Chapters The Equestrian Double Gamble
~James~
I’ve got a question for you. And no, it’s not the one Sans gives you in the Genocide run, it’s a whole different one. If you had just one chance to fulfill your greatest dreams, and go to another world… would you do it? Since you’re reading this, you already know I said yes. Little did I know though, there was going to be a price. A price I almost couldn’t bear to pay.
“Spam, spam, spam, spam…” I ticked off a number of email messages on my computer, not really looking at them for long other than to see what they were about. Most of it was gaming sales, though there were occasionally the odd little ad about MLP toys. You can probably tell what kind of things I’m into from that.
“Heh… Valve just doesn’t know when to give up, do they?” I remarked when I found one announcement about a new update for TF2. It apparently changed the mechanics of the game, drastically. “Meet Your Match”... Welp. Looks like Valve just killed off most of the Friendlies. No way anyone’s gonna be friendly on the Pub servers anymore.
My friend on the other end of my Skype Call, whom I only knew as FC the Half Dragon, was not amused. “Welp, so much for the community. Do you think this is going to cause more players to go to Overwatch? It might make it hard to play some MvM Heroes on the PoniPoniPoni servers.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. They left community servers alone, but there’s no more choosing just one game mode to play anymore for pubs. They also added a competitive mode… which is basically Pay to Play Haven. Can’t get in without paying, unless you’re a premium that hasn’t been VAC banned.” I paused as I saw what they added to the Shortstop. “Wait, seriously? The Shortstop had an Alt-fire now that just pushes players? So now it’s basically a straight upgrade to the Force-a-Nature.” I deadpanned.
“Saw a video of it, seems like they made Scout a schoolyard bully. I still can’t believe that as soon as I became a Pay to Play, the hat that I got out of my first crate was an Unusual for the Medic. So much for the argument that people with Unusuals have a lot of experience.” FC replied.
“Heh… hearing that, I start thinking the luck I’ve run on most of my life is nothing. I’m still looking for a job so I can become Pay to Play too. I REALLY want the Box Trot.” I replied. I moved the TF2 update email to my Games folder for later review, sorting out the rest of my mail. Eventually though, I actually came across something of interest.
“Oh hey… looks like I’ve got a Con coming to town. Bronycon, to be precise. I wonder if I can get Mom to take me.” I muttered.
“Lucky. I know for certain no cons are going to be in Nebraska. Wait, hold on, I got something on my email.” FC was quiet for a moment. “Okay, I seem to got lucky. I got an email that has a paid trip to the con.”
“Aw, paid trip? Lucky…” I pouted for a bit. I bet it looked especially cute since I was using Facerig with my OC’s model. It took quite a long time to fix it up… “Well, I guess we each have our own cons to go to then. I should probably start shopping for materials.” I said, switching to the Skype window to say goodbye.
“See you later my friend.” FC said before going offline.
What followed was a grueling job for me, at least in terms of willpower. I had the creative touch and time, all I needed was to strike up the desire to actually work on a costume. My mom was actually pretty happy to take me, and even buy the materials for the costume, on the condition that whatever she spent, I’d pay back when I got a job.
The final product didn’t look too shabby, but I knew it was still a ways off from looking anything like some of the better costumes. Still, the orange and red coloring of my changeling costume was unique, and could earn some points. I even came up with some crazy ideas and backstory about her, like the reason she was orange was because A: she wasn’t part of Chrysalis's hive, B: she prefered Pride, instead of love, and C: she was a fusion of my two characters, one a changeling, the other a pony.
Going to the con wasn’t too much trouble, as it didn’t take several hours to get there. I let Mom know to come back in about five or six hours, since she wasn’t going to come with me, and she gave me 50$ to spend. It shocked me that she was letting me have so much, but she told me she got some really good tips at the grooming salon.
And thus began my first, and last, bronycon. It started well enough, just browsing the many wares there were, checking out costumes, all that fun stuff. Eventually, I ran into a familiar face. He was wearing a sky blue hoodie, had the edge of his hair dyed black, had an orange fake dragon tail and wings on, and had two foam swords, one of them looking like the Terra Blade from Terraria. He turned towards me. “Hey man, what’s up?” He said to me.
“Your wings…” I replied, half jokingly. Even though I could tell they were fake, they were still impressive. I laughed off my shock, holding out my hand for a shake. “Nice to finally meet you in person, FC.”
He put his hand out and shook. “Good to see you. I saw a vending table with someone dressed as the Merchant from Resident Evil. Let’s stay away from that one, considering all the Displaced fanfics.” I chuckled.
“I dunno, seems like with all the powers Summer has, I might enjoy nabbing a Crescent Rose to add to the punch.” I said jokingly. Then I sobered up and gave it serious consideration. “Still, I’ve got family here, and I’m not going anywhere without them.”
“Lucky for you. Me, I have been having troubles with my family. The way things have been going for me, I would like to land in Equestria, but the problem would be when we land. I wouldn’t want to land in the Crystal Empire during the reign of King Sombra and be imprisoned for kicking his flank. I don’t want to spend a thousand years in stone.” FC said.
“I’ve been writing a lot, focusing on the timeline, so if I came along, then I’d be just about the closest thing to an expert on time you’ve got. I have a few different ideas as to how I can make things happen. I’m willing to take the risk of landing just about anywhere in the timeline.”
“That would be a good idea. Considering how most people become the thing they are wearing a costume of when the get sent, I could easily deal with some problems if they come up.” FC replied in a serious tone.
“Hey, did I hear you two say you’re willing to go to Equestria?” someone wearing a sort of Pony Gambit costume asked, stopping me with a hand on my shoulder. Immediately, I was suspicious though. The Merchant was sort of a Neutral Party one could rely on to just get to Equestria, but this guy? I knew nothing of him.
“I have a bad feeling about this. James, this person is dressed as the Gambler, he usually sends people to Equestria, but for a price. I would suggest you make sure we don’t get deceived.” FC said with a bit of apprehension.
“A gambler, huh? Well, I’ve run my whole life on Luck. I’m curious to see just how far it goes.” I said, turning to him with interest. Said character smiled darkly as he saw he was recognized.
“Heh… I guess you two are pretty well read. Well then, let’s set the terms of the deal…” he trailed off expectantly, waiting for us to set our terms.
“I am just worried about if you are going to make us do something we regret like kidnapping or try to blackmail us. If you send us to anything before the birth of Flurry Heart or have malevolent intentions, I will not accept.” FC said, in a warning tone.
“Don’t worry, you get to keep your morality. I never touch that.” he promised, grin widening. He turned to me then.
“Alright, I just want the powers I wrote up for Summer. Every version of her. Also, can I get the Crescent Rose?” I said. He frowned a bit as he thought of the implications of that.
“Yikes, that might be more powerful than…” he trailed off, probably not wanting to reveal who it was he mentioned. “Alright then. Here’s my terms. Both of you will have to deal with every opponent your characters have ever faced. In every timeline or version. As well, if either one of you fails, then not only will you be sent back here without your powers, but the gates of Tartarus will remain permanently open, Cerberus will die, and every princess will be banished eternally to what they are bound to.”
“Basically sounds like the Stones of Equestria RP that I was in before Brohoof.com went down. I accept the terms, but I can not speak on behalf of my friend.” FC said, silently knowing how powerful his character was, but still bound by moral constraints. He was willing to back up his friend no matter what.
“I’m in. I made a similar deal in one of the stories I’ve been writing. Oh wait, before we finish… can I add my laptop with universal internet connection so I can still write my stories?” I asked, hoping to add it.
“Sorry! You already accepted the deal, no changes!” he said before snapping his fingers. The instant he did, everything went black.
...Damnit.
Ugh… well, there goes the headache… not big surprise, I just got a shit ton of info dumped in my brain. I groaned to myself as I came back to consciousness. That guy was at least nice enough to put info on how to use my new body in my head, but there was just so much, my head was pounding trying to process it all. Of course it didn’t help that the smell of something decaying invaded my nose the second I started breathing.
As I came to, I heard clicking nearby. It sounded similar in noise to Lingish, but it seemed more...creepy. I shuddered a bit as I got up, looking around to try and figure out what I was hearing. I almost barfed when I saw I’d been lying on the decaying corpse of a deer, but I had to put that off when I saw some… thing staring at me like I was lunch. It looked like it was made out of bone and some sort of tough cloth armor, but the most terrifying part was the large single yellowish-green eye and it had mukky purple tentacles wrapping around its limbs and what could be called its head. The bone spikes coming out of the back told me what it was. It was a geist. FC had made them for an RP we were in together on Brohoof.com. Geists usually entered undead as hosts, or rarely used empty remains as armor. The worst part about them was that their living secreted a chemical that reacted to air, causing something known as shadowfire, a black and purple flame that caused temporary blindness. How long it lasted depended on how much you got hit with when the spit it at you. They were like parasitic ninja dragons. And I smelled like what they usually inhabit.
I muttered before springing up onto my paws. Wait, paws? I only just glanced up at the sky to see it was currently night, and smirked as I prepared myself. Ice coated my body when one of them lunged at me, creating a perfect defensive cube, like Mei from Overwatch. That was before it spat out shadowfire, starting to slowly melt the ice. Did I forget to mention they are somewhat intelligent? In response, I flared my magic, sending spikes of ice shooting out of the ground in a circle around me to try and strike at them and force them to focus on dodging, rather than attacking. It looked like there were five of them… well four now, as one ice spike went through one’s head, causing it to explode with shadowfire. I must have hit its liver. Seeing their comrade fall so easily, they looked back at me warily, deciding if it was worth it trying to take me as a host. And for once, unlike the timberwolves from so many stories, they decided to live another day. I sighed thankfully as I let the ice crumble away into nothing.
I muttered as I started walking away, taking note of the fact that my words came out as growls and whines rather than actual words. That was gonna get annoying fast. Hopefully I could get out of this forest before something else more dangerous decided to say Hi.
~FC~
I woke up with a heck of a headache. Thankfully, with reading some stories in the past, I could assume I most likely became my character, which was proven when the healing factor kicked in. I got up and looked around, going through my mental checklist. Dark spooky forest, most likely the Everfree: Check. Me becoming my character: Check. Timberwolf attack: Not yet it seems. Then I heard the growls. Yep, looks like the timberwolves found me.
I lifted up a foreleg, ending in a hoof with claws. I ignited my claw with my character’s signature power...or mine now, I suppose. Coldfire, a combo of fire and ice, an icy blue flame so cold it burns. Not affected by water, ice, or fire, I was one of only two who could control it. The timberwolves saw the flames and my expression that read “come at me bro”. They turned around and walked away. Guess being made of wood makes you smart enough to avoid fire. I wondered if they also were wary of axes. I saw something leaning up against a tree. I went over and it was my two swords, one of them being the Terra Blade of course. I strapped them onto my sides, below the wings.
Speaking of wings, I think it was about time I checked everything was okay with me physically. My height was about the same as Princess Luna, my wings were larger than Celestia’s and they were feathered draconic wings, I still had my amphithere dragon tail, even though it was covered in hair, basically making it still look like a normal ponytail, and then I checked my teeth, being a set meant for omnivores, and they were tinted a very light shade of blue, since the concentration of carbon was much higher in them to the point my bones and teeth were a mixture of calcium and diamond.
I could already tell I had my powers, so I looked up and saw the stars. I decided to fly up and look for my friend. I flew around for awhile until I saw a lot of shadowfire. I landed nearby and saw my friend, but he looked somewhat different. I could tell he was Summer Dash, but he (or would that be she now?) looked more wolf like. Her fur was a bit shaggy and unkempt, but that was to be expected from someone just waking up in the middle of the forest. I was just glad she was okay, then I looked over at the source and my jaw dropped. It was one of the creatures I made, the Geist. Well that explained a lot, but it also but a sense of dread in me. “Summer, how many geists were there?” I asked.
She barked in surprise, whirling around, probably still high on adrenaline from her first encounter. Those things were dangerous, and no doubt she knew it. When she saw me, she calmed down though, and pawed at her throat with a sheepish look. I went over and apologized. “That was my fault, I shouldn’t have surprised you like that. But how many geists were you attacked by. Also if you are worried about me not understanding you, you could probably use a Hive Mind spell, since you did say all versions of yourself back with the gambler, which does include changeling.”
She blinked, before thinking deeply. After a few minutes, her eyes glowed green, and I felt a presence in my mind.
<Loud and clear, Summer. > I replied through the mental link.
<Five! And you smelled like a corpse! Oh, buck! We need to get moving out of the Everfree now before a Geist Lord shows up! > A bit of panic in my thoughts, sending over an image of a Geist Lord. It had no lower body, ending in a spine, it’s armor was bulkier, one arm was a massive claw, the other ending in a bone spiked tentacle that they often lit with shadowfire, like some cross between a Balrog’s whip and Scorpion’s chain knife. And the worst thing was, they were extremely hostile because of their brain being corrupted by tainted magic.
<...Well fuck. Again.> she muttered. Soon, she was taking off, dashing through the forest looking for any sign or landmark she could follow.
I caught up with her and picked her up before flying out of the tops of the trees. <Out of the forest we go! Not sticking to the ground, way too dangerous for that. >
A ball of shadowfire whizzing past my head gave me enough motivation to go faster. Soon I saw Ponyville coming into view. I decided to land near Vinyl and Octavia’s house. I put Summer down before landing by a tree. <I think we should get some rest. Today has been one hectic day. >
<That would be Vinyl and Octavia’s house. From the “Slice of Life” episode. I chose this place because one of the Mane Six finding us has been overdone. Screw being convenient! > I replied before curling up into my sleeping position, one wing open just in case Summer needed to stay warm. She stared at the invitation for a bit before shrugging.
The Equestrian Double Gamble
Chapter 2: DJ's Wolf Pride
~Summer~
I yawned as I woke up, hearing voices chattering nearby. I was at least awake enough to register I was still in wolf form, despite the sun being up, but the feeling of the sun on my fur left me feeling kind of uncomfortable. Almost like the feeling you get when you eat something you later realize you probably shouldn’t have. Cracking open one of my eyes, I spotted Vinyl and Octavia having an argument in front of me and FC.
“Aww, cmon Tavi, can’t we at least help them out. One is part wolf and by the looks of the stallion, he looks to be part dragon. We could learn why they’re here.” Vinyl said with some excitement.
“Vinyl, no. I don’t feel comfortable about them. We should tell the Royal Guard or at least Princess Twilight. Plus, I do not want the wolf coming into our house, she might be carrying diseases.” Octavia said with a stern voice.
I yawned, pointedly being loud.
Vinyl and Octavia were stunned. Well, Vinyl was for about five seconds before going over and grabbing hold of me and lifting me up. “Oh my god, you’re a psychic wolf-pony? Awesome!”
Octavia on the other hand, looked like she just blue screened. “She’s sentient.”
Octavia just sat there, just not being able to comprehend. Vinyl on the other hoof, just squeed from the awesomeness, before asking, “What about the stallion?”
