False Euphoriaby Spectrum9001ChaptersRainbow RiverRevelationDeadlockThe Chaos Has Been DoubledRainbow RiverThey flow consistently, an endless array of colors, the beautiful rainbow rivers of Cloudsdale. I watch them flow off into the depths; a euphoric state engulfs me. It helps me forget the pain of my incompetence and failures. My name is Spectrum, which is a rather odd for being a black-haired, gray-skinned pony. The colors of my fellow pegasi, of the rainbows, it makes me happy. I love color; though the only color on me is my rustic orange eyes, which are slightly hidden by my glasses. Anyway I digress; the issue is I have yet to get my cutie mark; which is pretty pathetic for my age. Though that isn’t such a big issue right now; my next flight exam is coming up, and like usual I’m prepared; physically. It’s just that my confidence is only a bit better than Fluttershy’s. And I emphasize bit. I’m usually detached from the others, and I tend to keep to myself. By doing this I’ve noticed irregular occurrences happening that to most may seem minute. Such as sets of light patterns in the night sky or distortions in the air. Ever since the battle with Discord, reality seemed…flawed; or maybe I just never noticed before. Anyway, I have my flight exam tomorrow; no need to think harder than whats needed. I departed the next morning with my sister, Clavier, an orange Pegasus and pianist in Cloudsdale. We were on our way to the exam. to the examination course. At first, little was spoken until an important question came to mind. “You think waffles would go good with ramen?” I asked my sister. She looked genuinely confused. “That has to be the most random question I’ve ever heard.” Clavier said in a melodramatic tone. She rolled her eyes and flew ahead. I kept my casual pace, pondering. I honestly thought they would go good together. I like ramen and waffles. I accidentally bumped into somepony while in this deep thought. A flash of vivid color before me. It was Rainbow Dash. Well damn. “Whoops, sorry about that Rainbow.” I gave a weak smile, making a squee sound. “Oh, it’s alright Spectrum. So, you going to pass this time or do we have to throw you in the Rainbow Factory?” She laughed a bit. I grimaced, even though that place was folklore. Right? “Heheh.. Yeah, 9th time’s the charm right? If I can just calm my nerves, I’m sure can do it.” Though I can barely keep calm now, Rainbow was one of my idols; alongside Lulz, a pegasus musician he met a long time ago. Also her mane is freakin’ rainbow colored. C’mon man. “Well, I gotta head over there now. Meetin’ up with the Wonderbolts. Good luck out there!” Rainbow then flew off, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. I continued to walk there, seeing I was in no rush; well, not in my mind. Cloudsdale seemed fluid with activity, even those who weren’t attending today’s fight exam were busy going about their business. It was always fun to just look around, take life in a little. For some reason, I caught a shape in my peripheral vision. That’s when I saw it. A face, in one of the clouds; devoid of expression. It’s eyes were sunken in and it’s skin was pale and flaky. It held a stare, it didn’t seem to breath. I felt a wave of fear fall over me. I couldn’t move. W-What the shi- “Hey, are you ok?” a Pegasus touched my shoulder. I was caught off guard. “MOTHERBUCKING SON OF CELESTIA- oh hey… Umm… you. sorry about that. Heheh..” I looked back at the cloud. Predictably, it was gone. Well, that was a bit weirder than the usual stuff. “C’mon, stop taking your time and get to the examination course! You’re in it right? They’re startin’ soon!” I flew off with him, thinking about what I saw. Whatever that was, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. The course looked amazing, like usual. And the pegasi were all in their places already along the starting line; eager for what lies ahead, along with many spectators from around Cloudsdale and probably Manehattan. I settled into my “lane” and prepared my goggles. Ok Spectrum, swallow your nerves. You got this. I tuned everything out and focused on the mission at hand. I will win this race. Pass the exam. Maybe even earn some respect from Rainbow. I heard the countdown, the suspense was rising. I ignored everyone; everything. Nothing will get to me, not now. “LEEEEEEROY WINGKINNNSSS!!” I yelled as the exam began. Everypony started off, ripping through the course at admirable speeds. At least I think they were; I was too busy winning so hard to notice. I just gotta push forward and believe in myself. Yeah. Just ignore everyone here. Just keep them out of mind. Block them out. A few moments later, I see that face again. It appeared in front of me so quickly I freaked out, crashing into a cloud. It was a soft crash, but still enough to catch me. I blew out a puff of cloud, irritated. Other examinees flew past in a quick wisp. I blink a few times to try and keep focused. Dammit. What the hell IS that!? I tried catching up, pushing speeds near the speed of sound; but I soon came to a stop. One of the pegasi flew behind me; ripped in half. Entrails became caught around my neck. I was frozen in place, blood speckled on my face and mane. W-What just-? The rest of the pegasi high-tailed it, their screams pulled me out of his shock. I saw the face again except it had a full body; pale pink tentacles began shooting from its abdomen. They seemed to come from a fresh wound; blood poured endlessly. A black aura surrounded it. It didn’t have a horn or wings, yet, it hovered there. Staring. Well. Buck this. I followed the others, trying to put as much distance between me and this asshole as possible. I never saw it following me, but I didn’t care. I just kept flying, not even bothering to remove the intestines around my throat. When I got back to the course there was chaos in the air, pegasi were panicking and the Royal Guards seemed to already be here. I stood still, shaking. The blood dripping from my mane, I grew so distant I could hear the drops land on the clouds below. That face still pierced my mind; haunting me. “Hey, Spectrum! What the hell happened over there!?” Rainbow Dash was trying to shake me back to reality. “Wh-What? Oh… Hey Rainbow. Umm… Please. Sorry, I just… I need to get out of here. Before it comes back.” I managed, trying to move forward. Rainbow cut me off, “Before what comes back?” I looked at her, and paused, trying to come up with a description. “The tentacle rape pony from limbo.” I stated, and, feeling that would suffice, began to leave again. Until that thing started pulling me through the clouds. “WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I screamed as it tried to take me under. I decided the best option was to pull back, so I grabbed its tentacles and ripped it from the cloud. Sharp blades emerged from the ends of them, forcing me to let go. Adrenaline flowed through my veins, I never hurt anything in my life, yet, I felt the only way out was to kill this thing. I noticed I still had the entrails on me, so, I decided to make use of them. I lunged toward the creature and quickly wrapped them around it’s neck. Haha! Get some of this! I pulled to try and choke it; then it ripped. Nasty substances fell to the floor, and there was a moment of awkwardness. The monster and I exchanged glances. “Umm… heh, maybe we can settle this over a bowl of ramen-waffles?” I asked, before it grabbed me again. Blades ripped through my body, then I found myself drowning in one of the rainbow rivers. It began shoving me down; I was too weak to resist it. Blood seeped from my wounds and pierced the tranquility of the river. In the midst of my struggle, I saw Rainbow fending off more of those creatures. Go Rainbow… Use a chair… Wait, I don't ever recall having chairs in Cloudsdale... It was my last thought before I slipped out of consciousness. RevelationWhen I awoke I found myself in a painful position in some stiff bed with thin cheap blankets. I must be in a hospital. As if on cue, a nurse walked in to check my IV. “Um, excuse me miss, where is this hospital located?” I asked. She just finished doing whatever nurses do with the IV and looked over at me. “You are in the Royal Canterlot Hospital. Princess Celestia had chosen for you to stay here, she would like to have a word with you.” With that said, the nurse left the room, leaving me with my thoughts. Royal Canterlot Hospital? Could they at least put more effort into the beds? Then I remembered why I was even here in the first place. Those creatures that attacked Cloudsdale; did they win? Probably not, Pegasi are no pushovers. But still, how did I get out, wasn’t I drowning and being molested by tentacles? Ew. Gross. The door opened and Princess Celestia walked in. She had two guards with her and I swear she was trying to look as impressive as possible. Just as I figured. “Hello, Spectrum. You’re probably wondering why you’re here.” She started taking a few seconds to add a dramatic pause. “You see, I have had accounts that you’ve been seeing strange things the last couple months. Your mother told me most of it. I need to figure out if you have any idea what those things that took over Cloudsdale were.” She looked generally distressed, which definitely wasn’t a good sign. “Ok, I would love to tell you what they were, but I have no bucking clue. Quick question though, did you just say Cloudsdale FELL!?” I was sitting straight up now; shit just got serious. “Spectrum. You seemed to notice things nopony else has, if theres anything you could tell me, I’d be much obliged. And Yes, Cloudsdale has fallen. We can’t even get to it, theres some kind of black mist surrounding it. We’ve lost too many trying to get through, there are creatures in there I have never witnessed before. Horrible creatures.” She shook her head and turned away. She took another breath and continued, “Cloudsdale isn’t even the only place, there are other places that have succumbed and the mist is spreading. We can fight them outside of this mist, but, Equestria is being corrupted.” This was a lot to take in, Equestria was being taken over? Even more importantly, Princess Celestia thinks I can actually HELP? As honored as I am, I can’t help. If I knew anything I would say, but, I’m just as lost; though I do have an idea. “Princess, why don’t you try using the Elements of Harmony? They always saved the day in the past.” This seemed like a solid idea, everypony knew the stories of the Mane Six who always stopped plans to take over Equestria using said elements. The Princess sighed again. I assume that won’t work…? Princess Celestia had a solemn look about her, “We need Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy in order to use the elements. Rainbow Dash was in Cloudsdale when the attack happened, we can’t find her. If she’s there, we can’t get to her.” This hit me like harder than one of Vinyl’s bass