Chapters Chapter 1: The Rainbow Stone
Many worlds exist in our universe, some are big and some are small, some are wet and some are dry. But even the most unlikely have perhaps the biggest tales to tell.
In one of these worlds, you would find everything to appear as if it was made of pixels and polygons, full of life with bits around every corner you look including cities and fields. A peaceful meadow remained silent as a yellow polygonal flower bloomed to life and gave the area a more charming and untouched atmosphere.
Suddenly, the atmosphere was disturbed just as a blur of what seemed to be jet black with a multicolour tail rocketed over the grass in a mere split second. The blur was raging across the land of pixels faster than any other being in the world, kicking through and leaping over anything that obstructed it's path almost as if it's life depended on it.
The blur was none other than a rectangular person with thin stick like arms and legs and one single white rectangle as a sort of eye simply known as Commander Video who was still surpassing natural landscapes in seconds, a fading trail of yellow, orange, green, pink and purple emitting from his very back. Commander felt the adrenaline pumping through his entire body with every rapid motion his legs made, by now he had just scaled a polygonal mountain and was approaching a forest at immense speed when all of a sudden...
*Oomf!*
Commander Video blinked to see nothing but black as if he had just ran into complete darkness and felt around him to find rock and soil before lifting his head up to see that he had somehow fallen flat on his face like if he had just tripped on something. After recollecting himself, Video checked his surroundings in order to find whatever it was that had interrupted his running spree but only found nothing out of the ordinary until his eye was locked onto a mound in the dirt, he could've sworn he had just seen something glimmer from it. The adrenaline-induced biped clambered onto his feet and advance towards the ominous object before crouching for better examination, this time he had definitely seen a sparkle from the sunlight.
The pixel sprinter brushed away the dirt to see an odd looking stone wedged into the soil, it was very unique to most stones for it had streaks of rainbow along the surface and was shaped more like a ball. The object was rather heavy as Video managed to extract it from the earth and felt what seemed like glass. He rolled the Technicolor sphere in his hands with the sunlight reflecting from the surface.
Commander continuously scanned the orb for any nooks and crannys until he took a light grip and felt one half of the object twist slightly. He couldn't help but hesitate to rotate the axis any further to unlock whatever mysteries this stone had in store for him. Very slowly, he rotated the hand that was gripped on the loose half as it twisted further and further until it stopped moving altogether with a *click*. Just then, the ball started to glow intensely causing a bright aura to coat around it. Commander Video gazed at the brightening orb in his grasp but was not quick enough to react once he had realised the light was starting to engulf him. And before he could even turn to run...
The very space that Commander Video had just remained idle on was now empty with no evidence of his sudden disappearance, the object he had found was no where in sight either, almost as if nothing happened that day.
The polygonal biped was sent tumbling through a vortex of bright swirling colours and beams, helplessly being dragged into what ever crazy land it was going to take him as a bright light inched closer and closer to him until he saw nothing but white. Video blinked and regained his vision to see blue along with white blurs shooting upwards so he looked down to immediately realise... he was falling right out of the sky!
Commander rolled around helplessly, plummeting faster and faster to the ground. He could see a patch of green surrounded by darker green as he advanced down to the surface at high velocity. Preparing for the worst, he clenched his visor eye shut and awaited his oncoming fate until...
He finally hit the ground, causing small tremors into the earth, the rest of the area being undisturbed as an unconscious jet black body remained motionless on the fresh grass.
Commander Video felt a stinging pain in his head along with several aches around his body as he attempted to lift himself from the ground, he rubbed his eye in order to readjust his vision so he could figure out where had ended up. He averted his gaze to the sky to see it had the same tint of blue he had seen earlier. How long was he even unconscious for?
Commander scratched his head and checked his surroundings, the dark green he had seen back up in the sky revealed to be rows and rows of trees lined around his landing spot. He had ended up in some kind of forest from the looks of it, that was when something sprang into his mind as he dug into his pocket to find the multi-colour orb completely unfazed from the impact, however it seemed to have darkened in colour and was no longer glowing. The runner fruitlessly twisted the ball again and again, trying to get it to work again and hopefully send him back home but it wouldn't take effect. Video's desperate repeats of gyrating the stone back and forth were soon interrupted by a small crack far behind him like someone had just stepped on a twig. His gaze immediately averted behind him but only saw greenery and dark looming shadows of the trunks when something just came into view.
