Displaced Bloodby MewaponnyChaptersInto the WorldFire to IceForget the SecretsInto the WorldI took one look at my wife, Cadance, and knew she was thinking the exact same thing I was. We were bored. It had been a week since my sister Twilight had gone home to Ponyvile with her 5 friends and Spike, and a week and a half since Sombra had been destroyed by the Crystal Heart. Cadance and I had spent the entire week in the castle, getting the Empire set up after its thousand-years-long vacation. Papers were filled out, trade had to be set up for supplies, and teachers had to be brought in to fill up the millennium gap in education. After a week of all these things happening, along with the initial adrenaline settling down, my wife and I were sitting in a room filled with papers we had signed. And it was boring. "Do you want to go explore the town with me?" I asked, "We really haven't had the chance to, what with all the paperwork and Sombra attacking the Empire." I waggled my eyebrows at her, in that funny way she liked. "We can find a nice, private spot to do some not-so-nice things." I could see her will breaking under my masculine wiles. "Shining, you know we have to-" That was as far as she got before her face started to get grumpy, and I started to intervene. There would be no sour faces on my watch! I sat up straight, and put my forelegs up. I used my pink telekinesis to pull my wife to me, and she started giggling. When she reached me, I gripped her tightly and started spinning. I held her close, and finally she started to laugh fully. As I slowed to a stop, so did her laughter, until it was just a light chuckle. "As fun as that was," Cadance pouted, "we still have work to do." The words made my ears fold down in sadness. As captain of the Unicorn Guard, I've had my fair share of paperwork. But this was ridiculous! Cadance noticed my saddened face, and sighed. "Fine. Shiny, why don't you go explore the kingdom while I finish this one last stack. Maybe you can find us something entertaining- or romantic- to do together after I'm done." That was all I needed to hear. After a quick extra squeeze and a peck on her cheek, I was outta that stuffy room. I joyfully cantered down the hall, feeling like a young colt again. The stiffness from sitting all week was slowly dissipating as my muscles moved me out of the palace and out to the main road that surrounded the plaza. I headed east, as that was where the least amount of Crystal Ponies were. I wanted to explore, not socialize or ask for directions. Besides, the Crystal Ponies weren't really level with me- always with the Your Highness business they gave me as Prince-Consort. It was disheartening, and I just wanted to be a child for a bit, see where my hooves took me. But for all my wistful thoughts, I soon noticed a distinct lack of ponies in the area. There wasn't a single crystally flank to be seen, and strangely, a fog seemed to roll in. It shouldn't be foggy out here, I thought, it wasn't scheduled and the Crystal Heart should have kept all the bad weather out- And then the temperature dropped. I yelped, then started shivering violently. I was so cold, so suddenly, that I was paralyzed by it except for the shakes. I couldn't think clearly, the sudden temperature drop filling my heart with an irrational fear. Two sets of cold, ice-blue eyes appeared out of the mist and a very rational fear struck me. Snow Leopards. I couldn't look away. Their cold, predatory gazes swept over me, and I couldn't focus. I searched my mind for my favorite spell, the bubble shield spell, but the rhyme wouldn't come to me. I was too scared, too cold. I shut my eyes, waiting for the end to come. I heard a small groan, a shifting of the snow in the leopard's body. But death never came. I opened my eyes again, to see the leopard look strait into them. I shrunk back, only to feel something like a cold breath on my flank. I whipped my head around to see that the second cat was disturbingly close to my cutie mark, as if studying it. Then its mouth unhinged like a snake, and it scooped me up with it. I could feel myself falling into its stomach. It felt... warm. Or at lest warm enough to think. I quickly lit up my horn, only to find it snuff out. Darn it. The snow must be runed against magic. I felt my prison shift as the snow leopards started waddling away from the scene of the crime. I could only hope it was away from the rest of the city. =^=^= "Ugh," I groaned. The initial terror had long since died off, once I realized I wasn't being eaten. Of course, after that I could only wonder who or what I was being taken taken to. The snow leopards had been waddling for over an hour (or two, I wasn't sure) while I tried to plan for when they would finally drop me. "Oof!" They finally dropped me. I fell through the thing's stomach, onto a cold, hard stone cave floor. I quickly put up a shield, not wanting to die to whatever I was brought here for. I heard a soft m'row that sounded amused. It was followed by a voice that almost sounded like a young colts', but with a hard edge that came from being an old stallion. "You found Shining Amour? Oh, goodie!" "Armor, actually," I corrected, searching for the source of the voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?" "Forgive me. After a thousand years of only myself for company, it's hard to keep track of the small things. As for who I am, I am death itself." A large, dark figure stepped out of the shadows. It was distinctly feline, approximately the size of a teen mare, and it had one white forepaw. Its eyes, the same color as the leopard's, contrasted with its black fur to the point where they seemed to glow. It had a purple collar with seven sharp teeth sticking out of it, and an extra tooth stuck to the tag ring. "What I want, however..." It