drops. I looked up to Rainbow, she was one of my reasons for never giving up. I even practiced doing a sonic rainboom; though without any success. The possibility that she was killed was too much for me. I couldn’t imagine what I could do, what I should do, if there was anything to do. “We are requesting help from all around Equestria. We are increasing our military and getting our best Unicorn’s to help fight the mist’s presence. If you would like to join, speak with Shining Armor. You can find him at my castle. Good day, Spectrum” Princess Celestia and her guards left; leaving me with even worse thoughts than before. I had to figure out what to do, anything. But I know one thing, I had to get out of here. I ripped out the IV and jumped out of my bed. Then I stopped, in shock. My tail, was rainbow colored. What. The. Hell? “Whoa! My tail is rainbow colored how the hell did that happen?!” I shouted out loud, this was awesome. However this happened, it was ok with me. Then I noticed a clipboard on the desk. I picked it up and read my injuries, several lacerations… Rainbow river fluid in lungs…. Rainbow river fluid in bloodstream… Whoa, it’s in my bloodstream? That doesn’t exactly make sense to why my tail changed colors but I’ll accept it. Though I should be wary of my wounds, I’ll take it easy, but I’m still getting out of here. Windows are an easy way out. I flew out the window and away from Canterlot. I knew that I would make a terrible soldier, but maybe I could get some information on what these creatures are. But first, I wanted to see what was left of Cloudsdale. I flew out towards Cloudsdale as fast as I could, I needed to see what the mist was. It didn’t take long to get there, I felt faster for some reason, maybe my new rainbow super-powers. Yeah, that would be nice. What I saw was devastating. A dense black mist surrounded the city; it had spread to the ground beneath it as well. The mist seemed to be spreading slowly across the land. I could hear sounds from the creatures inside, deep moans and cries. I could faintly see giant creatures in there as well, kind-of like big worms. Their movements were slow and unnerving. Sweet Celestia, what is happening? I departed with a tear in my eye, knowing this was bigger than anything I could ever do. I decided my best bet was to visit someone with experience in the unknown. I departed towards the Everfree Forest. The forest is difficult to approach from above, so I settled down at the entrance before I continued. Suddenly I realized that Fluttershy lived near here, and her being a Pegasus, maybe I should go talk to her. I turned towards her house, past the immense amount of adorable animals that were all over the place. I walked up to her door a knocked a few times. I waited, then tried again. Dammit Fluttershy are you in there? I was about to leave when I heard a faint creak from her door. It was Fluttershy, she looked like a wreck. “Um… Yes? Do you n-need something?” She whimpered, almost unrecognizable. I nodded softly as she let me inside. We sat down at a table with some hot chocolate, it seemed appropriate. “Fluttershy, I just came by to see if you were ok. You know, with Cloudsdale being taken over and Rainbow going missing and-” I didn’t get to finish because she began crying uncontrollably, I figured maybe I could give her a hug or something to try to comfort her but being the awkward pony I am I just sat there. “Why can’t everything just be ok!? W-Why did this all have to happen!?” She screamed, tears disfiguring her face. Seeing her like this made me want to throw the world into the sun. It strengthened my resolve. “Listen, Fluttershy, we can figure this out. I’m going to see Zecora. She’s smart, and might know something I can do to help. We can do this. Ok? We can save Rainbow.” I assured her the best I could, when she somewhat regained her composure she spoke her mind, “The creatures have been more unstable since this happened, I’ll take you to Zecora. Ok?” I agreed, and we set off. The Everfree Forest gets pretty dark, even during the day, but it was manageable. Fluttershy took lead, she seemed to have some newfound confidence, probably from the hope of saving her lost friend. Monsters didn’t approach, probably because they all had a connection to Fluttershy, which was good. I wonder how hard I’d die if a Manticore attacked… We soon came upon Zecora’s hut. We knocked and she quickly let us inside. There were concoctions everywhere, probably all to stop the mist. Some definitely smelled pretty lethal. “Hello, Zecora.” I began, “You're pretty wise, could you tell us what you think of the creatures appearing around Equestria?” She seemed content but shook her head. “Sorry, young one, but those creatures are not from this world. But it seems that harmony makes them want to hurl.” She stepped towards one of her pots, adding a bright green fluid to it and began putting it into a test tube. “This acid has magical qualities and is quite strong, try it on the one outside if you think I’m wrong.” It must suck having to speak in couplets. Wait, what did she just-? Just then the entire roof of the hut was ripped off as a behemoth of some sort roared and reached down and grabbed Fluttershy. It hovered over the hut, a menacing 40 feet at least. It was covered in scales and was bipedal, accompanied with massive biceps; two horns protruded from its head. OH SHIT. SHITSHITSHITHTISSTHIHTSITHSISIHISIHTIISITIHS Zecora continued to make more test tubes as the beast turned and began to slowly make its way back into the forest. “Wait! What are you doing!? Throw some magical potion stuff at it! Zecora! Oh crap it took Fluttershy, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-” Zecora punched me in the face to shut me up and handed me a belt with a bunch of flasks on it. “Stop whining and go save her, equip this belt, the acids will come in handy later.” She gave me the belt and I fastened it across my chest. This is crazy, I’m going to have to FIGHT that thing!? I started hyperventilating as Zecora hit me again and told me to hurry. I took a deep breath and flew after the behemoth. Oh Celestia I’m gonna die! Why am I doing this?! I found the behemoth pretty quickly, Fluttershy was screaming but I couldn’t really hear her. Which was normal at least. It looked even bigger than before; knocking down trees with little effort. I flew straight at the monster and headbutted it as hard as I could. I woke up a few seconds later dazed, and saw it walking away again. The sound of its steps shook the ground beneath me. At least now I know its scales work like armor. I looked at the tubes. Oh right, acid. I grabbed one and flew towards it again. I popped off the cork and positioned myself right in front of its face. I gave a smirk and splashed it in it’s eyes. Bitch. It roared at the top of its lungs and swatted me to the ground. I crashed hard into the dirt and cried out in pain. I saw it grab its face and step back, which means it dropped Fluttershy, but where is she? I struggled to get up and get on my hooves. At that moment I saw something come out of the forest. A tall multi-headed monster appeared and began to attack the behemoth; a Hydra. At the same time Timberwolves and Manticores began beating and tearing at the armor plating. Fluttershy helped me up and told me to let the forest protect itself. I looked to see hundreds of animals attacking. A Cockitrice froze its legs while the Hydra began ripping the plating off its face where the acid took effect. It seemed to drown in the army of beasts. Hoo-rah. “Spectrum, let’s go back to Zecora’s.” I nodded and we flew back to Zecora’s hut and helped put the roof back on. Once we were inside I leaped face-first into a bed and and let out a long breath of relief. Zecora smiled and looked at Fluttershy, “Fluttershy, my dear, you must take you and your friends to Canterlot. It appears the creatures are after you I fear. Tell Celestia about what happened, and the battle we fought.” She then turned to me, “And you should go as well, theres no need to plunge deeper into hell.” I got up, “I completely agree. Let’s go.” Zecora bid us farewell, she even let me keep the remaining test tubes. We flew back towards Ponyville to retrieve the remaining Mane Six. You know, for once I actually feel important. DeadlockThe flight didn’t last long. While Fluttershy and I progressed toward Ponyville we began noticing irregular weather patterns; though no Pegasi were in sight. From there it didn’t take long for all hell to break loose; those massive worm-like creatures from the mist back at Cloudsdale began to squeeze out of the air before us. The black mist began to seep into the atmosphere from their entries. The creatures were in close detail now, a dark blue with gray metallic scales that reminded him of the scales the behemoth had. They were massive; and I bet they had hundreds of razor-sharp teeth and could shoot fire but I didn’t want to stay and find out. The mist began to surround me, and I needed to get Fluttershy and myself away from here. Though in the shroud I couldn’t seem to find her. Hundreds of smaller creatures began to pour from the openings in the air, they began flying towards Ponyville. Before I could react, one of them grabbed me and decked me across the head. While still holding on to me, it repeatedly struck hard blows to my temple and ribs; causing me to begin losing consciousness. Once it figured I had taken enough it spun in a 360 and used the momentum to throw me down to the ground. I hit the dirt a few seconds later hard, nearly putting me out. Struggling to stay conscious, I tried to crawl into the bushes; but to no avail. The creature landed in front of me. It looked like a bat, but it was bipedal; two strong legs and arms. It was also covered in the scales and it’s face was similar to the monsters that attacked Cloudsdale. It walked towards me with absolutely no expression and ejected a spear of some sort from its hand. Well, at least I tried. It paused for a second and I could’ve sworn if it had a mouth it would be grinning. Thoughts suddenly began swimming through my head. I didn’t want to die, and I couldn’t sit around and watch these fuckers do this to Equestria. I grabbed one of the test tubes from my belt and threw it on the creature’s chest. It stepped back making no noise though grabbed it’s chest plate as it began to disintegrate. I still had trouble getting up on my hooves, a few ribs were definitely broken and my energy was drained. The creature ran towards me with the spear and tried to stab me. Which would’ve worked if the weapon didn’t fly out of it’s hand and impaled it. I watched as black liquid spewed from the wound and the creature collapsed to the ground. It seemed the acid created an opening for…whatever just happened. Um… That was convenient “Get up man, more are coming” Said a voice from behind me, though