Destiny is a Fickle thingby Northern Chaos33ChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 1You ever had one of those days? You wake up in the morning, preferably late in the morning on a weekend, and sit down with some toast, eggs, and a cup of orange juice. You open up a book, or take a glance at your phone, and enjoy a relaxing day. Today, was not one of those days. In a matter of fact, I have not had one of those days since I came to this world of colored monstrosities. Said monstrosities were coming around the corner now towards my cell. Four ponies emerged in front of my cell door. Two wore some kind of gold armor with weapons strapped to their sides and expressions the expressed their desire to impale me with their spears. The other two were….different to say the least. Yeah. Ponies in armor. And I was captured by them. You probably see me as some lame weakling. Well your wrong! These ponies weren’t the ones you see at the petting zoo. These ponies wielded some powerful magic. Like blow a hole-in-your-chest kind of magic. The Guards had different appearances, one seemed to have wings while the other sported a horn. As for the other two, both seemed to obtain both wings and horns. One of them, I believe they call themselves Alicorns, was a normal sized mare with purple pastel fur and a purple mane with a pink stripe going down it. The other was tall and white, with what looked like a vomited rainbow for a mane. I'd have to ask her how she kept in flowing in the air like that though. The two alicorns slammed open my cell and walked in, leaving the guards outside. Underestimating me seemed stupid. Then again, they seemed to do that with all of their enemies. The purple one seemed to be holding a clipboard, the white one just started at me. The only sound that seemed to fill the room was the purple alicorn writing down on the paper. The white one, who seemed to wear the most of girly of jewelry, walked up to me and used her magic to drag me to eye level. “I am Princess Celestia, Raiser of the Sun, Vanquisher of Darkness, and Diarch of Equestria,” she said, “And you have many things to answer for!” She stared at my helmet, horn blazing with magic. Her wings were fully displayed, a show of dominance perhaps? The way she glared at me made me think of someone glaring at a child, like I had broken someones toy or some shit like that. So here it was, the great Goddess of the Sun and the dreaded evil hunter. And she had the nerve to look down at me like this, like a nuisance. Well there was no way I was gonna look fearful in her majesties presence. I just stared back at her through my helmet “Are these multiple choice answers, or do I have to do a fill-it-out-yourself kind of thing?” I asked, putting on an innocent voice. She couldn't see the smirk I had under my helmet, but she could her it in my tone. This seemed to poke the lion even more. Her magic slammed me back against the wall while she gently place a hoof next to my head. I could see her smirk back at me, but her eyes….her eyes were filled with rage. “Why yes,” she said in a sweetly evil, sarcastic, voice, “How could I forget to explain how you would answer the questions. It's quite simple, you give the most truthful and specific answer to my question,” The last part she emphasize with the wall cracking where he hoof was. Sheesh, someone woke of with a bag load of shit dropped on them. Oh wait. That was me. “Um, Princess?” the purple one asked the white devil, “Shouldn't we start the interrogation?” Celestia spun around, obviously worried about the younger presence witnessing her rage. She seem to compose herself and put back on a smile, “Yes Twilight,” she answered, “We should begin!” Twilight looked toward me. “We'll start off with something easy. What is your name, for legal reasons of course!” The purple one, Twilight's her name, looked kind of adorable, ready to write down all kind of notes. “Nathan,” I said nonchalantly, no need hiding my name from them. Their was an uncomfortable pause, “….Nathan?” they both replied “Um, yeah. Nathan,” I repeated. What, was my name some kind of offensive word in their language. Again, the their was a pause. Both looking at me incredulously. “This….this was not the name you gave use when you ravaged our subjects' homes.” Celestia said, anger seeming to return. “Well I changed, I decided it was best to change my name as well. Besides, your ponies wouldn't have been so cautious around some named Nathan. That and I decided your precious asshole citizens didn't deserve my name!” Twilight seemed to flinch at the vulgar of my words, Celestia just seethed over this. “The what should we address you as, your real name or the one you cower behind? Virixas?” It was a Fallen name, one that belonged to the former Kell of the House of Wolves. He was killed by Mara Sov, the ruler of the awoken. I used his name as an alias, and as a way to try to put away who I used to be. I was fascinated with fallen history, I know I'm a nerd so no need to tell me. “Virixas will do,” I stated. Twilight was writing down my name it seemed, while Celestia looked ready to ask more questions. “Now that we've gotten past the pleasantries, I have some simple questions for you,” she said, “Who are you, why are you here, and why are you so driven to terrorize my little ponies!” Her horn got closer to my face with each one of her questions. “Okay, now listen to me. Your ponies have persecuted Me, your ponies started by terrorizing me and my friends, and as for my story….buckle up sister because your in for a long ride.” Chapter 2It was one of those days. I was relaxing after a nice breakfast, playing some video games. My friends/housemates, Ross and Sam, were in a Fireteam trying to make our daily run on Skolas in the PoE, emphasis on the word “trying”. This was around our third attempt, a blessing to some who had to struggle through many more tries. Unfortunately we need to complete this soon. Why the rush, you may ask? Well today I was attending my first convention. Of course I had no idea on what to do or how to prepare, but luckily we had Ross. Ross was a master of social events. He literally made a cheat sheet for Sam and I on what to expect and how to be ready. Ross was one of my oldest friends, he always had a way with people. He would listen to them speak, no matter the subject, and always kindly talk back, even when he disagreed with them they would be offended. Ross was looking to be a Game Engineer, currently on the way to earning a major in Computer Science. Ross loved games, it was him who introduced me to the world of gaming. Sam was the opposite of Ross on social skills. He was deathly afraid of attention. Sam was a great guy, but it was difficult to get to know him. I met him through Ross, both were in the same gaming group. It took weeks of living in the same building with him for us to start having real conversations, but I was patient and determined. I guess Sam seemed to notice it, because one morning he sat down and started talking to me! Around strangers, Sam was shy. Around us, I'd say he was one of the easy going person I've ever meet. Sam was looking to go into Video Game Design, He was an artistic visionary who spent hours on end making sure every little gear would work in the machine. Who was I? Well, like my friends I was looking to go into the same field. I wanted to be a Programmer. It's a job that works to help implement the final product. I'm currently 18 years of age, Ross being 20, and Sam being 23. Anyway, time to get back on track! The third try was like the others. I was playing a Hunter, Ross was a Titan, and Sam was a Warlock. Skolas appears and proceeds to shoot at us, making us go into cover. We immediately went to work. We had to shut down the servitors so that we could actually do damage to him, they put up this OP shield that blocked 99% of the damage going to him. We had to repeat this, on 30 seconds between each servitor going down, until he was around 65% health. Then we had to deal with those stupid Ads, just canon fodder minions, who constantly got in the way. But that was not the real issue with this fight. No, the real issue was “Devouring Essence”. Basically Skolas would latch Devouring Essence onto a random player and after 30 second, the player would die! The only way to stop that was to have someone transfer onto themselves. To stop hot potato between two players, Bungie gave the player who had it removed and immunity for 30 seconds (Damn you developers!). Skolas was now at 30%! I could hear my teammates, all of us we hyped. This is all we need to finish our gear set and this boss fight would be a distant memory. 25%……….17%……...8%….. YES 0%!! I could barely hold my excitement! (I did a dance...I know….) Whatever I would have done next was stopped. I could he the pounding of feet on the floor and my door swung open. “We've got an hour before the convention begins!” Ross shouted, “It'll take at least 10 minutes to get our costumes on!” “Alright! I'll be out in a minute!” I shouted back, immediately going for my closet. My costume was based of Destiny (Of course!). My costume consisted of the Kellhunter's set. It was a great costume, if I say so myself. I put it on and ran out of the house, Ross and Sam were waiting by the car. Sam wore the Kellbreaker's set, while Ross had his own Kellslayer's. We all got on the car and drove off to the convention. Ross talked us through the schedule of the convention and gave each of us a map. We mainly stuck by each other for the most of our visit. But when it came down to different panels and such, or interests were divided. We decided to meet up somewhere for food in about and hour and a half. With a plan set, we each went on our own way! ----------------------------------(1hr 24min later)---------------------------------------------------------------------- I was just wondering around at this point. I manged to find my self in some kind of market where people were selling replica's of items and such. Some of the stuff were pretty cool, but none of them called to me. I was a little down since I'd save up to bring something back, that and Ross made a bet on who would find the sickest stuff. All hope seemed lost, that was until I saw a stall with a guy wear a surprisingly convincing merchant outfit from RE4. “You seemed to be a stray guardian,” he said in some what creepy voice, “perhaps you would have interest for my wares?” I wasn't going to lie, I was a little creeped out. It then clicked. I remembered Ross's mentioning some of the members of the convention to do a little RP. Who was I to deny that? “Why yes humble merchant,” I replied, “My former weapons were damaged beyond repair in a battle, and I'm afraid I will need new ones to survive!” Not bad. Not great, but not bad. In truth, I had not brought any guns. I know that It was a big piece to my costume, but I couldn't get the guns right! “Oh, well I think I can help with that,” he answered, “Thanks for going along with me, by the way. Not many people do that anymore!” Seemed like a nice guy, but how wrong I was. What I saw next made me….giddy, yeah giddy. No, jumping up and down with excitement at what my eyes beheld! In front of me lay perfect replica's of the Six Dreg Pride, Aegis of the Kell, The Last Rebellion, and the Shadow of Veils. "Where did you get these,” I exclaimed! The detail was down to the inch! “I afraid I can't revel my sources,” he said dramatically, “But if you want them, I'll offer you a discount. Think of it as a thank you for being so cheerful!” I fished around for my wallet, finding it and pulling it out. “How much would it cost?” I asked. He put his hand on his chin, thinking to himself. “$170 total, the discount being 25%!” Deal! While I didn't notice it, Sam and Ross were calling out to me. I quickly handed him the money, gesturing to my friends I will be with them soon. How wrong I would be. “Well thank you very much young man,” He said as he took my money, handing me my purchased items. “No, thank you!” I said back. As soon as I took the items, I felt….wrong. My vision started to faded, I tried to scream! But no words came out. And then, with my friends running towards me. I blacked out. Chapter 3“Guardian! Guardian! Wake up Guardian!” Ugh, my head. I had a splitting headache, and whoever was trying to wake me was making worst. I just wanted to swat it! “Alright, alright!” I said. I opened my eyes, staring at the night sky. I have no idea how long I was out, but it had to be at least 9:00pm. I slowly got up, my armor feeling slightly heavier. Huh, weird. I looked around at my surroundings, trees and other vegetation were all around me. Okay, if this was some kind of prank it wasn’t funny! I was about to shout out to my friends, the obvious culprits of this shift in my surroundings. “Good, your awake,” a static voice said behind me. I turned around, and their facing the floating machine. My mind tried to register what I was seeing. In front of me floated a Ghost! "What the," I shouted, "what the heck is going on!" I wont lie, I started to panic a little bit. Okay, I panicked a lot okay! Why was there a Ghost floating in front of me, why was I in the woods? I tried to speak, to say anything else, but I couldn't. I looked at my hands, my gauntlets were no longer cheap plastic. What the hell was going on? "I'm just as confused as you," the Ghost replied, trying to calm me down , “but I'm reading that you're my Guardian, even if we are this far from the Traveler.” Guardian? Okay, I need to think of my situation. This might be a dream, thought I doubted it. “Look….I don't know what you're talking about,” I said, “Guardians, and Ghosts, don't exist. You're just a video game character!” The Ghost didn't seem affected by this, it just continued to stare at me. “I know, I read your memories,” he answered back calmly, “But whatever happened to you, to us, created me and brought you here.” I looked around and back at my hands. I put my hand on my head. Yup, this helmet was not plastic. I started to remember buying those stuff, the creepy merchant. He did this! There was no way to explain it otherwise. Okay, I have real armor and a real Ghost. That means I also have real weapons! Right? “Um, Ghost,” I said, “can you pull up my inventory?” I hoped this worked. Where ever I was might have hostile animals. “Yes Guardian, I can do that.” Immediately my helmet pulled up a screen. It seemed I had everything I brought at the convention as well as the stuff I bought from that merchant. I'd say I looked badass. This is good! I'm decked out so I wont have to worry about anything out here, hopefully. Now onto my main issues, my memories. I don't know why, but they were the same as my character in the game! I knew how to shoot, somewhat, and I knew how to fight. Though how my mind will affect these skills I have no idea. “Okay Sparky,” I said, “We've gotta...” “Sparky,” he cut me off, “Really, that's what you're going for?” Why that sarcastic little, no he's right. It's his name after all. “Well, what do you want to be named?” I asked. “I don't know...” he said, and then proceeded to scan my mind. Whatever he did made me feel a little violated. Like he was picking though certain parts and throwing back any of the ones he didn't need! “I'll go with….Dinklebot!” He proclaimed, prideful aren't we? “Dinklebot! Really! Whatever, let's just get a fire started,” But then I heard something that made my skin crawl. Something was screaming, but it wasn't an animal scream. Some one was obvious screaming for help! “Dinklebot, get me coordinates to that noise,” I shouted, already running towards where I heard the noise. “Alright, I set a marker on you radar! Just follow it and it should lead us to whatever is going on.” he said, an arrow appearing on my radar screen. I continued on the path, blood rushing through my head. All kinds of horrible thoughts of what could happen if I didn't reach whoever that was in time. I've never been a hero, nor would I ever want to be. But someone was in trouble, and I've got the arsenal to handle it. Hopefully. “I'm reading five life forms, three seemed to be huddled together while the other two are closer!” Shit! The two were probably fighting while the others were staying back. I pulled out my hand cannon, making sure it was loaded and ready to fire. I'd gotten past the last tree and I emerged into a clearing. What I saw next broke my mind. There in the clearing, there was something that seemed to be a cartoon manticorn. But it was what was standing in front of it that truly shocked me. All hopes of being in my world vanished. A pony. A pony with draconic wings. A pony with a red mane and charcoal furred pony. A pony with a friggin long blade-tail. A pastel cutesy pony that looked ready to kill. Nathan.exe has crashed My appearance was announced as soon as I crashed through the trees. The other three were next to a tree behind the Draco-pony. One was a female bat-like pony with a blue coat, blond mane, and a Jack-o'-lantern tattoo on her flank. Another female had insect wings with little fangs, she had a white coat, and a mask tattoo on her flank. The last one was male, he had a pony head but a griffon body. He seemed to be the worst for wear, one of his hind legs seem twisted and his wing dislocated. The Draco-pony's head snapped towards me, letting a growl, “Another one, back off or else!” Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit she's looking at me! The manticorn took her distraction as an opportunity. He leaped at her, claws poised to strike. Time to slow down for me, one shot was all I had before that pony became mince meat. I raised my gun towards the manticorn, and I squeezed the trigger. BANG! The manticorn flew to the side, before it could even get up from the first shot I fired 3 more times. The ponies just stared wide-eyed at me. Now that the main threat was eliminated I had to take care of the injured one. I holstered my pistol and walked over to the group, most of them cowering with fear. The draco-pony jumped in front of my path towards them. “St..stay back!” she shouted, why do they have to be stubborn. It was clear I was trying to help them, if I really wanted them dead I would have shot them too. “Don't be stupid,” I said, they were shocked I could speak, “Your friend is hurt, if I wanted to harm you I would have already.” I continued to walk towards them, pushing past the her and walking up to her friends. I picked up some sticks and handed one to the male. “Your wing is dislocated, bit on the stick while I put it in place.” He looked a me sceptically, he then took the stick and did what I instructed. “You two,” I said, pointing towards the other two next to him, “Hold him down, this is gonna hurt.” After the did what I told them to, I relocated the joint. POP! The griffon-hybrid nearly jumped up in pain. After he calmed down I made a split for his leg and a sling for his arm. I got up and looked around, my eyes laying on a cart. I picked him up and carried him over to the back of the cart and sat him down. “Why are you helping us?” I turned around to see the dragon-hybrid looking at me. The way she asked me was like there was a reason not to help them. “Because you were in trouble,” I answered, “should I assume there's a reason not, because I can't see why?” All of them looked shocked at my answer. “You might still need my help. I assume you need protection to get out of this forest, and in return all I ask is you help me get to the nearest town.” The bat pony, a thestrals I believe, answered me. “Oh, how rude of us,” she said happily, “My name is Spook, I'm a thestrals. The angry and ungrateful one is Shadow Flight, a kirin. The one cowering behind her is Mimic Wing, a ponyling. Strong Bow is the hippogriff you just help.” Shadow Flight just snorted and put the carts latch on her back. Mimic Wing went to Strong Bow to check up on him, while Strong Bow just grunted towards me in gratitude. “We'd be happy for you to accompany us, as for my friends question….well were different than most ponies, so usually were use to others bothering us or running in fear.” Spook said the last bit sadly. “It doesn't matter to me what or who you are, everyone deserves help and compassion,” I stated, “May I ask where you're going and why you're here to begin with, from what I've gathered these forest seems dangerous?” I kind of made me mad to hear how others treated them. As an outcast my self, I was often bullied for acting different. To be honest, I was surprised I was so calm right now since I'm clearly not in my world. Or I was high. “I've managed to store any information we've gathered, juts in case we need to look at it latter. I'd suggest we follow them and hopefully find some way of getting home.” Dinklebot said, he manged to get communications going on in my helmet, so we could converse more privately. “These….ponies seem friendly, I would say we made some allies!” As we sat in the cart, Shadow Flight pulling us, Spook started to tell me their story. Turns out a couple years ago their princess sent a small group of hybrid-ponies to the Everfree, the forest were in, as a way to keep tensions low. The deal was that the Crown would fund the commune so that they could set up, all and all it looked like a great deal. But it wasn't. They got shafted the moment they entered the forest. Their supplies were low in quality as well as quantity and any protection they needed was denied. Finally, after many petitions, it seemed their princess heard their pleas. She made a deal with some creatures know as Diamond dogs to provided protection, and all they need to do was pay the dogs. Simple right? Nope! The Dogs basically enslaved them. Making them work in mines in order to pay them, whatever good they had left would be used to pay a tax that the crown laid on them. Plus, it turns out that they had to go and deliver what they owed to the nearest town since the ponies were to afraid to enter so deep into the forest. When the did get to the town, the were sometimes stopped by the guards. Thinking they were monsters the guards often jailed them, requiring them to pay a bail for "disturbing the peace". So let's boil it down shall we? They were pushed to leave their homes and go into the deadly forest. Their forced to pay both their en-slavers, and also pay the crown and never receive any assistants from them. Of course I was pissed off! And the worst part of this whole ordeal was that they could never get an audience with he majesty because some noble had to complain about “this or “that”. Bullshit governmental system fails to meet the needs of those who are poorly treated. “While I appreciate your criticism, you must understand I have thousands of subjects to listen to. Many towns have a certain tax they must meet, so that we may protect the nation as a whole!” Celestia defended. “Yeah, all the towns besides the one closest to the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria!” I retorted, “The fact remains is that you failed them, you refused to listen to their pleas for help, and most importantly you ***Segregated* them from the rest of the world! I finished, “Now, if you don't mind I'd like to finish this.”** “Fine.” Celestia seethed. We were close to the town, I could see the quiet little town off in the distance. I could see a couple of ponies in the market place up ahead. I also saw a….house...in a tree? “What's this place called? I asked. My hopes of getting home fleeting. “Oh, this is Ponyville. Home to Princess Twilight Sparkle and one of the most prosperous multi-tribal areas in Equestria!” Spook said, sounding like one of those hyped up tour guides. Ponyville? Ponyville! How did it not click to me! Magic talking ponies, dark creepy forest! I was no oblivious to the internet, I've seen may MLP FIM memes and videos pop up on my many searches. Oh for the love of God! Of all the places I could have been dropped off at, it was here! Don't get me wrong, the show wasn't bad. Ross was a big fan, a brony if you will, and he'd often shown me and Sam the show. It wasn't my cup of tea, but I understood and respected the fandom unlike others. Of course I was lucky to get sent to a peaceful world, but no advanced technology. For some reason I don't think they had a "teleport me to another universe" spell. Dammit, why was my luck so bad? I'd never see my friends, my family. How could this get any worse? “I'm...sorry Nathan,” Dinklebot said, “But we've got to think what our next step is if were going to survive. Besides, in a world full of magic, maybe we can find a spell to fix this!” It was nice of him, maybe he was right. Thanks Dinklebot. Of course it did get worse. As soon as we walked into town, ponies began to run and scream their little heads off the me and my companions were the Four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The others seemed use to this, Spook told me that it was normal and to just ignore it. Well I did! The locals didn't. As we got to the library in a tree. Yeah, whatever. A speeding bullet crashed into me and tore me off the cart. Spook let out a yelp, barley dodging the projectile. Mimic kept Strong Bow down, he was still hurt after all, and Shadow got into an aggressive stance. “Don't mess with Ponyville chump,” A scratchy voice said, I looked up to see a Pegasus with a rainbow mane flying a feet feet above me. Rage immediately burned in me, who the fuck was this gay-pride mascot to just go and attack me. “What's your problem,” I shouted, “I'm not messing with anyone!” She just snorted and took on a battle pose. “I'll be asking the questions here monster,” she retorted, “so beat it before I make you!” That tears it, I could see Mimic crying in fear at what was happening. While we'd just meet and barley spoken, it was only due to her shy nature and insecurity. With determination I jumped back on my feet, making a dash for her. She dodged and then taunted me. “Nice try, but no one is faster then me!,” She cowed, “let me show you how out of your league your are!” With that she speed towards me at an unbelievable rate. Just when she was about to hit me, I sidestepped and gave a kick to where the join of her wing meet her body. The force of the kick shot her through a house, leaving her under the rubble. This of course did not help the panicking ponies clam down. Whoops! I turned around and bolted towards the library. Shadow and Spook right behind me. I slammed open the door, a purple lizard stood off to the side, shocked by my sudden on my entrance. “What are you doing,” Shadow shouted, 'We've got to go now! She seemed worried, I knew time was of the essence but I had to get as may books as I could! “I need your help, grab as many books as you can off the shelves!” I said, she looked at me like I was crazy. “Please, somewhere here might be the answer to me getting home. I know we've only known each other for a short time, but you understand what it means to have a home where you're love!” She looked at me with an understanding look and nodded, bolting off to the nearest shelf. “Hey,” the purple lizard shouted while wielding a broom, “You can't take those!” whatever he was going to do next was stopped short when I blew the head of the broom off with my hand cannon. “Never mind,” he said with a terrified smile, “take what you want, it's a library after all.” with that he bolted up the stair case. We had finally gotten out, everyone getting onto the cart so we could take off. Of course, I would be on there as well if it weren’t for the purple ray beam of death that blasted me in my chest! I grumbled and got up to see six mares staring at me with anger. There was Skittles from before, a pink earth pony with some messed up hair, an orange cowboy earth pony, a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair, a white unicorn, and a purple winged unicorn “STOP RIGHT THEIR!” purple shouted, her horn glowing. Probably to shoot off another magic laser. Man, she looked pissed. I don't know why, it was her friend that attacked me! I remember my companions mentioning Princess Twilight Sparkle as an alicorn, so this must be her. The orange one wearing the cowboy hat was standing on her hind legs, twirling a lasso over her head. How did she do that with no hands? Her neck must have some issues if she does that often. “No listen here feller, we don't want to hurt ya so just stay down,” she said. A southern accent? “I don't know about that,” the rainbow one said pounding her house together, she was sporting a black eye. HAH! “Honestly, Rainbow darling you could be a tad less violent,” the white unicorn, with the really whiny accent, said, “Though I highly doubt the brute will go down quietly,” I immediately drew my pistol, aiming it at the purple leader. “Get out of my way, I don't want to get into anything we all might regret,” I said calmly. My opponents saw my warning as an attack, clearly not listening to my words. “It's attacking,” Rainbow shouted, “We gotta blast it now!” “We were going to anyway, Rainbow!” The purple menace replied, “Under the power the Princesses of Equestria entrusted to me, you are to be punished for you deeds!” They then started floating, not good. A white light coated them and their eyes started to glow, definitely not good! I remembered seeing their orbital friendship laser before, turning someone to stone. So yeah, I was scared shitless. A giant rainbow shot out and towards me. I of course did the only thing logical, I screamed like a girl. “FUUUUUUUUUUUU……….” Chapter 4You ever hit your head hard on something? Or paint a room while the windows and doors are closed? Or maybe you were listening to something and you had your sound amplified to 100%? When that rainbow of happiness and friendship hit me, it felt/smelled/sounded like all of those. It immobilized me while it tore into my head, working it's way into my mind trying to erase my very knowledge of existence. Each time I pushed it back, it would surge forward with more vigor. “Did it work?” “He doesn't look like he's stone...” “Maybe he was possessed like Luna?” The pain stopped, I started to regain my senses. I was kneeling on the ground in front of them, arms limp as my brain slowly regained control of my body. The first thought that came to my head was: Pure, unadulterated rage. “You...psychopathic….RODENTS**!” I roared, my body glowed blue and each one of them were throw back by an unseen force. Their direction only stopped by the nearest object of impact, dazed from my attacked. The princess was the first on her hooves, “It didn't work!” she shouted “No S#*t Sherlock,” I retorted, unloading my gun at her and her friends. She quickly threw up a shield, stopping the bullets cold. She flinched when they smashed at her shield. The a@@ tried to lobotomize me because I scared them, they were playing with fire. I knew full well of the rainbow and purple ones capabilities, and whatever that rainbow cannon thing was, it still loomed in my mind. “The Elements didn't work, we'll have to do this ourselves girls!” she said to her companions. I'd highly doubt they could dish out any real damage. It was clear they were civilians, not trained combatants. Using those trinkets only proved they relied more on taking one shot to clear out their enemies...... OH SH@#! I barely dodged being a crater when Sparkles unleashed another magic bolt. Screw that! Alicorn to OP! I had to get out of here, the hybrids were still here and each moment they waited for me made it worse for them. Well, time to cause a brilliant distraction. “He's up to something Twi, we gotta get him now,” Skittles said, “And try not to kill him or blow up the town!” Crap, how did the rainbow one know! “Sorry!” Twilight said. Huh, seems like our princess hasn't gotten use to her upgrade. I pulled out an incendiary grenade and chucked it at one of the thatch roofs. It lit up the roof, quickly spreading to the other houses. BURN! BURN! Yeah, I'm a pyro. What can I say, it's not like it'll kill anyone. Unless they live on a roof.... Ponies began running all around. Thank god for pony hysteria. The fire gave me and my friends the opportunity to ride off the Everfree while out heroines put out the flames and calmed their people. We entered the forest and after a while we slowed down. Only after we actually got away did I feel bad for the hybrids. They would never had this problem if it wasn't for me! Ugh, I just wanted help and that princess tried to rip apart my mind. I have no idea how those ponies hadn't pissed off another nation by now. I could see the headlines: “Purple Princess mind melts the Griffon ambassador!”