smiled largely, showing off the large, sharp teeth it had in its mouth, "is for you to kill me." Author's Note Since this is my first fic, please be gentle. Constructive criticism is very much welcome, however straight out rude comments will be deleted. I hope people will enjoy this story as I write it, and if you don't, please explain why in the comments, as it will help me become a better writer. The Snow Leopards came from the Ask King Sombra Tumblr, in case you were wondering. Fire to IceAuthor's Note Starts with Sang's point of view. As in the first chapter, when I use someone else for a POV, the first few words will be in a certain color. So far- - Uncolored is Sang - Blue is Shining Armor - I think pink would be good for Cadance. Also, welcome to the exposition chapter. Enjoy! Fire to Ice *SNAP* Welp, there went my neck. I almost hadn't expected Shining Armor to do it, and certainly not as fast as he did. He had used his telekinesis to break my neck in the least painful way possible. I guess when a enormous, demonic tomcat tells you to kill it, you kill that son of a bitch. My now blood-starved brain started to shut down, with no heart motions to keep the flow. The already somewhat dark cave dimmed. And I died. And I woke up I looked around the large room I was now in. The floor was a dark purple. The walls, purple. The ceiling saw through my dead eyes, although tinted blue. There were nine off-white pedestals curving around the room in a U shape, nearly each one containing a single black cat that had been mangled in some way. One was starved. Another was soaking wet, having been drowned. One near the apex of the curve had a large gash in it's neck, clearly self-inflicted. Each of these lives, I had learned something- how to control my powers, to resurrect the dead, to control the snow leopards I had made out of sheer loneliness. I tried to creak my still-broken neck straight, but all I managed to do was flop my head to look forward. It would have to do. I looked at myself. Melody. In the middlemost part of the series of pedestals was a girl, a teenager. Unlike the cats around her, she seemed to have no injuries. She moved her dirty blonde hair behind her ears, a nervous tic I used to have. Her costume seemed homemade- a black cat with a purple, tooth studded collar. Her ghost-blue eyes stared into mine. "So, we died again?" she asked. "What happened this time?" "It finally happened. I found Shining Armor," I huffed, "and he killed me. He didn't even ask any questions." She looked surprised for a moment, then her gaze hardened. "I wasn't expecting that, but oh well. You know what I have to do now, right?" "Yeah, I know. I'm you, remember? Just... older." She teared up a little. "I don't like losing any of you lives. It always leaves this place feeling empty. Now I'm going to lose all of you?" she sobbed. "Maybe... maybe I shouldn't do this..." "But we have to. You know we do. To start over." She smiled once more, tears still in her eyes. "To begin. Go. The healing process has been finished. Explain it to him. Maybe... he can help." My neck straightened as another cat appeared beside me, his neck broken. The new cat walked over to the last, only empty pedestal, and sat down. And I woke up. Shining Armor was fighting Bone, trying to escape the cave now that I had died. The larger snow leopard was trying to keep him inside, on my orders. Flake, the smaller leopard was at my side, watching and making sure I wasn't stepped on or something during the tussle. "Let me go home, you overgrown snowball!" Shining yelled. "Your master's dead, so there's no point in keeping me here." Bone growled at the pony, then saw me over his shoulder. 'Oh good. You're up. After that dramatic performance you put on, I was kinda hoping you would bitch and moan when you resurrected.' Flake gave him a stern look, but didn't speak. I finally spoke up. "That's where you're wrong, colt." I saw his head turn towards me in surprise. "I died, yes, but there was a huge point in bringing and keeping you here." "To kill you again?" He asked, his horn lighting up, "Because I'll do it, if you really want to die-" "-no!" I practically shrieked, backing away and puffing out a little,"no. Shining Armor, I hope to tell you a story, and maybe get a little help. I think you- or, at least, someone related to you may be able to help my situation." Shining looked confused at my answer. "What do you mean?" "I'm not from this world." I deadpanned. "I used to be a different creature entirely. Hell, I used to be female!" He looked like he was doubting it, but I had just come back from the dead. He nodded in acceptance. "Go on." "I was at a book cosplay convention thing, and this guy had a booth with crazy and awesome stuff in it. There was practically no line, which was weird now that I think about it, and in his booth he had a piece of my costume that I wasn't able to get anywhere else. It was like a godsend. He offered me a discount on the thing- this collar by the way, that's what he sold me- and it sent me here to Equis." He was genuinely interested then. Or maybe he was just humoring me so he could leave. "So, what happened afterwards?" "I became a god of death to the Crystal Ponies." "Wat." I could hear the lack of an 'h' in that word. "As contrived and evil as that sounds," I nodded, "yes. My powers wouldn't let me die, I could bring back the recently deceased, and I was a carnivore. I had to eat, and they were the closest source of food." He became visibly sick at this. He tried to leave, but Bone made him sit again. "The logic added up to them at the time. It was nearly two thousand years ago, and I was the only real predator in the area. What is a deity but some higher power responsible for something." I shrugged. "It took a while, about four