The Rohan Chronicles: The Brand New Dayby Bucking NonsenseChaptersPrologue: A Game And A Prank, A Prank And A GameOh Guildmaster, My Guildmaster!Flash Mob!A Brief Interlude: Comparing NotesConnection EstablishedYou Make An Ass Out Of You And MeInterlude: 'The Bird Is Struggling Out Of The Egg. The Egg Is The World...'Prologue: A Game And A Prank, A Prank And A GameAuthor's Note I started this story due to events keeping me from being able to work on my other stories in the heat of this blazing summer. It's complicated, but I hope you'll get some enjoyment out of this. Prologue: A Game And A Prank, A Prank And A Game The world as we all knew it ended not with fire, nor with ice, nor with a bang or a whimper. It ended not with water, nor with rocks falling, nor even with radioactive fire consuming the great cities of the world. No whisper, and no roar, marked what we would come to call The Brand New Day. Instead, the end of the world as we knew it, and the beginning of the world as we know it now, involved pranks, ponies, friendship, magic, MMORPG's, and a series of well-intentioned mistakes. As cataclysms go, ours was fairly unique, all things considered. It all started with the game, Limitless Saga. Released in 2018, it was an MMORPG that quickly became a smash hit. In the first year alone, it managed to outsell World Of Warcraft completely. By the end of three years, it was the single biggest game on the planet, and replaced Starcraft as the unofficial national sport of South Korea. It possessed a number of features, including a fully realized crafting system that allowed any item in the game, regardless of rarity or uniqueness, to be created, as well as a customization option that allowed one to make the gear that they wanted. In addition, the 'class' system was completely done away with, allowing one to create the character build that they wanted. Warrior? Mage? Thief? Healer? Those archaic restrictions were long gone: You could be a magic user in heavy armor, a healer who could dual wield hatchets, anything you could conceive of, you could create. The only limit was a player's imagination, and respec was relatively easy to arrange. Today's bare-fisted monk could be tomorrow's swordsman or sorcerer. And the most incredible aspect was that it all managed to balance out perfectly, so that no one build could be called 'unbeatable'... Bah, one could go on for days on end about the merits of the game, but that is only a small part of the whole picture. I've gone on enough, let's move to more important things. In Limitless Saga, there was a guild, The Riders Of Rohan. They were the largest and most well-known in the game, so much so that its membership included players from countries across the globe. It's founder and guildmaster, a player using the 'Golden Hero' build named Shadowfax (Yes, he was indeed a fan of The Lord Of The Rings), led the guild in many a great campaign. Countless raid bosses were brought low under his guidance, and he was much loved by his fellow guild members. They were a guild dedicated to guiding new players, and in helping out their fellow gamers wherever they could. They embodied everything that made MMORPGs great... I should stop there, before I sound vain or conceited. It was my guild, after all. But for every choir of angels, there is a horde of demons. For every light, there is a shadow. For every hero, a villain. There was another guild, which called itself the Crimson Viper Army, led by a player using the 'Maneater' build, named EatsYourFace (Yes, seriously. Do you think I'd make up something like that?). In addition to being a PVP guild, they were also 'n00b-spankers', essentially a group of jerks who spent their time abusing new players for no other reason than because they were new. They abused loopholes in the rules, in order to get away with making the lives of many inexperienced players miserable. As you can imagine, this made them the enemies of the Riders of Rohan. Many terrible battles were fought between the two guilds, often with no clear winner, and eventually the Riders had to establish a permanent base in the beginners area, in order to keep the Crimson Vipers from scaring away new players. The admins eventually became involved, and forced the two guilds to declare a sort of truce, and placed a level limitation on PVP, preventing higher level players from being able to attack players with significantly lower levels in order to finally put an end to the Vipers' predatory behavior. Still, even with the truce in effect, it was always a tense situation when Rider met Viper... There were many other guilds, of course. The Defenders Of The Rising Sun, The Wolf Guard, The Joker Kings, just to name a few, and some were almost as famous as the Riders. However, at the end of the day, it was all just a game... ...Until the day things got real. The Brand New Day began on April 1st, 2021. Limitless Saga's administrators had announced their plans to make a major update that day, several weeks prior, as they had done on the same day each year. Of course, the first day of the update, there would be some sort of prank played upon the entire community. Last year, everyone's armor had been turned into pink tutus and their weapons into candy canes. The year before, all of the NPC's and monsters had switched character models, resulting in monsters giving quests to slaughter townsfolk. The year before that, the towns had been retextured into gingerbread houses, and the dragons edited into giant winged bunnies. Everyone knew that this year's prank would be the biggest and most ambitious yet, and the forums and general chat were abuzz with speculation. But no one expected it to be ponies... and the ponies certainly weren't expecting us. Meanwhile, in Equestria... "...So, tell me more about this... Trickster Day?" Twilight Sparkle looked over at Discord with a deeply worried expression, as she worked on organizing the books in her personal library. Yes, the embodiment of chaos was reformed, and yes, his assistance did, in the end, unlock the Rainbow Power and defeat Lord Tirek. However, he was also one of the oldest, most powerful, and most unpredictable entities in the cosmos, and the only things keeping him from giving reality a wedgie and stealing its lunch money (Metaphorically... she hoped) was his enduring and unbelievably strong friendship with Fluttershy, and his less solid, but still standing, friendship with Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship... It was a little unnerving to realize that you're one of only two ponies who are responsible for keeping the universe as you know it from suddenly doing a headstand. She really needed to introduce Discord to some new ponies soon, and make him a few more friends. The more friends he had to keep him in line, the less likely it would be for Discord to turn all of existence into cake on a whim... Returning to the question at hand, Twilight Sparkle gulped, then said, "It's a holiday dedicated to playing jokes and pranks on others." The expression that crossed Discord's face was like that of a colt or filly having been handed the keys to every candy store in Equestria and told to go nuts. Twilight immediately added, before the master of random occurrences could zip off, "Of course, you can't do anything illegal, or anything that might hurt anypony, and ponies are just as likely to play a prank on you, and you have to take anything done in stride and not hold a grudge and please oh please oh please oh please don't do something terrible that breaks reality..." She was silenced by Discord placing a single finger on her lips. "Oh, don't worry, your highness, I wouldn't dream of doing anything like that. I promise, anything I do, I'll undo by the end of the day..." Oh Guildmaster, My Guildmaster!YOLO720NOSCOPE: Unlimited Saga is now ponies. ScionOfTorgue: MISTER TORGUE FULLY APPROVES THE F[Censored] OUT OF THIS S[Censored]!!! X-Treme-inator: Oh man, this is even funnier than the tutus! I'm laughing my @$$ off here. RiderOnTheStorm: Best April Fools Ever, Forever. Shadowfax: I'm having Diablo 3 flashbacks here. YOLO720NOSCOPE: GUILDMASTER!!! ScionOfTorgue: GUILDMASTER!!! X-Treme-inator: GUILDMASTER!!! RiderOnTheStorm: GUILDMASTER!!! Shadowfax: You guys need to stop calling me that. Rider will be your guildmaster, starting next week. ScionOfTorgue: T-T *Cries tears so manly that they turn into bikini models made of bacon and deep-fried beer cans when they hit the ground* X-Treme-inator: D: WHY MUST BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE!?!?!? RiderOnTheStorm: You'll always be our Guildmaster, no matter what happens. YOLO720NOSCOPE: Ummm, I hate to ask, but nobody's told me so I gotta. Why are you leaving? Shadowfax: Medical reasons. YOLO720NOSCOPE: What kind? Shadowfax: The kind you don't usually come back from. YOLO720NOSCOPE: ...Oh. RiderOnTheStorm: The guild won't be the same without you. Shadowfax: The Riders Of Rohan are far greater than any one person. All I did was start something beautiful. It was you guys, and everyone else in the guild, that made it what it is today, and will keep it going in my memory. Whatever happens, I can go with absolute certainty the the Riders are in good hands. Shadowfax: On a lighter note, the admins made good on their promise. There's an alchemy recipe for the Exp Booster potions. ScionOfTorgue: Sweet! I always wanted one of those, but they were only available through the cash shop before, and I never really had the money to spare. Shadowfax: Yeah. These won't stack like the cash shop version does, so you won't be able to just use a bunch of them and gain ridiculous exp boosts like some guys did. They have to keep a demand going for the cash shop version, I guess. YOLO720NOSCOPE: Che, yeah, there's always some munchkin out there who wants to level up without working for it... Shadowfax: As we speak, I'm planting the seeds so I can harvest the ingredients. The components are pretty rare, so before I go, remind me to drop my items off in the guild warchest before I log off today, or you may have to do some farming before you can make more than today's supply. I should have the first batch of them within the hour. I'll meet you guys in the town square of 'Ponyville'. Have a dance party or something while you wait. RiderOnTheStorm: Gotta love how in-depth this prank is, they even renamed the towns! The first Applejack knew of the blank eyed, blank flanked ponies was when she spotted one from her bedroom window. It was planting a seed in the ground, and shortly after began watering it with a small watering can. Now, Applejack didn't have any problems with an earth pony planting a seed and trying to make it grow, but he was doing so on her property. It was on a patch that her family wasn't using, yes, and she'd have no problems with someone using it, since it wasn't good for growing apples, but it was still her land, and her family's land. The least the feller could do was ask first. She'd hardly charge anything for the use of it. Heck, she'd sell it to him for a song (Well, not a song song, unless it was a really impressive musical number, but a lot less than he'd find elsewhere), if he showed any interest. After all, the Apple family had never managed to get anything to grow on that particular patch, and with it being too close to the Everfree Forest, it was a bit of a risk, trying to plant anything. However, after getting her hat on and heading down to see this stranger who had decided to take up gardening on her property, she quickly realized something was wrong: His movements were too... mechanical, to be those of an ordinary pony, and his absence of a cutie mark was surprising. And then there was the eyes... They were just a blank, white void. The lights might have been on, given that the stallion was moving around with clear intent, but it seemed that nopony was home. She was so surprised by the pony's appearance that it took her a minute to see that there were words floating in the air, above the pony's head. They read: Shadowfax, Lvl: 99 Guild: The Riders Of Rohan They just hovered there like some kind of magical bulletin board, proclaiming, presumably, the pony's identity for all the world to see... Upon realizing that what she was seeing was no ordinary pony, she decided the best thing to do was to see if she could get Twilight Sparkle to take a look. After all, this smelled of magic, and strong magic at that, and magic was her lavender friend's specialty. After letting her brother know what was going on, and asking him to make sure that neither he, nor Granny Smith or Applebloom got anywhere near the strange stallion, before she got back. And with that, she took off for Ponyville at a run. Little did she know that she wasn't the first pony in town to see such strange ponies, but the last. ...Two hours later There was a changeling, in the Everfree Forest. She was not remarkable as changelings go, save for one characteristic: She really hated timberwolves. This was a rather new trait she had developed, one that had only appeared within the last few weeks. In truth, she was rather new to the entire concept of hatred, having never really encountered a creature that she could honestly say that she disliked. Changelings, it may surprise you to learn, are pretty mellow, emotion-wise. They tend to just go with the flow, most of the time. However, as new as she was to hatred, she was doing a masterful job of hating timberwolves in general, and the seventeen that had been hounding her for the last two weeks in specific. In Japanese folklore, the wolves of that island nation were said to be able to pursue their prey for days on end, exhausting their quarry until it could be taken down. This would imply a level of stamina that would be considered almost impossible. Hunting like that would almost be a zero-sum game: The amount of nutrition gained from eating all but the largest creatures would not be worth such intensive and persistent pursuit. However, timberwolves need no sleep, and do not need to eat or drink, strictly speaking. They will tear a creature apart with their fangs, but gain no sustenance from the act of killing. Once they catch the scent of prey, however, they will pursue their prey until either it leaves the confines of the forest, or they catch what they are after... So, for two miserable weeks, the changeling had fled for her life, trying desperately to stay alive. She hadn't managed to catch even a wink of sleep for two days, once the pack pursuing her had grown to a large enough size that they could climb atop one another and reach her even in the tallest trees. Her wings were damaged, from the creatures having caught her off-guard at the beginning of this mess and having gotten in a lucky bite, so she couldn't just fly away. When she'd tried fighting them off, she'd discovered that they came back together in short order, and they had taken great offense in her having tried to stop that from happening by setting three of them on fire. They were not going to give her the chance to try that again. They were advancing in numbers too great for her, even if she were fresh and well rested. Now? She was exhausted, sore, and bleeding from dozens of places, where the wolves had managed to get the drop on her and get a fang into one of the joints in her carapace. Even if she somehow miraculously escaped, she'd likely bleed out soon. It was almost over now: She was lunch, and she knew it... ...But she wasn't going to stop running until she passed out from exhaustion. That way, even if she died, she'd be completely unconscious and unable to feel the pain of her demise. Her shock at suddenly breaking the tree line and somehow ending