Author's Note

This will be a four part crossover with DJSKYWalker with his story Gravity of the Situation.

Chapter 4: Mistaken Raven

Chapter 4

Mistaken Raven

“Thanks for helping me drop that stuff off at Scoot’s place Spitfire.” Katie said as she, Scootaloo, and Spitfire landed near Sugarcube corner.

“It’s least I can do for saving my flank earlier.” Spitfire said as she open the door to the pastry store for them to enter. As Katie entered in, her eyes widen at the display the store was portrayed as.

“Wow, talk about living in a fairy tale.”

“This place may look like something you would make out of candy, but the food here is so good you would make this place the only place to by pastry goods.” She said as she walked to the counter where a pink colored earth pony wearing a chef’s hat and cooking apron was busy stocking inventory. “Hey Pinkie Pie.”

“Oh hey Spitfire!” Pinkie Pie said said as she turned around and gave the flaming maned pegasus a hug. “What brings you here?”

“Just here to buy these two a snack or two for saving my flank from a bunch of thugs.” Spitfire said pointing at the orange pegasus and the human with the cat like appearance. Before she could order something up for them, Pinkie Pie quickly shot past Spitfire and appeared in front of Katie.

“Oh! I’ve never seen you around here before.” Pinkie Pie said as she zoomed around the shifter. “Are you new in town? If so then we have to throw you a “Welcome to Canterlot” party if that’s the case. What’s your name?”

“Um, Katie Graviton. Could you back up a bit? You’re kinda invading my personal space.”

“Oh, sorry.” She said as she backed up a bit. “So you saved Spitfire from a bunch of meanies huh? Well it looks like I have to host a “Welcome to Canterlot and Thanks for saving Spitfire from a bunch of meanies” party.”

“R-Really, you don’t have to do that for me. I’m sure anyone else would’ve done the same if they were where I was when it happened.”

“Nonsense. Once you save a pony from danger, you get a party as a thank you gift.” Pinkie Pie said as she walked over behind that counter, and pulled out four slices of freshly baked apple pie. “Also as a reward, you get to have these free slice of pie.”

“Sweet!” Scootaloo said as she zoomed over and grabbed a slice. “Free food is the best kind of food.” She said as she took a bite out of the pie.

“Well if you’re offering it.” Katie said as she and Spitfire took their slices. “What about the fourth one?”

“Silly filly, that one is for our new guest coming here.” Pinkie Pie said as she pointed to her tail twitching. “Twitchy tail means somepony new is coming here.” She said as she walked into the kitchen.

“Twitchy tail?” Katie asked, turning her attention at Spitfire.

“It’s something called Pinkie senses that Pinkie Pie has. For example, whenever her tail is twitching, that means somepony new is about to appear.”

“Huh, that’s actually a neat trick when you think about. So who’s the new person coming here?”

“Beats me.” Spitfire shrugged as she took another bite from her piece of pie. “It could be anypony that hasn’t been in canterlot before. So what about you? What brings you here to Canterlot?”

“Well after what Scootaloo told about how things are around here, and saving Princess Luna and her soldiers from a pack of nevis. I decided to help out around here and see if I can figure out a way to help bring back the missing towns and cities of Equestria.”

“You saved Princess Luna from those weird looking things!?”

“Yeah, she even gave me a bag of bits as a way of thank me for saving her. Celestia on the other hand is….well….she doesn’t trust me….at all.”

“You can’t really blame her for acting like that. With four of the Elements of Harmony’s wielders missing, she’s kinda on edge with how things are now.”

“Which is I’m here to help solve the disappearance of them.”

“Wait, you found a way to bring them back?”

“Not yet, but I think I might have a few ideas as to where to start.”

“Hm….alright, then it’s settled. I’m gonna help you out, hero.”

“Wait what?”

“I said I’m going to help you out. If you an idea as to where to start looking for a way to bring back a lost section of Canterlot, and if they are area’s that won’t allow you access to. Then you’ll need my help to get into. With me vouching for you, then you’ll be okay.”

“....You still owe me don’t you?”