A pair of large eyes were focused on the still pixel biped who felt immobile from intimidation, Commander mustered up the courage to move slightly to his left as the on staring eyes followed his direction. A shadow that was perhaps the source of the eyes could not be recognised from the distance that the runner was on. Sweat beading down his forehead, Commander Video slowly backed away from the on looking entity before turning around and speeding off into the forest in a frenzy of fear.
Chapter 2: A Pie from Pink
Running, that was all he could do was run, every cell and nerve in his pixel body screaming at him to keep running and not to look back. Commander Video's speed intensified as the many lines of trees whizzed past him in blurs, the Technicolor streaks trailing from him in response to the high speed trek. After several seconds of what would seem like only the same endless line of trees, Commander could glimpse a faint light at the end of the path which could only mean one thing. Commander Video rocketed towards the large opening until a bright light engulfed his vision.
Commander Video shielded his eye from the bright light until it soon adjusted after escaping the forest. He blinked to see a bright and large untouched field with fresh air and grass accompanied by beautiful flowers swaying softly from a soft wind, the pixel biped was left in an amazed trance and acknowledged only one difference of the field being smooth and curved instead of blocky and pixelated like his home world. A cool breeze brushed against his skin which snapped him back to reality. Video turned his head behind to scan the forest if the same eyes were focused on him within the forest, fortunately it seemed like whatever was in there had lost interest in Commander.
Commander Video gave a sigh of relief and decided to explore the field a little more, taking a few steps forward until he noticed a wooden signpost in the far distance, maybe he could find some civilization after all. Commander approached the landmark until the writing on it was clearly readable.
Everfree Forest - 1 Mile
At least Video now knew the name of the woodland he was just in, but this wasn't really going to help with him finding some help and in means a way to get back home. That was when he heard something far off into the field thanks to the silent atmosphere, instincts driving him to locate the source making him walk further and further into the unknown.
After a short while, the polygonal biped was able to hear the noises more fluently and was able to process it as speech. Groups of people were perhaps talking to each other so he hid behind a bush that was only a few metres away from a village. Commander peeked behind to find the village not run by people but instead inhabited by horses ranging in many different colours, some had horns on their heads and some had wings which were somehow pushing clouds into different locations. Weren't clouds supposed to move naturally on their own? Upon closer inspection, they were talking to each other, dancing and even buying goods from small markets, he could even notice that the majority of them had strange emblems on their flanks. This was already starting to become a lot for Commander Video to even process. Talking Horses? What kind of childish fantasy world had he ended up in? More and more questions raced in his mind upon trying to comprehend what he was even looking at.
Deciding he had seen enough, Commander retreated from his hiding spot and turned away in hopes of finding a more understandable species when he was suddenly interrupted as a blur of pink leaped up at him.
"Hi!!" The pink entity chimed in a high pitched voice reminiscent of a young school girl, it landed on the ground in front of Commander revealing itself to be one of the equines that perhaps resided in the village that Commander had just seen mere seconds ago. The mare was about half the size of the pixel biped and had pink fur. It's mane was large and poofy (as if it was filled to the brim with balloons) with a darker pink and a matching tail along with a marking on it's flanks that consisted of three balloons, two of which being baby blue while the middle was a bright yellow. Commander Video flinched a little backwards in response while the pink horse continuously kept jumping in place with a big grin on it's face. That was when the rhythm alien was suddenly flooded with a tsunami of questions from the mare that were spread so fast it was almost as if the equine was on a sugar rush.
"You're a funny looking pony, aren't you? How are you standing on two legs? Where are you from? Oh, maybe you're related to that big box thing from that movie I saw once called 'Alicorn Odyssey 2000!"
"Uhhh..?" Was all that could come out of Commander in response to the confusing string of questions from the bubbly childlike horse who was still hopping in place as if the ground had turned into lava.