up on a farm caused her to momentarily lose track of her surroundings. In that brief moment of surprise, her hoof caught on a small stone, and she tripped and skidded, before finally coming to a stop. She tried to get up, but her strength deserted her. She was tired. So... so tired... She nearly fell asleep, but the sudden, victorious snarls of the timberwolves forced her back into wakefulness. She tried to rise, but failed once more, and could only turn to face her inevitable doom. And that was when he appeared: A pony, moving to engage the approaching timberwolves. He was an earth pony, his coat a shadowy grey. He seemed no bigger or stronger than the average member of his species, and yet his movements were so efficient, so professional, that they seemed almost mechanical in their precision. There was not a single motion wasted, not even a slight muscle twitch that could suggest anything but absolute surety in his strength and ability. He charged the first timberwolf, and as he did so, his body was suddenly enveloped in a sheet of golden fire. He slammed into the wooden beast, and it did not burst apart, as most timberwolves did, but rather it exploded into a cloud of ash and burning sticks. Without hesitation, the stranger engaged the rest of the pack. It was like watching some figure of legend, brought to life to dispense justice to the wicked: His strikes were swift, sure, and lethal, reducing his foes into clouds of ash with seemingly no effort at all. Withing twenty seconds, and without his foes ever laying a single tooth or claw upon him, this stranger destroyed the entire pack, each one with only a single blow. And then, he turned and approached her... Ponies and changelings did not have the best of histories, for obvious reasons. While the pony had saved her from timberwolves, it was unlikely that he had done so out of charity: Timberwolves were likely as much a threat to ponies as they were to any other creature. She expected that his only intent now was in putting an end to her life. Well, she was as good as dead, anyways: Barring immediate medical attention, which was practically unheard of for a changeling, she was going to bleed to death soon. She was fading already. At least whatever this stallion did would be quick... Instead, she was startled to see a gold-tinted bottle, filled with a rainbow-colored fluid, suddenly appear on the ground in front of her. She studied the strange container, and noted the red plus sign emblem on the front. ...No, it couldn't be. Though it took what little strength she had left, she managed to grab the bottle, and poured the contents into her mouth. The effects were almost instantaneous: The aches of two weeks on the run suddenly vanished, as did the pain of her injuries. As she looked on in awe, her bite wounds also healed. More incredibly, her stamina suddenly returned, and then seemed to grow ten-fold, as if, instead of having been driven nearly to death with exhaustion, she had just woken up from a great night's sleep. And perhaps most fantastically at all, she felt an incredible amount of energy well up inside of her, as if she had suddenly consumed enough love to feed a dozens of changelings for a dozen moons. Inconceivable. A healing potion. The stallion... that strange, inexplicable, wonderful stallion had given her a healing potion, and one so potent it had restored both her stamina and her love energy to their fullest! Such brews were almost impossibly rare, as their ingredients were almost fantastically difficult to come by, and had to be distilled through an insanely complex process that only a small number of beings were well-versed enough in potion-crafting to complete. While hospitals could take care of most injuries these days through mundane means, only a healing spell or a potion could take someone from the brink of death, and restore them instantly to wellness, and unicorns who knew complex healing spells were even rarer than the potions. Such items were normally kept only by the fantastically wealthy, or by major government figures whose sudden death would be considered a global calamity (Like certain alicorns). It was said that Princesses Celestia and Luna had three stored away somewhere, in case of an emergency, and that anypony else could count themselves lucky to have even one. And this... this stallion had given her a potion worth a king's ransom, no, ten kings' ransoms, as though it were nothing... ...To a nameless drone like her. It would be difficult to put into words how moved she was by such an act of kindness and generosity. Even the queen would never be so giving: If she were to gain possession of such a brew, she'd never allow anybuggy near it, or even know it existed, let alone give it to someone she'd never met before. Rising to her hooves, she took in the appearance of the pony, and for the first time noted the words above his head. She took a moment to come to a very important decision, and then bowed, and said, in a voice choked with emotion... "I do not know where you came from, or what brought you here, but you have my eternal, undying gratitude... and my allegiance, Lord Shadowfax. From this day forward, I renounce all loyalties, and swear myself to your service. From now until the end of time, your allies are my allies, your enemies are my enemies, and your cause is my cause. If you wish me to guard your body, none will touch you save after stepping over my corpse. If you wish me to serve you, I will perform any task, no matter how menial, without complaint, and to the best of my ability. If you... if you wish for a companion, I promise you will find none more skilled in the romantic arts than I. From now, until the end of my life, I am yours, and yours alone." Meanwhile, in another universe... A figure sat behind a computer, looking at a message that just appeared... 'Changeling wants to join your guild. Will you let her?' 'Yes/No' The figure pondered this unusual turn of events for a moment. It was unheard of for an NPC to make a request like that. He'd dropped the potion just to see what happened, although he'd intended to drop a standard healing potion, not one of his Total Restoration potions. Still, he had dozens of those to spare, so it was no big deal. This... changeling's reaction must have been a part of the April Fool's Event. He moved his cursor over to click yes, and then paused, wracked by a fit of coughing. It lasted only a minute, but when he pulled his hand away from his mouth, it came away speckled with blood. "The doctor was being optimistic," the figure said as he noted that his hand was covered in more blood than it had been when he'd suffered such a fit this morning. "I'm not going to last the month. I'll be lucky to see the end of the week..." He considered, for a moment, just clicking 'No', dropping his items off in the guild warchest, and calling an ambulance. Since he'd woken up this morning, his lungs had been on fire, as were his guts, he was sweating buckets in spite of how cool it was today, and he felt a pounding in his head that would not stop. He was on time with his meds, but his body seemed to be taking a bad turn, and he might very well have only hours, instead of the days he had been promised only last week by the doctors. But then again... He sighed, and then clicked 'Yes'. His condition had been confirmed incurable. The truth is, he'd been almost fantastically lucky to last as long as he had, even at the young age of twenty-six. If he was about to die, it would just mean that he didn't have three weeks of bedpans and feeding tubes to look forward to while his body finally gave up the ghost. In the meantime, he'd die doing what he loved: Playing games with all his friends. Flash Mob!Author's Note Funny story: I used to play Guild Wars, and one of my favorite parts of the game was that, in the lobbies, you could just start doing stuff like playing air-guitar or drums, or start dancing, and people would just join in. I once started a group by playing air guitar that eventually grew to involve twenty people, including three guitarists, a drummer, and sixteen dancers. It's good to know that Guild Wars isn't the only game where spontaneous dance parties can occur. Flash Mob! Shadowfax: Still waiting for stuff to grow. How is it going for you guys? X-Treme-inator: You missed a hilarious micro-raid boss, or maybe a mini-boss. Came right into town, and we whooped it in less than a minute! Yolo720NoScope: It was hilarious. A Bugbear: Half bee, half panda bear. The pun was strong with that one. ScionOfTorgue: I'd send you a screenshot, but that function isn't working, for some reason... Shadowfax: Sorry I missed it. Still, the day is young, and there is much more in store, I'm sure. The plants seem to be taking longer than normal. I wonder if I accidentally planted them in an enemy zone? NaughtySexyGothGirl: Yeah, one big drawback to this prank is that it is hard to tell where the enemy zones are, and they do double the growth time for plants. That, and the fast travel option isn't working right now, so if you're wanting to go anywhere, you're hoofin' it, pardon the pun. RiderOnTheStorm: GOTHY! Where are you? I thought you'd be in the beginner area like we were? NaughtySexyGothGirl: I planned to be, but my sister dragged me into a late night run through the Cave Of Endless Despair with her guild, that aggravating level 50-60 dungeon. Her buddies are, at most, level 50, so they wanted a level 80 to hold their hands, in case things got rough. They did: Half the guild suddenly ditched in the middle of the raid boss. I ended up doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and the fight went on into the wee hours of the morning. As soon as we returned to the main hub, I logged off, and only got up about five minutes ago. They renamed the hub city 'Canterlot', just so you'll know. Sorry for not being there with you guys. If I can find a way out of town, I'll join up as soon as I can, but it'll be a long walk through hostile territory with fast travel out. I'm hoping I can use my mount once I'm out of town, but I can't make any promises. RiderOnTheStorm: I'll forgive you this time, but if anything else happens today, I'll pin you and tickle you tomorrow night... NaughtySexyGothGirl: Ooooh, promises, promises. You're lucky I'm into that kind of thing, sweetie. Shadowfax: Yes, yes, we all know you two are going at it like march hares. Keep it to the private chat, please. The admins come down hard on that kind of talk, remember? NaughtySexyGothGirl: Fine, fine, spoil all our fun. So, how's the dance party? RiderOnTheStorm: Hilarious. And get this: Some of the NPC's are joining in! One hour earlier... The last thing that Applejack had expected to see when she reached Ponyville was scores of dancing ponies similar to the one she saw at Sweet Apple Acres... She had to admit, though, these odd ponies definitely had some moves. Unlike the gardening stallion she'd seen, their moves were incredibly fluid, almost supernaturally so. Strangely, they were all dancing in place, rather than moving around like most ponies would. And naturally, because there were ponies dancing, Pinkie Pie was right there in the middle of it, mimicking the moves of the strange ponies, or 'Strangers' as they were currently being called. According to Rainbow Dash, the ponies had somehow arranged themselves so that their dancing bodies formed a somewhat crude design of a pony in mid-gallop when seen from the air. With no one having heard the Strangers speak, that had intrigued Twilight Sparkle, since it suggested communication in a form that the ponies couldn't understand or perceive... What was truly bizarre was the names of some of the Strangers: There was a unicorn with an tan coat and a brown mane, with the name 'ScionOfTorgue', dancing next to another unicorn, this one bright green with a shockingly bright purple mane, named 'YOLO720NOSCOPE'. She honestly had no idea who this 'Torgue' was, and as for the other, she wasn't even sure if those were actual words, or a random collection of letters and numbers... ...And she wasn't even going to start on' ButtStallion4Eva!', or 'GiganticCockatiel'. Who in their right mind would name their child that? And if it wasn't their birth name, then why in the world would they chose... those for names? "And you've got one doing some gardening back at Sweet Apple Acres?" Applejack looked over at Twilight and nodded in response to her friend's question, then added, "Yup. He looked a bit off, so I thought I'd call you over and check it out. I didn't reckon on you having a situation like this." Twilight, looking surprisingly calm considering the weirdness of what was going on, nodded, and said, "There's ponies like this all over Equestria, according to Celestia and Luna. They sent me a letter just a few minutes ago, describing it. Not all of the 'Strangers' are dancing like these are, or gardening, but they've proven to be completely harmless... unless you attack them, like the Bugbear learned today." Right, that had been another big surprise: The bugbear had apparently broken out of Tartarus and come back, looking for revenge. These strangers, the moment the beast had appeared, had banded together and subdued the beast in seconds. It was currently sitting nearby, bound and gagged, waiting for the royal guard to come and pick it up for transport back where it belonged. It had taken Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and their friends most of a day to stop the Bugbear last time: The idea that a group of seemingly ordinary ponies could overwhelm a beast that had proven a challenge even to professional monster hunters was a little scary. If even a few of them were to suddenly turn hostile... Tapping her hoof against her chin, she seemed to think for a moment, then came to a decision. "I'm almost certain it's a prank from Discord for Trickster Day, and were it anything else, I'd be tempted to try a banishment spell to send these ponies back where they come from. Since it is a prank, and Discord promised that he'd undo anything he did at the end of the day, I'm willing to be patient." She paused, then added, "Still, for my peace of mind, once, I've finished taking a few measurements, I'd like to check on the pony at Sweet Apple Acres, just to be safe. None of the other strangers seemed to be doing any sort of work, or really anything constructive at all, so it might be worth investigating..." ...An hour later... "...From now, until the end of my life, I am yours, and yours alone." Twilight Sparkle's mouth was hanging open in surprise, she knew, but she couldn't help it. She and Applejack had arrived just in time to see the end of the battle, and the changeling's vow of loyalty to the Stranger. This was an unprecedented level of interaction between a Stranger and another living creature: While the entities were definitely not hostile, they seemed to treat ponies less like living creatures and more like a sort of living furniture. The fact that this one had directly intervened to save the life of a living creature from hostile predators, and then gave the rescued changeling a healing potion, suggested a far greater level of intelligence and compassion than the Strangers had demonstrated before. But the question remained, did this stranger understand what had just happened? Did it even understand the words that the changeling had spoken. After a brief pause, the Stranger nodded. There was a sudden flash of light around the changeling, and suddenly, she was wearing a cloak, green in color, with the image of a white horse in mid-gallop upon her back, with a sun blazing in the corner, all bound about her throat with a clasp of gold. Before