. “Are you okay?” Mimic asked, a worried expression on her face. “I….I'm fine, thanks for asking,” I said, “It's just…. what was that all about?” Spook looked towards me, “Those were the Elements of Harmony,” she said, “They're usually used to banish Equestria's evils. Look, I honestly didn't know that was going to happen. If I did I would have never brought you there.” I don't know why she was apologizing. I mean, it was not she shot rainbows at me. I don't know where to go though, this had thrown a wrench in my plan. Goal one was not to become enemy of the state. “Okay, look,” Flight said stopping the cart, “we don't know who you really are, all we know is that you saved our lives. I'm not asking for a life story, but I want answers before we go any further with you.” She still didn't trust me, not that I'm surprised. I owed them this anyway, especially if I was going to continue to be with them. So I told them. I told them who I was. I told them how I got here and about humans. They were fascinated with my stories, I mainly told them of the memories of the Guardian character. They were my memories as well now. “So Nathan,” Spook said, “where do you go from here, hideout in the forest for the rest of your life?” I hadn't thought about that. My main objective was to get home, but I doubted I'd find a way. Another thing that I realized is that I had to change. I wasn't the wimpy nerd anymore, I could kill a manticorn and go toe to toe with a super powered pony princess. Heck, I hurt Rainbow and it wasn't even my intention. But the main reason was what I almost lost, my memories. That last think I held dear, almost taken from me. In order to protect what little of me I had left I have to become stronger, smarter. What I'd done a Ponyville was a fluke. I could shoot a gun and use a knife, but I needed to get better. I need to also unlock the powers the Traveler bestowed on me. “Don't call me Nathan,” I said, “I'm no longer that person..” Flight rolled her eyes at me, “What do we call you then?” What should I be called. “Dinkle, you there?” I asked “Yes Guardian, I've been re watching memory footage of our encounter,” He said, “Do you need me to do something?” “Yeah, I need you to modify my voice filterer,” I said, “make is foreboding, and some what distorted.” “My purpose is clear,” I said to them, “I will go back with you, and take care of these Diamond dogs. Their choice will be to join me or die.” They looked shocked at my plan, if not happy. I would be freeing them. “Then, I shall cut you free from the bonds of Equestria. No longer shall you be forced to live under there rule!” I continued, they were hanging onto my words. Hope filled their eyes. Now to deliver the last part of my speech. “So, from now on call me….” I paused for dramatic affect, “Virixas” In a“I think we can list off the some of the charges now Twilight,” Celestia said. “Charges?” I asked, oh why did I have to ask. Twilight will probably have a list and exact detail of each of my “crimes” “Yes Princess,” Twilight said, “We've got assault, arson, property damage, conspiring treason, committing treason, resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, carrying illegal weapons (Bullshit! They don't have guns!), causing mass panic, attempt of murder, and….theft.” “As you can see,” Celestia said, “your number of crimes are server, numerous. single day you manged to commit all of these, to think I allowed you roam in my land unchecked. To think of all the ponies you terrified...” “Yeah no,” I said, cutting her off, “You ponies would run in fear from a hoard of bunnies! As for crimes, how many did sparkle butt and her friends cause? There's got to be prohibitions on mind spells. Plus I didn't steal anything. I would have returned the books, eventually! “What Princess Twilight and her friends did was reasonable at the time,” she stated, “and it seems their suspicions were right, lighting a house on fire as an escape plan risked the lives of those who dwelt there!” “Shooting first and asking questions latter is not a proper police response! In a matter of fact, are they even legally allowed to carry out punishments before a court is held?” I asked. Twilight was the first to respond to my accusation. “Under the Equestrian protection law, article 19, a pony is allowed to use physical force to detain anypony who might show signs of violence or ill intent! Also, I'll have you know that those "borrowed books" are 4 months over due!" Celestia and I just looked at her. This girl and her damned books..... “Okay, so besides the fact that you just recited that to near perfection (I've read the Equestrian protection law book, it's got 400 pages!) I was still attacked first!” I replied Celestia just stared at me, “You do know you could have filed a complaint against her instead of putting her through a building, right?” Okay, she got me there! Damn you and your logic magic horses! “Hey Twilight,” I said with a smirk, still hoping to grab some victory. “Yeah?” she asked, still smug at my “defeat” “I burned your books…….” Celestia just stared at me with pity, before walking out and shutting the cell door behind her. Why would she....TWILIGHT NO! (CENSORED DUE TO EXTREM VIOLENCE) Where was I? Oh right, liberating my people. I decided if I was gonna be the “bad guy”, I'd need some loyal minions. Who wouldn't, right? Anyway, we kept going deeper into the forest. Good thing is that the ponies have no idea where the village was. Turns out if you got them coming to you, why ask where they live! We had to make camp for the night since it was getting dark. I decided that in order to build my army, I needed to focus on training them. I mean, biologically speaking, these guys had a lot going for them! They could hunt and fight, they just need to be shown how. Plus, they had all kinds of unique body features that gave them an advantage…. NO! BAD! DON'T ANY OF YOU THINK LIKE THAT! YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEANT! Anyway, it turns out that there is two ways that their community came about. The first is normal love between two different species. The other came about a 1000 years ago! Turns out there was this guy named Discord. Now, in his mad glory, he decided that the citizens of Equestria were to dull. So he took a select group of ponies and infused them with his chaos magic, creating a variety of hybrids. Discord was someone I'd like to sit down with with a drawing pad. The things him and I could create…….. “NO!” Celestia shouted, “It's bad enough I have one chaotic entity on my hooves. I don't need you running around with him!” Damn, and to think what I could have achieved! I knew I shouldn't have tried to kill him! We told some more stories and I showed them how to cook rabbit. I grabbed tons of books yet none were on cooking! Then the Timber Wolves attacked. Luckily, Strong Bow started throwing burning sticks at the kindle pups. After about five minutes of us hitting the wolves, destroying them, them going transformers and turning into mega wolf, I blew them up with a grenade The moral is that explosives solve everything! One of the wolves got smart and decided to serve me instead of dying. I don't know what I'll do with a wolf that is made of wood? Maybe I could get it to help me hunt food. Or to do tricks. Anyway, I've got an evil pet. We finally got to the village. It was a nice place, remind me of Ponyville. In the woods. All around the town all kinds of mismatched ponies were going about their day. One of the major things was that they didn't run in fear. They sorta just stared at me and walked away. Spook took me to her house were she set up a guest room for me. A little girly, but I think her little sister uses it for her club house. She warned me that her sisters friends might come by, and I should hide my weapons. Who knows what those children could do! (7 days later) I went through an extreme training montage so I could be ready for my big fight with the Diamond dogs. Dinklebot gave me a run through of all of my abilities as a hunter. Usually, I could go through two routes as a hunter: Blade dancer, or Gunslinger! The Blade dancer lets me focus on using me knife skills: I can do shot distance blinks, temporary invisibility, and I can use the Arc Blade which coats we and aura of lightning. This increases my speed as well as turning my knife into an instrument of death as I can send out energy slashes as an area of affect or short ranged attack." The Gunslinger lets me focus on my gun skills: I can fire with greater aim and range, I have increased ammo, and I have something called the Golden gun. It lets me have three shots, all three of which have the heat of a sun. I can literally disintegrate some one on a molecular level! For more in depth info click here! Because of Equestria's magic source being on par with the Traveler, I was easily able to tap into it. Giving me both sub classes to use, so I might not be able to shoot rainbows but I can still hold my own. And I had the perfect target to test my combat skills on! The Diamond dogs and their boss were coming by today to collect their tribute. I'd set the stage for my hostile takeover. I had talked it over with my friends/minions and we warned most of the town what was going down. A lot were happy that they would soon be free. Others were skeptical, mainly because they were use to outsiders taking advantage of them. Here they come now! I'm excited to initiate my first take over. I wonder if I can get the Dogs to join us after I kill their leader. I'd have to lookout for any assassination attempts but I think I'll be worth it in the long run. Now, let's analyze their leader and look for any weak...points…… “Mimic,” I said turning my head away from the sniper scope and towards her, “You….forgot to mention something about the dogs' boss,” “We....we did?” she stuttered. She seemed to be warming up to me, but she was still shy when I talked to her. “I'm sorry, what did we forget?” “Their leader isn't a dog,” I deadpanned, “Mimic, he's a huge dragon!” I don't know why they decided to leave out that crucial feature! Calm down. I just needed to focus. He was just a big lizard. A lizard that could breath fire, but a lizard none the less. Of course, I made sure our fight wasn't in the town. If I did that who knows how many houses would be destroyed, let alone how many ponies would get hurt. I looked back through my scope, making sure I'd have a shot at it's wings. No need to worry about it flying off or attacking in the air. I just need to ground the guy and he'd be a sitting duck. BANG!! BANG!!! The dragon let out a ferocious roar as my sniper rounds tore through his wings. Oh man was he pissed, well time to waste this joker! “WHO DARES!” He shouted in pain, I determined his gender from his voice, so unless all females sounded like Smaug he was a guy! “I did ya salamander!” I shouted back at him. He swung his large head towards the cliff I was standing on. The spines on his back stiffening at my appearance. “Puny morsel,” He retorted, “you have signed your own death. Prepare for my fire to turn your bones to ash!” He launched a gigantic fire ball towards me. Luckily, I grabbed Mimic in time before my sniper's nest went in flames. I set her down and she ran back towards the town. With her gone I turned to face the dragon. Jumping away before his tail could crush me. I sliced off a section of his tail with my blade. He roared in pain at the lost of his tail. I jumped back, deciding to taunt him, "You know," I said, "It's gonna be hard getting the ladies, you're gonna have to tell them how you lost your tail and all." I pulled out my pulse rifle and began to fire at him as I ran from his torrent of flames. I aimed for his legs first, scales and blood flying from where my sights were on. My hope was to completely immobilize him so that I didn't have to worry about the range of his physical attacks. After a while of my attacks, he roared and swung his claws, nearly cutting me in half. “What are you idiots doing?” the dragon shouted to the dogs, “Attack him!” The dogs continued to watch their leader struggle, not lifting a paw to aid their master. Seems like the hybrids weren't the only ones who hated our mutual friend. Speaking of him, the dragon's attacks seem to slow as I started aiming for his arms and head. I'd give him 5 more minutes before he was out of steam, and energy to flail his limbs around. He was easier to take the a Hive Ogre, those monsters gave me the heebie-jeebies! He soon fell down after I place some good shots on his chest. The town residents flooded out of their homes, running towards the carnage. The dogs seemed amazed at their master's defeat, staring at me. I'm not sure “Thank you so much!” “You showed that scaled bully!” “How did you beat him?” “You gotta show us how to do that!” I was bombarded from praise of the towns folk. Flight, Bow, Mimic, and Spook shoved their way through the crowed towards me. “You have no idea how worried we were for you!” Spook said, giving me a quick hug. “I think one of us has something to say to you, isn't that right Shadow?” Spook turned towards the kirin giving her a look. “Okay,” the kirin said, “I may have been wrong to doubt you!” “And…...” Spook said. “And I'm sorry that I might have made a bet with a couple of the others whether or not you would be eaten!” she finished in embarrassment. Betting huh, well I seems not everyone had faith in me. “How much did you lose?” I smirked, she just pouted at me. The then all went wide eyed and started to back up. Why would they….. “YOU THINK YOU HAVE WON!” The Dragon shouted behind me. I had Dinkle switch out my weapons, time for the big guns. “I WILL BURN YOUR MISERABLE TOWN!” He started to inhale to make another fire ball. “Yeah,” I said, “not gonna happen!” and with that I turned around and fired my rocket launcher into his mouth. “BOOM” To say it was messy would be an understatement. At least he wouldn't comeback from that! Hopefully, you have no idea in magic pony land. “So….does anyone have a shovel?” I asked. Chapter 5The princess Celestia just gawped at me in horror, Twilight was actually puking. “YOU KILLED HIM?”** “Yup, blew him up” She backed away in horror, Don't know why since they've killed before. “You *KILLED** a SAPIENT BEING? Surely you could have talked something out with him, we both know you had the power to knock him unconscious to stop him!”* “And then what? Imprisoned him? Banishment? Yeah, I could not see that coming back to bite me in the ass.” I said sarcastically. “But we've proven dragons can be negotiated with!” Twilight said, seems like she's feeling better. “True,” I replied, “But you have to understand this guy wasn't the dragons you have work with. He's killed both Diamond dogs and the hybrids, he was to volatile to negotiate with. If I had imprisoned him I would have had to take care of him, and he would be a danger to everyone in town!” Celestia turned around, still trying to process my answer. Twilight looked conflicted. Ugh, it seems the real world has yet to hit her. Maybe it was due to the dependance on the Elements, being able to magic away your problem make things to easy. “Listen Sparkles,” I said, “We can't just use magic and friendship to solve our problems. One day, who knows when, you'll come across a problem the will make you choose between life and death.” “Let's get back to the story….” I hated this mushy world sometimes, it seemed fake. The Diamond dogs were quick to join me. Like dogs they need an alpha, since their former alpha was dead they choose me to replace him. Of course the townies folk were less then happy about the dogs living in the town, but they seemed to understand the Dragon's control on them. With the Diamond Dog tribes constantly at war, you need the biggest baddest boss you can get. Even if their a total d#*$. I learned that when a politicians made promises, people loved them when they followed through on those promises. So, I promised them I would free them from the Diamond Dogs. Not only did I mange that, but I got the dogs to preform some community service. My second promise, the one where I'd server their ties to Equestria and help them live on their own. That took more time. When I took leadership, seems the dragon ate their last leader, I needed to get the hybrids to sustain themselves. Spook became my official adviser, helping me rebuild the town's educational system and organize the agricultural groups. She also helped me get two know the town's problems. I learned from Celestia's failure that it was better to rule with a select group of individuals instead of nobles or running it herself. Next, I need to gear up my troops. The dogs had what they needed, but the town didn't. We fortified the defensive’s in case of wild creatures or other Diamond dogs. After that, I gathered up as much willing volunteers I could. I started training them with the help of Shadow Flight. They weren't Guardians, but they were damn good at fighting. They just need more training and to be more organized. I talked over some ideas with Dinklebot and Strong Bow. Strong Bow was a genius inventor and blacksmith. With his skill and my, and Dinklebot's, knowledge we were able to create some impressive weapons. The first thing we did was give Shadow Flight an edge when it came to fights. We created some talon-like boots. It was made of reenforced steel and had a system the allowed it to rotate. It would allow her to grab items and scale walls. The second thing we made was a weaponized tail shell. It not only had a wicked blade but fired electric bolts from the tip of the shell. We figured out how to store lightning in a capsule that would be released from a mechanism located inside the shell. Last of all, we fashioned a knight's armor that would protect her and her