moving hurt too much so I just continued laying there. Suddenly I began to feel myself being rejuvenated, as well as broken bones moving back in place. Which hurt like a bitch. “Augh! Dammit! That’s painful… and strangely relaxing…” I began before becoming tired from the healing process. But before I could sleep a bright red hoof kicked me awake and I saw a pony before me. It was a solid black unicorn with a red curly mane and red hooves. His eyes were closed in a strange way, and he didn’t have a tail. “C’mon man! I just healed you like a pro and you decide to sleep? Get up, theres more coming.” He said as a golden glow enveloped his horn. I stood up, stretched my wings and shook off the pain. I counted three tubes of acid left. I looked at the pony that saved me, “So, um… maybe I should introduce myself. I’m uh, Spectrum. Thanks for saving me and… stuff.” I figured he would take notice to my terrible social skills but he seemed friendlier than I thought. “Sup, Spectrum. You can call me Deadlock, the Unicorn who resides on the border of life and death!” He smiled, probably proud of the statement. But what he said made me think. “Wait, what do you mean by that?” I asked, nearly sure of the answer. “I’m dead. Except I’m also alive. So I guess I’m undead, except I don’t want to eat anypony’s brains.” He chuckled and continued using his magic on something. Though I wasn’t sure what. “Well, so you’re a zombie. That’s pretty freakin’ cool, I must say.” I started, and began to feel vibrations in the earth around me. “So, what are you doing exactly?” Deadlock looked at me, at least I think he did, “Calling in some friends of mine. You see, I can manipulate the dead. So I can bring the corpses back from the grave and use them to do as I please.” “Like puppets? So they aren’t actually alive?” I asked. “Correct, I can’t bring anypony back from the dead eternally, yet. I’ve just been gathering some soldiers for an ambush I’ve been setting up here. At least I was planning on doing that.” Deadlock smiled again, and then added, “Well, everything is set. I hope you know how to fight.” Before I could tell him exactly where I rank on the pathetic meter more of those bat monsters landed around us. The mist was overhead, making the sky look as dark as the night. Deadlock released his spell, sending gold bolts to various points in the ground around them. The ground vibrated as dozens of rotting corpses rose from the earth. There were only Earth Ponies and Unicorns, some were mostly bone. They had the monsters surrounded. I’m fighting alongside zombies. That’s alpha as fuck. The zombies all had a faint golden aura around them, most likely from Deadlock’s magic. They all began attacking the bats, using their rotting teeth to rip their flesh of using broken bones to pierce under the scales. It seems Deadlock was not controlling them, they were probably on auto-pilot. While I was watching the battle one of the bats sneaked up behind me. Deadlock shot him with an ordinary magical bolt and nodded at me. Taking the hint I grabbed the bat and flew straight up as fast as I could. Once I decided I was high enough, which was hard to decipher in the mist, I began an even faster descent spiraling towards the ground. Before I reached the ground I let the momentum take the bat face-first into the earth, causing a loud crash and a wave of dirt and dust. “Hey, I liked that move.” Said Deadlock, grinning as his zombies tore apart the bat creatures. They couldn’t kill his reanimated minions, so they just kept getting up and attacking. Even when they were beheaded or dismembered, they continued to fight. Eventually the bats gave up and flew away into the mist. Deadlock took the opportunity to fix up his undead soldiers, reattaching limbs and heads. I sighed in relief and laid down against a tree. “So, Deadlock, how did you know they were going to show up here?” I asked, panting. Deadlock continued fixing the corpses but answered, “I’ve been studying the mist. They seem to alter weather patterns. Also, they seem to spawn near towns or cities; very rarely do they decide to show up randomly in an open field or forest. What about you? Why were you flying around here?” “I was taking Fluttershy to get the rest of the Mane Six, Oh shit, I lost Fluttershy!” I facehoofed and shook my head. “I can’t believe lost her. Dammit. That’s two gone.” Deadlock was interested, “Wait, that makes sense. These creatures are capturing the Mane Six, probably to stop them from using the Elements. Who was taken besides Fluttershy?” It took me a second to respond, “Rainbow Dash.” “Alrighty then. So we need to get them back. I’m sure the others caught the drift and are in hiding, or whatever.” Deadlock finished fixing up the zombies, “Ok Spectrum, me and you are going to fuck up these guys’ plans. You in?” I got up and nodded, “Of course, but what are you planning on doing?” Deadlock let out a chuckle, “We are going to release Discord.” It took me a few seconds to process his statement, “What!? How is releasing the God of Chaos going to help?” Deadlock seemed determined, “Think about it, this world is already in chaos; Discord’s magic is probably the strongest in Equestria. With his help we can turn this war around! If not, at least he will mess these guys up enough for us.” His point made sense, “We have stopped Discord before, and he does belong to this world anyway. These things are from another realm, right?” Deadlock nodded, “Yeah I’m sure these monsters are not from here, but, they can die so that’s all that matters. So come on, I know where Discord’s statue is.” We departed with about two dozen undead ponies and made our way towards Discord. Its not like things could get that much worse. The Chaos Has Been DoubledWe had quite a ways to go if we wanted to reach the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. Especially if we wanted to avoid unnecessary conflicts. There was a lot going on in my mind. It seems that this new path I’ve taken in trusting Deadlock forced me to leave everypony else behind. But hopefully the damage can be fixed, or we can screw everything up beyond repair to such a drastic extent that it will somehow cause a reverse effect. Deadlock ended up being extremely friendly, I never even had trouble conversing with him. Which was good because, I knew we would have to be able to trust each other in this madness; especially since our lives were in constant peril. Well, at least mine. The undead ponies never talked, which made them kinda ominous. Though they never attacked without Deadlock’s command so they were fun to mess with. We trekked for over a week, avoiding all forms of life, everything and everypony was technically a hostile. Deadlock only stopped to rest, which seemed odd for him being undead. But it appeared his magic doesn’t come in an infinite supply, and he uses that time to recharge. Anyway, I knew that we would have some opposition in freeing Discord, and I was prepared to play a new factor into this war. Discord would hopefully play as a distraction for the enemy at the very least. Hopefully Equestrians don’t focus on him, and vice versa. In order to control this, we need to fill him in on what is happening and point out how this new threat is worth his attention. Obviously, things will get worse before they get, well, less worse. I knew that this world wasn’t prepared for whatever is happening, so this was the only way to level the playing fields Night was upon us when we closed near the garden; it was time to see what we had to deal with. Deadlock set up a perimeter with the undead in hidden locations surrounding the garden. There were two guards asleep near the statue, the princess probably wanted to avoid Discord being added to the fight. “Ok, this will be a cinch.” Whispered Deadlock, cueing two undead ponies to quickly dispatch the guards. They started by waking up the guards, which appeared very frightened at seeing zombies approaching. But before they could do anything the undead’s heads burst from their shoulders and knocked out both guards. “Wow.” I said, “Wake them up, then knock them back out.” I flew down towards the statue. Deadlock teleported by my side. “It’s better than having to be quiet. Besides, we’re waking up Discord, things will be pretty noisy.” He said and paused staring at the tall, looming statue of the Draconequus. There was a silence between us, then I noticed Deadlock wasn’t doing anything. "So… are you going to release him or what?” I asked, still staring at the statue. “Umm, I don’t actually know how to do that.” He revealed, scratching his mane. There was another moment of silence this time, but a bit more awkward. “What do you mean “You don’t know how”? This was your plan!” I yelled at him. “I can’t believe I wasted my time coming here. How do you expect us to proceed!?” “Hey, I was only trying to help! He just needs a push. Let me try something.” Deadlock surrounded the statue in a golden aura. He seemed to concentrate as it began to shake. The statue began to rise a bit. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Be careful, man!” I said, watching the statue hover over it’s pedestal. “Oh, snap.” mumbled Deadlock, he let go of the statue realizing that it was beginning to hover. Upon landing the statue tipped a bit in place. It fell off the pedestal onto the ground. Discord broke in half. “OH FUCK.” We cried simultaneously. “Put him back together!” I panicked. “Shit! Shit! Uhh… Let me try umm... Dammit!” Deadlock began trying to piece the statue together but to no avail. In the distance we could hear thunderstorms starting. “Is that the mist!? Oh sweet Celestia hurry up Deadlock!” I cried trotting in place as I watched the black mist form in the distance. Deadlock was freaking out as well, trying to force the pieces together, but it was futile. He ended up only breaking it further. We both simply began screaming and running in circles around the ruined statue as the mist fell over the garden. During the chaos the statue began to glow. We stopped and noticed bright cracks engulfing the statue’s remains. Suddenly they burst apart and revealed the God of Chaos. Well, half of him. “Muhahaha! I’m free again! No I shall- Why am I cut in half?” Discord asked looking down at the strange pair of ponies before him. He took notice to the headless zombies, the knocked out guards, and the strange black mist that was progressing towards them. “Is this a bad time? I could come back later.” He asked sarcastically, as he reattached his body. “No, no it’s fine.” I started, “Uhh, ok let me fill you in, Equestria is being wiped out by creatures from another dimension, hundreds are dead, most of Equestria is covered in that mist you see there, and we freed you because you have the most swag in Equestria. My names’ Spectrum.” “And I’m Deadlock.” Added Deadlock. Discord looked at us, then at the mist, then at us again. He burst