A/N: I have pretty much rewritten this chapter to add a better flow, more development and turn the rush down a notch or five.
For those who wants to give the original a shot, just to see how it compares, you can find it here.
It's gone from 4023 words to 8600+ words, not counting authors notes.
Enjoy.
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"Wa..e...p!"
Something stirred me from my nap.
"..a..ke..up....Dra...n!..I..c..n't...st..y.....is..wo..ld....ch...o..er!"
That voice.. I know it..
"Urk.. Where the hell am I..?" I mumbled, trying to open my eyes.
Bright white filled them, blocking out everything else as I fell towards god knows what.
At least I was pretty sure I was falling, as the wind buffeted my body.
Unfortunately, the thrilling feeling of diving through the skies came to an abrupt end as I crashed into something wet instantly followed by the hard ground.
I heard a gasp near me followed by.. Hoofsteps?
Is someone out riding their horse or something?
I just hope that whoever it is, can help me, because I can't stay awake much longer.
That impact did more damage than I thought.
"Oh my.. Something fell in the river Angel Bunny.. I wonder what it wa- EEP! A d-d-d-dra-! Oh no! It's hurt.. Angel Bunny, go get Twilight and Spike, I'll need their help!" I heard the soothing voice say before darkness gripped me.
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Warmth.. I felt warm and cozy from the inside out.
Opening my eyes, my vision still blurry. Blinking a few times, I now saw that I was inside a room filled with what looked like bird houses and other small shelters for critters.
Lot's of small trinkets and plants littered the room, giving it a nice and cozy feel.
I could see that I was lying on a couch, draped in a big warm blue blanket.
A cute little wooden table was next to me, containing some of my things, my wallet, keys, my old phone, an old Alcatel One Touch Easy, crappy as hell, but it can survive falls that could easily kill a man and it even survived an entire night under water, so it was a trusty companion that had followed me for over a decade now.
There was also my iPod Touch, earbuds wrapped around it, though I could clearly see that my it was broken from the fall, it's screen having been cracked wide open.
I was about to reach out from under the blanket and grab it to inspect the damage, when someone entered the room.
As I turned towards the sound and heard a cute little "Eep!" as whomever said it jumped behind the nearest recliner.
But when I tried opening my mouth to speak, for some odd reason, all I could say was some weird gurgling sounds.. I guess my throat is still a bit out of it.
"T-T-T-Twilight!" Said a slightly panicky voice that I recognized from when I just crashed.
"What is it Fluttershy? Is he awake yet?" Another voice rang from the room next to this one.
I then heard hoofsteps again, but that couldn't be right.. Who in their right mind kept a horse inside a little house like this.. Maybe it's a miniature pony or something.
What I did see however, shocked me quite a bit.
Out walked a little lavender purple pony with a dark blue mane and tail, both with a violet and pink stripe running through them and, get this, a horn.. A fucking horn.
Now I knew I had to be either dreaming, drunk or high, but seeing as I neither drink on weekdays nor do drugs at all and I have a headache that could wake the dead, I doubt it's any of those.
Still didn't stop me from panicking inside, as my head went into overdrive, trying to figure out what kind of sick joke this was.
But all my thought processes instantly froze, kicked themselves in the balls and decided to rage quit at what happened next.
"Hello? Are you ok now? You took quite the blow to your head when you landed in the river just outside" It said
Suddenly something inside me felt like it was about to explode, as truer words than anything ever spoken blasted out of my mouth.
"A TALKING PONY!?! WHAT THE FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!!!!!"
My brain finally killed itself, as I sat there with probably the craziest look on my face, ever!
The purple unicorn on the other hand looked quite shocked at my sudden outburst.
At least her stumped face looked funny enough to shake me out of my little mental meltdown.
And I decided to try talking in a less panicked voice.
"No really.. Talking ponies do not exist, nor do ponies come quite as colorful as you, not to mention that unicorns are mythological beasts, so technically YOU should NOT exist." I told her quite matter-of-factly.
She then shot me a look that said I had to be a moron.
"What the hay are you talking about? Unicorns have been around for thousands of years and Ponies have always been able to talk." She said as she exhaled hard through her muzzle, punctuating her facts.
This time it was my turn to shoot her the moron look.
"Listen here, Lavender. If what you said was true, I think we humans would have discovered you millennia ago. There's a reason why you're a mythological beast, so don't give me that BS. And no! Ponies do not talk, they're simple animals, pets, attractions for little girls to ride on." I finished, giving her a grunt and a smirk of my own to punctuate it.
It was then that a boyish voice piped up.
"Hey! Don't talk like that to Twi, you big bully! Just because we're the same race, doesn't mean that i tolerate it when you say bad things about my friends!"
I looked around, trying to spot the one who spoke, until I looked down behind the unicorn, seeing a little purple and green lizard.
"Oh this is just fucking great.. Now we have a giant talking lizard as well.." I said as deadpanned as possible.
"And just for the record, squirt. I'm a human, not a lizard!" I said as I pointed.. My.. Finger.. What the fuuuuuck..?
At the end of my arm was no longer fingers, but four claw like digits.
My arm was also covered in something that seemed like black scales, with crimson spikes.
I twisted and turned my new hand around, but there was no change, it still had scales and was missing a digit.
Rubbing my eyes I noticed something.. My nose, it was gone and my face had changed as well.
"Sweet mother of god.." I mumbled as I looked at the blue blanket covering me up.
I instantly ripped it away from my body, only to be met by a long scaly and black body with a crimson belly and more spikes.
My long tail wiggling around between my new legs which ended out in a pair of clawed feet.
So I did what most humans probably would.
I Panicked and I panicked hard, screaming with all my might, as crimson flames burst from my mouth.
"FIRE!!! OH GOD THERE'S FIRE IN MY MOUTH!! HELP MEEEEEE!!!" I boomed as the flames kept on flowing out.
I didn't care about anything anymore, I just needed to get out, get away from it all and figure out what the hell just happened.
Jumping up from the couch, I started running around, my head smashing into the ceiling and birdhouses every now and then as I was trying to find the door out, my long tail wrecking everything around me, knocking both the lavender pony and her little lizard off of their feet.
I then reached the recliner where the other person in the house had hid before, as my tail whipped it out of the way when I turned around toward the next door.
It was then that I saw a little pink maned, canary yellow pony with wings.
Oh fucking great.. There's even pegasi here! I really need to run, NOW!
I finally found the right door and tried to run out, but something stopped me.
Trying to force my way through the door, I felt something on my back tugging at me, I turned and looked back to see two huge scaly wings blocking my way through the door.
Oh fucking great.. I have wings now!
If I weren't busy having a panic attack, I might have been overjoyed by that fact, but now wasn't the time for that.
I quickly tried to pull them back in, but I didn't know which muscles to use or how they worked, so the bloody things just kept being open.
"You fucking traitors!" I growled at them.
I quickly decided to try leaving through the door by going sideways, but before I could finish that thought a sudden purple glow enveloped me and I was dragged, screaming for dear life, back inside to my captors.
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It had been around an hour and a half now Since Lavender left.
The events unfolded a bit like this.
The first thing I did after Lav- Wait what was it.. Twilight? Poor girl.. I almost feel sorry for her, 'almost' being the keyword here.
Anyway, the first thing I did after she dropped me, was grabbing all the furniture I could and moving it the the corner furthest away from the freakish talking ponies, before diving behind them draping myself in the blanket from before and peeking over the couch, threatening to BBQ anyone that tried to get me out.
"So, you're saying that you refuse to come out from there?" Twilight asked, shooting me a skeptical glance.
"You're a frickin' talking pony with weird powers! There's no way in hell that I'm leaving Fort Furniture here!" I shot back.
"Wait.. Why are you saying it like I'M the only reason that you won't come out!?" She yelled back at me.
"Because YOU'RE the one with the freakish powers! The yellow one I can respect for being the one who found me and helped me and the little Lizard is cool enough in my book for standing up for you, even though I'm ten times his size. But you.. You have freakish powers that you can use to manipulate my body against my will and dragged me back inside in the middle of a panic attack! All I wanted was to get outside and calm down!" I shouted back before hiding back down behind the couch.
"Ha! he thinks I'm cool!" I heard the lizard say in a smug tone.
Twilight just sighed in annoyance before she spoke again.
"Fluttershy, can you please go get AJ? She can help you keep an eye on him while I gather up the rest of the elements and send a letter to the princess about our.. Unusual guest." She said the last part with an irritated tone.
"O-ok Twilight.. But what if he runs away while I'm gone..? If you don't mind me asking.." She timidly said.
"Don't you worry about that! I'll place a barrier around your house when we leave, so that he can't get out and once you return with AJ, it'll let you both in and out while still keeping him inside, in case he tries anything!" She said with pride.
At this I quickly peeked back over the couch.
"So, what? Now you're gonna cage me up like some sick circus attraction!? Congratulations.. You just made it to the top of the list over things I LOVE..." I said, pouring as much sarcasm into the 'love' as possible.
Spike then put both his hands over his mouth and shot Twilight the perfect trollface.
"Hehehe~! He says that he loves you Twi!" He said, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing.
Twilight just sighed, hard, and face..hoofed?
"Come on, Spike! We have a letter to send!" She said and left with the purple and green lizard who she called Spike.
The yellow one, Fluttershy also left, followed by a white bunny.
"Umm.. I'll be back soon, please try to calm down.. If you don't mind." She said in her quiet voice, letting out an 'Eep!' as her teal eyes met mine and she bolted out of her house.
Suddenly there was a flash as a purple'ish barrier formed over the cottage.
I went over to the door and peeked out, seeing them leave, I then tried touching the barrier and sure enough, it was solid as a wall.
"*Sigh..* What do I do now.." I grumbled as I looked around the room, seeing the mess I had made
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After about twenty minutes, I had finally managed to calm down a bit and played around with my new muscles, at least enough to figure out how to fold my wings back in and wiggle my tail.