wings. Strong Bow was excited on what we made. But I had to stop him from trying to examine the inside of my Ghost. “That's ingenious,” Twilight said, “Augmenting soldiers could give other races advantages in warfare.” Writing furiously on my description, trying to get a copy of our design. “Better yet,” Celestia added, “We could bring Equestria back into major crafting industries. Not longer would we just need unicorns to make/use certain tools!” “So ponies don't have control over certain industries?” I asked. I mean, I know they have hooves… “Yes,” Celestia answered, “We rely on some species like Griffons or Minotaur’s in order to produce many items.” “That's….slightly disappointing,” said, “but sometimes we got to work with what we have.” The last of my group of leaders was Mimic. Mimic was a…..complicated case. Being part changeling was not common among hybrids and she seemed certain she had not talents to use. I wasn't convince however and I went to the only people who could help me. The only people who knew her and changelings the most. Her parents….. (Mimic's house, dinner) Bumble Buzz and Mirror Shine we surprised to have me over to dinner. It seems I'd become something of a celebrity among the inhabitants. Not many had seen me without my helmet, so they were surprised. They were even more surprised when they learned the meaning of my visit. Their daughter. That and Bumble Buzz's meat pie was legendary among the populace. Bumble Buzz was a yellow changeling with black stripes. Both were young to have a daughter Mimic's age, Mimic being 19. Bumble Buzz was a yellow and black changeling, a former member of one of the Eastern Changeling Hives. Mirror Shine was a navy blue unicorn with a black mane, her cutie mark was a book representing her passion as a teacher. Both were 37 years old. I'd come without prior warning, not wanting Mimic to be home while we talked about her. I need to understand somethings about her, and it was best if I could ask my questions with just her parents around. Anyway, I came bye during dinner because her and Shadow Flight were on some kind of date. I had thought the two had been close, but not that close. Getting back on topic. Mimic's parents we ecstatic to have me over and treated me like a welcomed guest. I see where Mimic gets her kind nature. “So,” Bumble said after we had finished our meal, relocating ourselves to the living room. “What has got you interested in our daughter?” “When I talked to Mimic, she seemed….determined that she could be of no use as one of my closest advisers,” I answered. “And do you believe her?” Mirror Sine asked. “On the contrary Mrs. Shine. I believe the Mimic has a lot of potential, waiting to be untapped.” I said, “She seems to be holding herself back though. Now I know she's shy, but I have the feeling she's holding onto something. Why is she like this, what is she afraid of?” Both parent looked sadly at me. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what was going on with her. Finally, Bumble answered my question. “Mirror, Mimic, and I lived in Fillydelphia (Urk, the horse puns. It burns!) before we moved here. You see, Mirror and I fell in love with each other at a young age. She was the first to love me for who I really was.” “A changeling?” I asked. Changelings are know to be shape shifter. I had assumed Mirror didn't know till later on in their relationship that Bumble was a changeling. Good for them. “Yes, though my parents didn't approve of our relationship,” Mirror said, “They had a family reputation to withhold, and their daughter dating a changeling was not...acceptable in their eyes.” “So we ran away together. Started a new life,” Bumble continued, “We had Mimic and life seemed to be fine.” Not good, what happened. “What happened,” I asked, “Surely Mirror's parent didn't pursue you two, did they?” “No, nothing like that...” Mirror said, “You see, Mimic is unique. I know all mothers say that about their children, but at a young age Mimic was excelling in illusion magic.” “That and her Shape shifting was highly advanced for her age. It usually took us changeling years to master it.” Bumble Buzz add. Okay, so it seems like she had a great life. Right? “But when she started going to school….” Mirror trailed off. “The students and teachers harassed her. She started to fail in her studies because the teachers made things difficult for her. She…. She never told us what was happening, she was scared we'd blame her.” Bumble said. Well shit. It made sense why she was scared about what I thought about her. It seemed she didn't want to disappoint anyone….. “When did you find out, did she tell you or someone else?” Bumble shared a look with Mirror before answering me. “It was actually Shadow Flight who told us. She and her parents lived in Fillydelphia, they were part of “Dragon Town” as many call it. Her parents died a couple years ago. “I had no idea they knew each other so far back,” I said, “Knowing Flight, she probably stood up for Mimic?” Both shook their head that I was correct. “So….what did you do?” That's when they started smiling. “We decided it was in our best interest to leave. We weren't the only ones, Flight's parents are the ones who brought up the idea.” I looked shocked at that. I understood why they left, I hated being bullied and it seemed that it wasn't only kids who gave Mimic a hard time. But to leave everything just in hopes of going to a town that might or might no accept you….wait. “You came here?” I asked. “Yes, we were told of a place called Evermore that supported people who were cross species.” Mirror said. “while the town was secret, it often sent ponies out to offer ponies like us a better life. Of course we knew the dangers and the issues of the town before hand, we knew that it was the only place where our daughter could grow.” I had appreciated them telling me this. This was a personal question, to talk about such hard times. It also told me a little more depth of Shadow's affection for Mimic. “And now we get back to the question of what Mimic can do,” I said, “She very well could be the greatest spy in Equestria.” “With all due respect Lord Virixas,” Mirror interjected, “But the Equestrians have counter measures against changelings.” “Your right,” I answered, “Changeling wont be able to sneak into places like Ponyville, Canterlot, or The Crystal Empire.” “Yes, so I honestly don't understand why you would put Mimic in that kind of danger?” Mirror asked angrily. I could understand him being angry, if he was talking to some stupid. But I'm not stupid. I held my hand out stopping her fuming. I looked at both of them, Mirror looked flustered while Bumble stared at me with his big blue eyes. He seemed to try to read me, to sense what emotions I was feeling. “Let me ask you both a question,” I said, “While normal changelings would not be able to breach Equestrian security, is it not true that Mimic is not an ordinary changeling?” Bumble's eyes widened at my question. “Of course,” he said, realizing what I was planning, “so that's why you came to use!” Mirror looked at her mate confusedly. Understandable since her knowledge of changeling hierarchy was not as wide as Bumble's. “Would you mind telling me what he's talking about?” Mirror asked her husband. Now, time to reveal my plan. “You see Mirror,” I said, “While Mimic is part changeling, she is also part unicorn. Most changelings have limited spell besides the queens. But Mimic can access both unicorn and changeling magic….” Bumble then finished what I was getting at. “She could create illusions that would reinforce her changeling spells!” He said, shaking his head disbelievingly. “By manipulating her illusions, she could trick the detection spells into thinking she doesn't even exist, or that changeling magic isn't being used. Heck, she could even make copies of her self or others, she could be a master deception!” I finished. I remembered the Ghost Army the United States Army utilized in WW2. They created fake armies with inflatables and fake radio transmissions. Their deception helped lead to our victory of D-Day! “This is brilliant,” Bumble exclaimed, “this could revolutionize warfare!” A little extradited, but through my extensive reading of war novels and history books from the library I….borrowed. From what I learned, the tactic was never heard of. And even if they expected it, there was no way to prevent it.” “That's why I need you two,” I affirmed, “I need your help to not only train her, but to give her the confidence she needs to do this. So what do you say?” “…..” both were silent, staring in each others eyes. Then Bumble and Mirror looked back at me. “She's young. What your asking would be hard for someone her age,” Mirror pointed out, “While she's no helpless, I don't know how I would feel if you sent my baby girl somewhere she could get hurt.” I smiled at her, I could see Mimic in both of her parents. “Yes, I agree it's dangerous.” I agreed, “But, I should tell you that I'm 18.” Both their jaws dropped and my confession. “My goal is that with her training, she won't be in danger.” It took them sometime, they went into the kitchen to discuss with each other. I sat there on the couch patiently. I was hoping they would agree, Mimic was my best shot besides my Ghost at gathering information. That and I wanted the girl to fit in, build some confidence. Both came out after the were done deciding. “Alright, were in!” they both said in unison. (Mayor's Office) My new office was decently sized. Most of the stuff of the former mayors stayed inside the room, mainly books and furniture. I had sat down after long hours of Spook lecturing me on what was needed to be done and how to do it. She was loyal to the job, and seemed to be experienced with my….ignorance. “Hey Dinklebot, you got a moment?” I asked, the mental connection we shared allowed me to project my thoughts in pictures and words. It allowed me to converse with him when I need to recap something. “Yeah buddy, I'm open.” He also seemed to be more….alive, maybe he always was and I never noticed in the game. “I wanna try out that idea you had, the one where you become my eyes and ears.” We tinkered a bit with my helmet screen. We found out a way to project what Dinkle was seeing and project it back to me. “Yeah, let's try it out!” His eye started to glow and soon I could see the room in his perspective. Okay, let's see if we can dig a little in on what our little ponies in Ponyville were doing. Dinklebot took off and speed out towards Ponyville. The first thing that caught my mind was the hut the was in the Everfree. Apparently some voodoo zebra lived here as well. This might be a problem. While she didn't know where we were, she could be a great guide to the Equestrians. I decided I would check up on her later, back on track. We soon reached the outskirts of Ponyville, coming across another tree house. One of the Elements, yellow and pink, was talking to some birds…. “Hello their mister tweety..” Okay….weirdo. I went to the market place. I was trying to figure out their currency system better. It seemed like I wouldn't get much out of it. Damn, now I'm gonna have to get Spook to lecture me on this as well. They way the bought stuff was confusing. A bunch of the items they were selling had the same price, like apples cost the same as apple pie. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't learn nothing in the market, so I flew off to the only place where you would most likely learn is this place. School. I had Dinkle float off into the school building. “Good Morning, class!” Ah, so this is their teacher. The children were around the age of 10 and up. She droned on for hours about friendship this and friendship that and that friendship is all you need to solve you problems! Gag me. Another thing she was good at was spreading that propaganda bullshit of how great and wise the princesses are. That their compassion was unrivaled. I know when I wanna say hi I blast mind washing rainbows at them. After the class, recess started. This is one of the reason I came the school. Adults are more reclusive to talk about stuff like secrets, but in they're home they fell more open. Sometimes kids are around to hear stuff, and there less shy to talk about it. What I saw was something I didn't expect. I've had some oblivious teachers, ones that would have s@#* happen right in front of them and they would never notice. It seems that some of the children didn't listen to any of the crap that teacher went on about. It was some pink filly with a crown, perhaps royalty, and her hipster glasses friend. They went on about how lame the colts were, the poor kids, that one orange chicken who can't fly (Hating on others with disabilities), and “blank flanks”. My hatred burns for her. She's a bully, and a low one at that. What's the point of the educational system to force friendship down their throats. They had their own Rainbow of Lobotomies with these kids smashing down dreams and feelings. School went on and finally it was over. I made sure to follow the pink one, just in case my royalty theory was right. Along the way we passed the library, maybe if we could sneak in….. “Alert, Guardian,” Dinklebot's voice echoed in my mind as we went to go inside the house, “We've seem to set off some sort of alarm, I suggest we leave immediately.” Alarm! What is he, OH SHIT! Sparkles was staring right out the window, her muzzle scrunched. I had to admit her facial expressions were kinda cute. She opened the window, seeing nothing she turned back to whatever she was doing. We went back to following the pink terror. Most ponies stayed clear of the menace as she went on to her path as she went on her unknown mission. She finally reached her destination. I appeared to be a store. Shit, I thought. Walmarts' influence even stretches here! Can nothing stop their expansion? Anyway, she walked in. "Welcome to Filthy Rich's Barnyard Bargains!" the clerk at the counter drawled. I was forced to activate cloaking on Dinklebot. “Is daddy here?” The brat asked the clerk. “Yes Miss. Tiara, he's in his office right now.” he answered. Daddy huh, if he was any bit like his daughter. Well, he was corruptible. He was owner of this store, and there are somethings that we can't get in Evermore. If I offered him money, we might be able to work out a deal. Anyway, the kid went to her dad's office. “Daddy!” Tiara said, hugging her father. He returned the hug. “Hey, pumpkin,” he said, “How was school?” “Perfect as always daddy!” The next few minutes consisted of my life being drained away as Tiara went on about her day to her dad. Begging for items she saw on the way to the store, Filthy Rich just nodded and smiled “yes, pumpkin”. When she was done, Mr. Rich finally spoke, “Tell you what pumpkin, you go and look around the store. I've got some papers to finish and then I'm off to Sweet Apple Acres. Afterwords, we can get you a treat at Sugarcube Corner.” “Alright Daddy.” She gave him one last hug before trotting out the door. “Love you!” “Love you too dear,” Filthy said, closing the door behind her. Okay show time! “Truly touching,” I said as Dinklebot uncloaked, our voice echoing in the room. “Who are you?” Filthy yelled. Good, fear me mortal or I shall smite you. This was kinda of fun, being the mysterious villain and all. “My name matters little,” I stated, Dinklebot's voice modifier making me sound cold and metallic, “What does matter is that I have a business proposition for you.” He looked at Dinklebot sceptically, but my word caught his interest. “What sort of proposition?” “I wanna buy stuff. Due to my….seclusion I don't usually get out to the nearest store. So, if you get me the goods I want, then I will pay you.” “Goods? What kind of goods?” He asked I started to list off the items with what Spooksy told me we needed, “Flour. Sugar. Salt. Cooking oil. Baking powder. Vinegar. Cloth by the bolt. Hammers and Nails. Medicines. Uh...what the….okay and I want some candy, chocolate if preferable.” “Candy?” he asked “Yes, it's not something I can have on hand. Plus, everyone needs candy!” (Spook loves her candy.) “Every..one?” he repeated in a puzzled voice. “Yes, and I'm ordering it in bulk.” “Okay, alright I can do that.” he said, listing down what I ordered. “Yeah, and I'll pay an extra fee to have it brought to Sweet Apple Acres since it's on short notice.” I finished. I could hear his heart stop when I said the words “pay” and “extra”. “You've got yourself a deal,” Filthy said, “How about we say two hours from now?” "Don't be late," I said, “just one more thing Mr. Rich…….” His ears perked, waiting to hear what else I had to say. Dinklebot's eye glowed a blood red. Immediately flying up to his face forcing him to back up against a wall. "If you cheat me I WILL KNOW, and the consequences will be dire!” with that Dinklebot flew off, cloaking as he went back to Evermore.
