Chapter 1: Magic of... Magic?
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“Hello? Is this on?”
A young man appears on screen. He has a thin build, spiky dark-brown hair (almost black) with a jagged streak of violet going through the center, and ice-blue eyes that seem to have a dull glow.
“Ok, good.” He says, “So… I guess I’ll start recording what’s going on right now. So, I guess I’ll start with introductions. *Ahem*, my name is…”
“Yo Chan-Chan whatcha doin’?” a voice calls from off-screen.
The young man looks behind him to an open space in the wall where another figure can be seen. He has short black hair, glasses, a bit of facial hair, brown eyes, and has a wider build than the one recording.
“If you must know Chance, I’m going to start recording the events of what’s happening.”
“Oh, ok. Well, me and Mark are going to get some snacks and order pizza. That is, if that’s alright with you.”
“Yeah, sure, go ahead.”
“Ight, be back in a few.” Chance walks from the opening before the sound of the front door closing can be heard.
The young man turns back to the camera while sighing, “*Sigh*, anyways… my name is Chandler, and some weird things have been happening lately.”
“And by weird, he means that Ponies, that’s right, technicolored Ponies are falling from the sky.” Another figure enters the camera’s view. He has light brown hair that reaches down to his lower neck, hazel eyes, and has a slightly thinner build than the one sitting in front of the camera.
Chandler proceeds to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration for being interrupted again, “Thank you for elaborating the obvious, Keith.” He looks over at the one now known as Keith in a deadpanned stare, “Now can you please let me continue?”
“Oh, right. Sorry, brah”
“*Sigh*, thank you.” Chandler turns back towards the camera, “Now, as Keith has said, Ponies and other creatures are falling from the sky, and what I’ve gathered earlier today is that tears in reality are appearing in the sky before they disappear. I theorized earlier that something big has happened, and this is causing both our and the Ponies’ universes to start colliding with each other. What is causing this to happen is entirely unknown.”
A third figure enters the camera view, but this figure is a lavender color, dark blue hair with a pink and purple streak going down one side, violet eyes, and is equine in structure.
“Um, why are you talking to that, what is it called, com-pu-ter?” the equine asked, pronouncing the last word.
“I’ll tell you in a bit, Twilight,” the blue-eyed figure told the mare, “but, right now, I need to record this.” He turns back towards the camera before continuing, “*Ahem*, anyways, I should explain exactly the events that occurred yesterday…”
Date: June 16, 2015
Time: 1:05 pm
Location: Florida, Pensacola
I was walking outside back to my house from taking the garbage bin out to the street…, and talking to myself again, “I just don’t see why things have to be the same thing every, single day.”
Yes, I talk to myself often. Call me crazy all you want, but I only do it so that I can rant without people having to listen to me rant, “I mean, it would be nice to have some random thing happen every once –*BOOM!* SON OF A BITCH!!!!” I didn’t get to finish my rant before something made a crash landing in the field next to my house. The shockwave was powerful enough to throw me over the fence into my neighbor’s yard, and my senses were completely blurred for at least a minute.
I regained my senses not too long afterwards, but my ears were still ringing along with my blurred vision. I looked to my left to see that my glasses had been knocked off and completely shattered. I sighed as I picked them up, but they broke in half as soon as I grabbed them.
“Damn,” I cursed under my breath. I threw them back to the ground, knowing that they were completely useless. Luckily, I was only near-sighted on a minor level, so I can still make out large shapes from a distance.
I sat up as soon as I started to recover from the shockwave. I looked around to see that nobody had even come out to investigate, ‘Weird.’ I thought, ‘I guess no one around noticed something fall from the sky… idiots.’
I got back up to my feet and started to make my way towards the impact site. I hopped over the two fences dividing my house from the neighbor’s and the field. I had to move at a relative pace due to some minor injuries, but I managed to reach the crater that was in the middle of the field.
Once I got close to the crater, I could see there was this strange smoke that seemed to be prismatic emanating from the dirt. It was that kind of effect that you see when you look at a foiled Magic: The Gathering card in the sunlight, but smoke shouldn’t do that though… it just wasn’t possible.
As I started to walk closer, the smoke started to clear up so that I could see what impacted the earth…
And what I saw made me freeze with nothing but a dumbfounded expression on my face. Now, I’ll say that a lot of things can be possible, but there are some things in this universe that are so hard to comprehend that your brain needs to shut down and reboot in order to accept that some weird-ass thing is happening right in front of you. With the fact that I’m an open-minded kind of guy gives me the benefit of being able to accept that fact and move on faster than any other person would, but what was happening now caused my brain to reboot slower than normal (about fifteen seconds to my usual ten seconds) along with slight sanity and logic loss.
Luckily, I managed to gain enough sense to grab my phone and call one of my friends. Hopefully he’ll notice the urgency of the matter.
*Ring*
*Ring*
*Ring*
“Come on. Pick up, Mark.”
*Ring*
*Ring*
*Click* ‘Finally!’
“Hello?” Mark finally answered.
“Mark, it’s Chandler, I need you to get Chance and Keith over at my house pronto!”
“Wha- dude, what happened?”
“No time to explain, just do it!”
*Click*
It only took them about four to five minutes to get to my house and notice me standing in front of the crater. As soon as they got close to where I was standing, Chance exclaimed, “Whoa, that is a big-ass crater!”
“Yeah, but what do you think caused it?” Keith asked before they looked at me in confusion. The only response I gave was to wave them over and point down into the crater.
They walked over so that they were standing next to me, and looked into the crater. What they saw caused them to do the same thing I did moments prior to their arrival. Down there, in the crater, was a lavender coated equine with a dark blue mane and tail with pink and purple highlights going down one side, but what really got us going was the fact that it had a horn and wings. I had to squint in order to confirm that fact, but I eventually saw the horn and wings.