"Oops, silly me! Where are my manners? My name is Pinkie Pie! If you're having a rough day then I will always be there to make you smile!" The pink horse now known as Pinkie Pie boasted excitedly, the big grin never leaving her muzzle.
"What's your name?" Pinkie asked. It was now Commander's turn to introduce himself, with any inch of courage he had left, he spoke a little nervously.
"C-Commander Video." He uttered at the pink mare who couldn't help but giggle.
"That's a funny name, even for a 2 legged pony!" Pinkie Pie chortled.
"I'm not a pony." Commander retorted as-a-matter-of-factly with a bit of a confused tone. Pinkie Pie ceased her jumping and looked at the being with a more curious glance.
"Then what are you?" Pinkie eagerly questioned. By now, Commander Video's positive stance return as he answered with a bit of pride.
"I am a rhythmic alien! A pixel sprinter born to run and dash through the many existing worlds! I am only a man!"
Pinkie showed a big grin of interest as her eyes glittered at Commander's confident self-description.
"Wow! A creature from another world! All my friends would love to meet you, especially Twilight!" She began with excitement bubbling in her.
"Wait, what am I doing? I'm talking to a horse." Video muttered with a faltered tone which Pinkie somehow managed to hear.
"You silly filly! I'm a pony!" Pinkie Pie laughed before her pupils shrunk as her mouth gaped in horror.
"Oh my gosh! Mr and Mrs Cake must be wondering where I am! Quick, we must not waste any more time! Come on!" The pink mare blurted out with growing panic before hastily grabbing Commander Video with a forehoof and speeding off in a random direction, almost dragging him on the ground in the process.
Chapter 3: A Rarity for Thoughts
After several minutes of his body scraping along the ground while receiving some shocked glances and stares from the other ponies, Commander Video felt his hand hit something as if someone had just dropped it. He blinked and brushed off the dirt and soil he had taken with him to wherever Pinkie Pie had just taken him. The biped looked up and was hit back with astonishment with the new sight, it was some kind of house interior but it was completely filled with shelves and shelves of sweets and sugary pastries along with the theme appropriate décor of candies, either he was in a gingerbread house or some kind of bakery. Pinkie could be seen hopping around the shop with fresh cakes in her front hooves.
"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, Co-deo!" Pinkie Pie turned her head to the sprinter and exclaimed now more gleefully than earlier. Wait, did she just call him 'Co-deo'?
"Co-deo?" Commander asked, tilting his visor eye sceptically.
"Yeah! 'Co' from 'Commander' and 'Deo' from 'Video'! 'Co-Deo'! It has a nice ring to it, right?" Pinkie retorted with a giggle, Commander was about to answer when the pink mare helped him up and took him to the kitchen in a matter of seconds. Pinkie Pie dug into a cabinet and retrieved a mixing bowl with some flour, eggs, milk and some chocolate chips. The biped found a chair nearby and watched the bubbly pony mix in the ingredients to make a thick cookie dough which she soon then rolled out and collected a cookie cutter from a drawer, about 8 to 12 circles of dough with chocolate chips were placed into the oven as Pinkie turned the gas on and set the timer. With the treats now in the baking process, Pinkie Pie grabbed a seat and relocated opposite of where Commander was sitting and made herself comfortable.
"Now that the cookies are on the bake, we can talk a little more!" Pinkie spoke out, eagerness bubbling inside her. All Commander Video could do was nod awkwardly in response. Soon enough a conversation was created, Pinkie would usually make most of it by talking about her most favourite things to do like playing with her friends or putting smiles on people's faces in the very same speed that Commander couldn't even keep up with when they first met.
"Oh yeah! And then there was the time that Mr and Mrs Cake had to go on vacation after an accident involving meringue and a grapefruit, I think his hoof got burnt or maybe his leg was broken but I dunno!" Pinkie blabbered before hearing a 'Ping!', the cookies were now ready for delivery. The pony bounced towards the oven and opened the door, pulling out the tray of freshly baked biscuits. Commander stood up from his seat and observed the equine pouring the cookies in a small bag when they both heard a feminine voice.