Chapter 1You ever had one of those days? You wake up in the morning, preferably late in the morning on a weekend, and sit down with some toast, eggs, and a cup of orange juice. You open up a book, or take a glance at your phone, and enjoy a relaxing day. Today, was not one of those days. In a matter of fact, I have not had one of those days since I came to this world of colored monstrosities. Said monstrosities were coming around the corner now towards my cell. Four ponies emerged in front of my cell door. Two wore some kind of gold armor with weapons strapped to their sides and expressions the expressed their desire to impale me with their spears. The other two were….different to say the least. Yeah. Ponies in armor. And I was captured by them. You probably see me as some lame weakling. Well your wrong! These ponies weren’t the ones you see at the petting zoo. These ponies wielded some powerful magic. Like blow a hole-in-your-chest kind of magic. The Guards had different appearances, one seemed to have wings while the other sported a horn. As for the other two, both seemed to obtain both wings and horns. One of them, I believe they call themselves Alicorns, was a normal sized mare with purple pastel fur and a purple mane with a pink stripe going down it. The other was tall and white, with what looked like a vomited rainbow for a mane. I'd have to ask her how she kept in flowing in the air like that though. The two alicorns slammed open my cell and walked in, leaving the guards outside. Underestimating me seemed stupid. Then again, they seemed to do that with all of their enemies. The purple one seemed to be holding a clipboard, the white one just started at me. The only sound that seemed to fill the room was the purple alicorn writing down on the paper. The white one, who seemed to wear the most of girly of jewelry, walked up to me and used her magic to drag me to eye level. “I am Princess Celestia, Raiser of the Sun, Vanquisher of Darkness, and Diarch of Equestria,” she said, “And you have many things to answer for!” She stared at my helmet, horn blazing with magic. Her wings were fully displayed, a show of dominance perhaps? The way she glared at me made me think of someone glaring at a child, like I had broken someones toy or some shit like that. So here it was, the great Goddess of the Sun and the dreaded evil hunter. And she had the nerve to look down at me like this, like a nuisance. Well there was no way I was gonna look fearful in her majesties presence. I just stared back at her through my helmet “Are these multiple choice answers, or do I have to do a fill-it-out-yourself kind of thing?” I asked, putting on an innocent voice. She couldn't see the smirk I had under my helmet, but she could her it in my tone. This seemed to poke the lion even more. Her magic slammed me back against the wall while she gently place a hoof next to my head. I could see her smirk back at me, but her eyes….her eyes were filled with rage. “Why yes,” she said in a sweetly evil, sarcastic, voice, “How could I forget to explain how you would answer the questions. It's quite simple, you give the most truthful and specific answer to my question,” The last part she emphasize with the wall cracking where he hoof was. Sheesh, someone woke of with a bag load of shit dropped on them. Oh wait. That was me. “Um, Princess?” the purple one asked the white devil, “Shouldn't we start the interrogation?” Celestia spun around, obviously worried about the younger presence witnessing her rage. She seem to compose herself and put back on a smile, “Yes Twilight,” she answered, “We should begin!” Twilight looked toward me. “We'll start off with something easy. What is your name, for legal reasons of course!” The purple one, Twilight's her name, looked kind of adorable, ready to write down all kind of notes. “Nathan,” I said nonchalantly, no need hiding my name from them. Their was an uncomfortable pause, “….Nathan?” they both replied “Um, yeah. Nathan,” I repeated. What, was my name some kind of offensive word in their language. Again, the their was a pause. Both looking at me incredulously. “This….this was not the name you gave use when you ravaged our subjects' homes.” Celestia said, anger seeming to return. “Well I changed, I decided it was best to change my name as well. Besides, your ponies wouldn't have been so cautious around some named Nathan. That and I decided your precious asshole citizens didn't deserve my name!” Twilight seemed to flinch at the vulgar of my words, Celestia just seethed over this. “The what should we address you as, your real name or the one you cower behind? Virixas?” It was a Fallen name, one that belonged to the former Kell of the House of Wolves. He was killed by Mara Sov, the ruler of the awoken. I used his name as an alias, and as a way to try to put away who I used to be. I was fascinated with fallen history, I know I'm a nerd so no need to tell me. “Virixas will do,” I stated. Twilight was writing down my name it seemed, while Celestia looked ready to ask more questions. “Now that we've gotten past the pleasantries, I have some simple questions for you,” she said, “Who are you, why are you here, and why are you so driven to terrorize my little ponies!” Her horn got closer to my face with each one of her questions. “Okay, now listen to me. Your ponies have persecuted Me, your ponies started by terrorizing me and my friends, and as for my story….buckle up sister because your in for a long ride.”
Chapter 2It was one of those days. I was relaxing after a nice breakfast, playing some video games. My friends/housemates, Ross and Sam, were in a Fireteam trying to make our daily run on Skolas in the PoE, emphasis on the word “trying”. This was around our third attempt, a blessing to some who had to struggle through many more tries. Unfortunately we need to complete this soon. Why the rush, you may ask? Well today I was attending my first convention. Of course I had no idea on what to do or how to prepare, but luckily we had Ross. Ross was a master of social events. He literally made a cheat sheet for Sam and I on what to expect and how to be ready. Ross was one of my oldest friends, he always had a way with people. He would listen to them speak, no matter the subject, and always kindly talk back, even when he disagreed with them they would be offended. Ross was looking to be a Game Engineer, currently on the way to earning a major in Computer Science. Ross loved games, it was him who introduced me to the world of gaming. Sam was the opposite of Ross on social skills. He was deathly afraid of attention. Sam was a great guy, but it was difficult to get to know him. I met him through Ross, both were in the same gaming group. It took weeks of living in the same building with him for us to start having real conversations, but I was patient and determined. I guess Sam seemed to notice it, because one morning he sat down and started talking to me! Around strangers, Sam was shy. Around us, I'd say he was one of the easy going person I've ever meet. Sam was looking to go into Video Game Design, He was an artistic visionary who spent hours on end making sure every little gear would work in the machine. Who was I? Well, like my friends I was looking to go into the same field. I wanted to be a Programmer. It's a job that works to help implement the final product. I'm currently 18 years of age, Ross being 20, and Sam being 23. Anyway, time to get back on track! The third try was like the others. I was playing a Hunter, Ross was a Titan, and Sam was a Warlock. Skolas appears and proceeds to shoot at us, making us go into cover. We immediately went to work. We had to shut down the servitors so that we could actually do damage to him, they put up this OP shield that blocked 99% of the damage going to him. We had to repeat this, on 30 seconds between each servitor going down, until he was around 65% health. Then we had to deal with those stupid Ads, just canon fodder minions, who constantly got in the way. But that was not the real issue with this fight. No, the real issue was “Devouring Essence”. Basically Skolas would latch Devouring Essence onto a random player and after 30 second, the player would die! The only way to stop that was to have someone transfer onto themselves. To stop hot potato between two players, Bungie gave the player who had it removed and immunity for 30 seconds (Damn you developers!). Skolas was now at 30%! I could hear my teammates, all of us we hyped. This is all we need to finish our gear set and this boss fight would be a distant memory. 25%……….17%……...8%….. YES 0%!! I could barely hold my excitement! (I did a dance...I know….) Whatever I would have done next was stopped. I could he the pounding of feet on the floor and my door swung open. “We've got an hour before the convention begins!” Ross shouted, “It'll take at least 10 minutes to get our costumes on!” “Alright! I'll be out in a minute!” I shouted back, immediately going for my closet. My costume was based of Destiny (Of course!). My costume consisted of the Kellhunter's set. It was a great costume, if I say so myself. I put it on and ran out of the house, Ross and Sam were waiting by the car. Sam wore the Kellbreaker's set, while Ross had his own Kellslayer's. We all got on the car and drove off to the convention. Ross talked us through the schedule of the convention and gave each of us a map. We mainly stuck by each other for the most of our visit. But when it came down to different panels and such, or interests were divided. We decided to meet up somewhere for food in about and hour and a half. With a plan set, we each went on our own way! ----------------------------------(1hr 24min later)---------------------------------------------------------------------- I was just wondering around at this point. I manged to find my self in some kind of market where people were selling replica's of items and such. Some of the stuff were pretty cool, but none of them called to me. I was a little down since I'd save up to bring something back, that and Ross made a bet on who would find the sickest stuff. All hope seemed lost, that was until I saw a stall with a guy wear a surprisingly convincing merchant outfit from RE4. “You seemed to be a stray guardian,” he said in some what creepy voice, “perhaps you would have interest for my wares?” I wasn't going to lie, I was a little creeped out. It then clicked. I remembered Ross's mentioning some of the members of the convention to do a little RP. Who was I to deny that? “Why yes humble merchant,” I replied, “My former weapons were damaged beyond repair in a battle, and I'm afraid I will need new ones to survive!” Not bad. Not great, but not bad. In truth, I had not brought any guns. I know that It was a big piece to my costume, but I couldn't get the guns right! “Oh, well I think I can help with that,” he answered, “Thanks for going along with me, by the way. Not many people do that anymore!” Seemed like a nice guy, but how wrong I was. What I saw next made me….giddy, yeah giddy. No, jumping up and down with excitement at what my eyes beheld! In front of me lay perfect replica's of the Six Dreg Pride, Aegis of the Kell, The Last Rebellion, and the Shadow of Veils. "Where did you get these,” I exclaimed! The detail was down to the inch! “I afraid I can't revel my sources,” he said dramatically, “But if you want them, I'll offer you a discount. Think of it as a thank you for being so cheerful!” I fished around for my wallet, finding it and pulling it out. “How much would it cost?” I asked. He put his hand on his chin, thinking to himself. “$170 total, the discount being 25%!” Deal! While I didn't notice it, Sam and Ross were calling out to me. I quickly handed him the money, gesturing to my friends I will be with them soon. How wrong I would be. “Well thank you very much young man,” He said as he took my money, handing me my purchased items. “No, thank you!” I said back. As soon as I took the items, I felt….wrong. My vision started to faded, I tried to scream! But no words came out. And then, with my friends running towards me. I blacked out.
Chapter 3“Guardian! Guardian! Wake up Guardian!” Ugh, my head. I had a splitting headache, and whoever was trying to wake me was making worst. I just wanted to swat it! “Alright, alright!” I said. I opened my eyes, staring at the night sky. I have no idea how long I was out, but it had to be at least 9:00pm. I slowly got up, my armor feeling slightly heavier. Huh, weird. I looked around at my surroundings, trees and other vegetation were all around me. Okay, if this was some kind of prank it wasn’t funny! I was about to shout out to my friends, the obvious culprits of this shift in my surroundings. “Good, your awake,” a static voice said behind me. I turned around, and their facing the floating machine. My mind tried to register what I was seeing. In front of me floated a Ghost! "What the," I shouted, "what the heck is going on!" I wont lie, I started to panic a little bit. Okay, I panicked a lot okay! Why was there a Ghost floating in front of me, why was I in the woods? I tried to speak, to say anything else, but I couldn't. I looked at my hands, my gauntlets were no longer cheap plastic. What the hell was going on? "I'm just as confused as you," the Ghost replied, trying to calm me down , “but I'm reading that you're my Guardian, even if we are this far from the Traveler.” Guardian? Okay, I need to think of my situation. This might be a dream, thought I doubted it. “Look….I don't know what you're talking about,” I said, “Guardians, and Ghosts, don't exist. You're just a video game character!” The Ghost didn't seem affected by this, it just continued to stare at me. “I know, I read your memories,” he answered back calmly, “But whatever happened to you, to us, created me and brought you here.” I looked around and back at my hands. I put my hand on my head. Yup, this helmet was not plastic. I started to remember buying those stuff, the creepy merchant. He did this! There was no way to explain it otherwise. Okay, I have real armor and a real Ghost. That means I also have real weapons! Right? “Um, Ghost,” I said, “can you pull up my inventory?” I hoped this worked. Where ever I was might have hostile animals. “Yes Guardian, I can do that.” Immediately my helmet pulled up a screen. It seemed I had everything I brought at the convention as well as the stuff I bought from that merchant. I'd say I looked badass. This is good! I'm decked out so I wont have to worry about anything out here, hopefully. Now onto my main issues, my memories. I don't know why, but they were the same as my character in the game! I knew how to shoot, somewhat, and I knew how to fight. Though how my mind will affect these skills I have no idea. “Okay Sparky,” I said, “We've gotta...” “Sparky,” he cut me off, “Really, that's what you're going for?” Why that sarcastic little, no he's right. It's his name after all. “Well, what do you want to be named?” I asked. “I don't know...” he said, and then proceeded to scan my mind. Whatever he did made me feel a little violated. Like he was picking though certain parts and throwing back any of the ones he didn't need! “I'll go with….Dinklebot!” He proclaimed, prideful aren't we? “Dinklebot! Really! Whatever, let's just get a fire started,” But then I heard something that made my skin crawl. Something was screaming, but it wasn't an animal scream. Some one was obvious screaming for help! “Dinklebot, get me coordinates to that noise,” I shouted, already running towards where I heard the noise. “Alright, I set a marker on you radar! Just follow it and it should lead us to whatever is going on.” he said, an arrow appearing on my radar screen. I continued on the path, blood rushing through my head. All kinds of horrible thoughts of what could happen if I didn't reach whoever that was in time. I've never been a hero, nor would I ever want to be. But someone was in trouble, and I've got the arsenal to handle it. Hopefully. “I'm reading five life forms, three seemed to be huddled together while the other two are closer!” Shit! The two were probably fighting while the others were staying back. I pulled out my hand cannon, making sure it was loaded and ready to fire. I'd gotten past the last tree and I emerged into a clearing. What I saw next broke my mind. There in the clearing, there was something that seemed to be a cartoon manticorn. But it was what was standing in front of it that truly shocked me. All hopes of being in my world vanished. A pony. A pony with draconic wings. A pony with a red mane and charcoal furred pony. A pony with a friggin long blade-tail. A pastel cutesy pony that looked ready to kill. Nathan.exe has crashed My appearance was announced as soon as I crashed through the trees. The other three were next to a tree behind the Draco-pony. One was a female bat-like pony with a blue coat, blond mane, and a Jack-o'-lantern tattoo on her flank. Another female had insect wings with little fangs, she had a white coat, and a mask tattoo on her flank. The last one was male, he had a pony head but a griffon body. He seemed to be the worst for wear, one of his hind legs seem twisted and his wing dislocated. The Draco-pony's head snapped towards me, letting a growl, “Another one, back off or else!” Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit she's looking at me! The manticorn took her distraction as an opportunity. He leaped at her, claws poised to strike. Time to slow down for me, one shot was all I had before that pony became mince meat. I raised my gun towards the manticorn, and I squeezed the trigger. BANG! The manticorn flew to the side, before it could even get up from the first shot I fired 3 more times. The ponies just stared wide-eyed at me. Now that the main threat was eliminated I had to take care of the injured one. I holstered my pistol and walked over to the group, most of them cowering with fear. The draco-pony jumped in front of my path towards them. “St..stay back!” she shouted, why do they have to be stubborn. It was clear I was trying to help them, if I really wanted them dead I would have shot them too. “Don't be stupid,” I said, they were shocked I could speak, “Your friend is hurt, if I wanted to harm you I would have already.” I continued to walk towards them, pushing past the her and walking up to her friends. I picked up some sticks and handed one to the male. “Your wing is dislocated, bit on the stick while I put it in place.” He looked a me sceptically, he then took the stick and did what I instructed. “You two,” I said, pointing towards the other two next to him, “Hold him down, this is gonna hurt.” After the did what I told them to, I relocated the joint. POP! The griffon-hybrid nearly jumped up in pain. After he calmed down I made a split for his leg and a sling for his arm. I got up and looked around, my eyes laying on a cart. I picked him up and carried him over to the back of the cart and sat him down. “Why are you helping us?” I turned around to see the dragon-hybrid looking at me. The way she asked me was like there was a reason not to help them. “Because you were in trouble,” I answered, “should I assume there's a reason not, because I can't see why?” All of them looked shocked at my answer. “You might still need my help. I assume you need protection to get out of this forest, and in return all I ask is you help me get to the nearest town.” The bat pony, a thestrals I believe, answered me. “Oh, how rude of us,” she said happily, “My name is Spook, I'm a thestrals. The angry and ungrateful one is Shadow Flight, a kirin. The one cowering behind her is Mimic Wing, a ponyling. Strong Bow is the hippogriff you just help.” Shadow Flight just snorted and put the carts latch on her back. Mimic Wing went to Strong Bow to check up on him, while Strong Bow just grunted towards me in gratitude. “We'd be happy for you to accompany us, as for my friends question….well were different than most ponies, so usually were use to others bothering us or running in fear.” Spook said the last bit sadly. “It doesn't matter to me what or who you are, everyone deserves help and compassion,” I stated, “May I ask where you're going and why you're here to begin with, from what I've gathered these forest seems dangerous?” I kind of made me mad to hear how others treated them. As an outcast my self, I was often bullied for acting different. To be honest, I was surprised I was so calm right now since I'm clearly not in my world. Or I was high. “I've managed to store any information we've gathered, juts in case we need to look at it latter. I'd suggest we follow them and hopefully find some way of getting home.” Dinklebot said, he manged to get communications going on in my helmet, so we could converse more privately. “These….ponies seem friendly, I would say we made some allies!” As we sat in the cart, Shadow Flight pulling us, Spook started to tell me their story. Turns out a couple years ago their princess sent a small group of hybrid-ponies to the Everfree, the forest were in, as a way to keep tensions low. The deal was that the Crown would fund the commune so that they could set up, all and all it looked like a great deal. But it wasn't. They got shafted the moment they entered the forest. Their supplies were low in quality as well as quantity and any protection they needed was denied. Finally, after many petitions, it seemed their princess heard their pleas. She made a deal with some creatures know as Diamond dogs to provided protection, and all they need to do was pay the dogs. Simple right? Nope! The Dogs basically enslaved them. Making them work in mines in order to pay them, whatever good they had left would be used to pay a tax that the crown laid on them. Plus, it turns out that they had to go and deliver what they owed to the nearest town since the ponies were to afraid to enter so deep into the forest. When the did get to the town, the were sometimes stopped by the guards. Thinking they were monsters the guards often jailed them, requiring them to pay a bail for "disturbing the peace". So let's boil it down shall we? They were pushed to leave their homes and go into the deadly forest. Their forced to pay both their en-slavers, and also pay the crown and never receive any assistants from them. Of course I was pissed off! And the worst part of this whole ordeal was that they could never get an audience with he majesty because some noble had to complain about “this or “that”. Bullshit governmental system fails to meet the needs of those who are poorly treated. “While I appreciate your criticism, you must understand I have thousands of subjects to listen to. Many towns have a certain tax they must meet, so that we may protect the nation as a whole!” Celestia defended. “Yeah, all the towns besides the one closest to the most dangerous forest in all of Equestria!” I retorted, “The fact remains is that you failed them, you refused to listen to their pleas for help, and most importantly you ***Segregated* them from the rest of the world! I finished, “Now, if you don't mind I'd like to finish this.”** “Fine.” Celestia seethed. We were close to the town, I could see the quiet little town off in the distance. I could see a couple of ponies in the market place up ahead. I also saw a….house...in a tree? “What's this place called? I asked. My hopes of getting home fleeting. “Oh, this is Ponyville. Home to Princess Twilight Sparkle and one of the most prosperous multi-tribal areas in Equestria!” Spook said, sounding like one of those hyped up tour guides. Ponyville? Ponyville! How did it not click to me! Magic talking ponies, dark creepy forest! I was no oblivious to the internet, I've seen may MLP FIM memes and videos pop up on my many searches. Oh for the love of God! Of all the places I could have been dropped off at, it was here! Don't get me wrong, the show wasn't bad. Ross was a big fan, a brony if you will, and he'd often shown me and Sam the show. It wasn't my cup of tea, but I understood and respected the fandom unlike others. Of course I was lucky to get sent to a peaceful world, but no advanced technology. For some reason I don't think they had a "teleport me to another universe" spell. Dammit, why was my luck so bad? I'd never see my friends, my family. How could this get any worse? “I'm...sorry Nathan,” Dinklebot said, “But we've got to think what our next step is if were going to survive. Besides, in a world full of magic, maybe we can find a spell to fix this!” It was nice of him, maybe he was right. Thanks Dinklebot. Of course it did get worse. As soon as we walked into town, ponies began to run and scream their little heads off the me and my companions were the Four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The others seemed use to this, Spook told me that it was normal and to just ignore it. Well I did! The locals didn't. As we got to the library in a tree. Yeah, whatever. A speeding bullet crashed into me and tore me off the cart. Spook let out a yelp, barley dodging the projectile. Mimic kept Strong Bow down, he was still hurt after all, and Shadow got into an aggressive stance. “Don't mess with Ponyville chump,” A scratchy voice said, I looked up to see a Pegasus with a rainbow mane flying a feet feet above me. Rage immediately burned in me, who the fuck was this gay-pride mascot to just go and attack me. “What's your problem,” I shouted, “I'm not messing with anyone!” She just snorted and took on a battle pose. “I'll be asking the questions here monster,” she retorted, “so beat it before I make you!” That tears it, I could see Mimic crying in fear at what was happening. While we'd just meet and barley spoken, it was only due to her shy nature and insecurity. With determination I jumped back on my feet, making a dash for her. She dodged and then taunted me. “Nice try, but no one is faster then me!,” She cowed, “let me show you how out of your league your are!” With that she speed towards me at an unbelievable rate. Just when she was about to hit me, I sidestepped and gave a kick to where the join of her wing meet her body. The force of the kick shot her through a house, leaving her under the rubble. This of course did not help the panicking ponies clam down. Whoops! I turned around and bolted towards the library. Shadow and Spook right behind me. I slammed open the door, a purple lizard stood off to the side, shocked by my sudden on my entrance. “What are you doing,” Shadow shouted, 'We've got to go now! She seemed worried, I knew time was of the essence but I had to get as may books as I could! “I need your help, grab as many books as you can off the shelves!” I said, she looked at me like I was crazy. “Please, somewhere here might be the answer to me getting home. I know we've only known each other for a short time, but you understand what it means to have a home where you're love!” She looked at me with an understanding look and nodded, bolting off to the nearest shelf. “Hey,” the purple lizard shouted while wielding a broom, “You can't take those!” whatever he was going to do next was stopped short when I blew the head of the broom off with my hand cannon. “Never mind,” he said with a terrified smile, “take what you want, it's a library after all.” with that he bolted up the stair case. We had finally gotten out, everyone getting onto the cart so we could take off. Of course, I would be on there as well if it weren’t for the purple ray beam of death that blasted me in my chest! I grumbled and got up to see six mares staring at me with anger. There was Skittles from before, a pink earth pony with some messed up hair, an orange cowboy earth pony, a yellow Pegasus with long pink hair, a white unicorn, and a purple winged unicorn “STOP RIGHT THEIR!” purple shouted, her horn glowing. Probably to shoot off another magic laser. Man, she looked pissed. I don't know why, it was her friend that attacked me! I remember my companions mentioning Princess Twilight Sparkle as an alicorn, so this must be her. The orange one wearing the cowboy hat was standing on her hind legs, twirling a lasso over her head. How did she do that with no hands? Her neck must have some issues if she does that often. “No listen here feller, we don't want to hurt ya so just stay down,” she said. A southern accent? “I don't know about that,” the rainbow one said pounding her house together, she was sporting a black eye. HAH! “Honestly, Rainbow darling you could be a tad less violent,” the white unicorn, with the really whiny accent, said, “Though I highly doubt the brute will go down quietly,” I immediately drew my pistol, aiming it at the purple leader. “Get out of my way, I don't want to get into anything we all might regret,” I said calmly. My opponents saw my warning as an attack, clearly not listening to my words. “It's attacking,” Rainbow shouted, “We gotta blast it now!” “We were going to anyway, Rainbow!” The purple menace replied, “Under the power the Princesses of Equestria entrusted to me, you are to be punished for you deeds!” They then started floating, not good. A white light coated them and their eyes started to glow, definitely not good! I remembered seeing their orbital friendship laser before, turning someone to stone. So yeah, I was scared shitless. A giant rainbow shot out and towards me. I of course did the only thing logical, I screamed like a girl. “FUUUUUUUUUUUU……….”
Chapter 4You ever hit your head hard on something? Or paint a room while the windows and doors are closed? Or maybe you were listening to something and you had your sound amplified to 100%? When that rainbow of happiness and friendship hit me, it felt/smelled/sounded like all of those. It immobilized me while it tore into my head, working it's way into my mind trying to erase my very knowledge of existence. Each time I pushed it back, it would surge forward with more vigor. “Did it work?” “He doesn't look like he's stone...” “Maybe he was possessed like Luna?” The pain stopped, I started to regain my senses. I was kneeling on the ground in front of them, arms limp as my brain slowly regained control of my body. The first thought that came to my head was: Pure, unadulterated rage. “You...psychopathic….RODENTS**!” I roared, my body glowed blue and each one of them were throw back by an unseen force. Their direction only stopped by the nearest object of impact, dazed from my attacked. The princess was the first on her hooves, “It didn't work!” she shouted “No S#*t Sherlock,” I retorted, unloading my gun at her and her friends. She quickly threw up a shield, stopping the bullets cold. She flinched when they smashed at her shield. The a@@ tried to lobotomize me because I scared them, they were playing with fire. I knew full well of the rainbow and purple ones capabilities, and whatever that rainbow cannon thing was, it still loomed in my mind. “The Elements didn't work, we'll have to do this ourselves girls!” she said to her companions. I'd highly doubt they could dish out any real damage. It was clear they were civilians, not trained combatants. Using those trinkets only proved they relied more on taking one shot to clear out their enemies...... OH SH@#! I barely dodged being a crater when Sparkles unleashed another magic bolt. Screw that! Alicorn to OP! I had to get out of here, the hybrids were still here and each moment they waited for me made it worse for them. Well, time to cause a brilliant distraction. “He's up to something Twi, we gotta get him now,” Skittles said, “And try not to kill him or blow up the town!” Crap, how did the rainbow one know! “Sorry!” Twilight said. Huh, seems like our princess hasn't gotten use to her upgrade. I pulled out an incendiary grenade and chucked it at one of the thatch roofs. It lit up the roof, quickly spreading to the other houses. BURN! BURN! Yeah, I'm a pyro. What can I say, it's not like it'll kill anyone. Unless they live on a roof.... Ponies began running all around. Thank god for pony hysteria. The fire gave me and my friends the opportunity to ride off the Everfree while out heroines put out the flames and calmed their people. We entered the forest and after a while we slowed down. Only after we actually got away did I feel bad for the hybrids. They would never had this problem if it wasn't for me! Ugh, I just wanted help and that princess tried to rip apart my mind. I have no idea how those ponies hadn't pissed off another nation by now. I could see the headlines: “Purple Princess mind melts the Griffon ambassador!”