“Pinkie, you have to stop with the wild accusations if you’re going to get to the truth. Everyone go back to your cars while we do a little investigating.”

The various bakers and friends muttered and grumbled as they left the car which housed the decimated desserts. Angel held in her giggles, knowing how all of this would end. Of course, there was one pony on the train who was very good at sussing out secrets. And that pony just happened to be her bunkmate for this trip.

“You know exactly what’s goin’ on, don’t you?” Applejack asked Angel quietly while the others settled in to wait for Twilight’s verdict.

Angel shot her a wink. “Yeah, I do. And don’t worry, it’ll all work out fine without us having to do anything. Twilight and Pinkie have got this.”

“If’n you say so.” She eyed her friends for a moment before rolling her eyes. “They just couldn’t help themselves, could they?”

Angel snorted. “Nothing gets past you, AJ. Now if you’ll excuse me, I actually wanted to talk with the other contestants myself.”

This was the real reason Angel had come along on this trip. Oh, sure, satisfying her sweet tooth at the competition would be a nice bonus, but there was someone she wanted to talk to. She knocked on the door of one of the private rooms and waited.

Gustave le Grand opened his door and eyed Angel suspiciously. “Mizz Angel, vans’t it? Vat do you vant? Iz ze unicorn finished viz her investigation? ‘Az she decided to accuse moi too?”

Angel rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sorry about that. Pinkie is… Pinkie. It’ll all be sorted out soon. I wanted to talk about something else.”

“I zee. Vell, I am afraid zat I have little interest in vatever you have to say. So if you will excuse me-”

“I wanted to talk about the Empire.”

“...get inzide. QUickly.”

Angel entered the room, closing the door behind her. “Straight to the point. I’ve heard a few things from a changeling friend of mine, but I want to know more. In detail.”

Gustave eyed Angel suspiciously. “Zere is little good to zay, Mizz Angel. You would be best zerved forgetting everyzing you ‘ave heard and living your perfect little life in Equestria.”

“I am immortal, Monsieur le Grand.” The gryphon’s eyes went wide as Angel continued. “My ‘perfect little life’ will not remain so as the centuries and millennia pass. I don’t have the option of burying my head in the sand and praying that all conflicts wait until I am dead and buried to occur. I need to know what I’m dealing with.”

Gustave hesitated for a long moment before sighing. He sat on his bed, gesturing for Angel to take a seat on the floor. She did so as he gathered his thoughts. “Ze Empire iz… Zere iz no good way to zay it. It iz a trash pit. Where once we gryphons vere a proud and noble race, ve ‘ave fallen into idolness and greed. Ze ponies of zis country value generosity, no? It iz a foreign concept to our kind. I vas raised ‘ere in Equestria by parents who strove to break away from ze ways of our people, and I still ‘ave a hard time not pinching my bits.”

“But you were noble once,” Angel said. “What happened?”

Gustave scoffed. “Ze legends say zat ve lost ze Idol of Boreus. Our greatest treasure. Zat our pride and honor fell with its disappearance into the canyon.” He waved a talon dismissively. “Zis is hogwash, of course. Ve ‘ave been in decline for zenturies. Ze nobility at ze top of ze Empire are all corrupt, glutting zemselves on ze labor of ze masses. And ze masses are constantly at each ozer’s throats fighting over ze scraps. Zere iz no honor in ze Empire. No nobility. No pride. And no hope.” He sighed. “Zis is why my parents fled when zey ‘ad ze chance.”

Angel winced. “So I guess helping the Empire restore itself won’t be as simple as finding the lost idol, huh? Are things really that bad?”

“Worse. Ze average gryphon struggles zimply to feed himself and his family.” He looked around again before lowering his voice. “And zere are rumors of worse. Most gryphons subsist mostly on a diet of fish, but zere vas once a time when we ate meat of a wider variety. Zere are rumors zat ze nobility still ‘ave access to such delicacies. Zough nobody knows where zey source it from.”