“That and we’re pretty much friends now seeing that you saved me.”

“Fair enough.” Katie said as she notice Pinkie Pie popping her head around the corner.

“Could I ask you two for assistance please?”

“Um, sure, what is it you need help with?” Katie asked as she and Spitfire followed the party pony into the kitchen.

“I need you help putting this white diamond on top of this cake I’m making for your party.” The mare said pointing to a giant black and gold color cake with cat ears and tail sticking out of it.

“Whoa, talk about going overboard.” Dusty said.

“No kidding. This is something that a kid would kill to have.” Katie thought as she picked up the white diamond. “Why do you need this on top? It would be a waste of something that you can get bits with.”

“It for the cake silly. Plus it would look good on it.”

“Eh, I guess.” Katie said as her body glowed red and flew up to the top of the cake. As she was about to place the diamond on the top, the diamond bounce off and fell a few inches next to that cake. “Woops, my bad.”

“Don’t worry, I got it.” Spitfire said as she reached for it. As she did, the diamond began to glow as a portal appeared in front of the refrigerator that it landed in front of. “Oh pony feathers! It’s a gravity storm!”

“Take cover!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she hid behind a table.

From the portal came not nevi monstrosities, but a human woman. She possessed long black hair that fell down to her back, with nearly half of it transitioning to a deep red color. Her clothes contrasted that, consisting of a white bomber jacket and simply grey jeans that fit tight enough to show her figure, but not too tight as to restrict her movements. Her gaze had a fire that seemed to have raged for eons, looking down upon Katie as such.

“Well now, this is a surprise,” the woman said cooly, displaying no real emotion as she began to look around. “Seems I’ve found myself in a bakery of all things. Can’t say that happens too often.”

“Holy crap, is that Paula?”

“She is not.” Dusty said as he hissed mentally at look alike of Paula. “This woman is dangerous, be careful when approaching her Katie.”

“You worry too much Dusty.” Katie said as she levitated in front of the woman. “For a second there I thought you were my friend Paula, but due to that fact that you don’t have a scar on your chest, left cheek, and blast mark on your left hand and possible near your stomach. I’m gonna guess you’re from someplace else correct?” Katie asked as her tail began to flicker back and forth. “Knock it off Dusty.”

The woman raised a brow at Katie, noting the levitation. “I am not this Paula person you speak of, nor do I possess those scars. I do have scars, but not those particular ones. Based on your appearance, though, I would have to say you are an imitation of Kat. Am I wrong?”

“Don’t know who this Kat girl is, but I’m no imitation of her. Plus I’m sure she doesn’t have a cosmic cat that lives inside her.” Katie said as she mentally ordered Dusty to pop his head from out of her chest. “See.”

“That’s… odd,” the woman commented. “And no, she doesn’t. Hers died many years ago.”

“Ouch, sorry to hear that.” She said as she notice Pinkie Pie and Spitfire looking at the women in suspicion. “Relax ladies. If she wanted to hurt us, she would’ve done so by now.”

“Okay…” Spitfire said as she moved from behind the counter, while Pinkie Pie darted in front of the woman with a smile on her face.

“So you’re the pony that my tail’s been twitching to.” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled out the piece of pie from before out of her mane. “Here’s your piece of pie mysterious lady.”

She looked down at the pie, taking it in one hand. “There better not be any hair on this,” she said before taking a bite. “Mm, not bad. What flavor is it?”

“Silly filly, hair can’t go into pie.” The mare said as she moved over to the cake she was working on. “Oh, the flavor is raspberry mix with apple-.”

“Not to sound rude or anything,” Spitfire said as she interrupted the pastry pony. “But care to explain who you are and why I shouldn’t consider you a threat or not?” She asked as had a hand placed on her handgun.

“One,” she started, finishing her bite of pie before taking another, “because az yo fwend said, Ah could ki’ you if Ah wanned too.” She swallowed the bite before continuing. “Two, I have no reason to kill you; I just got here. Three, I am Raven Masters, former general of the C.E.M.F..”

