Misplaced For Redemption

Shards backstory

Before the events of C-day, Shard was learning martial arts and swordsmanship. He always had a strange fascination for swords, by the age of ten he could wield a small blade expertly. Seeing that he held much potential, his parents signed him up for training in Japan. Now, there is something you should know about Shard, he was born with orange hair and eyes. The doctors summed it to a chemical imbalance. He was also born with sharper senses, especially sight and hearing.

When he turned eleven he started his training at a dojo in Tokyo. Over the course of the next six years, he became a professional martial artist and swordsman. He competed in many tournaments and won almost every time. His name became known all over Japan, although he never liked the attention, he was in it for the swords. With each tournament he won he was given a new sword to add to his collection.

After his training he returned to New York with his family. After hearing about the cyborg project Shard wondered if it was a good idea or not. No one in his family applied for the operation since none of them where missing a limb.

Many weeks later the computer virus broke out and Shards home was destroyed along with his sword collection. As he was being guided to the evacuation point a cyborg was charging at them, a pretty big one too. Just before the mindless machine could strike him another cyborg came out of nowhere and sent the beast flying. Shard thought that all of the Cyborgs had gone mad, but this one was protecting him.

"Go, I'll hold it off." Was all that he said before charging the large cyborg in front of him. Shard turned to a soldier.

"Who was that?"

"That was Cybe Catcher, don't worry he's on our side." Shard looked back to see Cybe throw the cyborg halfway across Broadway. Cybe then rushed into the ruins of Shards house and pulled out a sword. He rushed over to Shard and placed it in his hands.

"Thank you." Cybe nodded and charged off down the street to another cyborg. Shard looked down at the sword given to him, it was the first sword he had won in a tournament. He never got a good look at Cybe, but he felt in his debt for saving his life and retrieving his last sword.

After C-day, Shard moved back to Japan to continue his training. He began collecting swords again and was on the hunt for rare swords. Let's move to the present day shall we. Shard was currently searching a cave on Mt. Fuji, Shard had changed his style of clothing as well. He wore a black leather jacket with bright orange fur around the collar and wrists, black jeans and black trainers with orange stripes. He was holding a book in his hand that was given to him by a weapon merchant.

"Ok, if this is correct, then the sword should be right down this cavern." He carefully walked down the cave, making sure not to trip over any loose rocks. After five minutes of walking he came across a large open space, with steps leading up to a pedestal. His sight was fixed on the sword at the top of the stone monument. He walked up to the top to find a dusty sword. "There it is, the ancient sword, Flames of Disaster. Not the most original name but I'll take it." He dusted off the blades scabbard to see patterns of flame carved in the black wood. When he pulled the blade out of its home, he was greeted by a black and orange glow. When his eyes adjusted, he stared at the blade, it was blank and orange and seemed to be burning, but did not harm him. "Interesting." He gave the sword a swing to see a trail of fire appear behind it. "Woah." He returned the blade to its scabbard and began to walk back down the steps. He stopped when he heard something dropping behind him.

He turned back to see a small black gemstone laying on the pedestal. When he touched it a bright light enveloped him. He shielded his eyes and turned away. When the light faded he found himself falling from the sky. "WHAT THE HELL!?" He noticed the ground approaching very fast. He braced for an impact that never came, when he opened his eyes he was floating just inches above the ground. He dropped to the floor and immediately shot up to his feet. He looked around, trying to make sense of what just happened.

When he turned around he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, a large blue alicorn with flowing hair was standing before him. After rubbing his eyes he looked again, the pony was still there. "Um...hello?"

"Hello there." He jumped in shock and looked at the mare surprised.

"You can talk?"

"Yes, I can talk, just like everyone else on this world." He didn't know how to process this, there was a talking pony standing in front of him. "Who might you be, I've never seen a creature like you before?" He decided to just roll with it.

"Uh...my name is Shard Storm, I'm a human. Who might you be?"

"I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria. It is a pleasure to meet you Shard Storm." He had no idea what was going on.

"Um, I don't mean any disrespect Princess but I'm have a hard time processing this."

"In what way?"

"Well, I was looking for a long lost blade that for some reason emits fire, a black four pointed star gem came out of nowhere, said gem sent me falling to my death and now there is a talking pony standing in front of me. Explain to me how that is not weird." Luna stopped paying attention after she heard 'four pointed star gem.' Her pupils shrank in realisation, she had to get this creature to her brother, fast.