I had then started cleaning up some of my mess, humming old tunes from the movies that my mother loved so much.
She was from a small European country called Denmark and had a great love for old Danish movies with Dirch Passer, Ove Sprogøe and other great Danish actors, so when I was a kid, she often watched them with me and thanks to that, I knew fluent Danish.
Some of all the critters had started coming out from their hiding spots while I was humming and singing a tune from the old 'Father of Four' movies, in Danish of course.
I was relaxing more now and some of the birds even flew over and perched themselves on my spikes and horns while I was sweeping around with a broom I found in a utility closet.
"Ooh~! It is Summer, It's Sunny and It's Sunday~ Every heart is so happy and free-!" I instantly stopped, the broom clattering on the floor as I heard someone clearing their throat behind me.
"Ah don' know, Shy.. He might sing in a weird language, but doesn't look that scary ta me." A thick southern accented female voice said.
I didn't even turn around to look, I just leapt over the couch, the startled birds flying up to their houses as I draped the blanket over me and peeked over the couch, towards the door.
There stood a normal tan pony with a blond mane and tail, tied up in.. A.. Ponytail.. Oh the irony of this darn world and she even wore a bloody cowboy hat.
"Now come on pardner, no need ta hide." She said, trying not to laugh at my reaction.
"Oh? I can think of a reason, or rather two BIG reasons to hide and they're both standing there." I said and pointed towards them.
Her green eyes locked with mine as she started moving towards me.
"Now, that's jus' not fair! Ah'm here ta meet ya and ya'll treat me like ah'm some sort o' monster!" She said, her face showed that she was clearly not amused as she got closer and closer.
"Hey hey hey! Stay outta my fort!" I yelped at her, my voice starting to crack up as my manliness went out of the window.
She stopped and stared at the couch, recliner and overturned table which formed a barricade around the furthest corner of the living room.
"The last time ah checked, those pieces o' furniture belonged ta Shy over 'ere!" She said, jumping up on the couch as she glared down at me, causing me to scoot further back and into the corner.
This time Fluttershy hovered over next to the Cowgirl called AJ.
"Oh, it's alright.. I know he's just scared right now, since he's never seen talking ponies before." She told the fuming cowgirl, who's expression instantly turned into one of disbelief.
"Now that's a lie if I've ever heard one before!" She yelled as she tried to jump over the back of the couch.
I threw my clawed hands up, stopping her in her tracks.
"Stop right there! Please, I'm still in the middle of coming to terms with it all!"
She eyed me a bit, still cloaked under the blanket.
"Remove that blanket there an' look me in mah eyes!" She commanded.
Not one to go against weird ponies with probably more weird powers, I did as she said and looked into her green eyes.
"Now, tell me what ya told Twi and Shy!" She commanded again.
"Like I said. I'm from a place where ponies can't talk and they neither have wings nor horns. They're more like pets for little girls to ride on." I began.
"Wait, so yer tellin' me that there's a world where dragons ride around on ponies!?" She boomed in disbelief as she was about to climb over again, probably to give me a piece of her mind.
"What!? No! I'm NOT a dragon! Or.. I wasn't a dragon when I left for work this morning! I just woke up in a new fucking world, with talking ponies, unicorns and pegasi! And My body is now that of a bloody fire breathing lizard! I'm scared, confused and on the verge of going insane! So please, if you have any compassion at all, give me some space so that I can calm down!!! Thank you!" I snapped and shouted at her as she backed away in shock.
She looked me deep in my eyes again before shaking her head and jumping back down from the couch.
"Ah don't know how ya do it, but there's no lies in what ya jus' told us." She said, giving me a sad smile.
"Ah'm mighty sorry for how ah acted" She said, hanging her head low as she scraped the floor with one of her hooves.
I crawled back to the couch and sat up so that I could easily look over it.
"It's ok, just.. Give me some time to get my thoughts together, please. Everything is still one big mess of fucked up insanity and I still have to figure it out. So just go sit in the kitchen or something, drink some tea, chat a little and give me some space in here. In the mean time, I'll finish cleaning up my mess and move the furniture back in place. I need to move my body right to keep myself from going further insane than I already am and with the Twilight Bubble blocking my way out, I'll have to make do with what I can in here." I told them both, they nodded before going out into the kitchen.
When I heard that they had settled into some idle chatter, I crawled back out of Fort Furniture and prepared to disassemble it humming and singing a new tune.
Musical therapy helps me calm down better.
I cleaned the last bit of trinkets up from the floor and placed them back on their shelves, picking up any bird houses that fell down while I was running around in my panic attack before and sweeping up all the dust, hay and other stuff that littered the floor now.
After sweeping the entire floor, leaving a big piles of dirt by the front door, I then moved over and grabbed the recliner and moved it back to it's place, followed by the couch and the table, they were all pretty light, a perk that comes with being a dragon, I guess.
I was finishing my song as I looked the room over, singing the final verse.
"Looking down into those eyes, I know, I'll be lost and never found again~ Kiss me once and I will surely melt and die, kiss me twice and I will never leave your side~ until the sign of winter, Dreams Come True, always by your side~" My happy singing face quickly turned into one of shock as I saw a smiling pony called AJ standing in the door to the kitchen.
"So, ya can both sing an' clean. Got any other hidden talents?" She smirked.
"How long have you been standing there..?" I asked, feeling my cheeks heating up.
"Oh, jus' long enough. And what was it, kiss ya twice and ya'll never leave mah side?" She said, giving me a teasing wink.
All my thought processes froze, but quickly thawed from the huge amounts of heat my face was generating.
"JEEBUS! That was not funny!" I boomed, causing her to give a cute chuckle.
"Ah didn' think yer black scales could turn crimson like that!" She said trying to stifle another chuckle.
Fluttershy then peeked out from behind AJ.
"I think it was a really nice song." She said with a smile.
Letting out a deep sigh, I took a seat in the couch and motioned for them to come on over.
"I think I've calmed down enough to be civilized now, so please, come on in. I need to get used to talking with ponies anyway."
"Thank ye kindly." AJ said as she took the seat next to me on the couch.
"Are you sure..? I don't want to scare you further." Fluttershy asked as she hovered towards the recliner.
"Yeah.. It's fine now. I have this feeling that neither of you would ever try to hurt me without a reason, so I'll give that feeling a shot." I said, crossing my arms and giving them a nod.
Fluttershy smiled at this and took her place in the recliner, shuffling a bit to get comfortable.
"So, what were those songs you sang? I really like the last one, but the other one sounded nice too, even though I couldn't understand the lyrics.. If you don't mind me asking, that is." She said, giving me a sheepish smile.
Her timid nature caused me to chuckle a little.
"It's ok to ask, now that I've calmed down enough, I can't even fathom how I could freak out like that.. Or, sure, there's the whole "New body" thing, but freaking out about cute little ponies like you is just lame." I mused.
"But to answer your question. The first one is a song called Dreams Come True, from a Power Metal band that I really like called Hammerfall and the first one I was singing when you two got here, is an old song from my mothers homeland, translates from Danish, the language it's in, to 'It is Summer, it's sunny and it's Sunday' and come from an almost 60 years old movie.. You do have movies here, right?"
"Oh yes, we do." Fluttershy answered.
"Good. But yeah, my mom had three passions in life: Her family, animals and old Danish movies, where my father had three others: Dragons, metal and work. So that's where I got my likes for those things as well and also where I learned my mothers native language from." I told them.
AJ looked at me with questioning eyes.
"Wait a darn moment. Why would yer dad have a passion fer dragons? Ah mean, yer one yerself, so he had to be one too, right?" She asked, causing me to faceclaw.
"Remember what I told you? I was a human until this morning... Or I think it was this morning, it feels like there's something missing from my memories. Anyway, in my world, dragons, pegasi and unicorns are nothing but myths, they don't exist there. But my father always loved tales of dragons, so much so that he named his son, me, Dragon or Dracen, but it means the same. So yeah, he was obsessed by them, I grew up only hearing tales of dragons for bedtime stories, only getting dragon related toys and dragon cartoons and comics. I must admit that I'm rather tired of dragons, yet here I am, a bloody dragon myself.. I swear, the cosmos has a sick sense of humor." I grumbled.
"Wait, yer name is 'Dragon'?" She asked, clearly amused by the irony of it all.
I was about to open my mouth and tell her off when a noise cut through the room.
*GUUUURRRRRGLE!!*
I clutched my stomach and winced at the rumbling pain in it.
AJ let out another cute chuckle while Fluttershy smiled shyly.
"Good thing ah brought some Apple family goods then. Ah was saving 'em for when tha others arrive, but ah guess ya'll need 'em more!" AJ told me as she got off the couch and went out to the kitchen, bringing back a picnic basket which she must have brought in while I was busy cleaning or hiding.
While AJ was setting out the different baked apple goods, Fluttershy hovered over by my side.
"Is it ok if I check up on the bruise you got when you crashed in the river? I think it might has healed enough now for us to remove that gauze." She asked, her shyness seemingly having taken backseat to her natural kindness towards those that have been hurt.
"Sure, look all ya want" I said, still watching the apple spread on the table.
Apple pie, apple fritters, apple juice and the most delicious red apples I have seen.
My stomach let out another loud growl and I was about to apologize when out of nowhere a white bunny with a grumpy look on it's face jumped over and smacked me across the snout with a carrot, causing me to let out a yelp.
"Angel Bunny! What are you doing to poor Dracen! He's been through enough already, young boy!" She yelled in her soft voice as she gave the poor bunny a stare that could freeze even the mightiest of dragons in its tracks.
Even if we weren't the ones she locked eyes with, both AJ and I almost froze from 'The Stare' and I could only imagine how bad it must have been for the little rascal.
