Dark Dynamic Duoby Skypainter NightfireChaptersPrologueChapter 1Prologue [rewrite]Prologue It was midnight on the 45th day that Twilight had been trying to get this spell to work. Spike was standing in the doorway to the room Twilight was working in, somewhere between awake and full on sleep. After about five more variations of the spell, Twilight ga e up for the night with an audible groan. That was the cue Spike had been waiting for to walk in, though his lifelong caretaker fell asleep as soon as she banged her head against the table on which Starswirl's book had rested. The strange smell in the room though seemed to wake him as a rough ramp cobbled together with random planks of wood seemed to build itself out of thin air. To make things more interesting, once the ramp was done, a giant floating ring of strangely adorned metal materialized into from thin air, along with another metal contraption that did the same at the base of the ramp. Spike rubbed his eyes and stared in disbelief at the entire process. He didn't waste time and nudging Twilight awake. "Twilight! Twilight! You have to see this!" The purple mare was slow to reawaken, though the strange smell helped the process. "Spike? Were you experimenting with gems and food again?" Once Twilight had reordered her mind into wakefulness, she finally saw the contraption that had built itself on the balcony outside, "And just where did all of this come from?" Spike made a sound like he was about to say something when the two saw some transparent figure fade into reality as if from a mist. One, clearly female from the sound of her voice, was talking about the machine and the "Precursor" ring as if it were a huge deal. A shorter, green figure, with the voice of an elderly man, seemed to understand more about what the female one was talking about than the other two. Twilight listened and sat in the machine without thinking. Spike followed, clearly amused by the reactions of the small, orange, ferret-like animal. By the time either Twilight or Spike even knew what was going on, it was too late. A rather large, frightening figure had come out of the portal, that had activated in the Precursor ring at some point, had both Twilight and Spike rivited to their seats. Before either had the sense to escape, a bar lowered onto the two, and the strange figures with them, and he machine took off through the portal. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Jak meandered up to Samos's hut with Dax talking his ear off as usual. He was still trying to get used to his best friend being an otsel after his run-in with a vat of dark eco. With the ramp and machine complete, Jak was just glad that he didn't have to collect anymore power cells. But that didnt stop him from having to drag those Precursor artifact pieces to the Green Sage's hut so that Keira could put it all together and see where the ring will take them. Daxter was more interested in pestering everyone to even have the slightest idea what was actually going on. Though his main target for pestering was Keira. Flirting specifically, even though he knew all about Jam's and Keira's relationship. After several months of piecing things together from rusty metal, Keira had finally completed her work. Unfortunately, it looked rickety at best, though Jak trusted in the woman's technical ability. Despite all her mechanical know-how, even Keira wasn't sure how to operate the thing. As everyone took there seats, Keira was explaining in minute detail pretty much everything they knew. The Precursor ring was likely a portal that the machine somehow activated. Daxter was starting to get impatient and lifted a finger to touch something. "Daxter! Don't. Touch. Anything.!" Samos sharply stopped the otsel from doing something stupid once again. "We don't want you messing anything up!" The old sage just seemed to get crabbier by the year, as Daxter liked to say. "Even so, I don't even know how to start this thing." Jak, silent as ever, just pressed the shining red button. The look of amazement on Keira's face was matched by he fear on Daxter's. "Umm, guy's? What's going on?" The furry orange otsel cowered under Jak's arm. "I don't like this thing!" As if to answer, the now rumbling machine broke free of the wooden ramp and the big shiny Precursor thing popped open to reveal a floating ring of orbs and osculating rings. "I think it's reading out preset coordinates." She sat back and shrugged, "But I don't know where to." The back of the machine whites and spun around as it zapped the Precursor ring into life. The sound the emitted from it though was one that none the four would forget. A giant black money ster pulled itself from the rift gate and smiled in triumph, "You thought that you could hide from me boy! But no longer!" With that a swarm of similar beasts flowed out from the ring, sending Daxter into a panic. "Guys! Do something!" He started slapping his fingers on everything he could find, "Get us outta here!" At that, Jak pressed the same red button as before and sent the machine rocketing forward. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Daxter was screaming in fear as they shot passed the giant monster and into the portal. As the ride got worse, so did Daxter's screams, "GET ME OFF OF THIS THING!" Another voice answered, though it was completely unfamiliar, "TWILIGHT, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" a quick look to the right revealed two new passengers. A purple haired girl and a lizard thing. Apparently, the girl was called Twilight. "I didn't do anything Spike! It just moved on its own!" That was the last thing said before a bolt of purple energy destroyed the machine and sent the whole grew tumbling forward. Finally, a bright light shined and suddenly Jak was flying through the air followed by Dax, Twilight and the lizard thing that was called Spike. They all hit the ground hard and Dax was complaining the moment he landed. He lifted the chunk of metal he'd grabbed over his head and threw away, "That is the last I ever! EVER! Mess with any Precursor crap!" Twilight wasn't up much later after Jak and was looking around inquisitively, "Where are we?" The purple haired girl seemed more interested in things the way Keira was, than actually figuring out what just happened. Spike rubbed his as he stood on two legs in much the same way Daxter did, "I don't know Twilight.... And who are you?" He pointed at both Jak and Daxter, though he gave Dax the weird look. Neither got the chance to reply as several armored people with strange weapons walled up with a purpose, "Hey! You two! By order of the baron, you are hereby under arrest. Step away from the animals." These guys were huge. Dax didn't waste any time running away, though that lizard stayed a little. It longer until he was kicked out of the way. "Hey! Twilight didn't do anything