“So, are you going to wake him up so we can see.” Vinyl said, still excited.
“Vinyl, I think that was a bit rude. We shouldn’t just wake him up just so he could sate your curiosity.” Octavia replied.
“Lick his face, that would be fun to see!” Vinyl said, ready to see something funny.
“Really Vinyl” Octavia deadpanned.
I just chuckled a bit as I headed over and prepared to start licking his face like a puppy. That is until his hoof shot out and booped me. I recoiled and blinked. <... I guess he’s awake.> I muttered with a slight whine.
“Nice try Summer, but you woke me up using the Mental Link spell. I just pretended to sleep to lure you into a false sense of security, considering how much you like to prank others.” FC said as he got up and stretched.
I chuckled as he got up.
“One word: breakfast.” FC said before turning to Octavia. “I’m sorry if I caused any distress. Me and my friend were attacked last night in the Everfree Forest. May we please have breakfast with you, madam.” He said in a polite tone.
“Well, at least somepony here has manners. Yes, you are welcome to have breakfast with us.” Octavia said before going into the house, followed by Vinyl.
“Come on Summer, breakfast awaits.” FC said as he started to follow.
I followed, but not too enthusiastically.
“Maybe eating some plain biscuits will help, that usually helps with an upset stomach.” FC said out loud before I heard his voice on the mental link. <Plus the transformation process, using coldfire, and flying last night has kind of made my energy reserves run low, so I am really hungry. Also I will refrain from making jokes about dog biscuits. >
<What, you think I can’t take a ruff joke? Come on, I could pun about it fur ever.> I shot back over the line, keeping it just to him.
<I know you can take a joke, but it sounded a little demeaning, and I usually feel bad about making demeaning jokes. > FC replied guiltily.
<Ah, whatever. I guess it might be paws ible to hurt my feelings that way… if you weren’t my friend and I knew they weren’t meant to harm.> I dismissed it, moving on. That feeling I had was getting stronger, and my mind kept getting drawn back to how uncomfortable the sun felt on my back as time passed, despite it not being on me most of the time inside.
<Are you feeling okay, the Hive Mind is letting me feel something is wrong. > FC replied, a bit of worry carrying over.
<Oh, I got sick once from too much sun. It was hell. Maybe we could go swimming so you could cool off. It sounds like it would be really ice for you. > FC replied before he saw what was for breakfast. It was biscuits and gravy with eggs, hay bacon, waffles, and pancakes.
<Still worth giving it a shot. Plus, it might give you some privacy to shift forms if you need to. > FC replied. He took a bite of hay bacon, letting out a “Nom” sound.
“So, could you please explain what happened to you last night.” Octavia said.
“Yeah, I am actually kind of surprised. I mean, there would be reports of a wolf pony and a dragon pony in Equestria before, so you must have just got here.” Vinyl chipped in.
Vinyl and Octavia were shocked. Then FC interjected. “Yes, but the only reason why I accepted because I knew my soul based healing factor would prevent me from dying, and I have only two major threats to deal with. Also before the fact we were humans and Summer here was a male. Considering I can change into different forms, including my human form, I can adapt to situations.”
“Sorry about that Summer.” FC replied.
“Wait, you guys were human!...Huh, looks like I owe Lyra twenty bits.” Vinyl said.
“Also, what do you mean by soul based healing factor?” Octavia looked at FC.
“Basically, if my entire body is somehow destroyed, I can regenerate a new one, but it uses up energy, so I tend to eat a lot and sleep. Which also means any normally lethal blow would not kill me.” FC replied. <And no Summer, I can’t do anything comedic with it like Deadpool.>
<Well I might be able to help deal with that, as I have a hatred of other demons. > A third voice came in. It seemed to use FC as link.
<No Night Terror, this is between me, Summer, and the Gambler. I have to deal with this, not you. > FC said to the voice.
<That would be Night Terror, a Nightmare/Demon hybrid who was befriended by who I am now at a young age after Night Terror was banished from the Demon Realm. He is kind of the Discord of dreams and demons. > FC replied.
<Correct-o Mundo! I was exiled because of the pranks I played on demons. I am more of the prankster type for being the Lord of Fear, but I hate how certain people ruin the power of fear, like fucking Sauron and King Sombra. Who knew ghost peppers were too hot even for demons. Because of that, I do tend to hold a grudge against demons. But usually I am here in the background unless demon business comes, it is Nightmare Night, or you call for me. Ta ta for now. > With that, Night Terror went silent.
<... He seems eccentric. I think I like him better than the reformed version of the demon I gotta fight. My demon is actually pretty powerful too. He originally was a human on Earth, but then stole a Demon’s magic and became one himself. Got powerful enough to even ignore a Summon sacrifice as powerful as the life of a woman’s newborn first born.> I responded.
<If someone tried that on Night Terror, he would be pissed. He hates blood sacrifices or someone using other demon summoning techniques. Except for one, and it is weird. It involves five pieces of candy and dancing around them to the Living Tombstone remix of Spooky Scary Skeletons. I think the weirdness and Halloween likeness of it is the only reason why he likes it. > FC replied.
<Normally it is a delayed reaction for him. He only answers those summons so he can kick the butts of those for doing that. If they don’t die from the encounter, they tend to suffer his namesake dream for the rest of their lives. Night terrors are souped up versions of nightmares. At this point, it sounds like maybe that demon might have stolen some of Night Terror’s powers when he was human, then developed some of his own. > FC said, his mind starting to work in overdrive.
Vinyl and Octavia started to freak out. “Whoa, it’s okay. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, it is partially true. But I have known Summer for a long time, and she isn’t like the changelings of Queen Chrysalis.” FC said assuringly before either could run out the door.
I leaned over to him and whispered to him, “Actually, Chrysalis was just an angry leader. Not evil or abusive, and her changelings were just following her. She also had a pretty deep grudge for something she didn’t know was out of the Princess’s hooves.”
“I know that, but they don’t. Ponies tend to be skittish, and tend to let their fears get out of hoof. Stereotypes tend to get out of hand when it comes to this world.” FC whispered back. I just shrugged in response as my holes finished up.
“I’m a bit worried about these holes. As far as I know, they’re signs of malnutrition.” I said in a normal tone. That comment about Malnutrition hit the girls with a train loaded with shock.
“She feeds off of pride, not love. And no, Prince Blueblood would just be poison to her.” FC said. “But the good thing is, I am proud to call her my friend.” Then he proceeded to hug me.
As good, pure, and drug-like as FC’s emotions were though, it wasn’t as straightforward as that. There was pride there of course, but it was hardly anything, too smothered by Love to really be noticed if I wasn’t looking for it. “Sorry dude, not proud enough. Hey Vinyl. Got any great tracks?” I asked, immediately triggering her own pride to burst forth.
“Heck yeah I do!” Then she proceeded to zip over to her turntable and proceeded to lay out some jams.
“Now that is Pride.” I said, laying back with a smile and soaking it up.
“I thank you for the meal. Oh, I just remembered, I forgot to give my name. My name is FC Dracsemi and this is my friend Summer Dash.” FC said to Octavia as he was getting up.
“I suppose we forgot to introduce ourselves too. My name is Octavia Melody, and this is my roommate, Vinyl Scratch.” Octavia replied.
“We’re more than roommates.” Vinyl with a raising of eyebrows.
“Vinyl!” Octavia said indignantly.
“It is okay, I do not judge people based on things like that, but instead judge on if they have harmed others.” FC replied as he left, but the Mental Link conveyed that something was wrong with him.
“Okay then… I’m gonna go talk to him.” I abruptly announced, getting up and heading out.
The Equestrian Double Gamble
Chapter 3: Rules of Nature
~FC~
I walked out of the house, going towards the lake I saw before. I need some time to think about what just happened. I had failed at giving Summer the pride needed to sustain her. This failure brought up some recent hurtful memories. I got to the lake and just sat down, letting my sorrow take over. I just sat there crying, until I heard hoofsteps. I looked towards the sound and saw Summer. “Why did you follow me, you could have had enough pride to properly nourish you if you stayed.”
“I sensed something wrong. I still care, you know. Not nourishing me shouldn’t be that upsetting for you. So what else are you crying over?” she asked softly.
I wiped my eyes. “That failure just reminded me how I was pretty much a failure. It reopened old wounds. I failed at two colleges, I failed my first job no matter how hard I tried, my parents couldn’t accept me for being a brony and a gamer. I had to leave them on bad terms. It took me a while to find a job. One part of me was glad I left, but another part of me just feels guilty for being a jerk to them. I just feel like a failure overall. I can’t do anything right.”
“I’ve felt that way more than a few times in the past. I know exactly how you feel. But you wanna know what my parents keep telling me when I do? They tell me to shut up and listen. They then proceed to list off why I’m better than I think, passing off my self loathing as a pity party. And I know they’re right.” She told me, sitting down by my side as she spoke.
“Thanks, I needed that. You and my other friends have been more family to me than my real family. You guys always supported me when shit was hitting the fan for me.” I said as I hugged her.
“No problem, dude. Just let me know if you start doubting yourself again. I’ll be there for you.” she promised, hugging back.
I let Summer go after calming down. “Alright, let’s go. Considering the deal with the Gambler, we should probably get ready for our first challenge. Do you think the first one is going to be Queen Chrysalis?”
“No telling who’s first. Might as well just try to get used to our power first, before planning for anything specific.” Summer replied honestly.
“True, but I am more worried, since I mostly use forms, and they tend to scare ponies easily. Not going to use Darkling or Dragon form yet. Heck, not even the combo form of those two. Maybe we should at least stick to physical combat. I have an extensive knowledge of varying sword fighting techniques from that transfer.” I replied before getting a mischievous grin on my face. I then threw Summer into the lake.
At first, nothing happened after that, but then I saw something light up for a second, and a bunch of bubbles rose to this surface. Before she could get up though, I jumped in, changing into my dragon form when I entered the water. My dragon form is an amphithere, which means the only limbs it has are the wings, and is covered in feathers. Think of it as like a giant flying feathered serpent. I swam around, waiting for her to surface. She didn’t surface though. Instead, I saw her form shoot past me like a rocket through the water, her form that of a Kelpie. As she passed me, the water got ice cold, but didn’t freeze.
I was a little impressed and decided to test out a certain ability I had with dragon form. I dove down and started to change. The feathers disappeared from my body, and where the fluffy end of my tail was and the feathered crest was before, became fin-like crests. My wings changed shape to become arms, with large fins coming out of them and ending in long webbed claws. Finally, my color became the same as the water we were in, allowing me to perfectly camouflage myself in the water. I wanted to see Summer’s reaction to this.
When next she swept by, she paused to look around in confusion, before spotting me not that far off. “Holy shit, that’s new.” she said, awed. She swam around me a bit to check it out better, looking at every change she could.
“Like it? I wanted to try out the ability that I could do in dragon form. It is kind of an elemental thing. I have become a water dragon.” I said with a hint of amusement.
“Like it?! Hell, I love it! You are awesome, dude.” Summer laughed as she replied.
“Hm, I wonder what powers I have in this form?” With that, I focused. I felt a source of calm inside and tapped into. I could feel the water around me become calm too. I focused on making a wave, and it worked. I then tried other things, like arms. I then ended with a blade, and tested it on a nearby boulder, the water blade easily cutting it in half. “Sweet.”
“Water control… I wonder, do you think you can make an inverse whirlpool to carry yourself part way out of the water? It'd be awesome.” Summer suggested.
“Oh great, I am becoming a dragon version of Poseidon. Also, I might stop right now, as the Jengu in here are getting a little bit angry over my water control. I have a great amount of respect for elementals.”
“Jengu?” Summer asked confused, before realizing after a second. “Oh… maybe I should get out of here then.” She then proceeded to jet her way out of the water, flying into the air.
I turned back to my pony form and swam out, shaking myself off on shore. I could see a jengu come out. Jengu were water elementals, with most elementals being made out of said element they represented. It had a featureless humanoid top half, the bottom half being a small waterspout as it was flying in the air.
Summer gulped as she looked at it. “Okay then… I guess in this world, you have to respect nature, or it fucks you up. I doubt the world was very happy with Tirek when he and Twilight fought.”
“Actually, considering that, nature is probably pretty angry most of the time in this world, considering ponies control everything except the Everfree Forest. Maybe the reason the Everfree is so dangerous to ponies because it is angry at them.” I replied. I then turned to the Jengu. “I am sorry for causing a disturbance, I was merely testing out the capabilities of my water dragon form. It will not happen again.”
The jengu calmed down, the waterspout slowing down. It made splashing and bubbling noises, which translated to
“Thank you for this, I promise I won’t betray you.” I replied back. Summer took my words as a cue, and bowed to the Jengu in respect, holding it for about three seconds.
“I’ll try to avoid messing with anything too. If I can, I’d rather protect nature.” she told it.
It nodded, seeming to be happy with that response before becoming one with its home again. I turned to Summer. “Maybe I should tell you about the other elementals too. Almost all elementals have an upper portion with arms, a swirling bottom portion, and an unique head shape, depending on type. We should start with the Zephyrs and Reivers, considering that is where the biggest conflict is going to be. Zephyrs are storm elementals, being able to control rain, wind, and lightning. Zephyrs are the exception to the arms rule, as instead they have two large spikes for conducting lightning. Reivers are ice elementals, usually made of snow and ice. They tend to control blizzards and flurries. Best bet is they would come into a lot of conflict with pegasi, considering they control the weather here.”
“Right, I remember those from that old Super powers RP.” Summer nodded achkowledgingly. “I have to wonder if maybe we can do what you guys did in that and… maybe, hopefully end conflict? Maybe as some sort of ‘side quest’ or something between ‘bosses’ so nature’s not as angry.”
“I hope so. The only elementals that I didn’t get to yet in that RP were geonachs, cinders, and lobbers. I remember going over grues, spriggans, ents, and trents. Geonachs are earth elementals, being made of stone, with one arm for smashing, and another for stabbing and slashing. Cinders are fire elementals, along with lobbers. Lobbers are actually bipedal and don’t fly, being made of lava and can throw huge chunks of molten rock that spreads when it hits the ground. I think most fire elementals might be in Tartarus, since that is the closest thing to hell in this world.”
“Good to know.” Summer said simply, lacking interest or conviction in the acknowledgement. I guess she was getting a bit tired of these long winded explanations. “Looks like noon’s passing. Wanna go get some lunch?”
“Yeah, sure. Maybe we should stop by Vinyl and Octavia again.” I said before we started heading back into Ponyville. So far the day has been interesting, and I was ready for more to come.
View Online
The Equestrian Double Gamble
Chapter 4: FUCKING SHIT, WHAT IS THAT THING?!
~Summer~
As FC and I headed back, I caught sight of a few ponies, but we were still far enough away from town that there weren’t too many. Still, those we saw freaked out a bit at seeing a dragon pony and changeling just outside of town and ran for their lives.
“Looks like we might have to deal with the Mane Six or the Royal Guard sooner than we thought.” FC said with a sigh.