Twilight could say anything, a tree suddenly shot out of the ground, going from a tiny seedling to full-grown in a heartbeat. This was repeated six times more, each tree a different shape and size, and each bearing a different fruit, none of them could be identified by the well-read alicorn... "Wonders upon wonders," the changeling said, breathlessly, looking up at the trees in awe. Twilight couldn't argue with her: There was a great deal more going on here than the princess had imagined possible. Fruits began to fall from the trees, all of which was quickly collected by the stallion with an efficiency that made even an expert apple farmer like Applejack look like a rank amateur. As soon as all of his goods were harvested, the trees suddenly withered and died, and the stallion, strangely enough, pulled two vials out from nowhere, and seemed to be moving a fluid from one to another. After a few seconds, it suddenly rained scores of potion bottles, all of them identical to one another: A gold and glass creation with the letters 'EXP', followed by a plus sign. The stranger quickly picked the potions up, and promptly began walking away. The changeling, after a moment's hesitation, followed after him, nodding to Applejack and Twilight as she passed. Curious, Twilight turned to follow the two, but paused. After a brief discussion, she told Applejack to follow, and that she would catch up. She walked over to where the trees were standing only a minute ago, and studied the ground: It was completely unmarked, as if the planting and the miracle trees had not been there at all... Curiouser and curiouser... A Brief Interlude: Comparing NotesAuthor's Note As you will likely deduce yourself, unlike other players, guildmaster text is always black. A Brief Interlude: Comparing Notes **Shadowfax, Guildmaster of The Riders Of Rohan, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** Shadowfax: I'm calling out to all guild leaders. I've got something unusual going on, and I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced something like this today. **Wolfensteiner, Guildmaster of The Wolf Guard, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** Wolfensteiner: I'm here. What's the situation, arf? **UndefeatedOfTheEast, Guildmaster of The Defenders Of The Rising Sun, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** UndefeatedOfTheEast: I'm intrigued, if it's something so strange that you're using the 'Neutral Ground' line, rather than the general chat. **TerribleThunderLizard, Guildmaster of The Ancient Dragons Of Destruction, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** TerribleThunderLizard: Present, and listening. **MelonFudges, Guildmaster of The Joker Kings, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** MelonFudges: You have my undivided attention. **EatsYourFace, Guildmaster of The Crimson Viper Army, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** EatsYourFace: ...Shoot. Shadowfax: I saw an NPC getting hounded by a monster mob. They were all level 5's, so I stepped in, and... well, you know how that song and dance goes. Anyways, the NPC was at one hp, so I dropped a healing potion. I meant it to be a regular one, but I dropped a top tier one instead. The NPC picked it up and used it, and recovered. Then, to my surprise, I got an invite from the NPC to join my guild! Wolfensteiner: Whoa. Really, arf? Shadowfax: Yes, really. I clicked yes, and she's been added to the roster. She's wearing the guild cape and everything. I'd screenshot it and show it, but that's not working today. I tried to shoot a message to the admins, but that's not working, either. I think it's part of the April Fool's event, but I don't know if it's a unique thing, or if there are events like this everywhere. EatsYourFace: Nobody has reported anything like that to me, but I will admit, NPC behavior is weird today. Nothing I can put a finger on, but just a sort of overall weirdness in general. It's all quiet here in 'Manehatten'. I'm thinking it's the event, too. UndefeatedOfTheEast: I don't have anything that weird to report, but me and mine are in a town, not out and about. I've heard some folks on the general chat in the area, here in Van Hoover, and they're saying that there are no monsters in the area. This used to be beast central, with guys in the 60 and above level, but today there's nothing. TerribleThunderLizard: I found a kid, or filly, I guess, getting chased by a bunch of weird electric insects out in the field. I took care of them pretty easily, and while the little lady didn't offer to join my guild, I did get a hug out of it, and a quest update telling me to follow her home. I escorted her to Las Pegasus, and when we arrived, I received a message indicating I was invited to go on a picnic with the kid and her parents. I'm there now. It is a pretty quaint scene, although my guildmates hopping around all over the place kinda spoils the picture. Wolfensteiner: I just got on, but my guys are telling me that that NPCs were avoiding them when they first arrived, here in Appleloosa. I'm wondering if it's because they're in wolf-form, arf? MelonFudges: I'm here in the hub city, currently called Canterlot. My mates and I decided to barge into the big castle here, and play around in the throne room, where two big ponies with wings and horns were holding court. Weirdest thing: When it became clear we weren't leaving, the seemed to decide to close shop, and everyone left. Although, the big white pony came back a few minutes later, and is sitting down and eating cake, watching us hold an epic dance party. There's like five other guilds in here with us, and everybody is dancing. Gotta tell you, The Renegades Of Funk guild lives up to the name. I wish we had screenshots right now: This is shaping up to be the single biggest dance mob in the history of the game! Shadowfax: Okay. Noted. Thanks, everyone. If there's any new developments, I'll let you know. Please do likewise? TerribleThunderLizard: Deal. MelonFudges: Fair enough. Wolfensteiner: Of course, arf! UndefeatedOfTheEast: Hai! EatsYourFace: ...Agreed. Wolfensteiner: ...Man, I really hate how the game adds barks, woofs, and arfs to chat when I'm in wolf form, woof. MelonFudges: You could just change out when you need to chat. Wolfensteiner: Now you're just talking crazy, arf. Shadowfax: On an unrelated note, has anyone heard from TheLionOfTheNorth? EatsYourFace: He's logged in, but he's not answering any pm's right now. Why do you ask? Shadowfax: He'd wanted to talk about a joint guild raid with us and The Ancient Dragons Of Destruction. He wanted our help to take down the one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater. EatsYourFace: You mean The Unmaker? The Seven Starred Raid Boss? The one that most people call The Guild Eater? Shadowfax: Yeah. Terrible and Lion wanted to take the guy down, and since me and mine are the first guild to have succeeded in doing so... EatsYourFace: You and your PVE buddies. If you want a real challenge, PVP is the best place to be. Shadowfax: Do a raid against the The Unmaker, and then tell me that there's no challenge to it. Heck, you can check out the video we made of it on youtube: 80 million views and counting. Took two hours, but we did it, and we got the legendary item out of it, no less. Well, I did, anyways: I offered, but nobody in the guild was willing to take it, even after the second time. I ended up with two identical legendaries... which is pretty cool, but if we go after him again, somebody is going to have to take it, because I can't wield three. EatsYourFace: ...Epic loot aside, I'll never understand how you losers can have so much fun doing that stuff: What fun is there in defeating someone who isn't real? At least when I shank a scrub, I have the satisfaction of proving that I'm better than a live person, not a combination of ones and zeroes... Connection EstablishedScionOfTorgue: Hey, Shadowfax, who is **Changeling**? RiderOnTheStorm: Yeah, I thought that were were putting a freeze on new additions until after the guild changed hands. Shadowfax: She's an NPC I rescued from a mob. RiderOnTheStorm: ...Seriously? Shadowfax: Seriously. I just had a short conference with the guildmasters: Odd stuff is happening all over. It seems I accidentally triggered a special event. ScionOfTorgue: Interesting. I wonder what would happen if I sent her a PM. The option is there, after all... RiderOnTheStorm: Really? Huh. Well, knock yourself out. Shadowfax: I've harvested my goods, and made the potions. I'm walking to Ponyville with the NPC in tow. When I get there... RiderOnTheStorm: What? Shadowfax: It's nothing. Just be ready to receive the potions. GrimmShado: *A portal opens in the sky, and the incredibly cool and powerful Sorcelator, GrimmShado, jumps out, landing on his feet with the skill that comes from many hours of practice in the art of portal jumping. While surprised to find himself suddenly a pony, his incredibly well-honed self-discipline prevents him from expressing that surprise as anything other than a slightly raised eyebrow.* So, it's ponies today? RiderOnTheStorm: Grimm! Now it's a party! I am having a conversation with a changeling, Princess Twilight Sparkle thought to herself, more than a little surprised. I'm walking with her to Ponyville, and we're having a conversation. This day cannot possibly get any weirder. To be fair, this was more or less a first, as far as she knew: While the queen of the changelings was known to be quite talkative (Although she tended to prefer to speak in the language of Gloat), the common changeling had never been found to talk to anyone outside of their own kind while in their true form. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom had stated that, when they had been foalnapped by changelings, the queen had conversed several times with one of her minions, so it was known that conversation was possible. Instead, it simply wasn't done. And what a conversation it was turning out to be... "After we were ejected from Canterlot," the changeling continued, as she followed Shadowfax down the road, "We had ended up in Lovey-Dovey Land. The place was populated by a bunch of adorable little creatures which seemed to be a blend of cat and rabbit. They were... extremely loving, and accepted us in spite of our appearance. I had hoped, upon seeing them, that we might have found a new home, someplace we could be something other than monsters. Instead..." She paused, seeming to be unwilling to speak. "The queen ordered you all to take the place over, and turn the residents to snacks?" Applejack asked bluntly. "Yes," the changeling admitted, unhappily. "That was when I realized that the queen was insane: Here we were, someplace where we could potentially live out our days in peace, and the queen's only thought was of revenge. Revenge on all of you, in spite of having promised to look after us first and foremost. I knew the queen could be petty and selfish at times, but I never imagined..." She paused, then continued, "That was when I decided it was time to leave. I couldn't do anything to help the 'cabbits', since I was just one, and the swarm could easily overpower me if I tried to stop them. However, I could use the distraction of the conquest of the land to slip away without being noticed." She cleared her throat, then added, "I'd... heard that you had captured the queen, and liberated the cabbits. How are they?" "Doing well," Twilight answered, nodding. "There were... losses, due to what the queen and others had done to them, but the ones who weren't drained too badly more or less walked it off, and the ones who were severely drained recovered after a little TLC." The princess paused, and asked, "So, what have you been doing all this time?" The changeling shrugged, and admitted, "Exploring: I'd not seen much of the world, outside of what the swarm had visited. I decided to go and see some more of it. I'd gotten pretty far before I'd heard of your ascension. That was when I decided I'd come and pay you a visit." An eyebrow raised, Applejack asked, "And why would you want to do that?" "For the first time in more than a thousand years," the changeling answered, "new magic had been created. Not since Starswirl the Bearded had anyone created a new spell. I was curious to see if her highness might be willing to try for two in her lifetime." "A second spell?" Twilight asked, confused. Well, it wasn't impossible, she supposed, but there were so many spells already out there already. The main reason why new spells were no longer developed was because no one really thought that there was anything else that a spell could be used for. Starswirl's last completed spell was one that involved mass producing pottery, and there had been a few who considered that as an act of desperation: He had created that spell since he couldn't get his unfinished spell to work, and the elderly wizard had wanted to be known for creating 'something' original... "Yes," the changeling said with a nod, "a new spell. I spent some time in libraries containing spell books, particularly spells on transformation. There are spells that can change ponies to griffins, minotaurs, hydras, nagas... almost any creature you can name, and spells that can work the other way, changing other creatures into ponies. There are spells that can change a minotaur to a griffin, a dragon into a chimera, practically any combination you can imagine... except changelings. No one wants to transformed into a changeling, and no one can change a changeling into something else." "And you want to be turned into something else," Applejack deduced. "Exactly," the changeling admitted. "As long as I'm a changeling, there's a risk that the queen might find me, and if she does, she'll do something... drastic, unpleasant, and permanent to me. If I'm no longer a changeling, then I would no longer have to worry about it." Twilight rubbed her chin in thought, and said, "I... may be able to come up with something, but it'll take time. A lot of time." "I'm over a thousand years old," the changeling said with a shrug. "I have an overabundance of time." Suddenly, in the air in front of the changeling, there appeared an image. It was reminiscent of the display that Twilight had used to explain what had happened to Fluttershy during the vampire fruitbat incident, but instead of images, it displayed words, reading 'ScionOfTorgue has sent you a private message. Would you like to read it? Yes/No'. "What in the world?" the changeling whispered, surprise clear in her voice. "That's the name of one of the ponies that's in Ponyville," Applejack stated. "If I remember right, he's got that 'Riders Of Rohan' thing under his name, too." Twilight's jaw, which had dropped at the appearance of the message, closed back with a click, and she said, "This could be huge. This is the first time we've received any sort of a communication from the 'Strangers'. Could you open it, please?" The changeling hesitated for a moment, then raised a hoof, and placed it on the 'Yes'. The image changed, displaying the words, 'Welcome to the guild! If you would like to talk, feel free to come to the guild chat, **Changeling**. We're all interested in meeting our guild's newest member. You can find all of us in Ponyville if you'd like to meet face to face.' Before Twilight could make any sort of a comment, Shadowfax suddenly erupted in an explosion of golden light, momentarily blinding her. When her vision cleared, the earth pony was suddenly clad in golden armor, with a pair of massive swords strapped to his back... "Whoa..." Rainbow Dash, still in Ponyville, pulled herself up off of the ground from where she had crashed, then looked