Not one to hold a grudge over something like that, I decided to save the poor guy and picked him up with one hand and rested him against my soft crimson chest area, before looking to Fluttershy.
"Easy now, Fluttershy. He was probably just trying to protect you, thinking that the growl my stomach made, was a threat directed towards you. So I can't blame him for doing what he did, it just scared me a little is all." I said, giving her a sheepish smile.
Angel looked up at me and gave me a nod as if he accepted my explanation and I propped him up on my shoulder, giving him his carrot back which he went back to consuming and I got ready to chow down on some apple goodies as well.
Fluttershy just looked on, a little shocked that her bunny who was normally unfriendly towards anypony that was not her, was now sitting there on Dracen's shoulder, peacefully eating his carrot like they had been friends for years.
"Dracen.. That's amazing! Angel usually doesn't take to strangers." She beamed.
I turned my attention from the delicious apple goodies on the table and to Fluttershy, while AJ was out fetching drinkware for us all.
"Well, you remember what I said my moms passions was? One was animals. She took care of animals as her job, keeping a shelter for hurt and lost animals at our home. So I grew up helping her take care of all the critters," I said, "one time I even shared my bed with two dogs, four cats, an owl perched on the bedpost and my pet raccoon which I had taken care off since he was born, I named him Zorro, after a masked hero, because of his markings around his eyes." I told her, AJ had joined in and listened after she had set out the drinkware on the table.
"So, yeah. I'm kinda used to handling both big and small animals." I finished.
"That sounds so amazing! Just like what I have here! Ooh, I wonder if you have animals that we don't have here." She mused, a big smile adorning her face.
"Ah'm sure they do, Shy. But for now, ah think Dracen 'ere would like ta get somethin' in that tummy o' his." AJ told Fluttershy who was busy fluttering around wondering about what other critters we might have in my world.
"Don't mind if I do!" I said as I grabbed one of the apples and bit into it.
"Oh wow. This is way better than the apples back home!" I said between bites.
AJ's eyes lit up at this.
"An' that's why ah'm one o' the proud owners o' Sweet Apple Acres, where me an' mah family grow the best apples in Equestria." She said, pride filling her voice.
"As good as these are, I wouldn't be surprised if they are the best in, what did you say? Equestria? I take it that it's the name of this country? or is it the entire world?" I asked as I finished my apple and went for a fritter.
"That depends on who you ask.. Most ponies calls our world either Earth, Ponyland, Ert, or even "Equestria" while other races has other names, like Light, Gaia, Faustia, Eden, Terra, Aesir or Midgard." Fluttershy said.
"I'll just call it Earth then, that's the name of my world as well." I said before resuming with munching on my fritter.
"Oh damn, this is good~! Home baked?" I asked, as I reached out and put a slice of pie on my plate
"Eeyup! Made 'em mahself!" AJ said, a smile of pride adorning her face.
"I bet you have all the stallions chasing after you, what with with how cute you look and baking skills like these. Maybe I should join in on the chase." I said, chuckling a bit from the now visible blush under her coat.
"Ah yes, payback is sweet, just like this delicious pie~!" I said, taking another bite from my slice of apple pie, smirking all the while I was chewing it.
"Okay, ah deserved that, but if ya want a piece o' this pie, ya have to get up earlier than that!" She said, giving me her best seductive gaze while I was mid chewing of another bite, causing me to choke on the darn thing.
A coughing fit and another one of her chuckles later, I finally regained my ability to talk.
"Touché, ma cherie. Now may I please have some juice?" I asked in a raspy voice from the abuse my throat just took.
AJ hoofed me a bottle of apple juice which I quickly drained of half it's contents, letting out a long sigh.
"That hit the spot~" I said, patting my stomach.
"Well, feel free ta take some more." AJ said hoofing up an apple for herself.
I had seen her and Fluttershy doing this before and it had been nagging me for a bit now.
"How does that even work? I mean, you don't have any fingers, so how can you ponies lift stuff with your hooves?" I asked, eying her hoof.
"Well," Fluttershy started, "everypony has magic inside of them, for unicorns, they can use it in conjecture with their horns to manipulate the natural mana in the air surrounding us for various effects, we pegasi can move clouds to manipulate the weather and even stand or sleep on them, hence allowing us to live in cloud homes if we so want and finally earth ponies gains strength and a special connection to the earth around us, allowing them to grow things better than any other race on the planet. But there is one common skill we all have and that is a field around our hooves, which allows us to get a grip on stuff even though we lack digits like you and Spike." She finished.
"Huh.. Something inside me says that I should probably be freaking out about the whole magic and weather manipulating ponies stuff, but with all the crazy things that I've been through today, it doesn't even faze me anymore." I said as I grabbed me another apple fritter.
"Of course, it's not like we can lift heavy objects with just the field alone, but our front hooves are extra flexible, allowing us to grip around things with them, using the added force of the field to get an even better grip." Fluttershy added.
"Hmm.. I guess that makes sense, somehow." I mumbled, looking around for a clock, noticing that it had been almost one and a half hour now.
I was about to ask where Twilight was, seeing as she only talked about sending a letter and fetching some sort of elements, when she finally got back and burst through the door.
"That's the uncivilized dragon right there!" She said, pointing a hoof at me.
"Uncivilized eh.." I mumbled, my frown quickly turning to a delightful smile.
"Why, if it isn't Miss Twilight! It is so good to see you again young lass! I was just enjoying a fine spread of delicious apple delicacies with young Miss AJ and Miss Fluttershy over here and you are more than welcome to join us, dear." I said in my best British accent before I took a sip of my apple juice.
Twilight stood there, totally slack jawed as four other ponies and Spike entered, most of them trying their hardest not to laugh.
One was a cyan blue pegasus pony with magenta eyes and a skittles hairdo and tail.
Behind her was a pure white unicorn pony, with a purple mane and tail that curled at the ends, she had azure eyes and I think she was wearing mascara.
Then there was the biggest pony I had ever seen.
This one had both a horn and wings and was white with a very slight pink tinge, her multi-colored mane and tail seemed to flow in some unknown breeze while her light magenta eyes was looking me over.
But.. Where the heck was the last one..? I know I saw it when they ent-!
Suddenly pink was all that filled my vision.
"HellotheremynameisPinkiePie!What'syours?areyounewinthearea*GASP!*thenwehavetothrowyouaparty!!" She said so fast that my eyes started spinning.
The pink blur was bouncing excitedly with her hind legs spread to each side of my own on the couch, using her front legs to hold my shoulders for support causing Angel to jump off and shoot her a glare, not that she saw it, with her face being mere centimeters from my own now, causing my panic attack to rear it's ugly head again.
This was way too close for comfort if you ask me, so I did the most natural thing.
Gave a yelp and jumped behind the couch, causing her to stumble down on the floor.
"Oh dear. Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked as she hovered ver and peeked over the couch along with AJ and the pink one.
"Yeah.. Just please get the pink fluff ball away from me! As much as I may have calmed down, I'm still not totally over the whole talking ponies deal yet, the last thing I need is one who intrudes on my personal space like that!" I told them.
At this, the pink ones fluffy raspberry pink mane seemed to deflate as tears formed in her cerulean eyes.
I didn't like where this was going, so I reached my arm out and patted her head.
"Please don't cry, I didn't mean to make you sad.. But please, I'll gladly talk with you, just keep a bit of distance until I get used to you. I need to take this at my own pace, ok?" I asked her.
This seemed to brighten her up as her hair poofed up to it's fluffy look from before.
"Okey-dokey-lokey~!" She said as she bounced back to the others.
I then peeked up over the couch.
"So.. I now know Fluttershy, AJ, Twilight, Spike and Pinkie.. Pie?" I started.
"But I don't know the names of Skittles, Marshmallow and Pegacorn McBreezy Mane." I said as i pointed my index claw at them respectively as i called their nicknames out.
Pinkie and Spike burst into laughter at the silly nicknames and even AJ, Twilight and Fluttershy had to stifle their giggles.
"Hey! What do you mean by Skittles!?" The cyan one asked.
"You know, Skittles, taste the rainbow." I told her.
At this she backed away and shot me a look of disgust.
"There's no way you'll be tasting this rainbow on our first meeting!"
"Wait.. What?" I took me a bit before I made the connection, causing me to faceclaw and let out a groan.
"I'm talking about the candy.. In my world we have these fruit drops that comes in every color of the rainbow, which is why the slogan is like that and with your mane and tail, you reminded me of it, hence Skittles." I told her matter-of-factly while giving her a shrug.
She eyed me for a bit, before visibly calming down a bit.
"Well, you got something right, part of my name IS Rainbow, Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in Equestria!" She said with as much gusto and pride as she could.
"I see.. And with Equestria, do you mean the entire world or just this country? I heard from Fluttershy that some ponies also refer to the entire world as Equestria" I asked her.
"I mean't the country here and I prefer to call this world Midgard. Having been room mates with a Griffin does that to you." She said.
"So you have griffins as well? Why do I even let it surprise me anymore..?" I said while faceclawing.
"One of you wouldn't happen to have an encyclopedia about all the creatures of this world? That way I can get the rest of my holy-shit-[Insert mythological being here]-excists-in-this-world!! shocks out of the way." I said with a laugh.
This time Pegacorn McBreezy Mane spoke up.
"I am glad to see that you can take the situation with some humor." She said, her voice had a calming effect on me, like a loving mothers tone.
"With how crazy this day has been, I came to the conclusion that panicking won't get me anywhere, so I might as well just laugh at the entire situation. Laughter is, after all, the best cure." I chuckled.
"That is a very good way of looking at it. After all, if you kept on being a possible threat to my little ponies, I'd have you dragged off to the dungeons in our castle until you calmed down." She said, shooting me a stern look that made me feel guilty for some reason.
"I sure wouldn't like that.. I have yet to be jailed for anything, so it being because I can't stop panicking over talking ponies and my new body would be pretty lame, I guess." I said and shrugged.