“....Okay.” Spitfire said as she removed her hand from her side. “Sorry about that. With the nevis invading Canterlot a lot during the past few years, we been on edge whenever something new pops up.”

“Nevis? I don’t think I’ve ever seen an enemy nevi. The only ones I’ve met are the ones I’ve had fight for me.”

“Believe me, they’ve been popping around here more than usual. Not to mention the gravity storms that keep sucking up stuff. Canterlot is the only City that’s still standing.”

“Wait, you have them fight for you?” Scootaloo said as she appeared next to Katie. “How is that even possible?”

Raven smirked, snapping her fingers as two minion nevis appeared from small portal next to her. “This, is what I mean.”

“Are you crazy or something!?” Spitfire said in a panic. “Put those away before you get yourself and Katie in trouble!”

With a roll of her eyes, Raven snapped her fingers again. In that instant, the two nevi self destructed, leaving no trace that they were ever there. “Don’t have a heart attack. They were fully under my control.”

“Look I’m sorry if I’m a bit on edge here, but if somepony other than me see this... I know you can hold your own ground, but Katie on the other hand can’t.” Spitfire said as she pointed the girl and Scootaloo helping Pinkie Pie with the cake. “I know she can handle herself with common thugs and all, but with Celestia and the Royal Guards. She wouldn’t last long.”

“And why would the great princess of the land be so willing to target ‘Katie’ for wrongdoings she has no part in?” Raven asked. “That sounds less like a ruler and more like a tyrant.”

“With half of the pony population disappearing or getting killed by the nevi? You would be a little bit cautious about things like this.”

“There’s a fine line between caution and totalitarianism. A very fine line.”

“Look, that’s how things are now. I mean it’s not like she kills them like she did after Princess Luna got involved. Look, I’m sorry if I’m acting this way, but after seeing a few of my friends going missing or dead, I prefer not to lose someone else.” She said looking over at the trio finishing the cake.

Raven looked over Spitfire for a moment before nodding. “I understand. I have lost many to an invading force. This sounds almost similar to what I experienced most of my life. As such, I offer my assistance to you,” she said with a small bow.

“Um….T-Thanks?” Spitfire said taken surprise at the situation.

“Okay,” Katie said as she appeared back in the kitchen. “While Pinkie Pie get stuff ready for tonight, we’re gonna have a look around town to figure out a way to bring some of the cites back.”

“I shall assist,” Raven said, stepping forward. “I refuse to see another world fall like mine did. I will help you to the best that I can offer.”

“Perfect!” Katie smiled. “This is going to make things much easier.”

“I’ll do my best, but don’t think of me as a crutch. I have been warned that interfering in other worlds too much can lead to horrible events.”

“I’m sure it can’t be that bad.” Just as she said that, a loud scream was heard from outside of Sugarcube Corner. “.....Never mind.”

“That’s not good,” Raven commented, rushing out the door in the next moment. “What’s going on out here?”

“Dusty?”

“You might want to get out there quickly. There’s someone causing chaos around Canterlot, and he’s summoning nevis like crazy.”

“Dusty said that there’s someone outside summoning nevis like a portable factory making candy.” Katie said as she rushed out the door.

“Like candy? Oh please don’t tell me it’s him of all people,” Raven practically cursed. “What’s the plan, Katie?”

“See if we can get whoever it is that’s causing trouble to stop. If we can’t do it without brute force, then we’ll have to use it to stop said pony.”

“Alright, your world, your lead,” she said, gently lifting into the air with a smirk. “Let’s see if you can match the true Shifter.”

“Hey wait up!” Katie said as followed after Raven. Only to stop once they reached the location of the chaos. Standing there on top of the clocktower was a man wearing some kind of helmet along with a striped business suit he was wearing.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the up and coming hero of Canterlot. I must say in less in a day you saved not only that orange pegasus from that nevi I let loose during the storm, but the captain of the wonderbolt.” The man said as he clapped his hands. “You simply are impressive.”

“Who’s this weirdo?” Raven asked. “I was expecting it to be Discord, not a Slender rip off.”