around her as her eyesight cleared, taking in the sight of dozens, if not hundreds, of suddenly armed and armored ponies dancing around, running about and hopping up and down for no reason, and just plain acting goofy for no reason at all. Their now-very-definitely martial appearance was completely at odds with their behavior. It was as if Equestria was being invaded by warriors whose primary means of attack was through the time-honored art of getting down and/or funky, and by acting like total goofballs. "This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Dashie said, bluntly, "and I've been hanging around Discord AND Pinkie Pie..." "Yeah," said Pinkie Pie, standing beside her. After a moment, she turned and looked at Dashie in annoyance and said, "HEY!" You Make An Ass Out Of You And Me**Changeling**: Hello? ScionOfTorgue: Holy cow, it worked! Hi! NaughtySexyGothGirl: OMG!!! YOLO720NOSCOPE: No way. This is like ten million times beyond any prank the admins have done before... RiderOnTheStorm: Heh. Answer this as quickly as you can: As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks, and every sack had seven cats. Every cat had seven kittens, KITTENS CATS SACKS AND WIVES, HOW MANY WERE GOING TO ST IVES? NaughtySexyGothGirl: She's been here less than a minute, and you're trying to mess with her AI? Rude much? **Changeling**: One. Or maybe zero, depending on whether you're counting yourself in the riddle. No kittens, cats, sacks, or wives were going to St Ives, unless the traveler was going faster than they were, and they were all going in the same direction. ScionOfTorgue: Wow. That was faster than I would have expected. RiderOnTheStorm: Impressive. Two potentially correct answers, implying genuine analysis of the question asked, as well as an explanation of how you came by the answer. I'd almost swear I was talking to a real person. **Changeling**: ...A 'real person'? Well, why don't you just insult me to my face, then? RiderOnTheStorm: Excuse me? **Changeling**: I know that changelings aren't exactly the most popular species around, but we are real people, just like how you're a real jerk. YOLO720NOSCOPE: Oh snap, you got burned by an NPC, dawg! **Changeling**: That had better not have been an insult, mister green text whose name I can't pronounce. I didn't come here to be insulted. NaughtySexyGothGirl: Then where do you usually go? **Changeling**: ...HA! Good one. Alright, um... quick question. What does NPC stand for? And AI? NaughtySexyGothGirl: Acronym for Non-Player Character. AI means Artificial Intelligence. **Changeling**: And why did he call me that? RiderOnTheStorm: ...Now that is one heck of a question. I'm not exactly sure how to phrase the answer now. Um, if you'll accept an apology for what I said earlier, I'll give you as detailed an explanation as I can. **Changeling**: Deal. Start talking. This is only getting more and more confusing, Twilight Sparkle thought to herself as Ponyville finally came into view. She understood that video games were a thing on 'Earth', which she had visited twice before. Was there some manner of connection between the Strangers and the world beyond the mirror? Perhaps even worse, the explanation that this 'RiderOnTheStorm' was giving, if true, had terrifying implications... Equestria certainly wasn't a 'game', whatever these 'Players' seemed to think. However, if the world of Equestria was a video game to them, then there was a possibility that they might do something terrible, not realizing that they were hurting real people, not fictional characters. She'd need to head to her palace, and pick up her spell books for some research, pronto: She had little experience in crafting new arcane works, but perhaps if she cobbled together a few bits and pieces from existing spells, she might put together something that would help these players see that this was a real world that they were playing in... She didn't consider the possibility of a new spell doing any lasting harm to anyone or anything: After all, Discord had promised he'd undo anything that he'd done by the end of the day, right? Princess Luna wandered the streets of Canterlot, now that court had been deferred due to the unusual circumstances of the day. Normally, she'd had just turned in until it was time to set the sun and raise the moon, but something was bothering her. One of the major drawbacks of being an alicorn is that one cannot help but eventually become a reflection of what one represents. While Cadance and Twilight were still young, so they were not yet at the point where such... changes might be readily apparent, both Celestia and Luna had long ago become such living representations of primal forces of the world. Celestia represented the sun, and as such, she radiated warmth (Not quite literally, although she could crank up the heat if need be). Ponies felt that warmth, and were drawn to it. Luna represented the moon, and the moon can only reflect warmth, not generate it. Thus, a thousand years ago, because she had been alienated by the very ponies that she had dedicated her life to serve, the lunar princess had turned... dark. These days, Luna was able to reflect the warmth, kindness, and affection that others felt for her. This meant that, unlike Celestia who broadcasted her affections to all around her, Luna was incredibly sensitive to the feelings of others... This sensitivity allowed her to know when others were experiencing nightmares, both literally and figuratively. Somewhere in Canterlot, a pony was experiencing a sort of waking nightmare, and it was Luna's sworn duty, as the keeper of Equestria's dreams and defender of its innocence, to find out what was going on, and remedy the situation. ...However, she wasn't expecting the individual who was radiating such fear, such limitless terror, to be one of the Strangers. He stood on a sidewalk, unmoving and unblinking. He was garbed, less like a soldier or warrior like the others had been, and more like some great warrior king. "The-Lion-Of-The-North," Luna said, reading the words above his head aloud. Strange. These outsiders either had very strange names, or a fondness for nicknames. She couldn't help but wonder if it was one that the immobile stranger had earned, or perhaps simply one he had borrowed for another... Celestia studied the dancing Strangers as she continued eating cake, her secretary taking notes as the princess dictated them between bites. "Names containing the words 'Naruto', 'Sasuke', 'Luffy', and 'Goku', preceded or followed by a sequence of letters and/or numbers seem to be the most common," she observed aloud. "There's an odd correlation between the presence of those words and a lower 'Level'. In this room, I do not see a single Stranger above level twenty with those words in their name. I also note that while many low-level characters have names that are threatening in some fashion, only a small number of high level characters have a name that proclaim themselves dangerous or some sort of threat." She silently added to herself, 'Although Level 99 DarkdeathEvilman sticks out like a minotaur in a crowd of ponies, especially with that sinister-looking armor he now wears...' The individual in question was sporting a suit of armor that, surprisingly enough, seemed to be made of well-polished gold, although the beastial appearance and the spiky decorations definitely proclaimed him as someone supremely dangerous. A pair of clawed gauntlets were strapped to his back, which made her wonder if, in battle, this individual might stand upon his hind legs and wield those upon his forehooves, so that he might appear as some manner of two-legged tiger... There were too many questions here, and the names were just the start, although they were among the most puzzling. If they didn't engage in verbal conversation, then were the fearsome names like some sort of threat display that they outgrew when they became stronger? Were the common names meant to give them some sort of sense of belonging? And what about this 'GarnetAmethystPearl' who was standing beside 'ANDSTEVEN111', and seemed inseparable from one another? Was there a joke that she wasn't getting? There was also the repetition of the word 'man' in many of the names, like 'ImBatman', 'SupermanRoxorzMyBoxorz', and 'ManlyManMansManily'. Celestia remembered Twilight's tales of the land beyond the mirror, where 'humans' were the only sapient lifeform, and the males of the species were referred to as men. Was there a connection? And if this was a prank by Discord... then what was the punchline? Discord smiled as he finished the last touch on his masterpiece. Upon an easel sat a painting of Twilight Sparkle... as a winged spork. The words 'Princess Twilight Sporkle' lined the bottom. He'd been at work at it for hours, since the moment he'd returned home after hearing about Trickster Day. His plan was to replace Equestria's normally blue sky with this delightfully amusing picture, and cycle it out with a few others, such as the ones that stood nearby: 'Buttershy', 'Marshmarity', 'Princess Balloona', and 'Chickaloo', just to name a few. It would be hilarious when his friends saw these embarrassing images displayed across the heavens! He'd gone without sleep, working all through the night and most of the day on this prank. He was certain that it would be the most spectacular thing the ponies would see all day... Interlude: 'The Bird Is Struggling Out Of The Egg. The Egg Is The World...'Interlude: 'The Bird Is Struggling Out Of The Egg. The Egg Is The World...' 'Prince' Blueblood sat in front of a collection of mirrors, and once again contemplated how strange his life had become. His power at court had declined drastically, a decline that he suspected had started with the incident at the Gala. How could he have known that the young mare who'd been trying to get on his good side had been one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony? It wasn't as if Auntie Celestia had made that fact public. And then, less than a week later, the bearers had vanquished Discord, and their fame had been transmitted to the world at large. As soon as that had happened, the 'Prince' found had himself deserted by his allies in the court. In less than two weeks, he'd gone from a major player in Equestrian politics... to a 'Prince' in name only. Sometimes, Blue wondered if Celestia had arranged all of that: While no alicorn, Blueblood had possessed as much power in the political arena as Celestia had. So much so that the unicorn 'prince' had been but a few weeks away from beginning a power play that would have reduced Celestia into a figurehead, somepony with authority in name only, while the real power behind the throne would be Blueblood himself. Instead, the tables had turned before the game could even begin... Ironic, that. The sudden ascension of a new princess had only made Blueblood even less relevant than before: After all, what need was there of a prince, when such a capable princess was around, somepony who was able to go hooftip to hooftip with someone as powerful as Tirek? Blueblood was still wealthy, of course, and he still lived within the palace with his aunts in the lap of such opulence that most ponies would bite off their own hooves to enjoy it, but these days, he was such a social leper that even small colts and foals would cross the street to avoid being anywhere near the formerly great aristocrat. While he might one day be able to repair his reputation, such an act would be years in the making, and repairing his power block? It would take decades to create a new block that was even a fraction as powerful as his old one, even if that accursed Rarity suddenly vanished off the face of the planet tomorrow: Memories were surprisingly long in the court of Canterlot, most likely due to how old Celestia and Luna were... But that was why, he supposed, when his new ally appeared Blueblood had all but jumped at the offer. It would take a mighty deed to make the court overlook the 'prince's' past failings, and most mighty deeds were handled by alicorns these days. However, in the world that was to come... "So, how goes things on your end?" a voice from the mirror in front of Blueblood asked, startling him. As his ally would say, 'Speak of the devil, and he shall appear'... The fact that his 'ally' made it look as though his own reflection was speaking the words was just rude, though. "Surprisingly well," Blueblood admitted after a moment. "You were right: The very nature of this... 'Intersection' has done wonders to obscure our machinations. The fact that it coincided with Trickster Day has muddied the waters even further. Everyone belives it to be a prank by... ahem, he who shall not be named, lest we risk gaining his attention. No one suspects it to be anything but an elaborate joke, and will not until the very end." "Good," the voice said with a chuckle. "There are a few individuals on my end who suspect something is up, but no one can even begin to imagine what is about to happen. One of the advantages of a world normally without magic, I suppose." There was a pause, and then the voice said, "Just be ready: All I can give you is an opportunity to reclaim the respect and power that you so desperately crave. I make no guarantees, so if you fail, you'll have no one to blame but yourself." At least he was honest about that, and had been from the start. However, if things went the way that the two of them suspected that they would, the alicorns would suddenly find themselves in a world where they were no longer quite the 'be all, end all' absolute powers that they once were. The world would be plunged into chaos the likes of which even Discord would never imagine possible. A vacuum of power would suddenly form as the alicorns suddenly found their powers drastically lessened... and Blueblood would be the one to fill that void. "Not that I question your honesty," Blueblood began, his gaze intent upon the mirror, "but just what do you get out of all of this?" No one would go to all this trouble without intending to gain something, after all... "That's is a question with a complex answer," the voice said after a moment's pause. "Perhaps one day, we'll have time enough for me to explain it to you. For now, things are moving quickly, and there is no time for lengthy discussions." The prince snorted, then said, "Fine. Then how about a name? You've never bothered to give me one before now." The voice from the mirror laughed, and said, "Very well. 'The bird is struggling out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must first destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The name of the God is called Abraxas.'" Blueblood's confusion must have shown through the reflection of the mirror, as the voice laughed again and said, "I suppose that your world didn't have Hermann Hesse, or anyone like him. And even if your world did, you don't strike me as the philosophical sort, or the sort interested in the works of those outside your quaint little kingdom. If you must have a name to call me by, though, then call me 'Abraxas'. Now, I must go. Tend to your business, while I finish sorting out mine." And with that, the voice was gone... Blueblood rolled his eyes, and then used his horn to cast a spell, bringing up images on each of the mirrors before him. Being a major mover and shaker in the world of politics had prepared him for all manner of strange bedfellows, and he could honestly say that there were none that he had liked all that much. However, the ones he disliked the most were the ones who were excessively enigmatic, dramatic, or philosophical... and just his luck that his only real ally these days was a combination of all three...