"Wait.. Our castle? You some sort of queen? I mean, the tiara and such tells me that you're not some nobody."
"That is almost correct. I am one of the two rulers of this land, Princess Celestia and I want to welcome you to this lovely world.. Also, I'm an Alicorn, in case you're wondering." She said, giving me a warm smile.
"I see.. Thank you for your kindness, Princess." I said, rising up and giving her a bow.
My height caused the four new ponies to gasp a little.
I was easily a head higher than the Princess, if I could stretch out to my full height in here that is.
The Marshmallow then decided to speak up.
"I must say darling, for somepony who insists that he's not a dragon, you look absolutely draconic to me." She said in what I could best describe as a posh accent.
"Heh.. So you heard about that, eh? And one thing's for sure, I wasn't a dragon when I looked myself in the mirror this morning before going off to work.. If it was this morning. It feels like something is missing." I told them.
"It'll probably return at some point." I said and shrugged
"Oh? And what do one such as yourself work with, if you don't mind me asking, darling. I must admit that I'm curious to hear what one such as yourself do for a living." She asked.
"I worked at a laboratory, just as a paper pusher in the office section, my career kind of died when I went against the owners son.. But that's not a story I'm gonna bore you with right now. I just remember that today or whatever day it was, was supposed to be the day of some big top secret experiment.. The last thing I remember clearly was signing some papers and then there was this big blinding flash, some voices and suddenly a falling feeling.. And that's when I woke up here." I finished.
She seemed to be taking it all in, along with the rest of the gang.
"Does that sate your curiosity, Miss..?"
She snapped out of it and blushed a little.
"Oh! Where are my manners. My name is Rarity. Owner of Ponyville's center of fashion! The Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique!" She said.
"I see, so I take it that we're in Ponyville? And It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Rarity." I said, giving a slight bow.
"Oh my~! We have a real gentlecolt here." She giggled.
"I do try~!" I said, letting out a little chuckle.
Rainbow Dash then cleared her throat.
"Well then, gentlecolt, why don't you give us your name then, it's only the most gentlecoltly thing to do, right?" She said, giving me a smirk.
"Ah yes, nearly slipped my mind, thanks for the reminder Miss Dash."
"My name is Dracen Black, I'm 26 and hail from the artificial island nation of Draconica, where I lived and worked." I finished.
At this, Twilight decided to speak up.
"Wait a minute! Artificial Islands? How can an island be artificial? I think you're pulling our legs Mr. Black!" She said, shooting me a glare.
I just shook my head and let out a sigh.
"Please.. Call me Dracen.. Mr. Black was my late father. and an artificial island is a man made island out in the ocean," I began as I picked up my now dead iPod, "If only my iPod wasn't cracked like this, I could show you some pictures of the islands.." I said, looking at the huge crack in the screen.
Twilight eyes lit up at this bit of information.
"Don't think you can get away from this! If it's just broken, a simple Fix-It spell should be enough and then i can proove that you're full of it!" She said, shooting the device in my hand with a beam from her horn as the display mended itself back to it's former glory.
If my eyes could pop out of my head, they most likely would.
"Magic.. I'll never get used to it." I mumbled.
I hurried up and powered it on, seeing my lock screen, I smiled, happy to see it alive and well again.
But when I tried sliding it with my claw, I made a nice big scratch in the screen again.
"Umm.. I think you'd better keep that beam up and running, every swipe with my claws ruins the screen again" I said as I walked over to the group, followed by Fluttershy and AJ and sat down so that they could all watch the screen.
Spike tried to look at it as well, but was a tad too short, so I lifted him up on my other shoulder, Angel seemingly having taken permanent residence on the other
This time, however, a golden beam hit my iPod and Princess Celestia spoke up.
"I have used a more powerful version of the Fix-It spell that will make it fix itself from now on, so that every time it's damaged, it will return to how it was when you got it." She explained.
This was great news, since if it meant what I thought, it would also have infinite power now.
I tried swiping across the screen again and just as she said, it fixed itself instantaneously.
Still, it was a tad too small to navigate with my big claws now.
"You wouldn't happen to have an enlargement spell for it? It's a tad hard to hit the right icons with these big claws." I asked.
Another beam hit it and it grew to twice the size of before. Sure, everything was a bit more pixelated now, But I don't mind if it means that i can use it again.
"Can you do it with these as well?" I asked, holding up the earbuds, "Just this part." I said, showing her the jack plug.
Another beam hit it and it grew as well, now fitting perfectly in the port.
"Awesome~! Now I can listen to my music again. Thank you." I Said, smiling from ear to ear.
"So, yer tellin' me that the weird device there can play music as well?" AJ asked.
"Yeah, I even have the songs you heard me singing on it, if you want to hear them with actual music and not just my humming. But first I'd better show those pictures to Miss Twilight." I said and tried swiping across the screen.
Seeing that it worked perfectly now, even for one with claws, I quickly made my way to my photo album, the ponies and dragon behind me gaping at what was happening on the weird device in my palm.
I then found the pictures taken from the flight when we arrived there, a multitude of smaller islands, connected by bridges, which all lead to a big island in the middle that was pretty much one giant building all of them together looking like the shape of a dragon when seen from above.
"This is the Artificial Island Nation of Draconica! They started building it almost sixteen years ago now as a joint effort between America and Japan, when a mysterious energy source was detected in the middle of the pacific ocean which is between the two. That was back in 1996." I told them as I continued switching to pictures of the town I lived in and it's surrounding areas, showing them all the humans going about their daily lives on the islands.
I instantly stopped when I saw a group picture of ten humans in white lab coats and pointed to the tallest one in the middle of the group, he had long red hair tied in a ponytail and deep blue eyes.
"That tall oaf right there, that's me," I said, as the ponies gasped and wowed at my human form, I then zoomed in so they could get a better look, "Not the prettiest one in the litter, but I manage to live with it." I said with a chuckle.
"What are ya talking about? From all them humans there, I'd say yer the best looking one!" AJ said, getting some looks from the other ponies.
"What? Ah mean it, look at 'em! They all have the same boring dark manes, an' pretty much look the same. At least Dracen 'ere looks different with his red mane and tall build." She said in a matter-of-factly tone.
I chuckled a little, before turning to meet her green eyes.
"Thank you, AJ. Unfortunately, I'm no longer a human, instead I'm a king sized fire breathing Lizard, but eh.. I'll manage." I said, flashing them all a smile.
I moved on, showing pictures of my friends and I partying and being silly.
"Oh! I also have some video recordings from my life on the island." I said, moving over to the video section.
A few drunk weekends in moving pictures later, followed by laughs from the ponies over our stupid behaviors, I then turned to Twilight.
"So, Miss Twilight. Do you believe me now? Or do you need further image and video proof?" I asked, shooting her a smirk.
She looked away, giving me a sheepish smile.
"Yeah.. I'm sorry for not trusting you.. But you must admit that you would probably have been the same way if you were in my place." She said.
"Of course and I would probably have been worse, but it's fine. Apology acce-!"
*SLAM!*
The door burst open as a white pegasus pony in a golden armor burst into the room.
"P-Princess! *Gasp!* We have *Wheeze!* Important information *Cough!* From the surveillance team!" He sputtered.
"Easy now. Breathe and then we'll talk." The Princess said.
Having taken a few deep breaths, he finally calmed down enough to speak properly.
"As I was saying. The pegasi surveillance team spotted a mysterious new island formation in the Bridle Shores, east of Hoofington and south of Canterbury! They also took a picture from the air." He said as he took a map out of his saddlebag, which he rolled out on the floor, pointing a hoof to a big red circle marking the place.
I took some time to study the map and saw that it was roughly 200KM from Ponyville.
The guard then found the picture and showed it to us.
My eyes instantly narrowed at what I saw.
"Draconica!? But how did it end up out there, when I got thrown all the way over here!?" I said, pointing to Ponyville.
"Maybe fate has something in store for you Dracen." Princess Celestia said.
I let out a sigh from the bottom of my very being.
"In that case, I'd like to burn Fate's house down..." I grumbled.
*SLAM!*
Another armored pony burst in.
"The heck is this, burst-through-the-door day?" I asked him.
"Aaargh!! Another Dragon!? Get behind me Princess! I'll protect you from this vile beast!" He shouted, pointing a spear at me.
I decided to do something I usually don't and ripped the spear out of his hoof before punching him in the face causing all the ponies to gasp in unison.
"The hell are you calling a vile beast? And where the bloody hell are your manners!? One does not just wander in and start pointing weapons at another person! Punk!" I growled.
He got back up and shot me a glare.
"I'm positive that you're one of those dragon freaks friends as well! Probably stalling for time while waiting for your friend to get here so that you can both attack us all!" He shouted.
I shook my head and poked him in the chest armor.
"Listen here, bub! I've not even been a dragon for an entire day! The first thing I remember from this world, is waking up in this room! I've been trapped inside a barrier and been under surveillance the entire time! Now. Do you still have some sort of clever way I could have done what you're accusing me of? Huh!?" I said, poking him with each word I spoke, making a dent in his armor each time.
He shrank back and was about to open his mouth again when we heard a loud roar just outside.
Fluttershy fainted like a goat and the other ponies turned to look after her.
I just threw my iPod over on the couch before bursting out of the front door, ripping it off of its hinges.
__________
What I saw was pure nightmare fuel.
It looked like a freakish attempt at merging a human with a dragon through the usage of a powerful acid.
A mix of human skin and violet scales overlapping each other, gross veins pumping under it's skin.
It was at least twice my size, it's arms thick as logs and it's hair receding on the more draconic areas of his scalp, the rest being short and brown.
His mouth was wide and full of sharp teeth.
Wings bigger than mine on his back and violet spikes running down his back.
I quickly recognized the human part of it.
"No.. Jake! What happened to you!?" I yelled, getting it's attention
When it saw me, it's eyes started glowing red.