"Shard, I promise that everything will be explained in time, but I need you to come with me to see my brother." She grabbed his hand with her magic and began to lead him to the castle, Shards body went into autopilot as he was busy trying to make sense of the situation.

They arrived at a large orange door at the end of a large hallway, Shards body returned to its normal control. "So your brother knows about what brought me here?" He asked curiously. Luna knew her brother would know more about the gem that brought him here, well, more than her anyway.

"Yes, if there is anypony that will know about the gem, it's my brother." She knocked the door expecting her brother to answer, but five minutes later they were still waiting. She pushed the door open to see her brothers lab in ruin. "Eclipse, where are you?!" There was a shift in a pile of fallen books. Luna rushed over and began digging through the books with her magic, Shard helping her. When they scrapped the last book away a stallion lay on his stomach, opening his eyes groggily.

"L-Luna, is that...you?" He tried to stand up but failed.

"Yes brother, it's me, what happened here?" He managed to get to his feet, Eclipse was only slightly taller than Luna, his coat was pitch black and his mane was flowing with a bright orange colour. When he looked to Luna he coughed.

"A black mist...came out of...nowhere...destroyed the lab...couldn't fight back...it took the star." Luna played the image in her mind, she then cast a healing spell on him. "Thank you sis." He looked around at the ruined laboratory, his eyes fell on Shard. "I see the mist has already made use of the star." He slowly walked up to the human. "I am so sorry you had to get dragged into this."

"Um, I don't think it's your fault." He extended his hand. "I'm Shard, nice to meet you, Luna said you could explain what brought me here."  Eclipse returned the gesture and sighed.

"Yes, the gem that brought you here is called The Reality Star, an object that can pull something into any alternate reality." He closed his eyes. "And lock them out of their own." Shard let those words swirl in his mind until he understood.

"You mean, that gem...locked me out of my own reality?" Both Eclipse and Luna nodded sadly. Shard looked to the blade on his back, he held it in his hands tightly. "I'm alone here, aren't I?" Eclipse shook his head.

"Whatever has taken the star will not stop at just with one reality pull, we should expect some visitors from other worlds soon, hopefully they are not evil." Shard was starting to get the impossible picture that was being painted before him, although part if him refused to believe it. He was stuck in a world where there are magical ponies. He wanted to pass out, hopefully waking up back home, but he knew that it was real. Eclipse took a good look at Shard then glanced at his sword.

"I know this isn't an appropriate time for jokes, but you two have the same colour schemes." Luna pointed out. They both stared at Luna and then at each other.

"She's right." They both said in unison.

"You both wield swords too." She giggled, both males were trying to process what was going on. Eclipse cleared his throat.

"It might be possible that Shard is my counterpart from his reality, either that or it's just coincidence." Eclipse lifted something with his magic from a broken bookshelf, it was a sword. "If you do in truth know how to wield a sword then I would like to challenge you to a friendly competition." He unsheathed his blade to reveal another black and orange blade. "What do you say?" Shard mentally shrugged, there was no harm in it.

"I say I'm confused out of my mind right now, but I accept your challenge." He looked around at the ruined laboratory. "We might want to move to a more appropriate location first." They all nodded and walked out of the theatrical war zone.

They entered the guard barracks where a large open area was built for combat sessions, the room was currently empty due to the time. Luna took a seat next to the armoury storage. Eclipse and Shard stood at opposite ends of the combat area. Their swords drawn.

"Ready?" Eclipse asked.

"You bet." They grinned and charged at each other, their blades met sending sparks flying. The were both putting as much force as they could into staggering their opponent. They were thrown backwards, after catching some breath the charged towards each other, not meeting in the middle but taking turns dodging and attacking.

Shard stepped back a thrust his blade forward, causing Eclipse to be put on the defensive. Shard continued to push Eclipse back, he noticed something about his sword. For some reason the blade did not ignite, he held his hand out signalling for Eclipse to stop blocking his attacks. "Hold on a second, when I first got this sword it was able to create fire, but now it's not emitting anything." Eclipse sheathed his sword and took Shards blade to examine it. He felt a strange energy around the blade.

"Luna, could you help me isolate this energy source?" Luna walked over to her brother, their magics intertwined and the blade started floating in the air. After several seconds of scanning the sword they set the blade back into Shards hands. "The energy seems to be coming directly from the blade, but I sensed something else."

