Scraps of a Sober Alcoholicby SoberChaptersA Love Lost... [APD]The Violinist [Removed Story]Ruin in Equestria [Scrapped Story]Magic Barrier: EqG [APDEG]A Love Lost... [APD]Author's Note This was initially the ending to my first story on-site, A Pony Displaced. It was scrapped for obvious reasons and later used as an April fools joke. Since then it's been collecting dust. Not my best writing {in truth, I hate it} but what I like and don't like isn't the point of it all. A Love Lost... [APD] The room was silent and empty, the machines having been powered down hours ago while the ponies had left shortly after. Only a single pony remained, glued to the bedside as he was, dried tear-tracks clear on his face. Don’t close your heart. Her final words echoed endlessly in his head, over and over again. Glancing down at the now-cold form of his wife, Barrier stood and took in her features one last time. There was a smile on her wrinkled grey face, accompanied by slight tear-tracks. Her passing had been peaceful at the very least; she had simply went to sleep. “Barrier.” a soft voice from the doorway called to him. “The funeral home representatives have arrived to remove her body…” The voice was awkwardly gentle, as if not knowing how the unicorn would react. “Relax, Luna. I’ve known this was going to happen for a long time now.” Barrier leaned over and pecked the cold body of Octavia one final time, his tears renewed as he trotted carefully past the princess of the night. “Even so, it doesn’t make it any easier.” The princess of the night followed. Barrier couldn’t really argue that; the princess was one of only a handful of creatures who could understand what he had -and was- going through at this moment. How many more times would he feel this hollow ache in his chest? He had already buried Night Light and Twilight Velvet…Shining Armor would be next, he supposed. After that, only his children and grandchildren would remain. “Barrier…?” Luna placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “How Luna? How can I let this go? I’ll have to watch them all die…” he began to cry anew, suddenly hugging the alicorn and burying his face in her shoulder as he cried. *** “What do you mean I’m still twenty-seven?” “Just that,” he repeated “you’re a perfectly healthy twenty-seven year old stallion.” It had been nearly ten years since Barrier and Octavia had gotten married; after the first eight years, Barrier began to suspect something; he didn’t feel older, despite all the years that had passed. After that, he and Octavia had started watching his health more closely. After another two years, they decided a doctor’s visit was in order; according to the doctor, Magic Barrier was in the prime of his youth. With that nugget of knowledge, they turned to the highest authority on the matter: Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna. They had ultimately decided that when Barrier was hit by the Elements of Harmony and sealed with Princess Luna, one of two things happened; either his soul was bound with that of Luna, or, the more likely of the two, that the elements of harmony had caused him to stop ageing entirely; they had forced his body into perfect harmony. Barrier hadn’t taken the news well, the thought of likely never reuniting with his family or outliving Octavia and his kids. It had been more than he could handle and he’d had a break-down no sooner than they walked through the door of their Manehattan home. Over the next several years, Barrier found himself in and out of therapy for a mixture of depression and alcoholism. The unicorn couldn’t even begin to count how many times he’d found himself holding nothing more than a length of rope. Ultimately, Octavia had managed to once again save him from himself, convincing him that he should be living. The Violinist [Removed Story]Author's Note This story was an idea that wormed it's way into my head while listening to Nox Arcana at like...two-thirty in the morning quite a long time ago. Ultimately, it was scrapped because I lost my direction on it. I toyed with the idea of trying to write it once more but I've long since lost the drive to do so. The basic premise was that an entity known as The Violinist ferries the souls of the dead from one world to the next, and no living ponies have ever been able to see him, until Octavia. The story was going to delve into her trying to make sense of the whole thing, whether she was crazy, etc,. I'd planned on ending it with her on her deathbed/death...chair and the Violinist greets her one last time. Something like that, anyways. The Violinist [Removed Story] Prologue