hundred years, but it worked. I had a snow leopard pick up the bodies every month or so from the east side. If one of them wanted to die honorably, they would come find me. Their relatives would find a tooth on their doorstep later, a sign they were gone." My mood visibly darkened. "It all worked really well, until Sombra came. He was convinced I could make him immortal. He destroyed all the snow leopards that were here before, and stole me. He... did things. I can't remember so well what happened, but it killed me more than once. Tore me up inside. The only good that came out of it was the mental fortitude I now have." "It'll be gone soon. That is, if you're willing to help." The white unicorn looked iffily at me. "And if I don't? What, exactly, do you want?" "It's more like what I don't want," I sighed. "I don't want these memories. I don't want to be trapped in this cave anymore. I want to go ho-" "WAIT." He interrupted "Why are you trapped here?" I glared at him. "Because Sombra is a ginormous dick. I didn't get him the answers he wanted, and he decided to leave me here to rot. Quit interrupting me." "If you don't help me, I'll find somepony who will. All I really needed you for was a time and attitude reference. That, and a way out of this cave. If you dispel the barrier keeping me in, I'll allow Bone to let you out. If you decide to help me after I forget, I could be a great help for you and yours." "I don't know any memory spells," he said. "Most of them were outlawed over fifty years ago." I rolled my eyes. "I don't need you for that. You were a nerd, right? You know what save points are?" He nodded uncomfortably. I gestured to my collar. "That's basically what these teeth are. Every time I die, a new tooth appears. I can remember clearly what I did with that life. If I take a tooth out, it becomes unclear, foggy, like deleting a save point. If I take out the most recent... well, you can probably guess what'll happen then." "So, then..." He trailed off, "what happens to the teeth once they're out?" "A number of things. Along with the memories leaving, the teeth themselves still hold power. Given the right spell, you can animate things- the dead, golems, all sorts of stuff." I listed off. "I can actually bring back the dead. I just need to be touching them as they die, and their soul will be another tooth in the collar. I just take the tooth out, and push it into their magical focus. Then they'll come back." "And what's stopping me from just making a tooth farm out of you?" Shining prodded. "Three things," I started. "First, Bone and Flake. You wouldn't get very far. Second, pony mentality and morals. Grant it, you did just kill me, but there's no way you would willingly enslave anything sapient. The third, and final, reason would be that you need my consent, or the powers warp. Sombrero's curved horn?" I chuckled, "My fault. the longer the life was, the more problems you're gonna have." Shining Armor had relaxed quite a bit, but his shield was still up. "So what would helping you entail... wow, for as long as we've been talking, you haven't actually told me your name yet." "You can call me Sang. Helping me would basically be putting up with my childish antics. I was still a teenager when I first came here, after all, and I'll be one again. I'd want someone to look after me, help me out once in a while with life in general. Not becoming my father but... something close." "Yeah," he nodded, "okay. this is a lot to take in. Can I just take a second... to get it all in? Just to think?" I dipped my head in agreement. He walked to the other side of the cave, and sat there. His shield came down as he walked- probably figured he didn't need it anymore. I sat and meditated in my corner. Or maybe slept. Sometimes, I can almost swear I do both simultaneously. A large CLUNK sound woke me, though. I opened my eyes to see Shining armor standing in front of me, his horn glowing. A beam shot out, and hit the ceiling. The darker red aura vanished to give way to pink, then pink vanished. There was no barrier anymore. I was free. I looked up at the unicorn, eyes filled with hope. His gaze met mine. "C'mon," he grunted, "I'll take you home." I started crying with joy. "Thank you." I started pulling out the older teeth. Bone and Flake fell apart without my knowledge of keeping them together. I pulled out the last tooth. Forget the SecretsI looked around, alarmed at my surroundings. When I woke up, I was in a large (quite cold) cave, starring at a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane with tears in my eyes. I quickly blinked them away, more confused than sad. What had that man done to me? After buying the collar, a black fog had consumed me. Despite my screaming and crying, no one seemed to notice the fog or me. My body now seemed to feel strange, yet familiar at the same time. Everything felt like it was in the wrong place, stretched in some places and shrunk in others. I had a foreign yet familiar feeling on the base of my spine and... past it? There was some weight back there, and my hips felt distinctly different. I felt like there was something in the corner of my vision, so I crossed my eyes, and found something other than my pale nose there. I had a muzzle. And it was black. What? "Umm... Sang?" SangpasttenseofsingMelodynooneelseheremustmeanme "Yes?" Okay, so the unicorn can talk. Maybe... yes, he has a cutie mark, and a familiar one. "Can you remember anything?" Shining Armor asked me. He seemed uncertain, like he didn't know how to treat me. I could understand, after all- I was just as uncertain about the position I was now in. "Well, I don't think I forgot anything. But you're calling me Sang, so unless you decided that name for me on a whim, I probably forgot something important," I snarked. Great, Melody, insult