. “Are you okay?” Mimic asked, a worried expression on her face. “I….I'm fine, thanks for asking,” I said, “It's just…. what was that all about?” Spook looked towards me, “Those were the Elements of Harmony,” she said, “They're usually used to banish Equestria's evils. Look, I honestly didn't know that was going to happen. If I did I would have never brought you there.” I don't know why she was apologizing. I mean, it was not she shot rainbows at me. I don't know where to go though, this had thrown a wrench in my plan. Goal one was not to become enemy of the state. “Okay, look,” Flight said stopping the cart, “we don't know who you really are, all we know is that you saved our lives. I'm not asking for a life story, but I want answers before we go any further with you.” She still didn't trust me, not that I'm surprised. I owed them this anyway, especially if I was going to continue to be with them. So I told them. I told them who I was. I told them how I got here and about humans. They were fascinated with my stories, I mainly told them of the memories of the Guardian character. They were my memories as well now. “So Nathan,” Spook said, “where do you go from here, hideout in the forest for the rest of your life?” I hadn't thought about that. My main objective was to get home, but I doubted I'd find a way. Another thing that I realized is that I had to change. I wasn't the wimpy nerd anymore, I could kill a manticorn and go toe to toe with a super powered pony princess. Heck, I hurt Rainbow and it wasn't even my intention. But the main reason was what I almost lost, my memories. That last think I held dear, almost taken from me. In order to protect what little of me I had left I have to become stronger, smarter. What I'd done a Ponyville was a fluke. I could shoot a gun and use a knife, but I needed to get better. I need to also unlock the powers the Traveler bestowed on me. “Don't call me Nathan,” I said, “I'm no longer that person..” Flight rolled her eyes at me, “What do we call you then?” What should I be called. “Dinkle, you there?” I asked “Yes Guardian, I've been re watching memory footage of our encounter,” He said, “Do you need me to do something?” “Yeah, I need you to modify my voice filterer,” I said, “make is foreboding, and some what distorted.” “My purpose is clear,” I said to them, “I will go back with you, and take care of these Diamond dogs. Their choice will be to join me or die.” They looked shocked at my plan, if not happy. I would be freeing them. “Then, I shall cut you free from the bonds of Equestria. No longer shall you be forced to live under there rule!” I continued, they were hanging onto my words. Hope filled their eyes. Now to deliver the last part of my speech. “So, from now on call me….” I paused for dramatic affect, “Virixas” In a“I think we can list off the some of the charges now Twilight,” Celestia said. “Charges?” I asked, oh why did I have to ask. Twilight will probably have a list and exact detail of each of my “crimes” “Yes Princess,” Twilight said, “We've got assault, arson, property damage, conspiring treason, committing treason, resisting arrest, disturbing the peace, carrying illegal weapons (Bullshit! They don't have guns!), causing mass panic, attempt of murder, and….theft.” “As you can see,” Celestia said, “your number of crimes are server, numerous. single day you manged to commit all of these, to think I allowed you roam in my land unchecked. To think of all the ponies you terrified...” “Yeah no,” I said, cutting her off, “You ponies would run in fear from a hoard of bunnies! As for crimes, how many did sparkle butt and her friends cause? There's got to be prohibitions on mind spells. Plus I didn't steal anything. I would have returned the books, eventually! “What Princess Twilight and her friends did was reasonable at the time,” she stated, “and it seems their suspicions were right, lighting a house on fire as an escape plan risked the lives of those who dwelt there!” “Shooting first and asking questions latter is not a proper police response! In a matter of fact, are they even legally allowed to carry out punishments before a court is held?” I asked. Twilight was the first to respond to my accusation. “Under the Equestrian protection law, article 19, a pony is allowed to use physical force to detain anypony who might show signs of violence or ill intent! Also, I'll have you know that those "borrowed books" are 4 months over due!" Celestia and I just looked at her. This girl and her damned books..... “Okay, so besides the fact that you just recited that to near perfection (I've read the Equestrian protection law book, it's got 400 pages!) I was still attacked first!” I replied Celestia just stared at me, “You do know you could have filed a complaint against her instead of putting her through a building, right?” Okay, she got me there! Damn you and your logic magic horses! “Hey Twilight,” I said with a smirk, still hoping to grab some victory. “Yeah?” she asked, still smug at my “defeat” “I burned your books…….” Celestia just stared at me with pity, before walking out and shutting the cell door behind her. Why would she....TWILIGHT NO! (CENSORED DUE TO EXTREM VIOLENCE) Where was I? Oh right, liberating my people. I decided if I was gonna be the “bad guy”, I'd need some loyal minions. Who wouldn't, right? Anyway, we kept going deeper into the forest. Good thing is that the ponies have no idea where the village was. Turns out if you got them coming to you, why ask where they live! We had to make camp for the night since it was getting dark. I decided that in order to build my army, I needed to focus on training them. I mean, biologically speaking, these guys had a lot going for them! They could hunt and fight, they just need to be shown how. Plus, they had all kinds of unique body features that gave them an advantage…. NO! BAD! DON'T ANY OF YOU THINK LIKE THAT! YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I MEANT! Anyway, it turns out that there is two ways that their community came about. The first is normal love between two different species. The other came about a 1000 years ago! Turns out there was this guy named Discord. Now, in his mad glory, he decided that the citizens of Equestria were to dull. So he took a select group of ponies and infused them with his chaos magic, creating a variety of hybrids. Discord was someone I'd like to sit down with with a drawing pad. The things him and I could create…….. “NO!” Celestia shouted, “It's bad enough I have one chaotic entity on my hooves. I don't need you running around with him!” Damn, and to think what I could have achieved! I knew I shouldn't have tried to kill him! We told some more stories and I showed them how to cook rabbit. I grabbed tons of books yet none were on cooking! Then the Timber Wolves attacked. Luckily, Strong Bow started throwing burning sticks at the kindle pups. After about five minutes of us hitting the wolves, destroying them, them going transformers and turning into mega wolf, I blew them up with a grenade The moral is that explosives solve everything! One of the wolves got smart and decided to serve me instead of dying. I don't know what I'll do with a wolf that is made of wood? Maybe I could get it to help me hunt food. Or to do tricks. Anyway, I've got an evil pet. We finally got to the village. It was a nice place, remind me of Ponyville. In the woods. All around the town all kinds of mismatched ponies were going about their day. One of the major things was that they didn't run in fear. They sorta just stared at me and walked away. Spook took me to her house were she set up a guest room for me. A little girly, but I think her little sister uses it for her club house. She warned me that her sisters friends might come by, and I should hide my weapons. Who knows what those children could do! (7 days later) I went through an extreme training montage so I could be ready for my big fight with the Diamond dogs. Dinklebot gave me a run through of all of my abilities as a hunter. Usually, I could go through two routes as a hunter: Blade dancer, or Gunslinger! The Blade dancer lets me focus on using me knife skills: I can do shot distance blinks, temporary invisibility, and I can use the Arc Blade which coats we and aura of lightning. This increases my speed as well as turning my knife into an instrument of death as I can send out energy slashes as an area of affect or short ranged attack." The Gunslinger lets me focus on my gun skills: I can fire with greater aim and range, I have increased ammo, and I have something called the Golden gun. It lets me have three shots, all three of which have the heat of a sun. I can literally disintegrate some one on a molecular level! For more in depth info click here! Because of Equestria's magic source being on par with the Traveler, I was easily able to tap into it. Giving me both sub classes to use, so I might not be able to shoot rainbows but I can still hold my own. And I had the perfect target to test my combat skills on! The Diamond dogs and their boss were coming by today to collect their tribute. I'd set the stage for my hostile takeover. I had talked it over with my friends/minions and we warned most of the town what was going down. A lot were happy that they would soon be free. Others were skeptical, mainly because they were use to outsiders taking advantage of them. Here they come now! I'm excited to initiate my first take over. I wonder if I can get the Dogs to join us after I kill their leader. I'd have to lookout for any assassination attempts but I think I'll be worth it in the long run. Now, let's analyze their leader and look for any weak...points…… “Mimic,” I said turning my head away from the sniper scope and towards her, “You….forgot to mention something about the dogs' boss,” “We....we did?” she stuttered. She seemed to be warming up to me, but she was still shy when I talked to her. “I'm sorry, what did we forget?” “Their leader isn't a dog,” I deadpanned, “Mimic, he's a huge dragon!” I don't know why they decided to leave out that crucial feature! Calm down. I just needed to focus. He was just a big lizard. A lizard that could breath fire, but a lizard none the less. Of course, I made sure our fight wasn't in the town. If I did that who knows how many houses would be destroyed, let alone how many ponies would get hurt. I looked back through my scope, making sure I'd have a shot at it's wings. No need to worry about it flying off or attacking in the air. I just need to ground the guy and he'd be a sitting duck. BANG!! BANG!!! The dragon let out a ferocious roar as my sniper rounds tore through his wings. Oh man was he pissed, well time to waste this joker! “WHO DARES!” He shouted in pain, I determined his gender from his voice, so unless all females sounded like Smaug he was a guy! “I did ya salamander!” I shouted back at him. He swung his large head towards the cliff I was standing on. The spines on his back stiffening at my appearance. “Puny morsel,” He retorted, “you have signed your own death. Prepare for my fire to turn your bones to ash!” He launched a gigantic fire ball towards me. Luckily, I grabbed Mimic in time before my sniper's nest went in flames. I set her down and she ran back towards the town. With her gone I turned to face the dragon. Jumping away before his tail could crush me. I sliced off a section of his tail with my blade. He roared in pain at the lost of his tail. I jumped back, deciding to taunt him, "You know," I said, "It's gonna be hard getting the ladies, you're gonna have to tell them how you lost your tail and all." I pulled out my pulse rifle and began to fire at him as I ran from his torrent of flames. I aimed for his legs first, scales and blood flying from where my sights were on. My hope was to completely immobilize him so that I didn't have to worry about the range of his physical attacks. After a while of my attacks, he roared and swung his claws, nearly cutting me in half. “What are you idiots doing?” the dragon shouted to the dogs, “Attack him!” The dogs continued to watch their leader struggle, not lifting a paw to aid their master. Seems like the hybrids weren't the only ones who hated our mutual friend. Speaking of him, the dragon's attacks seem to slow as I started aiming for his arms and head. I'd give him 5 more minutes before he was out of steam, and energy to flail his limbs around. He was easier to take the a Hive Ogre, those monsters gave me the heebie-jeebies! He soon fell down after I place some good shots on his chest. The town residents flooded out of their homes, running towards the carnage. The dogs seemed amazed at their master's defeat, staring at me. I'm not sure “Thank you so much!” “You showed that scaled bully!” “How did you beat him?” “You gotta show us how to do that!” I was bombarded from praise of the towns folk. Flight, Bow, Mimic, and Spook shoved their way through the crowed towards me. “You have no idea how worried we were for you!” Spook said, giving me a quick hug. “I think one of us has something to say to you, isn't that right Shadow?” Spook turned towards the kirin giving her a look. “Okay,” the kirin said, “I may have been wrong to doubt you!” “And…...” Spook said. “And I'm sorry that I might have made a bet with a couple of the others whether or not you would be eaten!” she finished in embarrassment. Betting huh, well I seems not everyone had faith in me. “How much did you lose?” I smirked, she just pouted at me. The then all went wide eyed and started to back up. Why would they….. “YOU THINK YOU HAVE WON!” The Dragon shouted behind me. I had Dinkle switch out my weapons, time for the big guns. “I WILL BURN YOUR MISERABLE TOWN!” He started to inhale to make another fire ball. “Yeah,” I said, “not gonna happen!” and with that I turned around and fired my rocket launcher into his mouth. “BOOM” To say it was messy would be an understatement. At least he wouldn't comeback from that! Hopefully, you have no idea in magic pony land. “So….does anyone have a shovel?” I asked.
Chapter 5The princess Celestia just gawped at me in horror, Twilight was actually puking. “YOU KILLED HIM?”** “Yup, blew him up” She backed away in horror, Don't know why since they've killed before. “You *KILLED** a SAPIENT BEING? Surely you could have talked something out with him, we both know you had the power to knock him unconscious to stop him!”* “And then what? Imprisoned him? Banishment? Yeah, I could not see that coming back to bite me in the ass.” I said sarcastically. “But we've proven dragons can be negotiated with!” Twilight said, seems like she's feeling better. “True,” I replied, “But you have to understand this guy wasn't the dragons you have work with. He's killed both Diamond dogs and the hybrids, he was to volatile to negotiate with. If I had imprisoned him I would have had to take care of him, and he would be a danger to everyone in town!” Celestia turned around, still trying to process my answer. Twilight looked conflicted. Ugh, it seems the real world has yet to hit her. Maybe it was due to the dependance on the Elements, being able to magic away your problem make things to easy. “Listen Sparkles,” I said, “We can't just use magic and friendship to solve our problems. One day, who knows when, you'll come across a problem the will make you choose between life and death.” “Let's get back to the story….” I hated this mushy world sometimes, it seemed fake. The Diamond dogs were quick to join me. Like dogs they need an alpha, since their former alpha was dead they choose me to replace him. Of course the townies folk were less then happy about the dogs living in the town, but they seemed to understand the Dragon's control on them. With the Diamond Dog tribes constantly at war, you need the biggest baddest boss you can get. Even if their a total d#*$. I learned that when a politicians made promises, people loved them when they followed through on those promises. So, I promised them I would free them from the Diamond Dogs. Not only did I mange that, but I got the dogs to preform some community service. My second promise, the one where I'd server their ties to Equestria and help them live on their own. That took more time. When I took leadership, seems the dragon ate their last leader, I needed to get the hybrids to sustain themselves. Spook became my official adviser, helping me rebuild the town's educational system and organize the agricultural groups. She also helped me get two know the town's problems. I learned from Celestia's failure that it was better to rule with a select group of individuals instead of nobles or running it herself. Next, I need to gear up my troops. The dogs had what they needed, but the town didn't. We fortified the defensive’s in case of wild creatures or other Diamond dogs. After that, I gathered up as much willing volunteers I could. I started training them with the help of Shadow Flight. They weren't Guardians, but they were damn good at fighting. They just need more training and to be more organized. I talked over some ideas with Dinklebot and Strong Bow. Strong Bow was a genius inventor and blacksmith. With his skill and my, and Dinklebot's, knowledge we were able to create some impressive weapons. The first thing we did was give Shadow Flight an edge when it came to fights. We created some talon-like boots. It was made of reenforced steel and had a system the allowed it to rotate. It would allow her to grab items and scale walls. The second thing we made was a weaponized tail shell. It not only had a wicked blade but fired electric bolts from the tip of the shell. We figured out how to store lightning in a capsule that would be released from a mechanism located inside the shell. Last of all, we fashioned a knight's armor that would protect her and her wings. Strong Bow was excited on what we made. But I had to stop him