out laughing, “Hahaha! You think I actually care about what happens to all of you!? After being turned to stone twice you think I would actually have any pity left towards you pathetic ponies? Now this is exactly what I like. Utter chaos.” “Well, more like a nightmare. You see, everything is going to be dead. Plus, You count in the “dead” catagory.” I stated hoping he would reconsider. “Silly pony, nothing can ever hope to kill me, but you’re right, theres no point in ruling Equestria if I have nopony to rule over. But I could have so much FUN with this.” Discord made a futon appear and some shades, and laid back to enjoy our demise. “Oh you are such an asshole.” Grunted Deadlock. Discord pulled his shades down and glared at him. “What did you just call me?” Discord teleported in front of him, “Say that again, I dare you.” “Ok, you are such an asshole.” He taunted, suddenly a stone stalactite shot up from the ground and impaled him. Deadlock let out a choke and fell motionless. “Crap! That looked painful.” I gasped, shocked at how powerful this guy was. Deadlock’s body began shaking as he struggled to move. He suddenly looked up with a huge shit-eating grin, “Haha, you can’t kill me.” Deadlock stuck his tongue out at Discord. Discord replied by lifting him up using a finger and throwing him into the grass maze farther into the garden. Deadlock screamed the whole way there. “Ok, now I’m getting annoyed. And a bit confused, why can’t he die?” Discord asked, pushing the mist back with his hand. “Well, he’s undead. But I’m not so please don’t kill me.” I said, sweating a bit. “Ok then, why is your tail rainbow colored? It reminds me of one of those accursed ponies who sealed me last time.” “I was nearly stabbed to death and drowned in one of Cloudsdale’s rainbow rivers. So, the solution is in my bloodstream.” I smiled weakly, I felt this wasn’t going very far. Discord and I looked at the mist and noticed movement inside. Deadlock walked over with twigs in his mane. “I walked right through that bitch. Make your mazes out of stone next time.” He mocked, calling over the undead surrounding the maze. “You can control the dead, interesting.” Said Discord, preparing a spell in the direction of the mist. “You know, all-in-all, we need your help. So at least help us stop these things until you take over.” I asked feeling low morale. “Fine. I’ll spare you until this conflict is resolved. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!” Discord replied, pushing the mist back. He was suddenly in steel armor with red feathering. The same armor appeared on Deadlock and I, as well as all the undead. Discord pulled out an old-styled black bomb and a steel baseball bat. “Let’s take care of these guys shall we?” Discord said, hitting the bomb towards the mist. A few seconds in I heard a huge explosion and one of the giant worms came crashing down into the ground with a huge chunk of its side missing. Black poured from the massive wound relentlessly. “I’d say that was a home-run. Muhahah!” Discord laughed and prepared another bomb. I felt security in him taking this like a joke, it showed just how much power was now on our side. In the distance I could see hundreds of creatures flying towards them. A lot of them were different than the bat creatures; some looked like minotaurs of a sort, others more like giant spiders. Deadlock seemed ready for the oncoming attack, preparing his undead soldiers with more noticeable golden auras. “Alright, let’s bury these guys.” He said as they began to land all around us. Discord was already in their ranks, busting their skulls with the bat. “Bonk. Haha!” He said as he struck them down. One of the new creatures was a deformed spider, with what looked like hives in it’s legs. It had a huge jaw and it’s teeth seemed to leak a black fluid. It was covered in a thick looking dark purple skin instead of the usual armor scales. It approached Discord and shot out huge steel spikes from the hives on its legs as it leapt at him. He easily dodged and pulled out a golden mini-gun, now suddenly in a tuxedo and shades. “Is that the best you can do? How pathetic.” He said as he began mowing it down along with dozens of other monsters around him, white doves flew out behind him. He probably could’ve taken them out quicker but he wanted this to last. I took my attention off him and onto my own problems. Something that looked like a minotaur was before me, except it didn’t have a face and there were teeth protruding from it’s chest. It’s arms were covered in the armor scales. I took caution as I walked around it, waiting for it to move first. That’s when I saw the heat waves coming from the center of it’s chest. I parried a wave of flame until I saw an opening, than launched a head-butt into it’s stomach. It stumbled back but otherwise was completely undamaged. Why am I so pathetic? I looked around for a weapon and noticed a fallen bat guy’s spear. I wielded the spear in my jaws and dashed behind my opponent. I flew up and stabbed him in the neck, black poured from the wound. It didn’t seem bothered, the monster grabbed my throat and prepared to burn me alive. While the mouth on it’s chest was open I tossed a tube of Zecora’s acid in; the effect was almost instantaneous. It stepped back as it’s insides were melted, black fluid spewing from it’s chest until it collapsed. “Nice, you killed something.” Teased Deadlock who was riding one of the spiders. He used his magic to slowly begin breaking it’s legs, until he was ready for his zombies to attack. Then I noticed something, these creatures seemed too stupid to really be doing all this damage. They must simply be basic troops or cannon fodder. Who was the real threat? I’m sure we would have to deal with that soon enough, at least we have Discord now; who appeared to be riding a skateboard with a pair of nun-chucks in a super-hero outfit. Not only that, but everyone he hit turned into a synchronized dancer. I noticed that the guards from the before woke up, and began trying to adjust to the chaos. They seemed to have gotten themselves together pretty quickly and joined the fight. Though there wasn’t much to do, Discord had the place pretty much cleared of baddies, at least of the ones that weren’t dancing to Beyond Her Garden. Unfortunately, we were so distracted by the fight that we didn’t notice that the mist was now completely overhead, looming over the entire garden. Without any time to react, six behemoths dropped from the sky and landed around us. Instantly one of the guards was taken out, the beast crushing him in it’s palm. The other guard shouted in agony as he watched his friend fall and foolishly attacked them head-on, suffering a similar fate. Discord took note to the change in scenery, and decided on something. “Well, I think you all have over-stayed your welcome. But before I show you what I can REALLY do, I need to excuse a few friends of mine.” Discord looked at Deadlock and I, “I’m going to let you all live, go try and make a difference if you can. We’ll run into each other again, but probably on different terms.” With that statement Discord casted some spell on us. The next thing I knew I was outside Celestia’s palace in Canterlot. I moaned and shook my head, Discord must’ve sent us here to protect us. I knew he wasn’t such a bad guy. Deadlock looked irritated, “Damn he only teleported us. I lost all of my zombies.” He sat down and sighed. We both realized at that moment that there were multiple ponies staring at us. Among them were Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, who both seemed generally surprised. “Umm, hey how’s it goin’? Are you flowin’?” I asked before getting surrounded by Royal Guards. Deadlock whispered in my ear, “Psst, I think we can take them.” Then we were trapped in magic and carried inside the palace. They threw us in front of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and covered our escape in spears. “Princess, these two teleported in from beyond the barrier. Only powerful magic can do that.” Stated one of the guards, seeming quite on edge. Princess Celestia walked towards us. “Wait, I know this one. Spectrum? What are you doing here? How did you get in? And who is this?” She asked. Deadlock grinned, “Well, and I thought you were unpopular. Even the Princess knows you.” I sighed, “It was by accident. Anyway, I’ll answer in that order, we don’t know why we’re here, Discord teleported us in, and this is Deadlock. He’s a zombie.” The Princess was processing this for a few seconds, she didn’t know how to respond. “You just said Discord got you in, how did that happen? You two were the ones in the garden? No wonder we couldn't get in, Discord set up a barrier. That black mist is stopped at least. But how did he escape again!? This is the last thing we need right now!” She was definitely pissed off, I tried to reason. “Look, Discord saved us, he fought alongside us! He’s going to help get these things out of here.” She wasn’t amused, “Yeah, sure he might, but when this is done what do you think he’ll do?!” Deadlock intervened. “Listen, we have bigger problems right now. We gotta live in the now when nightmarish beings from another realm invade us. Also, why didn’t you freak out when Spec said I was a zombie?” Deadlock looked at her for a bit, she replied, “Because you aren’t the first to use the reanimation spell. There was another pony who could do the same thing.” She looked at him than turned away from both of us, back to her throne. “Wait, theres somepony else like you?” I asked him, he nodded. “Yes, but, it’s a long story I’ll tell you about him later.” The Princess spoke to Luna quietly and she nodded confirming something. Luna approached us, “You two are to be questioned tomorrow, until then you are free to stay in the Palace.” She bid us farewell as the guards led us out of the room. We didn’t talk until we were alone, we found a guest room to stay in for the meantime. Deadlock broke the silence first, “So, Spectrum, I guess we get to live the high life for awhile. Heheh.” He smiled and tackled one of the super comfortable looking beds. The room was quite large with multiple dressers and two king-sized beds. A large window was over-looking the mountains. We took turns washing up than began to discuss our next plan of action. “Ok, while we’re here, we should stock up on supplies. Then we need to head on down to Ponyville, they could use our help.” I began, “Theres a train that goes there we can head out in two days.” “Good idea, finding a surviving member of the Mane Six is important, plus we need effective weapons. Well, you at least.” I looked at my last remaining test tube, the rest were used or lost in the last fight. “Let’s hope we can find them. Especially Twilight Sparkle, she would be of great help.” I added. We looked at the time, it was getting closer to the middle of the night and we figured it was time to rest. We had a long battle ahead of us.