"Pinkie Pie, somepony has called for a delivery for a sponge cake! Can you make one and deliver it as soon as possible?" The voice called out.
"Oki-doki-loki Mrs Cake!" Pinkie retorted eagerly, but she was now facing a dilemma. How was she going to get the cookies dispatched while baking a sponge cake at the same time? Her eyes were met with Commander's as she bounced over and held out the bag to him.
"Can you deliver this bag of cookies please, Co-Deo? I could use some help!" The pink pony asked sweetly, the pixel sprinter shrugged and took the bag. Pinkie giggled happily and handed him a small piece of paper, it was the address of where the cookies had to be delivered. Wasting no time, Commander exchanged his farewells with Pinkie before speeding out of Sugarcube Corner and to his set destination.
Rows of house blurring past, a fading rainbow trail behind him, Commander Video had his direction focused forward. He didn't take any notice of the astonished stares the other ponies were giving him again, the only thing important right now was getting the batch of treats to the specified location. Adrenaline was pumping through his 8-bit body just as he foresaw markets and civilian ponies on his path, Commander leaped over the first pony, so far so good. He then slid under an immobile chariot before jumping over two more ponies, some of them that were watching were starting to make impressed sounds from the sprinter's stunts thought most of them were still a little paranoid upon seeing a two legged creature speeding across their town.
Commander took quick notice to see that he was now exiting the town and entering an area of grass before finding a dirt path that was leading to the delivery stop, he was almost there now. With his stamina remaining intact, Commander continued his delivery dash when he suddenly heard another voice. It was feminine, but it sounded a lot more different so he knew that it wasn't either Pinkie Pie or Mrs Cake.
"Hey you! Wait a second!" The runner turned his head but wasn't able to see who it was that had just called out to him, he continued looking to his left before he saw what looked like another pony but wasn't able to decipher it's appearance when all of a sudden, everything went black.
THUD!
Commander collapsed backwards, falling flat on his back unconscious once again. It had only happened for a split second, yet he couldn't grasp what had even occurred.
A door opened to reveal a white pony with a horn on the forehead, her hair was lavender and bundled into a glossy long curled hairstyle with a matching tail. She had what appeared to be three gemstones on her flanks and was donning light blue mascara on her eyes. She looked around in confusion after hearing a loud noise on her door before her head met a motionless jet black body on the ground, she gasped and was just about to run back inside in panic before seeing the thing's single eye contorted to what seemed to be showing an expression of dizziness and injury. The mare trotted over to the sprawled being with a look of shock and concern.
"Oh my goodness d-darling, are you all right?!" The pony stuttered to the two legged thing with the voice of an elegant adult woman with a hint of growing worry. The entity didn't respond and was still laying on the ground, a sudden glow was rippling around the pony's horn and around the body as it was lifted from the ground and carried in to her complex with little to no effort. The ladylike mare levitated the still being to a nearby sofa and place it gently down, leaving it into a lying position.
"You just take it easy dear, I'll get you something to drink." The pony soothingly said, stroking the creature's head with a forehoof before walking off to get a glass of water.
The biped felt a searing pain on his head as he blinked and awoke from his unexpected slumber, he started rubbing his eye as he glanced around frantically in confusion. Wasn't he just outside? He felt behind him to find that he was on a couch so he recollected himself and stood up, taking a look around his new discovery.
Commander Video gazed at the elegant palace like interior, some of the walls were covered with curtains that had a shade of deep pink, the floors being circled with purple and a lighter shade. On one part of the room laid a yellow floral table surrounded by mirrors with golden ribbon borders. Behind him, he could see what appeared to be a row of short tables with stool chairs, a few mannequins of an equine figure stood on random spots. Commander's sight was soon set to what he believed was the front door which was accompanied by hangers of clothing that seemed to have been made with fine feminine quilt and jewellery on each side. Perhaps he was in a tailor of some sorts, the only question being was how he even got in here.