the locals. That'll surely make him want to help you. Honestly, I probably would either have been nicer or freaking out more if I hadn't been freaking internally. My thoughts were racing at a thousand miles per hour, but I had to squash them down. Priorities, after all- myself, then my situation. I was clearly not human anymore, based on the new face I had. I looked down and backwards, trying to figure out exactly what I was. My ears were folded back slightly, I could feel their position on my head. So they move... I looked down and saw paws with absurdly large claws- not a pony, so that'll make this harder, not to mention the predator part. I looked back and saw sloping shoulders and a tail that swished back and forth. I had a comfortable weight on my neck, but I was naked except for the fur as far as I knew. I was definitely feline, just like the cats in the Warriors series- hold on. I facepawed. Sang was also the latin root for blood, and aptly so- I had become the previous leader of Bloodclan. Scourge. Well, at least I looked cool. Speaking of looking... my face darted up, embarrassed. Yep, definitely male now. With my bodily assets checked, I felt slightly less insecure. I was in a sitting position, but it felt more like squatting. I looked up towards Shining Armor, a little more ashamed of myself for snapping at him. He was standing near the exit of the cave, lightly smiling, and had been quiet the entire time I had explored my body with my eyes. "So, um..." I trailed off, trying to figure out how to fix my earlier slip up. "Do you know what's going on? Or where I am? Because other than Equestria, I have no idea." He sighed, and looked like he was getting slightly impatient. "I only have what you told me, and even then, I don't think I understood everything. My wife, Cadance, is probably missing me, so we should head back to the Crystal Empire. I guess I'll explain as much as I can on the way..." I straightened my back legs and tried to walk over to him, but ended up landing on my face after a few steps- my front legs were working slower than my back. I either needed practice, or to do something different. I got into the squatting position again, but instead of straightening my hindquarters I leaned onto them. It was uncomfortable, and I felt like I was tip-toeing, but I could at least waddle this way. It'd have to do. After Shining gave me a strange look, we both walked outside into the snow. I'd have given just about anything for warm clothing right then- the wind was freezing, even if it wasn't actively snowing. The fur coat helped a little. I wonder what'll happen once we get- "Bucking REALLY!" Shining Armor's swearing broke me out of my thoughts. "What?" I panicked a little. "Is there a storm coming or something?" I ducked down, ready to draw back into the cave if need be. "No, I just..." He sighed, "The thing that took me here took about an hour and a half to travel from the eastern side of the Empire and now... we're maybe fifteen minutes away from the west entrance. I don't get it." He looked at me like he expected me to agree. I just looked at him confused. "It makes perfect sense to me. Whoever did it probably didn't want to be followed." How did I figure that out? BOOKS! He looked at me with something that almost seemed like regret. "We should get going. Here's what's happened so far..." =^=^= The Crystal Empire was amazing. Everything seemed to shine, and I could feel my mood improving the moment I had waddled in. Of course, we had to take some backways in order to get to the Palace because of the whole 'death god' thing, as Shining Armor explained to me. We had to avoid the crystal ponies because- despite the amnesia- I could have been recognized and we didn't anypony to freak out. I had to wonder if I had been intentionally vague when talking to him, or if he was leaving some things out- probably a bit of both, he did explain to me that I had been fairly dramatic during the entirety of my story. I almost didn't believe it. Thankfully, once we were found it was in the Palace courtyard and by a normal pony guard instead of a crystal one. Cadance had, in fact, been looking for Shining Armor and told the guard to defect him towards her if they saw him. I managed to follow him (miraculously) without being spotted, and we made our way to the throne room where Cadance was waiting. As Shining opened the doors to the room, I could hear Cadance speak up. "Shining, where were you? You were gone for so long, I thought something may have- is that what I think it is?" Her gaze locked on to me. I had gone though the halls on all fours, trying to get some practice in, and now seemed more a giant cat than anything else. Her face seemed to hit a switch from concerned to elated. "You got me a cat?"The way she asked sent shivers down my spine. She cantered up to me, almost running, and was very much in my face. "Oh my goodness, I didn't know there were cats this far north, especially so big! Hi, kitty kitty! You're so cute, yes, yes you are!" She was petting me like a dog. My ears slid back in embarrassment, and my tail flipped back and forth in annoyance. And then she hugged me. "Ouch!" Both surprised, she pulled out of the hug to look at the collar I was wearing. The tooth that was attached to the tag ring had poked her in the shoulder. She glared at it. "Seriously, Shiny, what kind of collar is that?" Bitch you'd better not insult my collar- the thought took me by surprise, and scared me a little. But not nearly as much as the next words out of her mouth. "Imma' take it off." Her blue glow surrounded the collar and pulled- terror filled me as I realized I'd been silent far too long at this point. "Wait, NO!" My voice startled her, and the collar came off with a snap- PAINnocollarpanicgetitbackneeditcan'tlivecan'tdiegetitback getitback GET IT BACK!