Rainbow RiverThey flow consistently, an endless array of colors, the beautiful rainbow rivers of Cloudsdale. I watch them flow off into the depths; a euphoric state engulfs me. It helps me forget the pain of my incompetence and failures. My name is Spectrum, which is a rather odd for being a black-haired, gray-skinned pony. The colors of my fellow pegasi, of the rainbows, it makes me happy. I love color; though the only color on me is my rustic orange eyes, which are slightly hidden by my glasses. Anyway I digress; the issue is I have yet to get my cutie mark; which is pretty pathetic for my age. Though that isn’t such a big issue right now; my next flight exam is coming up, and like usual I’m prepared; physically. It’s just that my confidence is only a bit better than Fluttershy’s. And I emphasize bit. I’m usually detached from the others, and I tend to keep to myself. By doing this I’ve noticed irregular occurrences happening that to most may seem minute. Such as sets of light patterns in the night sky or distortions in the air. Ever since the battle with Discord, reality seemed…flawed; or maybe I just never noticed before. Anyway, I have my flight exam tomorrow; no need to think harder than whats needed. I departed the next morning with my sister, Clavier, an orange Pegasus and pianist in Cloudsdale. We were on our way to the exam. to the examination course. At first, little was spoken until an important question came to mind. “You think waffles would go good with ramen?” I asked my sister. She looked genuinely confused. “That has to be the most random question I’ve ever heard.” Clavier said in a melodramatic tone. She rolled her eyes and flew ahead. I kept my casual pace, pondering. I honestly thought they would go good together. I like ramen and waffles. I accidentally bumped into somepony while in this deep thought. A flash of vivid color before me. It was Rainbow Dash. Well damn. “Whoops, sorry about that Rainbow.” I gave a weak smile, making a squee sound. “Oh, it’s alright Spectrum. So, you going to pass this time or do we have to throw you in the Rainbow Factory?” She laughed a bit. I grimaced, even though that place was folklore. Right? “Heheh.. Yeah, 9th time’s the charm right? If I can just calm my nerves, I’m sure can do it.” Though I can barely keep calm now, Rainbow was one of my idols; alongside Lulz, a pegasus musician he met a long time ago. Also her mane is freakin’ rainbow colored. C’mon man. “Well, I gotta head over there now. Meetin’ up with the Wonderbolts. Good luck out there!” Rainbow then flew off, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. I continued to walk there, seeing I was in no rush; well, not in my mind. Cloudsdale seemed fluid with activity, even those who weren’t attending today’s fight exam were busy going about their business. It was always fun to just look around, take life in a little. For some reason, I caught a shape in my peripheral vision. That’s when I saw it. A face, in one of the clouds; devoid of expression. It’s eyes were sunken in and it’s skin was pale and flaky. It held a stare, it didn’t seem to breath. I felt a wave of fear fall over me. I couldn’t move. W-What the shi- “Hey, are you ok?” a Pegasus touched my shoulder. I was caught off guard. “MOTHERBUCKING SON OF CELESTIA- oh hey… Umm… you. sorry about that. Heheh..” I looked back at the cloud. Predictably, it was gone. Well, that was a bit weirder than the usual stuff. “C’mon, stop taking your time and get to the examination course! You’re in it right? They’re startin’ soon!” I flew off with him, thinking about what I saw. Whatever that was, I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. The course looked amazing, like usual. And the pegasi were all in their places already along the starting line; eager for what lies ahead, along with many spectators from around Cloudsdale and probably Manehattan. I settled into my “lane” and prepared my goggles. Ok Spectrum, swallow your nerves. You got this. I tuned everything out and focused on the mission at hand. I will win this race. Pass the exam. Maybe even earn some respect from Rainbow. I heard the countdown, the suspense was rising. I ignored everyone; everything. Nothing will get to me, not now. “LEEEEEEROY WINGKINNNSSS!!” I yelled as the exam began. Everypony started off, ripping through the course at admirable speeds. At least I think they were; I was too busy winning so hard to notice. I just gotta push forward and believe in myself. Yeah. Just ignore everyone here. Just keep them out of mind. Block them out. A few moments later, I see that face again. It appeared in front of me so quickly I freaked out, crashing into a cloud. It was a soft crash, but still enough to catch me. I blew out a puff of cloud, irritated. Other examinees flew past in a quick wisp. I blink a few times to try and keep focused. Dammit. What the hell IS that!? I tried catching up, pushing speeds near the speed of sound; but I soon came to a stop. One of the pegasi flew behind me; ripped in half. Entrails became caught around my neck. I was frozen in place, blood speckled on my face and mane. W-What just-? The rest of the pegasi high-tailed it, their screams pulled me out of his shock. I saw the face again except it had a full body; pale pink tentacles began shooting from its abdomen. They seemed to come from a fresh wound; blood poured endlessly. A black aura surrounded it. It didn’t have a horn or wings, yet, it hovered there. Staring. Well. Buck this. I followed the others, trying to put as much distance between me and this asshole as possible. I never saw it following me, but I didn’t care. I just kept flying, not even bothering to remove the intestines around my throat. When I got back to the course there was chaos in the air, pegasi were panicking and the Royal Guards seemed to already be here. I stood still, shaking. The blood dripping from my mane, I grew so distant I could hear the drops land on the clouds below. That face still pierced my mind; haunting me. “Hey, Spectrum! What the hell happened over there!?” Rainbow Dash was trying to shake me back to reality. “Wh-What? Oh… Hey Rainbow. Umm… Please. Sorry, I just… I need to get out of here. Before it comes back.” I managed, trying to move forward. Rainbow cut me off, “Before what comes back?” I looked at her, and paused, trying to come up with a description. “The tentacle rape pony from limbo.” I stated, and, feeling that would suffice, began to leave again. Until that thing started pulling me through the clouds. “WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” I screamed as it tried to take me under. I decided the best option was to pull back, so I grabbed its tentacles and ripped it from the cloud. Sharp blades emerged from the ends of them, forcing me to let go. Adrenaline flowed through my veins, I never hurt anything in my life, yet, I felt the only way out was to kill this thing. I noticed I still had the entrails on me, so, I decided to make use of them. I lunged toward the creature and quickly wrapped them around it’s neck. Haha! Get some of this! I pulled to try and choke it; then it ripped. Nasty substances fell to the floor, and there was a moment of awkwardness. The monster and I exchanged glances. “Umm… heh, maybe we can settle this over a bowl of ramen-waffles?” I asked, before it grabbed me again. Blades ripped through my body, then I found myself drowning in one of the rainbow rivers. It began shoving me down; I was too weak to resist it. Blood seeped from my wounds and pierced the tranquility of the river. In the midst of my struggle, I saw Rainbow fending off more of those creatures. Go Rainbow… Use a chair… Wait, I don't ever recall having chairs in Cloudsdale... It was my last thought before I slipped out of consciousness.
RevelationWhen I awoke I found myself in a painful position in some stiff bed with thin cheap blankets. I must be in a hospital. As if on cue, a nurse walked in to check my IV. “Um, excuse me miss, where is this hospital located?” I asked. She just finished doing whatever nurses do with the IV and looked over at me. “You are in the Royal Canterlot Hospital. Princess Celestia had chosen for you to stay here, she would like to have a word with you.” With that said, the nurse left the room, leaving me with my thoughts. Royal Canterlot Hospital? Could they at least put more effort into the beds? Then I remembered why I was even here in the first place. Those creatures that attacked Cloudsdale; did they win? Probably not, Pegasi are no pushovers. But still, how did I get out, wasn’t I drowning and being molested by tentacles? Ew. Gross. The door opened and Princess Celestia walked in. She had two guards with her and I swear she was trying to look as impressive as possible. Just as I figured. “Hello, Spectrum. You’re probably wondering why you’re here.” She started taking a few seconds to add a dramatic pause. “You see, I have had accounts that you’ve been seeing strange things the last couple months. Your mother told me most of it. I need to figure out if you have any idea what those things that took over Cloudsdale were.” She looked generally distressed, which definitely wasn’t a good sign. “Ok, I would love to tell you what they were, but I have no bucking clue. Quick question though, did you just say Cloudsdale FELL!?” I was sitting straight up now; shit just got serious. “Spectrum. You seemed to notice things nopony else has, if theres anything you could tell me, I’d be much obliged. And Yes, Cloudsdale has fallen. We can’t even get to it, theres some kind of black mist surrounding it. We’ve lost too many trying to get through, there are creatures in there I have never witnessed before. Horrible creatures.” She shook her head and turned away. She took another breath and continued, “Cloudsdale isn’t even the only place, there are other places that have succumbed and the mist is spreading. We can fight them outside of this mist, but, Equestria is being corrupted.” This was a lot to take in, Equestria was being taken over? Even more importantly, Princess Celestia thinks I can actually HELP? As honored as I am, I can’t help. If I knew anything I would say, but, I’m just as lost; though I do have an idea. “Princess, why don’t you try using the Elements of Harmony? They always saved the day in the past.” This seemed like a solid idea, everypony knew the stories of the Mane Six who always stopped plans to take over Equestria using said elements. The Princess sighed again. I assume that won’t work…? Princess Celestia had a solemn look about her, “We need Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy in order to use the elements. Rainbow Dash was in Cloudsdale when the attack happened, we can’t find her. If she’s there, we can’t get to her.” This hit me like harder than one of Vinyl’s bass drops. I looked up to Rainbow, she was one