“Um, is that what I think it is?” Chance was the first to speak. I had a good look at the equine from my vantage point, despite that I couldn’t see that many details. I noticed that this thing was smaller than a horse; probably half the size of one. If that were the case, then this thing had to be considered a pony.
“Yep.” I finally said, “That, my friends, is definitely a pony.”
“Dafuq!?” Keith exclaimed, “How the hell did a pony make such a huge-ass crater!?”
“How am I supposed to know?” I retorted, “The thing just crashed down to Earth from the freaking sky!”
“Well, whatever the case, one of us should go down there and see if it’s alive.” Mark interrupted me and Keith’s argument before it escalated.
“Mark’s right.” I agreed, “I say we decide who goes over Rock, Paper, Scissors.”
All three of them nodded to my suggestion, and we got into position.
“Rock!”
“Paper!”
“Scissors!”
“Shoot!”
Mark: Rock
Chance: Rock
Keith: Rock
Chandler: Scissors
“OH, COME ON!” I shouted to the heavens, “What are the chances of that happening!?”
“Welp, looks like Chandler gets to make first contact.” Keith said with a shit-eating grin.
“Yep.” Mark agreed simply.
“Good luck, dude.” Chance excitedly said.
‘Assholes…’ I gave them a deadpanned glare before conceding, “Ugh, fine. But if that thing kicks my head in, guts me with its horn, or fries my ass, then it’s on your heads.”
One thing I knew about horned equines, namely unicorns, is that they are said to have magic and grant wishes, or some shit like that. However, this thing was no normal unicorn that I’ve seen in mythology, and that means I’ll have to be careful. Hell, for all I know this thing could be some kind of eldritch being in a mortal form, and the pretty-purple-pony façade is a way to get your guard down before it blasts you into oblivion and devours your soul.
‘Alright, just go down, see if it’s alive without waking it, and get the hell out of there. Should be simple enough, right?’
With that thought I began to climb my way down into the crater, and almost tripped on some shifting dirt.
It took me about a minute or two to finally get to the bottom of the crater, and, not to my surprise, the pony was knocked out cold. Now that I was closer to it, I was able to look at it in more detail. Its mane and tail were clearly disheveled, the feathers on its wings were all jacked up, and minor scorch marks were only visible as far as injuries go. I also noticed that it had a sort of emblem on its flank: a magenta, six-pointed star with five white, smaller ones surrounding it.
As I was examining it from a safe distance I noticed the slow rise and fall of its body, indicating that it was breathing.
“Well, now I know it’s alive.” I muttered to myself.
Seeing that it won’t be waking up soon, I started walking towards it. As I slowly made my way to the unconscious pony, I started to get this weird feeling come over me. It wasn’t like the kind of feeling where the hair on the back of your neck and arms stand up, and you want to run away out of fear. No, this feeling was different. A part of me was wary, afraid, and anxious; while this other part of me just felt… drawn… to it.
This feeling almost felt like something had possessed me, and then put me in a trance-like state. I wanted to run, but my body just kept moving toward the equine. Oh shit, this is how it lures its prey. I knew this thing was an eldritch abomination in disguise! Now it’s got me trapped in some mind control bullshit, and, when I get close to it, it’s going to suck my soul out, eat my flesh, and then SKULL FUCK THE REMAINS!!!!!!
…
…
…
… Wow, I went to a really morbid place there. Damn, and I wonder why I haven’t gone completely mental for all of these years. My mind can get really dark sometimes.
Initial freak-out aside, I noticed that I didn’t have my soul devoured, or anything else of that sort.
By the time I regained my senses, I was already kneeling over the pony with my finger slowly moving toward the side of its horn. Of course, I still had no control over any of my motor functions. So, I was completely powerless under this strange influence until my finger touched the horn.
…
…
…
…
…
‘Huh, I thought something climactic was gonna happen after I…’
*BOOM!!!!*
Aaaaaand there goes explosion number two of today. I was then thrown back into the wall of the crater like a bloody ragdoll, and I’m surprised that I wasn’t dead because I slammed into that wall at speeds that were equivalent to getting shot out of a cannon at point-blank range. Still, that didn’t stop it from hurting like a bitch.
As I sat there against the side of the crater, I felt this… energy… spread from my finger to my entire body. As soon as it spread to my head, I started to get this feeling of euphoria, and I also began to see different shapes and colors at random.
“Huh, so this is what it feels like to be tripping balls…” I slurred before the world began to darken.
About ten seconds later, I passed out.
I later woke up with a massive headache, and the sunlight coming in from my windows wasn’t helping either. Opening my eyes made things worse as well, seeing that everything looked like someone turned the saturation up to the max. Fortunately, everything started to fade back to its natural coloration, and my migraine seemed to fade away as well.
When my headache disappeared, I sat up noticing the soreness I felt all over my body, but it wasn’t as bad to what I’m used to during my Kyuki-Do classes. I looked around to notice that I was back in my room on my bed.
‘Wait.’ I thought, ‘Was it all a dream?’ I sat there for a bit to ponder the question I just asked myself, ‘If it was a dream, then why did it feel so real?’
I stared out of the window across from me, and noticed that the sun was pretty low in the sky. I looked to my left to see my phone charging on my nightstand, but took time to look at the stuff crowding the small table: my rough draft notebook for my stories, a box of drawing supplies, a sketchbook, a binder with some of my original drawings before I started using the sketchbook, a pencil sharpener, two pirate skulls, an old radio that I don’t even use, a landline that doesn’t work, my Kyuki-Do handbook, and a Sora figurine(KH II if you’re wondering).
I picked up my phone to see what time it was, ‘six o’ clock? Damn, must have stayed up really late last night.’