Octavia cried gently as she tried and failed to lift her mother’s foreleg. With a grunt, the young filly lost her grip on the larger mare’s foreleg and went tumbling back through the sticky-black liquid that surrounded her mother. Warm tears rolled down the mare’s cheeks for reasons she couldn’t understand as she wobbled unsteadily towards the older mare once more before doing her best to curl up against her cold form. The filly’s stomach let out a tiny grumble as she closed her eyes tightly, trying to stem the heavy flow of tears that she couldn’t quite understand just yet. For nearly half-an-hour the filly laid up against the older mare, both shivering and hungry. What had been soft crying grew into heavy sobbing as the infant seemed to realize that her mother wasn’t going to move again. The sobbing grew and the filly tried to lift the mare’s foreleg once again. The attempt was even shorter this time and the filly fell backwards, curling into a sobbing ball. The filly’s eyes suddenly opened wide as a new sound made its way into her ears. The melody started out low and haunting with a hint of uncertainty; the filly instinctively curled up tightly to her mother at the slow sound as the low whine of strings filled the silence. Slowly the tone of the music began to change, shifting to a steadier, more somber, tone. The filly couldn’t understand why, but as the melody shifted, she found her tears slowing as she was lulled into a peaceful slumber, curled up against the cold, older mare. *** Octavia grimaced as she held her instrument upright, as well as herself, trying to recall the melody. Like so many times before, the young mare had awoken and all but sprinted to her prized instrument, trying futilely to hold onto that same eerie melody that always accompanied the same jumbled and blurry dream. The dream itself was always just out of her reach, but the melody always came in clearly and everytime she tried to recreate it, her memory would fail her. With a dejected sigh, Octavia fell back onto four legs, replacing her cello in its case with practiced ease; yet again, her mind had proven incapable of recreating the tune. Glancing briefly at the clock on the wall, Octavia kneeled down and hooked the strap of her case around her neck and heaved, pulling the case carefully onto her back and departed, an expression of melancholy written across her face. *** Octavia’s bow slowly slid to a halt as a tune besides her own found its way into her ears. “Do none of you hear that?” Octavia’s eyes drifted down a nearby hallway to the patient rooms. When all of her fellow musicians simply stared at her in uncertainty, she carefully placed her cello back into the case, along with her bow and quickly hefted them onto her back, taking off down the hall at a gallop. Like every Saturday, Octavia and a half-dozen other members of the music club sat or stood in the common-room of a nursing home, playing for anywhere from two to three-dozen elderly ponies. Normally, she would have played another two or three songs before trading out with another cellist in the club. This time however, she’d heard something she’d never heard before, in the waking world at least. It was the same bone-chilling violin that she’d heard dozens of times before but had never been able to retain. As she grew closer to the end of the patient rooms, the melody grew more audible to the grey mare. She could tell the song was approaching its end as it grew somber and heavier. Octavia slid into the room just as the melody faded into oblivion, breathing heavily as she glanced at the nurses gathered around the bed. As the last of the melody faded, her hearing was replaced with the simple flatline of a heart-monitor. As quickly as she had entered the room, Octavia departed, leaving the nurses to their business, her mind reeling with what had happened, trying and failing to rationalize it. Octavia spent the rest of the day in a daze, returning to her senses only when her door snapped shut behind her. Almost immediately,the mare jolted, turning around rapidly in surprise. Taking in her surroundings, she quickly realized where she was and the day’s events. Once again, she prepared her cello and made to draw her bow back. Unlike all of the other times she had done this, the composition was clear to her. The first few strings went without issue, but as Octavia progressed through the song she began to feel a chill creep up her spine, as well as a gradual weariness beginning to overtake her. As she made to shift to the second segment of the song, she flinched back, the strings of her cello suddenly