as was the ground beneath her hooves. A lone mare was walking a barren wasteland. Her entire body suddenly shuddered once, all the way from the tips of her ears to the end of her tail. She paused, blinking slowly.

“My Pinkie sense is tingling,” she said aloud, her voice as dry as the land around her. She reached into a saddle bag on her back and pulled out a small rock.

“Yes Boulder. That’s not good.”

Maud Pie began to walk the barren wasteland to a nearby farmhouse, preparing for a special surprise trip to Ponyville.

No one enjoyed surprises like Pinkamena after all.

The Broken Boy

Three figures stood in the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot. Celestia and Luna both stood facing the boy imprisoned in the crystal cell. His wounds from his brawl were magically healed to an extent as he was imprisoned.

He looked different stripped of his cloak and gear. He wore a dark purple shirt, black pants, and dark shoes. His raven hair was past his shoulders and fell into his face, giving him an ominous and dangerous look. His visible eye almost glowed against the darkness. What they didn’t realize was that he was still armed with a knife and few bombs strapped to his ankles, but they didn’t need to know that. They were more of a contingency plan. Frankly, he was surprised, disgusted even, that they didn’t check him fully for weapons.

...The awkward silence had to be broken eventually.

“Why do you want to murder Luna?” Celestia asked while calmly breaking the heavy silence.

The human observed the regal sisters with only slight interest. “Even if I told you my reasons, would you really believe me?”

“Maybe not,” Celestia said without missing a beat, “But I do believe everypony should be given the benefit of doubt.”

Trance rolled his eyes, though they’d only see one. “Knowledge is power,” he said equally calm. “As such is fact, answering your questions would give you power over me. Why should I give you that power over me?” Both sisters paused.

“Why do that?” Luna questioned, speaking up to try a different tactic. “Why fight our questioning? You will eventually submit answers, one way or another. Prolonging the inevitable should do naught but waste time.”

The human huffed and rolled his eye again. “Don’t be stupid. From what I’ve gathered, you’re immortals. Time doesn’t exist for you. I can’t prolong things for you anymore than you already are to yourself. Unless you can give me a valid reason why I shouldn’t waste MY time, then you should have no problem about me wasting something like your nonexistent time.”

Celestia and Luna both fell silent while exchanging glances. They could not believe how deep this creature’s intelligence went. He had to have been one of the smartest, if not the smartest mortal the two had ever come across. He seems to have knowledge in areas very few posses, likely in many more areas as well. They wondered how long he pondered areas others would never give a thought to.

They would have to be careful dealing with him. As he said, knowledge certainly was power.

“I’ll tell you what though,” the human began, ”I find the situation I am in very interesting, however unique and unorthodox it may be. Bottom line, I’m curious to see how things will play out. So, I’ll see to answering a few of your questions.”

In other words, he would gauge their reactions to his history. There would be an almost symbiotic gain for both sides. He’d test their psyches while they learned more about himself.

“I shan’t delay then,” Luna stepped closer to the cage. “What did I see in your dream and why did you attack me for it?” He looked at her unimpressed, his eye half lidded. He put a hand over his eye patch.

“What you saw, dear princess, was my reality. My life.” He tapped on a crystal bar. “You did not see just a dream. What you really saw were memories. 100%, perfectly recalled memories of things that happened in my life. Memories that repeat in my head even in my sleep.”

He removed the leather patch and blinked his eye. It was just as blue as his other. The exception with this one is that there were blotches of white that painted the bright blue iris. There also appeared to be hints of green speckled in his eye. If he looked frightening before, he looked like a nightmare now.

“I have a condition known as closed angle glaucoma. I’m certain you don’t know what that is, so I’ll tell you. It is a condition that blinds my eye, as well as causes me pain frequently from pressure buildup. I wear an eyepatch because it’s bad for me to look at bright light. I keep my patch on almost 24/7. Other kids my age called me out and made fun of me for it. I didn’t care at the time -it was so trivial and pointless- but my mother digressed.”

He began putting back on his patch, mentally preparing himself for what he has never told anyone but himself. Both princesses kept silent, both equally wanting to understand what could make anypony into something like what the human was.

“What you saw in my dreams was me and my mother on our way to a doctor who specializes in this kind of condition. She wanted to see if the doctors could do something about my blindness.” He scoffed, his expression turning darker. “An idiot happened to be out drinking alcohol and driving the day of our approved appointment. He caused an accident that killed my mother and mortally wounded me.” He huffed out a breath, a hand drifting to his midsection.

“My bastard father, Jones, blamed me for my mother's death. Naturally, he took his anger out on me. He beat me, cursed at me, and straight up tortured me. I was fourteen at the time, so I didn’t really have anywhere to go. I had no plan and no other family. I couldn’t do anything but bite the bullet and put up with it. It got worst and worst until I decided I’d had enough.” A smug grin stretched across his face, flashing a deadly smile. Both princesses impulsively took a step back from the cage, both equally frightened at the smile on his face.

“I went on a slaughter fest. I killed Jones first. I didn’t even play around. I straight up shot him in the spine with an arrow. While he was on the floor, bleeding out and pleading for his life, I kicked his teeth in and left him there. Even if he was to survive- which he didn’t cause he died in a hospital when they removed the arrow- he would have been crippled for life.”

“I was still angry with the whole fiasco though. I went further than murdering Jones. I decided I wanted nothing left of any of them, nothing left of any of the bullies. I wanted to make my classmates forget all about that weird kid who they bullied. I wanted to make them regret their unjustified bullying and discrimination towards me.” He paused for a while. “You learn a lot when you do things I do. Like how to fight, blend in, and of course, make explosives. I had a little inspiration at the time, but that’s another story for another day.”

“I began my legacy by bombing my school with homemade explosives. It was beautiful, so calculated. I didn’t do it sloppy in the slightest. I made sure I hit the school in all the right areas, making sure the right and wrong people were in all the right places. I killed almost everyone I set out to kill with otherwise a few personal casualties. My work was so well done that no one would believe a single fourteen year old mastermind was behind it. It made other terrorist attacks look like jokes. It was even known as the single most deadly terroristic event to ever happen to any school.”

“In midst of it all the terror, I stole from a set of law enforcement. You’d be surprised how hectic things get when people think there’s a city wide attack going on. Using the chaos to my advantage, I gained entrance to the law enforcement department using credentials I lifted. I raided their supply and hid to prepare.”

He began chuckling quietly at this point.

“You know, those students that died in the bombing got funerals? The authorities from where I’m from obviously guarded the mourners, but that didn’t stop me. I bombed the families of the kids and escaped. Others wanted burial for their dead children as well, but they feared their lives would be endangered. Some decided to cremate their children. When I heard that, I knew that wouldn’t do, so burned down the entire crematorium, the families included. So far I’ve killed more than a thousand.”

Both Celestia and Luna’s facades had completely faltered. Such actions were completely unheard of. They found it impossible for someone to be heartless enough, much less talented enough, to orchestrate damage to this one boy’s content.

“Now you may ask yourselves, why do I want them dead so much? Why go through all this to kill? Well the answer is simple. I wanted my point to be heard everywhere, and violence is the most productive way to do it. They were stupid. They simply messed with the wrong person for the wrong reasons. I wanted them to pay for their actions. I wanted to wipe away the memories associated with my past. But, more than anything, I wanted to teach a lesson to the bastards who prey on the weak for fun.”

“I had done a very good job,” Trance said casually. “But when I came here,” he pointed a finger accusingly at Luna, “Little Zany over here saw something straight outta my hell first hand. That struck a sour chord with me.”

His head cocked to the side. “And so, that’s all there is to it. I tried to kill Luna for the sole sake that I was angry.” He closed his eye and leaned against the cell. He opened his eye back up. “Oh yeah. I was hungry and didn’t know you...ponies were sentient, so I shot and ate one of you on accident. His name was Hayseed Greenhooves I believe? That one was on me.” He closed his eye again and adjusted himself to a more comfortable position.

Luna chose her next words very carefully.

“You are a monster.”

The human shrugged, paying no heed to the insult, “Call me what you want. I am not a monster though. Monster’s are stupid. I’m an idealist, elitist, and a realist.” He opened his eye halfway and looked at the princess of the sun. “Now then. I assume you two got some things you need to talk over. I myself need some time to think about what I’ve done.” He closed his eye. “Maybe see the errors of my way.”

When he said that last part, he didn’t mean to look at what he had done morally wrong. He merely wanted to think of his actions, what he could have done to avoid capture, as well as think of a way to escape. He also wanted to meditate on that fight with that...Pinkie Pie.

Both Luna and Celestia exchanged dark and pale glances before silently trotting out of the crystal caverns, both with the suspicion that if they stayed and listened to the human more, they would be fed lies.

Several armed guards appeared minutes later, mixes of Pegasus, Unicorns, and Earth ponies. They stood in a repeating zigzag pattern, where one looked at the cage, one looked away. All of them wore hard stoic looks.

Trance examined them closely as they lined up. He picked out two with blue matching eyes and stared at them. He folded his arms as he observed them. The two guards in his sights blinked, but did not fall out of character.

Almost thirty minutes passed before something interesting happened. As if on cue, every guard with the exception of two face planted the floor at the same time. Trance couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight while the two standing guards heaved out sighs and dropped their illusions, revealing them to both be Changelings.

“Dat sleeping potion took a long time to kick in,” the first one said.

“True dat,” the other said agreeing. He looked down at a guard. “Wait a minute…Eww! They sleeping with their eyes open!”

“Creepy!”

Trance stood up in his cell and looked at the duo, “Who are you two?” he asked. Both looked at him.

“We Changeling spies,” the first one said. “We here because our queen is interested in the creature dat has Equestria scared stiff.”

“We here to take you to her,” the second said, using some kind of crystal key on the cage, making the crystal cell disappear. “She at big hive in Badlands.”

Trance folded his arms, “While I’m grateful you got me outta that cage, I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere without my gear.”

“Dat?” Their ear antennas buzzed for a moment. “Should be here now.” True to their words, a third Changeling appeared in a flash of light, two bags of heavy gear on his back. The weight made him fall flat on the floor.

“Buck,” he said, his legs shaking and giving out under him. “How da heck do you carry all dis?” The human grinned and took both bags from the bug, pulling out a black hoodie and slipping it on. He strapped on his belt and rested his bow over his shoulder.

“You get used to it,” he replied. He dug through the bottom of the bag before pulling out a book titled Fahrenheit 451.

“What’s dat?” one of the Changelings questioned.

“Nothing but a facade,” Trance replied. He flipped open the book, revealing a large hole cut through the pages. He pulled out a chained mirror from it. He clipped it onto his pants and slipped the mirror into his pocket and tossed the ruined book where the crystal cage once stood. Smiling, he pulled out a match from his pocket, struck it, then tossed it to the book, setting it ablaze. He looked up at the Changelings, each one puzzled and not understanding the irony of what he had just done.

“Do you three have an escape route planned?”

One nodded his head. “Yup. We three is professionals.”

Trance observed them. “Very well. Lead the way. I’m interested in meeting this queen of yours.”

As he followed the trio through the crystal tunnels, he began to look back on the conversation he had with the two sisters. Trance didn’t even scratch the surface. He only gave them part of the story; his OWN story to be precise.

He didn’t speak a word about Jack.

It didn’t matter though. This world would learn about him one way or another.

The Pawns

Trance thought it felt strange sitting on the cushioned seat of the empty train. He’d gotten used to stowing away in the train’s luggage cart, so the sudden change in luxury was a bit much.

The Changelings turned out to have a good path out of Canterlot. They had a train conductor who ran the late rails. Surprise, surprise, the train’s conductor turned out to be an undercover Changeling, one who’d been hidden undercover in Canterlot for quite some time. He provided a perfect escape into the night.

Trance learned that the Changelings had an interesting system set up here. He learned that Changelings feed off of love. With Equestria apparently having more love than anywhere, they’d used the place as their main feeding ground. Changelings called harvesters would travel from a place called the Badlands to the nearest rail station, where they would proceed to populated cities. Harvesters in disguise absorbed massive amounts of love, which they brought back to their hive for their companions to feast upon.