That was when I noticed something on my hand that wasn’t there to begin with. On the back of both of my hands was a magenta, six-pointed star with five white, smaller stars surrounding it, and what was weird was that it was the same mark as the equine in that dream.
‘What the hell?’ I questioned in my head, ‘When did I get these tattoos?’
I had probably been staring at my hands for about a minute before deciding to get up. I walked into the bathroom, and turned on the sink to see if I can wash them off. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to be coming off, but what I noticed is that the marks didn’t seem to be raised up like a tattoo. I lifted my left sleeve to compare the marks to my actual tattoo, and, sure enough, the elvish script on my arm was slightly raised up and somewhat faded. The marks on my hands seemed to be part of my skin, and they weren’t faded either.
Things got even weirder when I look up into the mirror, and I stood there slack-jawed. What I saw in the mirror was me, but I looked different. My brown hair had become darker, spiked, longer, and had a jagged violet streak going down the center. My grayish-blue eyes were now a piercing ice-blue, and when I turned off the light my irises seemed to glow with its own light.
‘Ok, now I’m getting freaked out here. This has to be a prank, right?’ At this point, I started questioning my own sanity.
I stood there for, I believe, five minutes staring at my reflection, but I was soon brought out of my stupor when I heard foot…, ‘Wait, those aren’t footsteps.’
Indeed, the sound was not what footsteps should sound like, but, instead, it sounded like… the clopping of hooves? The sound soon became louder until it stopped… right behind me.
I slowly turned around…
…
…
…
… Only to see nothing, “Whew, for a minute there I thought something was behind me.”
“*Ahem*”
The sound of someone clearing their throat made my mind freeze, but what was odd was that it sounded feminine.
‘Wait, my parents and sister are out of town,’ I thought, ‘but who made that noise?’
“Um, down here.” A female voice spoke.
I slowly look down to the source of the voice, but what met my gaze was the exact same lavender pony from what I thought was a dream.
“Uhhhh, hi?” I said, wearing the worst poker face have ever had in my life.
“Um, yes, hello.” The pony greeted, “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and what is your name?”
Now, I will say again that I’m an open-minded guy, but the fact that this pony just talked was something that caused my brain to reboot twenty times. I mean, it’s not every day that you meet face to face with a talking, purple, winged-unicorn… thing. Wish I knew a word to identify it, er, her as.
‘Hmmm, Twilight Sparkle.’ I thought over the name, ‘Interesting name.’
“Well, it’s not that interesting of a name.” Twilight suddenly said, “Although, I have met some Ponies with some weird names…”
“Wait, what? You actually heard that?”
“Um, yes…? You said that my name was interesting, didn’t you?”
Ok, right now, I was starting to lose more of what little sanity I had left at this point. Not only did this mare just now started talking, but she just now started reading my thoughts. On top of that, why am I so calm through all of this? I guess I’m already insane enough to embrace the weird. Oh well, sanity was boring anyways, and it should be interesting now that he’s on vacation.
We probably stood there in an awkward silence for about a minute before I shook myself out of my stupor and spoke, “Um, ok, we’ll come back to that subject later. Anyways, my name is Chandler, and it’s a pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle.”
I held out my hand with Twilight doing the same with her hoof in a firm shake.
“You can just call me Twilight.” She said, obviously not the type for formalities.
She then took notice of the tattoos on my hands with a confused look before asking, “Um, if I might ask, why do you have my Cutie Mark on your hands?”
I lift up my right hand to look at the mark, “I’m not sure.” I replied, “I don’t ever remember having a mark like this.” I then turn back to my reflection, “Come to think of it,” I pondered, crossing my arms, “My hair wasn’t like this before, nor did I have ice-blue, glowing eyes.”
It was weird as I thought about it. A normal human shouldn’t have natural hair that looked like it came out of an anime. A normal human shouldn’t have eyes that had such an unnatural shade of blue that glowed without wearing contacts. A normal human shouldn’t have marks on their hands that seem to be part of their natural pigment.
“And I can guess you didn’t have a tail either?” Twilight asked.
I got a bit worried at what she said, and I turned around to see what she was talking about. Lo and behold, there was a tail with the same primary and secondary colors and style as my hair dangling behind me. As I stared at it, I decided on the oldest and most reliable scientific method to see if things are legit.
I began poking it, multiple times.
Sure enough, every time I poked it, I could feel my finger touching the actual tail under all the hair, and it twitched as well as I continued poking it.
I had a horse tail.
I…
Had…
A horse tail…
…
…
…
I’m not human anymore…
I probably stood there staring at the foreign object that is now my tail for about three minutes. All in vain attempt to calm myself, ‘Ok Chandler, don’t freak out.’ Emphasis on vain, ‘Don’t… freak… oooooooouuuuuuuut.’
“Um, Chandler, are you ok?” Twilight asked, she was sitting on the floor and her face was full of concern.
“Yes Twilight, I’m… perfectly… fine…” I replied, my voice barely mumbling at the end.
“Um, you don’t look fine. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah, perfectly fine.” My right eye twitched, “I’m just… gonna go lay down for a bit.” I walked past Twilight and headed back into my room, my head hung low and my, now long, bangs covering my eyes.
I climbed into my bed, my face remaining stoic. I kept staring at the wall on the opposite side of my bed, and asking myself the same questions over and over. Who am I now? I’m not even human, so what does that make me? What would the others think?
My mind was going over one-thousand miles per hour, but things started to make less sense the more I tried to fathom what was going on. I guess you would say that this was the start of my descent into madness, but the bad kind.
I, again, hear the sound of hoofsteps come into my room and stop behind me. I knew it was Twilight being concerned about me, but I didn’t feel like talking to anyone.
“Chandler?” she called.
I stayed silent.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
‘Why is she so concerned about me?’ I thought, completely forgetting that my thoughts are no longer safe.