snapping. Almost as if broken out of a trance, Octavia began to heave, taking in deep breaths and shivering. She was winded, as if she’d ran a marathon, but she felt as if she’d just taken an ice-bath. A slight sticky sensation trickled across her fur and she instinctively made to brush it away. As she did so, she felt tears form in her eyes as several disjointed images flashed through her mind. Wiping the moisture from her eyes and staring at her damp hoof almost in disbelief, Octavia let out a shaky, choked, breath and all but fell forward onto her bed, pulling her covers tight to herself as she sobbed for reasons entirely cryptic to her. *** Octavia groaned in irritation as she hobbled out of Ponyville’s hospital on three legs, a cast wrapped around her fourth. As she made her way along the side of the hospital and towards the town-square, a familiar song - or rather, the end of one - seemed to drown out all of the other sounds, as it had done once before. Octavia quickly realized she had no chance of making it back into the hospital before the song reached its conclusion. Instead, she leaned her side against the building and closed her eyes, ear pressed to the wall. As the song slowly faded into obscurity, Octavia found a bittersweet smile perched on her muzzle. For some reason the song always seemed to calm her down, almost as if it were a long-time friend. Opening her eyes, the mare sighed softly and made to continue on towards the town-square once more, only for her eyes to widen in surprise a pure-white, ethereal pony phased through the solid-wall of the hospital and then, as if she wasn’t even there, right through her as well. Chapter 1 Octavia groaned as her head fell onto the table, the book in front of her jumping slightly as she sighed in defeat. Nearly a week of searching the town library for everything dealing with spirits, deaths, or the occult, and she’d come no closer to identifying the apparition from the previous day. He completely ignored me…could he even see me? “Miss Melody, is everything okay?” Octavia jerked around in surprise. “Ah sorry Princess Twilight, you surprised me,” Octavia sighed and rested her head on the table once more. “I suppose I’m okay just frustrated.” Twilight took a seat at the table, briefly skimming over the various titles sprawled out amongst the charcoal mare. “Mind if I ask why?” Twilight quirked her head slightly, levitating one of the books towards her in her magic. Octavia hesitated, glancing uncertainly at the princess, her eyes shifting downwards. “You’d think I was crazy. Celestia knows the doctors did, but…” Octavia bit her lip slightly; she’d long-since stopped talking about the ‘hallucinations’ with other ponies, but Twilight was a Princess and if anypony would know about the problem it’d be a Ruin in Equestria [Scrapped Story]Author's Note Let me start with this: I was interested in making a Displaced Story back when Thadius0 was still in the middle of Headless, Not Heartless. I toyed with the idea forever but by the time I finally got around to it, the concept was...tired, to say the very least. Needless to say, this story was scrapped very quickly when I realized the concept was barreling downhill. No reason to beat a dead horse and what not. That said, I've always loved the concept, even if the quality of these stories has gone to literal crap in recent months. This displaced was going to be a human turned into Ruin, Steed of War, fromk the Darksiders series. There was also a reference to another displaced story/author who suggested I just throw caution to wind and write the damn thing in the prologue. If anybody figures out the reference I'll give you a cookie. Ruin in Equestria [Scrapped Story] Prologue The first few seconds of consciousness were hazy and my first instinct was to try to figure out what the hell had happened, regardless of my caffeine-starved brain. It wasn’t until I opened my eyes that I was enlightened to just how little that actually mattered. Oh it was important, to be certain, but of equal - and arguably more - importance was the fact that there was a dull green forest rushing to meet me as my freefall came to a not-so-grinding halt. “Oh fu-” I winced as I crashed through the canopy, followed by the wind being forced out of my lungs as I rag-dolled through the lower branches, spun head-over-heels a couple of times before the - is that a tent? - hard ground greets my face. The last thing I saw before fading into blackness was a Quake 2 logo on my ass. That was certainly new. *** “Quit your complaining, you look fine!” I glanced balefully at my friend and the only