"DrACeN! You TRaIToR!! yoU BEtRAyEd uS ALl! FOr yOuR SInS yoU MuST DIE!!" He growled, venomous hatred dripping from his every word.
"No.. This can't be true!"
__________
AN:
So yeah, here's my third fic ever.
Sixteen, my ever helpful pre-reader and brainstorming partner said that we needed more fics with Humans in Equestria being Draconified.
So it inspired me to write this fic.
And i must admit, I really enjoyed writing this and hope that you all enjoyed reading it as well.
-Munck
"By the gods... What happened to you Jake?" I asked him, putting the whole traitor rant in the back of my mind.
"You kNow QuITe WelL whAT HaPpENeD! YoU BLoODy TrAItOR!!" He hissed.
"What do you mean "Traitor"!?" I yelled at the enraged monstrous draconoid mutant in front of me who was once a human and a friend.
He hissed as his eyes glowed an even deeper crimson.
"YOu rAn! RAn fROm yOUr rESponSiBIliTiES aS "KInG" aNd LEfT uS, yoUr bESt FriEnd ANd aLl oF yoUr suBjECtS tO EiTHeR DIE oR joIn aNOtHeR ClAN!!!" he growled, his voice getting more and more primal.
"What the hell are you talking about Jake!? I'm no king! I'm just a bloody paper pusher!" I yelled at my old friend, throwing my arms in the air for added impact.
"LIIIIEESSSS!!!" He screamed, his voice turning more and more demonic.
He then launched himself at me, swinging his long violet mutated arm in a wide arc, swatting me away like a flie, eliciting a couple of loud yelps, as I crashed into the group of ponies who had just gathered outside of Fluttershy's cottage.
"Oww! What the hay dude! Watch where you crash!" Rainbow Dash grunted as she crawled out from under my left wing.
"Just be glad that I managed to put up this barrier, or else those spikes on your neck would have hurt both the Princess and I!" Twilight huffed, lowering the light purple barrier around the Princess, Fluttershy, Rarity and herself.
I then felt something stir under my hindquarters.
"Would ya kindly get off of me? Ah'm not exactly happy about bein' ridden like this!" AJ's voice said from under me as she shuffled around some more.
"Sorry about that AJ, and as amused as I would normally be in this situation, we have much bigger problems right now." I said, my gaze locked at my old friends monstrous visage.
"What in tarnation is that thing?" AJ mumbled from under me.
"An old friend of mine.." I told them
Jake, or rather the monster he had become then let out an unnatural and blood curdling howl as he charged at us.
My guess is that these ponies aren't used to blood lust like his, as the howl locked them in place with pure fear.
Not that I was used to it either, but I still reacted to the oncoming threat faster than them.
I jumped up and charged towards Jake, preparing to punch him.
"SNAP OUT OF IT JAKE!!!" I shouted as I let my fist fly.
It connected with his chin, but nothing happened.
I tried punching him again and again, I kept on punching him in his grotesque mutated face.
But even after ten hits he didn't even flinch, his huge body took my punches like I take a mosquito bites, what with him being even taller than my 203cm right now and at least three times as wide.
A twisted smile formed on his face, as his burning red eyes changed to a chilling acid green.
"My my.. How the mighty Dragon of Draconica has fallen~!" He teased, all the rage and hatred gone from his voice, replaced with words that dripped with venom.
His human features started protruding more as he lowered himself to my eye level.
"You, my traitorous friend, shall suffer at the claws of our master, for all the bad things you've done to us! Your own people! And once you have paid for your sins.. Then I'll be promoted for sure, I may even get be a King~!" His venomous voice said with glee.
I was still lost and he could see it as his eyes shrunk a bit more.
"You.. You really have forgotten? You remember nothing of your sins!? TheN yoU aRE nOt wORtH CapTuRING!!!" He bellowed, his eyes glowing red from anger once again as he slammed his fists against his chest like an enraged primate.
I quickly tried jumping backwards to gain some distance, unfortunately I had forgotten about one of my new body parts, as I tripped over my tail, falling flat against the ground.
Jake instantly took this chance and brought both his fists down upon my torso with all his might, forcing me to exhale all the air in my lungs as smoke and embers blew from my mouth and nose
He reared back, howling from pain as the embers seemed to scorch him badly on his violet parts.
I clutched the area where my lungs reside, gasping for air as I heard AJ's voice.
"Ah can't take this anymore Princess! He's gettin' the stuffing beat outta him!" She shouted.
"I know, Applejack. But right now, I need you all to be ready with the Elements of Harmony, in the worst case scenario that his friend wins and doesn't leave peacefully." Sounded the Princess' answer.
"If I die here today, then I swear by everything holy, I will haunt you till your days end, Princess." I grumbled, finally getting back on my feet, eyes never leaving Jake as he trashed about, trying to get all the embers off of him.
"Please understand my place in all this. You are an outsider, one of them and some..one that I have only spoken a little with. Compared to the safety of my people, you have no priority." She said matter-of-factly.
"I don't blame you for your choice, Princess. But know this. I have no plans on dying for something that I know nothing of in a world where I don't belong! There's too many things that doesn't add up right now and I want to get to the bottom of it."
"But first we have to deal with Jake!" I said as I scanned him further.
"K..d...n..ou..ear..me? ca..yo...hear me!?" A familiar voice rang through my head.
"Oh great.. Now I have voices in my head as well!" I hissed under my breath.
"Listen up kid! Right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and an early grave! So if you wanna live, then ya better listen!" It growled.
"Alright alright! I'll listen.. Geeze!" I hissed back in my thoughts.
"Good.. Now listen up. You see his color, right? Violet indicates that he's of the Metal element which is pretty weak to fire! As a pawn of Metallus, one of the Draconis Animus, we have him at an elemental advantage!" It said in a now gentle and wise voice.
Draconis Animus, Metallum..? Dragon Spirit of Metal? Why does that sound familiar.. No! This isn't the time to question the weird voices in my head! For all I know, it might be right.. It's certainly better than trying to punch him again.
"Judging from his reaction to my embers before and something weird that I just experienced, I think he's weak to my flames, so let's try going with that!" I said to the ponies who had all put on some sort of necklaces and Twilight had a tiara, ignoring their dress-up fun I started inhaling as much air as I could feeling the heat building inside my body.
I aimed at Jake who was still trying to get rid of the final embers and let loose a powerful plume of crimson fire in his direction, the intensity from the flame singeing him further as a wall of crimson fire sprung up in front of him. Feeding it more flames to keep it up, I kept on hoping that he would finally give up and turn back.
"YEEHAW! Did ya see that, Princess? It's working! Ah say we take this chance an' drive it back!" AJ shouted.
"Yeah! I'm with AJ on this one! Let's do it!" Rainbow Dash followed up as she took to the skies while AJ ran to my side.
I finally ran out of air to blow fire with and closed my mouth again, drawing in a deep breath of air through my nose.
"Thanks for offering to help me AJ, or rather, Applejack." I said, taking another gulp of air, preparing myself for another burst of fire, if need be.
"Ah, it ain't nottin' for ya'll ta be thankful for! Jus' defending mah home is all," she said as she smiled at me, "an call me AJ, that's what mah friends do." She said, focusing on the enemy ahead.
"Just.. Please be careful. I took a blow from him before and if it wasn't for the natural toughness of a dragon, I'd be mush on the ground right now and I really don't want that to happen to any of you." I said, shooting her a weak smile.
"Ya'll don't need ta worry about me. Ah haven't helped save ta world several times for nottin'! Ahm perfectly capable to handle mahself in a fi-!" She said but was quickly cut off.
"DRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNN!!!" The monstrous voice boomed, like thunder rolling 'cross the plains.
Through the wall of fire, a violet dragon emerged, none of his human features were left.
I emptied my lungs, letting a more concentrated stream of fire tear through the air, hitting the rampaging beast straight in it's chest, causing it to flinch from pain.
"Now! Attack!" Rainbow Dash yelled from above, as she dove at the flinching dragon, placing a pair of hard hitting hooves in the side of his head.
Unfortunately it was even less effective than my punches from before, as the beast immediately flicked it's tail, hitting her side and launching her at the rest of the group.
AJ didn't take kindly to this as she burst off towards him swinging around to deliver a powerful buck to his groin.
This seemed to have some effect, as the enraged dragon hissed in pain, eliciting a nasty smirk from AJ as she looked over her work.
"AJ! Get away from him, now!" The Princess and I yelled in unison, having both noticed the seething hatred for the little pony in his eyes
It lifted it's scaly right arm with the intention of crushing the pony in front of it.
"Oh horse apples!" AJ yelled as she jumped backwards, dodging the right arm only to see his left arm flying at her from below.
But she was too slow at dodging this next move.
The world seemed to freeze, as his long claws dug into her side, the sound of flesh and muscles being torn apart resounded through the deathly silence as blood splattered out of her mouth as she screamed in pain.
"Applejack!!" All the ponies screamed as they saw her penetrated body at the end of the now smiling dragons claws.
It then swung it's arm nonchalantly in their direction while letting out a deep menacing chuckle.
Crimson colored the world, as her lifeless and bloodied body soared quietly through the air, towards the other ponies, so they could witness the end of their friend.
The six ponies and the baby dragon broke down into tears as both Celestia and Twilight were trying their hardest to help her with their magic.
The demonic dragon's chuckle turned into a crazed laughter as he looked over his handiwork.
Hatred seethed through my veins faster and faster for every second he laughed.
Deep.. Dark.. Painful.. Hatred.
I may not have known her for long.
"K..l"
*Thump!*
But she was nice.. A really nice individual.
"KI..L!"
*Thump! Thump!*
If not for her breaking the ice the way she did, I'd probably still be in the middle of freaking out.
"KILL!!"
*THUMP!!*
Yes.. Kill.. Kill the bastard that would harm such innocent creatures like that!