Commander immediately froze after hearing a sound reminiscent of a footstep, he looked around to see an open doorway with a visible staircase. Several more footsteps were heard from inside the doorway getting louder, someone was coming and gosh knows what would only happen if that person found a jet black creature in their house! Commander was bent on fear of somehow breaking into someone's house and was already pacing quickly towards the front door before reaching the handle and closing it behind him. What he hadn't realised was that the bag of cookies he was supposed to deliver had fallen out of his pocket when he got up off the couch.
Not only that, he also had the feeling that somebody was watching him.
Commander Video took a quick glance back to see the outside of the architecture he was just in. Like the inside, it appeared very regal and had the shape of a tower with the top floor decreasing in size, it was frilled with mixed vibrant colours of gold, blue and light purple with a small flag swaying at the very top. Commander switched his focus on retreating from the area before he was caught and dashed off in the opposite direction.
Minutes passed before the runner looked behind again to no longer see the large tower but fresh grass along with a dirt path, relief swirled inside him as he took a moment to inspect whatever was in front of him. In the far distance, he could see what he originally thought was a large tree on a hill guarded by a river with a stone bridge to cross over. A second look revealed it to actually be a large stone house covered with fresh green ivy and foliage, the walls were strung with miniature wooden houses with tiny circular holes. Bird houses. Commander looked up to see several birds of ranging species twittering and gliding around the grass roof cottage. It was quite a pretty sight to see. Commander took a few steps forward just before stopping dead on the bridge to avoid any unwanted attention, he scanned around him to see that a few animals such as rabbits and foxes had popped out of some nearby bushes and were eyeing the strange visitor curiously. Commander couldn't help but smile at this even though he lacked a mouth just when he heard something that was like a whisper but was still audible.
"Um... W-who exactly are you?"
Chapter 4: Curiosity Fluttered the Shy
Commander Video turned and spun his head around to see whoever it was that had just called out to him, but all he saw was the path he had just run down minutes ago, save for a few animals on each side still eyeing him.
"Umm... Down here." The whisper spoke again, Commander gazed downwards to see another pony looking back up at him, with a look of slight intimidation. The equine was coated in bright yellow fur with a light pink mane slightly curled with one end hanging beside it's right eye and appeared to have a mark that resemble 3 pink butterflies on it's flanks, the major difference though was that it appeared to have wings with the same colour as the fur and judging from the eyelashes and the voice, this one was a female. The two were in a silent staring contest which seemed to last for a minute until Commander inched forward a little, making the yellow pony flinch and emit a nervous squeak.
"I-I'm Fluttershy, what's your name?" The winged equine asked, a little louder than the whispers. Her tone and voice was quiet and shy, akin to her name.
"The name's Commander Video." The biped retorted, hands on his hips.
"I'm a rhythmic alien who likes to run in a variety of environments as a challenge! Whenever I hear music, I just have to dash!" He continued, pride growing as he spoke. Fluttershy put a hoof to her chin and observed the rectangular creature, taking his words to heart.
"So when you hear music, you run?" Fluttershy questioned, cocking an eyebrow.
"I don't just run, I jump, I kick and I block my way through anything that gets in my way when on a run!" Commander answered confidently.
"So... You're not from here?" Fluttershy responded, focusing on Commander's ability to stand on two legs along with his personal introduction as a 'Rhythmic Alien'.
"Yep!" Video simply answered before giving a question of his own.
"Hey, I've been seeing ponies with wings like you around, some of them pushing clouds around. What's the deal with that?" He asked, it only took a second for Fluttershy to ponder that question.
"Oh, those types of ponies are called Pegasus. You see most of them in the sky because they're pushing clouds around to configure the weather such as to make it rain or cloudy." She explained before pointing at some clouds that were remaining completely still.
"Huh? Aren't they supposed to move naturally on their own?" Commander asked, Fluttershy could only raise an eyebrow in response.
The two were left in silence once more when Video looked down to his left after feeling something prod against his leg, he saw a small white rabbit poking at him, probably to get his attention. It glared up at him and crossed it's arms as if it was trying to say 'Don't you try anything funny mister' .
"Oh, hello Angel!" Fluttershy greeted the rabbit now known as Angel who was still glaring at the biped.