“Don’t worry, I got a silver tongue. There’s a lot I can say to keep them from attacking.” I assured. “Well, assuming Rainbow doesn’t just strike the instant she sees us, in which case it might be tougher.”
“Well, that is most likely to happen. Remember, her good dreams are about beating the snarf out of changelings. I remember that from ‘Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep’. I just want to get some lunch right now. If they find us during lunch, we could always mess with their minds instead.” FC replied.
“Nah. Screwing with their heads will just give us bad first impressions. I’m thinking if they do attack without question, we can just turn it into a friendly spar. Might be fun.” I said, already imagining keeping up with Rainbow blow for blow. “Of course, when we win, we just offer them a hoof to help them get back up and congratulate them on a good fight. Might stun them a bit.”
“Well, maybe...Hey, I found out I still have my pocket space! Let’s see, I still have gems in here and blocks. So we have payment of lunch taken care of.” FC replied, kind of surprising though he had a pocket space which he could hold stuff in.
“Huh. Well then… You know how much it holds? Just curious since I’ve got one too, loaded up with just my Crescent Rose. And that’s all it can carry.” I asked.
“Yeah, if I remember right, I made this before I became a brony and was into Minecraft a lot. It use a gem as an anchor point, but the way the gem was created caused a glitch in it, cauisng it to have infinite space like Kirby’s stomach, but also had the ability to duplicate certain types of items like building materials. I was self sufficient, which meant I gathered all the materials on my own, including mining and smelting the actual materials. Let’s just say I was the ultimate Minecraft player, when it came to integrating mods into my ideas.” He said.
“Impressive. Guess we can make our own place later. I’d like to see what you can do, since… well, honestly, I suck at building. I’m better with function than design.” I replied, semi-amused.
“I liked to combine function with design. I mean, I made the Rainbow Factory while listening to said song on a 10 hour loop in the Attack of the B-Team modpack. Heck, I even worked on making bases for some of the others in the same modpack. But considering we are all versions combined, that may mean locations have popped up too. During the RP we were in before, after you left, I came up with the idea of an abandoned settlement that used to be a colony of where I came from that was hidden in the Everfree Forest. But I would still prefer to build our own house.” FC replied with some pride. And that pride was delicious.
“That’d be nice. But uh… I’d rather not go into the forest again anytime soon. Geists are freaky as fuck.” I replied.
“Wait, why are all those ponies running this way? Summer, I got a bad feeling about this. Get on my back, we need to get there fast.” FC said as he lowered himself so I could get on his back. I hopped on, clinging tightly to him as he took off. As we got close we could see something. It was the Mane Six fighting something, and by the looks of it, they were getting their flanks handed to them. I didn’t know what the creature was until FC said it. “Shit, it’s a Geist Lord!”
“Alright. Negotiable, or no mercy?” I asked, pulling out my Crescent Rose with a Gravity Round loaded into it.
“Diplomacy is off the table when it comes to Geist Lords. They are Geists who have been corrupted by Taint Magic, which makes anything it infects turn extremely aggressive to the point that death is the only mercy to free them from the Taint.” FC said with a grim expression. I could tell he did not like killing unless it was the only option left. I however was far less apprehensive about it, something which showed in my gleeful smile.
“Then let’s take it down.” I said, before firing my gravity round, launching me off of FC’s back and straight at the Geist Lord. I swung hard, hoping to cleave at least something off of it as I passed over its head. It did leave a chunk missing, but it seemed to grow back. Then I heard FC call out.
“LEROY JENKINS!” I looked up and saw him hurtling down at the creature, covered in coldfire like a meteor. I saw the Mane Six move quickly away from it, and decided to get out of the way too as he slammed into it. It was dazed, so it was the perfect opportunity to strike. Without hesitation, I fired off another gravity round to throw myself at it again, this time aiming to impale it in the head as I charged up a strong fire blast in my horn. It cut right into the creature’s head, causing it to let out ear-piercing scream of pain. I saw FC charge at it, but it backhanded him into a destroyed building. I punished its split focus instead of crying out in worry though, unleashing my fire blast into its face and aiming down its throat.
~FC~
That fucking hurt! I looked around inside the destroyed building and what I saw made my blood run cold. There were dead ponies, and the shadowfire lingering on them and the cut wounds told me that the Geist Lord was responsible for this. Something in me just snapped. I was sad about killing the Geist Lord before, but now, there was no mercy left. I felt my rage begin boiling inside me, and with it, Darkness pulsed in my veins. The Geist Lord was about to have a bad time.
(cue Waters of Megalovania)
~Summer~
I heard a loud shriek. It sound like a changeling, but it seemed more angry and dark. Then a black blur burst out of where FC had crashed into. It hit the Geist Lord like a freight train, dislodging my blade from its head. I turned to see what had caused it, and what I saw freaked me out in similar, yet different way Geists did. It looked like FC, but it was black, the wings and tail were different, the hair went from black to light grey instead of black to blonde, and the eyes were a solid sky blue. The black made it hard to see the edges of it, like I was looking into a void, the wings like true dragon wings, and the tail didn’t look like a pony tail, but instead was like a dragon tail, with several sharp spikes on the end and two large ones that looked for slicing. It was unnerving to look at. Then pure black tentacles came out of it, like some eldritch horror. I stared for a moment, before realizing what I was looking at.
“...I can work with this.” I stated, more to myself than anything.
“Could somepony PLEASE tell me what the BUCK is GOING ON?!” Twilight shouted in fear as she stared at FC too.
“Very crazy things!” I shouted before rejoining the fray, launching myself with yet another Gravity round. I took note of that one being my third in the six-round clip.
FC let out a literal mental barrage, and by the looks of the Mane Six holding their ears, they heard it too. He rapidly slashed at the Geist Lord, his claws and tail leaving deep wounds and bits of bone flew off of it. I myself sliced away at its eye, inflicting blindness and massive pain to it with my own flurry of attacks. Hearing that there was a dead child among this thing’s victims brought up a primal rage in me that increased my wrath tenfold. Then I saw FC bring his tail down right on the creature’s head, cleaving it, and saw its eye go dark. It stopped floating in the air and fell, unmoving. Then in a flash of particles from the Assassin’s Creed Loading screens, there was no trace of it.
The Mane Six walked up to me and FC. “Who are you two?” Twilight asked… no, demanded, fear making her voice quiver.
“My name’s Summer Dash, and this is FC. No need to worry about us, we aren’t here to hurt you.” I told them.
“Yeah right, that’s what they all say.” Rainbow challenged, clearly not believing me.
“Then here, let me prove it.” I challenged back. In just a few swift motions, I switched out the Gravity clip on my Crescent Rose for a Fire clip, and aimed it at her. “If we wanted to hurt you, you’d already be dead. The reason you’re not, is simply because we aren’t genocidal maniacs. We want friends, not enemies.” With that said, I put up the weapon. They had all paled in fear at me, taking a step back. Putting back on a cheerful smile, I offered them my hoof. “Now then, how about we actually settle down and talk things out?”
“Yes, talking would be much more preferable.” Rarity agreed, looking pretty stunned by my rapid transition between hostile and friendly. I felt someone poking my mane, and turned to see Pinkie curiously looking at me.
“...What are you doing?” I asked, slightly disturbed by the way her face held no expression.
“Why isn’t your mane changing with your mood? You seem to be like me, emotion wise…” she asked. I stared at her for a second. Then I used my changeling magic to turn into her.
“I dunno, Pinkie. Is this better?” I asked. Pinkie blinked and looked up… and up, and up, and fell over. Did I forget to mention I had made my mane about ten or twenty times as puffy. Rainbow laughed at that, dropping out of the air for a bit. I smiled, happy to have removed the tense atmosphere, before turning back.
FC came up beside, now back to normal, but I had some questions about that form he used, but that could wait later. “I am going to check for any wounded in any of the other destroyed buildings.” He said before going off. Fluttershy was quick to follow him, clearly concerned as well.
“Oh! W-wait for me!” she softly called out, fluttering after him. I watched her go for a minute, before turning to the rest.
“So, uh… anyone up for lunch? The Geist Lord kinda interrupted that.” I asked.
~FC~
I worked through the rubble, avoiding the house I crashed into. Seeing those ponies murdered like that helped remind me what we were fighting against. But since Fluttershy decided to come along, I avoided it because her seeing that would have probably given her a heart attack. So far, I haven’t found anymore ponies who were killed, plenty of wounded. It seems the paramedics were taking their time to arrive. I found a earth pony mare with lacerations on her hind legs, so I had to carry her out. Fluttershy had found a young unicorn colt whose horn had been broken. There weren’t many wounded, so I guess a lot got away from the monster. I lowered the mare to the ground once we got out of the wreckage, making sure not to aggravate the wound.
When Fluttershy brought over the colt though, it looked like that horn couldn’t be healed normally, and I saw that she could see that too. “I can heal his horn, but just don’t freak out at what I am about to do.”
“O-okay…” She hesitantly agreed.
With that, I bit down on one of my forehooves, puncturing the bottom of it, so the blood could come up. I then put my forehoof to the colt’s horn, using the other to hold the broken piece to the rest of it. I focused, the blood wrapping around the breaking point before seeping in and sealing it together, the horn fixed, like nothing ever happened. I sat down, a little bit tired out. The colt hugged me and said thank you. I gave him a warm smile, despite being tired out.
“O-o-oh… m-my….” Fluttershy whimpered at the sight of my blood though. Next thing I heard was a thud as she fainted.
“Oh, buck.” I simply said. Then the paramedics arrived, taking the injured earth pony mare to heal her. I told them about the dead ponies before they left to look for more survivors. With that, I decided to join back up with Summer. I carried Fluttershy on my back as I made my way back and used a Mind Speak spell I had learned. <Hey Summer, where are you at? >
<Okay, I will be right there. Fluttershy fainted when she saw me use my other healing factor. You know, the one that I can heal others with my blood if I bite my hoof? >
<Thanks. Also, are you surprised that I am using something besides the Hive Mind to communicate to you this way? > I said with a smirk.
<Yep, It is called a Mind Speak spell. I tend to use it in my dragon form or other forms that have trouble speaking vocally. You kind of got a taste of it when I went Darkling form on the Geist Lord. It is also good for throwing your voice somewhere. >
<That would be Darkling form. Back home, I made it to be used in a RP called “Project Restart”. Basically, it involved creatures called Darklings, which were creatures of darkness that had a hive structure. They came in a meteor, and they kind of traveled from planet to planet, like a swarm of locusts. They almost devastated Equestria, which kind of forced ponies and changelings to make an alliance and escape to space, making a Lunar Base. These creatures could only be hurt by weaponizing white light. They did have a queen, but the main villain was a male darkling that was extremely powerful and took on the form of a pure black alicorn. He was called the Fearling. He kind of turned me into this. You know the Greek legend of Prometheus, mostly the punishment actually? >
<His punishment was that he was chained to a rock and an eagle would eat his liver from his body every morning and it would grow back. The Darklings used my healing factor against me. They used me as a renewable food source. The ate my innards to survive when they couldn’t catch any ponies to eat. The Fearling ate my heart, gaining my healing factor somehow, and caused it to be weakened, and some of the darklings took my innards to their queen, causing new varieties of darklings to be born from some of my powers, causing me to lose them. I escaped, and after awhile, I had sacrificed myself to save some of my friends from one of the varieties caused by my pain. An Alpha Hunterling, a large angry version of a certain darkling type that could detach their body parts and throw them at their enemies. It had the power of my strength. I woke up and ate the remains of the Alpha Hunterling, as there was no other food to help heal me. The Fearling used the newly ingested Darkling blood to turn me into a darkling. He nearly made me kill my friends, but I broke free of his control. I hunted down one of each darkling mutation and got my powers back, except for my healing. I had to kill the Fearling for that. That is the story of how I got my Darkling form. It seems to happen when I get extremely angry or protective of my friends. >
<That is the downside actually. It didn’t happen to me, but I became the one who it happened to, memories and all. That might be the downside of getting all versions of the character, you get all their emotional baggage, but sometimes it helps make them into a better person. >
<Agh! > I felt pain as locked away memories came to the surface. It was something that I had wrote for my character involving Gmod. Something that I now regret writing. What Summer had said caused these memories to surface.
<...I’m sorry, did I offend?> Summer asked obliviously.
<No, but it opened up some memories of an incident my character was in involving a certain lusty alicorn. Now I am wishing I didn’t write that before. Because of the situation I put him in, anytime someone tries to seduce me, I am going have a fear reaction. Why did I have him become a victim of Molestia!? > I said while berating myself. I suddenly regretted answering when I felt mischief over the link.
<Okay then… > I said as I started to land in front of the castle doors. <I made it to the castle. Hopefully I don’t get lost in here trying to find you. >
<Trust me, I have heard a lot of complaints about her getting reformed. And she actually gets lost in the castle too. Hm, I wonder if I could alter my Mind Speak spell to help locate where you are at in the castle? > I replied.
With that, I gave it a shot, combining the main spell with a simple compass spell and surprisingly, it worked. Several minutes later, I found Summer and the rest of the Mane Six in the dining room. There, Summer was lying on her back in wolf form, letting Applejack rub her belly. The others were watching, clearly glad for the distraction from what had happened earlier.
“Oh, hello darling. Bring Fluttershy over here, I have some herbal tea that might help her wake up.” Rarity greeted, holding onto a teacup in her hooves.
“Okay then, I really need to get some food. Changing forms and fighting has really drained me.” I said, gently putting Fluttershy down near Rarity. I then went over to the table and got ten sandwiches. What? I was hungry.
<Wait, what’s a Kineptic? > I asked. I had already taken a bite out of one of my sandwiches, and it was delicious.
“Ooh, that sounds interesting. I’d love to meet one of them, maybe work with one to develop something that can let Earth Ponies and Pegasi use magic like a Unicorn!” Twilight gushed.
“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Twilight asked. I facehooved.
“Summer, I think we should explain what happened. Like how we got here in the first place and what is going to happen. We might as well also break it to them how we know about them. You opened this can of worms, you deal with it.” I said before taking another bite.
“Then we went to one of the fan conventions, where we met the a Displacer. A Displacer is someone who has the powers to send people to other worlds, like yours. We are considered Displaced, which are humans who have been sent, sometimes not of their own will though. Twilight, we are from a different human world than you know.” I added on.
<On top of that, there are multiple Equestrias, each with their own Displaced in them. Each Displaced can meet each other or get in contact through a Token, which allow displaced to call each other if they want. Speaking of which, I kinda wanna make my token now…>
“The Displacer we met was known as the Gambler. He can send people to Equestria, but for a price. Our deal was that we get sent to Equestria, having all the versions of one character of ours, but in exchange, we had to deal with every villain or character we dealt with in the past. If we failed, we’d be sent back home, with no way to return, while you guys dealt with the gates of Tartarus being open forever, Cerebus being dead, and all princesses, including you Twilight, being banished to their respective element. Basically, you guys would have to deal with armageddon.” I finished. Twilight stared at the two of us for a few more moments, just trying to process it all, before sighing.