of my reasons for never giving up. I even practiced doing a sonic rainboom; though without any success. The possibility that she was killed was too much for me. I couldn’t imagine what I could do, what I should do, if there was anything to do. “We are requesting help from all around Equestria. We are increasing our military and getting our best Unicorn’s to help fight the mist’s presence. If you would like to join, speak with Shining Armor. You can find him at my castle. Good day, Spectrum” Princess Celestia and her guards left; leaving me with even worse thoughts than before. I had to figure out what to do, anything. But I know one thing, I had to get out of here. I ripped out the IV and jumped out of my bed. Then I stopped, in shock. My tail, was rainbow colored. What. The. Hell? “Whoa! My tail is rainbow colored how the hell did that happen?!” I shouted out loud, this was awesome. However this happened, it was ok with me. Then I noticed a clipboard on the desk. I picked it up and read my injuries, several lacerations… Rainbow river fluid in lungs…. Rainbow river fluid in bloodstream… Whoa, it’s in my bloodstream? That doesn’t exactly make sense to why my tail changed colors but I’ll accept it. Though I should be wary of my wounds, I’ll take it easy, but I’m still getting out of here. Windows are an easy way out. I flew out the window and away from Canterlot. I knew that I would make a terrible soldier, but maybe I could get some information on what these creatures are. But first, I wanted to see what was left of Cloudsdale. I flew out towards Cloudsdale as fast as I could, I needed to see what the mist was. It didn’t take long to get there, I felt faster for some reason, maybe my new rainbow super-powers. Yeah, that would be nice. What I saw was devastating. A dense black mist surrounded the city; it had spread to the ground beneath it as well. The mist seemed to be spreading slowly across the land. I could hear sounds from the creatures inside, deep moans and cries. I could faintly see giant creatures in there as well, kind-of like big worms. Their movements were slow and unnerving. Sweet Celestia, what is happening? I departed with a tear in my eye, knowing this was bigger than anything I could ever do. I decided my best bet was to visit someone with experience in the unknown. I departed towards the Everfree Forest. The forest is difficult to approach from above, so I settled down at the entrance before I continued. Suddenly I realized that Fluttershy lived near here, and her being a Pegasus, maybe I should go talk to her. I turned towards her house, past the immense amount of adorable animals that were all over the place. I walked up to her door a knocked a few times. I waited, then tried again. Dammit Fluttershy are you in there? I was about to leave when I heard a faint creak from her door. It was Fluttershy, she looked like a wreck. “Um… Yes? Do you n-need something?” She whimpered, almost unrecognizable. I nodded softly as she let me inside. We sat down at a table with some hot chocolate, it seemed appropriate. “Fluttershy, I just came by to see if you were ok. You know, with Cloudsdale being taken over and Rainbow going missing and-” I didn’t get to finish because she began crying uncontrollably, I figured maybe I could give her a hug or something to try to comfort her but being the awkward pony I am I just sat there. “Why can’t everything just be ok!? W-Why did this all have to happen!?” She screamed, tears disfiguring her face. Seeing her like this made me want to throw the world into the sun. It strengthened my resolve. “Listen, Fluttershy, we can figure this out. I’m going to see Zecora. She’s smart, and might know something I can do to help. We can do this. Ok? We can save Rainbow.” I assured her the best I could, when she somewhat regained her composure she spoke her mind, “The creatures have been more unstable since this happened, I’ll take you to Zecora. Ok?” I agreed, and we set off. The Everfree Forest gets pretty dark, even during the day, but it was manageable. Fluttershy took lead, she seemed to have some newfound confidence, probably from the hope of saving her lost friend. Monsters didn’t approach, probably because they all had a connection to Fluttershy, which was good. I wonder how hard I’d die if a Manticore attacked… We soon came upon Zecora’s hut. We knocked and she quickly let us inside. There were concoctions everywhere, probably all to stop the mist. Some definitely smelled pretty lethal. “Hello, Zecora.” I began, “You're pretty wise, could you tell us what you think of the creatures appearing around Equestria?” She seemed content but shook her head. “Sorry, young one, but those creatures are not from this world. But it seems that harmony makes them want to hurl.” She stepped towards one of her pots, adding a bright green fluid to it and began putting it into a test tube. “This acid has magical qualities and is quite strong, try it on the one outside if you think I’m wrong.” It must suck having to speak in couplets. Wait, what did she just-? Just then the entire roof of the hut was ripped off as a behemoth of some sort roared and reached down and grabbed Fluttershy. It hovered over the hut, a menacing 40 feet at least. It was covered in scales and was bipedal, accompanied with massive biceps; two horns protruded from its head. OH SHIT. SHITSHITSHITHTISSTHIHTSITHSISIHISIHTIISITIHS Zecora continued to make more test tubes as the beast turned and began to slowly make its way back into the forest. “Wait! What are you doing!? Throw some magical potion stuff at it! Zecora! Oh crap it took Fluttershy, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-” Zecora punched me in the face to shut me up and handed me a belt with a bunch of flasks on it. “Stop whining and go save her, equip this belt, the acids will come in handy later.” She gave me the belt and I fastened it across my chest. This is crazy, I’m going to have to FIGHT that thing!? I started hyperventilating as Zecora hit me again and told me to hurry. I took a deep breath and flew after the behemoth. Oh Celestia I’m gonna die! Why am I doing this?! I found the behemoth pretty quickly, Fluttershy was screaming but I couldn’t really hear her. Which was normal at least. It looked even bigger than before; knocking down trees with little effort. I flew straight at the monster and headbutted it as hard as I could. I woke up a few seconds later dazed, and saw it walking away again. The sound of its steps shook the ground beneath me. At least now I know its scales work like armor. I looked at the tubes. Oh right, acid. I grabbed one and flew towards it again. I popped off the cork and positioned myself right in front of its face. I gave a smirk and splashed it in it’s eyes. Bitch. It roared at the top of its lungs and swatted me to the ground. I crashed hard into the dirt and cried out in pain. I saw it grab its face and step back, which means it dropped Fluttershy, but where is she? I struggled to get up and get on my hooves. At that moment I saw something come out of the forest. A tall multi-headed monster appeared and began to attack the behemoth; a Hydra. At the same time Timberwolves and Manticores began beating and tearing at the armor plating. Fluttershy helped me up and told me to let the forest protect itself. I looked to see hundreds of animals attacking. A Cockitrice froze its legs while the Hydra began ripping the plating off its face where the acid took effect. It seemed to drown in the army of beasts. Hoo-rah. “Spectrum, let’s go back to Zecora’s.” I nodded and we flew back to Zecora’s hut and helped put the roof back on. Once we were inside I leaped face-first into a bed and and let out a long breath of relief. Zecora smiled and looked at Fluttershy, “Fluttershy, my dear, you must take you and your friends to Canterlot. It appears the creatures are after you I fear. Tell Celestia about what happened, and the battle we fought.” She then turned to me, “And you should go as well, theres no need to plunge deeper into hell.” I got up, “I completely agree. Let’s go.” Zecora bid us farewell, she even let me keep the remaining test tubes. We flew back towards Ponyville to retrieve the remaining Mane Six. You know, for once I actually feel important.
DeadlockThe flight didn’t last long. While Fluttershy and I progressed toward Ponyville we began noticing irregular weather patterns; though no Pegasi were in sight. From there it didn’t take long for all hell to break loose; those massive worm-like creatures from the mist back at Cloudsdale began to squeeze out of the air before us. The black mist began to seep into the atmosphere from their entries. The creatures were in close detail now, a dark blue with gray metallic scales that reminded him of the scales the behemoth had. They were massive; and I bet they had hundreds of razor-sharp teeth and could shoot fire but I didn’t want to stay and find out. The mist began to surround me, and I needed to get Fluttershy and myself away from here. Though in the shroud I couldn’t seem to find her. Hundreds of smaller creatures began to pour from the openings in the air, they began flying towards Ponyville. Before I could react, one of them grabbed me and decked me across the head. While still holding on to me, it repeatedly struck hard blows to my temple and ribs; causing me to begin losing consciousness. Once it figured I had taken enough it spun in a 360 and used the momentum to throw me down to the ground. I hit the dirt a few seconds later hard, nearly putting me out. Struggling to stay conscious, I tried to crawl into the bushes; but to no avail. The creature landed in front of me. It looked like a bat, but it was bipedal; two strong legs and arms. It was also covered in the scales and it’s face was similar to the monsters that attacked Cloudsdale. It walked towards me with absolutely no expression and ejected a spear of some sort from its hand. Well, at least I tried. It paused for a second and I could’ve sworn if it had a mouth it would be grinning. Thoughts suddenly began swimming through my head. I didn’t want to die, and I couldn’t sit around and watch these fuckers do this to Equestria. I grabbed one of the test tubes from my belt and threw it on the creature’s chest. It stepped back making no noise though grabbed it’s chest plate as it began to disintegrate. I still had trouble getting up on my hooves, a few ribs were definitely broken and my energy was drained. The creature ran towards me with the spear and tried to stab me. Which would’ve worked if the weapon didn’t fly out of it’s hand and impaled it. I watched as black liquid spewed from the wound and the creature collapsed to the ground. It seemed the acid created an opening for…whatever just happened. Um… That was convenient “Get up man, more are coming” Said a voice from behind me, though moving hurt too much so I just continued laying