wrong! Leave her alone!" That statement just earned another kick and Twilight was knocked out cold before she could say anything more. The skinny one walked up to Jak with a sadistic smile, "He baron has place s for you two." That was the last thing Jak heard before he blacked out. Daxter's voice managed to pierce through before Jak lost consciousness though, "Don't worry buddy! I'll come save ya! You know I will!" Then, it was total blackness. Chapter 1 Darkness. The amount of it that Twilight had encountered since she arrived was absolutely appalling. It had been two years since Twilight had inadvertently launched herself into the rift with Jak and his friends. Since then, Baron Praxis had been pumping the both of them full of the dark energy that everypony... Everyone had been calling "dark eco." The process was incredibly painful and Twilight had never imagined that there could exist such cruelty in any world. This was extreme for even Nightmare Moon. Either way, Twilight had considered herself lucky that she has been used to channeling magical energy, she would have succumbed the... Changes that tried to come out by force. Though that only meant more death threats and beatings for her than Jak got, for Jak seemed to be relatively unaffected despite the excruciating pain. The only thing that kept Twilight going was that Spike was still out there. According to Jak, it was likely that his otsel friend Daxter had been taking care of him. If not Dax, then they had found Samos the Sage, who certainly would take care of the baby dragon. Even so, Twilight has spent many a night crying whenever the thought about the worst that could have happened. Every night, Twilight found herself praying to Celestia that Spike was okay. When Twilight not busy crying, praying, or being experimented on, Jak had insisted that she learn martial arts from him. The both would need to fight should they escape. That much was obvious. It was also obvious that the both of them would be fighting anyway if Praxis had his way. That only made Twilight resent her captor even more. To keep herself busy, and not thinking a out how to kill Praxis, Twilight focused on how she might get home. The rift gate most definitely wasn't anything like the portal to Canterlot High. Not only that, it was obvious that they were in a completely different world from either Equestria, or its counterpart. That left Twilight to start completely from scratch. Her only clue was the rift gate was the she came in, and so, it was probably the only way back. Twilight yelled and threw herself at the wall in frustration. Jak had been silently watching and was chuckling from the other side of the cell. "Thinking about how you're going to get home?" He asked more to rile Twilight enough to actually get the ali-... Girl to spar with him. Twilight obliged as she cleared the span of the small room to use Jak as a punched bag. "What do you think?! That this situation is all sunshine and daisies?!" Normally, Twilight would have been appalled at her reactions, but she also knew that all the dark eco that was pumped into her had changed her attitude and emotional stability. The same had happened with Jak as well. The long-eared man simply deflected the blow Twilight had throw. At him and followed with a powerful punch of his own, "That's definitely the force I've been looking for. But youre either pulling your punches, or not thinking at all." The look on Jak's face was grim as ever, "You to be able to focus and unleash your full might at the same time." It always surprised Twilight that Jak was so outwardly calm. But one look into those angry eyes dispelled any illusions. Jak was out for blood. He had a similar goal as Twilight, but the baron was in for a very unpleasant surprise by the time that Jak was through. After a moment of silence had ended, there was a knock at the door. The moment the door slid open and they saw Praxis's smug face. "Oh, am I interrupting a bit of romance?" He spat on the floor, "Love coming from you two abominations is a thought that makes me sick!" With a hand gesture, Praxis ordered his guards to immobilize them for the daily dose of dark eco. ______________________________ Two years, it's been. Two. Years!. Daxter had been drowning his sorrows the night before. No. He was celebrating. Spike had figured out a way to sneak into the prison and jailbrake Jak! He knew it was a good idea to keep the scruffy little dragon around! But he also insisted that Daxter would help him free his friend Twilight at the same time. Not that Daxter cared. So long as he a d Jak were back as a team again, there was nothing that couldn't be done around here. Daxter had splurged the day before on more than just alcohol though. He also got Jak some new threads... And Twilight to. It was really frustrating that Spike didn't know what sizes that his friend wore. The way that kid talked a out that girl, you'd think that she was his mother! All that aside, the journey through all the different parts of the prison. Wasn't easy. There were guards, security lasers, the works! If it could be used as security, Praxis had it roaming his prison like a pack of ravenous crockadogs! It also didn't help the only thing that the two of them knew about the prison was that Jak and Twilight were in the joint's highest security prison area. That only made things harder. Spike had slowed down a lot during the (hopefully) homestretch of the rescue mission's first half. Dax k ew the look on the kid's face and his words only confirmed it, "Dax, I'm starving!" The lizard was starting to drag his feet to. Not good. Especially if the escape plane turned out to need his fire breath,"Can't I at least have that sapphire?" Daxter shrugged, he had no need for it. But he also had no idea why anyone would want to eat shiny rocks though. So he tossed the blue gem at the dragon's feet, "No more complaining outta you. We still need to get to Jak. He'll be able to get out once he's free of whatever is keeping him here. Daxter sat as Spike finished licking off his now gloved claws. He let out a sigh, " Yeah, it's all well and good that you have food in your belly. But in case you haven't noticed, we're still inside the BARON'S PRISON!!!" Dad's yelling and over emphasis would have startled Spike if he hasn't gotten used to over these last two years. Spike shrugged, "Sorry, I'm a growing dragon. Though I still want to find Twilight as much as you want to find Jak." He got up and a look took over Spike's face that said he was daydreaming again. Daxter clapped next to Spike's frills where his ears were, "Come on dealer, we still have Jak to save and then get the heck outta here. I don't care what you do afterward though." With that, Daxter put on a smug grin as he pulled a lever that sent the platform they were on upward. As soon as the strange looking machines came into