"As did I brother. It's almost as if the sword..."

was alive?. All three of them jumped when they heard a deep voice come from the sword.

"Did...did the sword just...talk?" Asked Shard with confusion.

Indeed I did Shard. They all stared at the blade. Prehaps I should introduce myself, I am Flames of Disaster, although you may call me Flame.

"I take it that you know our names?"

Yes, I overheard your introduction so let's not waste time with formalities as there is much to discuss. the group nodded. I think we should start with how I was created, you may be shocked to know that I was forged in Equestria. Shard looked unfazed as nothing could possibly surprise him at this point, Eclipse rubbed his chin and Luna looked dumbstruck. As for how I was brought into the human world, that would be the doing of the Elements of Harmony. My flames were seen as dangerous and Celestia used the Elements to seal me away until I was needed, it just was just dumb luck that brought me here along with Shard. a Shard nodded, even though he had no idea what was going on and was silently piecing together the impossible puzzle that was his predicament. When I was transported to the human world I gained a consciousness and could communicate with any human that wielded me, and now that Shard and you two have held me I can now talk to you telepathically. Shard was pondering the idea of having his sword talking to him during battle, it could come as a distraction but could have some benefits. One question was circling his mind though.

"Why wouldn't you ignite when I was using you in that battle just now?"

I did not wish to bring harm to the Prince, he may have dodged your blows but if I was burning he could have been fatally injured. Walk over to that practice dummy and take a swing. Shard did as Flame instructed and slashed the doll, leaving the dummy burning. I can control wether or not my flames will be used in combat, to avoid and harm to the co-ruler of this land I deactivated my ignition. Shard seemed surprised that a sword could decide whether or not to cause a fatal blow. He was slowly starting to understand the situation and how Flame operated.

"One thing I want to ask you two." Eclipse and Luna turned to him. "Where am I going to stay?" Luna thought for a moment before Eclipse suggested that he could stay in the lab as Eclipse wanted to analyse him further, he accepted due to the fact that he basically had no other options.

"I suggest that you stay with Eclipse in his lab until we can explain to Celestia what has happened, after all you are possibly the only one of your kind here." They all nodded and separated and went to their sleeping arrangements. Once Eclipse, Shard and Flame were in the lab Eclipse cast a spell and everything in the lab was repaired.

"There is a spare bed over there." Eclipse pointed to the corner of the room where a storable bed was leaning against the wall. They stayed up a little while longer to talk about each other's worlds, such as basic history and cultural differences. Flame stayed silent during all of this as he was trying to reconnect with the magical leylines.

Little did they know that a humanoid figure surrounded by a red aura was watching these events unfold.

That makes two, the third should be arriving soon enough. It let out a maniacal laugh. The pieces are coming together, all that's left to do is to choose their companions for the plan to come together. I should also head back to my reality to make sure Symbol had his vision. With a flash of light the figure disappeared.

Celestia was signing some paperwork when Luna walked into the throne room. "Sister, the star has been stolen." Celestia dropped the scroll that was held by her magic. Things would be changing in Equestria, there was much work to be done.

"Luna, has anything appeared yet?" She nodded nervously. "Have you made contact with it?"

"Yes, he is with Eclipse right now."

"Is he dangerous?"

"His combat skills are expressive but he has no intention of harming us or anypony else."

"How do you know this?"

"I scanned his thought patterns and he has proven to be friendly."

"I trust your judgement Luna, but please keep an eye on this creature."

"This isn't your normal state of mind sister, is the situation really that dangerous?

"Luna, we do not know what has taken the star or what will be pulled into this reality, I will inform the Elements of the situation tomorrow, please get some rest and be wary of the creature." Luna nodded and retreated to her chamber. Celestia let out a sigh and rubbed her face with her hooves. "Just when I didn't need anything to go wrong." She walked over to a window and stared at the Everfree forest, a yellow glow radiated from the unholy land of thorns for a split second. "Looks like something else has arrived just outside of ponyville, I hope it's not dangerous." Celestia sat on her throne, trying to think of the best course of action.

Editor: Well that took longer than expected

Author: how was I supposed to know the wifi would cut out after writing the full chapter

Editor: it would have gone quicker if you don't start that new story

Author: we got an audio series out of it didn't we?

Editor:*sigh* yeah, I guess that's ok, just don't give your full attention to it ok

Author: fine