reason I was here: Clyde Pierce. With a grunt, I shifted the rune-etched pauldrons resting on my shoulders uncomfortably. “I never even beat the damn game,” I complained as I followed him through the convention center, taking in the various other nutcases that had dressed up. I’d never admit it to Clyde - I had lost a bet and ended up here against my will, after all - but I felt pretty badass, despite the fact that I was baking alive in the outfit, to say nothing of the twenty-pound sword replica I’d been forced to carry around for the last three hours. “Can I go home yet?” I glanced over at Clyde as he stalked over to a nearby table run by someone dressed as the Merchant, from Resident Evil 4, complete with the tattered trenchcoat and purple face-cover. Clyde huffed and dug out his wallet as his eyes settled on a small handcrafted figurine. “Fine, fine. Just lemme get you a souvenir or something, so you can at least remember you came.” “Yeah, no, this is definitely something I want to remember.” I shifted my gaze as another Resident Evil 4 character walked by a short distance away, this one dressed as Ada Wong. No amount of alcohol would ever make up for seeing a middle-aged man dressed up as Ada Wong. “You should thank him, stranger.” Huh, cockney accent and all, I thought in amusement. That’s dedication. “You’ve got a good friend.” The merchant took a twenty from Clyde and threw a small figurine towards me. On instinct, my hand reached out and snatched it out of the air, rolling it around in my hand. “I don’t think ‘good friend’ are quite the words I’d use,” I commented mildly as I rolled the figurine over in my hands. I smiled slightly when I realized it was a small-scale replica of Ruin - the steed of War, my character - with a keychain hooked through its tail. “Gotta admit, that’s some damn fine craf-” I noticed the colors of the room blur and fade to black as I fell backward, a sudden weightless sensation overtaking my body. Just had to make me go to the damn convention, didn’t you Clyde? Chapter 1 “Stay back!” I didn’t spare the effort to actually glance back at the lavender unicorn that I’d noticed in my peripheral vision. I was simply too happy to have the mutt back to care. Watching as the massive hound tore his way through waves of demons towards the doors, I grimaced and reared up onto my hind-legs -heh, hind legs, man that had been a trip- and felt a familiar line of runes flare up along the sides of my neck as I brought them crashing into the ground with a force that shattered the ground around me and opened a fissure in front of me, the giant rift passing right through the fire and towards the gates of Tartarus. Nearly all of the ground-bound demons lost their footing and the vast majority of them that had been trying to funnel out of the opened gate fell into the fissure. With a shout of pain I felt the runes on my shoulders light-up, followed by the familiar molten cracks lacing their way up my legs. I grimaced as I felt the power I’d forced into myself trying to break free. It’d been a long damn time since I’d pulled anything like this. Didn’t exactly have access to the sun inside of Tartarus. Once more I reared onto my hindlegs and brought them crashing down on each side of the fissure, the molten cracks running up my four legs raving into the ground beneath them, causing my hooves to smolder painfully as the energy departed. After nearly three seconds of nothing, I smiled as a deep rumbling sounded through the deep fissure and copious amounts of sunfire erupted from the fissure, melting the edges of and clearing out any demons unfortunate enough to have fallen in. Around this time, Cerberus managed to slam the door shut with a hard hind leg and quickly moved around to close the other door as soon as the demons quickly backed away into Tartarus in fear of one of the few things that could truly bring their existence to an end; the pure, uncorrupted fire or a friggin’ star. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I turned towards the purple mare who was staring at me with a completely dumbfounded expression. Later, I decided, as I turned my gaze towards the three-headed hound, my expression hardening as I stalked towards him. “Are you out of your damned mind! You nearly doomed Equestria! What in the actual hell were you thinking!” Cerberus whimpered and reeled back slightly, barking lowly several times. “You’re fuckin’ kidding me. You got bored? I…” I pressed my hoof to my forehead, prompting a dull thump as the two made contact. “I should stick your ass in there with them.” Cerberus only whimpered in response, bowing his heads. I grumbled irritably to myself as I held the hoof in front of me, inspecting my fur. It was short, incredibly coarse, and like the rest of me, dry and matted. Couple thousand years with your only bath being in the blood and fire of demons tended to do that to a pony I supposed. Glancing up irritably at the dog one last time, I turned my back to him and made my way towards the purple mare. Glancing the mare over carefully, I finally began, “So, I guess I have you to thank for bringing Cerberus back to his post?” She seemed to cower back slightly before nodding uncertainly. I chuckled slightly and fell onto my haunches, “Relax, I’m not going to eat you.” “Uh sorry,” the mare started, her soft voice making me almost giddy. It had been a long damn time since I heard a voice belonging to anything other than hellspawn. “You’re just really intimidating.” “Sorry about that, I can’t really turn that off.” I shifted my gaze skyward. It sure was taking her a long time for something this serious. After a moment of silence the mare began again, “So are you a demon as well or…?” “Uh technically, I guess. Never really figured out the specifics of that whole thing. I’m a demon but…not from this universe I guess?” That perked the mare’s interest. “You’re from another universe!” Her childlike expression elicited another chuckle from me. The expression was a damn-near carbon-copy of Clover the Clever, and I told her just that. “Oh boy, I’ve seen that expression before right before Clover grilled me for twelve hours about everything. Thanks for the scholarly interest, but no thanks.” I grimaced inwardly at the mare’s crestfallen expression. “Besides, we don’t really have time for it. Tia should’ve been here by now.” The mare raised an eyebrow to me questioningly. “Princess? White, big-ass, spear on her head? Her sister’s a blueberry?” The mare actually giggle-snorted, causing a wry smile. “You know, she still hates that name.” I whipped around fast enough to give a normal pony whiplash as a familiar voice spoke, the same warm tone from forever ago. I couldn’t help the massive grin that spread across my face as the immaculate alabaster mare approached me with an almost teary-eyed expression of my own. Like Celestia, I carefully made my way towards her. The slow walk we had quickly built up a trot and the pair of us quickly met with a heated kiss and colliding bodies, charred and black hide meeting Celestia’s pristine white coat, our lips searching each other out. As far as I was concerned, nothing else existed in this moment...that was, until Cerberus whined and both of us became aware of a lone lavender pony watching us, eyes nearly bugging out of her head. Finally I asked, “Someone you know, Celly?” Celestia blushed and nodded firmly. “It seems we’ve much to discuss.” “Yeah…” I trailed off, my gaze drifting to the gates of Tartarus sadly. “The gates are going to need some work. Plus a few of them got out. When Cerberus left, the demons decided it’d be a great time to swarm. They got the gates open and started to flood out. Managed to cut most of them off but a few of’em got away. A couple you’re going to be really interested in. So, how do you want to do this?” I took a step back as Celestia’s horn flared to life, a testament to the mare’s power. The gates of Tartarus were enchanted to negate any and all magic within a set distance. That she could cast a spell at all was incredible, much less that she was effecting the gates directly. “That should hold for a few days. I’ll have Luna pay a visit sometime soon to further reinforce them. For now, we should reconvene at Canterlot.” “Uh,” I raised a hoof. “Canterlot?” “It’s atop Mount Canter, which you may remember from our travels. It’s almost directly north from here. Can you meet us there?” I felt a dull ache in my chest at the thought of being away from the mare for any period of time after such a short reunion, but nodded in assurance. Bigger things were at stake here than rekindling our relationship. “I’ll meet you there.” Turning my back to the two mares, I took off a light gallop before jumping and angling my face towards the ground. I imagine the purple mares expression was widening right about now but I didn’t get to see it myself as I disappeared into the earth with a burst of flame. *** In hindsight, I should have thought twice at the thought of breaking up through the cobblestones of the mountain-city but after a solid eleven-hundred years being locked in Tartarus fighting hordes daily I was simply too giddy to care. Well, I cared slightly when the guards at the front-gate of the castle