The whole thing seemed silly, but Trance accepted it in stride under the basis that this world function much differently than his own. He’d quickly learned that this world had different machinations and foundations that created the reality here. The main difference he’d come to see is the science and magic relationship. While his own world was based off the foundation of physics and chemistry, this world was built almost completely on ‘magic’ where science should be.

An example would be if you asked the question “Why does it rain?” You’d be told the reason is the water cycle from where Trance is from, but you’d get the answer magic in this world.

When Trance asked why their queen was really interested in him, they responded with that they really didn’t know. Besides the occasional question, things remained fairly quiet between the Changelings and human. He could not deny though that their species greatly interested himself. A species of full of master camouflaging creatures like themselves were incredibly gifted in ways that he envied.

About an hour into their departure or so, things went silent, aside from the sound of wheels on rail. The three Changelings sitting in the cart appeared to be staring out in space, their ear antennas twitching vibrantly. Trance assumed it was some sort of communication between them. They did share great resemblances to bugs, so he assumed their ears acted as beacons of some sort between them.

Not wanting to sit around and waste time doing nothing, Trance pulled out a dark cloth from his bag. It smelled heavily of oil and grease. He pulled out a smaller bag from his pouch, laying several different tools and machined parts. Even the most naive from his world would recognize them as partially dismantled firearms.

He begun to dismantle the parts further, cleaning and greasing them as he went.

Guns were no stranger to the bowman. He had stole them, hunted with them, fired them, and had them fired at him. He didn’t particularly like them, but he’d grown custom to them. Being the criminal he was, he had to be familiar with them. As much as he didn’t like to admit it, his bow couldn’t completely match up to superior fire power when certain situations deemed fit. Despite being his primary weapon, he knew very well reliance solely on it would kill him quick. That is why he always carried around a few guns and a lot of ammo just in case.

Before he knew it, there were three Changelings on all sides of him, each one watching his dexterous hands just as curiously as the last.

“What is all dat metal stuff?” one of them asked him.

“They are puzzles,” Trance answered seriously. “Puzzles that when completed are dangerous.” A Changeling reached out and picked up one of the objects. It was short and had two barrels.

“Mk. But what are dem?” it asked again. He closed an eye and peered into one of the barrels. Trance quickly took the gun from the oblivious creature.

“I wouldn’t ever do that again if I were you,” he answered calmly. He held up the weapon in his hands. “Allow me to educate you. This weapon is a Lupara, also known as the sawed off shotgun.” He expertly twirled the double trigger gun. “It’s a devastating close range weapon capable of stopping a bear. I won’t lie when I say its buck is as bad as its bite.” The Changelings looked even more confused.

“Dat bites and bucks your enemy?” One of them asked aloud. That actually got a chuckle out of the human.

Trance continued twirling the weapon in his hand like an expert. “Not exactly,” he said with a grin.

For the next two hours, Trance engaged in a lecture of different types of weapons and projectiles. He showed the Changelings the other weapons he had on hand: one a laser sighted H&K pistol, the other a dismantled custom Ruger rifle. They weren’t all he had, but it was what he had with him. While they didn’t understand half his lecture, they were still in awe at the feats capable of the weapons. It created a lingering question in the back of the Changelings’ minds.

“You saying you can kill something from 400 yards away with dat?” they asked in awe after hearing about his rifle. He nodded.

“Yes. Almost three times that distance if I swapped out the mechanisms in it.” They looked at the human in confusion.

“If dats true, why do you got dat?” one of them said gesturing to the bow on his back. “Dat fancy thing couldn’t do dat, could it?” Trance hummed. He wiped the oil from his hands and brought his compound bow in front of himself.

“I will not lie. I probably could barely hit and kill something past 200 yards, with the target, wind, and trajectory playing great parts. It is in fact a very difficult weapon to use, even more difficult to master.” He traced his hands over the string of the bow.

“Dat being said, why use it?” another Changeling asked. “It kinda dims in comparison to the things you said the other weapons could do.” Trance stared at the bow, plucking the string lightly.

“Let me tell you a little something about myself.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “There are some from my world who were like me. We called ourselves the Jacks. We were are known as the Jacks of all Trades. We were renegades who were above others in the way of strength and intellect; outcasts that outclassed society. They had...talents much like my own. They had talents in all trades mind you, though they normally had a specialty, and with that specialty, they had an item, normally a weapon, that they were famous for.” He pulled out a silver lined lighter from his pocket. He flicked the flint, igniting the bright flame.

“This is the item of the person who came before me. They called her Lucy Lighters. She was a pyromaniac, one that was famous for setting rivers of fire.” He flicked the cap over the lighter, extinguishing the flame. “The bottom line is that it is custom for those of my descent to have an item that makes them special, one that makes them unique and one that they can pass down to their successor. My bow is the item that gave me the title Trance the Hunter. It is the item that I will pass down as well.” He returned the lighter to his pocket.

“However, understand that my bow is not merely some trinket that I will pass down. No, that’s not the sole reason I have it. That is not its purpose. I have my bow because I love the sound it makes when I fire.” He made to pull back the string, only to retract it before dry firing it.

“When I fire, I can hear the strings sing to me. The sounds are always there, vibrating within the air and within my head. There are no lyrics involved, but I can always hear a thousand lullabies gently whisper at once. It calms me. It relaxes me completely, more than anything else ever could. And once the strings cease echoing, when the strings stop singing, there is nothing more but peace and quiet that follows, like a shadow following a shepherd. Having feelings like that...That is the reason my people have a custom to find out special item. It is to understand clearly what made us special. For ourselves and for our world to know what we had done, and for our descents to know and learn what made us Jacks.” He looked back up to the Changelings to see them each teary eyed.

“Dat was beautiful,” one of them said, sniveling and wiping away a tear. The other two agreed. Trance blinked and set the bow on the ground, slightly surprised at what he said. It had been forever since he had told something on such a personal level about him and his people. He was even more surprised at what he was considering to do next. He opened one of his bags and grabbed a case from the bottom of it.

“You know,” he started opening the case, “I have watched professionals play instruments. I self taught myself how to play some of them, hoping that I’d be able to nonviolently recreate the feeling my bow gave me.” He pulled a viola out, as well as a thin string bow for it, a different bow that was meant to be played, not plucked. “I’d never managed to recreate that feeling, but I did learn to play quite a few songs. Any of you few care to hear one?”

There were simultaneous nods. Trance stood up, a small smile on his face as he rested his chin under the base of the instrument.

With quick flicks of his wrists and quicker flicks of his fingers, music started pouring into the air at such an intense speed that it surprised the Changelings. After his little story, they’d expected some kind of dark lulling tune. They were met with the opposite force; a quick, fast paced tune fit for a jig. Though the song was mostly repetition, the sounds and vibrations from the instrument made their antennas tickle in a funny way that felt pleasant. The Changelings secretly had a history of loving the feeling of hums and vibrations, their current generation no exception.

The sounds were hypnotic and infectious. It made them want to get up and start dancing, or go on some kind of life threatening adventure, battle cries roaring. They felt like you could rally an army with just the sound of that instrument alone. The sounds were just that invigorating, triggering several different feelings within the emotion bugs.

However, the song ended as quick as it began. The Changelings didn’t notice until he had already put up the instrument. The small sigh of the human was what brought them back down to Earth.

“Dat was amazing!” they chanted.

“I can’t believe how fast dem...uh what you call dem...claws moved?”

Trance flexed his wrists. “They are called fingers. Together, they are called hands.” He looked up, suddenly realizing something that he couldn’t believe he went so long without knowing.

“Hmm,” he started, “ You know that I’m called Trance, but I don’t know what you three are called.”

“Changelings,” they repeated in sync.

Trance almost facepalmed. “I got that. I mean what are your names?” They looked at him with blank looks.

“We don’t have names,” one of them answered. “Changeling don’t need dem.”

“You don’t have-…”Trance pinched the bridge of his nose. “How old are you three?” They blinked and looked at one another. They looked back at the human and shrugged.

“Dunno,” they repeated one after the other.

Trance pinched the bridge of his nose again and sighed. He realized now they were merely drones. They had no need for inequality between them, nor did they think differently to have such differentiation. They did as they were told. They had no purpose beyond such. They were just like bees working in a hive. They worked under a queen, doing as told, never having the capability to think any differently. They lived for their queen, worked for their queen, and died for their queen, helping the hive and her in the process. They might jump off a bridge without a second thought if ordered to. Names were not needed between them. It was sad in a way.

“Does...Does your queen have a name?” he asked them. They nodded their heads vigorously.

“Course she does! She is the beloved Queen Chrysalis, queen and ruler of the Changelings!”

After they said that, Trance couldn’t help but picture a bunch of these Changeling creatures bowing before a giant glass jar with a chrysalis cocoon inside it. What would that hatch into? A monarch butterfly? Get it? Monarch? See, its funny cause a monarch is a ruler and they’re bugs so-

‘Holy shit I'm an idiot...’

He almost slapped himself for thinking that horrible pun.

He shook off the ludicrous thoughts, almost certain that was definitely not what their leader was.

Probably.

“Alright then...”

He pulled out a red Sharpie and proceeded to draw a large 1 on both sides of the first Changeling’s cheeks, right under his big eyes. He drew two 2’s on the second, two 3’s on the third.

“What’s dis?” one of them asked, buzzing his wings and rubbing a hoof on his face. Trance capped the marker.

“I like you three, but I’m also a human. Humans are social creatures, and while you three may not do it the same way, we communicate to one another by given names. You three, with no racism included, look exactly alike to me. So, I’m giving you three names.” He pointed at the first one.

“Your name is Uno.” He pointed at the second. “Your Dos.” He looked at the last one. “Your Tres.” They blinked at the human before exchanging glances between one another.

“What’s racisim?” Tres asked.

Trance put a hand on what he believed to be the bug’s shoulder. “You know what it means.”

They blinked and looked at each other. “You human is weird,” Dos said.

Trance stretched his arms and yawned. “I prefer eccentric.” The human put the rest of his supply up before leaning back on a caboose chair, using a bag of gear as a pillow. He pulled his hood far over his face.

“I’ve been through a lot today. Wake me up when something happens...” he mumbled before drifting asleep.
...
...
...

“Hello Trance.”

‘Well...Shit.’

His eyes snapped open. He was standing in a gray void. His eyes quickly found the source of the voice; the ebony princess of the night. She almost blended in with the void around them, though her flowing mane made her easy to spot.

“You.”

Her cyan eyes met his blue ones. His eye patch was not with him.

The princess gazed intently at the human, her features as unmoving as his. She noted that he did not blink once.

“You escaped.”

“I have.”

They traded blank looks.

“Why?”

“I don’t like cages.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

They both fell silent.

“How did you escape Canterlot?”

He half closed his eyes, not quite blinking. “How do you know I’m not still in Canterlot?”

Luna bit her tongue, immediately realizing she’d fallen into one of his many mental traps. The human folded his arms and gazed at the void around them.

“So me sleeping is the equivalent to phone tapping for you...” he mumbled to himself. “You enter my dreams and slowly get a feel for my location. Ain’t that right?” Luna said nothing, instead slowly nodding her head.

“You can not run from us under the night,” she said quietly. “Why do you persist? Why must you continue this sick and pointless endeavour? And why do you still wish to eliminate me over something so trivial as seeing your dreams?”

His eyes narrowed upon her face. “Don’t be narcissistic, Zany,” he said seriously. It was the first time she’d heard him speak with this level of seriousness. “Do you really think it’s all about killing you? Do you really think that’s all I’m doing? Do you really think I find this all a big game?”

She looked at the human, “What do you mean?” She paused. “And what does Zany mean and why do you persist in calling me it?” The human walked right up to Luna, invading her personal space just as she invaded his sleep.

“Zany means a whimsical and silly person, as well as a slavish attendant or follower. That is how I see you. And, just so you know, I persist in calling all those I meet by nicknames unless you earn my respect.” He shrugged as it was just something he had always done.