Angel’s eyes widened, her face going pale. “Wider variety? You don’t mean…”

Gustave shook his head. “I cannot zay for sure. Zey may be only rumors. But be on your guard, Mizz Angel. Ze Empire is a dangerous place even for Gryphons; far moreso for anyone else.”

“But if it’s so dangerous,” Angel said, “then why aren’t there more refugees like your parents? Why don’t more gryphons leave?”

Gustave chuckled and shook his head. “Were zat it were zat easy. No, Mizz Angel. I am afraid zat it is quite impossible for too many gryphons to cross ze border into Equestria.”

“Why? What’s stopping them?”

Gustave eyed Angel cautiously. “...No-one, Mizz Angel. No-one stops zem.” He waved her off. “If you vill excuse me, I am tired. I need to rest before zat pink menace accosts me again.”

Angel frowned at the abrupt dismissal, but nodded. The gryphon had given her a lot to think about.

*****

“I am hardly constrained in my speech, but I doubt that I have much to teach. Though I understand your immortal station, I do not possess much information.”

“Anything you can think of would be fine, Zecora.” It was a few days after the MMMM incident. Having gotten information about Minos and the Empire, Angel had decided to ask Zecora about Zebrica. She counted it as a good sign that she’d only been killed twice on her way: once by a pack of timberwolves and once by a cragodile. “I just want some idea of what I’m getting into if I ever have to deal with Zebrica.”

Zecora nodded, taking a sip of her tea. “Zebrica’s lands are split apart, each tribe with customs, laws, and heart. In culture and faith, they stand alone, no single people, no shared throne. They’ll war as often as they trade, and fleeting pacts are only made when foes unite them for a fight, but crumble once that foe takes flight.”

Angel nodded. “And it’s always been like this?”

Zecora shook her head. “Things were not always as they are today; our tribes were united in one shared way. We worshipped one god, with a land of peace. Our harmony flourished, our bounty increased.” Her eyes grew distant, nostalgic. “Though nomads we were, with routes of our own, we were as kin and shared our home. For thousands of years, we lived side by side, with neighbors in friendship, no wars to divide.”

“What happened?” Angel asked, and Zecora’s expression turned dark.

“Calamity struck with the mines of gems, discovered by chance in hidden stems. Emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds were found, and one family mined from the fertile ground. Their wealth grew vast; they sought to control, forcing others to labor and pay the toll. Thus, slavery started in Zebrica’s land, born from the greed of a single band. The wealth they hoarded stirred envy’s fire, and families fought for the gems they’d desire. New mines appeared with treasures untold, brimming with silver and rivers of gold.”

Angel winced. Her own history was replete with examples of what happened when natural resources were suddenly discovered. “And so the peace was shattered?”

Zecora nodded. “Battles grew fierce, tribes gathered to war, each seeking the riches that lay in the core.” Her eyes darkened. “But greed’s allure drew dragons’ gaze, who came to destroy and set lands ablaze.”

Angel paled. “Dragons?”

Zecora nodded. “The mines they claimed, and the families fell; leaving only the saddest of tales to tell. Yet deeper scars from hatred grew, the bonds of our people forever askew. The God of Zebras was shattered apart, into gods and goddesses, fractured at heart.” She looked off into the distance, her eyes filled with an inherited sorrow. “And now my people, through endless strife, have warred and battled for all of my life.”

“But why?” Angel asked. “Why would they keep fighting? If they can’t get the mines anyway, why bother with more bloodshed?”

Zecora turned back to Angel and raised an eyebrow. “Come now, child; you are not naive. Surely their reasons you can conceive. Though wealth and riches are no longer aims, in the hearts of each tribe…”

“...pride remains.” Angel scowled. “Pride. Damned pride. So they keep fighting each other just for that? That’s-” Angel cut herself off as various conflicts from her own world - many of them still raging or simmering even when she’d left - surfaced in her memory. “...no, that’s enough, it’s it? Pride is always enough for people to go to war. Generational pride, especially.” She eyed Zecora curiously. “I don’t suppose any of them ever think to simply leave the conflicts behind and start over in Equestria?”