“Okay, I never thought I’d say this… but holy fucking shit. You two had better be strong enough to win.” Twilight said with a slightly angry, but subdued tone.
“We have to be, considering the stuff we have to deal with. Me, I deal with stuff that has more malevolent intents than the stuff you guys deal with. Like, I am talking about things that have the intent to kill . With my healing factor, I can easily keep fighting.” I replied, having already finished off three of my sandwiches. Twilight didn’t seem fazed in the slightest though, much to my surprise.
“I’m sorry, what gave you the impression I haven’t faced death before?” she asked like we were discussing the weather.
I sighed. “Fine, you may be right, but at least you didn’t have to deal with genocidal beings of darkness intent on wiping out all life, having to kill a friend because a being of deceit had gained too much power over their mind, or having an entire hive of dark creatures eating your innards for months and endure that pain.” I knew Summer had already known about that, I could guess she dealt with some similarly dark stuff like I did. Seriously, what was with this fandom and its fascination with death and gore in the series?
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Twilight said, somewhat regretting what she said earlier. I think she now realized we had to deal with that shit way more than she and her friends have. “I just surprised you haven’t gone a little crazy from that.”
“Trust me, I have, but the regrets of not saving lives has made me value the lives of others a lot more. Because of that, I do all I can to save every single life I can from being ended early. Call it sappy if you want, but I call it preventing others from feeling the same pain I have gone through.” I replied.
“But not all things we are going to deal with are going to be of that evil category. Sometimes we just deal with weird shit or something normal.” I finished off with.
“That’s relieving at least.” Twilight sighed.
“One of them is gonna be Queen Chrysalis.” Summer said out loud, having switched out of wolf form in the middle of me speaking. “And I have just the perfect little plan for her…”
“Well, looks like that is one changeling we don’t have to fight.” I said. “Let’s finish eating so we can get on with what we have to do.” With that, I got back to eating my sandwiches. I was going to need my strength for whatever was going to happen next.
“Nam.” Summer said, nomming on my ear. How did she get there?
The Equestrian Double Gamble
Chapter 5: Fanfictions and Conspiracies
~Summer~
Once lunch was finished, Twilight excused herself, explaining she wanted to tell Celestia and Luna about us. With Fluttershy now awake, I could talk to her about things like animals… well, as soon as I explained why we killed the Geist Lord. I basically told her that we were sparing it from the pain tainted magic had it suffering. FC meanwhile was having a friendly chat with Spike, just hanging out. I didn’t much pay attention to the two, but I did overhear some bits. It sounded like they were talking about dragon stuff. It sounded like Spike was glad to have another male around, and another dragon to talk to. Seeing Spike reminded me of another fic in which Samus re-raised him, and I had to laugh a bit. I still remembered the series of “woof.” Best laugh of my life.
“What’s so funny?” Pinkie asked, suddenly by my side.
“Stuff and things involving Spike being a badass.” I replied. It was loud enough for Spike and FC to hear, because I wanted to see how they reacted. Of course, that meant everypony else could hear it too.
FC just had a curious look, wondering what I could be referencing. He had stopped using the Mind Speak spell, so he probably didn’t know.
“What are you talking about? Spike hasn’t done anything… spectacularly badass like the two of you just did.” Rainbow asked.
“A story I read had Spike written out as an intergalactic bounty hunter right alongside the greatest of such I know of. Samus Aran, the Chozo Warrior… Heh… if I find a way to share the story without dumping my memory into you, you girls are gonna be in for a treat.” I said.
“Oh, you were talking about that story. Maybe we could show them some of the others in the same series once we get the chance to.” FC said, now knowing what I was talking about.
“Maybe, but I haven’t read all of the others. A lot of them are sitting in my Favorites shelf, making the Unread chapters count continuously raise because I lost the drive to keep up with them.” I said, now regretting it.
“Eh, it’s okay, I actually read most of them, except I haven’t finished a few of them that are incomplete because of me having work to do. I definitely read the ones involving Trixie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Chrysalis, and Princess Cadance.” FC replied.
“I skipped Pinkies. Her being raised by a God of War just doesn’t really appeal to me.” I said flippantly. I found it funny how the Mane 6 just kept looking between us in confusion. “I did enjoy Octavia and Vinyl’s though.”
“I’m reading those ones too, but I only mentioned the ones that have been completely written. Those two aren’t finished yet, but I still like them. Haven’t gotten to Rarity’s yet, because I am not a big fan of Batman.” FC replied, just ignoring the confusion.
“I read some of it. She goes Nightmare Rarity again in it, but for some insane reason the author somehow made sense of, she didn’t go evil. Oh, and she played hero without the costume too.” I replied, getting extreme looks of confusion and shock from Rarity. At this point, it was basically a whole land of What the Fuck.
“Okay, what in tarnation are y’all talking about?” Applejack asked.
“We are talking about fanfictions. Remember, we said in our world, your world was a show. Well, one thing about having fans is they will write their own stories for it. Like how Rainbow Dash has probably written some Daring Do fanfics.” FC said while Rainbow just looked indignant.
“You can’t deny it, Rainbow… Every fan has at the least thought of it.” I teased. I would have rocked my hips with that statement, but I didn’t want to push it too far. “Oh yeah, that reminds me, I wonder how they’d react to the Elements of Insanity?” I said, once more returning my focus to FC.
“TheInvertedShadow has already done Rainbow, Fluttershy, and even Pinkie reacting to their respective versions, but hopefully we don’t have them being on opposite sides when they come. Remember, I did come up with ideas involving me.” FC replied.
“Huh. Must have missed them. I’ve got some serious catchup to do if I ever get Internet again.” I said, thinking it over.
“Well, I could make us both laptops with Universal Internet once I get a chance to make them. Probably would do that after I make us somewhere to live, as it would require a workshop to build those.” He said, and considering what he said about the Minecraft stuff before, I could probably believe him.
“Um… alright. You’re the Crafter Master.” I said. Before Pinkie could suddenly start up on a tangent about rhymes though, I quickly jumped like a predator at another topic. “Anyway, I should probably get some practice in with my powers. Can’t exactly fight at max power without good experience.” And then the jaws were dropped. I just got up and made my way out, leaving them to figure out the implications of my statement.
“Welp, looks like I might go practice too, but probably somewhere else.” I heard FC say before he went a different direction than me.
I managed to find my way out the front door of the castle, the guards thankfully leaving me be on my way. Thinking carefully, I decided I might as well train in the Everfree. I needed to learn how to maneuver in there, and deal with whatever freaky horrors there were there. No sense in putting it off, I’m eventually going to have to go back eventually. And when I do, I need to be ready. I made sure to let FC know through our mental connection before I went in.
<Okay then, I’m going to see what I need to work on. > FC replied.
<The only thing would be the shades, but they can’t fly. Also, a bit of advice, don’t use trees as target practice, or you will have to deal with nature elementals. > FC replied.
<Okay then, just be safe. > he said, before I took off into the forest. As I ran, I stripped myself down to an Earth Pony disguise, just for the sake of making it difficult.It’s no fun if it’s easy. I spotted a bit of the Everfree wildlife as I ran, leaping over logs and swinging on branches. I think I even passed an Ent or something when I managed to swing my way through trees to get over a large pond, but I was moving too fast to really be sure.
<Summer, I just realized something. You might need targets to practice on, so I am giving you spell that makes clones out of crystallized magic .> FC said as he transferred the knowledge of the spell. From what I could tell, it was a really simple spell. It looked to be simpler than the magic of the Mirror Pool, in the fact that the clones wouldn’t have any form of sentience.
http://i.imgur.com/oUsWMyF.jpg
I hesitated, split with indecision about what to do. I could just leave them here to die, and hope Karma doesn’t come back to bite me in the ass, or I could save her and hope she could listen to reason. Either way, there was a risk, but… which one was I willing to take? I wasn’t given much time to think, as one of the Shades managed to clear through the protective circle, shrieking as it lashed out at Chrysalis. I decided in that moment, despite the fear I was struck with, that it was best that I helped. So I whipped out Crescent Rose and loaded a gravity round, launching myself at the beast faster than I could blink.
“DYNAMIC ENTRY!” I shouted just for kicks as I hit it dead in the chest, knocking the wind from it and straight into a tree, its back spikes embedded into the tree. That was one down, and four to go.
“What the…?!” Chrysalis was shocked at my entrance. I hefted my weapon, ready to slice out again.
“Who’s next?!” I shouted with a bloodthirsty smile at the rest of the shades. One of them charged at me, it was somewhat bigger than the others and had several scars on its face and chest, probably an older, more experienced shade. It slashed at me, and I sidestepped it, immediately punishing it for attacking first. Then I felt claws rake across my back. Apparently the elder had acted as a distraction for another one to strike, so these things were somewhat smart. Which meant I needed to be faster. Putting away my Crescent Rose, I shifted into wolf form and started darting around. I kept weaving between and around them, biting and clawing in short, quick attacks to keep them from retaliating or catching me by surprise. I even augmented my attacks with ice, and enhanced my speed with a certain crystal one version of my character was bound to. A wind crystal that infused me with its element.
It seemed that the shades were starting to have enough, so the elder roared and moved away, apparently signaling a retreat. The others followed, one of them stopping to pull its comrade out of the tree before leaving. I chuckled as I released my wolf form.
“Another victory for the books. I am on a roll .” I praised myself. However, the sound of several horns charging up behind me cut off my moment of victory.
“Who are you?” Chrysalis demanded. I just turned around with a smirk.
“Oh now that’s cute… is this how you treat the one that just saved your ass?” I said. Chrysalis grit her teeth as I dodged the question.
“WHO ARE YOU!” she demanded again, her drones charging their horns more.
“My name is Summer Dash. And I am quite possibly the only way to save your hive. If you want to live, let alone thrive… you will listen to exactly everything I have to say.” I demanded coldly. Chrysalis hesitated at just how deeply I had made that threat.
“And what if I don’t?” she asked, sounding like she was having a hard time controlling her fear.
“Well… let’s just say you’re really not gonna like what happens next.” I said with a clear smile of bloodthirst. “So what’s it gonna be, Chryssie? Listen? Or die?” The drones fired their spells right then, and I felt the very distinct burn of it as I was thrown back. However, I just got back up after I landed, taking out my crescent Rose and exchanging the Gravity rounds for Ice rounds.
“Oh, man was I hoping for this! You ‘bout to have a real bad day…” I said as I slowly drew closer. The drones started firing at me again, but I just kept cutting their bolts away as they got close. When I found a chance, I fired at one of them, freezing him and two adjacent changelings solid. The remaining ones panicked and scattered, leaving me with the chance to strike. All ten lost their heads not even 2 minutes later. I faced Chrysalis with that same psychotic grin.
“So… are you ready to listen?” I asked, pointing my blade at her. She was scared shitless, and simply nodded. “Good. Because if not, I would have introduced you to my good friend Overkill.” I tapped my scythe blade to let her know what I meant. I started cleaning my scythe as I spoke.
“What do you want then?” She asked.
“What I want is to make this world a better place. Now, whether or not that means saving or erasing your hive, that remains to be seen.” I explained. She gulped in fear as I went on. “You haven’t exactly been a good Queen, Chryssie. You’ve lead your people into war against a city that you just as easily could have made peace with. But you chose not to show any mercy… why is that?”
“They mangled my daughter, burned her with cursed fire! She’s permanently crippled now just because she tried to be a diplomat! Those ponies have no remorse for us.” Chrysalis shouted, enraged.
“...Did you ever stop to consider the fact that maybe you shouldn’t blame a collective? The Equestrian Guards don’t have a hive mind, and some of them could be treacherous scum bent on preserving their idea of Harmony. Some can even be clever enough to get away with doing something like that without alerting a higher authority.” I told her.
“If so, then who gave the order? My daughter told me the ones who attacked claimed it was the order they were given.” Chrysalis seethed.
“Obviously, a rogue terrorist cell among the guards. They have to have gotten deep into the Royal Guard to have gotten away with giving an order like that.” I explained. I then sighed a bit. “Fear and anger are terrible motivators… but surely you must see that the Princess is only afraid of that which she doesn’t understand. And I’m certain she understands changelings fairly well.” I added.
“How do you even know what you’re saying is true?” Chrysalis asked, still angry. I shrugged.
“I have no idea. However, I can easily enough find out. I am rather overpowered, wouldn’t you agree?” I said with a cheeky smile. Chrysalis facehoofed.
“Whatever… as long as I get payback for my daughter, I’ll be happy to do whatever.” she said with a tired sigh.
“Good. I’ll head on up to Canterlot then, and hope to whatever deity dares to listen that Celestia’s not in a jumpy mood today.” I said before beginning to head off. Tripping over her drones on my way, I was reminded she might still be upset about them. “Oh yeah, and sorry about the drones. But, I’ve got rules. No mercy for those who don’t offer it. And three chances for anyone I know.”
“Just go.” Chrysalis hissed. I shrugged and left.
<They did what?! Okay, when I get my hands on them, I am going to show them a bad time. They will wish that I killed them instead of what I have planned for them! > FC said, and I could feel some rather dark intentions for said jerks, and personally, it was terrifying because they were rather well hidden.
http://img09.deviantart.net/add3/i/2013/075/f/3/daughter_chrysalis_by_jasmine_werecat-d5y7fxt.png
Then I felt FC’s anger being replaced with sympathy. <I am sorry such a thing happened to your daughter, Chrysalis. I must know one thing though. How long ago did this incident happen? >
<I thank you for this information. I just wish we had that one law from my favorite comic, ‘Dominic Deagan, Oracle for Hire’. That law was that the survivor of such events had the right to one retaliatory hit. Personally, if we had that and we found the culprits, I would suggest hitting the guys in the nuts. > It felt like FC really had no mercy for ponies like that. Which was good because neither did I.
<I only mentioned the law because they can’t do anything bloody or murdery for the crimes. Normally I would agree with you about what you said, but it reminds me too much of how I got my Darkling form. I prefer destroying them psychologically, even if it involves a lot of pain. Now, we got some royals to meet. > FC said.
The Equestrian Double Gamble
~Summer~
When I got close to the castle’s front door, I paused to take note of the Solar and Lunar Guard contingent waiting near a particular pair of sun and moon themed chariots. I guess the Princesses came by after Twilight sent that note.Being careful about it, I shifted into pony form, basically getting rid of my chitten in exchange for fur. With that set, I headed in.
“Excuse me, ma’am, but we’ve been informed there’s a changeling in the area. I’m sorry, but it’s just procedure and I have to check you.” the guard said. Mentally, I smirked as an idea came to me. I heard FC over the line, however, cutting me short.
“Sir, I am the changeling.” I replied to the guard. “And I hate to burst your little bubble, but not all of us are the monsters we’ve been painted to be. I’m one of the two ponies that stopped a rampaging, corrupted Geist here.” Needless to say, the guard was shocked.