“But enough of that. To answer your question what I meant is that if I wanted you dead, I’d have already killed you.” He circled her, walking very slow. “You may not be able to see it, and Sunny Sides may not be able to see it, but I can. I can see just everything that is wrong with your world. Your world is all too...innocent. That’s all it’s been for a very long time and that's just scratching the surface. I plan on fixing what I deem broken.” If it was possible, he stepped even closer. He looked down on the goddess of night.

“I will not lie when I say I have never killed the weak. I have never killed the ignorant. I have only killed the arrogant.” He seemed to step back into oblivion, but it was merely a single step away.

“I realize that despite your ages, both you and Celestia are not arrogant. You are only ignorant. So are the rest of you citizens.” He paused, taking a small breath as if he couldn’t breath.

“I realize now why I didn’t kill you with my first arrow on the first night. It was because at the time, I had an internal debate with myself that I didn’t even realize. I had a feeling that you were ignorant and didn't fully know at the time. It is why you are still alive. I’m not saying this as an insult; I say this as a fact. And as long as things stay that way, and your horns don’t clash mine, metaphorically of course, then I have no reason to target you, your citizens, or your sister. Likewise, so long as I keep my head down, you should have no qualms with me.”

The human closed both of his eyes for the first time since falling asleep, his dream world fading away. As the reality around both Luna and Trance faded, he opened his blind eye slightly.

“I pity you, you know? If you didn’t know my background, I’d want to be your friend. Fire burns brighter in the night after all.”

Luna was left with more questions than she came with as the human woke up.
...
...
…

The sound of low rumbling and rocking woke Trance up. He jolted up in the chair, as if he was shocked with lightning. Uno, Dos, and Tres were both sitting across from him, all staring into space, their antennas vibrating. They snapped out of their stoic states to see Trance standing, digging through one of his bags.

“What are you doing?” Tres asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Princess Luna entered my dreams,” he stated plainly. “I’m certain she knows where we are. We need to move.”

“Dat’s gonna be a problem,” a fourth Changeling said as he entered the cart. He was wearing a blue conductor's hat. “We need to go through Ponyville to get to Appleloosa. From there we go on hoof to Badlands. It a long trip, an even longer trip if walk only on hoof. Maybe a week to get to Badlands dat way.”

Trance ran a hand over his face, getting really irritated at this Ponyville. Somehow he kept ending back up there.

“Is there any way to cut down on the trip?” Trance asked after a moment. “Preferably a detour away from cities?” The four Changelings exchanged glances.

“There is,” Uno started, “but it would involve going through Everfree Forest.” Each one shivered at the name, as if it were a sin to say. “Dat place gives us the willies.”

Trance leaned on his bow. “How much time would it save to go through this forest?”

The conductor paused and stared into space for a moment. “Probably half the time.”

Trance stood. “Then that’s the way we’re going.” He looked at the conductor. “Could you change into your pony form?” He raised an eyebrow, but he said nothing about it. Green fire engulfed the Changeling before leaving an old sky blue Earth Pony in a blue over coat that matched his hat. He had a golden pocket watch on his flank and a pair of glasses on his face.

“Now what?” the Changeling in disguise questioned.

Trance pulled out a white cloth and bottle from his bag. He doused it with liquid before holding out the soaked cloth.

“Does this smell like a Chloroform mix to you?” The oblivious bug took a big sniff of the cloth.

“U-uhh. I-I dunno. Wh-what’s Floral-foam shmell liiiek...” The conductor face planted the floor, effectively knocked out. The other three Changelings stared wide eyed.

“What’d you go and do dat for?” Dos loudly said. Trance began to bind all four legs of the conductor’s legs with paracord.

“Luna or others could be here at any time,” Trance stated. “I need to make it look like I forced the conductor to take me this far.” Reaching into a bag, he pulled out a short metal bat, which he bashed out a glass window with. “That way, no one would expect him to be an accomplice or a Changeling.” He turned to Dos. “By doing this, I won’t compromise this love harvesting system you got set up. It is your main source of food right? I wouldn’t want my actions to hurt any of you or your family.”

The three conscious Changelings stared at the human in disbelief as he grabbed his bags before hopping on the caboose seats and crouching by the shattered window. No other creature had ever cared for their well being. Nopony would care if they were to starve. This single creature though was different. He genuinely cared. They weren’t in disguise, yet he willingly showed them an emotion nopony has ever willingly showed them.

Compassion.

“Come. I’d like to get outta here as soon as possible,” he said before jumping off the moving train in such a clean and effective move that he had to have done many times before. He disappeared like a shadow into the night. They had to move quickly to catch up with him.

The Unseen

They’d been trekking past the thick trees of Everfree for almost two hours. Besides the occasional storm cloud ahead, nothing of interest happened. Though, there had been quite a bit of banter exchanged between the trio of Changelings and the lone human.

“So why do you got dem clothes on?” Tres asked the human. Trance tugged the tip of his hoodie, which he had patched up from his brawl with the pink menace.

“It’s considered taboo in my society to be without clothes publically, not to mention I’d be cold without them. Why do you got dem holes in your legs?” he said, mimicking their constant language flub. They had trouble pronouncing t’s and a few other things, normally swapping the letters with d’s.

“Dem for digging,” Uno said, stomping a hoof into the soft earthy ground. When he lifted his leg back up, dirt was shoveled out through the holes. “They also for building the hive.”

The human hummed quietly. “So they actually have a purpose...” he softly mumbled to himself.

Dos buzzed above the human, narrowly ducking a low hanging vine. “Why do you got dat eye patch on?” he questioned, asking the same question so many others had asked Trance.

“I’m blind in that eye. Just the one. Strange, I know. It’s just all in the way the ailments struck me.” He hopped over a rotten log, thinking up a few more questions. “So tell me about this queen of yours. Is she your mother?” The trio looked more confused than ever.

“M-m-ah-there?” Uno sounded out slowly as if speaking in another language for the first time. He shook his head. “I’m not sure what dat is. We can tell you what the queen is like though.” He paused, deep in thought as if nothing he said would give this queen the praise she deserved. “Queen Chrysalis is really smart,” Uno started. “She is kind to us and is best leader.” The others nodded and agreed with him.

“Chrysalis is best,” the three said in harmony, eliciting a funny look from the human, though he remained quiet.

Tres started buzzing by the human’s head, joining the other two in the air. “Why are you after dem anyways? Dem princesses?” The human fell silent for a while.

“I’m not exactly after them anymore. But, to answer your question, let’s just say it was persona-.”

The human stopped walking, immediately wielding his bow, notching an arrow, and releasing. The action was so sudden that the three Changelings dropped to the ground out of caution. They followed the path that the arrow took to see a Jackalope fifty yards out pinned to the bottom of a tree. A bright feathered arrow was imbedded in its left eye. They wondered how he saw it in such low light.

“Now that’s something I don’t see everyday,” Trance said as he walked to retrieve the kill. He pulled the arrow out of the tree, sliding the small game off with sickeningly calm look on his face. He held the rabbit up by one of its antlers.

“I wonder if it taste like rabbit and venison…?” he mumbled to himself as he continued walking. The three Changelings resumed following him again, but this time at a farther distance than before. It took a minute before any of them had the courage to speak to him again.

“Why’d you just do dat?” Tres asked with an uneasy tone. The human pulled a rigid knife from a bag and started sawing the antlers off the small rabbit.

“I’m not sure what they classify ‘love eaters’ by,” he started, “but humans are classified as omnivores. A healthy diet for me consists of meat and vegetables.” He looked intently from one Changeling to the next. “This isn’t gonna be a problem, is it?” They quickly shook their heads.

“No, no!” Uno said quickly. “We get it. Everypony eats differently. It was just sudden is all.” He shook his head. “Some got weird taste.” The other two agreed while the human rolled his eyes, hanging the now antlerless Jackalope upside down from his belt, blood draining from the creature’s mortal wound. He began to cut the spikes off the soft bone antlers, putting the small pieces into his bag. Once he was done, he was left with two smooth horns.

“So you eat dem antlers too?” Dos asked. The human almost laughed, but he bit his tongue and shook his head.

“Nope. I can carve them though. Antlers are a fun to shape.” He paused. He put up the antlers and knife, once again wielding his bow and drawing an arrow. His eye shifted through the dark trees, the only light the full moon that broke through the tree line.

“Gettin another Jackalope?” Uno asked.

“Stay low to the ground and shut it,” the human sharply intoned. He pulled out a large glow stick and cracked the plastic tube. The chemicals mixed to create a red glowing light. He bit down on the side of the glow stick and held it in his teeth. He looked through the trees, tightly gripping the string of his bow.

“Something hissed at me,” he mumbled through his teeth.

…
…
…

Various notes and books were sprawled everywhere across the crystal tree library, all surrounding the large Crystal Mirror. Twilight was jumping between book stack and book stack, trying to figure out anything she could. She just couldn’t make hooves or tails of any of it.

“Maybe it’s corrosion? Or an anti magic spell?” She fiercely scribbled a quill against a parchment with magic. “Could it be a problem on the other side?” She didn’t even notice when Luna teleported right next to her.

“Twilight,” Luna said, startling the lavender princess ten feet in the air. She quickly patted down her mane and lowered her wings when she realized who spoke.

“Oh! Luna! I didn’t notice you. I was too busy trying to fix something. What are you doing here?”

“I spoke with Trance through his dreams,” Luna stated right to the point. Twilight cringed at the mention of the human, but she said nothing. “I sensed that he was somewhere south of Canterlot. I figured that he was somewhere around Ponyville again, though my search in town yields nothing. After my fruitless venture, I decided to come to see if you learned anything from your human friend counterparts.”

Luna looked towards the original crystal mirror, which had previously been tinkered by the lavender mare to allow free travel between the two dimensions. Twilight frowned, not looking up from her parchment. Some of her hairs curled out of place.

“I was able to communicate to Sunset Shimmer through the two magical journals we share. As I suspected, he was not from their world, but a different one. Though, I would have asked them in person. I wasn’t able to cross the portal though.”

Luna looked between Twilight and the mirror. “You were not able? Why?” Twilight’s frown intensified. She actually looked up from her work this time.

“I’m not sure. The mirror doesn’t seem to work anymore. At this very moment, it is nothing more than an ornate mirror. I don’t know how it lost it’s magic or when, but it doesn’t function anymore. I tried to figure out why, but despite being inactive, it negates and reflects magic. I can’t imagine what would happen if somepony were to cross over while the mirror was in this state, as Starswirl the Bearded’s theory on magical presence would in theory be negated and cause a magical state of unrest and magical backlash flux!”

Luna felt almost ashamed to admit she didn’t fully understand everything the young scholar had just said. “Truly…? Twilight, what are you saying?”

More of the lavender mare’s hairs curled out of place, but she brightened up. “I am saying that I believe that this mirror doesn’t lead to Canterlot High School anymore. I believe it leads to a reality without the existence of magic! But, Starswirl’s theory on magical presence states that magic exists everywhere in reality in different quantities, which it does! That means that if there WAS magic on the other side of the portal, then it would be possible for our magic to act upon it and detect it. The reason magic reflects from the mirror now is likely because there is not magic on the other side of the portal for our magic to react to. But, that is impossible seeing how reality cannot exist without magic!” The mare suddenly jumped up, running over to another book.

“HOWEVER! Who is to say that reality is limited to what we know? If there exists another reality beyond our own, one without any quantity of magic, the question is does that reality exist? The answer is YES! A reality without magic is possible! For example, the reality with our human counterparts did not have magic in it until it was introduced to them! That means that at one point, that reality did not have any magic in it. But, somehow when the crystal mirror was created, our magic managed to spread over to their reality, which in turn became THEIR magic, allowing OUR magic to focus on and impact upon it!”

Luna was completely lost at this point. It was understandable. Twilight was the element of magic and thus had a greater spectrum to understand and practice it. What she was talking about was completely out of any normal pony’s scope of practice, Luna not excluded.

“Twilight dear, I do not understand what you are saying.” Twilight suddenly stopped, a goofy smile on her face.