Prologue: A Game And A Prank, A Prank And A GameAuthor's Note I started this story due to events keeping me from being able to work on my other stories in the heat of this blazing summer. It's complicated, but I hope you'll get some enjoyment out of this. Prologue: A Game And A Prank, A Prank And A Game The world as we all knew it ended not with fire, nor with ice, nor with a bang or a whimper. It ended not with water, nor with rocks falling, nor even with radioactive fire consuming the great cities of the world. No whisper, and no roar, marked what we would come to call The Brand New Day. Instead, the end of the world as we knew it, and the beginning of the world as we know it now, involved pranks, ponies, friendship, magic, MMORPG's, and a series of well-intentioned mistakes. As cataclysms go, ours was fairly unique, all things considered. It all started with the game, Limitless Saga. Released in 2018, it was an MMORPG that quickly became a smash hit. In the first year alone, it managed to outsell World Of Warcraft completely. By the end of three years, it was the single biggest game on the planet, and replaced Starcraft as the unofficial national sport of South Korea. It possessed a number of features, including a fully realized crafting system that allowed any item in the game, regardless of rarity or uniqueness, to be created, as well as a customization option that allowed one to make the gear that they wanted. In addition, the 'class' system was completely done away with, allowing one to create the character build that they wanted. Warrior? Mage? Thief? Healer? Those archaic restrictions were long gone: You could be a magic user in heavy armor, a healer who could dual wield hatchets, anything you could conceive of, you could create. The only limit was a player's imagination, and respec was relatively easy to arrange. Today's bare-fisted monk could be tomorrow's swordsman or sorcerer. And the most incredible aspect was that it all managed to balance out perfectly, so that no one build could be called 'unbeatable'... Bah, one could go on for days on end about the merits of the game, but that is only a small part of the whole picture. I've gone on enough, let's move to more important things. In Limitless Saga, there was a guild, The Riders Of Rohan. They were the largest and most well-known in the game, so much so that its membership included players from countries across the globe. It's founder and guildmaster, a player using the 'Golden Hero' build named Shadowfax (Yes, he was indeed a fan of The Lord Of The Rings), led the guild in many a great campaign. Countless raid bosses were brought low under his guidance, and he was much loved by his fellow guild members. They were a guild dedicated to guiding new players, and in helping out their fellow gamers wherever they could. They embodied everything that made MMORPGs great... I should stop there, before I sound vain or conceited. It was my guild, after all. But for every choir of angels, there is a horde of demons. For every light, there is a shadow. For every hero, a villain. There was another guild, which called itself the Crimson Viper Army, led by a player using the 'Maneater' build, named EatsYourFace (Yes, seriously. Do you think I'd make up something like that?). In addition to being a PVP guild, they were also 'n00b-spankers', essentially a group of jerks who spent their time abusing new players for no other reason than because they were new. They abused loopholes in the rules, in order to get away with making the lives of many inexperienced players miserable. As you can imagine, this made them the enemies of the Riders of Rohan. Many terrible battles were fought between the two guilds, often with no clear winner, and eventually the Riders had to establish a permanent base in the beginners area, in order to keep the Crimson Vipers from scaring away new players. The admins eventually became involved, and forced the two guilds to declare a sort of truce, and placed a level limitation on PVP, preventing higher level players from being able to attack players with significantly lower levels in order to finally put an end to the Vipers' predatory behavior. Still, even with the truce in effect, it was always a tense situation when Rider met Viper... There were many other guilds, of course. The Defenders Of The Rising Sun, The Wolf Guard, The Joker Kings, just to name a few, and some were almost as famous as the Riders. However, at the end of the day, it was all just a game... ...Until the day things got real. The Brand New Day began on April 1st, 2021. Limitless Saga's administrators had announced their plans to make a major update that day, several weeks prior, as they had done on the same day each year. Of course, the first day of the update, there would be some sort of prank played upon the entire community. Last year, everyone's armor had been turned into pink tutus and their weapons into candy canes. The year before, all of the NPC's and monsters had switched character models, resulting in monsters giving quests to slaughter townsfolk. The year before that, the towns had been retextured into gingerbread houses, and the dragons edited into giant winged bunnies. Everyone knew that this year's prank would be the biggest and most ambitious yet, and the forums and general chat were abuzz with speculation. But no one expected it to be ponies... and the ponies certainly weren't expecting us. Meanwhile, in Equestria... "...So, tell me more about this... Trickster Day?" Twilight Sparkle looked over at Discord with a deeply worried expression, as she worked on organizing the books in her personal library. Yes, the embodiment of chaos was reformed, and yes, his assistance did, in the end, unlock the Rainbow Power and defeat Lord Tirek. However, he was also one of the oldest, most powerful, and most unpredictable entities in the cosmos, and the only things keeping him from giving reality a wedgie and stealing its lunch money (Metaphorically... she hoped) was his enduring and unbelievably strong friendship with Fluttershy, and his less solid, but still standing, friendship with Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship... It was a little unnerving to realize that you're one of only two ponies who are responsible for keeping the universe as you know it from suddenly doing a headstand. She really needed to introduce Discord to some new ponies soon, and make him a few more friends. The more friends he had to keep him in line, the less likely it would be for Discord to turn all of existence into cake on a whim... Returning to the question at hand, Twilight Sparkle gulped, then said, "It's a holiday dedicated to playing jokes and pranks on others." The expression that crossed Discord's face was like that of a colt or filly having been handed the keys to every candy store in Equestria and told to go nuts. Twilight immediately added, before the master of random occurrences could zip off, "Of course, you can't do anything illegal, or anything that might hurt anypony, and ponies are just as likely to play a prank on you, and you have to take anything done in stride and not hold a grudge and please oh please oh please oh please don't do something terrible that breaks reality..." She was silenced by Discord placing a single finger on her lips. "Oh, don't worry, your highness, I wouldn't dream of doing anything like that. I promise, anything I do, I'll undo by the end of the day..."
Oh Guildmaster, My Guildmaster!YOLO720NOSCOPE: Unlimited Saga is now ponies. ScionOfTorgue: MISTER TORGUE FULLY APPROVES THE F[Censored] OUT OF THIS S[Censored]!!! X-Treme-inator: Oh man, this is even funnier than the tutus! I'm laughing my @$$ off here. RiderOnTheStorm: Best April Fools Ever, Forever. Shadowfax: I'm having Diablo 3 flashbacks here. YOLO720NOSCOPE: GUILDMASTER!!! ScionOfTorgue: GUILDMASTER!!! X-Treme-inator: GUILDMASTER!!! RiderOnTheStorm: GUILDMASTER!!! Shadowfax: You guys need to stop calling me that. Rider will be your guildmaster, starting next week. ScionOfTorgue: T-T *Cries tears so manly that they turn into bikini models made of bacon and deep-fried beer cans when they hit the ground* X-Treme-inator: D: WHY MUST BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE!?!?!? RiderOnTheStorm: You'll always be our Guildmaster, no matter what happens. YOLO720NOSCOPE: Ummm, I hate to ask, but nobody's told me so I gotta. Why are you leaving? Shadowfax: Medical reasons. YOLO720NOSCOPE: What kind? Shadowfax: The kind you don't usually come back from. YOLO720NOSCOPE: ...Oh. RiderOnTheStorm: The guild won't be the same without you. Shadowfax: The Riders Of Rohan are far greater than any one person. All I did was start something beautiful. It was you guys, and everyone else in the guild, that made it what it is today, and will keep it going in my memory. Whatever happens, I can go with absolute certainty the the Riders are in good hands. Shadowfax: On a lighter note, the admins made good on their promise. There's an alchemy recipe for the Exp Booster potions. ScionOfTorgue: Sweet! I always wanted one of those, but they were only available through the cash shop before, and I never really had the money to spare. Shadowfax: Yeah. These won't stack like the cash shop version does, so you won't be able to just use a bunch of them and gain ridiculous exp boosts like some guys did. They have to keep a demand going for the cash shop version, I guess. YOLO720NOSCOPE: Che, yeah, there's always some munchkin out there who wants to level up without working for it... Shadowfax: As we speak, I'm planting the seeds so I can harvest the ingredients. The components are pretty rare, so before I go, remind me to drop my items off in the guild warchest before I log off today, or you may have to do some farming before you can make more than today's supply. I should have the first batch of them within the hour. I'll meet you guys in the town square of 'Ponyville'. Have a dance party or something while you wait. RiderOnTheStorm: Gotta love how in-depth this prank is, they even renamed the towns! The first Applejack knew of the blank eyed, blank flanked ponies was when she spotted one from her bedroom window. It was planting a seed in the ground, and shortly after began watering it with a small watering can. Now, Applejack didn't have any problems with an earth pony planting a seed and trying to make it grow, but he was doing so on her property. It was on a patch that her family wasn't using, yes, and she'd have no problems with someone using it, since it wasn't good for growing apples, but it was still her land, and her family's land. The least the feller could do was ask first. She'd hardly charge anything for the use of it. Heck, she'd sell it to him for a song (Well, not a song song, unless it was a really impressive musical number, but a lot less than he'd find elsewhere), if he showed any interest. After all, the Apple family had never managed to get anything to grow on that particular patch, and with it being too close to the Everfree Forest, it was a bit of a risk, trying to plant anything. However, after getting her hat on and heading down to see this stranger who had decided to take up gardening on her property, she quickly realized something was wrong: His movements were too... mechanical, to be those of an ordinary pony, and his absence of a cutie mark was surprising. And then there was the eyes... They were just a blank, white void. The lights might have been on, given that the stallion was moving around with clear intent, but it seemed that nopony was home. She was so surprised by the pony's appearance that it took her a minute to see that there were words floating in the air, above the pony's head. They read: Shadowfax, Lvl: 99 Guild: The Riders Of Rohan They just hovered there like some kind of magical bulletin board, proclaiming, presumably, the pony's identity for all the world to see... Upon realizing that what she was seeing was no ordinary pony, she decided the best thing to do was to see if she could get Twilight Sparkle to take a look. After all, this smelled of magic, and strong magic at that, and magic was her lavender friend's specialty. After letting her brother know what was going on, and asking him to make sure that neither he, nor Granny Smith or Applebloom got anywhere near the strange stallion, before she got back. And with that, she took off for Ponyville at a run. Little did she know that she wasn't the first pony in town to see such strange ponies, but the last. ...Two hours later There was a changeling, in the Everfree Forest. She was not remarkable as changelings go, save for one characteristic: She really hated timberwolves. This was a rather new trait she had developed, one that had only appeared within the last few weeks. In truth, she was rather new to the entire concept of hatred, having never really encountered a creature that she could honestly say that she disliked. Changelings, it may surprise you to learn, are pretty mellow, emotion-wise. They tend to just go with the flow, most of the time. However, as new as she was to hatred, she was doing a masterful job of hating timberwolves in general, and the seventeen that had been hounding her for the last two weeks in specific. In Japanese folklore, the wolves of that island nation were said to be able to pursue their prey for days on end, exhausting their quarry until it could be taken down. This would imply a level of stamina that would be considered almost impossible. Hunting like that would almost be a zero-sum game: The amount of nutrition gained from eating all but the largest creatures would not be worth such intensive and persistent pursuit. However, timberwolves need no sleep, and do not need to eat or drink, strictly speaking. They will tear a creature apart with their fangs, but gain no sustenance from the act of killing. Once they catch the scent of prey, however, they will pursue their prey until either it leaves the confines of the forest, or they catch what they are after... So, for two miserable weeks, the changeling had fled for her life, trying desperately to stay alive. She hadn't managed to catch even a wink of sleep for two days, once the pack pursuing her had grown to a large enough size that they could climb atop one another and reach her even in the tallest trees. Her wings were damaged, from the creatures having caught her off-guard at the beginning of this mess and having gotten in a lucky bite, so she couldn't just fly away. When she'd tried fighting them off, she'd discovered that they came back together in short order, and they had taken great offense in her having tried to stop that from happening by setting three of them on fire. They were not going to give her the chance to try that again. They were advancing in numbers too great for her, even if she were fresh and well rested. Now? She was exhausted, sore, and bleeding from dozens of places, where the wolves had managed to get the drop on her and get a fang into one of the joints in her carapace. Even if she somehow miraculously escaped, she'd likely bleed out soon. It was almost over now: She was lunch, and she knew it... ...But she wasn't going to stop running until she passed out from exhaustion. That way, even if she died, she'd be completely unconscious and unable to feel the pain of her demise. Her shock at suddenly breaking the tree line and somehow ending up on a farm caused her to momentarily lose track of her surroundings. In that brief moment of surprise, her hoof caught on a small stone, and she tripped and skidded, before finally coming to a stop. She tried to get up, but her strength deserted her. She was tired. So... so tired... She nearly fell asleep, but the sudden, victorious snarls of the timberwolves forced her back into wakefulness. She tried to rise, but failed once more, and could only turn to face her inevitable doom. And that was when he appeared: A pony, moving to engage the approaching timberwolves. He was an earth pony, his coat a shadowy grey. He seemed no bigger or stronger than the average member of his species, and yet his movements were so efficient, so professional, that they seemed almost mechanical in their precision. There was not a single motion wasted, not even a slight muscle twitch that could suggest anything but absolute surety in his strength and ability. He