“Okay, if that is true, then where is the other pony who also helped?” The guard asked, a little bit skeptical, not being sure if to believe me or not.
“Right here.” I heard FC say. Me and the guards got spooked. How did he get here? We didn’t see him flying or hear the telltale sounds of teleporting. What was he, a ninja?
“That was rather prompt of you. I thought you were still out training.” I said as I turned to him.
“Nope, I was just waiting for you to tell me when to arrive, or if things got out of hoof.” he said with a bit of a smile.
“Well, it’s welcome nonetheless.” I said before turning back to the guard. “Can we go in? We’d like to meet the Princesses.”
“U-uh… just… let me get my superior.” he said before going in alone. His silent partner stayed to watch us. I was content to wait, but there was something creepy about the way he was staring at me. I couldn’t sense his emotions, though that could just be an armor enchantment, but either way, I was unnerved about him. After a while, I got bored of having a staring contest and started looking elsewhere.
“...” He replied.
“Cool. Do you think we could spar sometime? I know I’m powerful, but I’m usually only fighting towering behemoths or swarms of low-tier beasts. I’m curious to know just how tough a specially trained opponent is.” I requested.
“...” He answered.
“Alright then. Would you know anyone who’d like to?” I asked at his apparent denial.
“...” His eye twitched.
“Good conversation.” I said before leaving him alone. Then I turned to FC and whispered comedically loudly. “I don’t think he likes me very much.”
“Hard to tell actually. Let’s just leave them be to do their job.” he replied.
~Night Guard~
How the buck did she just… it’s like she read my bucking mind! She carried on a conversation without me saying a damn thing! Just… WHAT THE BUCK!?
~Summer~
The other guard came out soon with some other pony who had a longsword unsheathed. This pony had probably the evilest look a pony could have without blatantly looking evil. That is to say, he had the villainous appearance, but not the villainous colors. His coat was brown and his mane was black and pointy. He also had a goatee.
“Ah, yes… the two heroes…” he said with no hidden amount of malice. I blinked as I stepped back from him.
“Wow, it never fails! Heh, that prank is always a good opener. The obviously evil guard, about to begin a monologue… Heh… well, it’s helped a lot with keeping me from getting in unnecessary trouble.” he said, before holding out his hoof. “Howdy. Name’s Shadow Mask.”
“Um… wow. You got me good, dude. Name’s Summer Dash. Nice to meet you.” I said with a smile as I shook his hoof.
“FC Dracsemi. Also nice to meet you.” replied, shaking his hoof as well.
“Alrighty then. Let’s get you little lovebirds to the Princesses.” he said, turning and leading the way. I blinked at that word. I turned to see FC facehooving.
<... I am okay with that.> I replied. With that, FC followed after the guard, and I shortly after. For effect, I leaned slightly against him in an act of love. He even put his wing over me.
Up at the top of the stairs, I recomposed myself into a professional pose to show the Princesses some respect. FC followed suit, probably because he knew first impressions mattered a lot.
“Hello, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna.” I greeted in a royal tone of voice.
“Your Majesties.” FC said while bowing his head and putting one hoof across his chest.
Celestia and Luna turned to face us, though Luna’s turn was quicker and more hostile than Celestia’s. I nearly flinched at Luna’s rage. “So you’ve come to us, vermin…” Luna nearly snarled at me, clearly not liking changelings all that much.
“That I have, your highness. However, would you kindly refrain from using that term against me? I’m not a power hungry fool like that idiot Queen that tried to attack all that time ago. I know whom would make better allies than enemies… as should you.” I said, narrowing my eyes at her for that last part. “I would very much prefer not to fight, but if you force my hoof… well, you won’t have a very good time.”
“Is that a threat?” Luna seethed.
“No. It’s a warning. I sense your rage, but I beg of you not to be blinded by it. You already have been once, and it cost you greatly.” I told her. Luna flinched as if I’d shot her. That reminder was enough to quell her rage, at least for now.
“You’re right…” Luna admitted. Celestia put a reassuring hoof on her sister’s shoulder, looking at me with a stern gaze.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Would like the long story or the short version?” FC asked. I could sense he was getting tired of explaining all the time. Maybe Twilight should have included that information in her letter.
“Short, if you will.” Celestia requested. I smiled as I stepped forth.
“Basically, we came to live here. Thing is, we gotta participate in a rather dangerous deal if we want to stay.” I said. “Oh, and if you come across any strange objects that throw voices into your head with messages about summoning, could you please bring them to us? They’re from others like us.”
“I still do not understand those tokens. We were never told about tokens in that deal.” FC replied.
“Well, the dude did Displace us.” I countered. “We are Displaced now.”
“Yeah, but I never heard about tokens before now. Anyways, let’s get back to the topic.” FC said. Something told me he didn’t want to get too off topic.
“Yes… what exactly was this deal you mentioned?” Luna asked. I sighed at this part.
“That’s a rather dangerous topic… alright, imagine every fictional story you’ve read is a sort of link to another reality, timeline, world, whatever you want to call it. Now, he and I are authors in our world who tend to write fan content about this one. Naturally, we each made original characters - the ones you see before you right now, and have had them face many challenges. Our deal is that we get to come here… but if we want to stay, we need to avoid dying to each enemy we’ve written our characters facing. And that means a lot of things that could potentially kill you two. Now since we’re every version of our characters wrapped into one package, we stand a much higher chance of surviving, but it’ll still be a challenge.” I explained.
“Princesses, I am sorry you are caught up in this mess, partly because of me. The person we made a deal with, I knew some of the deals he made in the past would conflict with my morality. But we promise to make sure we don’t fail.” FC said, hoping to ease the tension with the princesses so we probably wouldn’t be sent to the moon.
“Besides, if all else fails, we can just fuse… if we can find the right spell.” I said sheepishly.
“F-fuse…!” the Royal Sisters paused to glance at each other at the mention of that, eyes wide. “That is… a highly advanced ability only few are ever able to accomplish.” Luna started.
“Luna and I were once capable of using it. But then…” Celestia trailed off, remembering some bad memories.
“Discord… King Sombra… the long winter we trekked through… all of that wore away at our unity, preventing us from fusing again.” Luna picked up for her sister. “Until eventually, I became Nightmare Moon, and all sense of Unity vanished, thus destroying any chance of that spell’s further use between us.”
“Well, it might take some time, but it will probably be harder for us, considering I have two other voices in my head. The only time they aren’t fighting with each other and me is when I go Darkling form. And before you ask, I do not like talking about how I got that form.” FC replied.
“Hey, if that’s the one time you’ve got the greatest harmony, then it might actually work out…” I muttered. “See… I’m a rather dark and slightly psychotic individual.” I said, leading the way for the realization. Celestia and Luna looked between us nervously.
“Well, I get along with one of the voices, and you met him Summer. The other one is Animalis, and he is not so nice. He is kind of the dragon part of me that I do not like, being all the bad things like Wrath, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth. Fortunately, he doesn’t pop up very often. You could say between the other voice and my morals, he is pretty much locked up.” FC explained, calming the princesses down a little bit.
“Oh. Then yeah, could be a problem.” I admitted.
“Trust me, Darkling form is when I am in pure Harmony. It is kind of a dark Harmony though, but it will work. One thing we have to get sorted out now though is living arrangements. I can easily build a house, but I just need a spot with plenty of space in order to do that.”
“Oh, there’s plenty of space on the outskirts of town. I believe there’s a plot available near Vinyl and Octavia’s house.” Twilight supplied.
“Sound good enough for me!” FC simply replied. “Anything else you would like to discuss with us your majesties?”
“Yes, actually. If you can find the time, I would appreciate a document of the beings you two will be facing, so we might know or at least anticipate what we should watch out for.” Celestia said with a smile. The word Document set Twilight off like a bullet.
“Ooh! Can I record?!” she excitedly asked.
“I will give information on all the enemies I have faced.” FC said.
“And I mine. I have nothing to hide.” I added. The princesses nodded their satisfaction, before returning their attention to Twilight. Satisfied the Princesses hadn’t attacked, I turned to leave… before remembering something. “Oh! By the way, there’s something I need to talk with your captain of the guard about.”
“Whatever about?” Celestia asked, curiously.
“Turns out the reason Queen Chrysalis attacked you was because she thought you ordered guards to burn her daughter with cursed flames when she was just trying to come to you with diplomatic intent.” I told her. Her eyes widened in shock at the implications.
“Fortunately for Chrysalis, her daughter survived, but was crippled. I will say this, there is almost nothing that can stand in the way of a parent’s wrath.” FC replied, a serious enough tone that it felt like the room got colder.
“This certainly explains a lot…” Celestia muttered grimly. “But what do you need my captain for?”
“Permission to run a few tests. I’m gonna make some fake speeches and see how the guard regiment reacts, both visibly and emotionally. Those that react with abnormal glee and hatred might be part of a terrorist cell that has their own view of what Harmony is supposed to be. That’s the running theory about who hurt Chrysalis’s daughter, anyway. I just want to make certain, though I’ve already told Chrysalis of this possibility. She was very pissed at you, though I think some of that anger came from me saving of her ass from a bunch of Shades.” I said. Celestia blinked.
“That’s a rather bold suggestion, Summer. What gave you that idea?” Luna stepped in.
“Firstly, it’s happened in a very dark story I once read back home, and secondly, these are almost exactly the same circumstances. Except here, Celestia doesn’t appear to have had a changeling queen take her place while she recovered from fatal wounds for over a thousand years.” I explained.
“Right… that linked worlds thing you explained…” Celestia deadpanned. “Are you even certain your information is accurate?”
“Well, considering who we now are is every instance of our characters thrown together, and the details of our deal, and the fact that I’ve done a roleplay involving said terrorist cell, it’s very likely.”
“I hate terrorists. They are usually formed from the religious extremists. Just look at Al Qaeda, ISIS, or any other group. Heck, I didn’t even agree with the Crusades.” FC replied. “Celestia, you defeated Nightmare Moon, no offense Luna. The both of you beat a god of chaos, a dark king, and a magic-eating centaur, and I am talking about them being beaten the first time. Yes, you did defend your subjects, but there are consequences for every action. We usually go for the least amount of consequences, but sometimes there are consequences we can not foresee. There might be some ponies who think of you as gods , which means you are bound to get some cult followings. Heck, the brony fandom has the whole Solar Empire versus New Lunar Republic arguement.”
The two sisters blinked in surprise at that one, and looked at each other. I could tell they were getting ideas from that. “Speaking of consequences, I think you may have accidentally inspired some kind of war game.” I told FC.
“I just hope it is tabletop and not actual war games involving real weapons.” FC quipped back.
“I believe we’re satisfied for now.” Celestia assured. Luna nodded, echoing her sister’s sentiments.
“Then we’ll need to get going. We’ve got a house to build.” I said before heading out.
“Time for me to work my stuff.” FC said as he cracked his...claws? I don’t know how he could crack knuckles with clawed hooves. Better not question it. We soon made our way to where we were going to build, and I took the time going there to make myself a Token. I made a small circular snowflake, crafted just right to be usable as a necklace, and then put a bit of my power into it as I spoke my message.
“Heya, the name’s Summer Dash, your friendly neighborhood werewolf bugpony badass. Feel free to bug me for whatever, but if you’re on a team I don’t support, then… Well, you better be ready to have a bad time.” I spoke. The newly made token glowed a faint blue aura to show it was done, and I let it drop. “Heh… there’s mine then. You gonna make one too?”
“Maybe, but considering the whole Gaia Terran thing I had made for myself, I don’t think so. Now, let me work my Minecraft magic.” With that, FC opened up his pocket space. “Why don’t you see what Vinyl and Octavia are up to while I build.”
“Okay.” I said, heading off. I got to Vinyl’s quickly enough, and I heard some music playing in there. Judging from the genre, I’d say Octavia was in the zone at the moment, so I made my entrance quiet, but not unnoticable.
“Hey Summer!” Vinyl said quietly. “What brings you here?”
“Boredom, mostly. Music’s great though.” I whispered back.
“Yeah, Tavi’s really good. Where’s FC at?” Vinyl replied.
“Building. We just got done talking with the princesses, told them about the deal we made to get here. Really wish I’d gotten to take my laptop with me, show you two some of the music your fans on earth have composed, but… well, hindsight is 20/20.” I shrugged.
“Bummer. I'm surprised me and Tavi have fans from another dimension, Though. What are some of the more well known names? I might look forward to it.” Vinyl said.
“A few are Wooden Toaster, The Living Tombstone, Mandopony, Forest Rain, Delta Brony… There’s a few others I can’t remember off the top of my head, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of music from them.”
“Those names actually seem kind of cool. Hey, do you and FC want to have dinner with us? Me and Tavi are going to meet some of our friends at Hayburger.” Vinyl asked.
I shrugged. “Sure, why not? I’ll let FC know when he’s done.”
The music came to an end. Apparently Octavia had finished playing. She then noticed that I was here. “How long were you here? I didn’t notice you come in.” Octavia said.
“Not that long ago. I think it was during the climax of the song.” I said, reflecting on how it had sounded. Suddenly, I got an idea. “Hey, you mind if I borrow a violin? I wanna see how far I can take my mimic ability, and try to copy a song from my memories.”
“I don’t have one on hand, but we could go to the Ponyville Musicians’ Guild to grab you one.” Octavia replied.
“Alright. We should grab an electric guitar while we’re there too.” I said, already eager to play the song.
“Alright then. Well, is there anything you want to talk about?” Octavia asked.
“Just a bit about music. I can think of a few musicians back home you might enjoy. I’m actually planning on playing a song from one of them.” I replied.
“Oh, I guess that could work.” Octavia replied. “I don’t really have much to do, maybe we just go out around the town.”
“Yeah, that seems like a good idea.” Vinyl added in.
“Alright then. Let’s go.” I said, heading out. I let them lead the way to the guild, and greeted Lyra there. “Hi Lyra.”
“Um… hi. How do you know me?” She asked uncertainly.
“I’m a human that watches critical events in this world’s history through what my world perceives as fiction.” I bluntly replied. Octavia deadpanned as Lyra froze up upon the mention of a human.
“Oh, great… now Lyra’s going to be collecting 20 bits from everypony in town. I was hoping it would be delayed, but…” Octavia quipped.
“That’s… a lot of info dump.” Lyra slowly stated.
“Huh, I was expecting her to go all nuts, not be broken.” Vinyl said. “I guess the added bit about how our world is perceived broke her.”
“Shouldn’t be. She sees humans the same way.” I said. Lyra blinked.
“Huh. I guess I do.” she muttered.
“You mean as fiction? The way she goes about it, it’s like she was trying to convince ponies that aliens or the Illumarenati are real.” Vinyl replied.
“I didn’t say anything about how we talk about it. Just the way we see it.” I retorted.
“Oh, you mean fangasming.” Vinyl simply said.
“Eh… close enough. Anyway, I’m here for a violin. Got a song from home I wanna play.” Lyra smiled as she turned and gestured for me to follow.