Into the WorldI took one look at my wife, Cadance, and knew she was thinking the exact same thing I was. We were bored. It had been a week since my sister Twilight had gone home to Ponyvile with her 5 friends and Spike, and a week and a half since Sombra had been destroyed by the Crystal Heart. Cadance and I had spent the entire week in the castle, getting the Empire set up after its thousand-years-long vacation. Papers were filled out, trade had to be set up for supplies, and teachers had to be brought in to fill up the millennium gap in education. After a week of all these things happening, along with the initial adrenaline settling down, my wife and I were sitting in a room filled with papers we had signed. And it was boring. "Do you want to go explore the town with me?" I asked, "We really haven't had the chance to, what with all the paperwork and Sombra attacking the Empire." I waggled my eyebrows at her, in that funny way she liked. "We can find a nice, private spot to do some not-so-nice things." I could see her will breaking under my masculine wiles. "Shining, you know we have to-" That was as far as she got before her face started to get grumpy, and I started to intervene. There would be no sour faces on my watch! I sat up straight, and put my forelegs up. I used my pink telekinesis to pull my wife to me, and she started giggling. When she reached me, I gripped her tightly and started spinning. I held her close, and finally she started to laugh fully. As I slowed to a stop, so did her laughter, until it was just a light chuckle. "As fun as that was," Cadance pouted, "we still have work to do." The words made my ears fold down in sadness. As captain of the Unicorn Guard, I've had my fair share of paperwork. But this was ridiculous! Cadance noticed my saddened face, and sighed. "Fine. Shiny, why don't you go explore the kingdom while I finish this one last stack. Maybe you can find us something entertaining- or romantic- to do together after I'm done." That was all I needed to hear. After a quick extra squeeze and a peck on her cheek, I was outta that stuffy room. I joyfully cantered down the hall, feeling like a young colt again. The stiffness from sitting all week was slowly dissipating as my muscles moved me out of the palace and out to the main road that surrounded the plaza. I headed east, as that was where the least amount of Crystal Ponies were. I wanted to explore, not socialize or ask for directions. Besides, the Crystal Ponies weren't really level with me- always with the Your Highness business they gave me as Prince-Consort. It was disheartening, and I just wanted to be a child for a bit, see where my hooves took me. But for all my wistful thoughts, I soon noticed a distinct lack of ponies in the area. There wasn't a single crystally flank to be seen, and strangely, a fog seemed to roll in. It shouldn't be foggy out here, I thought, it wasn't scheduled and the Crystal Heart should have kept all the bad weather out- And then the temperature dropped. I yelped, then started shivering violently. I was so cold, so suddenly, that I was paralyzed by it except for the shakes. I couldn't think clearly, the sudden temperature drop filling my heart with an irrational fear. Two sets of cold, ice-blue eyes appeared out of the mist and a very rational fear struck me. Snow Leopards. I couldn't look away. Their cold, predatory gazes swept over me, and I couldn't focus. I searched my mind for my favorite spell, the bubble shield spell, but the rhyme wouldn't come to me. I was too scared, too cold. I shut my eyes, waiting for the end to come. I heard a small groan, a shifting of the snow in the leopard's body. But death never came. I opened my eyes again, to see the leopard look strait into them. I shrunk back, only to feel something like a cold breath on my flank. I whipped my head around to see that the second cat was disturbingly close to my cutie mark, as if studying it. Then its mouth unhinged like a snake, and it scooped me up with it. I could feel myself falling into its stomach. It felt... warm. Or at lest warm enough to think. I quickly lit up my horn, only to find it snuff out. Darn it. The snow must be runed against magic. I felt my prison shift as the snow leopards started waddling away from the scene of the crime. I could only hope it was away from the rest of the city. =^=^= "Ugh," I groaned. The initial terror had long since died off, once I realized I wasn't being eaten. Of course, after that I could only wonder who or what I was being taken taken to. The snow leopards had been waddling for over an hour (or two, I wasn't sure) while I tried to plan for when they would finally drop me. "Oof!" They finally dropped me. I fell through the thing's stomach, onto a cold, hard stone cave floor. I quickly put up a shield, not wanting to die to whatever I was brought here for. I heard a soft m'row that sounded amused. It was followed by a voice that almost sounded like a young colts', but with a hard edge that came from being an old stallion. "You found Shining Amour? Oh, goodie!" "Armor, actually," I corrected, searching for the source of the voice. "Who are you, and what do you want?" "Forgive me. After a thousand years of only myself for company, it's hard to keep track of the small things. As for who I am, I am death itself." A large, dark figure stepped out of the shadows. It was distinctly feline, approximately the size of a teen mare, and it had one white forepaw. Its eyes, the same color as the leopard's, contrasted with its black fur to the point where they seemed to glow. It had a purple collar with seven sharp teeth sticking out of it, and an extra tooth stuck to the tag ring. "What I want, however..." It smiled largely, showing off the large, sharp teeth it had in its mouth, "is for you to kill me." Author's Note Since this is my first fic, please be gentle. Constructive criticism is very much welcome, however straight out rude comments will be deleted. I hope people will enjoy this story as I write it, and if you don't, please explain why in the comments, as it will help me become a better writer. The Snow Leopards came from the Ask King Sombra Tumblr, in case you were wondering.