charged the first timberwolf, and as he did so, his body was suddenly enveloped in a sheet of golden fire. He slammed into the wooden beast, and it did not burst apart, as most timberwolves did, but rather it exploded into a cloud of ash and burning sticks. Without hesitation, the stranger engaged the rest of the pack. It was like watching some figure of legend, brought to life to dispense justice to the wicked: His strikes were swift, sure, and lethal, reducing his foes into clouds of ash with seemingly no effort at all. Withing twenty seconds, and without his foes ever laying a single tooth or claw upon him, this stranger destroyed the entire pack, each one with only a single blow. And then, he turned and approached her... Ponies and changelings did not have the best of histories, for obvious reasons. While the pony had saved her from timberwolves, it was unlikely that he had done so out of charity: Timberwolves were likely as much a threat to ponies as they were to any other creature. She expected that his only intent now was in putting an end to her life. Well, she was as good as dead, anyways: Barring immediate medical attention, which was practically unheard of for a changeling, she was going to bleed to death soon. She was fading already. At least whatever this stallion did would be quick... Instead, she was startled to see a gold-tinted bottle, filled with a rainbow-colored fluid, suddenly appear on the ground in front of her. She studied the strange container, and noted the red plus sign emblem on the front. ...No, it couldn't be. Though it took what little strength she had left, she managed to grab the bottle, and poured the contents into her mouth. The effects were almost instantaneous: The aches of two weeks on the run suddenly vanished, as did the pain of her injuries. As she looked on in awe, her bite wounds also healed. More incredibly, her stamina suddenly returned, and then seemed to grow ten-fold, as if, instead of having been driven nearly to death with exhaustion, she had just woken up from a great night's sleep. And perhaps most fantastically at all, she felt an incredible amount of energy well up inside of her, as if she had suddenly consumed enough love to feed a dozens of changelings for a dozen moons. Inconceivable. A healing potion. The stallion... that strange, inexplicable, wonderful stallion had given her a healing potion, and one so potent it had restored both her stamina and her love energy to their fullest! Such brews were almost impossibly rare, as their ingredients were almost fantastically difficult to come by, and had to be distilled through an insanely complex process that only a small number of beings were well-versed enough in potion-crafting to complete. While hospitals could take care of most injuries these days through mundane means, only a healing spell or a potion could take someone from the brink of death, and restore them instantly to wellness, and unicorns who knew complex healing spells were even rarer than the potions. Such items were normally kept only by the fantastically wealthy, or by major government figures whose sudden death would be considered a global calamity (Like certain alicorns). It was said that Princesses Celestia and Luna had three stored away somewhere, in case of an emergency, and that anypony else could count themselves lucky to have even one. And this... this stallion had given her a potion worth a king's ransom, no, ten kings' ransoms, as though it were nothing... ...To a nameless drone like her. It would be difficult to put into words how moved she was by such an act of kindness and generosity. Even the queen would never be so giving: If she were to gain possession of such a brew, she'd never allow anybuggy near it, or even know it existed, let alone give it to someone she'd never met before. Rising to her hooves, she took in the appearance of the pony, and for the first time noted the words above his head. She took a moment to come to a very important decision, and then bowed, and said, in a voice choked with emotion... "I do not know where you came from, or what brought you here, but you have my eternal, undying gratitude... and my allegiance, Lord Shadowfax. From this day forward, I renounce all loyalties, and swear myself to your service. From now until the end of time, your allies are my allies, your enemies are my enemies, and your cause is my cause. If you wish me to guard your body, none will touch you save after stepping over my corpse. If you wish me to serve you, I will perform any task, no matter how menial, without complaint, and to the best of my ability. If you... if you wish for a companion, I promise you will find none more skilled in the romantic arts than I. From now, until the end of my life, I am yours, and yours alone." Meanwhile, in another universe... A figure sat behind a computer, looking at a message that just appeared... 'Changeling wants to join your guild. Will you let her?' 'Yes/No' The figure pondered this unusual turn of events for a moment. It was unheard of for an NPC to make a request like that. He'd dropped the potion just to see what happened, although he'd intended to drop a standard healing potion, not one of his Total Restoration potions. Still, he had dozens of those to spare, so it was no big deal. This... changeling's reaction must have been a part of the April Fool's Event. He moved his cursor over to click yes, and then paused, wracked by a fit of coughing. It lasted only a minute, but when he pulled his hand away from his mouth, it came away speckled with blood. "The doctor was being optimistic," the figure said as he noted that his hand was covered in more blood than it had been when he'd suffered such a fit this morning. "I'm not going to last the month. I'll be lucky to see the end of the week..." He considered, for a moment, just clicking 'No', dropping his items off in the guild warchest, and calling an ambulance. Since he'd woken up this morning, his lungs had been on fire, as were his guts, he was sweating buckets in spite of how cool it was today, and he felt a pounding in his head that would not stop. He was on time with his meds, but his body seemed to be taking a bad turn, and he might very well have only hours, instead of the days he had been promised only last week by the doctors. But then again... He sighed, and then clicked 'Yes'. His condition had been confirmed incurable. The truth is, he'd been almost fantastically lucky to last as long as he had, even at the young age of twenty-six. If he was about to die, it would just mean that he didn't have three weeks of bedpans and feeding tubes to look forward to while his body finally gave up the ghost. In the meantime, he'd die doing what he loved: Playing games with all his friends.
Flash Mob!Author's Note Funny story: I used to play Guild Wars, and one of my favorite parts of the game was that, in the lobbies, you could just start doing stuff like playing air-guitar or drums, or start dancing, and people would just join in. I once started a group by playing air guitar that eventually grew to involve twenty people, including three guitarists, a drummer, and sixteen dancers. It's good to know that Guild Wars isn't the only game where spontaneous dance parties can occur. Flash Mob! Shadowfax: Still waiting for stuff to grow. How is it going for you guys? X-Treme-inator: You missed a hilarious micro-raid boss, or maybe a mini-boss. Came right into town, and we whooped it in less than a minute! Yolo720NoScope: It was hilarious. A Bugbear: Half bee, half panda bear. The pun was strong with that one. ScionOfTorgue: I'd send you a screenshot, but that function isn't working, for some reason... Shadowfax: Sorry I missed it. Still, the day is young, and there is much more in store, I'm sure. The plants seem to be taking longer than normal. I wonder if I accidentally planted them in an enemy zone? NaughtySexyGothGirl: Yeah, one big drawback to this prank is that it is hard to tell where the enemy zones are, and they do double the growth time for plants. That, and the fast travel option isn't working right now, so if you're wanting to go anywhere, you're hoofin' it, pardon the pun. RiderOnTheStorm: GOTHY! Where are you? I thought you'd be in the beginner area like we were? NaughtySexyGothGirl: I planned to be, but my sister dragged me into a late night run through the Cave Of Endless Despair with her guild, that aggravating level 50-60 dungeon. Her buddies are, at most, level 50, so they wanted a level 80 to hold their hands, in case things got rough. They did: Half the guild suddenly ditched in the middle of the raid boss. I ended up doing a lot of the heavy lifting, and the fight went on into the wee hours of the morning. As soon as we returned to the main hub, I logged off, and only got up about five minutes ago. They renamed the hub city 'Canterlot', just so you'll know. Sorry for not being there with you guys. If I can find a way out of town, I'll join up as soon as I can, but it'll be a long walk through hostile territory with fast travel out. I'm hoping I can use my mount once I'm out of town, but I can't make any promises. RiderOnTheStorm: I'll forgive you this time, but if anything else happens today, I'll pin you and tickle you tomorrow night... NaughtySexyGothGirl: Ooooh, promises, promises. You're lucky I'm into that kind of thing, sweetie. Shadowfax: Yes, yes, we all know you two are going at it like march hares. Keep it to the private chat, please. The admins come down hard on that kind of talk, remember? NaughtySexyGothGirl: Fine, fine, spoil all our fun. So, how's the dance party? RiderOnTheStorm: Hilarious. And get this: Some of the NPC's are joining in! One hour earlier... The last thing that Applejack had expected to see when she reached Ponyville was scores of dancing ponies similar to the one she saw at Sweet Apple Acres... She had to admit, though, these odd ponies definitely had some moves. Unlike the gardening stallion she'd seen, their moves were incredibly fluid, almost supernaturally so. Strangely, they were all dancing in place, rather than moving around like most ponies would. And naturally, because there were ponies dancing, Pinkie Pie was right there in the middle of it, mimicking the moves of the strange ponies, or 'Strangers' as they were currently being called. According to Rainbow Dash, the ponies had somehow arranged themselves so that their dancing bodies formed a somewhat crude design of a pony in mid-gallop when seen from the air. With no one having heard the Strangers speak, that had intrigued Twilight Sparkle, since it suggested communication in a form that the ponies couldn't understand or perceive... What was truly bizarre was the names of some of the Strangers: There was a unicorn with an tan coat and a brown mane, with the name 'ScionOfTorgue', dancing next to another unicorn, this one bright green with a shockingly bright purple mane, named 'YOLO720NOSCOPE'. She honestly had no idea who this 'Torgue' was, and as for the other, she wasn't even sure if those were actual words, or a random collection of letters and numbers... ...And she wasn't even going to start on' ButtStallion4Eva!', or 'GiganticCockatiel'. Who in their right mind would name their child that? And if it wasn't their birth name, then why in the world would they chose... those for names? "And you've got one doing some gardening back at Sweet Apple Acres?" Applejack looked over at Twilight and nodded in response to her friend's question, then added, "Yup. He looked a bit off, so I thought I'd call you over and check it out. I didn't reckon on you having a situation like this." Twilight, looking surprisingly calm considering the weirdness of what was going on, nodded, and said, "There's ponies like this all over Equestria, according to Celestia and Luna. They sent me a letter just a few minutes ago, describing it. Not all of the 'Strangers' are dancing like these are, or gardening, but they've proven to be completely harmless... unless you attack them, like the Bugbear learned today." Right, that had been another big surprise: The bugbear had apparently broken out of Tartarus and come back, looking for revenge. These strangers, the moment the beast had appeared, had banded together and subdued the beast in seconds. It was currently sitting nearby, bound and gagged, waiting for the royal guard to come and pick it up for transport back where it belonged. It had taken Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and their friends most of a day to stop the Bugbear last time: The idea that a group of seemingly ordinary ponies could overwhelm a beast that had proven a challenge even to professional monster hunters was a little scary. If even a few of them were to suddenly turn hostile... Tapping her hoof against her chin, she seemed to think for a moment, then came to a decision. "I'm almost certain it's a prank from Discord for Trickster Day, and were it anything else, I'd be tempted to try a banishment spell to send these ponies back where they come from. Since it is a prank, and Discord promised that he'd undo anything he did at the end of the day, I'm willing to be patient." She paused, then added, "Still, for my peace of mind, once, I've finished taking a few measurements, I'd like to check on the pony at Sweet Apple Acres, just to be safe. None of the other strangers seemed to be doing any sort of work, or really anything constructive at all, so it might be worth investigating..." ...An hour later... "...From now, until the end of my life, I am yours, and yours alone." Twilight Sparkle's mouth was hanging open in surprise, she knew, but she couldn't help it. She and Applejack had arrived just in time to see the end of the battle, and the changeling's vow of loyalty to the Stranger. This was an unprecedented level of interaction between a Stranger and another living creature: While the entities were definitely not hostile, they seemed to treat ponies less like living creatures and more like a sort of living furniture. The fact that this one had directly intervened to save the life of a living creature from hostile predators, and then gave the rescued changeling a healing potion, suggested a far greater level of intelligence and compassion than the Strangers had demonstrated before. But the question remained, did this stranger understand what had just happened? Did it even understand the words that the changeling had spoken. After a brief pause, the Stranger nodded. There was a sudden flash of light around the changeling, and suddenly, she was wearing a cloak, green in color, with the image of a white horse in mid-gallop upon her back, with a sun blazing in the corner, all bound about her throat with a clasp of gold. Before Twilight could say anything, a tree suddenly shot out of the ground, going from a tiny seedling to full-grown in a heartbeat. This was repeated six times more, each tree a different shape and size, and each bearing a different fruit, none of them could be identified by the well-read alicorn... "Wonders upon wonders," the changeling said, breathlessly, looking up at the trees in awe. Twilight couldn't argue with her: There was a great deal more going on here than the princess had imagined possible. Fruits began to fall from the trees, all of which was quickly collected by the stallion with an efficiency that made even an expert apple farmer like Applejack look like a rank amateur. As soon as all of his goods were harvested, the trees suddenly withered and died, and the stallion, strangely enough, pulled two vials out from nowhere, and seemed to be moving a fluid from one to another. After a few seconds, it suddenly rained scores of potion bottles, all of them identical to one another: A gold and glass creation with the letters 'EXP', followed by a plus sign. The stranger quickly picked the potions up, and promptly began walking away. The changeling, after a moment's hesitation, followed after him, nodding to Applejack and Twilight as she passed. Curious, Twilight turned to follow the two, but paused. After a brief discussion, she told Applejack to follow, and that she would catch up. She walked over to where the trees were standing only a minute ago, and studied the ground: It was completely unmarked, as if the planting and the miracle trees had not been there at all... Curiouser and curiouser...