“Oh, sure, come on. I’d love to hear.” She said as she lead the way. I followed gladly, ready to take up the instrument.
“This is going to be good.” I heard Vinyl say.
“Hell yeah it is. Alright, let’s do this.” I said as I used the Shadow Clone ability. The clone grabbed an electric guitar as I grabbed the violin, and I started channeling my magic into mimicking Lindsey Stirling. The familiar feeling of shapeshifting took place and now I was standing up on two legs and holding the instrument with hands.
I started with the catchy tune of Roundtable Rival, tapping my feet to the beat of the song and setting the peaceful theme of typical western life with a hint of competitive drive to it. I looked at Octavia to see how she liked it so far. She seemed interested at least. I then let my clone follow up with the guitar, setting up a sense of challenge, shifting them into a sort of Bandito look. Then I joined in with the violin, playing the same tune and setting a showdown theme. The two of us began circling each other in hostile stances as we played, occasionally doing a couple aggressive steps toward each other as if feigning attacks. Then I busted out with the violin climax, copying Lindsey’s dance moves to the beat.
I shot a glance at Octavia once again as I danced and played, wondering just how into this she was getting. From the looks of it, she was starting to get hyped. When the climax finished, I had my clone dispel, leaving the guitar there as I played more cheerfully, as if celebrating a victory. However, I then had my clone reform while my back was turned to it, and pick the guitar up again. I turned around, feigning surprise as they play the guitar solo line again, quickly setting a theme of revenge. When they finished the guitar lines, they snatched the violin out of my hands with magic, playing long and high notes on it as they continued the guitar notes. I stepped back as they danced tauntingly toward me.
What followed was a long build towards the climax, each move I made to get the violin back without magic marking each rise in tempo. All music cut of as I got the instrument back, and I grinned at the clone. Then I hit the climax, spawning a couple of extra clones to do a synchronized dance with me. I turned to Octavia as I finished, dispelling all the clones.
“So, how’d I do?” I asked, still in anthro form. All I saw was that Octavia’s jaw was hanging open, looking utterly shocked. Vinyl on the other hoof, was in a different state of surprise.
“That was AWESOME!” I chuckled at their awe, and turned to see how Lyra was doing. She had stars in her eyes.
“Good to know Lindsey Stirling’s talent is appreciated even across dimensional barriers. Don’t think she’ll ever know though, but hey.” I chuckled again. “Plenty more where that came from, too.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Vinyl said. I then felt a familiar connection open up.
<It helps that I summoned a Builder’s Wand from the Extra Utilities mod from Minecraft. Makes building big projects like this easier and faster. For some reason, I got the building speed of the characters from Minecraft Story Mode. Enough of that for now, I am * really** hungry from all the things we did today.>* FC simply replied.
“So, who’s up for some food?” I asked.
“I’m up for some grub.” Vinyl simply replied.
“Well, since I invited you, I’m ready to go eat.” Octavia added in.
“Sure, I’ll come along with you.” Lyra said.
We all headed out, going straight to the restaurant first thing. We met FC there, who’d already arrived ahead of us. I could see that Lyra was rather surprised about FC’s appearance. Apparently Vinyl’s and Octavia’s two other friends, Bonbon and Derpy, also showed up.
“Well, let’s go get our food.” With that, FC went right in. I chuckled as the rest of us went in.
“Hi, I’m Summer.” I introduced myself to Derpy and Bonbon. Derpy smiled back, but Bonbon gave me a heavily scrutinizing look. After a moment, she sighed.
“Please tell me you can at least control the Wolf.” She pleaded. At that, Derpy and Lyra tensed up.
“I can Turn at Will.” I replied.
I saw FC’s ear flick, like he heard, and I could definitely see he had tensed up, like a fight was about to happen. Maybe I should check with him through the mental connection to see what is going on. However, I made sure the others here knew I was no threat to them first.
“Yeah, relax. If she wants, she can act like a big puppy.” Vinyl assured.
“That is true. I have seen it myself.” Octavia added in.
“Alright, I’ll believe you… for now. So, what exactly does a changeling like you want here in Ponyville?” She asked a bit too casually for me.
“Just to live. You could say I’m changing professions. I used to be just another shitheaded teen back on Earth, occasionally writing something here and there, but now I’m jumping to a more exciting life, hunting monsters and… well, living here.”
“Wait...What?” I could see that she was confused.
“Oh, that’s easy. She and that dragon pony used to be humans.” Lyra said, trying to explain the situation.
“Yeah, we made a huge, dangerous deal with a powerful guy to get across the dimensional barrier. Turned into characters we made on our way through.” I explained further. I turned to the waiter guy and took a look at the menu. On a whim, I just picked the Double Cheese Haybacon Burger, with a side of Hayfries and a Ponycola for a drink. FC ordered ten Triple Cheese Haybacon Burger with one side of potato fries and a Sunset Sarsaparilla. The ponies ordered theirs and we all took a seat at a big table together.
“So, you mentioned you two… became the characters you made, right?” Bonbon said to start a conversation. “What exactly have those characters done?”
“Me, mostly fight of darkness based creatures, while in between trying to live as normal as a life I can.” FC simply stated. I could vouch for that, considering he didn’t like having to fight so many enemies in that one RP we were in together.
“I myself am an adventuring treasure hunter, and at one point I was possessed by a dark entity similar to the Nightmare from Luna, and I tried to kill everypony but a time traveling skeleton kicked my ass.” I said. “Oh, and just a warning, but there were a whole shit ton of cloppy artifacts. A few turned into boss fights.” I warned FC.
FC’s eye just twitched. “There is not enough brain bleach in the world to get rid of such images.”
“Sure there is. Here, let me provide.” I said before using my changeling side to turn into a cute kitten. I started doing some tricks and flips and meowing with a cute pose for every trick I did. The girls all Daaaaw’ed, immediately dropping their freaked out faces.
“Sorry Summer, but I have a high tolerance for cute stuff. The first time my heart stopped was from this, because of cuteness and feels.” With that, FC sent over a song from his memory, sharing it through our mental connection.
https://youtu.be/F_n7Rd5F4fo
In the middle of the song, I saw Rainbow Dash walk in, and fought the urge to laugh. “Really Summer?” FC deadpanned.
“What? I haven’t read any relevant fics. And I’ve been in way too many grimdark situations to immediately think of a cute scene when I hear something like that. I am a messed up person.” I said.
“Welp, if we have to deal with an enemy that somehow weaponizes cuteness, we’ll be able to handle it.” FC stated.
“Unless you have, we won’t.” I replied. “Oh, but I have fought Chara. And I won, but that was only through this character’s sister helping.”
“I could tell about Chara, since you mentioned it. But maybe we should talk about how we are going to deal with elementals if a problem comes up with them.” FC said.
“Elementals?” Bon Bon simply asked. I was a bit surprised since I assumed those were common knowledge.
“Elementals are a special class of creature, being made of an element they represent, as they originally controlled the environment of Equestria before ponies came to it. They are rather angry towards ponies at present, since you guys have taken control of what they have. There are a few last places left for them, the main one being the Everfree Forest. Why do you think the Everfree Forest is so dangerous for ponies? It is their last home they have. The only elementals I know you guys have dealt with are timberwolves, which are nature elementals.” FC stated in a tone that meant he was on the side of the elementals, but wouldn’t outright attack ponies.
“Wait, you mean everytime we had to deal with natural disasters not caused by Discord or some other villain, it is very beings of nature attacking us out of resentment?” Vinyl asked, shocked that this information didn’t ever pop up before.
“Yep. Stray storm clouds, floods, unscheduled blizzards and storms, and volcanoes erupting. All caused by elementals being resentful.” FC replied.
That left everypony at the table shocked, except for me and FC.
“Now we’ve got a few ideas about how to help with that, maybe bring some harmony between nature and ponies, but until we talk to the right ponies, that’s all they are.” I said.
“Well, they seem to starting to become more prominent, considering the jengu that we met early today. If they are starting to take on their forms, I have a bad feeling tensions are coming to the point things are going to erupt.” FC said in a warning tone. “Also, I think we shouldn’t really use the term ‘harmony’ so much, considering how it could be taken. We should probably start with a truce at least.”
“Maybe. Then we can work on Unity later.” I agreed.
“Sounds like a good idea to me.” FC said.
“Your food.” Someone said as they set a massive plate of orders down, letting us sort out whose was whose.
“Thanks.” FC said to the person who brought us our food. I meanwhile began sorting through it all and staying silent as the rest continued to talk.
Lyra picked up the conversation, leading it her own way then. “So, what exactly was life like as humans?” Lyra asked, prompting facehooves throughout the Cafe.
“Well, personally, not really that exciting. While Equestria has magic, we don’t have that in our world, so we make do by inventing a lot of things. I am just glad we left before Donald Trump could be elected president.” FC replied. “He insulted a Muslim family whose son died protecting his country, saying his sacrifice was worth nothing. Back home, I have a friend in the military, so that hit close to home.”
I laughed a hollow laugh. “Yeah, personally I hope that bastard takes a bullet to the brain if he does get elected.”
“I see it that if he gets elected, humanity is probably going down the road to either extinction, or the Fallout Scenario.” FC replied.
“Well, either way, we aren’t going back.”
“Um, by the sounds of it, this Trump guy doesn’t sound like a very likable person.” Lyra said.
“Yeah. And half of the nation supports him becoming president. But the dude is so controversial, people are picking fights over matters that even relate to him and those fights turn into all-out riots.” I said.
“Yeah, and I think the only reason why he is supported is because he is a bloody millionaire.” FC said, pure disgust in his voice. I sighed as I finished organizing our meals.
“Yeah, money is… A really big issue in our world. The smart people hate how it works, but aren’t determined enough to make a change. The determined people are the stupid people mostly, but the minority don’t have enough numbers to matter. You could say I’m a mix of both. I’m super determined in a lot of things I do, but whether I’m stupid or smart about it? It’s up for debate a lot of the time.”
“Then there is the fandom we belong to, the bronies. Octavia, Vinyl, and you already know about this, but in our world, your world is viewed as a television show. One of the reasons why I became a brony is because I wanted to escape the reality of our world, because Equestria just seems so peaceful compared to it.” FC said to Lyra, as he took a bite out of one of his burgers.
“Pfffft, hahahahah! Nice one… Just how peaceful do you think Equestria is?” Vinyl laughed.
“Considering how our world is constantly in war, has multiple terrorist groups, there are multiple school, mall, college, or convention shootings, and gang violence, thus leading to a lot of death in our world, I would definitely say safer. You might have your villains trying to take over the world or such, but there are far less deaths.” FC said in a rather serious tone. The ponies at the table were shocked.
“Okay, I guess our world is safer compared to yours.” Vinyl said.
“But why is there so much violence in your world?” Lyra asked.
“I just guess it is part of human nature. I mean, we had evolved from having to fight for our very survival, so violence may be ingrained.” FC said, and I could sense a lot of sadness from him.
“Really I think it’s more the predatory part of our omnivorous nature. The only reason we even CAN live in civilization is because once upon a time, people were smart. There was also a point where the main reason we fought was for freedom, but once that was… mostly not an issue, it started turning into fighting for greed, lust, wrath… mainly whatever sins people had. I find it rather easy to believe at some point in the future, it’s going to turn into Anarchy for the sake of Anarchy.”
“I mean, Equestria seems more united than the freaking country we came from. There are far less racial tensions or similar things. I mean, you guys still do have some, but not enough for hardcore stereotyping that it causes violence. I don’t consider the creatures of this world, like hydras, chimeras, and manticores, as part of that violence, since you guys are more adept at handling those kinds of things than a human would. Heck, most of the creatures here don’t exist on our world, since they seem to be mythological to us.” FC added in.
“But in the end, our world was born to fight. Video games didn’t make it any easier not to… Well, except Undertale, that one helped a LOT, but there are still people who hate without reason.” I continued.
“Speaking of Undertale, the best way to describe our world would be the famous Flowey quote. ‘In this world, it kill or be killed.’” FC said. I chuckled at that, though the girls didn’t take too well to it.
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant…” Lyra whimpered.
“Oh, don’t worry. Not every human world is like ours. You guys have a parallel one here, hidden in Twilight’s castle somewhere. Don’t tell her I told you.” I whispered conspiratorially.
“If you do want to find it, I will tell you this: the portal to it is a mirror.” FC said to Lyra.
“Hey wait, I thought Twilight made a custom portal tuned to the transdimensional magic diary… I guess I should have watched the movie again while I had the chance.” I lamented.
“Well, she hooked up a bunch of machinery to the mirror to use said magic so she could go there anytime, so I guess we are both right.” FC said. Lyra looked hyped as hell.
“I definitely want to go there!” She said, the hype amping her voice.
“Just don’t run into your alternate self. Or forget to ask Twilight if you can use it.” I told her cautiously.
“Wait...there’s a human version of me?” Lyra asked.
“Why do you think it is called a parallel universe? Of course there is going to be another version of you.” FC replied.
“There’s a human version of all of you. Of everyone in this world.” I finished.
“I would personally say my favorite human version would be yours, Vinyl. I mean, she has a freaking car that transforms into a full blown concert sound system!” FC said to Vinyl.
“Awesome!” Vinyl said, excited that her human self was a badass.
“I know, right?” I added to the hype. “...I never made a version of Summer for that world though… I wonder what she would be like…?”
“I know what my human version would look like, considering I had made FC before I was a brony. I just had to figure out what my pony self would look like.” FC added in. I didn’t know his OC was made before he even became a brony.
“That’s cool to know. But still, maybe I should see if I can find the Human Summer if I ever go to the Equestria Girls world.” I contemplated.
“I say go for it. If she’s half the badass you are, she’ll definitely be fun to meet.” Vinyl encouraged. I smiled at her.
“I think I will… just not now. I’m still acclimatizing to Equis.” I accepted.
“Same here. I rather have something stable to come back to when we go to that world.” FC added in.
“Nam.” I finished the last bite of my meal. “So… I’ve run out of topics.”
“Yeah, same here. I guess we will see you guys tomorrow.” FC said as he finished his meal. “Besides, I still have to show Summer the house I built for us.”
“Cool. Guess we’ll see you guys later then.” Vinyl said as she too finished.
With that, we left Hayburger and I followed FC. When we got to the house, I couldn’t believe it. He had made the house in a way that it would stick out, yet would still fit well in Ponyville.
http://imgur.com/Uui5zQ6
Considering how it looked, it looked pretty good. We entered the house, and the inside was a little bare. I guess FC didn’t have enough time for furniture. We went upstairs and he showed us our rooms. At least they had beds, and I could sense a soundproofing spell on the walls. FC left to his own room to retire for the night, while I got in bed. Who knows what surprises tomorrow would hold.