Fire to IceAuthor's Note Starts with Sang's point of view. As in the first chapter, when I use someone else for a POV, the first few words will be in a certain color. So far- - Uncolored is Sang - Blue is Shining Armor - I think pink would be good for Cadance. Also, welcome to the exposition chapter. Enjoy! Fire to Ice *SNAP* Welp, there went my neck. I almost hadn't expected Shining Armor to do it, and certainly not as fast as he did. He had used his telekinesis to break my neck in the least painful way possible. I guess when a enormous, demonic tomcat tells you to kill it, you kill that son of a bitch. My now blood-starved brain started to shut down, with no heart motions to keep the flow. The already somewhat dark cave dimmed. And I died. And I woke up I looked around the large room I was now in. The floor was a dark purple. The walls, purple. The ceiling saw through my dead eyes, although tinted blue. There were nine off-white pedestals curving around the room in a U shape, nearly each one containing a single black cat that had been mangled in some way. One was starved. Another was soaking wet, having been drowned. One near the apex of the curve had a large gash in it's neck, clearly self-inflicted. Each of these lives, I had learned something- how to control my powers, to resurrect the dead, to control the snow leopards I had made out of sheer loneliness. I tried to creak my still-broken neck straight, but all I managed to do was flop my head to look forward. It would have to do. I looked at myself. Melody. In the middlemost part of the series of pedestals was a girl, a teenager. Unlike the cats around her, she seemed to have no injuries. She moved her dirty blonde hair behind her ears, a nervous tic I used to have. Her costume seemed homemade- a black cat with a purple, tooth studded collar. Her ghost-blue eyes stared into mine. "So, we died again?" she asked. "What happened this time?" "It finally happened. I found Shining Armor," I huffed, "and he killed me. He didn't even ask any questions." She looked surprised for a moment, then her gaze hardened. "I wasn't expecting that, but oh well. You know what I have to do now, right?" "Yeah, I know. I'm you, remember? Just... older." She teared up a little. "I don't like losing any of you lives. It always leaves this place feeling empty. Now I'm going to lose all of you?" she sobbed. "Maybe... maybe I shouldn't do this..." "But we have to. You know we do. To start over." She smiled once more, tears still in her eyes. "To begin. Go. The healing process has been finished. Explain it to him. Maybe... he can help." My neck straightened as another cat appeared beside me, his neck broken. The new cat walked over to the last, only empty pedestal, and sat down. And I woke up. Shining Armor was fighting Bone, trying to escape the cave now that I had died. The larger snow leopard was trying to keep him inside, on my orders. Flake, the smaller leopard was at my side, watching and making sure I wasn't stepped on or something during the tussle. "Let me go home, you overgrown snowball!" Shining yelled. "Your master's dead, so there's no point in keeping me here." Bone growled at the pony, then saw me over his shoulder. 'Oh good. You're up. After that dramatic performance you put on, I was kinda hoping you would bitch and moan when you resurrected.' Flake gave him a stern look, but didn't speak. I finally spoke up. "That's where you're wrong, colt." I saw his head turn towards me in surprise. "I died, yes, but there was a huge point in bringing and keeping you here." "To kill you again?" He asked, his horn lighting up, "Because I'll do it, if you really want to die-" "-no!" I practically shrieked, backing away and puffing out a little,"no. Shining Armor, I hope to tell you a story, and maybe get a little help. I think you- or, at least, someone related to you may be able to help my situation." Shining looked confused at my answer. "What do you mean?" "I'm not from this world." I deadpanned. "I used to be a different creature entirely. Hell, I used to be female!" He looked like he was doubting it, but I had just come back from the dead. He nodded in acceptance. "Go on." "I was at a book cosplay convention thing, and this guy had a booth with crazy and awesome stuff in it. There was practically no line, which was weird now that I think about it, and in his booth he had a piece of my costume that I wasn't able to get anywhere else. It was like a godsend. He offered me a discount on the thing- this collar by the way, that's what he sold me- and it sent me here to Equis." He was genuinely interested then. Or maybe he was just humoring me so he could leave. "So, what happened afterwards?" "I became a god of death to the Crystal Ponies." "Wat." I could hear the lack of an 'h' in that word. "As contrived and evil as that sounds," I nodded, "yes. My powers wouldn't let me die, I could bring back the recently deceased, and I was a carnivore. I had to eat, and they were the closest source of food." He became visibly sick at this. He tried to leave, but Bone made him sit again. "The logic added up to them at the time. It was nearly two thousand years ago, and I was the only real predator in the area. What is a deity but some higher power responsible for something." I shrugged. "It took a while, about four hundred years, but it worked. I had a snow