“Don’t you get it princess? It means as I stated that this portal no longer leads to Canterlot High, but rather another reality! One without magic! However, we can not access this world because of our magic that exists inside of us. To attempt to cross over would be the same as instantly purging any and all magic from one’s self. In other words, crossing over to the reality with no magic would possibly leave the traveler magicless. That would mean that they would have no more magic for the portal to act upon, leaving them effectively stranded in the magic less reality! Though, this is still a hypothesis of mine that has yet to be tested, I believe that this problem could be bypassed by-”

The doors to the library doors slammed open, interrupting the lecture and revealing a frazzled Rarity.

“Twilight dear!” the fashionista shouted out, “We’ve got tremendous problem!” Twilight was on her hooves in an instant.

“Rarity? What is it? Is it the human?”

The fashionista shook her head, almost fainting. “No! You’re mane darling! It is a COMPLETE disaster dear!” She quickly shook her head. “But that’s not the main problem. It’s Fluttershy! She’s not Fluttershy anymore!”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to be confused. “Wait, what? What are you talking about?”

“Fluttershy had been in a bit of a sour mood since she wandered upon...the human. Pinkie Pie, bless her heart, suggested we throw her a slumber party to cheer her up. But, when we got to Fluttershy’s cottage, her door was wide open and she was hanging from the tree by her tail! She’s Flutterbat again!” Hearing that last part really got Luna’s attention.

“What doth you mean, ‘Flutterbat’?” she questioned in a monotone voice, slipping deep back into old Equestrian. Twilight rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Ah...That was sorta my bad. Applejack was having trouble with bats. Long story short, I accidentally partially turned Fluttershy into a batpony. It was alright though because I reversed the spell. But why is she Flutterbat again?” she questioned to herself.

Luna gave Twilight a sympathetic look. “Twilight...once given, not all magic can be taken back. Transmorphing living creatures is very dangerous even for the most experienced spell casters. It is very possible what you did is irreversible. I’m surprised you don’t know something like this.”

You wouldn’t be able to get the same look on Twilight’s face even if you struck her. She was silent and absolutely devastated at these news.

“However, that does not matter anymore,” Luna continued, her expression suddenly turning serious. “Batponies are supernatural creatures created by a primal magic. This magic awakens at night, reaching it’s full potential under the full moon. It is why the batponies work as my guards under the night and it is likely why this power decided to resurrect now. Regardless, unless the correct restriction spells are used, at any moment Fluttershy could become primal and dangerous. And while undoing the original spell may yield impossible, there is still the chance to save her.”

“Um, princess,” Rarity sheepishly started, “there may be a tinsy problem. Fluttershy fled into Everfree Forest on sight of us. Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie gave chase while I came to warn Twilight.”

Luna grabbed onto both ponies and prepared to teleport to the element of Kindness’s cottage.

“Let us make haste then.”

…
…
…

More hisses sounded through the forest, these ones more audible than the first. The Changelings stuck low to the ground while the human watched the trees above. He suddenly did a 180 and fired an arrow, ceasing the hissing. Dos looked up.

“Did ya get it?” The human slung his bow over his back, making sure both his packs were still by his side.

He removed the glowstick from his teeth.

“Run.”

He bit down on the glowstick again before suddenly taking off. The Changelings blinked and looked to where he fired an arrow. They didn’t see anything in the tree lines, but the ground was a different story. Several glowing sets of green eyes opened.

Timberwolves.

The three bugs hugged each other and screamed very feminine screams before backpedaling themselves to the human’s direction. It took them several moments before they could distance themselves from the green glows. While they would have flown, the foliage was much too thick for them to navigate through. They managed to find the human easily do to the soft red glow light he carried. They were in awe at how fast Trance moved through the thick forest in the night, especially when carrying all his equipment with him. How often was he doing these same actions?

He was digging through his bag for an item by the time they caught up. He spit the glowstick out as soon as they were by his sides. They noticed he had a metal sling of some sorts attached to his arm.

“Don’t fly and don’t look back no matter what,” he calmly said despite the dozens of wooden wolves snarling not twenty feet behind them. He pulled out several objects from his bag. “Keep low and don’t look back.” he repeated.

He pulled the top off of one of the objects and loaded it into the sling. He turned while running and fired it into the darkness. There was a bright flash as a gout of fire emerged from the shot canister, engulfing several Timberwolves. The burning wood spirits cried out in pain before the light left their eyes, nothing left but burning charcoal.

“What the Tartarus was dat?” Uno shouted while running. Trance pulled more pins from the homemade explosives, which he proceeded to fire over his shoulder.

“A warning to the thing that rallied them,” he calmly stated as he folded the sling against his wrist. He pulled out his bat and tossed his bags against a tree.

“Do not intervene.”

As those words left his mouth, he skid to a halt and held the bat above his head. A small thestral dove through the trees, crashing both her front hooves into his metal club, a loud ring echoing through the burning forest. He raised an eyebrow as a loud hiss escaped her mawl. She flew back up several feet, hissing even more violently.

“I’ve seen your silhouette before.” He brandished the bat in one hand, holding it strangely in an a fencer stance. “You saw me kill and dismember that pony, Mr. Green Hooves? You ran to get help, didn’t you?”

She growled and divebombed at him in response. He angled her attack away with the side of his weapon, slamming the back of the bat into her chest. She flung a wing at him in return, the ends of her wing bones cutting against his left arm. He bit his tongue and slammed the bat into her twice, once in the stomach, knocking her up into the air, and again at the right of her ribs, flinging her away. She hissed and disappeared into the trees.

He was caught off guard. He didn’t expect this batpony to be able to use its wingtips as weapons. He pulled a hand full of metal slingshot ball bearings from his jacket.

“You won’t be able to kill me,” he stated. He loaded safe ammunition into his sling and pulled back. “I won’t kill you either.”

He pulled far back on the silicone sling and fired past the trees. There was a scream as the the thestral crashed to the ground hard, bruises already forming across her left wing from the sling shots.

He folded the sling against his wrist again and charged for the dazed creature, metal bat raised above his shoulder. Just as he was bringing it down on her head, she regained sense and craned her neck to the side, making his swing hit the dirt. She pulled her back legs close to her chest. There was a loud snap as she bucked both legs into his chest, knocking him back into a tree. The human hacked from both impacts, blotches of black filling his vision. He’d be surprised if at least one rib wasn’t broken. He held his chest, trying to steady his vision. He’d been sloppy and slow ever since coming to this world and he wasn’t certain why. He’d need to go home soon to retrieve his armor.

“We got baaaaaaad trouble!” Uno shouted, appearing by the downed human from seemingly nowhere. He noticed Uno brought his bags over.

“You handle it. I’m in the middle of something,” he said standing back up. He pulled out a roll of cloth bandages and hastily made work covering the cuts across his left shoulder and upper arm, tying the bandages right over his jacket. He seemed to be getting hit in the shoulders a lot lately. His eye was constantly surveying the ground and trees for the batpony. It managed to get away after kicking him.

Uno began to feverishly look around as well. “No, no, no! We go now! Not even you can take dem on, plus dat batpony! Not even you!” He put up the roll of gauze.

“Take who on?” he asked.

“YOU!”

Trance didn’t have any warning besides the sudden shout. There was no indicator for the rainbow blur that kicked his stomach at subsonic speed. The human was flung back like a rag doll into a tree while a lasso was flung around Uno.

“Oh fuck…”

Trance rolled over on his side and puked, thick stomach acid clinging to the inside of his throat. He felt a dangerously painful beating inside his head. He didn’t want to move. That last hit was like getting hit with a clip of .308 rounds. It wasn’t pleasant. His headache was even worse. It was like someone was driving rusty screws into his head with a brick.

He stole a blurry glance upwards. There were three ponies standing there. One was a Stetson hat wearing cowpony. She was swinging a lasso in the air. Applejack. The three Changelings were tied up behind her, each one unconcious.

To her left was a smug looking cyan pony. She had rainbow schemed tail and mane. He got really mad after seeing the look on her face. She looked so arrogant. He didn’t know who she was, but he could already tell he didn’t like her. He really wanted to hurt her.

He looked to her left. The third one was the most irritating of all. This one was sporting a wide smile. It wasn’t Pinkie Pie. It was Pinkamena, and she had a very satisfied look on her face. There was very faint burn scars on her left foreleg. He would’ve been surprised she was healed already if he were thinking clearly.

Trance didn’t have murder on his mind. Nope. It was pain. And no, it wasn’t the pain from the series of kicks they hit him with. It was the pain that he was going to inflict on these presented before him.

A dastardly purple began radiating out of his eyepatch, but that didn’t matter to him at the moment. He reached into his jacket and pulled out two thin metal rectangles, one in each hand. He flicked his wrists and twirled his fingers, flicking out two butterfly knives, one pearl, the other black. He watched as all three ponies stepped back several paces, the looks on their faces completely drained. He started stepping forward, continuously flipping and spinning the razor edged blades in his hands.

“I’m going to cut you.” His voice was dark, dry, and raspy, as if several of him were talking at once.

The three of the Mane six didn’t want to be on the receiving ends of those knives. They made to move, only to find very familiar black crystals holding their hooves in place. Applejack made a desperate attempt at tossing her lasso at him, but a quick flurry of his knives sliced the rope to pieces. Rainbow Dash flapped her wings furiously, managing to break free from the crystals. The human leaped forward, delivering a brutal roundhouse kick to her back, sending her back to the ground where more black crystals once again encased her legs. She could only look up as Trance prepared to clip her wings completely off with his knives.

“Away from the mares!”

A vine of weighted rocks were suddenly wrapped around the human’s torso, binding his arms. A cloaked figure jumped through the brush, more weighted vines hanging from between her teeth, a bamboo staff at her side.

“...Or I shall have you in snares!” she shouted.

“Zecora!” all three of the trapped ponies shouted at once.

Trance snarled, animalistically clamping his teeth over the thin vines to snap them apart. Zecora flicked her head, tossing the second weighted bola at the human. His knives were a torrent of fury as they cut through the vine with ease. The zebra stood up on her hind legs alone, holding the bo staff in front of her with a high level of skill.

“Back down before I send you to the ground,” she cautioned in rhyme.

The hunter met her gaze, sending a sudden chill down the zebra. He blinked almost stupidly at her. A sudden realization seemed to dawn over him, causing him to stop his approach completely.

He wasn’t feeling himself. He was feeling genuinely angry. It wasn’t that he was feeling angry, so much as it was that he was feeling in general.

He went from angry to disappointed at himself.

He wasn’t one to be driven by emotions easily, not even by pain. He seemed to be losing control a lot lately and he wasn’t very pleased about it.

...Was this the cause?

His knives flipped closed, his arms falling limp at his sides as he stared into space. The zebra and ponies stared at the creature, a blank look on his face.

This time was different though. He’d felt as if there was a presence over his shoulder watching and guiding his moves.

“What the hell are you?” he demanded aloud, though none were certain who he was talking to.

There was a tension in the air and a pause in his mind. Trance felt angry and light, but he wasn’t certain why.

Zecora’s grip on her bo staff increased as Trance walked by her and retrieved the three unconscious Changelings, walking by the three ponies he was about to fillet. He dragged the three Changelings by the rope as he went to retrieve his items, limping very slightly. The three the ponies and zebra didn’t even find words of protest, thankful that neither side was fighting.

As Trance dragged the Changelings from view, he turned, his poisonous gaze falling on the zebra. He grinned.

“You smell nice like the earth.” He turned and walked away before he could gauge the baffled looks on their faces.

Twilight, Rarity, and Luna arrived on the scene minutes later, though the human and Fluttershy were far too gone for them to follow, both gone in two different directions.

Trance was still trudging himself deeper and deeper into the forest, going the path he and the trio of bugs were originally headed.

“I will repeat myself only once more,” he demanded aloud in an empty tone, “what are you?” He held his breath for several seconds, waiting for a reply.

“...Crystal King…” a voice like a raspy whisper said in his mind. Trance huffed the three Changelings over his back, straining only slightly at their added bulk.

“So royalty?” Trance questioned aloud. “Tell me how and why you swayed my actions and judgement. And what are you? Father of Luna and Celestia? Some kind of deity?” Trance swore he could have heard a soft, painful chuckle echo in the air around him.