view, both of the small duo knew they had come to the right place. "Ding, ding! Third floor, torture devices!" There were two tables on the next platform with both Twilight and Jak on each. Dax threw the clothes to the floor and smirked, "Hey Jak, I brought ya some new threads!" He jumped on top of his friend and got a worried look on his face, though it was Spike who voiced the concern. "Twilight, what happened to you?!" The little dragon had dropped the clothes Dax had bought for Twilight and jumped up to Twilight's table, "You look aweful!" Twilight groaned in response as both she and Jak started shooting off sparks of dark eco. Daxter looked at the angry look on Jak's face and was instantly nervous, "Jak? Hey, it's me, your old pal Daxter! Remember?" Jam's eyes snapped open in an instant. "I'm gonna kill Praxis!" And suddenly Jak's body changed color and he snapped his constraints in time with Twilight. Daxter had been reduced to babbling as the new Jak jumped off the table and looked himself over. Twilight was doing much the same thing. She had Spike scared witless with the menace of her own eyes. Not completely in control of herself, Twilight only realized what was going on when Spike let out a small yelp, "Spike?" Twilight shifted back to her new normal and fell to the ground of the platform, "When'd you get here? And... I don't even want to know what I was going to do." The same thing happened with Jak, but only when he heard Twilight calming down. "Dax. What are you doing?" He couldn't believe that Daxter had mustered up the courage to try and rescue him from the prison. Daxter just waved his hands in the air in dismissal, "Never kind that, we need to get outta here. There's no telling what'll happen next." He looked to the ground and jumped, "Oh, and I got you some new threads. Much better than the ones you got on now." Spike just offered the clothes to Twilight and she nodded, "Thanks Spike." Once she was don't getting into the much more comfortable clothes, she turned to the furry orange otsel, "And you must be Daxter, Jak's friend." She managed a smile for once, "I'm Twilight Sparkle!" Daxter just snorted and put on airs like he usually did with females, "I know, I know. I single-handedly saved your butts, but we gotta move!" He gestured down the walkway, "We don't have much time before Praxis notices that you two are gone!" With that, Dax climbed lithely up to Jak's shoulder. Spike was now about the same build as Dax was, if a bit bigger. It didn't stop him from climbing up to Twilight's shoulders as well though. Twilight nodded, "Then let's get out of here." Prologue [rewrite] Twilight was up late into the night again for perhaps the 19th time that month. Starswirl the Bearded may have been her hero, but that famous unicorn sure knew how to come up with a doozy of a spell. That being said, not even Starswirl was exactly sure what his own spell was supposed to do, making the expected result virtually anything. The alicorn sat down and breathed. She'd tried this spell in five different variations that night. Despite what happened that last time she tried to finish one the great mage's spells. With a loud yawn, Twilight looked over to the crystalline doorwar that Spike was standing in. She beckoned her sleepy assistant in with a smile, "What is it Spike?" "Well, I don't know about you, but there's a strange smell coming from in here." The little dragon shrugged, "Its kinda like an ocean smell with a hint of the jungle." Twilight raised an eyebrow and sniffed the air. Sure enough, the scent Spoke had described was there, "I wonder if it has something to do with this new spell that I've been trying to complete." One thing was for sure, Twilight had finally gotten somewhere. Though before she could begin to observe the phenomenon, the windows to the room's balcony blew open with a clatter. Spike tugged on Twilight's hoof to direct her attention before he realized that the windows had already done the job, "What was that?!" Something stranger happened though. A machine, likes of which had never been seen before in Equestria, formed into view, as if from a mist, and solidified. Along with the machine, a crude looking ramp formed in the same way and extended from the balcony. This had Twilight more curious than the smell, "I don't know what it is, Spike, but I think we should check it out." As she walked toward the contraption, a human looking thing with long, pointy ears formed and was looking it over. Twilight ignored the figure when it seemed that she couldn't speak with her. Well, Twilight assumed it was a her from the physique. Though Twilight could hear the strange looking human loud and clear once another two walked up with a ferret-like, orange animal sitting on the taller one's shoulder. Though these three were talking, the female was the only one she could hear, which raised more questions for Twilight to answer later. She decided to file those away for the next time she tried the spell. Once the trio had arrived, the female launched into explaining what she understood about the machine. Clearly, even she didn't really know exactly what it was even for. Twilight had her curiosity piqued and and felt a strange compulsion to sit next to the short, green-skinned one. Spike did the same, though he wasn't sure why Twilight had just sat down on the bench, much less why it had suddenly stretched wide enough to accommodate two more passengers. "Um, Twilight? Why are we sitting on this thing?" Spike was about to say something else, but Twilight shushed him. "Hold on Spike. I'm trying to figure out these symbols are, but they keep moving and changing." From their two jaunts into Equestria's parallel world, Spike knew that the glowing panels were called screens, but the symbols were different, even from the human world. "I don't think that these people are from the world on he other side of that mirror, Twilight." Spike was pointing out his own thoughts, but the look on Twilight's face meant that she hasn't thought of it. "Hmm... Spike, go get Sunset Shimmer's book, a piece of parchment, and a quill." Twilight held up her hoof as if she were counting, a habit she picked up in the human world, "Celestia will want to hear about this, and I'm sure that Sunset Shimmer will find it interesting as well." It was pointless to mention, because the little dragon was back with said items, "Kinda figured Twilight." He set the book down and prepared to write another letter to Celestia. The letter hadn't gotten a chance to start before the machine gave a jolt and floated upward. Twilight and Spike were thoroughly surprised and looked around to see what was going on. A look to the left revealed that one of the several strange things on the front panel had lifted to reveal something inside. A look behind showed that the back was moving and looking forward was to bring