from trying to examine the inside of my Ghost. “That's ingenious,” Twilight said, “Augmenting soldiers could give other races advantages in warfare.” Writing furiously on my description, trying to get a copy of our design. “Better yet,” Celestia added, “We could bring Equestria back into major crafting industries. Not longer would we just need unicorns to make/use certain tools!” “So ponies don't have control over certain industries?” I asked. I mean, I know they have hooves… “Yes,” Celestia answered, “We rely on some species like Griffons or Minotaur’s in order to produce many items.” “That's….slightly disappointing,” said, “but sometimes we got to work with what we have.” The last of my group of leaders was Mimic. Mimic was a…..complicated case. Being part changeling was not common among hybrids and she seemed certain she had not talents to use. I wasn't convince however and I went to the only people who could help me. The only people who knew her and changelings the most. Her parents….. (Mimic's house, dinner) Bumble Buzz and Mirror Shine we surprised to have me over to dinner. It seems I'd become something of a celebrity among the inhabitants. Not many had seen me without my helmet, so they were surprised. They were even more surprised when they learned the meaning of my visit. Their daughter. That and Bumble Buzz's meat pie was legendary among the populace. Bumble Buzz was a yellow changeling with black stripes. Both were young to have a daughter Mimic's age, Mimic being 19. Bumble Buzz was a yellow and black changeling, a former member of one of the Eastern Changeling Hives. Mirror Shine was a navy blue unicorn with a black mane, her cutie mark was a book representing her passion as a teacher. Both were 37 years old. I'd come without prior warning, not wanting Mimic to be home while we talked about her. I need to understand somethings about her, and it was best if I could ask my questions with just her parents around. Anyway, I came bye during dinner because her and Shadow Flight were on some kind of date. I had thought the two had been close, but not that close. Getting back on topic. Mimic's parents we ecstatic to have me over and treated me like a welcomed guest. I see where Mimic gets her kind nature. “So,” Bumble said after we had finished our meal, relocating ourselves to the living room. “What has got you interested in our daughter?” “When I talked to Mimic, she seemed….determined that she could be of no use as one of my closest advisers,” I answered. “And do you believe her?” Mirror Sine asked. “On the contrary Mrs. Shine. I believe the Mimic has a lot of potential, waiting to be untapped.” I said, “She seems to be holding herself back though. Now I know she's shy, but I have the feeling she's holding onto something. Why is she like this, what is she afraid of?” Both parent looked sadly at me. I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what was going on with her. Finally, Bumble answered my question. “Mirror, Mimic, and I lived in Fillydelphia (Urk, the horse puns. It burns!) before we moved here. You see, Mirror and I fell in love with each other at a young age. She was the first to love me for who I really was.” “A changeling?” I asked. Changelings are know to be shape shifter. I had assumed Mirror didn't know till later on in their relationship that Bumble was a changeling. Good for them. “Yes, though my parents didn't approve of our relationship,” Mirror said, “They had a family reputation to withhold, and their daughter dating a changeling was not...acceptable in their eyes.” “So we ran away together. Started a new life,” Bumble continued, “We had Mimic and life seemed to be fine.” Not good, what happened. “What happened,” I asked, “Surely Mirror's parent didn't pursue you two, did they?” “No, nothing like that...” Mirror said, “You see, Mimic is unique. I know all mothers say that about their children, but at a young age Mimic was excelling in illusion magic.” “That and her Shape shifting was highly advanced for her age. It usually took us changeling years to master it.” Bumble Buzz add. Okay, so it seems like she had a great life. Right? “But when she started going to school….” Mirror trailed off. “The students and teachers harassed her. She started to fail in her studies because the teachers made things difficult for her. She…. She never told us what was happening, she was scared we'd blame her.” Bumble said. Well shit. It made sense why she was scared about what I thought about her. It seemed she didn't want to disappoint anyone….. “When did you find out, did she tell you or someone else?” Bumble shared a look with Mirror before answering me. “It was actually Shadow Flight who told us. She and her parents lived in Fillydelphia, they were part of “Dragon Town” as many call it. Her parents died a couple years ago. “I had no idea they knew each other so far back,” I said, “Knowing Flight, she probably stood up for Mimic?” Both shook their head that I was correct. “So….what did you do?” That's when they started smiling. “We decided it was in our best interest to leave. We weren't the only ones, Flight's parents are the ones who brought up the idea.” I looked shocked at that. I understood why they left, I hated being bullied and it seemed that it wasn't only kids who gave Mimic a hard time. But to leave everything just in hopes of going to a town that might or might no accept you….wait. “You came here?” I asked. “Yes, we were told of a place called Evermore that supported people who were cross species.” Mirror said. “while the town was secret, it often sent ponies out to offer ponies like us a better life. Of course we knew the dangers and the issues of the town before hand, we knew that it was the only place where our daughter could grow.” I had appreciated them telling me this. This was a personal question, to talk about such hard times. It also told me a little more depth of Shadow's affection for Mimic. “And now we get back to the question of what Mimic can do,” I said, “She very well could be the greatest spy in Equestria.” “With all due respect Lord Virixas,” Mirror interjected, “But the Equestrians have counter measures against changelings.” “Your right,” I answered, “Changeling wont be able to sneak into places like Ponyville, Canterlot, or The Crystal Empire.” “Yes, so I honestly don't understand why you would put Mimic in that kind of danger?” Mirror asked angrily. I could understand him being angry, if he was talking to some stupid. But I'm not stupid. I held my hand out stopping her fuming. I looked at both of them, Mirror looked flustered while Bumble stared at me with his big blue eyes. He seemed to try to read me, to sense what emotions I was feeling. “Let me ask you both a question,” I said, “While normal changelings would not be able to breach Equestrian security, is it not true that Mimic is not an ordinary changeling?” Bumble's eyes widened at my question. “Of course,” he said, realizing what I was planning, “so that's why you came to use!” Mirror looked at her mate confusedly. Understandable since her knowledge of changeling hierarchy was not as wide as Bumble's. “Would you mind telling me what he's talking about?” Mirror asked her husband. Now, time to reveal my plan. “You see Mirror,” I said, “While Mimic is part changeling, she is also part unicorn. Most changelings have limited spell besides the queens. But Mimic can access both unicorn and changeling magic….” Bumble then finished what I was getting at. “She could create illusions that would reinforce her changeling spells!” He said, shaking his head disbelievingly. “By manipulating her illusions, she could trick the detection spells into thinking she doesn't even exist, or that changeling magic isn't being used. Heck, she could even make copies of her self or others, she could be a master deception!” I finished. I remembered the Ghost Army the United States Army utilized in WW2. They created fake armies with inflatables and fake radio transmissions. Their deception helped lead to our victory of D-Day! “This is brilliant,” Bumble exclaimed, “this could revolutionize warfare!” A little extradited, but through my extensive reading of war novels and history books from the library I….borrowed. From what I learned, the tactic was never heard of. And even if they expected it, there was no way to prevent it.” “That's why I need you two,” I affirmed, “I need your help to not only train her, but to give her the confidence she needs to do this. So what do you say?” “…..” both were silent, staring in each others eyes. Then Bumble and Mirror looked back at me. “She's young. What your asking would be hard for someone her age,” Mirror pointed out, “While she's no helpless, I don't know how I would feel if you sent my baby girl somewhere she could get hurt.” I smiled at her, I could see Mimic in both of her parents. “Yes, I agree it's dangerous.” I agreed, “But, I should tell you that I'm 18.” Both their jaws dropped and my confession. “My goal is that with her training, she won't be in danger.” It took them sometime, they went into the kitchen to discuss with each other. I sat there on the couch patiently. I was hoping they would agree, Mimic was my best shot besides my Ghost at gathering information. That and I wanted the girl to fit in, build some confidence. Both came out after the were done deciding. “Alright, were in!” they both said in unison. (Mayor's Office) My new office was decently sized. Most of the stuff of the former mayors stayed inside the room, mainly books and furniture. I had sat down after long hours of Spook lecturing me on what was needed to be done and how to do it. She was loyal to the job, and seemed to be experienced with my….ignorance. “Hey Dinklebot, you got a moment?” I asked, the mental connection we shared allowed me to project my thoughts in pictures and words. It allowed me to converse with him when I need to recap something. “Yeah buddy, I'm open.” He also seemed to be more….alive, maybe he always was and I never noticed in the game. “I wanna try out that idea you had, the one where you become my eyes and ears.” We tinkered a bit with my helmet screen. We found out a way to project what Dinkle was seeing and project it back to me. “Yeah, let's try it out!” His eye started to glow and soon I could see the room in his perspective. Okay, let's see if we can dig a little in on what our little ponies in Ponyville were doing. Dinklebot took off and speed out towards Ponyville. The first thing that caught my mind was the hut the was in the Everfree. Apparently some voodoo zebra lived here as well. This might be a problem. While she didn't know where we were, she could be a great guide to the Equestrians. I decided I would check up on her later, back on track. We soon reached the outskirts of Ponyville, coming across another tree house. One of the Elements, yellow and pink, was talking to some birds…. “Hello their mister tweety..” Okay….weirdo. I went to the market place. I was trying to figure out their currency system better. It seemed like I wouldn't get much out of it. Damn, now I'm gonna have to get Spook to lecture me on this as well. They way the bought stuff was confusing. A bunch of the items they were selling had the same price, like apples cost the same as apple pie. I came to the conclusion that I wouldn't learn nothing in the market, so I flew off to the only place where you would most likely learn is this place. School. I had Dinkle float off into the school building. “Good Morning, class!” Ah, so this is their teacher. The children were around the age of 10 and up. She droned on for hours about friendship this and friendship that and that friendship is all you need to solve you problems! Gag me. Another thing she was good at was spreading that propaganda bullshit of how great and wise the princesses are. That their compassion was unrivaled. I know when I wanna say hi I blast mind washing rainbows at them. After the class, recess started. This is one of the reason I came the school. Adults are more reclusive to talk about stuff like secrets, but in they're home they fell more open. Sometimes kids are around to hear stuff, and there less shy to talk about it. What I saw was something I didn't expect. I've had some oblivious teachers, ones that would have s@#* happen right in front of them and they would never notice. It seems that some of the children didn't listen to any of the crap that teacher went on about. It was some pink filly with a crown, perhaps royalty, and her hipster glasses friend. They went on about how lame the colts were, the poor kids, that one orange chicken who can't fly (Hating on others with disabilities), and “blank flanks”. My hatred burns for her. She's a bully, and a low one at that. What's the point of the educational system to force friendship down their throats. They had their own Rainbow of Lobotomies with these kids smashing down dreams and feelings. School went on and finally it was over. I made sure to follow the pink one, just in case my royalty theory was right. Along the way we passed the library, maybe if we could sneak in….. “Alert, Guardian,” Dinklebot's voice echoed in my mind as we went to go inside the house, “We've seem to set off some sort of alarm, I suggest we leave immediately.” Alarm! What is he, OH SHIT! Sparkles was staring right out the window, her muzzle scrunched. I had to admit her facial expressions were kinda cute. She opened the window, seeing nothing she turned back to whatever she was doing. We went back to following the pink terror. Most ponies stayed clear of the menace as she went on to her path as she went on her unknown mission. She finally reached her destination. I appeared to be a store. Shit, I thought. Walmarts' influence even stretches here! Can nothing stop their expansion? Anyway, she walked in. "Welcome to Filthy Rich's Barnyard Bargains!" the clerk at the counter drawled. I was forced to activate cloaking on Dinklebot. “Is daddy here?” The brat asked the clerk. “Yes Miss. Tiara, he's in his office right now.” he answered. Daddy huh, if he was any bit like his daughter. Well, he was corruptible. He was owner of this store, and there are somethings that we can't get in Evermore. If I offered him money, we might be able to work out a deal. Anyway, the kid went to her dad's office. “Daddy!” Tiara said, hugging her father. He returned the hug. “Hey, pumpkin,” he said, “How was school?” “Perfect as always daddy!” The next few minutes consisted of my life being drained away as Tiara went on about her day to her dad. Begging for items she saw on the way to the store, Filthy Rich just nodded and smiled “yes, pumpkin”. When she was done, Mr. Rich finally spoke, “Tell you what pumpkin, you go and look around the store. I've got some papers to finish and then I'm off to Sweet Apple Acres. Afterwords, we can get you a treat at Sugarcube Corner.” “Alright Daddy.” She gave him one last hug before trotting out the door. “Love you!” “Love you too dear,” Filthy said, closing the door behind her. Okay show time! “Truly touching,” I said as Dinklebot uncloaked, our voice echoing in the room. “Who are you?” Filthy yelled. Good, fear me mortal or I shall smite you. This was kinda of fun, being the mysterious villain and all. “My name matters little,” I stated, Dinklebot's voice modifier making me sound cold and metallic, “What does matter is that I have a business proposition for you.” He looked at Dinklebot sceptically, but my word caught his interest. “What sort of proposition?” “I wanna buy stuff. Due to my….seclusion I don't usually get out to the nearest store. So, if you get me the goods I want, then I will pay you.” “Goods? What kind of goods?” He asked I started to list off the items with what Spooksy told me we needed, “Flour. Sugar. Salt. Cooking oil. Baking powder. Vinegar. Cloth by the bolt. Hammers and Nails. Medicines. Uh...what the….okay and I want some candy, chocolate if preferable.” “Candy?” he asked “Yes, it's not something I can have on hand. Plus, everyone needs candy!” (Spook loves her candy.) “Every..one?” he repeated in a puzzled voice. “Yes, and I'm ordering it in bulk.” “Okay, alright I can do that.” he said, listing down what I ordered. “Yeah, and I'll pay an extra fee to have it brought to Sweet Apple Acres since it's on short notice.” I finished. I could hear his heart stop when I said the words “pay” and “extra”. “You've got yourself a deal,” Filthy said, “How about we say two hours from now?” "Don't be late," I said, “just one more thing Mr. Rich…….” His ears perked, waiting to hear what else I had to say. Dinklebot's eye glowed a blood red. Immediately flying up to his face forcing him to back up against a wall. "If you cheat me I WILL KNOW, and the consequences will be dire!” with that Dinklebot flew off, cloaking as he went back to Evermore.