“More magic...Will speak then…” the voice sounded, disappearing like an echo in a cave. The purple haze stopped flowing from his blind eye.

Trance picked up his pace, trekking the forest fast as he could with his hindrances. While he didn’t fully understand everything in this chaotic day, there was one thing he was certain of. The owner of the voice in his head was not his own.

And, whoever the voice belonged to was tired. Very tired.

Trance was tired too. He was too tired to give a shit. He swallowed a few caffeine pills and continued on. He looked through the thick foliage at the full moon in the sky.

“That was an interesting zebra...Zecora.”

The Badland

The end of the forest greeted me with with the edge of a desert. I had continued to follow the general direction the Changeling trio gave me, continuing my journey well into the cold dry darkness of the the desert. I didn't understand the constellations I saw in the sky, so I had to keep checking my compass for direction.

While I was cold, the three over my back were colder. They were shaking in their shells, which I doubted gave much heat insulation. I questioned why they lived in desert area. It was probably against their will.

Despite my worry for the hopeless insects, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stop until I’d found suitable tinder for a fire. I was very cynical and almost certain they would perish. However, lights of homes in the distance is what gave me confidence that they would live. Appleloosa was in sight for me.

And so, for the next half hour, I’d began to scout the area. It seemed like a basic western town with taverns, general stores, and thin-wood houses. A weak river meandered through it, as well as the end of a railroad. No one was out in the cold biting dryness of the desert that night.

After only a short recon, I came to the conclusion that the best place to hide would be the apple orchard off to the side of the town. A dirt path cut through it, but the trees seemed thick enough that no one would notice me and three others.

That is how I ended up building a small smokeless fire in the middle of the orchard. Dead branches and other fallen debris from the trees made excellent tinder and fire starters. I had a small but warm blaze going in no time.

I sat and basked in the light of the flickering flames. I peeled off my old gauze, my jacket and shirt as well. The cold of night on my back contrasted the warmth on my chest from the fire. I checked the wounds that were inflicted upon me in my most recent fights. Large bruises were forming on my chest. It hurt to breath, though nothing was miraculously broken. I wasn’t sure how you get hit by something at subsonic speeds and retain nothing more than a few cuts and bruises. I needed to get my armor at some point.

I applied a topical steroid ointment to my chest, sighs escaping my teeth from light touches. I wrapped my bottom torso and my upper stomach with a nice layer of gauze. The cuts I got above my left shoulder were minor at best. I applied ointment to prevent infection and added a medical patch to insure I didn’t expose the wound.

After I finished patching myself, I pulled out a protein bar from my bag and began to chew on it, having not eaten for quite some time, plus having thrown up what little I had eaten earlier. I began to patch my wardrobe as I chewed. I couldn’t care less about the cuts in my t-shirt. I worried more for my jacket.

I took out a thin needle and a spool of strong, clear thread and began to work stitches into the cloth.

My jacket, believe it or not, played a big part in my camouflage. Do to the contrasting sides, with one being white and the other black, I can easily deceive the mind. If I were to wear white at night, the white would contrast horribly with the darkness around me. The eyes will adapt to target that white. So, when you invert the jacket and the white suddenly becomes black, the white target seems to dissipate into the night. The eyes can’t adapt fast enough to catch sight of the black before it is gone. It was one of many very simple tricks I use to aid in my escapes.

Just as I was finishing sewing a hole near the hood of my jacket, I heard one of the Changelings moan and stir in place. I almost forgot I left them tied up for transportation purposes.

I checked over them to see the full extent of their injuries. They didn’t appear to have any wounds besides small cracks at the backs of their skull’s, places that I assumed were weak points. They’d been hit there rendering them unconscious. Feeling a bit of heart in my rather empty chest, I massaged a bit of topical ointment into their wounds. They let out moans of relief in their sleeps, but otherwise did not wake up. I found the feel of their carapaces rather strange. They were like a strong rubber almost, yet they also had a strangely softness similar to silk. I didn’t really know how to describe it really.

I finished my camper meal and took a swig of water from a near empty canteen from my bag. I made sure to splash myself with water at the nearby river, as well as replenish my water, adding a few drops of iodine to the mix. While I had a fire going, I decided to skin and smoke the Jackalope I shot in the forest, deciding I would eat it later for a snack. I was honestly shocked it remained hooked on my belt even after the fights I was in.

After I was done, I packed up my gear, threw on my shirt and jacket, buried the coals of my fire, and slung three Changelings over my back. I was still sore and tired as hell is hot, but I wanted to get where I was going before resting. There were only a few hours left of night time anyway.

Luckily, the river that trailed through the town and orchard served not only as a clean water source, but also as a landmark. The Changelings told me that the river flowed right by their hive, certain I wouldn’t miss it. They had told me a bit about where they lived, but they were mostly vague about it, not to mention they were terrible at descriptions. I would’ve thought they were being sketchy, but I was smarter than that. They were merely simple.

I looked at the gentle river as I walked by it. The water flowed slowly, sandstone weathered at its banks. The depression in the ground made it clear to see that the river had been much larger at one point. Despite noticeably shrinking over the ages, I was certain that the river would still be running strong for centuries.

I couldn’t help but notice many fish swimming around in the water, some I was happy to recognize such as carps, catfish, and trout. Some I didn’t recognize, and would need to be cautious in seeing if they were poisonous. There were even some fish that I groaned when I saw, some of them being the Rainbow Trout and the Striped Bass. Color me surprised when I noticed that the Rainbow Trout were really rainbowfied and the there were zebra and tiger Striped Bass. While I found myself questioning more physical play on name puns in this world, I couldn’t deny that the fish would’ve made one awesome aquarium.

“...Cold...Owwie…My head…”

One of the Changelings stirred awake on my back. I looked over my shoulder to see Uno blinking in a confused way.

“Welcome back to the living.” He blinked slowly, the realization of being tied slowly dawning over him.

“Why are we tied up?” He questioned to me. I shrugged and stopped walking.

“You got knocked unconscious along with your friends. That orange country pony then tied you three up. After I dealt with them, I left you three tied for transportation purposes. It made it easier to carry you over my shoulder.” I set the three on the ground and made to untie Uno, leaving the other two loosely bunched together. He started stretching his legs and buzzed his wings a few times.

“Ohh...Being tied up like dat gets dem hooves knotted,” he moaned out.

I fought the urge to ask how hooves could get knotted, but I decided to just let it happen. I grabbed the rope and hoisted the other two Changelings back over my shoulder. Uno continued to blink and look around. He rubbed his eyes with his hooves, his ear-antennas buzzing a few times. His eyes widened a bit.

“How’d you get us in the Badlands already?!” I didn’t quite like the tone he used, but answered him anyways.

“I walked my way into the night. You three have been out for almost five hours by the way.” I assumed walking the river, Uno in tow. He was buzzing and looking around cautiously. I wasn’t sure if the shaking of his hooves were from the cold hitting him or if it was fear for something else.

“Close...Maybe be there soon?” he mumbled to himself. He looked at me. “Has the ground been shaking at all?” I shot the bug a sideways glance.

“No. I’m gonna take a shot in the dark and assume the ground is not supposed to shake?” He nodded his head, then shook his head.

“Shaking is bad. We lucky dat there is none. Shaking ground means big worms…” He mumbled the last part quietly, though I could still pick up what he was saying.

I looked at the buzzing Changeling. “Worms?” He seemed to recoil back at what I said, flinching as if I was about to hit him.

“Sand Wyrm,” he said cautiously. “They big, BIG dragon worm. Dem come out ground. They eat many relative,” he said with a hiss and shudder. I took notice in how his grammer got worse the more scared and frustrated he got, though I said nothing about it.

“Sand Wyrms,” I repeated aloud, as if testing the authenticity of it. I was no stranger to lore. I was an avid learner with precision memory. While I tend to read more science and tactician documents rather than fiction, I was no stranger to a bit of fantasy.If Wryms are what I think they are, they are basically a type of massive variation of armored sand worm.

That should’ve been pretty self explanatory though.

I glanced at Uno, who had yet to cease shivering. I was about to question it, but his ear antennas started vibrating like a phone. Simultaneously, sounds of buzzing began to fill the air. My eye traced the outlines of dozens, if not hundreds, of Changelings taking to the sky. They blended in well when they crouched low in the sand dunes, even more so when they flew in the sky. It was interesting. One moment there was nothing but the sound of the gentle flowing river, the next the sound of a hundred buzzing wings. I expected to see a swarm of locusts.

Despite the interaction I’ve had with the trio and the Conductor Changelings, I still found myself taking a step closer to Uno out of caution. Several pink eyed Changelings floated near me and took Dos and Tres from me before taking off into the night sky. Many others remained in the sky buzzing around me, the rest flying to the ground before walking in steady step. Many of them eyed me with strange looks, both mixes of blues and pinks. It was difficult for even me to read their solid irises, each one with the same expressions on their faces.

Feeling a bit cautious, I bent down to Uno’s level. “Why are there so many of you here? Why are they staring at me like that?” I asked in all do seriousness. By this point, there was no sound but the sound of hundreds of hooves crunching against the sand. Uno looked at me.

“Safety in numbers,” he replied curtly. A bashful grin stretched across his face. “They also wanna hear you play dat instrument.” I blinked, surprised at that last part. “We Changelings can communicate with the rest of the hive,” he continued, as if he sensed my next question. I suppose that answered my previous hypothesis..

While I normally wouldn’t be caught dead doing something like this, I found myself making yet another exception in this world. Hell, it might be interesting. I’ve never had an audience this size before that I wasn’t literally blowing up.

“I suppose I could throw something together real quick,” I said quietly. As if set off by a chain effect, smiles started stretching from one bug to the next. Word really did go around them quick.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my violin case, shrugging both my bags over one shoulder, and uncasing my violin. The familiar smell of rosin and old wood greeted my senses. While I was a bit tired, I had no doubt that I couldn’t play a few tunes.

I began stomping one of my feet as I [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxIOUJ7by6U]walked.

My first notes came out slightly slurred, no doubt a factor from my sleep deprivation, but such a thing didn’t deter me. I quickly picked up momentum with an upbeat flourish, burning through bars of music like fire. My fingers almost hurt at the speed I played, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

Maybe I was weird, but I found something sort of poetic in this. Here I was playing a dance beat on my fiddle surrounded by an army of drones. The cold dry air and sand left little medium for sound, though the instrument still sang loud enough for all those to hear. Many unconsciously stomped the ground with me, matching the tempo. I would even go as far to call it a march.

No. It was more of a parade where everyone walked to a single metronome. I imagine the Pied Piper must’ve felt like I do now when he led away the army of rats. I found it strange to admit, but I think I enjoyed the presence of the crowd of spectators. I’d never before played in the presence of anyone but myself before I’d met the Changelings.

As the song began to tone down, so did the river, becoming more and more narrow to the point I had to hop out of the eroded bank in a fear of slipping on sloping sandstone. The sounds of hooves clattering against the ground spoke volumes.

When I had at last struck the final chords, we had reached the end of the river, which took a 90 degree turn downwards, waterfalling thousands of feet into a valley that greatly resembled the Grand Canyon. There were sounds of clattering of hooves in approval, smiles going around.

Every Changeling began to buzz their wings and take flight. They dove straight down the canyon. I watched as they flooded down, flying towards a large waxy husk protruding from the center of the canyon. It was a large dome shaped hive that had to be several miles wide. I watched in awe as they disappeared in chambers that littered the outside of the large structure, leaving me standing alone.

I heard what I believe to have been a slow clap of hooves come from behind me. I turned to see a Changeling standing there, a genuine smile on its face.

“It seems as if they’ve have taken a liking to you, creature.” The smooth voice was without a doubt feminine. I put up my violin before turning to face her.

“That would be a first. Generally I have people fear me, not grow attached.” I started circling the Changeling, observing her features as she observed mine. The only noticeable distinction between her and the others were her incredible green eyes.