“I’m concerned because you seem like that you’re about to have a panic attack, and, trust me, I think I know a thing or two about those.”
Seeing no way out of this conversation, I finally conceded to telling what was on my mind. I tried to find the right words to say without completely flipping out, “I just…” I took a deep breath to try and compose myself, “What am I now? I’m sure as hell not human. So what does that make me?”
Twilight didn’t say anything, but I knew she was listening. So I continued, “My whole life, in mere moments, has become this giant… cluster-fuck of events that’s making me question my entire existence!” I heard Twilight wince at my choice of words, but I couldn’t think of anything better to describe my predicament.
However, I was on a roll, “I mean, first you fall out of the bloody sky. I get blown up twice, TWICE! And to top it all off; I get turned into some human-horse hybrid that somehow has glowing eyes! I feel like that I just want to… to… RAAAAAAAGH!!!!!” I suddenly shot up after feeling this sort of… power… rise from within me. I shot my left hand forward, and a spike made of pure ice that was the size of a football shot forward and impaled my TV.
Me and Twilight were shocked after my outburst resulted in me skewering the TV. I looked down at my hand and saw that it was glowing with an ice-blue, aura-like mist with black particles swirling around. What I also noticed was that the elvish script on my arm was emitting the same color light as the mist, but Twilight was too focused on the Icy Spear to notice.
“Um… what the hell just happened?” I asked to no one in particular.
“I think… that you just used a level six Cryomancy spell.” Twilight answered nonetheless, still in shock.
“So…” I began, becoming excited over the fact I just used magic, “does this mean I can use magic now?”
“It seems so…” Twilight seemed to be deep in thought while studying the icicle as it slowly evaporated.
I started to feel dizzy and I flopped back down onto my pillow as I groaned from nausea. Now the room was spinning, and I felt like I was going to puke at any moment. On top of that, I started to get a minor headache, and this caused me to groan again. Twilight took notice and became concerned again.
“Are you ok?” she asked.
“Yeah…” I groaned, feeling like complete shit, “I think I’m getting magical backlash from using mana for the first time.”
She looked at me curiously, “What do you mean ‘for the first time’? You’ve never cast a spell before?”
I chuckled weakly, “No, our world doesn’t have magic. Well, not until today that is.”
Twilight became shocked at that, “Your world doesn’t have magic, but how does your kind even survive!?”
“Mainly technology and other things, but can we have this conversation later? I feel exhausted, and I think the backlash is causing a headache.”
Her ears became pressed to her head, and she rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof. She also bore a sheepish smile while blushing from embarrassment, and, I can’t help but say this, she looked fucking adorable.
No, that’s not in the sense you’re thinking about. I’m talking about the kind of adorable like… um… well I can’t think of anything as a comparison, but you get the point. She’s adorable in a different sense, and not what you were thinking! Weirdos…
Anyways, Twilight regained her composure after a few seconds, “Well, I’ll let you get some rest to get over the backlash. I’ll say, from experience, that magical backlash isn’t fun, believe me.”
“Thanks Twi.” I looked over to her for a second, “You don’t mind if I call you ‘Twi’, right?”
She shook her head, “I don’t mind. In fact, most of my friends call me that.”
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “Now we're friends? We only met just a few minutes ago.”
She shrugged while smiling, “You seem to be a nice enough person. Plus, now that you can use magic I can teach you how to use it properly.”
I smirk, starting to feel drowsy, “Fair enough. Well, I guess I’ll see you in the morning?”
She nodded before making her way to my door, “Good night.”
“Night…” I reply, already half asleep.
I heard my door close before I let sleep take over.
Author's Note
Finally!!!! It's done!
So, yes, I do apologize for the delay on this chapter, but I have had a lot of crap going on. One being that I recently got a job, and the rest of my excuses is mainly due to procrastination and/or things out of my control.
But! I finally got this thing done, and it will be the start of an adventure that I am very excited about!
In other news: I'm still doing the OC Audition for later chapters in this story. So be sure to PM me if you wish to submit an OC. Just be sure to look on the blog post I made about the audition first. It has some important rules that you may want to look at.
Also, I have free spaces for people who want to make Infused for Applejack and Fluttershy. I just can't seem to figure what characters to go with them. So I thought, "Hey! Why not have the readers have a chance to join the adventure with the Elements of Honesty and Kindness as their partners?" So now you, the readers, have a chance to have an Infused of your creation become a member of Dusklight's team! Again, if you want to submit an Infused, look at my blog post for the OC Audition. The Infused character creation rules are there.
Well, that's it for now! It is currently 3:40 am, and I'm running on nothing but Kit-Kats and good feelings!
So be sure to like, favorite, or follow if you enjoyed!
Pinkie! Join me on the outtro!
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!!!!!!
Chapter 2: Magic of Training. Dusklight Vs. Twilight!
Date: June 17, 2015
Time: 4:30 am
Location: Florida, Pensacola
…Who am I?...
…What am I?...
…I’m not human…
…I’m not pony…
…Am I both?...
…Who am I?...
…Who am I?...
…Who am I?...
My eyes snapped open after having that cyclone of thoughts and emotions swirling around in that dream. I rubbed my eyes to get the sleep out of them, and then reached over to my phone to check the time. ‘Four-thirty, a lot earlier than what I’m used to.’ I thought as I unlocked my phone. I looked at the notification bar to see that I had a message, and looked to see what it was.
It was a text from Chance.
Hey, when you read this, me and the guys went back home to get some things together. We should be back tomorrow afternoon to talk over what’s been going on, and we also need to pack some things for us to stay over there until things get sorted out. Don’t worry, we set your alarm with the code that was sitting on the kitchen counter, and Twilight said she was going to stay in your sister’s room. We’ll be sure to be back by tomorrow around lunch, and we’ll bring food as well. Take it easy, Chan-Chan.