A Brief Interlude: Comparing NotesAuthor's Note As you will likely deduce yourself, unlike other players, guildmaster text is always black. A Brief Interlude: Comparing Notes **Shadowfax, Guildmaster of The Riders Of Rohan, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** Shadowfax: I'm calling out to all guild leaders. I've got something unusual going on, and I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced something like this today. **Wolfensteiner, Guildmaster of The Wolf Guard, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** Wolfensteiner: I'm here. What's the situation, arf? **UndefeatedOfTheEast, Guildmaster of The Defenders Of The Rising Sun, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** UndefeatedOfTheEast: I'm intrigued, if it's something so strange that you're using the 'Neutral Ground' line, rather than the general chat. **TerribleThunderLizard, Guildmaster of The Ancient Dragons Of Destruction, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** TerribleThunderLizard: Present, and listening. **MelonFudges, Guildmaster of The Joker Kings, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** MelonFudges: You have my undivided attention. **EatsYourFace, Guildmaster of The Crimson Viper Army, has logged into the guildmasters only chat** EatsYourFace: ...Shoot. Shadowfax: I saw an NPC getting hounded by a monster mob. They were all level 5's, so I stepped in, and... well, you know how that song and dance goes. Anyways, the NPC was at one hp, so I dropped a healing potion. I meant it to be a regular one, but I dropped a top tier one instead. The NPC picked it up and used it, and recovered. Then, to my surprise, I got an invite from the NPC to join my guild! Wolfensteiner: Whoa. Really, arf? Shadowfax: Yes, really. I clicked yes, and she's been added to the roster. She's wearing the guild cape and everything. I'd screenshot it and show it, but that's not working today. I tried to shoot a message to the admins, but that's not working, either. I think it's part of the April Fool's event, but I don't know if it's a unique thing, or if there are events like this everywhere. EatsYourFace: Nobody has reported anything like that to me, but I will admit, NPC behavior is weird today. Nothing I can put a finger on, but just a sort of overall weirdness in general. It's all quiet here in 'Manehatten'. I'm thinking it's the event, too. UndefeatedOfTheEast: I don't have anything that weird to report, but me and mine are in a town, not out and about. I've heard some folks on the general chat in the area, here in Van Hoover, and they're saying that there are no monsters in the area. This used to be beast central, with guys in the 60 and above level, but today there's nothing. TerribleThunderLizard: I found a kid, or filly, I guess, getting chased by a bunch of weird electric insects out in the field. I took care of them pretty easily, and while the little lady didn't offer to join my guild, I did get a hug out of it, and a quest update telling me to follow her home. I escorted her to Las Pegasus, and when we arrived, I received a message indicating I was invited to go on a picnic with the kid and her parents. I'm there now. It is a pretty quaint scene, although my guildmates hopping around all over the place kinda spoils the picture. Wolfensteiner: I just got on, but my guys are telling me that that NPCs were avoiding them when they first arrived, here in Appleloosa. I'm wondering if it's because they're in wolf-form, arf? MelonFudges: I'm here in the hub city, currently called Canterlot. My mates and I decided to barge into the big castle here, and play around in the throne room, where two big ponies with wings and horns were holding court. Weirdest thing: When it became clear we weren't leaving, the seemed to decide to close shop, and everyone left. Although, the big white pony came back a few minutes later, and is sitting down and eating cake, watching us hold an epic dance party. There's like five other guilds in here with us, and everybody is dancing. Gotta tell you, The Renegades Of Funk guild lives up to the name. I wish we had screenshots right now: This is shaping up to be the single biggest dance mob in the history of the game! Shadowfax: Okay. Noted. Thanks, everyone. If there's any new developments, I'll let you know. Please do likewise? TerribleThunderLizard: Deal. MelonFudges: Fair enough. Wolfensteiner: Of course, arf! UndefeatedOfTheEast: Hai! EatsYourFace: ...Agreed. Wolfensteiner: ...Man, I really hate how the game adds barks, woofs, and arfs to chat when I'm in wolf form, woof. MelonFudges: You could just change out when you need to chat. Wolfensteiner: Now you're just talking crazy, arf. Shadowfax: On an unrelated note, has anyone heard from TheLionOfTheNorth? EatsYourFace: He's logged in, but he's not answering any pm's right now. Why do you ask? Shadowfax: He'd wanted to talk about a joint guild raid with us and The Ancient Dragons Of Destruction. He wanted our help to take down the one eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater. EatsYourFace: You mean The Unmaker? The Seven Starred Raid Boss? The one that most people call The Guild Eater? Shadowfax: Yeah. Terrible and Lion wanted to take the guy down, and since me and mine are the first guild to have succeeded in doing so... EatsYourFace: You and your PVE buddies. If you want a real challenge, PVP is the best place to be. Shadowfax: Do a raid against the The Unmaker, and then tell me that there's no challenge to it. Heck, you can check out the video we made of it on youtube: 80 million views and counting. Took two hours, but we did it, and we got the legendary item out of it, no less. Well, I did, anyways: I offered, but nobody in the guild was willing to take it, even after the second time. I ended up with two identical legendaries... which is pretty cool, but if we go after him again, somebody is going to have to take it, because I can't wield three. EatsYourFace: ...Epic loot aside, I'll never understand how you losers can have so much fun doing that stuff: What fun is there in defeating someone who isn't real? At least when I shank a scrub, I have the satisfaction of proving that I'm better than a live person, not a combination of ones and zeroes...
Connection EstablishedScionOfTorgue: Hey, Shadowfax, who is **Changeling**? RiderOnTheStorm: Yeah, I thought that were were putting a freeze on new additions until after the guild changed hands. Shadowfax: She's an NPC I rescued from a mob. RiderOnTheStorm: ...Seriously? Shadowfax: Seriously. I just had a short conference with the guildmasters: Odd stuff is happening all over. It seems I accidentally triggered a special event. ScionOfTorgue: Interesting. I wonder what would happen if I sent her a PM. The option is there, after all... RiderOnTheStorm: Really? Huh. Well, knock yourself out. Shadowfax: I've harvested my goods, and made the potions. I'm walking to Ponyville with the NPC in tow. When I get there... RiderOnTheStorm: What? Shadowfax: It's nothing. Just be ready to receive the potions. GrimmShado: *A portal opens in the sky, and the incredibly cool and powerful Sorcelator, GrimmShado, jumps out, landing on his feet with the skill that comes from many hours of practice in the art of portal jumping. While surprised to find himself suddenly a pony, his incredibly well-honed self-discipline prevents him from expressing that surprise as anything other than a slightly raised eyebrow.* So, it's ponies today? RiderOnTheStorm: Grimm! Now it's a party! I am having a conversation with a changeling, Princess Twilight Sparkle thought to herself, more than a little surprised. I'm walking with her to Ponyville, and we're having a conversation. This day cannot possibly get any weirder. To be fair, this was more or less a first, as far as she knew: While the queen of the changelings was known to be quite talkative (Although she tended to prefer to speak in the language of Gloat), the common changeling had never been found to talk to anyone outside of their own kind while in their true form. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom had stated that, when they had been foalnapped by changelings, the queen had conversed several times with one of her minions, so it was known that conversation was possible. Instead, it simply wasn't done. And what a conversation it was turning out to be... "After we were ejected from Canterlot," the changeling continued, as she followed Shadowfax down the road, "We had ended up in Lovey-Dovey Land. The place was populated by a bunch of adorable little creatures which seemed to be a blend of cat and rabbit. They were... extremely loving, and accepted us in spite of our appearance. I had hoped, upon seeing them, that we might have found a new home, someplace we could be something other than monsters. Instead..." She paused, seeming to be unwilling to speak. "The queen ordered you all to take the place over, and turn the residents to snacks?" Applejack asked bluntly. "Yes," the changeling admitted, unhappily. "That was when I realized that the queen was insane: Here we were, someplace where we could potentially live out our days in peace, and the queen's only thought was of revenge. Revenge on all of you, in spite of having promised to look after us first and foremost. I knew the queen could be petty and selfish at times, but I never imagined..." She paused, then continued, "That was when I decided it was time to leave. I couldn't do anything to help the 'cabbits', since I was just one, and the swarm could easily overpower me if I tried to stop them. However, I could use the distraction of the conquest of the land to slip away without being noticed." She cleared her throat, then added, "I'd... heard that you had captured the queen, and liberated the cabbits. How are they?" "Doing well," Twilight answered, nodding. "There were... losses, due to what the queen and others had done to them, but the ones who weren't drained too badly more or less walked it off, and the ones who were severely drained recovered after a little TLC." The princess paused, and asked, "So, what have you been doing all this time?" The changeling shrugged, and admitted, "Exploring: I'd not seen much of the world, outside of what the swarm had visited. I decided to go and see some more of it. I'd gotten pretty far before I'd heard of your ascension. That was when I decided I'd come and pay you a visit." An eyebrow raised, Applejack asked, "And why would you want to do that?" "For the first time in more than a thousand years," the changeling answered, "new magic had been created. Not since Starswirl the Bearded had anyone created a new spell. I was curious to see if her highness might be willing to try for two in her lifetime." "A second spell?" Twilight asked, confused. Well, it wasn't impossible, she supposed, but there were so many spells already out there already. The main reason why new spells were no longer developed was because no one really thought that there was anything else that a spell could be used for. Starswirl's last completed spell was one that involved mass producing pottery, and there had been a few who considered that as an act of desperation: He had created that spell since he couldn't get his unfinished spell to work, and the elderly wizard had wanted to be known for creating 'something' original... "Yes," the changeling said with a nod, "a new spell. I spent some time in libraries containing spell books, particularly spells on transformation. There are spells that can change ponies to griffins, minotaurs, hydras, nagas... almost any creature you can name, and spells that can work the other way, changing other creatures into ponies. There are spells that can change a minotaur to a griffin, a dragon into a chimera, practically any combination you can imagine... except changelings. No one wants to transformed into a changeling, and no one can change a changeling into something else." "And you want to be turned into something else," Applejack deduced. "Exactly," the changeling admitted. "As long as I'm a changeling, there's a risk that the queen might find me, and if she does, she'll do something... drastic, unpleasant, and permanent to me. If I'm no longer a changeling, then I would no longer have to worry about it." Twilight rubbed her chin in thought, and said, "I... may be able to come up with something, but it'll take time. A lot of time." "I'm over a thousand years old," the changeling said with a shrug. "I have an overabundance of time." Suddenly, in the air in front of the changeling, there appeared an image. It was reminiscent of the display that Twilight had used to explain what had happened to Fluttershy during the vampire fruitbat incident, but instead of images, it displayed words, reading 'ScionOfTorgue has sent you a private message. Would you like to read it? Yes/No'. "What in the world?" the changeling whispered, surprise clear in her voice. "That's the name of one of the ponies that's in Ponyville," Applejack stated. "If I remember right, he's got that 'Riders Of Rohan' thing under his name, too." Twilight's jaw, which had dropped at the appearance of the message, closed back with a click, and she said, "This could be huge. This is the first time we've received any sort of a communication from the 'Strangers'. Could you open it, please?" The changeling hesitated for a moment, then raised a hoof, and placed it on the 'Yes'. The image changed, displaying the words, 'Welcome to the guild! If you would like to talk, feel free to come to the guild chat, **Changeling**. We're all interested in meeting our guild's newest member. You can find all of us in Ponyville if you'd like to meet face to face.' Before Twilight could make any sort of a comment, Shadowfax suddenly erupted in an explosion of golden light, momentarily blinding her. When her vision cleared, the earth pony was suddenly clad in golden armor, with a pair of massive swords strapped to his back... "Whoa..." Rainbow Dash, still in Ponyville, pulled herself up off of the ground from where she had crashed, then looked around her as her eyesight cleared, taking in the sight of dozens, if not hundreds, of suddenly armed and armored ponies dancing around, running about and hopping up and down for no reason, and just plain acting goofy for no reason at all. Their now-very-definitely martial appearance was completely at odds with their behavior. It was as if Equestria was being invaded by warriors whose primary means of attack was through the time-honored art of getting down and/or funky, and by acting like total goofballs. "This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen," Dashie said, bluntly, "and I've been hanging around Discord AND Pinkie Pie..." "Yeah," said Pinkie Pie, standing beside her. After a moment, she turned and looked at Dashie in annoyance and said, "HEY!"