“I will say you are quite tall,” she said surprised. I was expecting that. I stood 6’2, towering well over most those my age. Despite my rather lean build, compared to the average pony I was a giant. Compared to royalty, I stood as tall as the horn above Celestia’s head went.

I wasn’t startled as the Changeling was engulfed in a green fire. Standing in place was now a creature about the size of Celestia. She shared the same distinct features of the drones. The greatest differences were her height, her ragged seaweed green mane and tail, the tiara like ornament on her head, her large mangled horn, and her green eyes.

“Queen Chrysalis I presume?” She hummed in confirmation.

“I see you’ve heard of me, Trance the Human,” she replied back, using a voice with a regal flourish in it. “I must say that you have created some interestings scenes in Equestria.” I pulled down my hood so that she could get a better view of my face. I shrugged as if my most recent terroristic acts were nothing special. For me, they really weren’t. No one died in them, though I certainly did induce terror, so that could be argued..

Only one was hunted to death by me, and that was before I knew they were sentient. I didn’t really care about the intellect level of the creature. I felt the need to eat, thus hunted. If I were starving, I’d kill another human and eat them raw if I had to. It may disturb me slightly, but I’d get over it.

“Honored to hear my name crosses universes,” I said. “Forgive me for not bowing before a queen. I don’t stand on any hierarchy system.” She looked cross, but said nothing about it.

“I suppose such formalities do not matter much,” she quietly admitted. “Trivial things haven’t been of importance as of late.” There was concern lining her voice. She shook her head. “I’m sure you are wondering why I requested your presence, are you not?”

I gave her a look. “I’ve got a good idea,” I muttered loudly. “I’d like to hear it from you though.” I began to walk circles around the queen, her visibly tensing slightly as I observed her new form. She scoffed, trying to take her mind off of my gaze. She was putting on an obvious facade.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of us by now. My subjects informed you of us on your journey here.” I hummed in confirmation. I stopped walking after I’d made a second 360 around her. “I’m certain you’ve heard of our...reputation.” I hummed again. “Others don’t take kindly to us love eaters, and as such have taken great precautions against us. Many despise and even hate us for it. Understand though that love is vital for us. Without it, we would starve.” There was a small shake in her voice, one that did not escape me.

“It sickens me. I wouldn’t ask of this to anypony at all, but things are getting worse. I can not stand by and watch things go about as they are. That is why I turn to you, a creature I know nearly nothing about, and ask for your help. You do not seem to hold any hatred towards us, an action that no other species has shown toward us before, but rather hold quarms with the ponies. We need help and I’ll do anything to get it. It is because of that I-”

I tapped her on the nose with a hand, making her snout scrunch up in the same weird reflex as that Ditzy Doo pony. I still needed to research that.

“Shhhhh-ut up.” I shushed to her quietly, feeling more than a little annoyed. “You used a lot of effort to dodge your main problem and I don’t usually like it when people beat around the bush.” My next words were the ones she didn’t like hearing.

“You and your subjects are starving.”

Her mouth made to move, but I hit the nail right on the head. She tried to blink away her surprise, failing miserably, “H-how did you already figure it out?”

I rolled my eye, “It doesn’t take a genius to see most of your subjects were shaking. I at first thought it was just the cold. I dismissed that. I then thought it was hunger. I started to realize that they weren’t exactly hungry either. They were starving, barely able to stand. It was pitiful to watch. Even with you dodging the problem in your little rant it was easy to tell. Even your hungry.”

She went drop dead silent for a moment, “You are very observant,” she said depressed, that tone in her voice gone. I noticed she had more apprehension than anything in her eyes.

“I suppose I am.” I saw her pawing the ground with a hoof out of a mixture of meekness and fear.

“Will you help us?” she suddenly blurt out, laying all her chips on the table.

I gave her a look, “Why should you trust me? And why should I trust you? We have literally just met. You haven’t a slightest idea who I am, what I am, or what I am capable of doing. The feelings mutual.”

She gave me an incredulous look, “You’ve showed no fear or disgust towards my subjects; only compassion. I also know that you have the gutsy to try and take on two Alicorn princesses with a third and forth on the side, and I know that you have no quarms with sending an entire kingdom into chaos doing so.” She looked away, her expression falling dark for several moments. “You said it yourself. Me and my subjects starve. I am desperate and out of options. I’m so desperate that I would put all my faith in a complete alien who I know nothing of. It is either that or wait until we all die.”

Hm. There’s four princesses? That’s news to me. I needed to find a library and some other sources of information around here.

I scrutinized the desolate queen, looking over my character evaluation again. The moment she appeared before me she seemed cocky and high and mighty. The minute I see through her guise is the minute her entire mask falls. Her body language changed fast, altered impulsively by her emotion. This queen was weak.

“You’re weak,” I deadpanned. Whoops I spoke that out loud. She was about to start ranting, but I held up a hand. “You’re weak as a queen because you’re strong as a mother. They’re not your subjects; they are your children and you want to treat them as such. The only reason you mostly hesitate to treat them with affection now is because you don’t have the heart to lose you children. That’s why you treat them as subjects and do not name them.” Her eyes went wide.

“That’s...impossible,” she stated hollowly, taking two steps back. “How would you know that?”

I shrugged. “What can I say? Nothing escapes my gaze.” I turned away.

I looked over the canyon to the hive. The sun was beginning to rise from the east. I’d been up for almost three nights straight with little rest and little food. I’d been up for an entire week before without much hindrance, and can go very long times without food. I do need to check back home very soon though... I don’t want Buddy and Shmitten to eat each other...

I turned back to the queen, “You know,” I started slowly, “I know what it feels like to be starving.” I looked to the poor, defeated mother and queen, tears welling up in her eyes from my earlier words. I could tell she didn’t like showing weakness. “It doesn’t feel good to starve. To slowly lose your energy...to feel the stabbing hunger pains…to wonder how long it’d be before you die.”

I looked out to the sun slowly rising higher.

“You have my service, Queen Chrysalis.”

The Mother

Author's Note

And that's the rest of the chapters I've got on hand. I will resume writing soon and will post when I have more written. If it's not much trouble, please tell me what you liked and did not like. I need to know this so I don't make repeat the same mistakes.
I hope you've enjoyed though!

The Mother

Chapter: The Mother

There was so much disbelief on her face.

“I’ll help,” I repeated for clarification. Chrysalis continued looking at me exasperated as I appeared to visibly relax, replacing my intimidating stature with a more slack stance.

She looked almost stupor at my sudden appearance change. “You will?” she stated in an even tone.

“I will,” I instantaneously replied back. I didn’t like seeing the weak stepped on. That was all there was to it. “But before I assist, I need to know the full situation of your subjects.” I pointed to the hive off in the distance. “I need you to take me to your base of operations so I can evaluate.”

She blinked at the lack of subtlety to my words. It was a little trait I picked up over the years from my mentors. Some of them anyways.

She still looked indecisive. “I’m not sure about that,” she managed out. I wasn’t surprised. The look on her face told me she was still indefinite about this entire thing. She should just make up her mind though. She said she’d do anything just a minute ago. Now she’s being indecisive.

It was understandable. She did not fully trust me. I don’t blame her. I don’t trust myself.

After having an internal debate with herself for a good three minutes, she’d at last sighed out in content. Her horn began to glow a ghastly green. The next thing I knew, I was feeling light, weightless like swimming without the pressure of water over your head.

It was similar to the way it felt when I used the mirror portal on myself.

The feeling lasted for no more a second before dissipating. We appeared to be teleported to the base of the hive in one of the many outer tunnels. There were several Changelings surrounding us. They eyed me with their queen, but said nothing. I could hear loud buzzing even from here.

“Come,” she motioned to me down the tunnel. I checked where I was first. The ground beneath me was strange in texture. It was rubbery with a waxy like surface, much like a beehive would be. The walls were several feet high and several feet apart, mostly covered in slime. I was happy to say I could stand my full height without being able to touch the ceiling. Then again, the queen and me were roughly the same size.

I began to follow the queen. “Nice place you got here,” I said casually with no grace. She didn’t know whether it was sarcasm or not, so she chose to ignore my comment.

She kept her eyes forward, paying no mind to the passerby Changelings. “The strongest Changelings normally remain stationed around the outer walls. They keep the hive protected from unwanted visitors.”

I noticed she’d reverted back to her regal voice in the presence of her subjects.

Wait.

There’s Changelings walking on the ceiling. Their hooves were coated in that green slime, probably what was allowing them such interesting feats. That’s quite interesting. I started thinking of all the ways the slime alone could be used as a weapon and in current weapons.

I heard Chrysalis giggle at my reaction. I realized I was staring and quickly caught up to her.

“So what do they keep out? What would be stupid enough to walk right up to a hive this size?” I saw a smile appear on her face before quickly fading away.

“You’d be surprised how many would attack us.” I did a double take on her. Her voice became monotone, almost dead. “Other’s know we are in a vulnerable state. It’s why they have the gall to attack us on our own grounds.”

That’s still idiotic. Weak or not, walking into this place seems like the equivalent of sticking your hand in a beehive. That’s just stupid.

The tunnel we proceed down gradually grew darker. Some of the goo on the walls and beneath our feet and hooves started to become luminescent. The slime was a brighter green that glowed, lighting the walls. Multiple caverns broke off in all directions of this one tunnel alone. I had to pay close attention to where I was. This place was a maze of little differentiation. It may be difficult for even me to escape from here. A normal person would’ve been lost in a heartbeat though. I cracked a red glowstick and held it in my hand for extra light.

“Because you brought it up, explain to me something.” I gave her a chastising look. “You keep mentioning you are all weak. How did you get so weak and how does everyone knows it?”

I heard her give a deep sigh, visibly slouching and pausing. She shook her head and began walking, “It is a long story.”

I smell knowledge.

“I’ve got a few hours.”

She grimaced and sighed again, no doubt recounting horrible things.

“Desperation has driven me to hasty actions,” she said in a defeated voice, shaking her head. “My subjects...My dear subjects grew weak. There just isn’t enough substance, not enough love, to feed all of us.” She breathed in sharp breaths. The sounds of buzzing got louder. Changelings walking through the tunnels didn’t seem to acknowledge our presence, instead making wide detours around us.

“I managed to find a place,” she continued on, “a place with more love than anywhere I’d ever encountered. This place was Equestria. There was so much love, so much food that I couldn’t believe it was real. It was so...delicious.” She licked her lips before shaking her head. “For the first time in a long time I fed and felt full. It was such an incredible, such a satisfying feeling. I wanted all of my subjects to feel it as well. To not hunger. To not worry if they would die of starvation when they fell asleep. To be able to feel full.”

Her words spoke volumes to me. I knew exactly what she felt. I’d been starved before by my father. I’d felt hunger pains. I’d wondered that if I fell asleep, whether or not I would wake back up. Or rather, if I wanted to wake up, to spend more time in pain from hunger. I could relate in ways I almost wish I couldn’t.

“I was rash.”

The fact that she just admitted her mistake was much more than most others could do. She seems as competent as a ruler would need to be.

She shook her head again, much more fiercely this time. “The thought of food...The feelings...They drove me to a convoluted plan. A plan to take place the place of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.” Now that part really got my attention, and it wasn’t just the really long name.

I didn’t interrupt the story though.

“I learned that she was going to be wedded soon. Wedded to the captain of the royal guard, a stallion named Shining Armor.”

Hmm… A royal wedding? That would be a good of time as any. If it’s anything like from my world, a wedding like that would no doubt be big. There’d be a lot of people, or in this case ponies, to blend into. There’d likely be a lot of guards to watch over the whole affair, but everyone’s attention would primarily be focused on the wedding plan. For a rash convoluted plan, it was thought out, though still flawed.

“Everything had been perfect...Everything until that pony, Princess Twilight Sparkle stuck her nose where it didn’t belong.” She scowled at the name. I’d heard that name before as well. Celestia mentioned her back at the theater. Something about ‘the magic of friendship.’

...This world had weird cultures, but then again, it was an entirely different world from mine, and thus evolved differently.