there. Suddenly I began to feel myself being rejuvenated, as well as broken bones moving back in place. Which hurt like a bitch. “Augh! Dammit! That’s painful… and strangely relaxing…” I began before becoming tired from the healing process. But before I could sleep a bright red hoof kicked me awake and I saw a pony before me. It was a solid black unicorn with a red curly mane and red hooves. His eyes were closed in a strange way, and he didn’t have a tail. “C’mon man! I just healed you like a pro and you decide to sleep? Get up, theres more coming.” He said as a golden glow enveloped his horn. I stood up, stretched my wings and shook off the pain. I counted three tubes of acid left. I looked at the pony that saved me, “So, um… maybe I should introduce myself. I’m uh, Spectrum. Thanks for saving me and… stuff.” I figured he would take notice to my terrible social skills but he seemed friendlier than I thought. “Sup, Spectrum. You can call me Deadlock, the Unicorn who resides on the border of life and death!” He smiled, probably proud of the statement. But what he said made me think. “Wait, what do you mean by that?” I asked, nearly sure of the answer. “I’m dead. Except I’m also alive. So I guess I’m undead, except I don’t want to eat anypony’s brains.” He chuckled and continued using his magic on something. Though I wasn’t sure what. “Well, so you’re a zombie. That’s pretty freakin’ cool, I must say.” I started, and began to feel vibrations in the earth around me. “So, what are you doing exactly?” Deadlock looked at me, at least I think he did, “Calling in some friends of mine. You see, I can manipulate the dead. So I can bring the corpses back from the grave and use them to do as I please.” “Like puppets? So they aren’t actually alive?” I asked. “Correct, I can’t bring anypony back from the dead eternally, yet. I’ve just been gathering some soldiers for an ambush I’ve been setting up here. At least I was planning on doing that.” Deadlock smiled again, and then added, “Well, everything is set. I hope you know how to fight.” Before I could tell him exactly where I rank on the pathetic meter more of those bat monsters landed around us. The mist was overhead, making the sky look as dark as the night. Deadlock released his spell, sending gold bolts to various points in the ground around them. The ground vibrated as dozens of rotting corpses rose from the earth. There were only Earth Ponies and Unicorns, some were mostly bone. They had the monsters surrounded. I’m fighting alongside zombies. That’s alpha as fuck. The zombies all had a faint golden aura around them, most likely from Deadlock’s magic. They all began attacking the bats, using their rotting teeth to rip their flesh of using broken bones to pierce under the scales. It seems Deadlock was not controlling them, they were probably on auto-pilot. While I was watching the battle one of the bats sneaked up behind me. Deadlock shot him with an ordinary magical bolt and nodded at me. Taking the hint I grabbed the bat and flew straight up as fast as I could. Once I decided I was high enough, which was hard to decipher in the mist, I began an even faster descent spiraling towards the ground. Before I reached the ground I let the momentum take the bat face-first into the earth, causing a loud crash and a wave of dirt and dust. “Hey, I liked that move.” Said Deadlock, grinning as his zombies tore apart the bat creatures. They couldn’t kill his reanimated minions, so they just kept getting up and attacking. Even when they were beheaded or dismembered, they continued to fight. Eventually the bats gave up and flew away into the mist. Deadlock took the opportunity to fix up his undead soldiers, reattaching limbs and heads. I sighed in relief and laid down against a tree. “So, Deadlock, how did you know they were going to show up here?” I asked, panting. Deadlock continued fixing the corpses but answered, “I’ve been studying the mist. They seem to alter weather patterns. Also, they seem to spawn near towns or cities; very rarely do they decide to show up randomly in an open field or forest. What about you? Why were you flying around here?” “I was taking Fluttershy to get the rest of the Mane Six, Oh shit, I lost Fluttershy!” I facehoofed and shook my head. “I can’t believe lost her. Dammit. That’s two gone.” Deadlock was interested, “Wait, that makes sense. These creatures are capturing the Mane Six, probably to stop them from using the Elements. Who was taken besides Fluttershy?” It took me a second to respond, “Rainbow Dash.” “Alrighty then. So we need to get them back. I’m sure the others caught the drift and are in hiding, or whatever.” Deadlock finished fixing up the zombies, “Ok Spectrum, me and you are going to fuck up these guys’ plans. You in?” I got up and nodded, “Of course, but what are you planning on doing?” Deadlock let out a chuckle, “We are going to release Discord.” It took me a few seconds to process his statement, “What!? How is releasing the God of Chaos going to help?” Deadlock seemed determined, “Think about it, this world is already in chaos; Discord’s magic is probably the strongest in Equestria. With his help we can turn this war around! If not, at least he will mess these guys up enough for us.” His point made sense, “We have stopped Discord before, and he does belong to this world anyway. These things are from another realm, right?” Deadlock nodded, “Yeah I’m sure these monsters are not from here, but, they can die so that’s all that matters. So come on, I know where Discord’s statue is.” We departed with about two dozen undead ponies and made our way towards Discord. Its not like things could get that much worse.
The Chaos Has Been DoubledWe had quite a ways to go if we wanted to reach the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. Especially if we wanted to avoid unnecessary conflicts. There was a lot going on in my mind. It seems that this new path I’ve taken in trusting Deadlock forced me to leave everypony else behind. But hopefully the damage can be fixed, or we can screw everything up beyond repair to such a drastic extent that it will somehow cause a reverse effect. Deadlock ended up being extremely friendly, I never even had trouble conversing with him. Which was good because, I knew we would have to be able to trust each other in this madness; especially since our lives were in constant peril. Well, at least mine. The undead ponies never talked, which made them kinda ominous. Though they never attacked without Deadlock’s command so they were fun to mess with. We trekked for over a week, avoiding all forms of life, everything and everypony was technically a hostile. Deadlock only stopped to rest, which seemed odd for him being undead. But it appeared his magic doesn’t come in an infinite supply, and he uses that time to recharge. Anyway, I knew that we would have some opposition in freeing Discord, and I was prepared to play a new factor into this war. Discord would hopefully play as a distraction for the enemy at the very least. Hopefully Equestrians don’t focus on him, and vice versa. In order to control this, we need to fill him in on what is happening and point out how this new threat is worth his attention. Obviously, things will get worse before they get, well, less worse. I knew that this world wasn’t prepared for whatever is happening, so this was the only way to level the playing fields Night was upon us when we closed near the garden; it was time to see what we had to deal with. Deadlock set up a perimeter with the undead in hidden locations surrounding the garden. There were two guards asleep near the statue, the princess probably wanted to avoid Discord being added to the fight. “Ok, this will be a cinch.” Whispered Deadlock, cueing two undead ponies to quickly dispatch the guards. They started by waking up the guards, which appeared very frightened at seeing zombies approaching. But before they could do anything the undead’s heads burst from their shoulders and knocked out both guards. “Wow.” I said, “Wake them up, then knock them back out.” I flew down towards the statue. Deadlock teleported by my side. “It’s better than having to be quiet. Besides, we’re waking up Discord, things will be pretty noisy.” He said and paused staring at the tall, looming statue of the Draconequus. There was a silence between us, then I noticed Deadlock wasn’t doing anything. "So… are you going to release him or what?” I asked, still staring at the statue. “Umm, I don’t actually know how to do that.” He revealed, scratching his mane. There was another moment of silence this time, but a bit more awkward. “What do you mean “You don’t know how”? This was your plan!” I yelled at him. “I can’t believe I wasted my time coming here. How do you expect us to proceed!?” “Hey, I was only trying to help! He just needs a push. Let me try something.” Deadlock surrounded the statue in a golden aura. He seemed to concentrate as it began to shake. The statue began to rise a bit. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Be careful, man!” I said, watching the statue hover over it’s pedestal. “Oh, snap.” mumbled Deadlock, he let go of the statue realizing that it was beginning to hover. Upon landing the statue tipped a bit in place. It fell off the pedestal onto the ground. Discord broke in half. “OH FUCK.” We cried simultaneously. “Put him back together!” I panicked. “Shit! Shit! Uhh… Let me try umm... Dammit!” Deadlock began trying to piece the statue together but to no avail. In the distance we could hear thunderstorms starting. “Is that the mist!? Oh sweet Celestia hurry up Deadlock!” I cried trotting in place as I watched the black mist form in the distance. Deadlock was freaking out as well, trying to force the pieces together, but it was futile. He ended up only breaking it further. We both simply began screaming and running in circles around the ruined statue as the mist fell over the garden. During the chaos the statue began to glow. We stopped and noticed bright cracks engulfing the statue’s remains. Suddenly they burst apart and revealed the God of Chaos. Well, half of him. “Muhahaha! I’m free again! No I shall- Why am I cut in half?” Discord asked looking down at the strange pair of ponies before him. He took notice to the headless zombies, the knocked out guards, and the strange black mist that was progressing towards them. “Is this a bad time? I could come back later.” He asked sarcastically, as he reattached his body. “No, no it’s fine.” I started, “Uhh, ok let me fill you in, Equestria is being wiped out by creatures from another dimension, hundreds are dead, most of Equestria is covered in that mist you see there, and we freed you because you have the most swag in Equestria. My names’ Spectrum.” “And I’m Deadlock.” Added Deadlock. Discord looked at us, then at the mist, then at us again. He burst out laughing, “Hahaha! You think I actually