“Atlus is my name ladies.” He said bowing to the two shifters. “I’m just a man who love to see how this world’s hero does in situations like this.”

“Well aren’t you just a dick then,” the elder shifter commented. “I don’t think you’ll need me for this, Katie. Show him what the shifters can do.”

“Yeah this shouldn’t be a problem.” Katie said as she pulled out her metal pipe from off her back.

“Sorry my little kitten, but our time to fight is too soon.” Atlus said as a portal appeared behind himself. “But I’ll leave you with a special nevi that I’ve been tinkering with.” With a snap of his fingers, the businessman disappeared into the red colored void. Appearing out of the void was a bulky slim nevi, taking the shape of a adult male pony.

“Well that’s new. Never seen a nevi that looks like this before.”

“Maybe not, but it doesn’t look happy to see you.”

“Yeah, I have the habit of pissing people off from time to-.”

“MOVE!” In a split second without thinking, Katie moved to her left to avoid whatever it is that was about to hit. Unfortunately for the young shifter, the nevi damaged her left side, causing a mild amount of damage to her internal organs.

“The hell!?” Katie said as she saw the nevi appear where she was, only to turn it’s attention to Katie as it follow her as she was free falling. “Dammit not good, Dusty I could use some help here!”

“Working on it, but your body is in shock from that punch from that nevi. Brace yourself, it’s coming this way.”

“Oh this is going to hurt.” Katie said as she prepared herself for the next attack from the nevi. But it never came; the sound of a powerful strike, however, did. “Whoa, didn’t see that coming.” She said as she felt Spitfire stopping her fall. “What just happen? Everything just went so face for me to process everything at the moment.”

“Take a look,” Spitfire said, nodding down, prompting Katie to see.

Raven was where Katie had been standing, the nevi stopped by her hand alone. “I don’t think you wanna do this, bub,” she said cooly.

“..........”

“You okay Katie?” The mare asked, only for the shifter jolt out of her grip and charges at the nevi with gravity charged kick. In a split second, the nevi that took her by surprise was now being sent flying into an abandoned building.

“Take that you bastard!” Katie yelled as she staggered a bit while holding her side. “Sucker punch me like that, thinking that would kill me. Ha!.....god this hurts.”

Raven floated down to where Katie and Spitfire were, looking her fellow shifter over. “Are you alright?”

“I feel like I go hit by a potato gun at close range. Give me a second to catch my breath and I’ll be ready to fight.” Katie said as she coughed a bit.

“Are you going to be okay?” Scootaloo asked as the young shifter patted her head.

“Hey, I’ll be fine. It’ll take more than just that to keep me down.”

“Good,” Raven noted, watching the abandoned building. “Because we’re not done quite yet.” She said as she saw the nevi float out of the building and looked down at where they were standing.

“I think he sees us.” Scootaloo said as she moved in front of Katie. “You’ll have to get past me if want my sis creep!”

“Dusty I could really use something to change the tides of things.”

“I can’t do much due to healing your internal organs. The best I can do is fuel your weapon with gravity.”

“Good enough, do it.” Katie said as she felt a surge of gravitational energy flow into the metal pipe she had in her hand. “Got an idea on how to deal with it Raven?”

“We find the eye, or eyes, and we smash them. That’s the only known way of destroying nevis outside of total obliteration.”

“Might be hard seeing how I can’t see one on him at the moment.” Katie said as she pulled herself up from the ground. “I’ll distract it. While I’m flying around it, if you see it’s eye or eyes then hit them.” She said as she jolted up towards the nevi and hit it upside its head. “Over here ugly!” She yelled as the darted around it like a fly.

As Katie weaved and bobbed through the air, Raven kept her eyes diligent, looking for that elusive weak point.

“See anything yet?” Spitfire asked, watching as well to see the eyes of the nevi.