leopard pick up the bodies every month or so from the east side. If one of them wanted to die honorably, they would come find me. Their relatives would find a tooth on their doorstep later, a sign they were gone." My mood visibly darkened. "It all worked really well, until Sombra came. He was convinced I could make him immortal. He destroyed all the snow leopards that were here before, and stole me. He... did things. I can't remember so well what happened, but it killed me more than once. Tore me up inside. The only good that came out of it was the mental fortitude I now have." "It'll be gone soon. That is, if you're willing to help." The white unicorn looked iffily at me. "And if I don't? What, exactly, do you want?" "It's more like what I don't want," I sighed. "I don't want these memories. I don't want to be trapped in this cave anymore. I want to go ho-" "WAIT." He interrupted "Why are you trapped here?" I glared at him. "Because Sombra is a ginormous dick. I didn't get him the answers he wanted, and he decided to leave me here to rot. Quit interrupting me." "If you don't help me, I'll find somepony who will. All I really needed you for was a time and attitude reference. That, and a way out of this cave. If you dispel the barrier keeping me in, I'll allow Bone to let you out. If you decide to help me after I forget, I could be a great help for you and yours." "I don't know any memory spells," he said. "Most of them were outlawed over fifty years ago." I rolled my eyes. "I don't need you for that. You were a nerd, right? You know what save points are?" He nodded uncomfortably. I gestured to my collar. "That's basically what these teeth are. Every time I die, a new tooth appears. I can remember clearly what I did with that life. If I take a tooth out, it becomes unclear, foggy, like deleting a save point. If I take out the most recent... well, you can probably guess what'll happen then." "So, then..." He trailed off, "what happens to the teeth once they're out?" "A number of things. Along with the memories leaving, the teeth themselves still hold power. Given the right spell, you can animate things- the dead, golems, all sorts of stuff." I listed off. "I can actually bring back the dead. I just need to be touching them as they die, and their soul will be another tooth in the collar. I just take the tooth out, and push it into their magical focus. Then they'll come back." "And what's stopping me from just making a tooth farm out of you?" Shining prodded. "Three things," I started. "First, Bone and Flake. You wouldn't get very far. Second, pony mentality and morals. Grant it, you did just kill me, but there's no way you would willingly enslave anything sapient. The third, and final, reason would be that you need my consent, or the powers warp. Sombrero's curved horn?" I chuckled, "My fault. the longer the life was, the more problems you're gonna have." Shining Armor had relaxed quite a bit, but his shield was still up. "So what would helping you entail... wow, for as long as we've been talking, you haven't actually told me your name yet." "You can call me Sang. Helping me would basically be putting up with my childish antics. I was still a teenager when I first came here, after all, and I'll be one again. I'd want someone to look after me, help me out once in a while with life in general. Not becoming my father but... something close." "Yeah," he nodded, "okay. this is a lot to take in. Can I just take a second... to get it all in? Just to think?" I dipped my head in agreement. He walked to the other side of the cave, and sat there. His shield came down as he walked- probably figured he didn't need it anymore. I sat and meditated in my corner. Or maybe slept. Sometimes, I can almost swear I do both simultaneously. A large CLUNK sound woke me, though. I opened my eyes to see Shining armor standing in front of me, his horn glowing. A beam shot out, and hit the ceiling. The darker red aura vanished to give way to pink, then pink vanished. There was no barrier anymore. I was free. I looked up at the unicorn, eyes filled with hope. His gaze met mine. "C'mon," he grunted, "I'll take you home." I started crying with joy. "Thank you." I started pulling out the older teeth. Bone and Flake fell apart without my knowledge of keeping them together. I pulled out the last tooth.
Forget the SecretsI looked around, alarmed at my surroundings. When I woke up, I was in a large (quite cold) cave, starring at a white unicorn with a two-toned blue mane with tears in my eyes. I quickly blinked them away, more confused than sad. What had that man done to me? After buying the collar, a black fog had consumed me. Despite my screaming and crying, no one seemed to notice the fog or me. My body now seemed to feel strange, yet familiar at the same time. Everything felt like it was in the wrong place, stretched in some places and shrunk in others. I had a foreign yet familiar feeling on the base of my spine and... past it? There was some weight back there, and my hips felt distinctly different. I felt like there was something in the corner of my vision, so I crossed my eyes, and found something other than my pale nose there. I had a muzzle. And it was black. What? "Umm... Sang?" SangpasttenseofsingMelodynooneelseheremustmeanme "Yes?" Okay, so the unicorn can talk. Maybe... yes, he has a cutie mark, and a familiar one. "Can you remember anything?" Shining Armor asked me. He seemed uncertain, like he didn't know how to treat me. I could understand, after all- I was just as uncertain about the position I was now in. "Well, I don't think I forgot anything. But you're calling me Sang, so unless you decided that name for me on a whim, I probably forgot something important," I snarked. Great, Melody, insult the locals. That'll surely make him want