You Make An Ass Out Of You And Me**Changeling**: Hello? ScionOfTorgue: Holy cow, it worked! Hi! NaughtySexyGothGirl: OMG!!! YOLO720NOSCOPE: No way. This is like ten million times beyond any prank the admins have done before... RiderOnTheStorm: Heh. Answer this as quickly as you can: As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Every wife had seven sacks, and every sack had seven cats. Every cat had seven kittens, KITTENS CATS SACKS AND WIVES, HOW MANY WERE GOING TO ST IVES? NaughtySexyGothGirl: She's been here less than a minute, and you're trying to mess with her AI? Rude much? **Changeling**: One. Or maybe zero, depending on whether you're counting yourself in the riddle. No kittens, cats, sacks, or wives were going to St Ives, unless the traveler was going faster than they were, and they were all going in the same direction. ScionOfTorgue: Wow. That was faster than I would have expected. RiderOnTheStorm: Impressive. Two potentially correct answers, implying genuine analysis of the question asked, as well as an explanation of how you came by the answer. I'd almost swear I was talking to a real person. **Changeling**: ...A 'real person'? Well, why don't you just insult me to my face, then? RiderOnTheStorm: Excuse me? **Changeling**: I know that changelings aren't exactly the most popular species around, but we are real people, just like how you're a real jerk. YOLO720NOSCOPE: Oh snap, you got burned by an NPC, dawg! **Changeling**: That had better not have been an insult, mister green text whose name I can't pronounce. I didn't come here to be insulted. NaughtySexyGothGirl: Then where do you usually go? **Changeling**: ...HA! Good one. Alright, um... quick question. What does NPC stand for? And AI? NaughtySexyGothGirl: Acronym for Non-Player Character. AI means Artificial Intelligence. **Changeling**: And why did he call me that? RiderOnTheStorm: ...Now that is one heck of a question. I'm not exactly sure how to phrase the answer now. Um, if you'll accept an apology for what I said earlier, I'll give you as detailed an explanation as I can. **Changeling**: Deal. Start talking. This is only getting more and more confusing, Twilight Sparkle thought to herself as Ponyville finally came into view. She understood that video games were a thing on 'Earth', which she had visited twice before. Was there some manner of connection between the Strangers and the world beyond the mirror? Perhaps even worse, the explanation that this 'RiderOnTheStorm' was giving, if true, had terrifying implications... Equestria certainly wasn't a 'game', whatever these 'Players' seemed to think. However, if the world of Equestria was a video game to them, then there was a possibility that they might do something terrible, not realizing that they were hurting real people, not fictional characters. She'd need to head to her palace, and pick up her spell books for some research, pronto: She had little experience in crafting new arcane works, but perhaps if she cobbled together a few bits and pieces from existing spells, she might put together something that would help these players see that this was a real world that they were playing in... She didn't consider the possibility of a new spell doing any lasting harm to anyone or anything: After all, Discord had promised he'd undo anything that he'd done by the end of the day, right? Princess Luna wandered the streets of Canterlot, now that court had been deferred due to the unusual circumstances of the day. Normally, she'd had just turned in until it was time to set the sun and raise the moon, but something was bothering her. One of the major drawbacks of being an alicorn is that one cannot help but eventually become a reflection of what one represents. While Cadance and Twilight were still young, so they were not yet at the point where such... changes might be readily apparent, both Celestia and Luna had long ago become such living representations of primal forces of the world. Celestia represented the sun, and as such, she radiated warmth (Not quite literally, although she could crank up the heat if need be). Ponies felt that warmth, and were drawn to it. Luna represented the moon, and the moon can only reflect warmth, not generate it. Thus, a thousand years ago, because she had been alienated by the very ponies that she had dedicated her life to serve, the lunar princess had turned... dark. These days, Luna was able to reflect the warmth, kindness, and affection that others felt for her. This meant that, unlike Celestia who broadcasted her affections to all around her, Luna was incredibly sensitive to the feelings of others... This sensitivity allowed her to know when others were experiencing nightmares, both literally and figuratively. Somewhere in Canterlot, a pony was experiencing a sort of waking nightmare, and it was Luna's sworn duty, as the keeper of Equestria's dreams and defender of its innocence, to find out what was going on, and remedy the situation. ...However, she wasn't expecting the individual who was radiating such fear, such limitless terror, to be one of the Strangers. He stood on a sidewalk, unmoving and unblinking. He was garbed, less like a soldier or warrior like the others had been, and more like some great warrior king. "The-Lion-Of-The-North," Luna said, reading the words above his head aloud. Strange. These outsiders either had very strange names, or a fondness for nicknames. She couldn't help but wonder if it was one that the immobile stranger had earned, or perhaps simply one he had borrowed for another... Celestia studied the dancing Strangers as she continued eating cake, her secretary taking notes as the princess dictated them between bites. "Names containing the words 'Naruto', 'Sasuke', 'Luffy', and 'Goku', preceded or followed by a sequence of letters and/or numbers seem to be the most common," she observed aloud. "There's an odd correlation between the presence of those words and a lower 'Level'. In this room, I do not see a single Stranger above level twenty with those words in their name. I also note that while many low-level characters have names that are threatening in some fashion, only a small number of high level characters have a name that proclaim themselves dangerous or some sort of threat." She silently added to herself, 'Although Level 99 DarkdeathEvilman sticks out like a minotaur in a crowd of ponies, especially with that sinister-looking armor he now wears...' The individual in question was sporting a suit of armor that, surprisingly enough, seemed to be made of well-polished gold, although the beastial appearance and the spiky decorations definitely proclaimed him as someone supremely dangerous. A pair of clawed gauntlets were strapped to his back, which made her wonder if, in battle, this individual might stand upon his hind legs and wield those upon his forehooves, so that he might appear as some manner of two-legged tiger... There were too many questions here, and the names were just the start, although they were among the most puzzling. If they didn't engage in verbal conversation, then were the fearsome names like some sort of threat display that they outgrew when they became stronger? Were the common names meant to give them some sort of sense of belonging? And what about this 'GarnetAmethystPearl' who was standing beside 'ANDSTEVEN111', and seemed inseparable from one another? Was there a joke that she wasn't getting? There was also the repetition of the word 'man' in many of the names, like 'ImBatman', 'SupermanRoxorzMyBoxorz', and 'ManlyManMansManily'. Celestia remembered Twilight's tales of the land beyond the mirror, where 'humans' were the only sapient lifeform, and the males of the species were referred to as men. Was there a connection? And if this was a prank by Discord... then what was the punchline? Discord smiled as he finished the last touch on his masterpiece. Upon an easel sat a painting of Twilight Sparkle... as a winged spork. The words 'Princess Twilight Sporkle' lined the bottom. He'd been at work at it for hours, since the moment he'd returned home after hearing about Trickster Day. His plan was to replace Equestria's normally blue sky with this delightfully amusing picture, and cycle it out with a few others, such as the ones that stood nearby: 'Buttershy', 'Marshmarity', 'Princess Balloona', and 'Chickaloo', just to name a few. It would be hilarious when his friends saw these embarrassing images displayed across the heavens! He'd gone without sleep, working all through the night and most of the day on this prank. He was certain that it would be the most spectacular thing the ponies would see all day...
Interlude: 'The Bird Is Struggling Out Of The Egg. The Egg Is The World...'Interlude: 'The Bird Is Struggling Out Of The Egg. The Egg Is The World...' 'Prince' Blueblood sat in front of a collection of mirrors, and once again contemplated how strange his life had become. His power at court had declined drastically, a decline that he suspected had started with the incident at the Gala. How could he have known that the young mare who'd been trying to get on his good side had been one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony? It wasn't as if Auntie Celestia had made that fact public. And then, less than a week later, the bearers had vanquished Discord, and their fame had been transmitted to the world at large. As soon as that had happened, the 'Prince' found had himself deserted by his allies in the court. In less than two weeks, he'd gone from a major player in Equestrian politics... to a 'Prince' in name only. Sometimes, Blue wondered if Celestia had arranged all of that: While no alicorn, Blueblood had possessed as much power in the political arena as Celestia had. So much so that the unicorn 'prince' had been but a few weeks away from beginning a power play that would have reduced Celestia into a figurehead, somepony with authority in name only, while the real power behind the throne would be Blueblood himself. Instead, the tables had turned before the game could even begin... Ironic, that. The sudden ascension of a new princess had only made Blueblood even less relevant than before: After all, what need was there of a prince, when such a capable princess was around, somepony who was able to go hooftip to hooftip with someone as powerful as Tirek? Blueblood was still wealthy, of course, and he still lived within the palace with his aunts in the lap of such opulence that most ponies would bite off their own hooves to enjoy it, but these days, he was such a social leper that even small colts and foals would cross the street to avoid being anywhere near the formerly great aristocrat. While he might one day be able to repair his reputation, such an act would be years in the making, and repairing his power block? It would take decades to create a new block that was even a fraction as powerful as his old one, even if that accursed Rarity suddenly vanished off the face of the planet tomorrow: Memories were surprisingly long in the court of Canterlot, most likely due to how old Celestia and Luna were... But that was why, he supposed, when his new ally appeared Blueblood had all but jumped at the offer. It would take a mighty deed to make the court overlook the 'prince's' past failings, and most mighty deeds were handled by alicorns these days. However, in the world that was to come... "So, how goes things on your end?" a voice from the mirror in front of Blueblood asked, startling him. As his ally would say, 'Speak of the devil, and he shall appear'... The fact that his 'ally' made it look as though his own reflection was speaking the words was just rude, though. "Surprisingly well," Blueblood admitted after a moment. "You were right: The very nature of this... 'Intersection' has done wonders to obscure our machinations. The fact that it coincided with Trickster Day has muddied the waters even further. Everyone belives it to be a prank by... ahem, he who shall not be named, lest we risk gaining his attention. No one suspects it to be anything but an elaborate joke, and will not until the very end." "Good," the voice said with a chuckle. "There are a few individuals on my end who suspect something is up, but no one can even begin to imagine what is about to happen. One of the advantages of a world normally without magic, I suppose." There was a pause, and then the voice said, "Just be ready: All I can give you is an opportunity to reclaim the respect and power that you so desperately crave. I make no guarantees, so if you fail, you'll have no one to blame but yourself." At least he was honest about that, and had been from the start. However, if things went the way that the two of them suspected that they would, the alicorns would suddenly find themselves in a world where they were no longer quite the 'be all, end all' absolute powers that they once were. The world would be plunged into chaos the likes of which even Discord would never imagine possible. A vacuum of power would suddenly form as the alicorns suddenly found their powers drastically lessened... and Blueblood would be the one to fill that void. "Not that I question your honesty," Blueblood began, his gaze intent upon the mirror, "but just what do you get out of all of this?" No one would go to all this trouble without intending to gain something, after all... "That's is a question with a complex answer," the voice said after a moment's pause. "Perhaps one day, we'll have time enough for me to explain it to you. For now, things are moving quickly, and there is no time for lengthy discussions." The prince snorted, then said, "Fine. Then how about a name? You've never bothered to give me one before now." The voice from the mirror laughed, and said, "Very well. 'The bird is struggling out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wants to be born must first destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The name of the God is called Abraxas.'" Blueblood's confusion must have shown through the reflection of the mirror, as the voice laughed again and said, "I suppose that your world didn't have Hermann Hesse, or anyone like him. And even if your world did, you don't strike me as the philosophical sort, or the sort interested in the works of those outside your quaint little kingdom. If you must have a name to call me by, though, then call me 'Abraxas'. Now, I must go. Tend to your business, while I finish sorting out mine." And with that, the voice was gone... Blueblood rolled his eyes, and then used his horn to cast a spell, bringing up images on each of the mirrors before him. Being a major mover and shaker in the world of politics had prepared him for all manner of strange bedfellows, and he could honestly say that there were none that he had liked all that much. However, the ones he disliked the most were the ones who were excessively enigmatic, dramatic, or philosophical... and just his luck that his only real ally these days was a combination of all three...