the sight of the strange looking ring floating on its own and spinning in opposite directions of itself. A portal opened in the center of the ring, and the creature that came out was monstrous. It pointed, but it too didn't emit any sort of sound. From behind the creature, dozens of insectoids flew out and disappeared as they got further from either the contraption, ramp, or ring. The tiny orange thing was obviously scared as it pressed everything it could set its paws on. The green one looked as if he were having a revelation, and the tall one just pressed a big red button that sent everyone under the giant monster and into the portal. ______________________________ Meanwhile, during the time Twilight was observing... Jak was standing on Keira's machine when Samos had gotten up to the ramp. He had a bit of a smile on his face as he took in all the hard work that went into putting all of this together. Samos also a smile and caught Jak's attention with his voice alone, "Today's the big day Jak! Now we'll get to see were this leads to." Jak nodded as Keira took the lead from there, "No kidding! Look, I'm not entirely sure how it works, bit it interacts somehow with that large Precursor ring." She turned her head toward either focus of her wording as she spoke. "I just hope we didn't break anything moving it here to the lab." Dax popped up in between Jak and Keira as they sat on the machine's bench, "Easy for you to say! We did all the heavy lifting!" He obviously wasn't going to let that one go. Even though Jak was the one who did the work, Dax being the small little ottsel that he was. Samos had climbed aboard, but he spotted Daxter about to touch something. "Daxter! Don't touch anything." Samos then went into one of his lessons on the Precursors, "Though the Precursors vanished long ago, their technology can still do great harm!" Keira nodded in agreement, "Or great good. If we know how to use it." She turned back to the panel in front of her to examine it some more. Samos had to agree with his daughter on that one, "I have some experience on these things, Jak. I know you can make it work." The silent young warrior nodded as he pressed the big red button. The machine did nothing for a moment. It made Jak doubt that he did something to turn the machine on. But then, one of the artifacts on the front panel popped up and Keira looked at it. "It looks to be reading out preset coordinates. But where will it go?" The girl was obviously perplexed. It wasn't something that she expected. The machine lifted like one of Keira's zoomers a moment later and started firing arcs of energy at the Precursor ring. Dax ducked under the panel when the ring lifted itself and started spinning, "I don't like the looks of this..." It was then that ominous laughter filled the air all at once, "Finally! The last Rift Gate has been opened!" A giant black monster pulled itself out of the portal that had form in the Precursor ring. "You cannot hide from me boy!" This time, Dax leapt behind Jack, "What is that thing?!" His entire body shook in fear at the sight of the monster that came from the rift gate. Samos took in the sight of the black creatures to that poured out with the giant monster as if he were witnessing a historical event, "So this is how it happened..." He was muttering to himself so that the other could not hear. It was after that when Dax finally screamed, "Jak! Do something!" Jak reacted instantly. He pushed the red button again, and the machine shot forward much faster than it should have been able to. ______________________________ Once the machine had gotten through and into the portal, Twilight suddenly heard screaming coming from the orange creature. She didn't have time to think in it though. The ride was bumpy, and who knew what would happen next. In which case, Twilight could only look forward in anticipation of the next bad thing that could possibly happen. ______________________________ Samos looked to his right and saw something that he hadn't noticed before. Which was saying something. It was a purple haired girl with a lizard sitting next to her. Jak to noticed, but Dax cut into his thoughts with another of the ottsel's screams, "I want off of this thing!" Dax turned to look at his best friend and a look of surprise was plastered onto his face. A powerful arc of energy smashed the machine to bits before Daxter could comment, and he was trying to find something he could hold onto for dear life. Altogether, this was not Dax's best day. The last things Jak had heard before a bright light swallowed him whole were Samos's words, "Find yourself Jak! We'll be waiting for you!" Right before the light turned everything white, Jak heard an unfamiliar voice, "Twilight! Don't let go!" He thought he heard a female voice answer, but it was lost to the wind. Jak landed suddenly. Hard. Hard enough to completely knock the wind out of him. At least the blinding light had died down enough to allow him to see again. To his right, the purple haired girl was looking around. It was obvious that she was as confused as he was. ______________________________ After Twilight was able to recover from her fall, the first thing to cross her mind was Spike. Luckily, she'd been holding onto him for dear life. That, and she also landed under him to. Behind them, Spike and Twilight heard the voice of the orange thing, "That is the last I ever, EVER, touch anymore stupid Precursor crap!" Precursor. That was an interesting term that Twilight had never heard used that way before. Looking back at Spike, Twilight could help but smile. Of a the things he could have grabbed, Sunset's communication book was what he chose to save. That meant that Twilight could get word to at least her friend... Eventually. Before anypony could say anything else though, a trio of males came trooping towards them. That was when Twilight had finally gotten around to wondering just where she was. One of the red armored males armed an order at the other two, "Forget the animals. The Baron wants those two!" That had Twilight kneeling down to Spike. "Take Sunset's book and run. You have to make sure that she knows what's going on." At least then there would two heads trying to find a way to inform the Princesses of Twilight's situation. Spike nodded and followed the orange thing as it darted between the guards' legs. At least, Twilight assumed that they were guards. ______________________________ Spike turned back once he was safely away only to see Twilight get hit upside the head by the butt of the red person's weapon. "I hope you know what you're doing Twilight..." He spoke softly, for he knew that Twilight would not hear him. From behind, Spike heard the orange thing call out to his friend, "Don't worry Jak! I'll save ya before you know it!" That reminded Spike that he ought to follow the rodent like creature if he hoped to make it very long in this world.