care about what happens to all of you!? After being turned to stone twice you think I would actually have any pity left towards you pathetic ponies? Now this is exactly what I like. Utter chaos.” “Well, more like a nightmare. You see, everything is going to be dead. Plus, You count in the “dead” catagory.” I stated hoping he would reconsider. “Silly pony, nothing can ever hope to kill me, but you’re right, theres no point in ruling Equestria if I have nopony to rule over. But I could have so much FUN with this.” Discord made a futon appear and some shades, and laid back to enjoy our demise. “Oh you are such an asshole.” Grunted Deadlock. Discord pulled his shades down and glared at him. “What did you just call me?” Discord teleported in front of him, “Say that again, I dare you.” “Ok, you are such an asshole.” He taunted, suddenly a stone stalactite shot up from the ground and impaled him. Deadlock let out a choke and fell motionless. “Crap! That looked painful.” I gasped, shocked at how powerful this guy was. Deadlock’s body began shaking as he struggled to move. He suddenly looked up with a huge shit-eating grin, “Haha, you can’t kill me.” Deadlock stuck his tongue out at Discord. Discord replied by lifting him up using a finger and throwing him into the grass maze farther into the garden. Deadlock screamed the whole way there. “Ok, now I’m getting annoyed. And a bit confused, why can’t he die?” Discord asked, pushing the mist back with his hand. “Well, he’s undead. But I’m not so please don’t kill me.” I said, sweating a bit. “Ok then, why is your tail rainbow colored? It reminds me of one of those accursed ponies who sealed me last time.” “I was nearly stabbed to death and drowned in one of Cloudsdale’s rainbow rivers. So, the solution is in my bloodstream.” I smiled weakly, I felt this wasn’t going very far. Discord and I looked at the mist and noticed movement inside. Deadlock walked over with twigs in his mane. “I walked right through that bitch. Make your mazes out of stone next time.” He mocked, calling over the undead surrounding the maze. “You can control the dead, interesting.” Said Discord, preparing a spell in the direction of the mist. “You know, all-in-all, we need your help. So at least help us stop these things until you take over.” I asked feeling low morale. “Fine. I’ll spare you until this conflict is resolved. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun!” Discord replied, pushing the mist back. He was suddenly in steel armor with red feathering. The same armor appeared on Deadlock and I, as well as all the undead. Discord pulled out an old-styled black bomb and a steel baseball bat. “Let’s take care of these guys shall we?” Discord said, hitting the bomb towards the mist. A few seconds in I heard a huge explosion and one of the giant worms came crashing down into the ground with a huge chunk of its side missing. Black poured from the massive wound relentlessly. “I’d say that was a home-run. Muhahah!” Discord laughed and prepared another bomb. I felt security in him taking this like a joke, it showed just how much power was now on our side. In the distance I could see hundreds of creatures flying towards them. A lot of them were different than the bat creatures; some looked like minotaurs of a sort, others more like giant spiders. Deadlock seemed ready for the oncoming attack, preparing his undead soldiers with more noticeable golden auras. “Alright, let’s bury these guys.” He said as they began to land all around us. Discord was already in their ranks, busting their skulls with the bat. “Bonk. Haha!” He said as he struck them down. One of the new creatures was a deformed spider, with what looked like hives in it’s legs. It had a huge jaw and it’s teeth seemed to leak a black fluid. It was covered in a thick looking dark purple skin instead of the usual armor scales. It approached Discord and shot out huge steel spikes from the hives on its legs as it leapt at him. He easily dodged and pulled out a golden mini-gun, now suddenly in a tuxedo and shades. “Is that the best you can do? How pathetic.” He said as he began mowing it down along with dozens of other monsters around him, white doves flew out behind him. He probably could’ve taken them out quicker but he wanted this to last. I took my attention off him and onto my own problems. Something that looked like a minotaur was before me, except it didn’t have a face and there were teeth protruding from it’s chest. It’s arms were covered in the armor scales. I took caution as I walked around it, waiting for it to move first. That’s when I saw the heat waves coming from the center of it’s chest. I parried a wave of flame until I saw an opening, than launched a head-butt into it’s stomach. It stumbled back but otherwise was completely undamaged. Why am I so pathetic? I looked around for a weapon and noticed a fallen bat guy’s spear. I wielded the spear in my jaws and dashed behind my opponent. I flew up and stabbed him in the neck, black poured from the wound. It didn’t seem bothered, the monster grabbed my throat and prepared to burn me alive. While the mouth on it’s chest was open I tossed a tube of Zecora’s acid in; the effect was almost instantaneous. It stepped back as it’s insides were melted, black fluid spewing from it’s chest until it collapsed. “Nice, you killed something.” Teased Deadlock who was riding one of the spiders. He used his magic to slowly begin breaking it’s legs, until he was ready for his zombies to attack. Then I noticed something, these creatures seemed too stupid to really be doing all this damage. They must simply be basic troops or cannon fodder. Who was the real threat? I’m sure we would have to deal with that soon enough, at least we have Discord now; who appeared to be riding a skateboard with a pair of nun-chucks in a super-hero outfit. Not only that, but everyone he hit turned into a synchronized dancer. I noticed that the guards from the before woke up, and began trying to adjust to the chaos. They seemed to have gotten themselves together pretty quickly and joined the fight. Though there wasn’t much to do, Discord had the place pretty much cleared of baddies, at least of the ones that weren’t dancing to Beyond Her Garden. Unfortunately, we were so distracted by the fight that we didn’t notice that the mist was now completely overhead, looming over the entire garden. Without any time to react, six behemoths dropped from the sky and landed around us. Instantly one of the guards was taken out, the beast crushing him in it’s palm. The other guard shouted in agony as he watched his friend fall and foolishly attacked them head-on, suffering a similar fate. Discord took note to the change in scenery, and decided on something. “Well, I think you all have over-stayed your welcome. But before I show you what I can REALLY do, I need to excuse a few friends of mine.” Discord looked at Deadlock and I, “I’m going to let you all live, go try and make a difference if you can. We’ll run into each other again, but probably on different terms.” With that statement Discord casted some spell on us. The next thing I knew I was outside Celestia’s palace in Canterlot. I moaned and shook my head, Discord must’ve sent us here to protect us. I knew he wasn’t such a bad guy. Deadlock looked irritated, “Damn he only teleported us. I lost all of my zombies.” He sat down and sighed. We both realized at that moment that there were multiple ponies staring at us. Among them were Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, who both seemed generally surprised. “Umm, hey how’s it goin’? Are you flowin’?” I asked before getting surrounded by Royal Guards. Deadlock whispered in my ear, “Psst, I think we can take them.” Then we were trapped in magic and carried inside the palace. They threw us in front of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and covered our escape in spears. “Princess, these two teleported in from beyond the barrier. Only powerful magic can do that.” Stated one of the guards, seeming quite on edge. Princess Celestia walked towards us. “Wait, I know this one. Spectrum? What are you doing here? How did you get in? And who is this?” She asked. Deadlock grinned, “Well, and I thought you were unpopular. Even the Princess knows you.” I sighed, “It was by accident. Anyway, I’ll answer in that order, we don’t know why we’re here, Discord teleported us in, and this is Deadlock. He’s a zombie.” The Princess was processing this for a few seconds, she didn’t know how to respond. “You just said Discord got you in, how did that happen? You two were the ones in the garden? No wonder we couldn't get in, Discord set up a barrier. That black mist is stopped at least. But how did he escape again!? This is the last thing we need right now!” She was definitely pissed off, I tried to reason. “Look, Discord saved us, he fought alongside us! He’s going to help get these things out of here.” She wasn’t amused, “Yeah, sure he might, but when this is done what do you think he’ll do?!” Deadlock intervened. “Listen, we have bigger problems right now. We gotta live in the now when nightmarish beings from another realm invade us. Also, why didn’t you freak out when Spec said I was a zombie?” Deadlock looked at her for a bit, she replied, “Because you aren’t the first to use the reanimation spell. There was another pony who could do the same thing.” She looked at him than turned away from both of us, back to her throne. “Wait, theres somepony else like you?” I asked him, he nodded. “Yes, but, it’s a long story I’ll tell you about him later.” The Princess spoke to Luna quietly and she nodded confirming something. Luna approached us, “You two are to be questioned tomorrow, until then you are free to stay in the Palace.” She bid us farewell as the guards led us out of the room. We didn’t talk until we were alone, we found a guest room to stay in for the meantime. Deadlock broke the silence first, “So, Spectrum, I guess we get to live the high life for awhile. Heheh.” He smiled and tackled one of the super comfortable looking beds. The room was quite large with multiple dressers and two king-sized beds. A large window was over-looking the mountains. We took turns washing up than began to discuss our next plan of action. “Ok, while we’re here, we should stock up on supplies. Then we need to head on down to Ponyville, they could use our help.” I began, “Theres a train that goes there we can head out in two days.” “Good idea, finding a surviving member of the Mane Six is important, plus we need effective weapons. Well, you at least.” I looked at my last remaining test tube, the rest were used or lost in the last fight. “Let’s hope we can find them. Especially Twilight Sparkle, she would be of great help.” I added. We looked at the time, it was getting closer to the middle of the night and we figured it was time to rest. We had a long battle ahead of us.