“Twilight had gotten suspicious of me. She’d realized I wasn’t Cadenza. So, in secrecy, I’d threw her away into the Crystal Caverns. I was going to use her as a bargaining chip alongside the real Cadenza and captain Shining Armor to overthrow the princesses. I had underestimated her competency though. If it weren’t for her…! If...it weren’t for her...” Her tone went from dark to defeated in an instant. No one could really blame her. She was defeated.

I’d noticed that more and more Changelings were hanging around the walls, huddled into small groups. Others laid curled up into small carved chambers in the walls, ones that acted as beds, distinctively reminding me of honeycombs. Most of them were barely moving and utterly responseless. The most reaction any of them would give is a small shift in their eyes, a buzz from their antenna ears, or a quick buzz from their wings.

The queen walked over to an unresponsive Changeling. Others surrounding us looked away as their queen nuzzled the bug, shedding a small tear. It was dead.

Chrysalis’s horn glowed green as she engulfed the poor subject in an aura of green before continuing walking, the corpse following. Other Changelings either looked on with tears or turned away, trying to stop theirs from falling. We started moving deeper into the hive, down deeper by a sloping tunnel. The only sounds were that of a colony moaning and mourning insects.

As we continued in silence, I observed a Changeling sprawled on the tunnel floor. I blinked as I passed the motionless bug. More were on the floor, each on in the same state. The tunnel we walked through opened up into a large chamber. In this chamber were hundreds if not thousands of Changelings. They were piled together in large clusters and groups, each one silent and motionless. None of these Changelings had those bright blue eyes that all of them shared. None had those rare pink eyes I’d seen either. Everyone of their carapaces were hollow.

They were nothing but shells.

I would’ve followed her into the chamber, but there was no way I would be able to walk forward without stepping on a body. I don’t think she would’ve minded though. She walked over them.

Chrysalis laid the dead Changeling gently atop a pile of corpses, tears flowing from her face like rain, sniffles and whines escaping her throat. Her magic stopped, the body shifting slightly before settling with its equals. The queen was broke. She’d been through more pain than any mother ever has. She watched as thousands of her children starved to death before her.

I wasn’t fazed at the scene like a normal person would’ve been. I was just surprised. I didn’t think their situation would be this bad.

I dropped the glowstick to the ground, my eyes shifting over the scene. I crouched to one knee and ran a hand over the empty head of a former Changeling. The exoskeleton was icy cold to the touch. I looked up to see Chrysalis laying atop the shells while weeping. She was running a hoof over a carapace, uttering empty apologies to the equally empty husks. I entered the graveyard and walked to her, trying my best to avoid stepping on the exoskeletons.

I effortlessly picked up the queen, her light body going limp at my touch. I allowed her to cry into my shoulder, her head tucked under my chin in a way that her horn did not impale my head. I didn’t bother saying anything to her. No amount of comfort would tape her shattered will back together. No amount of empty words would fill the shells of her dead children.

That didn’t stop me from making another vow of course.

'I swear on my name as a Jack of Trades, I will right these wrongs no matter the cost.'

The Crystals

Author's Note

This is the product of staying up very late with little sleep. I wrote like 2000 words of this in one sitting and despite going over it several times, still am unsatisfied with how this came out. Please comment on the errors in here and everything else you think is wrong with this chapter. There's bound to be something wrong.

The Crystals

“They are like me.”

The voice cut through the silence like a knife. The queen had long since fell asleep on my lap, so I knew that it was not her. Not that it sounded anything like her. This voice was darker than hers. That much was certain.

I looked up to see a dark coated stallion standing atop a mountain of corpses. He was silhouetted in wispy purple fog. I noticed he had a tinted steel armor on as well as a king’s red surcoat. I could make out a dark helmet of some sort on his head. He had a red and black horn on his head, but it seemed like it was more attached to the metal helmet than himself. It also appeared different compared to the other unicorns I’ve seen. Even the rare males in their community didn’t have that kind of horn. He began to descend from the corpses. I gently laid the queen down as I stood to meet him halfway.

“You’re the voice in my head,” I deadpanned. “You called yourself the Crystal King.” The almost ethereal figure stopped several feet away from me. He had an exotic pair of red eyes with lime green sclera. The purple haze seemed to constantly pour from the corners of his eyes.

“I was ruler of the Crystal Kingdom at a time,” he stated with a mixture of sadness and defeat, “but that was centuries ago. I am now called Sombra, the Unicorn with the blackened heart.” He frowned as he practically spit the title from his mouth.

“Centuries, eh?” I observed him up and down. “How’d you manage that?” I’d already predicted his answer.

“Magic.”

“Of course,” I scoffed. Chrysalis shifted in her sleep behind me. I cast her a glance before turning to the tunnel that she led me through. “Let’s take this conversation elsewhere,” I stated.

As I took a step towards the exit, I felt a sudden rush of energy through my systems. The next thing I knew, we were standing outside on top of the massive Changeling hive. That familiar purple fog was flowing from my eye and I had a slight head ache to go with it. I frowned as the fallen king watched me with interest.

“You’ve developed a large amount of dark magic in your body,” he noted. “It seems to have made your eye it’s focal point.” I gave him a dangerous look as I removed my bow from my back and loaded it with an arrow.

“What does that mean? What is this magic crap that everyone here keeps talking about? And why’s it affecting me?” I demanded. He observed my actions, but he shook his head.

“Magic is not crap, as you put it,” he stated authoritatively. “Magic is alive and it does as it wishes.” I frowned as I lowered my bow.

“It’s alive? What does that mean?” I was surprised when he actually started smiling, his eyes brightening up.

“It means just that,” he said. “My years of research on the subject has yielded me with one common factor: magic is a living spontaneous entity that acts on the living and nonliving. It is a form of manipulative energy that is also alive.” I frowned and sat down. I set both my bags down as well, I but kept my bow and arrow out. Sombra sat down with me.

“That makes about as much sense as the rest of the stuff on this godforsaken rock,” I mumbled to Sombra. I met his gaze. “What were you saying about my eye being a focal point? What does that mean?”

“It means that your eye has become a channel for magic. I don’t know how this is possible though.” He observed my eyepatch as if he could see through it to my eye. “Magic like this tends to be corruptive and driven by hatred. It normally takes over the entire host and corrupts them to a shell of their former self to a point that they are nothing but hatred, thus nothing but black magic. I do not know how you have tamely managed to concentrate it into a single part of your own body like you have.” He looked at me expectantly. I sighed and shook my head.

“You say this black magic or whatever is driven by hatred.” I tapped my eyepatch. “It makes some sense now that you say that. I hate my eye more than anything. That’s probably why this living dark magic or whatever has taken a liking for it.” I was honestly getting a headache talking about this magic stuff. It was difficult to completely grasp such a broad and apparently still under study concept.

“Hmm…” He brought an armored hoof up to his chin. “I was not aware that magic could be swayed like that…” He appeared to be deep in thought. I shook my head at him. I unnotched the arrow and returned it to my quiver. I slung my compound bow back over my shoulder.

“You said they were like you? The Changelings?” He snapped out of his moment of thought to look at me. “What did you mean by that? Did you mean they were like you because they were weakened?” He blinked a few times before shaking his head.

“No. That is far from what I meant.” He sighed deeply and looked off into the canyon. “What I meant when I said that was that they were unintentionally feared for what they were. They were marked enemies for what they couldn’t help but do. In a sense, they were branded monsters for wanting love, I was branded a monster for losing mine.” I just gave him a blank look. I got a strange feeling of nostalgia from what he just said, but I didn’t acknowledge the feeling.

“So what you're saying,” I began to pinch the bridge of my nose, “is that you...can’t love and others fear you because of this?” Holy shit there was no way of saying that without sounding stupid. I had to keep reminding myself that I was in another world that worked differently from mine, but it was still hard to adjust to their customs and way of thinking.

Sombra shook his head at me. “There is more to it than that. There is always much more to it than that.” I understood those words. Just as the king could relate to the Changelings, I could relate to him as well. He at least understood that there was always more to something.

He looked away from me. He moved his hooves to the sides of his helmet. I watched as he slid the piece of metal completely off with no resistance. My earlier assumptions were correct. The horn was attached to the helmet and not his head. He was just an Earth pony.

“Back before I was a tyrant...before I was a king in general, I wandered the Frozen North as a young colt.” His face was crestfallen as he recalled his memories. “It has been far longer than a millennium since I had wandered the snowy tundras. I never can remember why I was there or why I was alone. All I knew was that I was walking alone for a good while through the ice and snow. I can’t even remember for how long I wandered or how I even stayed alive. I don’t remember ever sleeping and I don’t remember eating. Occasionally I’d eaten snow, but that only made me feel colder.

I don’t remember much besides the cold and the way the wind whistled. The way the wind howled and bit into me with it’s bitter cold like an animal. If the weather wasn’t enough, my growing detest for the cold sealed my fate. My hatred towards the cold attracted Windigos, creatures that feed on bitter emotions. They never outright attacked me. They attacked my psyche. They howled in my ears and brushed against my fur, sending icy spikes against my skin. They made a banquet out of me.

There were at least a dozen of them following me by the time I cracked. I stopped walking and just fell into the snow, letting them scream at me, letting them feed off of me. I gave up and welcomed whatever fate had in store for me. What I didn’t expect, however, was to be rescued by a now long since extinct race. The Snow Deers.”

I held up a hand to get Sombra’s attention. “You have my condolences. Regardless of your past, how does this relate to the topic at hand?” Sombra sighed and shook his head.

“The Snow Deer were magical creatures who were masters at ice and healing magic, though their magic is innate at birth. As they grew older, their magic began to concentrate into focal points on their heads. These focal points became antlers, the exact equivalent to a Unicorn’s horn. While on the topic of horns, do you understand the three basic races of ponies and their magical focus points?” I frowned as I heard that question.

“I know that there are Unicorns, Pegasus, and Earth ponies. I’ve seen Unicorns cast wide varieties of spells with their horns, though I can’t say the same for the other two. However, I’ve seen Pegasus fly.” I shook my head as I recalled the small ponies flying with their odd little wings. “I don’t know if it’s relevant, but they shouldn’t be able to fly naturally. Their wings aren’t proportional to their weights and sizes, nor do they flap fast enough and they don’t correctly move like a bird’s wings. I chalked it up as magic, but wasn’t certain. As for Earth ponies, the most magical thing I’ve seen one do is play the cello. How does that work with hooves?” He nodded his head as I gave brief descriptions of all pony races I’d seen, giving a small smirk at the last thing I asked.

“You are correct on all points. I am surprised you recognized the relationship between magic and a pegasus’ flight. Yes, their wings act as focal points for magic and would be mostly vestigial without it. Their magic further concentrates into feathers, which are what allow their speed and agility in the air. As for Earth ponies, their magic does not have a central focal point; their magic is balanced mostly throughout their bodies, giving them enhanced strength and vitality. The most concentrated points on their bodies would be their hooves. The magic build up in their legs is what allows them more dexterous use of their hooves, and though everypony has this buildup in their legs, the concentration in Earth ponies is strongest. I would even go as far as to say Earth ponies are the second most magical of the ponies, Unicorns being first with the pegasus being last.”

I am glad I learned this. That pony with the cello has been eating me away ever since I’d seen it play that stringed instrument. I’m glad I now that the answer is the same over endorsed answer I keep getting. Magic.

“Anyways,” Sombra continued, “other races, using ponies as examples, are naturally born with these focal points in them. Natural development of concentrated magic turning into focal points was unheard of anywhere else. But, it was there. The Snow Deer showed proof of this. Even to this day I still do not fully understand their cycle of development.” He shook his head and picked up his helmet with both hooves. It glowed a bright red before returning to its natural colors.

“After living under the care of the Snow Deers for some time, I found a way to recreate their magical growth. I actually learned this through their deaths. You see, as the Snow Deer grew old and eventually died, they had a tradition of burial. This tradition was to bury their kind in catacombs of crystal beneath the ice mountains. Families and friends would then pass their bodies, uttering their last prayers and mourning words. Over time, crystal would grow over the bodies until their corpses eventually became one with the crystal. The deer saw it as a natural cycle where nature reclaimed their bodies for the land. I learned that there was more to this process than simple tradition.