Zecora gave her a long, studying look before shaking her head. “Yes, many would flee the warring bands. No-one keeps us from pony lands.”

Angel’s eyes narrowed. “Right.” She stood with a sigh. “Thank you, Zecora. You’ve been very helpful.”

“A warning, child, before you depart!” Angel looked back to see Zecora’s gaze filled with concern. “I see a great emptiness within your heart. Whatever quest you determine to take, I fear that your soul thirst it will not slake.”

Angel smiled sadly at Zecora, a hollowness behind her eyes. “No, no I doubt it will. But this isn’t about filling my soul. My soul is of no consequence. Not anymore.”

*****

tac tac tac tac tac

“...Angel.”

“One minute.”

tac tac tac tac tac

“...Angel.”

“One minute!”

tac tac tac tac tac

“...Angel.”

“WHAT?!” Angel rounded in her chair, glaring over her shoulder at Spot. The changeling, unimpressed by her glare, pointed to her laptop. “It’s noon. Time for a break.”

Angel blinked. “What? No it isn’t. I’ve only been coding for…” She turned back to look at the time display in the corner of the laptop. “...four hours. Huh.”

“What are you even working on?” Spot hopped into the air and buzzed over to look over her shoulder. It was the day after Angel’s meeting with Zecora, and she’d been carrying with her a strange determination ever since. “Mindlink?”

Angel nodded. “I figure this will come in handy if you need to talk to me while we’re out and about or if we ever get separated. You know, telepathy.”

Spot looked from Angel to the laptop and back again. “Angel, I’m a changeling.”

Angel blinked in response. “Yeah?”

“...changelings use hive minds in this Equus.”

“...okay?”

“We’re psionic.”

“Where are you going with-”

“I don’t need a link from your end to speak directly into your head.”

Angel yelped and jumped in her chair, flailing a bit as it toppled backwards and sent her crashing to the floor. She glared up at Spot from her new position on her back. “And you haven’t bothered to use this when we’ve been out in public because…”

Spot smirked. “I was waiting for the moment when your reaction would be funniest.”

“Bite me.”

“Kinky.”

Angel sighed and rolled to her feet, righting her chair and glaring at her laptop. “Well, that’s a morning wasted, then.” She deleted the half-finished program before closing the laptop with a sigh. “So? Eating out, or cooking?”

“Definitely cooking,” Spot answered. “We don’t want to be gone when our guest arrives.”

“Our guest?”

Any further questions were cut off by a knock on the door. Spot trotted over and - much to Angel’s shock - opened the door. “Princess,” he greeted. Angel’s jaw dropped when Luna walked into the room.

“Hello, Spot. Angel. It was good of you to invite me to your…” Luna blinked at Angel’s gobsmacked expression before turning to Spot, raising an amused eyebrow. “You didn’t tell her?”

“I thought I would leave it as a surprise.” Spot trotted up to Luna’s side, eyeing Angel with a serious expression. “Angel? Luna and I are engaged to be married.”

Angel’s brain short-circuited. “...wat.”

Luna’s eyes darted briefly to Spot before she nodded. “It’s true. We met at the Gala and have been meeting clandestinely by night ever since. Your friend is quite the romantic, Angel. And amazing in the sac, too.”

“...wat.”

“Yeah, changelings are talented like that,” Spot bragged. “Good at impregnating, too.” He looked up at Luna. “By the way, we should have the wedding within the month if we want to have it done before you lay the clutch.”

“FUCKING WAT!!!”

Spot and Luna held their serious expressions for another second before giving Angel identical smirks. “Gotch-”

“I’LL SHOW YOU GATCHA!!! HAND SONIC!!!”

Luna laughed merrily as Angel began to chase Spot around the small room. “Forgive us, Angel. Believe me, that was entirely Spot’s design. I merely played along.”

“I KNOW IT WAS SPOT’S IDEA! THAT’S WHY I’M TRYING TO CHOP HIM IN HALF!”