rushed me, and even-more-so when the populace began to panic and scream in horror. Ah well, time to worry about that later. Scrapped Prologue “Oh…goddammit…” I groaned tiredly and rolled upright onto my hands and knees. My everything hurt, most notably my ribs and head. After a couple of pained dry-heaves, I made an effort to stand, only to realize my head was chained to a peg in the ground. Along with both of my… “Oh hell no,” I made to jerk my newly discovered hooves upwards. After a brief moment of resistance from the pegs, the chain - peg and all - jerked out of the ground and smacked me square in the…muzzle. Stay calm…deep breaths… I could feel my heart and lungs begin to pump faster as I fought back the impending panic. “The demon is escaping!” A voice ripped me from my concentration and my head jerked around. My first reaction, likely wasn’t the best. I didn’t run, or try to argue the point. I glared at the stallion in obvious irritation - a light golden horse with a dark yellow mane in a set of fairly comprehensive armor - as I made an effort to stand up onto my four new legs as another half-dozen horses - each more ridiculously colored than the last - only to fall flat on my face, wincing as the impact jarred my already aching-head and causing one of them to snort in poorly concealed laughter. “Fuckin’ horses…” I mumbled as I struggled back upright, wobbling unstably as I fell backwards onto my ass. “Fuckin’ Clyde and his fuckin’ convention…” Satisfied that I wouldn’t fall over again, I took in the various horses around me - a dozen of them, ranging from regular horses to pegasi and unicorns. “Can’t even panic, too much damn absurdity.” Carefully balancing myself on four legs and trying to balance my newly proportioned body, I glanced up angrily at them. “Fret not, we shall subdue this demon!” Throwing my hooves up over my ears to try and blare out the loud voice, I realized too late I needed those on the ground as I fell forward and face-planted for the second time. With a tired groan, I glanced up at the offender with tired eyes, taking in - go figure - another friggin’ horse, this one notably larger than the rest, sporting both wings and a horn, as well as a dark flowing mane and tail, complete with stars and a moon on her ass. “I quit.” I closed my eyes sorely, hoping it would all go away, despite knowing that it wouldn’t; the pain I’d felt thus far had been all too real. “By the gods, it talks!” the blueberry called out. “Tis’ unheard of, for a demon to speak! Private, go seek out my sister, tell her I require her counsel regarding this creature!” “Can you little bastards stop referring to me as an ‘it’ or a demon?” I shot upright, surprisingly having little issue this time. Only now, when a pair of the small horses rush in front of the Blueberry did I realize I towered over them, Blueberry included. While the smaller ones were clearly nervous, Blueberry only matched eyes with me, glaring right back. “Be still and silent demon, our sister will soon help us sort this out!” “Get bent, Blueberry, I don’t take orders from you.” I began doing circles, trying to get a good glance at my ass and side. The Quake II logo - I think - was the only thing worthy of note, with the exception of my hind-hooves seemed to be on fire. They didn’t feel hot but at this point I honestly had no idea what the hell was what. “Yeah, okay.” I glanced down at my front hooves which were also flaming slightly, flames occasionally licking their way up my legs. “Any of you got a mirror?” “Sister!” Another really loud freakin’ horse, because why not. Another winged horse, this one white with a multi-hued mane and a sun on her backend. I likely would’ve commented, if not for the mark on my own ass. The white horse glared at me with the same intensity that the blue - purple? - one had, this time however I stared back with a plainly disinterested stare. “Should I put on a pot of coffee? Any other freaks of nature I should know about?” The white horse drew her head back in surprise and turned to Blueberry to ask a question, only for an ear-shattering screech to rip through the clearing all of us were standing in and cut her off. All of the ponies visibly cringed and collapsed, throwing their hooves up to try and drown out the sound with the exception of himself, Sunbutt and Blueberry, the latter igniting their horns and turning skywards. As the light erupted outward from their horns and bathed the clearing in their respective colors, the screeches died out and a multitude of shadowy black figures appeared in the dimly lit canopy. “Guards, fall back to camp! Captain, gather