'Well, I guess I have plenty of time for myself before the guys come back.' I turn off my phone, and get out of bed to see if I can make myself something to eat. I turned on my lamp light, since it was still dark outside, and make my way to the kitchen. When I turned on the light, I noticed that I was still wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday, and, not to mention, that they wreaked. I opened the freezer below the fridge, and fished out one of those Jimmy Dean frozen croissants. After opening the plastic wrapping and rewrapping the croissant in a paper towel, I put it in the microwave to defrost it.
Once the microwave finished, I took the croissant out and unwrapped it after sitting at the table. While I was eating, I began to contemplate on my current situation, and the main topic at the forefront of my mind was the fact that I was no longer considered human. I looked down at my newly grown tail, watching it lazily sway back and forth as it dangled from the side of my chair. I kept eating as I stared at it for a minute; still trying to accept the fact that this tail was mine, and it’s probably going to be there for the rest of my days.
The more I think about it, the more I start to feel that parts of my humanity have been stripped away, and replaced with something similar to what Twilight is like. I seem human, yet, at the same time, I’m the same species as that purple pony. I could only conclude that, somehow, Twilight’s magic had some kind of effect on my genetic code, but how is that even possible? I’ve read a lot about how magic worked from books and the internet, and I have seen nothing about it doing this.
I shook my head, thinking I should come back to how magic alters DNA later, and went back to eating my breakfast.
After I finished eating, I figured I should try and use my magic again. I knew Twilight told me she was going to teach me how, but I wanted to see if anything I’ve read before applies anyway.
I was now standing outside in the back acre of my house. The wind was blowing through my grown hair slightly, and the stars were shining in the sky before the rise of dawn. Yes, this was the perfect time and place to see what I can do.
I closed my glowing eyes, my breath slowing down to a steady rhythm, and the sound of my heartbeat growing louder with every second. I searched for that power that I felt yesterday during my anger-induced outburst. I knew what I was looking for; all I needed to do was find it in the right place.
After a minute of searching, I saw it, and, in my mind’s eye, I reached out to grab it.
Opening my eyes, I looked down to see that my hands were enveloped in the same aura-like mist like before, yet the small, black particles soon grew into shadowy wisps. I also noticed that my tattoo was glowing again, and lifted my sleeve to get a better look. The elvish script wrapping around my arm was glowing with the same ice-blue color as my hands, but it also seemed to be emitting shadows that creeped over my arm before fading out. Seeing these shadows gave me an idea.
‘Alright, time to see what I can do.’ I thought, pulling my sleeve back down with a determined look.
I focused my mana into my hands making them glow brighter, and large balls of energy with bubbling darkness started forming in my palms. I got into a horse stance to keep my balance, for focusing this much mana at once was starting to put some strain on me. I wanted to see what my limit was before I burned out, and made sure to keep pouring more mana into a single spell. This spell would be improvised with no guidance whatsoever, but, hopefully, it won’t blow up in my face.
Once I felt I had enough mana charged, I locked my sight onto a dead tree. I jumped up high in the air, brought my hands forward, and released!
“DARK RAGNAROK!”
To my surprise, the spell worked as I wanted! Ten projectiles of dark energy spread out from my hands in a circular formation, and then converged on the tree before exploding!
I landed once the dust started to clear, and it seemed that my attack completely obliterated the tree. However, I started to feel the nauseous fatigue again, and sat down to catch my breath.
‘I can’t believe it!’ I shouted in my mind, ‘I actually used magic, and on instinct as well!’
A huge smile formed on my face as I regained my stamina, and it was a good thing I didn’t get a headache this time. It felt like I had done this before. Once I caught my breath, I stood back up, and started focusing my mana again. This time I was going to use light energy instead of dark energy, and use it with a more close range spell. When I had enough mana charged, I executed the spell!
“MANA BLADES!”
Two blades made of pure magic formed on my forearms, but I noticed I had to keep pouring mana into them so they won’t dispel. I charged towards a second tree, and began slicing with my blades at lightning speeds. When I finished, I did a back summersault to distance myself from falling debris, and the tree crumbled into finely cut pieces.
I dispelled the blades, thankful that they didn’t use as much energy as the last attack.
(Stop Music)
“Hmmm…,” I pondered to myself, “from what I can tell, I seem to have a naturally large mana reserve. It also seems that my… mutation has also increased my physical capabilities by an immense amount, thus giving me ten times more stamina and speed than what I normally have. I also seem to be able to jump higher as well. Does that mean my strength has increased as well? Hmmm…”
I was pacing around as I mumbled to myself, and didn’t notice that Twilight was standing there the whole time. I looked to up notice that the sun had just risen over the horizon, and that Twilight was staring at me with wide eyes and her jaw dropped.
I blinked twice with a blank expression before speaking, “Um, hey, Twi. How long have you been standing there?”
She blinked before shaking her head, “Long enough to see that you were able to use a nonexistent spell (that also used dark magic), and used a level five close-combat spell. Are you sure you’ve never used magic before?”
I grinned at her and chuckled, “Nope, never in my life, but I have read about the concept of it in the past.” I shrugged, “In my opinion, I should have had at least one backfire, but I guess, when you know more than one way on how it works, it’s pretty easy to pick up.”
She stared at me for a second before she narrowed her eyes and changed the subject, “What I want to know is why you used a dark magic spell. A spell that not only seemed to require a lot of mana, but also doesn’t exist in any book that I’ve read.”
I put my hands behind my head, and looked up at the morning sky, “Well, to tell you the truth…,” I looked back at Twilight with a wide grin, “all of that was improvised.”
Her face went back to that shocked expression with her dropped jaw and wide eyes. She sputtered out unintelligible garble before she completely froze, and, not to mention, her right eye was twitching.