The Equestrian Double Gamble
~FC~
I woke up from a rather bad dream in cold sweat. It was a memory I had of a rather rattling experience when I was human, a car crash to be specific. I’d rather not retell the experience... I looked down at myself and saw the markings the experience had left, an emotionally painful reminder. I had a blood red line going diagonally across my torso, from my left shoulder down to my right hip, and another going across my waist, these being caused by the seatbelt saving my life, but could have caused some internal damage because I didn’t have a lot of meat on my bones. That was the thing about me when I was human, I used to be six feet tall but I was 148 pounds, underweight for that height. I was kind of a skeleton with skin back then. I looked at my right foreleg and it was covered in cuts from the airbag going off. Both of my knees were bruised up because they had hit the dash underneath the wheel.
I got up and went to the bathroom, because I needed a shower to get rid of the pain I was feeling. The markings were not scars, but it seemed that reliving that memory had caused some sort of flesh memory to happen. I didn’t want to wake up Summer, so one of the precautions I had took was putting a ward on the walls of our rooms that would not only block out sound. I just realized I didn’t know any anti-emotional wards, so she would probably be feeling the fear and pain I felt and suffering from Negative Emotion Poisoning. Yeah, I have read my friend’s stories, and since we were every instance of our characters, that probably meant NEP was real too.
Of course she came in shortly after, clearly concerned for me. “FC? What’s wrong?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
“Car crash memory came up in my dream. Remember when I told you about it? Well, apparently flesh memory is a thing, because the pain and wounds I received that day came back. I am just surprised Luna didn’t sense it in the dreamscape.” I said, anxiety clearly in my voice. I guess that was one thing about me, I don’t tend to get desensitized to things, except sour foods. I wasn’t desensitized to violence, rape, or other inhumane actions. I usually got sick seeing some of the newer Mortal Kombat fatalities and brutalities. Summer is lucky in that regard… but I’m getting off track.
Summer seemed a bit confused about the flesh memory thing, but she understood about Luna not interfering.
“She probably prioritized many other ponies over us. Like Twilight, who probably got a nightmare about changelings after seeing me.” She replied. Personally I thought Twilight would be having a nightmare about quesadillas, considering the fact she is afraid of how cheesy they are. Though I was a little surprised she was still in disguise… I thought by now she would be Magic Nulled by NEP.
“I thought you wouldn’t be in disguise anymore because of NEP?” I said as I came out of the shower, the wounds still there. Hopefully, she wouldn’t make any innuendos about the shower thing.
“I’m a Queen, I’ve got a much higher tolerance.” Summer replied. That bit of info was surprising to me, because I didn’t know about the Queen thing. Must have been from the RP we were in once, as I remembered she was changeling royalty in that one.
“Huh, makes sense actually. I feel like I could use a hug right now.” I said, telling the truth. Usually simple things like hugs helped me feel better.
Summer smiled and sprung like a cat towards me, wrapping me up into a tight hug. “Here you go!” I wrapped my forelegs around Summer, happy for the embrace. Another thing about me is my respect of the female gender. Most guys would have used this hug as an opportunity to grab a girl’s butt. Seriously, I respect people’s boundaries, and I always hated the jock types. I felt something happening to my body. The pain was going away and I looked down, and the wounds were closing up. My healing factor didn’t work before on these, so I guess this hug had somehow healed me.
“Um, Summer, do you feel drained at all? Because I just healed from hugging you, and I don’t know if it was empathy or caring being used.” I asked Summer, worried that I may be hurting my friend somehow.
“I feel fine… Why should I be worried though? You healed.” she said, completely shrugging it off.
“Okay, then I should probably let up on worrying. I think today we might need to get some furniture, and since the kitchen isn’t quite set up, why don’t we go down to Sugarcube Corner for breakfast.” I said, really wanting cinnamon rolls. Mmm, cinnamon rolls…
“Sure, let’s go.” Summer agreed.
I left the bathroom so Summer could take her shower. Like I said, I was not going to take advantage of the situation. Rather than use it though, she just seemed to completely ignore the shower’s existence. It confused me for a moment, before she was just consumed by a raging fire for a full three seconds. Out of it came Summer wearing a Janitor’s uniform with a sweep and dustpan, sweeping ashes off the floor where she stood.
“What the heck did you do?” I asked, surprised at what I just witnessed.
“Oh, I just burned the grime off. Pretty much bypassed the need for a shower.” she casually replied as she dumped the ash into the trash.
“I did not expect that. I think you might be slightly corrupting my mind, considering some of the things you could have used the shower for other things. And before you ask, I was talking about sex in the shower type stuff. There were a lot of those in ‘Shifting Melodies’.” I simply said.
“Oh. So you’re saying you want to have sex in the shower?” She asked with… I dearly hoped that confusion was fake.
“No, but considering all the stuff I have read in your stories, I thought you would have at least had that thought of it happening. And I have too much respect for you as my friend, and having sex would just make things...awkward later.” I said, with a little bit of embarrassment.
“Awkward? Nah… Maybe weird, and good for shocking ponies with random facts, but I hardly think it would be awkward.” She replied with hardly a shred of shame. That was one thing I definitely knew about Summer, she had no shame when it came to that kind of stuff. I guess me and her were different when it came to things, covering each other weaknesses, but we still had some things in common.
“That is one thing about all those TV shows that indicate sexual relations, they never really show the more real world stuff. We will cross that bridge when we come to it, trying to plan things out ahead of time don’t often work out for me.” I simply said, as I left the house, Summer following me.
“Meh. I don’t really watch TV shows. At least nothing I don’t end up catching my mom watching. I have taken a liking to Lucifer though.” Summer contemplatively rambled.
“The shows that I watch with my parents are Bones, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, NCIS New Orleans, Rizzoli and Isles, Monk, and my personal favorite, Castle.” I said. My parents definitely liked crime fighting shows.
“Ah. They might have liked Lucifer then. Basically the Devil himself falling in love with a cop, and the two going and solving cases together.” Summer said with a chuckle.
“I don’t think they would have liked it. All these shows still had a lot of facts in them so they had none of the parts of the supernatural in them. Heck, Castle had two episodes, both dealing with fandoms based around monsters. One episode dealing with werewolves and vampires, and no, this wasn’t the Twilight fandom, and the other one dealing with a zombie fandom. Heck, I didn’t even know there was a drug that caused you to go into a zombie mindstate.” I replied.
“The only supernatural parts of it is Lucifer passively influencing people to tell him the truth, the way Lucifer punishes those he deems guilty and the occasional conflict with his angel brother.” Summer argued. “...At least as far as I know.”
“Personally, I would like it, but my parents still wouldn’t. I guess that was one thing that set me apart.” We arrived at Sugarcube Corner, and I could smell the breakfast goods inside.
Summer sniffed the air deeply, but for a different reason. “Mmmmmm…. So much happiness… And the Cake’s pride definitely helps.” she practically moaned in delight.
“Let’s just hope you don’t have an orgasm in the middle of the shop, that might be hard to explain the liquids on the floor.” I said jokingly to Summer.
“I dunno, I might have a blast watching them blush.” Summer joked back with a big grin. Sure, I normally wouldn’t joke about this with Summer, but the fact we were going to be roommates changed that. I was just worried when spring rolled around, considering that would be considered mating season, and the fact that mares far outnumbered stallions in Ponyville. I walked in, putting the thought to the back of my head, going up to Pinkie Pie at the counter.
“Hey Pinkie, got anything good for breakfast food, like cinnamon rolls?” I asked.
“Yepperooni. And considering how much you ate yesterday, I decided to make something for you.” With that, Pinkie Pie pulled out a cinnamon roll the size of a pie. It looked like it had three flavor icing, made up of standard, peanut butter, and chocolate. “I call it the Sweet Rising.”
Part of me went primal, because my teeth went full draconic, and my tongue went full out, being a good foot and a half out of my mouth and looking like something that would definitely belong to a dragon or Nightmare Foxy. I expected Summer to make an innuendo about my tongue, considering all the fetishes she has. But I could definitely tell that many ponies were unnerved by my tongue and teeth, mostly from instinctual fear of predators.
Summer started with a bit of fear clear in her eyes… but yet she spoke up with a joke nonetheless. “Wow. I didn’t think anyone I knew would spend so much to replace all their teeth with jewels. I’m surprised a bat pony hasn’t tried stealing them.”
I snapped back to reality. “Yeah, I guess I forgot to mention my dialcium skeleton.”
“Wait, what’s dialcium?” Pinkie Pie asked. I gladly answered her question.
“Dialcium is an organic compound of carbon and calcium. Basically, I have a much higher concentration of carbon in my bones, enough to the point it has crystallized into diamond. Basically it would take a lot of force to break any bones or teeth.” I explained.
“So…. basically a tougher version of Wolverine. I wonder if a High Frequency blade can cut through it…” Summer thought out loud.
“I say it most likely would.” I said before turning back to Pinkie Pie. I took out an emerald and gave it to Pinkie. I got the Sweet Rising and sat down at a nearby table, waiting for Summer to get her food. I remembered that Summer didn’t have a way to pay, so I went back so I could help pay for her food.
“I think I’ll have the happiest treat you have. And please, if you can, could you add Pride?” Summer requested. With that, Pinkie went back into the kitchen and quickly made Summer a chocolate muffin with strawberry bits in it and a slightly blue drink, which Pinkie called Liquid Pride. I silently chuckled at that. It was probably made with Pinkie’s tears of pride. I helped pay for her food and we went back to the table. I went face first into my Sweet Rising, making the same sound of Heavy eating a Sandvich. Oh my god, it was so delicious!
“Holy fuck, these salty tears…” Summer recoiled from the glass she just took a sip from… before slumping over, looking slightly out of it.
“Um, Summer, are you alright?” I asked as I put my claw over the glass, my claw glowing blue as I worked some elemental water magic to remove the salt. All the salt became a small salt cube on the end of my claw. I had removed all the salt and took the cube off my claw and set it on the table. As I did though, I remembered something about horses and Salt... Summer must have just gotten slightly buzzed from it like drinking alcohol.
Summer’s eyes widened back to normal as she saw that, and turned to me. “Holy shit, Deja vu. I had a dream about this a few weeks ago… It was shortly followed by-”
Twilight burst into the restaurant. I wondered what could have caused such a violent outburst from the Princess of Friendship. I hoped it wasn’t Discord trolling her again.
“Summer, FC! I think one of those threats of yours is attacking!” She shouted. Summer stood up right away.
“Lemme guess, a black skeleton that looks like it’s glitching in and out of reality?” Summer asked. Twilight nodded, looking like she wanted to question how Summer knew, but it was clear she didn’t have time.
“It… It took control of Rainbow with these weird blue strings. It almost got me too.” She replied.
“Oh come on! I was hoping to get furniture for the house today, and Error!Sans has to attack!” I yelled before opening up my mouth and grabbing the rest of my food with my tongue before pulling it into my mouth. “Seriously, we got attacked in the middle of breakfast. Summer, you have a lot to tell me why Error!Sans is here.”
“Two possibilities. Either the real Displaced Error Sans took notice of this timeline, or the one my coauthor and I planned for Time Vigilante manifested. We’ll have to see if Flowey’s attached to him or not though.” Summer replied as she drew Crescent Rose. I sighed, my frustration already rising. I just hoped it was the second option, because I knew Error!Sans usually only paid attention to Undertale timelines, since he didn’t like the AUs like Underswap and Underfell. Today was going to be a long day.
~Summer~
I kept my breath steady as I followed Twilight. I really, seriously hoped it wasn’t the Displaced Error Sans. I doubted he would take kindly to the deal I made… It’s actively producing Glitches after all. He’s been having enough trouble dealing with them in his own Equestria, he doesn’t need to deal with my problems too. I sighed, thanking Marx that I saw Flowey’s vines curled in and around the glitching skeleton we found.
“Sweet mercy, it’s Scenario B! Okay, that means we can kill it!” I cheered. Error Sans chuckled with that glitchy voice of his.
“Y-y-y-you know you can’t w-w-w-win, Summer. Eve-ve-ven as strong as strong as you ar-r-r-re here, even with that dr-dr-dr-dragon boy with you, you know I-I-I-I’m just too strong.” he taunted.
“Sorry, bud. But not even I know the extent of FC’s power. I might have planned to beat you with a lucky shot in my story, but this fight’s gonna be pure skill.” I taunted right back. I saw FC walk out of Sugarcube Corner, clearly sensing his frustration of how we had to fight something this early in the morning.
“Let’s get this over with. Couldn’t you have waited until we have finished with breakfast first.” FC said.
Error Sans chuckled and shrugged. The Flowey attached to him answered. “Sorry, Scaley Trashbag. We have our own schedule.” he taunted with the Demonic face.
“Fuck you, you Rafflesia smelling, shit talking, patricidal, weed variety, spawn of a treefyd.” FC said. I saw that Flowey was speechless. I didn’t even know that FC could name call like the Sniper from TF2. Then Flowey laughed.
“Nice! Too bad I can’t care. I hope you’re proud of that rant, because it’s the last one you’re going to have!” He laughed. Error Sans raised a hand with blue strings attached to each finger, all of them going straight up.
“Hey Summer, are these guys forged from Nightmare Fragments?” FC asked.
“NOTIMETOTALK!” I replied as I leaped to the side. Rainbow Dash landed right where I had just been standing.
“Just answer yes or no.” FC said as he grabbed Rainbow Dash, trying to knock her out. This wasn’t like how he usually was. I guess he wasn’t going to drag this fight out like he normally did.
“Yes, he is.” I replied. “But this Nightmare’s just a Glitch.”
“Hm, so should I let Night Terror out, or should I do it some other way?” FC asked himself as he laid Rainbow down after knocking her unconscious. He then proceeded to cut the strings attached to her.
Error Sans chuckled. “Welp. It was worth a try. I knew-ew-ew-ew she wouldn’t last though-ough-ough-ough-ough.” He then looked at me, twisting his hand slightly. “But, she-e-e-e wasn’t exactly my trump card.” FC tensed at that, and I could tell what he was thinking without using a mental connection. That was one good thing about FC, he was extremely loyal to his friends, but that also kind of made him quick to react. I didn’t even see him move and he had already got his claw around Error’s throat, even if it wouldn’t do that much good since he was a skeleton.
“If you plan on using my friend against me, I swear I won’t kill you, but I will make you wish you were dead. Personally, killing someone doesn’t make them learn lessons.” All the kindness had left FC’s voice, being replaced with something sadistic and angry.
Error Sans just grinned wider. “I’d like to see you try.” He stated simply. Before FC could even twitch, Error had glitched out of sight. In a frenzied panic, I tried to look around and find him before he could get his strings on me, but before I could find him, I felt my every muscle lock up.
“...Shit.”
Then something exploded. The energies felt very dark, darker than anything. I looked and saw FC. He was wrapped in dark energy, but it didn’t feel like it. It felt old, older than Celestia. It felt...Eldritch.