to help you. Honestly, I probably would either have been nicer or freaking out more if I hadn't been freaking internally. My thoughts were racing at a thousand miles per hour, but I had to squash them down. Priorities, after all- myself, then my situation. I was clearly not human anymore, based on the new face I had. I looked down and backwards, trying to figure out exactly what I was. My ears were folded back slightly, I could feel their position on my head. So they move... I looked down and saw paws with absurdly large claws- not a pony, so that'll make this harder, not to mention the predator part. I looked back and saw sloping shoulders and a tail that swished back and forth. I had a comfortable weight on my neck, but I was naked except for the fur as far as I knew. I was definitely feline, just like the cats in the Warriors series- hold on. I facepawed. Sang was also the latin root for blood, and aptly so- I had become the previous leader of Bloodclan. Scourge. Well, at least I looked cool. Speaking of looking... my face darted up, embarrassed. Yep, definitely male now. With my bodily assets checked, I felt slightly less insecure. I was in a sitting position, but it felt more like squatting. I looked up towards Shining Armor, a little more ashamed of myself for snapping at him. He was standing near the exit of the cave, lightly smiling, and had been quiet the entire time I had explored my body with my eyes. "So, um..." I trailed off, trying to figure out how to fix my earlier slip up. "Do you know what's going on? Or where I am? Because other than Equestria, I have no idea." He sighed, and looked like he was getting slightly impatient. "I only have what you told me, and even then, I don't think I understood everything. My wife, Cadance, is probably missing me, so we should head back to the Crystal Empire. I guess I'll explain as much as I can on the way..." I straightened my back legs and tried to walk over to him, but ended up landing on my face after a few steps- my front legs were working slower than my back. I either needed practice, or to do something different. I got into the squatting position again, but instead of straightening my hindquarters I leaned onto them. It was uncomfortable, and I felt like I was tip-toeing, but I could at least waddle this way. It'd have to do. After Shining gave me a strange look, we both walked outside into the snow. I'd have given just about anything for warm clothing right then- the wind was freezing, even if it wasn't actively snowing. The fur coat helped a little. I wonder what'll happen once we get- "Bucking REALLY!" Shining Armor's swearing broke me out of my thoughts. "What?" I panicked a little. "Is there a storm coming or something?" I ducked down, ready to draw back into the cave if need be. "No, I just..." He sighed, "The thing that took me here took about an hour and a half to travel from the eastern side of the Empire and now... we're maybe fifteen minutes away from the west entrance. I don't get it." He looked at me like he expected me to agree. I just looked at him confused. "It makes perfect sense to me. Whoever did it probably didn't want to be followed." How did I figure that out? BOOKS! He looked at me with something that almost seemed like regret. "We should get going. Here's what's happened so far..." =^=^= The Crystal Empire was amazing. Everything seemed to shine, and I could feel my mood improving the moment I had waddled in. Of course, we had to take some backways in order to get to the Palace because of the whole 'death god' thing, as Shining Armor explained to me. We had to avoid the crystal ponies because- despite the amnesia- I could have been recognized and we didn't anypony to freak out. I had to wonder if I had been intentionally vague when talking to him, or if he was leaving some things out- probably a bit of both, he did explain to me that I had been fairly dramatic during the entirety of my story. I almost didn't believe it. Thankfully, once we were found it was in the Palace courtyard and by a normal pony guard instead of a crystal one. Cadance had, in fact, been looking for Shining Armor and told the guard to defect him towards her if they saw him. I managed to follow him (miraculously) without being spotted, and we made our way to the throne room where Cadance was waiting. As Shining opened the doors to the room, I could hear Cadance speak up. "Shining, where were you? You were gone for so long, I thought something may have- is that what I think it is?" Her gaze locked on to me. I had gone though the halls on all fours, trying to get some practice in, and now seemed more a giant cat than anything else. Her face seemed to hit a switch from concerned to elated. "You got me a cat?"The way she asked sent shivers down my spine. She cantered up to me, almost running, and was very much in my face. "Oh my goodness, I didn't know there were cats this far north, especially so big! Hi, kitty kitty! You're so cute, yes, yes you are!" She was petting me like a dog. My ears slid back in embarrassment, and my tail flipped back and forth in annoyance. And then she hugged me. "Ouch!" Both surprised, she pulled out of the hug to look at the collar I was wearing. The tooth that was attached to the tag ring had poked her in the shoulder. She glared at it. "Seriously, Shiny, what kind of collar is that?" Bitch you'd better not insult my collar- the thought took me by surprise, and scared me a little. But not nearly as much as the next words out of her mouth. "Imma' take it off." Her blue glow surrounded the collar and pulled- terror filled me as I realized I'd been silent far too long at this point. "Wait, NO!" My voice startled her, and the collar came off with a snap- PAINnocollarpanicgetitbackneeditcan'tlivecan'tdiegetitback getitback GET IT BACK!