Spot snickered as he effortlessly dodged Angel’s blows. “If this is your best effort at slaying me, then I think we need to step up your training a degree or three.”

“AGH! YOU’RE THE WORST!” Angel finally gave up on catching Spot, dismissing her blade with a grumble as she turned back to Luna. “Seriously though, why are you here? And since when do you and Spot know each other?”

Luna chuckled. “I was not joking about our meeting at the Grand Galloping Gala, nor about our remaining in touch ever since. I have been in his dreams from time to time since then.”

“More often than just from time to time,” Spot said with a wink. Angel rolled her eyes while Luna chuckled.

“Flatterer. In any case, he invited me here today so that we could speak regarding your long-term plans here in Equestria.” She gestured around the small apartment room. “This is hardly an appropriate permanent living environment.”

Angel had to admit that Luna had a point. She sighed before turning towards the kitchenette. “Fine, fine. So what’s the plan, Spot?”

Bvoom!

A blue circular portal swirled into existence right across from where Angel was standing. It glowed bright and hummed with power. The portal almost looked like it was pulsating while it hummed.

Immediately, Angel’s Hand Sonic was back, the blade pointed at the portal. Her horn and wings grew a mere half-second later. Luna too had her horn pointed at the portal, and Spot suddenly held a spear of black chitin in his hoof.

The portal swirled a little bit, but then it paused and swirled the other way. It performed this action twice before it stopped. The portal became smooth, like a calm lake. But just like all water, it rippled and with a ‘hup’, a figure jumped out of the portal. What stood at five-foot-seven-and-a-quarter was what appeared to be a human boy, having pinkish-white skin and black hair. They had a patchy cyan potato sack for a hat, a zipped up cyan vest, baggy shorts, and orange sneakers as well as an orange backpack. On their face were circular orange glasses with cyan tinted rims.

“Hel–” Before the person could finish, they took two steps and fell flat on their face, hitting the ground with an audible thud. “Ow!”

Spot was on them in an instant, the tip of his spear pressed against the person’s neck. “Don’t move,” he buzzed threateningly.

Angel blinked. “Um, Spot? Maybe you shouldn’t point your spear at the new displaced?”

“Displaced are summoned,” Spot hissed. “Sora said that they don’t just appear without being called.”

“Even so,” Luna said, lifting her horn somewhat, “let us hear them out before things escalate any further.”

“Yeah, what the sigma?” The person with the glasses said, his voice nasally, “And you’re darn right, I am not a beta Displaced, I am an alpha gamer male!” The person stood up to his feet, ignoring the spear at his neck. He dusted himself off and raised a hand to touch his nose, which was red from the fall. “Ugh, yeah, what’s up, gamers? I’m William, an Eliatrope Representative of the United Equestrian-Eliatropian Kingdom.”

Spot continued to glare at William for a moment but reluctantly lowered his spear.

“Um, well, welcome, I guess,” Angel muttered awkwardly, lowering her blade. “I’m Angel. These are Spot and Princess Luna.”

Luna stepped forward, offering her hoof to shake. “A pleasure to meet another being from beyond our world, Sir William. As one of the reigning princesses of Equestria and as a goddess of Equus, I welcome you to our fair nation and our beautiful world.”

William took her hoof and shook it, “Always great to meet a fellow sigma.” He let go and turned around, “And did I hear ‘Sora’? ‘Cause,” he pushed up his glasses and snorted, “I know him. He and I go way back. I actually got him to the event. Me, the skibidi Ohio rizzler.” He put a hand over his chest.

Angel blinked again, relaxing entirely. “Oh! Well, any friend of Sora’s is a friend of-”

Spot’s spear impaled Angel through the eye, skewering her brain and emerging out the back of her head. She was dead before she hit the floor. Spot sighed and shook his head. “Letting her guard down that easily. I swear, the girl has no sense of guile.” He looked up at William. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine soon enough.”