~FC~
I had lost it when Error got his strings around Summer. I had already lost one changeling friend before. I remembered how Shade had been taken by something dark, and I could do nothing about it. Hence the reason why I had FC become friends with the Eldritch. I was not about to lose another friend to something that I couldn’t stop. Error was like Cthulhu, he wasn’t supposed to be killed, but I held true to my promise. The Eldritch energy had melted off my flesh, but I didn’t feel the pain. My diamond blue bones had turned to pure void black. My eyes went from the same color to ender pearl green.
Before Error could teleport out of my grasp, I locked his ability to teleport, use his strings, bones, and gaster blasters. Or so I thought… A glitch portal opened behind him, and he glitched behind it, making it close behind him. His strings vanished from plain sight then, but Summer was still under his control. The anger inside me grew even more. I had enough of this fucking bullshit! Personally, this guy was supposed to be later on. We couldn’t even get properly settled down without fighting some big baddie. Let’s see how well he controls while missing an arm! But first, I had to get Summer to safety first.
==I told you not to mess with my friend!== I said in Eldritch tongue, my voice reverberating with an otherworldly quality. My breath wasted precious time though, and he’d forced Summer to take advantage of that. A dome of ice surrounded me, and faded images of Summer came from the walls to strike at me, each image dealing physical strikes against me in rapid succession.
But I didn’t even flinch or feel pain. I needed to end this quickly, otherwise I could kiss my sense of self goodbye. This form actually ate away at me, and if I used this form too long, all that would be left would be an unstoppable creature of Eldritch Energy. Basically Cthulhu and Yog Sothoth unstoppable. This form was too risky of a gamble, basically a last ditch effort. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt Summer though, but this was going on too long. I ended Eldritch form, going back to normal. I decided to do the only thing I could. I went meat shield. I took all the hits, not even bothering the dodge them. I just gave up. I didn’t want to release a monster into this world, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurt Summer.
“You win Error. I didn’t want to release the monster of Eldritch form on this place, but I can’t bring myself to hurt my friend. But that doesn’t mean someone else can’t.”
With that I let Animalis out. But not totally. I had set him towards Error only, telling him not to kill Summer, and not to try and rape her. Basically, beat Error.
My body transformed, as shit was about to hit the fan. Basically, I could say I looked like some sort of winged, hornless deathclaw with my hair on it and stained with blood.
https://fcthehalfdragon.deviantart.com/art/Animalis-574220998
“Oh it feels so good to be out of that fucking wimps mind. I made a little agreement that, as long as I beat your fucking ass and don’t rape and kill his friend, I am good to go.” Animalis said, making Twilight who was nearby sick.
“I wouldn’t mind the rape though…” Summer whimpered a bit. Error laughed hard, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
“Oh w-w-w-w-wow, that is Priceless! I didn’t know anyone could ha-ha-ha-ha-have that many Extre-re-re-reme Measures!”
“Trust me, when you live in someone’s mind, you don’t want to hear their thoughts of them never forgiving themselves. Also, the wimp has done a lot of things he regrets, and he is kind of the Multiverse’s punching bag, being so overpowered. Besides, I actually agree with him about not liking Eldritch Mode, considering how you just broke the rule of it and almost released something akin to Cthulhu and Yog Sothoth. If it can’t be stopped at all, it doesn’t deserved to be released. Don’t want to bring the end of reality, do we?” Animalis said, already moving fast enough to bite off one of Summer’s foreleg and almost ripping out her intestines. He left that to hang, letting Error realize how close he was to doing far worse by simply dodging the previous form.
“I do.” Error replied, completely serious. Summer meanwhile was cringing like she just ate 20 lemons while looking up cringe videoes on Youtube. Which when translated to pain, meant she’d be in fetal position if she could be.
“Okay yeah, I would DEFINITELY prefer the rape!” she screamed. She was forced to keep fighting though as she shifted into Wolf form and darted about to the broken pieces of the Ice dome, absorbing them and repairing the damage Animalis had done.
“Wow, and some thought I was a mean mother fucker. Error, you have personally made it onto my own list of creatures I would love to eat their brains out while still alive to feel it.” Animalis said as he brought his axe blade tail down on Summer’s spine, causing the back half of the body to go limp as nothing could be felt past the chest. It was completely cut off past there. “Also Summer, FC still has some control, enough to place some wards to prevent you from dying from blood loss. He must really care about you. I mean, it almost seems to the point beyond friendship, but he doesn’t want to force anything on you.” Animalis said, while I yelled at him.
“Hah! I totally ship it! I guess I’m gonna have to make the move then, though. If he won’t then I might just get another part of him to do it. I’ve been aching for a good fuck since I got the hole I always wanted.” Summer shouted out as she absorbed a chunk of ice she spawned to heal the spine damage. She got back up and, though jerkily, started using pillars of ice to leap about, setting up several ice traps. With each jump, she seemed to heal just a little more. I was surprised she could still talk casually despite the situation, and I wasn’t the only one. Twilight was gaping at her with shock. Then I saw something that my made my mental jaw drop. It looked to be a dark version of FC, one that I knew all too well. He was just sitting by Twilight eating a bag of popcorn. I pointed this out to Animalis.
https://fcthehalfdragon.deviantart.com/art/Bs0001-546449987
“Wait...what the fuck is BS doing here?!?”
As Summer turned to face BS, I could just feel the ideas forming in Error’s mind. More out of knowing the bastard wants to ruin me than anything. Animalis’s eyes narrowed when we spotted a Glitch portal open behind BS with Blue strings extending out of it. That was until BS grabbed the strings and pulled on them hard. “Surprise, motherfucker!” Error was brought tumbling out of hs void in shock and surprise.
“W-whoa!” His momentary surprise and return to the timeline revealed the strings attached to Summer. Animalis took that moment to cut those strings. He turned to Summer.
“I guess it was nice meeting you, Summer, but I think things are about to get interesting, and FC feels like he needs to heal you and let you beat the crap out of him for releasing me on you.” With, I transformed back as Animalis went back into my mind.
“...Damnit, he was fun.” Summer pouted as she summoned up ice to heal with.
“Summer, you have every right to get mad at me for releasing Animalis on you and probably almost ending reality with Eldritch form. Go ahead, I deserve all the pain I get.” I said, resigning myself to my fate.
“Oh fuck off with that pity party shit and kick Error’s ass.” Summer slapped me, pointing at Error, who was busy dealing with the shock of my brother’s retaliation.
“I don’t think I can deal-” She slapped me again, pointing at him more forcefully.
“Actually, considering how my brother went berserk on him and it didn’t work, I think he was going to say I take care of glitch-butt here, since I have the reality warping powers here.” BS said. I wasn’t even phased by what BS said, since I kind of wrote him up that way. What do you expect from someone who has chaos powers.
“Well he still needs to shut the fuck up with the Pity Party. He fucking knows he was forced to try everything, whether it worked or not.”
Meanwhile, Error was snapping his fingers frantically, trying to get something, probably anything to work.
“D-d-d-d-d-Damnit, it’s like fighting Gaster all over ag-g-g-g-gain!” he muttered to himself.
“I will take that as a compliment. AS for you, you little piece of ivy, I have been waiting to kick your little grass ass.” BS said as he grabbed Flowey, a smile that was equally unnerving as Flowey’s Omega Form smile.
Error shouted in pain as Flowey was yanked away, instantly leaving holes wherever Flowey’s vines had wrapped. After a few moments of trying to stay together, he turned into a pile of white glitch squares, which in turn faded away into shattering code. Flowey still remained though, panicking in absolute fear.
“Like my brother said before, which I am going to add on matricidal coward. I don’t care if others might have sympathy for you because of what they call their “sweet goat brother babu”, you are a triple A grade asshole. Let’s see, how about we use some garden clippers on you, maybe even a weed whacker, or we could eat you, since we are ponies. Oh, I know! How about Industrial grade herbicide, so you die a slow painful death of chemical poisoning.” With that, BS took out some weed killer and started spraying Flowey with it. Personally, I had been thinking some of those thoughts too, but I actually kind of felt bad for Flowey, even though he was an asshole.
Summer meanwhile had other thoughts. “Hey wait, why can’t we enchant him with temporary anti-burn and set him on undying fire so he feels the fire eating at him for a while?” she suggested. Twilight looked like she was going to faint.
I just had an even better idea. “Or we could put him in an enchanted flower pot and have him learn friendship lessons from Twilight against his will.” I said. Flowey looked at me, a look between thanking me and hating me. I could tell that my brother liked that idea, and so did Twilight.
“So we can reform him? That’s a great idea!” Twilight said.
“No, this dude needs a Soul to be reformed. Without a soul, he can’t care. Too bad he’s just a glitch, otherwise reality wouldn’t constantly be trying to erase him putting him through suffering and pain already.” Summer shot that down.
Flowey couldn’t take it anymore and just used the sharp edge of one of his leaves to cut off his head, turning into a normal flower once he died. I was a little surprised at that.
“Oh cool, he killed himself.” Summer observed impassively. “I guess he got fed up and had to… leaf before he went insane.” she grinned. This time, Twilight ran over to a bush and threw up in it.
“Summer… you are a horrible pony.” Twilight said after she recovered. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and bleach my brain.” she trotted away.
“I guess I’ll be seeing you around. Whoop whoop whoop whoop whoop!” BS just ran straight up into the air and disappeared. I definitely needed something normal to do today to get over what had happened. I was emotionally, mentally, and physically drained. It wasn’t even noon yet and shit had happened. I decided to do what I had planned today and decided to get some furniture for the house.
“Summer, I guess I’ll go get the furniture for the house. Join me if you want to.” I said, just not giving a shit right now. Hopefully the rest of the day would go better.
~Summer~
I watched him go, for a moment just dealing with an internal conflict about whether or not I should just drag him into bed and ride him, especially knowing that in some cases sex was good stress relief, but I wasn’t all too sure whether or not doing that would be a good idea right now. Maybe I should just let him cool off, before giving it a try tonight…
I sighed, before heading off to do my own thing. “I’ll just let you cool off. I’m gonna go and practice for another concert.” I replied. “But we’re having sex tonight, that’s an order!” Once I was alone for a moment, I paused to think about how, A) I was a Displaced, B) Displaced have fics written about them… usually, and C) I had just kinda acted a lot worse than I normally do. I sighed and spoke up, hoping I would reach my readers.
“Yes, I can be pretty inconsistent in my personality. To be fair, I’ve written Summer a shit-ton of different ways, so wrapped all into one, I’ve basically become chaotically bipolar. Deal with it.” I said with attitude. Then I moved on, happily heading for Vinyl’s house.
When I got there, Vinyl was already outside. “Hey, I heard there was a fight today, what happened?” Vinyl asked.
“One of my more dangerous, reality warping asshole bosses came and owned our asses. Error Sans, the Glitch with more power than most of Reality. It took a Chaos user to cancel out his powers long enough to kill him. And I’m not talking about Discord.” I replied.
“Wait, there’s another Chaos user besides Discord? Ho boy, I just hope we don’t have something similar to the last time Discord went rampant.” Vinyl said, a little bit worried.
“I’ll give you a hint to his personality. His initials are BS, and it doesn’t stand for what you immediately think of. He would get pretty mad if you even suggested it stood for Bullshit. Oh, and he can kill, and take a lot of enjoyment from it, but his brother FC keeps him in check… Last I heard, anyway. FC and I fell out of contact for a while, and only recently hooked back up.”
“Wait...FC has a brother! By the sounds of it, he is the opposite of FC. Maybe they are both supposed to represent two sides of something. But that doesn’t sound like the least of it, tell me all that happened.” Vinyl asked, clearly thinking more had happened.
I explained what happened in my own, quirky way, including that I had even been cut in half, and disgusted Twilight with how casual I’d been throughout the whole thing, though I left out what I had suggested as a way to torture Flowey.
“Dang, that is pretty messed up. But it sounds like FC is a really sweet stallion. But it also sounds like he practices the philosophy of ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. I mean, part of it sounds like caring for others and another part is how you guys just got here, not wanting to start off with a bad impression by releasing an Eldritch horror.” Vinyl said. “But it also sounds like he has the hots for you.”
“Oh, I know he does. Animalis said so. When he left, I told him we’re gonna have sex tonight, because he seriously needs some good stress relief.” I replied.
“Considering what I have heard so far, he doesn’t seem like a lot of the stallions I have met, who mostly thought with their genitals when it came to mares. He seems to think more with his heart. It sounds like he is a proper knight. Just probably expect him to make dinner for you tonight, because he seems like the type of guy who would take you out to dinner before boning you.” Vinyl said.
I chuckled. “I’d expect an analysis like that from Octavia. Well, I guess that’s fine and all… but I’ve made it abundantly clear to him that I switched genders for a reason.”
“True, but personally, any mare would probably want a stallion like that, so you might have to fight to keep him. Trust me when spring rolls around, since that mating season for us, which means all the mares are going to be in heat. Ponyville’s stallion population is really low.” Vinyl said, clearly indicating that things were going to get hectic in the future.
“If anypony even wants to advance on him, they better be brave enough to try getting past a wolf that can freeze them solid.” I growled playfully.
“Okay...and I just had a thought. What happens if someone tries to make an advance on you while he is around. Considering how fiercely FC can fight, I think he would probably decimate any stallion that would force themselves upon you. You two would be the most dangerous couple to deal with.” Vinyl said.
“Oh, I better deal with that then. Can’t have him attacking anyone out of a desire to protect me… Besides, it’s absolutely impossible to rape me. It ain’t rape if the victim wants it. And I strike out when I don’t.” I told her.
“Okay, maybe this is why he is attracted to you. You two seem to be the opposites when it comes to some things. You seem to like being the submissive one in sex, FC is the one who respects mares and thinks others should give that same respect. You seem to be the insane one, he seems more grounded.” Vinyl explained.
“Heh… maybe…” I then stopped and laughed. “Hah! Wow, didn’t think I’d be doing this. Talking about sex and shipping with an Equestria native pony. You know, a lot of people in my world think this world far too innocent and naive, that even the thought of adding a human to it means everything is doomed.” I chuckled.
“Dang, what is our world viewed as in your world, a show for little girls?” Vinyl laughed.
“Yes. That is exactly what it is.” I said with a completely straight face.
Vinyl’s laughter stopped. “You’re serious? So there might be controversy of you being an adult male fan of the show. Wouldn’t someone call you a pedophile?”
“Sure, if they knew. But the only place I go in my world is either the store for weekly shopping trips, or my computer for games, roleplay, and story writing, and I don’t really advertise my status as a fan when I’m out and about. The only place I’ve met haters online is in online games like Team Fortress 2, but those guys are ignorable idiots.” I replied flippantly.
“Geez, sounds a little rough. But hey, to each their own.” Vinyl said. “So what do you want to do today?”
“Maybe play another song. I’ve got one from Woodentoaster that’s great for Nightmare Night.” I said with a bit of a grin.
“Okay, let’s go then.” With that, Vinyl trotted off to the Ponyville Musicians’ Guild.
“This time, we’ll need a piano, and your DJ set.” I told her.
“Alright, this is going to be awesome.” Vinyl exclaimed.