Prologue It was midnight on the 45th day that Twilight had been trying to get this spell to work. Spike was standing in the doorway to the room Twilight was working in, somewhere between awake and full on sleep. After about five more variations of the spell, Twilight ga e up for the night with an audible groan. That was the cue Spike had been waiting for to walk in, though his lifelong caretaker fell asleep as soon as she banged her head against the table on which Starswirl's book had rested. The strange smell in the room though seemed to wake him as a rough ramp cobbled together with random planks of wood seemed to build itself out of thin air. To make things more interesting, once the ramp was done, a giant floating ring of strangely adorned metal materialized into from thin air, along with another metal contraption that did the same at the base of the ramp. Spike rubbed his eyes and stared in disbelief at the entire process. He didn't waste time and nudging Twilight awake. "Twilight! Twilight! You have to see this!" The purple mare was slow to reawaken, though the strange smell helped the process. "Spike? Were you experimenting with gems and food again?" Once Twilight had reordered her mind into wakefulness, she finally saw the contraption that had built itself on the balcony outside, "And just where did all of this come from?" Spike made a sound like he was about to say something when the two saw some transparent figure fade into reality as if from a mist. One, clearly female from the sound of her voice, was talking about the machine and the "Precursor" ring as if it were a huge deal. A shorter, green figure, with the voice of an elderly man, seemed to understand more about what the female one was talking about than the other two. Twilight listened and sat in the machine without thinking. Spike followed, clearly amused by the reactions of the small, orange, ferret-like animal. By the time either Twilight or Spike even knew what was going on, it was too late. A rather large, frightening figure had come out of the portal, that had activated in the Precursor ring at some point, had both Twilight and Spike rivited to their seats. Before either had the sense to escape, a bar lowered onto the two, and the strange figures with them, and he machine took off through the portal. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Jak meandered up to Samos's hut with Dax talking his ear off as usual. He was still trying to get used to his best friend being an otsel after his run-in with a vat of dark eco. With the ramp and machine complete, Jak was just glad that he didn't have to collect anymore power cells. But that didnt stop him from having to drag those Precursor artifact pieces to the Green Sage's hut so that Keira could put it all together and see where the ring will take them. Daxter was more interested in pestering everyone to even have the slightest idea what was actually going on. Though his main target for pestering was Keira. Flirting specifically, even though he knew all about Jam's and Keira's relationship. After several months of piecing things together from rusty metal, Keira had finally completed her work. Unfortunately, it looked rickety at best, though Jak trusted in the woman's technical ability. Despite all her mechanical know-how, even Keira wasn't sure how to operate the thing. As everyone took there seats, Keira was explaining in minute detail pretty much everything they knew. The Precursor ring was likely a portal that the machine somehow activated. Daxter was starting to get impatient and lifted a finger to touch something. "Daxter! Don't. Touch. Anything.!" Samos sharply stopped the otsel from doing something stupid once again. "We don't want you messing anything up!" The old sage just seemed to get crabbier by the year, as Daxter liked to say. "Even so, I don't even know how to start this thing." Jak, silent as ever, just pressed the shining red button. The look of amazement on Keira's face was matched by he fear on Daxter's. "Umm, guy's? What's going on?" The furry orange otsel cowered under Jak's arm. "I don't like this thing!" As if to answer, the now rumbling machine broke free of the wooden ramp and the big shiny Precursor thing popped open to reveal a floating ring of orbs and osculating rings. "I think it's reading out preset coordinates." She sat back and shrugged, "But I don't know where to." The back of the machine whites and spun around as it zapped the Precursor ring into life. The sound the emitted from it though was one that none the four would forget. A giant black money ster pulled itself from the rift gate and smiled in triumph, "You thought that you could hide from me boy! But no longer!" With that a swarm of similar beasts flowed out from the ring, sending Daxter into a panic. "Guys! Do something!" He started slapping his fingers on everything he could find, "Get us outta here!" At that, Jak pressed the same red button as before and sent the machine rocketing forward. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Daxter was screaming in fear as they shot passed the giant monster and into the portal. As the ride got worse, so did Daxter's screams, "GET ME OFF OF THIS THING!" Another voice answered, though it was completely unfamiliar, "TWILIGHT, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" a quick look to the right revealed two new passengers. A purple haired girl and a lizard thing. Apparently, the girl was called Twilight. "I didn't do anything Spike! It just moved on its own!" That was the last thing said before a bolt of purple energy destroyed the machine and sent the whole grew tumbling forward. Finally, a bright light shined and suddenly Jak was flying through the air followed by Dax, Twilight and the lizard thing that was called Spike. They all hit the ground hard and Dax was complaining the moment he landed. He lifted the chunk of metal he'd grabbed over his head and threw away, "That is the last I ever! EVER! Mess with any Precursor crap!" Twilight wasn't up much later after Jak and was looking around inquisitively, "Where are we?" The purple haired girl seemed more interested in things the way Keira was, than actually figuring out what just happened. Spike rubbed his as he stood on two legs in much the same way Daxter did, "I don't know Twilight.... And who are you?" He pointed at both Jak and Daxter, though he gave Dax the weird look. Neither got the chance to reply as several armored people with strange weapons walled up with a purpose, "Hey! You two! By order of the baron, you are hereby under arrest. Step away from the animals." These guys were huge. Dax didn't waste any time running away, though that lizard stayed a little. It longer until he was kicked out of the way. "Hey! Twilight didn't do anything wrong! Leave her alone!" That statement just earned another kick and Twilight was knocked out cold before she could say anything more. The skinny one walked up to Jak with a sadistic smile, "He baron has place s for you two." That was the last thing Jak heard before he blacked out. Daxter's voice managed to pierce through before Jak lost consciousness though, "Don't worry buddy! I'll come save ya! You know I will!" Then, it was total blackness.