Commander could only look back at the bunny with a look of confusion. What was his problem? Fluttershy looked back up to now see both the runner and the rabbit exchanging stares. The clip clop of hooves emanating as she advanced closer to the two.
"Angel, this is Commander Video." Fluttershy introduced the biped to the bunny, his glare showing no signs of faltering.
"Is he always like this?" Video glanced back at the Pegasus.
"Well... sometimes when he meets new ponies or... creatures like you, he is a little hard headed. But he does mean well." Fluttershy admitted, the bunny in question still kept his trademark glare.
"So... What do you do here? Are all these animals around us your friends?" Commander asked in attempts to break the awkward silence.
"Oh yes! I adore animals, these ones live with me outside my cottage over there!" Fluttershy squeaked excitedly before pointing at the stone house that Commander had seen before meeting the Pegasus. The biped began to notice that some of the animals were taking more of an interest in him, the majority of them consisting as birds of a variety of species were circling around him before landing on his head or shoulders, the curious glances never leaving their faces.
"Looks like you've made some new friends here already!" Fluttershy giggled at the sight, Commander smiled at the birds perched on him despite lacking a mouth and chuckled.
"So I've noticed that you're rather shy, Is that why you live out here from that village?" Video continued the conversation, acknowledging that Fluttershy's cottage was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, a little far from Ponyville.
"Yes. But I don't mind, I always have my animal friends and Angel to keep me company. And my friends from Ponyville do visit often." Fluttershy answered with a blush.
"Hang on. You said that clouds were moved by Pegasus like you, shouldn't you be up there?" The biped questioned, remembering about how Pegasi were tasked with controlling cloud weather.
"Oh, well I do need to take care of the animals here. But I do sometimes help out with moving the clouds." Fluttershy retorted. To be fair, she was right: If she was up in the sky pushing clouds all day, then who would take care of the animals here? Commander chuckled at this obvious thought.
There was one thing that Fluttershy didn't know about Commander Video though.
"When did you come to Equestria?" Fluttershy asked curiously.
"Oh, this morning I think." Commander began his answer.
"See I woke up to find myself in this dark forest where I saw something watching me, my instincts told me to flee so I did so. After making it out of there, I met Pinkie Pie and was soon asked into a delivery by her which caused me to run into something along the way and black out. I wake up in a fancy house and hear footsteps so I charge out once again before speeding through the village, dodging any obstructions in my way and the next thing I know: I end up here and I met you." He explained briefly before taking a few deep breaths after getting all the information he could as simple as possible.
Fluttershy ears perked up through the entire story.
"So you met Pinkie Pie and you said something about a fancy house. Did you see what it looked like on the outside?" She asked.
"Yep. It looked like a tower with elegant décor here and there, I think I saw a few tents nearby but that's pretty much all that I know of." Commander admitted, trying to remember what he had seen before encountering the yellow pony.
"Oh! You must've been in the Carousel Boutique!" Fluttershy exclaimed. Commander titled his eye in confusion.
"Carousel come again?"
"Carousel Boutique!" Fluttershy rephrased. "It's a boutique owned by my best friend, Rarity. She is considered Ponyville's notorious fashionista because of the beautiful and amazing dresses and clothes she makes! She must've found you unconscious and took you inside, that would explain how you got here." Fluttershy theorised.
"And I thought I had somehow broken in!" Commander said, making the two chuckle.
"Well, I'm sure she would love to meet you again." Fluttershy said before an astonished look on her face appeared.
"Oh my goodness, I almost forgot! I need to feed Angel! Sorry, Mr Commander, but I really must go!" Fluttershy apologised with a worried expression.
"Eh, It's no problem. You go right ahead and take care of the little guy. I think I'll explore this world a little more, see ya Fluttershy!" Commander Video said before dashing back down the path as his trademark Techno-Colour sparked and blasted out of his back, leaving Fluttershy, the animals and even Angel with astonished looks on their faces.
"Wow." Was all that Fluttershy said, her eyes focused on the rainbow trail from Commander's back until it vanished into the distance.