‘Well shit, I broke her.’ I thought as I walked up to her. Now that I got a good look at her, she seemed to be a bit shorter than me. Last time I checked, I was 5’9”, and the top of Twilight’s head seemed to come up to my waist. She also seemed to be in a better condition than she was the day before.
I leaned down to her eye level, and tried to get her out of “Twilight.exe has stopped working” mode. Unfortunately, everything from light slapping to erratic shaking had no effect. So, I resorted to using my magic. I charged a small amount of mana into my index finger, walked around so that I was standing behind her, and let loose a small jolt of static electricity on her flank.
*ZAP*
“GYAH!!!!”
Which resulted in her jumping ten feet in the air, and she flopped back down on the ground with a soft thud and a grunt of pain. She groaned as she stood back up while I was trying not laugh at the fact of how high she went.
“Who? What? What happened?” Twilight asked in quick succession; all while looking around frantically.
“You sorta locked up for a bit.” I answered her question once I regained my composure, “I tried to shake you out of it, but that didn’t work so I resorted to shocking you with magic.”
She turned around to face me, “Well, despite using such a painful method, thanks for snapping me out of that, Chandler.” Twilight said with a friendly smile as she dusted herself off.
“Dusklight.” I blurted out.
Twilight tilted her head with a confused look, “What?”
“My new name,” I replied, “I figured since, technically, I’m no longer human I should have a different one, and since Chandler is a human name I decided to rename myself. So, from now on, call me Dusklight Shadow.”
“That sounds awfully like a name a Pony would have. What made you come up with that?” she asked, raising her eyebrow.
I put my chin between my thumb and index finger. Why did I come up with that name? When I blurted out the name, it felt like I had known the name for a long time, but forgot about it until now. Not to mention, it just felt right for me to be called by that name.
“I’m not sure, Twi. I can’t say it just came from nowhere, but I can say that it does feel right for me to use that name from now on.” I finally replied with a shrug.
Twilight stared at me for a second, like she was trying to get any other answer from me, but that was the only answer I could give her. I was just as clueless as she was.
“Well then, thanks for snapping me out of my trance, Dusk.” She thanked me with a smile.
“No problem, Twi.” I smiled back. However, I suddenly had an idea that may help me with my magic. My smile turned sly, “Hey, Twi, I just got an idea.”
“Hm? What would that be?”
My smile turned into a grin, “How about we have a magic duel?”
Her head tilted again, “That depends, are we talking a duel of talent, or an actual duel?”
My grin got bigger, “An actual duel. No holding back, and use whatever spells you can without destroying the town.”
Her face then turned into shocked horror, “Dusk, you can’t be serious!? If I fight you, I could seriously injure you! I wouldn’t forgive myself if I hurt one of my friends!”
“Relax, Twi, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve taken a few beatings before, and, besides, I have a feeling that I’m a lot stronger than I was before.” I reassured her, gesturing with my hands for her calm down.
Twilight looked uncertain, but she eventually lowered her head with a heavy sigh of defeat. “There’s no talking you out of this, is there?” she asked.
“Nope.” I replied as I got into a fixed stance, hands forward with their usual aura, “And don’t go easy on me!”
“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you…” she said in a monotone voice. Then she snapped her head up with a ferocious look in her eyes; her horn as if it was coated in magenta flames.
I was surprised at the sudden mood change. She looked so kind and innocent before, but now she suddenly had the eyes of a confident fighter.
Twilight made the first move as she fired a bolt of magic towards me, but I was able to dodge roll out of the way. I started running around her as she started rapid firing magic at me like a machine gun, yet I was managing to stay ahead of the blasts. I needed to think of something quick, otherwise I’ll lose right from the start. That’s when I got a crazy idea, and it most likely will have me take damage. I began charging mana into my hands like I did earlier, and brought my arms to my sides. When I had enough charged, I cast the spell!
“MANA BLADES!”
The same blades as before appeared on my forearms, and I began charging towards Twilight. She kept firing magic at me, but time slowed down for me as I was able to slice through them! When I got close enough, I attempted using an X slice, but Twilight saw the attack coming and jumped into the air. I slid to a halt as I dispelled my blades, and looked up to see that Twilight was using her wings to keep herself aloft.
“Hey, no fair!” I whined, seeing that I couldn’t fly, “I don’t have any wings!”
“Sorry, Dusk!” Twilight replied, now sounding smug, “But you did say not to go easy on you!”
“Touché.” I mumbled to myself before having to dodge another bolt of magic. I will say one thing; Twilight sure knows how to put up a fight. However, I don’t believe she has fought anything like I am. If I can get creative, I might be able to beat her. I charged my magic again while running from more projectiles, and I was starting to feel slightly fatigued. I needed to conserve my mana so that I’m not beaten by default, but once I get her grounded I can give everything I’ve got.
“MANA WHIP!”
An extremely long whip materialized in my hand, and I swung it at Twilight. She gasped as the whip wrapped around her barrel and wings, and I yanked on it resulting in Twilight crashing down to the ground. She got back up on her hooves, and the fire in her eyes seemed to intensify as her gaze refocused on me.
“Alright, so it’s like that, huh?” she mumbled, her tone becoming more intense, “Well, two can play at that game.”
‘Oh shit, that does not sound good!’ I was beginning to panic.
She then proceeded to grab me with her magic in a telekinetic grip, and, no matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t move. I was then thrown across the field after being swung around her five times, and ended up crashing through the fence into the same field with the crater from yesterday. I was able to right myself and dig my feet into the ground to stop myself, but, when I stopped, Twilight came flying at me as fast as a bullet. I was able to block her approach, but she started throwing punches and kicks. I was able to dodge and block some of them, but others were able to graze me.
“Holy crap!” I yelled while dodging a jab, “Where did you learn to fight like this!?”