"Easy now kid! Don't let Tenebrae take control! Fight it!" the wise voice from before said.
"Why should I? Giving in is so much easier!" I growled in my mind
"Because we can still save her! You already hold the answer, it's just hidden away! Look inside you and you will find it!"
This knowledge cooled my hatred down a little.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? KILL HIM!" The dark voice commanded
"Don't listen to him! Listen to me instead, kid and we might just be able to turn this around. Now let me take over and I'll show you how."
"So, I can either choose to listen to you or the other voice who makes a rather tempting offer about killing the bastard who hurt AJ... *Sigh!* I don't even know why I'm accepting this, but ok, if we can save these ponies, then I'll do it! Show me how, old timer"
"KILL HIM!!"
"Would you please just SHUT UP!!!" I growled at the dark voice.
__________
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!*
"...just SHUT UP!!!" I shouted as I woke up from my weird dream.
I slapped the little noise maker as hard as I could, shutting it up for the day.
"Urk.. Bloody Alarm clock.. I fucking hate your mechanical guts.." I groaned as I tried to stumble out of my bed.
Unfortunately, my attempt at standing up came to an abrupt end as I flopped back down on the bed, groaning loudly while holding my head.
"That's the last time I go drinking with Jake on a bloody Sunday.. That bastard could probably drink Soviet Russia under the bloody table and still walk straight.." I grumbled, getting back up.
My bedroom was small and only had space enough for my bed and a small closet.
The tiny bit of floor space that I had in there, was littered with dirty clothes that did their best to try and trip me as I went over to the big blue bag by the door, which contained all my clean clothes.
I really should pull myself together and raid the laundromats one of these days.. I'm running out of clean lab coats.
Never really got why a regular paper pusher like me had to wear a coat, I mean, I only work in the office sections and my security clearance only allows me to go fifteen floors down out of the seventy underwater floors in total.
But it is company policy, so eh.. At least I look good in one o' these!
I stumbled out of my bedroom skipping a bit along the floor from a pair of dirty boxers final attempt at assassinating me on my way out.
Dragging my way over to the bathroom door which is on the same side as my bedroom, yawning all the way while rubbing my eyes, I opened it and went in.
It's not the biggest bathroom, just a sink some shelves with my toothbrush and comb, a shower cabinet in the middle which you had to go through to get to the toilet at the end, failed design is fail..
Finishing my business, I went back out in the living room and looked around.
My living room wasn't too big, only around 8M², but that was big enough for a single guy like me.
I had my couch, which rested by the wall separating my living room and bedroom, a little table in the middle of the room with a recliner on the other side of it.
A big LCD TV mounted on the wall at the end of the room with some shelves under it containing my PS3 and some games, movies and controllers.
I then went over to my table by the couch, picking up my iPod, wallet and keys, stuffing them all in my different pockets.
Grabbing the remote, I flicked on my TV and saw that it was in the middle of an episode of My Little Kitten.
It's a new show that started airing recently, created by renowned animator and writer, Laurent Faust VIII and had somehow managed to take off and become a major hit amongst men and women over the age of sixteen.
A few of the guys at the office was absolutely smitten with it.. What was it.. Duttens! Dudes for Kittens, that's what they call themselves.
And while I do not consider myself a dutten, I can at least appreciate the show for it's quirky humor and nods to popculture and I must admit that I have a sweet spot for both Fluffershy, YarnJack and Twilight Hairball.
Letting the show play in the background, I moved over to the kitchen corner which was just next to the front door and dug through the fridge.
"Let's see what we have here.. Bread.. Cheese wedge and ham! Hmm.. Lettu- Yuck.. Spoiled.. Oh well!"
Grabbing it all I threw the lettuce in the trashcan and made a cheese'n'ham sandwich which I dumped in the microwave and heated it up while watching silly Rainbow Scratch and Pinkie paw pulling a prank on Purrity.
*Ding~!*
Grabbing the sandwich, I started munching on it and turned the TV off just as Twilight Hairball was on her way to save the day and got ready to head off for another day at the office.
Making my way to the shoe rack by the front door, I slipped on my black sneakers and grabbed my old cellphone from the charger and went outside.
Shutting my door and locking it, I turned around and met the resident janitor, a little guy who barely reached my chest, but one shouldn't judge him from his height or age.
He could easily toss me around like a crumbled up piece of paper.
His name is Hideaki Masaki or Mr. Masaki and Sensei as I usually call him.
An old guy from Japan, who was always there for me when my father died a few years ago in an accident on the lower floors.
"Good morning Mr. Masaki, how are ya this morning?" I said beaming the old guy a smile.
Stopping his sweeping, he turned around to meet me.
"Aah, Ryuuji! How are you feeling today? It is the anniversary of his death today, yes?" He said, giving me a sad smile.
"You know that I'm over that, sensei." I said, returning a sad smile of my own.
He shook his head a little before turning back to sweeping the hall.
"Just be back later, my wife wanted me to invite you up for dinner." He said, chuckling a bit.
"Will do! Want me to bring anything?" I asked as I started down the stairs.
"Nope, she already bought it all, so you just make sure to come by tonight!" He yelled after me as I exited the complex.
Walking out on the streets, the merciless beams from the sun started beating down on me.
"They said it would be hot.. But this is just ridicules!" I grumbled as I made my way towards the tram.
I live on the most southern of the ten islands that makes up the island nation of Draconica, also known as Island #10.
Of course, this mean that I have to ride the local trams to get to work on time, seeing as the main company is located smack dab in the middle of it all.
Making my way down the streets, I was greeted by the friendly people who took care of the stores.
While most people on the island works for The Umbra Corporation, there are still civilians, like family members and those who man the stores, look after the towns and all the other menial tasks.
But I was a part of the Umbra Corporations staff, just like my dad who was one of their top scientists, until he died that is.
I was actually on my way towards the top as well, but after he died, I kind of got into a scuffle with the son of one of the chairmen, an arrogant little twerp who thinks he's better than everyone else, just because his dad rolls in cash.
Not that I mind, I mean, they could just as easily have fired me, so having been demoted to a regular office worker is fine enough for me.
I was walking towards the tram station, lost in my own thoughts, when a sudden slap on my right shoulder snapped me out of it.
Turning my head, I saw the brown haired top of my old friends head, so I looked down to meet his dark green eyes.
"Hey Jake, you bastard." I said with a smirk.
He just laughed and poked my forehead, "'Sup dude? Gotten over the morning hangover?" He asked, shooting me a smug smirk of his own.
"Hah! Yeah, just remind me to never go drinking with you again on a bloody Sunday.. I've had the weirdest dream, although I can't remember anything from it besides that feeling of "far out-ness" if ya know what I mean." I said.
He just shook his head and laughed.
"But it's so fun to tease you the day after!" He whined.
"Hardy har har.. Anyway, let's just get on the tram and finish up yet another day at the office." I said as we turned around the final corner before the tram station.
"Fine by me. You up for hitting the arcade on #6 after work? You know those Japs loves the stuff and I could use some good fighting game fun." He asked as we got on board one of the red trams that would take us to #1, the center island.
Finding us a seat amongst the many people wearing white lab coats, we sat down and waited for departure.
"Sure, I'll be sure to kick your ass in a game of Melty Blood! You can't beat my awesome Kohaku!" I taunted.
"Hah! You have no idea what you're getting yourself into, boy! I'll tear you to shreds with Nrvnqsr Chaos!" He taunted back and we both brofisted knowing that this would be the epic battle of the century.
The tram finally departed and we spend the rest of the trip just chatting about small stuff as we were taken to #1 for yet another boring day at the office, as if anything exciting would ever happen there.
__________
A/N:
So yeah, here we have chp. 2.
A bit short, I know, but I can feel another slump on it's way, so rather than fighting it for weeks, trying to add more to the chapter, I decided to just end it on a good point and focus on chp. 3 once I'm back on top again.
I hope you all enjoyed it.
-Munck
1 was finally within sight, it's enormous crystal blue dome reflecting the light from the summer sun.
Seeing as both Jake and I live on #10, we have to go through both #9 and #8 to get to the, by all means of the word, gigantic floating platform in the middle which holds the magnificent Umbra Corporation and it's seventy stories underwater tower.
Yes, this is the amazing thing about the Umbra Corporation. When they discovered the power source back in 1996, they found a tower, in the middle of the sea. And while it would have taken one country quite longer to get down there. With the combined powers of both America and Japan, they build the floating base that later became Umbra in less than six years and reached the tower.
My father was amongst the team which first entered the tower and has told me a bit about it. Apparently it's an ancient but weird tower which is completely dry inside and there's even oxygen and no deep sea pressure like there's some sort of protective barrier around it. It really is a miraculous discovery.
After the first touchdown, things started going fast and in less than ten years, the entire island nation of Draconica was created in a joint effort between USA, Japan and Europe who joined by request from the other two.
As we finally came to our last stop, as all the employees filed out of the tram in an orderly fashion. The dome now dominated our entire view, as it spanned and area of almost twelve kilometers. Jake and I continued our random small talk as we rolled along on one of the moving sidewalks up to entrance #42 and went on in.
We were greeted by a slightly chubby little lady, who peered over her red rimmed reading glasses, "Just in time, as always," her shrill, yet bored voice rang out.
"And a good morning to you too, Doris," I replied with a bit of a deadpanned voice, "I'm doing fine, by the way. So, how have you and Mr. Sulliman been lately?"
Jake tried to stifle his chuckle from our little exchange which had become commonplace whenever Doris had secretary duty at entrance #42.
"Just move along, Mr. Black... And take Mr. Hayes with you," Her bored voice drilled into our ears.
"Aww... Do we really have to go through this procedure, Mrs. Sulliman?" Jake whined as we lined up next to the x-ray machine, dropping our belongings in a plastic tray for the guard to check through.