“OH MY GYATT!” Spot’s words did nothing to calm William. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! You are so not skibidi!” He pointed a finger at the Changeling. “You need to be Fanum Taxed!”

Spot filed the slang away for future research and waved him off. “Calm down. I just killed her. Not like I did anything serious.”

“Oh, my god, my King is gonna My on my Little til’ I Pony because of this!” William clutched his head. “And I didn’t even get to the invitation!”

“I can accept or decline any invitations on her behalf,” Spot offered as Luna walked over to Angel and began examining her curiously. She ripped the spear out of her face and started wiping it clean with her magic. “I’ll let her know the details once she’s back up.”

William ran his hand through his hair… or tried to; his hat got in his way. “Well, she’s being invited to the ultra sigma Displaced Tournament. Where eight sigmas fight to become Baby Gronk. Whoever reigns supreme becomes the Goon Lord and gets to rizz Livy Dunne and get any wish they want. Also, they get a lot of v-bucks… And every hour in Kai Cenat Land is one minute here. So, you’ll prolly be here for ten flicker gooning sessions.”

Spot tilted his head to the side before buzzing over to Angel’s desk and opening her laptop. A few quick searches later, he nodded. “Sounds interesting.” He turned back to William with a smirk. “She’s in.”

“I’m in what now?” Angel asked as she sat up, her face pristine and unmarred by violence.

William’s eyes widened. “GYAAAAAAAAAAAAATT!” His eyes nearly bugged out of his skull and he put his hands on his head. “IShowSpeed is a generational athlete! How are you ressed? Did someone get the reboot card?!”

“Something like that.” Angel joined Luna in looking over Spot’s spear. “I don’t die for long. So what did Spot volunteer me for?”

“How in Equestria did you get your hooves on the Asheic Spear?” Luna muttered distractedly.

William cleared his throat. “The ultra sigma Displaced Tournament! Trust me, there will be no party like a Diddy party there. We’ll have everything you want, from v-bucks, to oiled up naked twerk offs, we even have an all you can goon buffet!”

Spot’s eyes lit up at “oiled up naked twerk offs.” “Oh, please tell me that she’s allowed to bring someone along to watch.”

“Sigmas of a feather goon together!” William confirmed, giving a thumbs up.

“I would not mind accompanying her as well,” Luna said, passing the spear over to Spot with a promise that they would talk later. “It would be fascinating to see other beings from beyond our own world.”

Angel let out a weary sigh. “I guess I’m doing this, then.”

“Oh my gy–” A portal opened up next to him and a hand went out to snatch his glasses off his face. “Erm, what the sigm–” The glasses were promptly thrown back and hit him in the eye. “YEEEOOOOWWCHHH! My eye! I need that to lightskin stare!” He held his eye for a while and groaned. “Ugh… F–Fine, just… Come inside before Big Dick Randy comes and takes your booty.” He closed the portal behind him and opened another portal, his palms glowing blue.

Angel sighed, looking down at Spot. “Last chance. Are we really doing this?”

Spot smirked up at her. “One hundred percent we’re gooning. Now get your gyatt into the battle bus before I blast you with my skibidi beam. Princess Ice Spice and this sigma-Ohio-rizzler-Baby-Gronk enthusiast,” he pointed to himself, “will be covering your gyatt.”

Angel glared at William. “I hope you realize what you’ve just inflicted upon this world.” With that, she stepped into the portal, Spot and a giggling Luna following after.

William looked at the portal and started to hit the griddy. “I’m in the Thick Of It–” he sang before he fell into the portal.

Author's Note

That's right! It's time for another crossover! Angel's headed for a massive tournament that I will NOT be including in this story. (At the time this chapter goes out, the tourney won't even be fully written. It'll be getting close, though.) The next chapter will be a summary of the tournament, as well as a link to a blogpost with a list of Important Chapters and All Angel Chapters for those interested. Like. Fave. Comment. Follow. And all that jazz.

https://www.fimfiction.net/story/568213/the-displaced-tournament-futures-darkness