Raven was about to say something, until she spotted the glowing red orb on his hand. She was about to head for it, but something caught her eye. A red glow reflected off one foot of the creature, being hidden by its stature. “Clever boy,” Raven whispered with a grin. “Time to show them why I’m the master!” She reached at her side, a portal summoning a broad sword to her grasp, unsheathing the mighty blade as it radiated a light, pale blue aura. “Spitfire, with me! We’re taking this thing down!”

“Yes ma’am!” Spitfire said as pulled out her handgun. Scootaloo in turn hopped on the pegasus’s back as she pulled out a slingshot and a hand full of sharp pointy rocks.

“Where do we need to hit?” Scootaloo asked, only for Spitfire to pull her off her back. “Hey!?”

“Sorry kid, but this is a bit dangerous for some like you to help out at the moment.”

“But I can help too.”

“We don’t have time to bicker, soldier!” Raven called out. “We gotta hit the two eyes! Targets’ on the left hand and right foot! Mark ‘em and take ‘em out as fast as you can!”

“Ma’am, Yes Ma’am!” Spitfire said as she took aim at the assigned targets carefully without aiming at Katie.

Katie continued performing a hit and run tactic around that nevi, that is until the navi finally got a hold of Katie’s throat. “C-Crap.” She said as she stared at the nevi. “N-Now I know you might pissed off at the fact that kept hitting while dodging you. But if you look inside deep down inside...whatever it is that nevi have as a heart, you can simply forgive-” Katie was cut short as the nevi began to choke the shifter. “Regret....regret.” was all she could manage to say as she notice the nevi raise a fist, and was about to punch her in the face. That is until he felt a sharp pain surging through his leg as he let the young shifter go.

“Eye on foot is taken out. The other eye is hard to hit due to it being covered by Katie’s throat.” Spitfire said still amining at the nevi.

“Leave that one to me!” Raven called, rocketing into the nevi’s chest. The nevi yelled in discomfort as it tried to pull away from Raven by punching her repeatedly in the face. “You think that can do anything to a professional?!” she called out at the monster, grabbing its chest hard and lifting it up like it was nothing more than a dumbbell. She twisted her wrist to the side, angling the monster’s left arm near her. “Now get out!” Raven shouted, shoving her sword right into the eye. With a loud glass shattering scream, the nevi burst into pieces as it’s limbs began to dis appeared into nothingness. As the nevi vanished two orb appeared in it’s place. The pink orb appeared on top of Raven’s head, while the blue shot towards Katie as it entered into her body.

“Is it over?” Katie asked as she floated next to Raven while rubbing her throat.

Raven looked no worse for wear, sheathing her sword away in another dimension. “Yeah, it’s over. For now, anyway.” She looked up, noting the odd orb. “What is that?”

“Dusty said place your hand on it and you will receive a reward for defeating the nevi.”

“A reward?” Raven glanced at the strange thing again before shrugging and tapping the strange item. “This better be good.” As she touched the orb, the surrounding area was engulfed in a warm soothing light before disappearing. When the light faded the orb that she was hold vanish as she was now hold a cosmic looking bunny, similar to that of Dusty.

“Dusty said that her name is Cottonball, and she’s all yours.”

Raven blinked a few times, looking at the new creature. “I… I… wh-what?! B-but how?! This doesn’t make any sense at all!”

“It’s best not to make sense of things.” Dusty said as he took control of Katie’s body. “Certain nevis have certain gift to whoever defeat them. Seeing how you defeated it, it gave you something that you lost a long time ago.”

“Greetings, I am Cottonball. It’s nice to meet the one that saved me from that small cramped place inside that nevi.” Cottonball said as hopped onto Raven’s head.

“H-hey! I didn’t say you could be up there!” Raven said, resorting to a sterner voice.

“Well it’s the least you could offer seeing how you almost ran your sword into me. Not that it would do anything, but whatever.” The bunny said as she got comfortable on the older shifter’s head. In a mere second, the cosmic bunny ended up phasing through her head and into her body. “Oh this place is much better than inside that nevi I was forced into. It’s so roomy and more open.”

Raven found a small vein pulsing just above her brow, getting slightly frustrated with her new… addition. “Cotton, must you really sleep there? It’s most disconcerting and I would rather us not start off with hostilities if I’m stuck with you.”