"Procedures is to be followed, Mr. Hayes. Now move along!"
"I'm starting to suspect that you enjoy commanding us around, Doris," I shot back.
"Whatever gave you that idea, Mr. Black?" she droned on before finally breaking into a smirk, "Not that you're wrong, of course."
"I knew it! You owe me lunch at the local burger joint," I triumphantly said to Jake who looked at Doris with his best puppy eyes only to see her break into a toothy grin.
Jake fell down on his knees and raised his fists to the sky, "NOOOOOOOOO!!!" he screamed, earning us a few confused looks from other staff members and guards. At least until they saw who it was, "How could you Mrs. Sulliman? I thought we had a special connection here..." he grumbled as he got back up on his feet, "You have no idea how much Dracen eats! I mean, He downs burgers like the rest of us downs skittles!" Jake threw his arms into the air as he huffed on and went through the x-ray machine, followed shortly after by me as Doris' laughter boomed behind us.
As we emerged from the x-ray machine, we were greeted by the now familiar sight of Umbra City, a whole city build within the dome, that acted as both offices, souvenir shops, restaurants, tourist attractions and lots of other stuff, it was like one giant expo that ran all year long, displaying the magnificence that is the Umbra Corporation. In the center of it all, you could find the 'tower' A huge building that stretched a few floors above sea level, before going down seventy stories under the sea and connecting to the ancient tower down there. Both Jake and I boarded the nearest elevator and set off towards our respective floors. I was the first one to get off at floor fifteen where my office section were located. We said our goodbyes and laters, planning on meeting for lunch at twelve o'clock. I then continued down the hallway as the elevator doors closed behind me and Jake continued down to the lab sections.
~
Work was a quiet affair, as always. I sat in my cubicle, looking over and signing papers on various subjects. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, besides my chief dropping by to see how I was faring. And soon enough, lunch time rolled in. I made my way top-side and waited for Jake at our usual place, a humble little burger joint that had somehow made it inside the city, due to one of the higher-ups loving their burgers.
"Hey Dracen!" Jake's voice rang out as he entered the store.
"Just in time, now lets get some grub! I'm starving over here," my stomach decided to agree with me by letting out a loud growl.
"Yeah yeah, just try not to eat up all my money... Please?"
Thirty minutes and five of the biggest and best cheese'n'bacon burgers on Draconica later we were both done eating.
"Good gods dude... How can you even find space for five of those!? I mean, they're huge!" Jake complained before taking a sip from his Mountain Dew.
I just shrugged, "Don't ask, I just eat and smile. That's all," I said as I grabbed my Pepsi Twist, "Anyways, we should probably head on ba-"
All my thoughts stopped as I saw who just entered the store.
"Well well well! If it isn't the Dragon of Draconica? And his little boyfriend is here too!" the lower and more blubbery of the two said.
"Hahah! You tell 'em Goda!"
Both Jake and I facepalmed at the same time, "Oh look... It's Bulk and Skull. I thought the bully type died out in the nineties."
"Hahah! Good one Dragon!" *THWACK!* "Ouch! Why'd ya do that, Goda?"
"You don't laugh at the enemies jokes, Eddie!" Goda scolded his taller, thinner and dumber counterpart.
"Just come on, Dracen. Don't let those two morons bother you," Jake tried to calm me down.
Takanashi Goda and Eddie Walton, the two bastards who made it so that I'm stuck as a paper pusher with little hope of getting further. Back when my dad died, they said some stuff during the funeral that they soon came to regret. That was also the day that I earned my little nickname. But due to me beating the everliving shit out of them, their parents who are in the top of the pecking order around here had to hit down on me as well. Sure, I didn't have to pay any sort of compensation for beating their heads together until they passed out, seeing as they had been the ones who started it and I had half the funeral guests to back me up. But they still had to punish me somehow. And as such, I'm allowed to keep on working here, but my chances of getting further have pretty much been crushed. Sure, I could just pack my stuff and leave, but I refuse to give them the satisfaction!
"Tch! Come on Jake, before I lose my calm..."
We moved to leave, only for Goda to grab my shoulder as we passed them.
"You better start showing me respect! Today is the day of the ultimate project, and then you will be begging for us to let you and your little friend serve us!"
Words of a madman I thought and slapped his hand off of me, "Just stay away, unless you want me to beat you up again..." I growled while shooting him a glare that could make a rhino drop dead where it stood.
The trip back to the office was a quiet affair. Nothing can ruin the day like those two idiots, no matter how hard you try to ignore them. At least Jake and I would be hitting the arcade after work and then there's dinner with sensei, so that's always nice. We parted ways again as the elevator reached my floor and I made my way back to finish up my work, hoping that the rest of the day would be peaceful.
~
Memories of how I had beaten those two up, kept on replaying in my head as I finished up the last work of the day. It was finally time to go unwind a bit in the arcade.
"I'll see ya tomorrow, chief," I said as I passed him on the way out.
"Right! Bright and early as usual," he said, giving me a friendly pat on the back, "And Dracen? Don't let Goda and Eddie get to you like that. We all know how big a pair of morons they are, but you need to take better care of yourself."
"I know that, Mr. O'Malley. But they can't really make my life any worse than it already is. I'm stuck here in the office for good, not that I mind," I quickly corrected, "But I would have liked to at least follow in my fathers footsteps and started working on the tower itself. And I already live on the poorest part of the islands, so they can't make that any wor-"
A blinding flash caused us all to groan out from the pain in our eyes as the sound of heavy boots on the floor resounded all around us.
When my sight finally started returning, I was greeted by the sight om Draconica's PMC's aiming their guns at us, "You are all to move to the elevators, now! And no need for any of you to play hero! We have orders to kill on sight!" the leader yelled at us.
Slowly but surely, they herded us into the elevators, sending us down to the deepest levels of the tower. The Elevator finally came to a halt as we reached the seventieth floor, amazingly enough there was no pressure. They had apparently made a way to remove the pressure one would normally feel at this depth or maybe it was the barrier from the old tower that spread to it's new add-on.
More soldiers stood by the doors, corralling us to the center where the new tower connected to the old. There, most of the employees were busy moving down the stairs to the old tower and we slowly made our way there as well.
I looked to Mr. O'Malley, who looked just as nervous as I most likely did. We finally started descending the stairs until we joined the others in a giant circular room. Weird runes adorned the entire floor and depictions of dragon like beings showed different wars on the walls all around us. Some of them looked like ancient dinosaurs fighting mammals, just that all of them had wings and spewed fire. Others looked like Neanderthals duking it out with dragon powers as well and others showed off creatures that I can't even place here on earth.
Suddenly the floor lit up in all the colors of the rainbow and in the blink of an eye, we all found ourselves in a completely different room. It was even bigger than the other one, probably around five times the size. We found ourselves on a platform suspended in the air with paths to smaller platforms where I could see people from all the other devisions on. The wall murals had been exchanged with nine gigantic statues of draconic beings, each one holding a flame of varying colors. Ranging from red, orange, yellow, blue, green, indigo, violet, white and finally black.
The white flame suddenly flickered violently as a light, male voice rang through the room, "Are these the final mortals?" not waiting for an answer, it continued, "Very well. I shall now see which ones are worthy of a place in the game."
Suddenly a bright ring of light seemed to scan us all, flames appearing over some of our heads, mine included.
"Divide the ones with the mark between the platforms," the white flame commanded. causing the PMC's to spring back to life as they shuffled us towards the different floating platforms. I quickly found myself amongst familiar faces, including Jake.
"Dude! Jake! What the hell is going on here!?"
"Dracen! Oh god, am I happy to see you! It's terrible! All the people that aren't branded? They-"
Sudden gunfire interrupted Jake, as we both looked back towards the center, just as they put a bullet in Mr. O'Malley's head, letting him fall off the edge along with all the others who had been unlucky enough not to receive the brand.
"We are now ready! Pick your lords!"
Suddenly all the flames started flickering as circles of different colored lights started scanning us all. I didn't feel anything until the black ring scanned my group.
"Yes, you will do just fine!" A sultry female voice said, causing the hairs on my neck to stand.
"Always hasty to take your pick, eh? Tenebrae?" a deep growly voice said, sounding like it had lived on a forty year diet of scotch and cigars.
"You know me, Metallum," Tenebrae let out a giggle, "Of course I'd want to grab this one quickly. I mean, this is THE Dragon of Draconica, son of the late Dr. Black. And his psyche is perfect for my darkness with all the hatred he's been shoving away in the corners of his mind."
"So, you have chosen your lord, Tenebrae?" the white flame asked, "Then you may take him and his group."
"Wait just a god damn minute!" Gouda's voice called from the back of my group, "You lot promised that I would become a lord, so that I could finally rule Dracen's life!" he whined at the flames.
"You? A Lord!? HAHAHAH~!" Tenebrae began, "You... Your only worth is as a pawn! Even a knight is too high class for you, you disgusting maggot!" you could feel the venom dripping from her words.
"B-bu-but you all promised!" he whined again.
"You are nothing but a speck of dust to us! Do you truly think that we would want something as pathetic as you to be a lord? No... Instead I will personally kill you when I finish fitting my new body and then I shall stuff that pawn piece so far into your wretched guts that you can never be promoted to any other class!"
In that instant, the black flame flickered even harder, before it shot from it's statue and in my direction. I then saw something crimson fly towards me as well, just a few feet behind the black flame which collided with my chest. A searing sensation hit every nerve in my body as a coldness suddenly overtook me, my vision going dark. It was then that a completely new sensation hit my again, crimson and black danced in my vision, my nerves switching from feeling cold to heat and back again. The two flames battled for control as I felt my bones, muscles and skin moving and changing in the heat of the battle. It finally came to an end as my vision turned crimson and the black flame was expelled from my body, screaming like a banshee.
"IGNIIIIIIIIS!!" it roared.