“Most of it I learned from my brother!” she yelled back as she jabbed me in the stomach, causing me to hunch over. “And the rest I learned from Rainbow Dash!” she then sent an uppercut to my chin, causing me to fly into the air. Next, she teleported behind me, and bucked me into the same crater that she made yesterday.
“Ow…..,” I groaned as I stood back up, “Damn, who knew she can perform hand to hand. She seriously seemed more of the ranged-casting type.”
I looked up to see her still flying in the air from where she bucked me, and I see that she was charging a spell. Her horn was shining like a miniature sun, and I knew that was a bad sign. I may have pissed her off a bit, and now I was going to get fried. However, I knew exactly what to counter with. I got into a fixed stance, cupped my hands in front of me, and then brought them to my right side as I charged as much mana as I could.
‘I’ve always wanted to do this.’
“Ka… Me…” a ball of energy started building up between my palms.
Twilight’s horn started building up a similar ball of energy, but hers was magenta while mine was blue.
“Ha… Me…” the sphere got large enough to the point that it was pushing on my hands.
Twilight’s spell looked ready to fire as she threw her head back.
“ARCANE WAVE!” she threw her head forward, sending the beam towards me.
“HAAAAAAAA!!!!!” I threw my hands forward, and a beam of my own shot forward.
Our beams collided with a resounding crash, and they began struggling for dominance. I poured as much power as I could into my attack, but Twilight seemed to have the upper hand as I was already starting to feel drained. I sent a burst of mana into my beam to push her back, but she held her ground and poured even more mana into hers. The sudden burst of mana was enough to push my beam back towards me with Twilight’s beam behind it. Twilight’s beam slammed into me full force, and I felt a searing pain all over my body. However, it felt as if the beam went through some sort of shield before it affected me physically, and, fortunately, the invisible shield took the brunt of the damage. Unfortunately, after the attack ended, I was already exhausted, and every muscle in my body was sore along with first degree burns and scorch marks on my skin. My clothes were tattered and burned, but, despite all of that, I felt more alive than I’ve ever been. I was now reduced to catching my breath and getting over the pain as I lied in the premade crater.
(Stop Music)
“Hehehe, damn, Twilight sure knows how to pack a punch.”
I heard Twilight gasp as she saw me in the crater, “Oh dear Celestia, Dusk!” She flew down to me as fast as she could in a worried panic. When she got to me, she hovered over me with a frantic look, “Are you ok!? I didn’t hurt you, did I!? Please, tell me you’re ok!”
I sat up slowly as the pain died down slowly, “Twilight, relax, I’m fine. Besides, you sure know how to handle yourself in a fight.”
“Ooooh. I’m so sorry, Dusk! I got caught up in the moment and I felt so angry after you threw me into the ground and everything faded back to my fight with Tirek and I started getting even angrier and… and…” she began to sniff as tears formed in her eyes, her head lowering.
I grabbed her shoulders to try and calm her down, “Twi, look at me.” She looked up at me with her eyes, her head still lowered, “You don’t need to apologize. I was the one who challenged you, and I should’ve known better than to rile you up like that. I wanted it to be a friendly match, but I got carried away. Besides, at least from this I learned not to underestimate an opponent, and not to mess with someone with more magic experience.”
She chuckled a little at that last part while wiping the tears from her eyes, “Still, when I hit you with that spell, I thought I… k-killed you.”
“Hey, I’m not dead yet,” I smiled, “and you know what they say, ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’”
Twilight smiled back as I let go of her shoulders, and adjusted myself so I was sitting cross-legged across from her. “Thanks, Dusk. I needed that, and, hey, if you want I can still teach how to use your magic more efficiently.”
I grinned, seeing that I was able to calm her down, “Hey, as long as it helps me not get thrown on my ass, then I’m all for it.” I laughed as Twilight rolled her eyes, and shaking her head while smiling.
“We should probably do that later, though. You’re probably exhausted, you’re clothes are practically destroyed, and, not to mention, you wreak.” She said that last part while holding her snout with her hoof.
I stood up and stretched, “You’re right. We should probably wait for the guys to get here, and I really need a shower and a change of clothes.”
Twilight nodded, and then wrapped her forelegs under my arms. We flew out of the crater, and into the back yard where she dropped me on my feet. She landed next to me, and we walked back into the house to wait for the others to get back.
Author's Note
Hey, everyone! I finally got this chapter out after some intense brainstorming. I wanted to get it published a lot earlier than today, but my laptop got taken away so I had to wait until my dad cooled off before I got it back.
As you can tell, this chapter will be one of many fight scenes that are to come later on, and I wanted to get a feel of how Dusklight's battle style will work. Which, in this case, will mostly involve him relying on magic during a fight. I also have more music that I'm wanting to use in certain "boss fights", but if there are any suggestions for battle music feel free to give a link.
I would also like to give a thank you to Pink_Flash for, not only, giving me a few ideas, but for also sending his OC in to let me use. So be expecting him to make an appearance later on. Also, Pink_Flash, since you helped me; I will be happy to oblige in helping you with any of your stories. Whether it be ideas, OCs, etc. don't hesitate to ask if you ever need me.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you next time!
Thanks for reading!
Prologue: Magic of Insult
Date: November 15, 2017
Time: 10:05 pm
Location: North Dakota, Mundane settlement
“You Infused are nothing but a bunch of softies. You and your so called ‘partners’ are giving us humans a bad name.” The man in front of me was standing up; to the point he was towering over me. He seemed to think he could intimidate me, but I had one thing that humans don’t.
I have magic.
“You and your kind don’t belong here. Now get out before I throw you out myself” he growled, failing at his attempt to get me to run with my literal tail between my legs. There are a lot of things that used to scare me about humans, but ever since The Great Pulse I failed see how people like this guy could be intimidating. However, I’m not here for a fight, and I don’t plan on getting into one either.