“Lady, I’ll be asleep for the next couple of hours trying to getting some decent sleep without the constant screaming of hearing ponies dying in the void. This is the only place that found that can help me forget my time there.”

“Wait, what void?” Katie asked, getting full control of her body.

“The place where all those ponies that get sucked into the gravity storm get sent too.”

“Do you know how to get there?” Katie said as she appeared in front of Raven.

“Give me twenty-four hours of sleep and I’ll tell you how to get there. Now if you don’t mind, I’ll be sleeping until tomorrow.” Cottenball said as she went silent.

“Looks like we have our first lead into figuring out where to find the missing cities of Equestria.”

“Oh boy,” Raven sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “This one is going to be trouble… I just know it.”

“I’m sure she can’t be that bad. I mean at least you get a little buddy now.” Katie said as she notice a pair of cosmic bunny ears and tail appearing on Raven’s body. “Um…..”

Raven’s eye gained a new twitch, already feeling the new additions. “Say one word, utter a single sound, and I will show you a whooole new world of pain.”

“L-Let’s head back to Spitfire and Scootaloo. Don’t want them to make them worry about us.” Katie said as she tried to fly down to where the pegasi were, only to wince in pain from the injury she received moments ago.

“Just hurry it up. I’m gonna so need a drink after all this.” Raven took the lead, taking the two shifters back to the ponies.

(A few hours later)
[Sugarcube Corner]

“So you’re telling me that this cosmic bunny thing know where the missing ponies are?” Spitfire asked as she took a seat next to Raven.

“From the sound of it, it seems to be there. But it passed out after climbing on my head. Don’t even know if it’s a guy or a girl, it’s so restrictive with information.”

“Dusty said that Cottenball is a girl, so I wouldn’t worry about her.” Katie said as she felt Pinkie Pie finishing patching her injuries.

“You’re lucky you moved out of the way in time. If you haven’t, then you would’ve been in a worse condition than how you are now.”

“Hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?”

“Just next time be more careful, silly. I prefer not to host a ‘Get better soon’ party unless it was needed.” The party pony said as he put away the first aid kit. “Sorry I could throw you that party I mention. Maybe next time when things have quite down I can throw it.”

“I would love that, thanks.” Katie said as Pinkie Pie started to head upstairs.

“Closing shop once you girls leave. Feel free to have whatever you like in the fridge before you leave.”

“Thank you, Pinkie,” Raven sighed.

“Injured in less than twenty-four hours. Man, Paula’s gonna chew my head off is she knew what happen to me.” Katie chuckled as she leaned back on her seat.

“You’re with me, kid. Fugget about it,” Raven waved off. “There was no chance of you getting killed today. Besides, scars build character. Make ya tough.”

“Welp I better head off to Canterlot and report about that happen. I’ll be sure to leave out a few details and have you take the credit of killing that nevi thing Katie:” Spitfire said as she gave off a salute to her and Raven. “It was an honor and pleasure fighting alongside a veteran like yourself for a brief moment Ms. Masters.” She said as she flew off towards Canterlot.

“By the way, I never got the chance to ask you this. But how did you appear from out of that white diamond that Pinkie Pie mistaken as something for the cake she made for me?”

“You summoned me,” Raven answered simply, watching Spitfire speed off.

“That not being specific. I mean how did you even appear like that? Can anyone do that?”

“If you know what you’re doing,” she said with a smile, now being purposefully cryptic.

“You gonna be cryptic with me for a while huh?”

“Of course. I have to get my kicks somehow.”

“.....I actually know how that feels sometimes.” Katie said as she levitated Scootaloo onto her back. “Anyway, let’s head back to Scootaloo’s place. It’s getting late, and I prefer not to get in trouble with the night watch that Scootaloo mentioned to me yesterday.”

“Probably for the best, we have a lot of planning to do once this fuzz ball wakes up,” she agreed, referring to the rabbit on her head. Together, the two made their way up, up and away for Scootaloo’s home… making sure to grab a couple pies for the road.