"Don't worry kid, I'm here to save you," the voice said. It sounded like someone with much wisdom, like an old teacher who wasn't cranky from dealing with young whippersnappers all the time.
And then, in an intense flash of light, we left the circular room behind. Tenebrae's scream still lingering with us.
~
"Urgh... Where am I?"
I opened my eyes to find myself floating in a white space, "What the hell?"
Looking down my body, I saw that it was a magnificent crimson color, with a tan belly and lighter red spikes.
"What the fucking hell happened to me!?" This was starting to freak me out. If I hadn't already witnessed all this weirdness, I might have broken down by this sight.
"Don't worry, my son. You are experiencing a side effect from possessing one of the Eternal Dragon Souls, or Draconis Animus as they classify themselves as," a most familiar voice said.
"Dad!? But... How? You died, how can you be talking to me?"
"Listen, Dracen! We don't have much time. Ignis is resting right now to regain some power. Crossing so many dimensions in one jump isn't easy."
"Ignis? Dimensions? What are you talking about, dad?"
"I'll get to that! Now listen up. Ignis took my soul and fused with it when I was murdered... Him and I had become quite good friends by the time that the others decided to go through with their twisted little game. We were both against it, of course. But they planned on going through with no matter the cost. And as such, I had to die since I knew too much. But Ignis and I had already foreseen this and set our plan into motion," All of this info was clashing with everything rational and logical in my mind, but I kept on listening to his tale,
"By the time that they decided to go through with my murder, we had already prepared for it. We knew that you had the potential to become one of the lords, rare humans with a frequency that matches up with eternal dragon souls, or EDS' as we'll call them for now. As such, we knew that you would probably be chosen by one of the other eight. Now this is where it becomes tricky. I let myself die, letting Ignis snatch my soul before it perished. From there, we just had to bide our time, waiting for the day to arrive. And so it did. But you got chosen by one of two strongest EDS... The Obsidian Flame, Tenebrae," I felt a shiver down my back when I heard that name,
"But we still had to go through with the plan. By baiting her into possession you and then forcing her out just after she placed her mark on you, she's stuck without another host. As such, we did just that and then Ignis jumped several dimensions to get you away from her, effectively preventing the game from ever starting."
Well that explains a lot... No it doesn't!
"Wait wait wait! What the hell is this 'game' that you're talking about?"
"Right, the game. These beings, the EDS. They have been around since before time, and as a means to stave off the boredom that follows with being eternal, they entice mortals into their sick game, by granting a single wish to the winner of their game. The game itself changes from time to time, but usually involves a few basics. Each EDS will choose a Lord, their teams leader with whom they fuse, sharing their powers with him or her. You will then use the souls of the mortals sacrificed, to buy pieces for your soldiers to use. Seeing as over nine thousand humans were sacrifi-"
"WHAT!? NINE THOUSAND!? But that's almost the entire populace of Draconica! Why didn't you try warning people about their plans!? You could have saved them all!"
"Dracen... Do you truly believe that? Do you really think that people would listen to me!? That they would listen to my insane ramblings of eternal gods trying to kill them all for their stupid game!?"
"I-! No... They most likely wouldn't... It's just, sensei, the Sulliman's, Chief O'Malley... They all died just so a bunch of bored gods can play their damned chess game! It pisses me off!"
"I know, but this was the only way that I could save you. But don't worry. Now that Ignis is gone and Tenebrae is out of the game, they shouldn't be able to continue."
"Really now, doctor... You underestimate us." the sultry voice said, causing me to go into full alert.
"TENEBRAE!? But how!? We jumped several dimensions! You shouldn't be able to follow us that easily!" my dad yelled, fear clear in his voice.
"Did you really think I lost that battle of tug-o-war with Ignis? I just planted a seed of darkness in your son and used it to track you... This game has just become even more interesting! Prepare yourself, Lord of the Obsidian Flame!"
The moment she said those last words, my body felt like it had been engulfed by the deepest reaches of space, where not even starlight reached. I looked on as my body slowly changed colors from crimson to black.
"Tenebrae! You cursed snake!" Ignis' voice boomed from within me, "You shall not claim this young man!"
"Oh? I don't plan on claiming him anymore! We came up with a new game for you all to play instead... I'm just preparing the pieces."
With that, I began falling, my consciousness barely keeping up, as I slipped in and out of it.
"And don't even think about warning him, Ignis! I'm locking his memories away for now and trapping you away in the deepest reaches of his mind. You won't be able to talk with him until it's too late!" I heard her break into a manic laughter as everything went black again.
~
"Wake up!"
Something stirred me from my nap.
"Wake up Dracen! I can't stay in this world much longer!"
That voice... I know it...
"Urgh... Where the hell am I...?" trying to open my eyes only resulted in a blindingly bright light, blocking out everything else.
"Please be strong, my beloved son. Be strong and make your mom and I proud." his last words were so low that I hardly heard them over the rush of the wind buffeting me.
I fell for what felt like an eternity, trying to come to my senses, before finally crashing.
~
"DRACEN!" Jake's monstrous voice brought me back to my senses.
How long was I out? Judging from everything around me, it must only have been a few seconds. Not that it matters... What does matter, is that I now have a connection with Ignis again and thus I now know how to save both my new and old friends. But first, I'll have to put him out of his misery!
Focusing on my claws, crimson flames shrouded them, "Alright! Now we're on even ground," preparing my punch, I leapt towards Jake who didn't even bother defending, most likely thinking that my punch would be the same as before. The moment my fist connected with his chin, there was an explosion of crimson flames which engulfed his face as he screamed in pain. I didn't take the time to admire my work, as the next punch hammered into his stomach followed by more crimson fire. I continued showering him in fiery blows as he screamed for dear life before I finished it off with a blast of my crimson fire breath.
Jake fell to the ground, charred beyond recognition and barely breathing, "I'm sorry, Jake... I truly am. But if I want to put an end to all of this, I will need to take your piece," he slowly opened his mouth to speak, but words would not form. Instead his eyes pleaded me to end it before he returned to his monstrous state, as the final remnant of my old friend shone through the rage and madness that had consumed him.
Slowly but surely a glowing orb rose from his chest, inside it was a rook chess piece. I could feel it beat like a heart as I wrapped my claws around it. And the moment I pulled it out of the orb, Jake finally found rest.
"Rest in peace, old friend. And worry not. I WILL find a way to end this madness!" I watched as violet flames engulfed his body returning it to his human form before he disappeared back to where his master were. If luck was with him, he would be out for the rest of the game and if not... Then I fear that this won't be our last battle.
With the battle over, I finally came back to my senses as I heard the ponies crying over the loss of their beloved friend. It was now or never. Focusing on the piece, the violet flame around it flickered before changing to crimson. The piece itself was still violet, showing that the holder would gain Metallum's powers and the crimson flame signified that the holder belonged to Ignis' group.
I walked over to the group with renewed resolve only to be stopped by the glare of Celestia, "You! Because of you and your kin, we have lost one of our dearest friends as well as one of the Elements of Harmony! And yet you DARE to show yourself before us again!?" her eyes shone with light, and honestly it freaked me out. But I knew something she didn't... I knew how to save Applejack!
"Move... Please."
"WHAT!?" her anger exploded.
"I said, MOVE! Or do you not want to see Applejack alive again!?"
"YOU DARE TO UTTER HER NAME!? I SHOULD BANISH YOU TO THE SUN RI-! Wait... See her alive again? What madness are you spouting now!? Not even I can bring back the departed!" Her voice cracked as her eyes teared up.
"Well, you aren't me. Now move aside, all of you!" I slowly walked past the now flabbergasted princess and knelt down besides AJ's corpse, "I hope you can forgive me one day..."
With that said, I took the violet rook piece and placed it on her chest, "With the powers vested in me as the Lord of the Crimson Flame, I request a pact with the brave being known as Applejack! May her soul be bound to mine until the battle is won!" crimson flames enveloped her body, closing and healing her wounds as she rose a foot into the air. The rook began to pulsate with the rhythm of a heart beat as it slowly sank into her body, color finally returning as life was restored in her.
She slowly descended back down, her eyes flew open as she had a coughing fit, "Ouch... *Cough* Did anypony get, *Hack* The number on that, *Wheeze* Applecart?" she looked around at her friends faces which all showed mixed emotions of disbelief, relief, sorrow from the events they just went through and joy from seeing their friend alive again. She then noticed me and realization seemed to flood back, "The battle! Did we win? Wait... But, ah died... How can ah be alive!?"
"You're alive because I gave you life. Unfortunately, it's not a permanent solution," everyones eyes filled with sadness again, "But there is hope yet. Ignis' plan was to move so far away from our old dimension as possible, to stop The Game from ever being played again."
"The game?" AJ asked, still trying to come to terms with what had happened.
"It's a game of death between nine powerful gods that have been around since the birth of time, space and the universe itself. They move from world to world, waiting for mortal men to find them, so that they might entice them with their game. The winner will get ANY wish they might have, fulfilled. And THAT is how we're gonna save you."
They all looked at me like I was mad, "So, all we have ta do, is win this 'ere game and ah'll be counted among the livin' again?"
"Pretty much, yeah. But it won't be easy. It is a death battle after all. And the two of us are the only fighters on this team."
"No you're not!" Rainbow Dash yelled, "If AJ is going into battle to win back her life, then I'm gonna follow her!" this was followed up with agreements from the other four as well.
"Well, that's fine and all, but let me just warn you. You WILL die a few times in battle and each time you do, we will lose more and more chances to bring you all back home," these ponies are amazing, they're not even fazed a bit by that knowledge. All of them are showing strong determination, "Alright, you all seem eager to go. But before that, we will need to discuss the rules and accept our place in the game. So how about we head back inside? I'm pretty sure that there's still some apple goods left to eat and drink," I tried to be a bit light about it... I would be killing off five ponies in a bit after all.