Chapter 1 Darkness. The amount of it that Twilight had encountered since she arrived was absolutely appalling. It had been two years since Twilight had inadvertently launched herself into the rift with Jak and his friends. Since then, Baron Praxis had been pumping the both of them full of the dark energy that everypony... Everyone had been calling "dark eco." The process was incredibly painful and Twilight had never imagined that there could exist such cruelty in any world. This was extreme for even Nightmare Moon. Either way, Twilight had considered herself lucky that she has been used to channeling magical energy, she would have succumbed the... Changes that tried to come out by force. Though that only meant more death threats and beatings for her than Jak got, for Jak seemed to be relatively unaffected despite the excruciating pain. The only thing that kept Twilight going was that Spike was still out there. According to Jak, it was likely that his otsel friend Daxter had been taking care of him. If not Dax, then they had found Samos the Sage, who certainly would take care of the baby dragon. Even so, Twilight has spent many a night crying whenever the thought about the worst that could have happened. Every night, Twilight found herself praying to Celestia that Spike was okay. When Twilight not busy crying, praying, or being experimented on, Jak had insisted that she learn martial arts from him. The both would need to fight should they escape. That much was obvious. It was also obvious that the both of them would be fighting anyway if Praxis had his way. That only made Twilight resent her captor even more. To keep herself busy, and not thinking a out how to kill Praxis, Twilight focused on how she might get home. The rift gate most definitely wasn't anything like the portal to Canterlot High. Not only that, it was obvious that they were in a completely different world from either Equestria, or its counterpart. That left Twilight to start completely from scratch. Her only clue was the rift gate was the she came in, and so, it was probably the only way back. Twilight yelled and threw herself at the wall in frustration. Jak had been silently watching and was chuckling from the other side of the cell. "Thinking about how you're going to get home?" He asked more to rile Twilight enough to actually get the ali-... Girl to spar with him. Twilight obliged as she cleared the span of the small room to use Jak as a punched bag. "What do you think?! That this situation is all sunshine and daisies?!" Normally, Twilight would have been appalled at her reactions, but she also knew that all the dark eco that was pumped into her had changed her attitude and emotional stability. The same had happened with Jak as well. The long-eared man simply deflected the blow Twilight had throw. At him and followed with a powerful punch of his own, "That's definitely the force I've been looking for. But youre either pulling your punches, or not thinking at all." The look on Jak's face was grim as ever, "You to be able to focus and unleash your full might at the same time." It always surprised Twilight that Jak was so outwardly calm. But one look into those angry eyes dispelled any illusions. Jak was out for blood. He had a similar goal as Twilight, but the baron was in for a very unpleasant surprise by the time that Jak was through. After a moment of silence had ended, there was a knock at the door. The moment the door slid open and they saw Praxis's smug face. "Oh, am I interrupting a bit of romance?" He spat on the floor, "Love coming from you two abominations is a thought that makes me sick!" With a hand gesture, Praxis ordered his guards to immobilize them for the daily dose of dark eco. ______________________________ Two years, it's been. Two. Years!. Daxter had been drowning his sorrows the night before. No. He was celebrating. Spike had figured out a way to sneak into the prison and jailbrake Jak! He knew it was a good idea to keep the scruffy little dragon around! But he also insisted that Daxter would help him free his friend Twilight at the same time. Not that Daxter cared. So long as he a d Jak were back as a team again, there was nothing that couldn't be done around here. Daxter had splurged the day before on more than just alcohol though. He also got Jak some new threads... And Twilight to. It was really frustrating that Spike didn't know what sizes that his friend wore. The way that kid talked a out that girl, you'd think that she was his mother! All that aside, the journey through all the different parts of the prison. Wasn't easy. There were guards, security lasers, the works! If it could be used as security, Praxis had it roaming his prison like a pack of ravenous crockadogs! It also didn't help the only thing that the two of them knew about the prison was that Jak and Twilight were in the joint's highest security prison area. That only made things harder. Spike had slowed down a lot during the (hopefully) homestretch of the rescue mission's first half. Dax k ew the look on the kid's face and his words only confirmed it, "Dax, I'm starving!" The lizard was starting to drag his feet to. Not good. Especially if the escape plane turned out to need his fire breath,"Can't I at least have that sapphire?" Daxter shrugged, he had no need for it. But he also had no idea why anyone would want to eat shiny rocks though. So he tossed the blue gem at the dragon's feet, "No more complaining outta you. We still need to get to Jak. He'll be able to get out once he's free of whatever is keeping him here. Daxter sat as Spike finished licking off his now gloved claws. He let out a sigh, " Yeah, it's all well and good that you have food in your belly. But in case you haven't noticed, we're still inside the BARON'S PRISON!!!" Dad's yelling and over emphasis would have startled Spike if he hasn't gotten used to over these last two years. Spike shrugged, "Sorry, I'm a growing dragon. Though I still want to find Twilight as much as you want to find Jak." He got up and a look took over Spike's face that said he was daydreaming again. Daxter clapped next to Spike's frills where his ears were, "Come on dealer, we still have Jak to save and then get the heck outta here. I don't care what you do afterward though." With that, Daxter put on a smug grin as he pulled a lever that sent the platform they were on upward. As soon as the strange looking machines came into view, both of the small duo knew they