“Look, I’m not here for any trouble” I said as calmly as I could, “I’m just here to pick up some food and supplies for my team. After I get what I came for, I’ll be out of your hair.”
This seemed to piss him off further as he growled and leaned to get within inches of my face, “We don’t serve any of you Pony loving freaks” he growled, “Now get out of here before I deal with you myself.” I was starting to get extremely angry with this guy blatantly insulting my kind like this, and at this point my mana was starting to flare through my blood. There are a lot of things I don’t like: Corrupted, Changelings, Behemoths, and an Infused hating human is one of those things.
‘That’s it, I’ve had it!’ I charged the man with the speed of five combined cheetahs, and pinned him to the wall with a strength that my thin figure shouldn’t have against the burly idiot. I looked up to see his terrified face as I held him by the throat, and gave him the most intimidating scowl I could muster. I stood there with rising anger before speaking, “How dare you insult my kind like that. Just because we have bonds with ponies that are normally peaceful doesn’t mean that we’re gonna let you step all over us. We’ve seen what our partners can do if they their minds to it, and I would be damned to say that mine is somepony helpless. Do you even know that kind of shit I have to go through to keep this damn world from collapsing!?” My voice was starting to rise in tone as I spoke through my anger, “I’ve had to fight tyrants from another dimension (that have been affected by Nega-mana no less) in order to protect your sorry asses, and this is the thanks our kind gets when you lowlife MUNDANES just sit around and do nothing!?” I emphasized the word “Mundane” as an insult. See, the Mundanes are what you would expect: normal humans that haven’t bonded with a Pony. They are people who don’t have any magical abilities, and this makes them rely on the magi-tech that the Infused have developed. However, a large majority of Mundanes blame the Infused for the loss of technology on Earth, and this led to an uproar toward the Infused.
The Infused are humans that actually have bonded with a Pony, and with this bond we have developed Earth, Sky, and Arcane abilities. The first time a human became an Infused it created a magic pulse that spread across the world, and this allowed us to draw mana from the ambient surroundings. Unfortunately, at the same time that this happened, it also disrupted all of Earth’s electronics, machines, and it somehow made our firearms useless. This caused a massive chain reaction that sent most of the planet into panic: hospitals were losing patients, governments collapsed, everything led to an age that we know as The Fallout. When the world started to hear about the Infused they figured out that it was the magic pulses that we produce when we create a bond with the Ponies that came to Earth, and this led to humans blaming our kind for what happened back then.
The Ponies are what you would expect: they’re Ponies. However, compared to the ones native to Earth, these are sentient with a variety of shapes and colors. There are four types: Earth Ponies that have incredible durability, stamina, and strength; these created the Terra-Infused. Pegasi that show outstanding speed, agility, and have the ability of flight; they created the Aero-Infused. Unicorns that possess marvelous magical capabilities through spellweaving; they created the Arcana-Infused. Finally, the rarest of them all: Alicorns that wield the attributes of all three; they create what is known as a Meta-Infused.
The man in my grasp continued to struggle, but was incapable of escape due to my Terra-Infused strength.
“Screw you and your damn Ponies.” he gasped, struggle for air in my death grip, “It was your kind’s fault that we lost our technology with that pulse. *gasp* Why should we do anything for you after your kind screwed us over?”
At this point I was charging my Shock spell to teach this lowlife a lesson for insulting my kind and our partners, but was cut off when I noticed that my spell cancelled out. I looked down at my hand to notice a magenta glow surrounding it.
‘A Mana Block spell.’ I thought, ‘There’s only one individual I know who is capable of doing that.’
“Dusklight!”
I looked up to see the source of the mana block, and, to my displeasure, there stood a lavender Pony with a horn and wings. Her horn was glowing with the same magenta aura as the spell on my hand, and her face showed signs of anger, disappointment, and worry. Angry that I would attack another person, disappointed that I couldn’t keep myself in check, and worried that seeing her friend like this would cause lasting damage to everyone in this room, including myself. With an irritated sigh, I addressed the Alicorn, “Twilight, I thought I told you to stay at the inn.”
Twilight Sparkle, she was one of the first of many Ponies to arrive on Earth two years ago, and was also one of the first to experience The Pulse that caused us to become bound to each other. From what gathered over the past two years, I found out that the phenomenon known as The Pulse is what caused us to become infused with pony magic, but it also, for reasons unknown, caused us to become magically bound to each other through first physical contact.
The Unicorns gave us the ability to draw in mana from our ambient surroundings, and taught us how to manipulate it through our very being to create spells. The Pegasi granted us enhanced speed, agility, and reflexes; along with the ability to glide for periods of time. The Earthbounds gifted us with inhuman strength, durability, and, due to the legs becoming stronger, the ability to negate fall damage and increased jump height.
As you can tell I’m an Infused, but, as you can see, I’m bound to Twilight who is an Alicorn. So yeah, that means I’m a Meta-Infused, but I’m also the only known Meta in existence so far.
You’re probably wondering how I became an Infused. Well, it all started about two years ago…
Author's Note
So, here it is! My new story that I'm going to write while SOTM is on hiatus. I hope that this story will get farther than I did with my first one, and I'm also excited for the whole storyline that I have for this universe. I've also decided that I want to get some OC's in here for side characters; whether it be Infused, Pony, Changeling, I don't care! Send in your OC's and I'll try to get them into the story later on!
On a side note: I am open to questions that you people might have pertaining to the story, or things related to it. If you have a question, please PM me or put it in the comments. Also, I'm going to be making posts pertaining to the profiles on the lead characters, so look out for those.
I hope you enjoyed the start of my next creation, and be sure to like if you did!
Thanks for reading!