After extensive study, I learned that there were two different types of crystals that grew over their bodies; either a nearly pitch black crystal, or a pristine almost white crystal. Not only that, but there was a correlation between the corpses and the type of crystal that grew. The white crystal grew over the bodies of the well loved. The dark crystals, however, grew over those who the deer had...indifferent feelings about. What I learned was astounding. The crystal caves were alive and fed through magic. Not just any magic mind you. They were fueled by emotions; love or hate.

I found these crystals fascinating. The crystals were alive. Not only that, but they were heavily concentrated in magic energies and they actually grew from this energy.”

“So the crystals grew like the Snow Deer antlers?” I interjected.

“Surprisingly? No.” I blinked when I heard this. I gestured for him to continue. It took him a few moments to understand my hand motions, but he picked up on their meanings quickly.

“The magic between the crystals and the Snow Deer acted similar in some aspects, but they were completely different. The crystals, though alive with the aid of emotion magic, were only alive because of magic. Without it, they would be crystals alone and wouldn’t grow. The deer didn’t need emotion for their focal points -their antlers- to grow. Their growth happened through a natural almost sponge effect they had on magic in their environments. That is a whole other concept for another time. However, I am getting off track.

As I said, this magic fascinated me. These crystals focused magic in the same way that the antlers of the Snow Deer did. I wanted to see if I could recreate the growth of a magical focus point using the crystals. The final results,” he held up his helmet, “was this. An artificial horn that granted spell casting. My invention, however, is what became my downfall.” He shook his head slowly, likely recalling some bad things.

“The crystals that I used absorbed and split my emotions into shreds. It brought me to the brink of insanity and madness that rivaled Discord himself.”

I wanted to ask who this Discord figure was, but Sombra was having a momentary breakdown.

“With the last bit of my sanity, I sealed my sane emotions in the strongest crystals I could. The crystals in my helmet were left with nothing but my hatred, sadness, and resentment. I can only remember pieces of my insanity, but I can recall some moments of my reign. I used fear and resentment to build a crystal realm in the far north. I kept slave pony settlers to fuel and grow my kingdom of crystal. The crystals that took over me became the king that they know me as.”

“What happened to your sane emotions that you locked away? You didn’t mention them.” He grimaced at my mention.

“My pure emotions...my heart...was locked away in crystal. The crystal that engulfed the other part of me became known as the Crystal Heart. It became a strange artifact that expelled a warm energy. This was one reason my darkness didn’t destroy the Crystal Heart. The other reason was because the Crystal Heart was still a vital part of me. Without it, my body would’ve slowly died and became nothing. The dark crystals actually saw use in the Crystal Heart. It created a barrier of energy surrounding the entire kingdom powered from love, one that expelled powerful force. The crystals even went as far as to brainwash the ponies. It even created fake history and a fake fair to gain love energy to power the heart, despite it’s potential to restore my sanity.”

Sombra exhaled a deep breath. He looked at me for judgement.

I closed my eyes in thought. “While that was quite the story, there’s still pieces missing.” I opened one eyes and met the gaze of the tyrant.

“Your little story left out a few things. How were you overthrown? Furthermore, you claim you weren’t in your right mind when you enslaved a kingdom’s worth of ponies. You seem very sane at the moment, more so than most. Got any explanation for this?” He blinked very slowly before turning from my gaze.

“I fell as many others have.” He met my gaze again. “I was stormed in the night by the sun and moon duo. You know them as Luna and Celestia. They overwhelmed me before I could retaliate. They feared the power of the crystals that they didn’t understand.” I blinked at this new information.

Luna and Celestia were supposedly goddesses to the inhabitants of this place. They were actually so weary of Sombra that they wouldn’t risk a fair frontal dual with him? How strong was this king’s magic...?

“Before they banished me however,” Sombra continued, “the dark crystals sensed their demise. In a defense mechanic I didn’t know they possessed, the entire kingdom of crystal, the Crystal Heart and slave ponies included, disappeared for over a millennium. However, the magic that it took to hide the entire kingdom slowly drained the crystals of their dark magic, eventually sending them into a period of neutral rest.” I shook my head at the king.

“That explains how you were overthrown, but that didn’t explain to me how you regained your sanity. I thought the sane parts of you were trapped in the Crystal Heart? What happened to that and the rest of the Crystal Kingdom?”

“As I said, the crystals drained themselves of their magic, eventually returning to a mostly neutral state. When they returned to this state, the spell concealing the kingdom dispersed, once again revealing the realm to its rightful place in the north. When this happened, the crystals controlling my body once again were released. They tried to once again claim the kingdom. However, they failed.”

“What stopped the crystal?” I asked. “It couldn’t’ve been Celestia and Luna. You told me of how weary they were to attack you directly. Regardless of your state, I doubt they would’ve risked a frontal assault over a conflict in what was your domain.” He seemed very reluctant about this part of his story. Something big had to have happened.

“I am still not fully clear on what happened the day of my return. From what I inferred, Celestia was indeed of my return. She sent her niece, the Alicorn known as Mi Amore Cadenza, and her husband after me. They formed a powerful shield surrounding the entire kingdom, stalling my actions. However, a spell like that takes much energy, energy that slowly wasted away."

There was that name again. It would seem as though Sombra and Chrysalis had much more in common than they knew.

"Aware of the situation," he continued, "Celestia sent reinforcements; a clever unicorn by the name of Twilight, five of her friends, and a baby dragon. Together, they learned of the fake crystal fair that the dark crystals created; the very same fair that powered the Crystal Heart. Despite the traps before the Crystal Heart, they managed to find the artifact. The crystal ponies poured their love into it, powering the ancient relic. Rapidly, a burst of energy was released, a burst of energy that destroyed my body along with the dark crystals controlling me.”

There was another interesting name: Twilight. This was no doubt that Princess of Friendship I've heard of from both Celestia, Chrysalis, and now this king. I would need to research her and her friends extensively. Their weaknesses and personalities couldn't be too difficult to dissect.

Sombra continued on with his explanation, unaware of my momentary brainstorm.

“When the Crystal Heart’s magic collided with me, it made my mind whole once again. This was short lived. In destroying my body, the magic dispersed my thoughts far and wide, severing me once again, though not as dire. In a sense, I had somehow become one with magic. In connection with magic, I was given a slightly omnipotent sight, being able to see where my magic was. I was still alive in a matter of speaking, though I had no physical body to contain or process my thoughts correctly.

I remained in this stray state until my magic found you. I don’t know what it was about you, but my magic was drawn to you like a magnet. Slowly, as my magic began to conjugate in you, my being was slowly rebuilt in the process. This is why I am now coherent, as is this why I am still here.” He began to look at me in a strange way, while waiting for any more questions I had. I only had two, but these ones were important.

I raised a single finger. “One, you said your magic was in me. Does that mean I can cast magic?” Another finger up. “Two, if you are alive again, why are you still here? Why haven’t you left yet and why have you been so...compliant with me?” He blinked slowly at me. He looked surprised.

“I thought it was obvious that you could cast magic. You teleported us here.” It was my turn to look surprised.

“I thought that you were the one who did that?” He shook his head.

“No. It was you who had done the spell. You are the one who used magic.”

For several moments I didn’t believe him. I looked at my own hands. Was it that simple? Right before we were teleported, I was only thinking of speaking to Sombra outside. Was that all there was too it? To think? I looked back up at Sombra.

“Let’s even say I’m the one who teleported us and let’s say I can cast magic. If this is true, then what are the limits to what I can do?” He gave me a strange look.

“Magic has no limits.”

‘Bullshit.’

My mind called bullshit almost before I could fully process what he had just said. There was no way magic was limitless. There is absolutely no way this world would be intact if a bunch of sentient, crayon colored ponies could do anything with magic. There is no way.

I tried to open my mouth to retort, but I honestly couldn’t figure out how to word my argument to fit all the bullshit his statement held. Instead, however, I found myself thinking about ‘what if’. What if there was no limit to magic? I was beginning to wonder what I could do on top of what I already can do.

I pulled a single arrow from my quiver. It was a Toxic broadhead. I held it in my palm and stared at it. I wondered if I could make it hover above me. I began to feel that steady flow similar to adrenaline. Purple leaked from under my eyepatch as a dark grey began to cover the arrow. I watched mystified as it began to float out from my hand, stopping after it was leveled with my eyes. I looked back to my quiver. I was now beginning to wonder if I could float all my arrows above me. I watched as that same black started to trail over all the arrows. They slid, one by one, out and into the air, surrounding me in a sphere of various trick arrows and broadheads.

“You are a natural,” Sombra’s voice suddenly cut in. I lost focus for a moment, causing several dozen of my own arrows to fall towards me. My eyes widened as I rolled out of the way, ducking and dodging them. Several pin cushioned the outer hive. I shot the king a look before looking back at my arrows. I watched as they were engulfed in black. One by one they began to slide themselves back into my quiver. It was mystifying as it was simple. Here I am being told magic was limitless and what am I doing? Simple levitation.

I looked at my feet. I suddenly got a very wild thought, causing the purple flow from my eye to increase. I watched as dark fog began to flow from under my feet. I raised one foot as if I were walking up a step. My own eyes widened slightly as I felt myself raise off the ground, standing on an invisible step. I began to take more steps in the sky, climbing higher and higher, black torrents of fog following my feet. It felt as if I were standing on invisible platforms.

I began to move faster, the black clouds under my feet moving with me. Feeling invigorated by adrenaline and the magic in my systems, I began to run. The black fog had begun to thicken, even spreading up to my ankles. I started sprinting faster and faster. I was moving faster than I’d ever moved before. The black clouds had begun to move in small torrents all the way up to my head, making it look as if I were smoking. I wanted to test how boundless this magic was.

I was literally running hundreds of feet high through the sky. I began to wonder if I could move faster. The black clouds completely surrounded me, thickening to the point I looked like a shade running through a rain cloud. The purple from my visage pulsed and brightened, almost looking like a light in the dark. My feet had begun to feel strange. I felt as if there were strong springs beneath my feet bouncing me forward. I could feel the wind whip by me as I began to leap forward in the sky, catching myself on nothing, then propelling myself off nothing even faster. My long hair whipped back and I had to squint to see.

I began to wonder if I could break sound.

I felt as if something grabbed my feet and sent me rocketing forward. The air around me vibrated and I felt an earthquake tremble through the sky. I’d dashed right into a sonic boom, somehow still breathing, somehow still alive. I wondered how I was still alive and still moving fast, but the answer came to me with a smirk.

Magic.

I felt the shadows wrap around my hand as I reached out and grabbed nothing. I grabbed a hold of that nothing, clawing my way to a stop after ten seconds. I was actually panting heavy. I didn’t know when it started, but sweat began to fall off my face in drops. I had an incredible rush still flowing through my body. I ‘walked’ up in the sky several feet to look at the trail of darkness in the sky behind me. I had to do a double take.

Not only did I somehow reach the airspace above Everfree Forest, but I had made a fading black trail all the way from the Changeling hive, all the way through the badlands, stopping above the forest. Not only that, but centered at the midpoint between the hive and Appleloosa was a massive rapidly spreading ring of black smoke in the sky. I wasn’t sure what to think about what I’d just done.

“You are a natural.”

I blinked as Sombra appeared next to me in a burst of smoke. He was standing on faded black clouds like I was, his horned helmet on his head. He observed the clouds I’d made as I broke the sound barrier. Despite magic being ‘limitless’, I felt slightly tired and hungry. I think that I understand his words now. Magic is limitless, though it is only used within the limits of the user’s will.

“I thought that your helmet was what corrupted you.” I deadpanned as I began to spring through the sky back to the hive. Sombra floated in pace near me.

“It is, but this is not my helmet, this is not my body, and I am not physical. I am merely a visage of magic with thought.” He shook his head and looked at me. “I am still here only because I reside in most of the magic within you. My mind and magic will remain within you until my magic is drained from your body.”

A heartstopingly malicious grin made its way on my face.

“If that is the case, we have much to discuss."

I had a feeling things were going to be much easier now.