had come to the right place. "Ding, ding! Third floor, torture devices!" There were two tables on the next platform with both Twilight and Jak on each. Dax threw the clothes to the floor and smirked, "Hey Jak, I brought ya some new threads!" He jumped on top of his friend and got a worried look on his face, though it was Spike who voiced the concern. "Twilight, what happened to you?!" The little dragon had dropped the clothes Dax had bought for Twilight and jumped up to Twilight's table, "You look aweful!" Twilight groaned in response as both she and Jak started shooting off sparks of dark eco. Daxter looked at the angry look on Jak's face and was instantly nervous, "Jak? Hey, it's me, your old pal Daxter! Remember?" Jam's eyes snapped open in an instant. "I'm gonna kill Praxis!" And suddenly Jak's body changed color and he snapped his constraints in time with Twilight. Daxter had been reduced to babbling as the new Jak jumped off the table and looked himself over. Twilight was doing much the same thing. She had Spike scared witless with the menace of her own eyes. Not completely in control of herself, Twilight only realized what was going on when Spike let out a small yelp, "Spike?" Twilight shifted back to her new normal and fell to the ground of the platform, "When'd you get here? And... I don't even want to know what I was going to do." The same thing happened with Jak, but only when he heard Twilight calming down. "Dax. What are you doing?" He couldn't believe that Daxter had mustered up the courage to try and rescue him from the prison. Daxter just waved his hands in the air in dismissal, "Never kind that, we need to get outta here. There's no telling what'll happen next." He looked to the ground and jumped, "Oh, and I got you some new threads. Much better than the ones you got on now." Spike just offered the clothes to Twilight and she nodded, "Thanks Spike." Once she was don't getting into the much more comfortable clothes, she turned to the furry orange otsel, "And you must be Daxter, Jak's friend." She managed a smile for once, "I'm Twilight Sparkle!" Daxter just snorted and put on airs like he usually did with females, "I know, I know. I single-handedly saved your butts, but we gotta move!" He gestured down the walkway, "We don't have much time before Praxis notices that you two are gone!" With that, Dax climbed lithely up to Jak's shoulder. Spike was now about the same build as Dax was, if a bit bigger. It didn't stop him from climbing up to Twilight's shoulders as well though. Twilight nodded, "Then let's get out of here."
Prologue [rewrite] Twilight was up late into the night again for perhaps the 19th time that month. Starswirl the Bearded may have been her hero, but that famous unicorn sure knew how to come up with a doozy of a spell. That being said, not even Starswirl was exactly sure what his own spell was supposed to do, making the expected result virtually anything. The alicorn sat down and breathed. She'd tried this spell in five different variations that night. Despite what happened that last time she tried to finish one the great mage's spells. With a loud yawn, Twilight looked over to the crystalline doorwar that Spike was standing in. She beckoned her sleepy assistant in with a smile, "What is it Spike?" "Well, I don't know about you, but there's a strange smell coming from in here." The little dragon shrugged, "Its kinda like an ocean smell with a hint of the jungle." Twilight raised an eyebrow and sniffed the air. Sure enough, the scent Spoke had described was there, "I wonder if it has something to do with this new spell that I've been trying to complete." One thing was for sure, Twilight had finally gotten somewhere. Though before she could begin to observe the phenomenon, the windows to the room's balcony blew open with a clatter. Spike tugged on Twilight's hoof to direct her attention before he realized that the windows had already done the job, "What was that?!" Something stranger happened though. A machine, likes of which had never been seen before in Equestria, formed into view, as if from a mist, and solidified. Along with the machine, a crude looking ramp formed in the same way and extended from the balcony. This had Twilight more curious than the smell, "I don't know what it is, Spike, but I think we should check it out." As she walked toward the contraption, a human looking thing with long, pointy ears formed and was looking it over. Twilight ignored the figure when it seemed that she couldn't speak with her. Well, Twilight assumed it was a her from the physique. Though Twilight could hear the strange looking human loud and clear once another two walked up with a ferret-like, orange animal sitting on the taller one's shoulder. Though these three were talking, the female was the only one she could hear, which raised more questions for Twilight to answer later. She decided to file those away for the next time she tried the spell. Once the trio had arrived, the female launched into explaining what she understood about the machine. Clearly, even she didn't really know exactly what it was even for. Twilight had her curiosity piqued and and felt a strange compulsion to sit next to the short, green-skinned one. Spike did the same, though he wasn't sure why Twilight had just sat down on the bench, much less why it had suddenly stretched wide enough to accommodate two more passengers. "Um, Twilight? Why are we sitting on this thing?" Spike was about to say something else, but Twilight shushed him. "Hold on Spike. I'm trying to figure out these symbols are, but they keep moving and changing." From their two jaunts into Equestria's parallel world, Spike knew that the glowing panels were called screens, but the symbols were different, even from the human world. "I don't think that these people are from the world on he other side of that mirror, Twilight." Spike was pointing out his own thoughts, but the look on Twilight's face meant that she hasn't thought of it. "Hmm... Spike, go get Sunset Shimmer's book, a piece of parchment, and a quill." Twilight held up her hoof as if she were counting, a habit she picked up in the human world, "Celestia will want to hear about this, and I'm sure that Sunset Shimmer will find it interesting as well." It was pointless to mention, because the little dragon was back with said items, "Kinda figured Twilight." He set the book down and prepared to write another letter to Celestia. The letter hadn't gotten a chance to start before the machine gave a jolt and floated upward. Twilight and Spike were thoroughly surprised and looked around to see what was going on. A look to the left revealed that one of the several strange things on the front panel had lifted to reveal something inside. A look behind showed that the back was moving and looking forward was to bring the sight of the strange looking ring floating on its own and spinning in opposite directions of itself. A portal opened in the center of the ring, and the creature that came out was monstrous. It pointed, but it too didn't emit any sort of sound. From behind the creature, dozens of insectoids flew out and disappeared as they got further from either the contraption, ramp, or ring. The tiny orange thing was obviously scared as it pressed everything it could set its paws on. The green one looked as if he were having a revelation, and the tall one just pressed a big red button that sent everyone under the giant monster and into the portal. ______________________________ Meanwhile, during the time Twilight was observing... Jak was standing on Keira's machine when Samos had gotten up to the ramp. He had a bit of a smile on his face as he took in all the hard work that went into putting all of this together. Samos also a smile and caught Jak's attention with his voice alone, "Today's the big day Jak! Now we'll get to see were this leads to." Jak nodded as Keira took the lead from there, "No kidding! Look, I'm not entirely sure how it works, bit it interacts somehow with that large Precursor ring." She turned her head toward either focus of her wording as she spoke. "I just hope we didn't break anything moving it here to the lab." Dax popped up in between Jak and Keira as they sat on the machine's bench, "Easy for you to say! We did all the heavy lifting!" He obviously wasn't going to let that one go. Even though Jak was the one who did the work, Dax being the small little ottsel that he was. Samos had climbed aboard, but he spotted Daxter about to touch something. "Daxter! Don't touch anything." Samos then went into one of his lessons on the Precursors, "Though the Precursors vanished long ago, their technology can still do great harm!" Keira nodded in agreement, "Or great good. If we know how to use it." She turned back to the panel in front of her to examine it some more. Samos had to agree with his daughter on that one, "I have some experience on these things, Jak. I know you can make it work." The silent young warrior nodded as he pressed the big red button. The machine did nothing for a moment. It made Jak doubt that he did something to turn the machine on. But then, one of the artifacts on the front panel popped up and Keira looked at it. "It looks to be reading out preset coordinates. But where will it go?" The girl was obviously perplexed. It wasn't something that she expected. The machine lifted like one of Keira's zoomers a moment later and started firing arcs of energy at the Precursor ring. Dax ducked under the panel when the ring lifted itself and started spinning, "I don't like the looks of this..." It was then that ominous laughter filled the air all at once, "Finally! The last Rift Gate has been opened!" A giant black monster pulled itself out of the portal that had form in the Precursor ring. "You cannot hide from me boy!" This time, Dax leapt behind Jack, "What is that thing?!" His entire body shook in fear at the sight of the monster that came from the rift gate. Samos took in the sight of the black creatures to that poured out with the giant monster as if he were witnessing a historical event, "So this is how it happened..." He was muttering to himself so that the other could not hear. It was after that when Dax finally screamed, "Jak! Do something!" Jak reacted instantly. He pushed the red button again, and the machine shot forward much faster than it should have been able to. ______________________________ Once the machine had gotten through and into the portal, Twilight suddenly heard screaming coming from the orange creature. She didn't have time to think in it though. The ride was bumpy, and who knew what would happen next. In which case, Twilight could only look forward in anticipation of the next bad thing that could possibly happen. ______________________________ Samos looked to his right and saw something that he hadn't noticed before. Which was saying something. It was a purple haired girl with a lizard sitting next to her. Jak to noticed, but Dax cut into his thoughts with another of the ottsel's screams, "I want off of this thing!" Dax turned to look at his best friend and a look of surprise was plastered onto his face. A powerful arc of energy smashed the machine to bits before Daxter could comment, and he was trying to find something he could hold onto for dear life. Altogether, this was not Dax's best day. The last things Jak had heard before a bright light swallowed him whole were Samos's words, "Find yourself Jak! We'll be waiting for you!" Right before the light turned everything white, Jak heard an unfamiliar voice, "Twilight! Don't let go!" He thought he heard a female voice answer, but it was lost to the wind. Jak landed suddenly. Hard. Hard enough to completely knock the wind out of him. At least the blinding light had died down enough to allow him to see again. To his right, the purple haired girl was looking around. It was obvious that she was as confused as he was. ______________________________ After Twilight was able to recover from her fall, the first thing to cross her mind was Spike. Luckily, she'd been holding onto him for dear life. That, and she also landed under him to. Behind them, Spike and Twilight heard the voice of the orange thing, "That is the last I ever, EVER, touch anymore stupid Precursor crap!" Precursor. That was an interesting term that Twilight had never heard used that way before. Looking back at Spike, Twilight could help but smile. Of a the things he could have grabbed, Sunset's communication book was what he chose to save. That meant that Twilight could get word to at least her friend... Eventually. Before anypony could say anything else though, a trio of males came trooping towards them. That was when Twilight had finally gotten around to wondering just where she was. One of the red armored males armed an order at the other two, "Forget the animals. The Baron wants those two!" That had Twilight kneeling down to Spike. "Take Sunset's book and run. You have to make sure that she knows what's going on." At least then there would two heads trying to find a way to inform the Princesses of Twilight's situation. Spike nodded and followed the orange thing as it darted between the guards' legs. At least, Twilight assumed that they were guards. ______________________________ Spike turned back once he was safely away only to see Twilight get hit upside the head by the butt of the red person's weapon. "I hope you know what you're doing Twilight..." He spoke softly, for he knew that Twilight would not hear him. From behind, Spike heard the orange thing call out to his friend, "Don't worry Jak! I'll save ya before you know it!" That reminded Spike that he ought to follow the rodent like creature if he hoped to make it very long in this world.