the unicorns and put up a magic barrier, nopony gets in or out until my sister and I return!” Sunbutt thundered out. Without hesitation, all of the guards rushed to follow the command.. “Sister, cover me while I prepare my fire!” I backed up slightly, heart starting to race as my brain went into overdrive, still not having had the time to process…well, much of anything really. As the horses fled the clearing, I found a dark blue bubble around myself, blocking out my vision of the event and boxing me in. “Oi! Lemme out of here you bastards!” Thrusting a hoof at the shield only sent slight ripples around it. “No, no no…” My throat tightened slightly as the feeling of dread set in. “Let me out!” Like a true claustrophobic, I began to panic. “Let! Me! OUT!” I punctuated each word with a swing of a hoof, the ripples glowing casually. I felt a slight twinge of pain starting at my shoulder and running up into my neck, though I was too busy hyperventilating to really care. With a grunt, I hunched forward and threw both of my hind-legs, bucking at the barrier as well as a newly-born horse could. With the sound and feeling of a thin pane of glass shattering and an intense burning feeling erupting from my body, followed by a scream of pain from Blueberry, I realized the small barrier was gone. Taking a few deep and unsteady breaths, I glanced uncertainly around the clearing. Blueberry looked visibly charred, her fur smoldering as she laid unconscious on the ground. Marshmallow looked better off, being hidden behind a magical shield of her own. Beyond those two, the clearing looked like it had been reduced to ash. The treeline had been pushed back significantly and the ground was devoid of grass and dirt. The clearing was little more than a solid-black surface, with a trio of ponies inside of it, the creatures nowhere to be found. Glancing nervously at Marshmallow, I braced myself as the barrier faded. “What have you done?” Her voice was low and dangerous as she looked around the remains of the clearing and the near-cooked body of her sister heaving on the ground. “Uh…” I hesitated, glancing from the body to the dangerous gaze - and glowing horn - of Marshmallow. “Oops?” My world faded to black as a bright light discharged from her horn and sent me ragdolling through the forest, caving in a pair of trees before I slumped to the ground. *** What are you? My eyes shot open as Blueberry’s voice reverberated through my head. Glancing around there was nothing but white in every direction, doing little favors for my headache. “Dead, apparently.” I commented idly to the voice, closing my eyes to block out the white. “Dead?” The voice sounded…amused. “You’re not dead, you’re dreaming.” The voice began to chuckle. “If I’m dreaming then what the hell are you doing in my head Blueberry?” I snapped back, irritation getting the better of me. The laughter died down almost instantly, causing me to smirk slightly. In a far less amused tone, she answered. “We want to look through your memories.” I felt a slight probe…somewhere, in my head. Almost immediately I focused on one image to the exclusion of all else. I couldn’t remember which book I had read it in, but one book had it’s characters use this as a method to protect their minds against intrusions. Luckily for me, it worked and the probe seemed unable to find any purchase in my…head. Unluckily for me, the image that served as my mental defense had turned out to be the last thing I saw before this whole dream-thing. Marshmallow. Or, for some reason I couldn’t yet fathom, Marshmallows ass, big sun and all. At this point I wondered whether Blueberry had stopped because of the mental defense of because I barred her with a picture of her sister’s ass. The silence and inactivity born from the event was quite palpable. For nearly five minutes the two of us -me physically and Blueberry…in spirit, I guess, stood there, completely unspeaking. Finally, Blueberry spoke. “You…seem to think very highly of my sister’s…posterior.” It was a stunted, awkward statement. “It was the first thing that came to mind.” I defended lamely, “She’s the reason I’m…asleep? Unconscious? Here, I guess.” “Unconscious.” Blueberry confirmed for me. “So, uh…yeah. Not really comfortable with anything poking around in my head.” Blueberry snorted in irritation, “Many would take that to mean you’ve something to hide.” I actually snorted in response, “I’ve got plenty of stuff to hide.” Another brief silence, “Can you uh…get out of my head? This is weird.” I inched my eyes open to the white once more, only to see it broken up by Blueberry. “You’re a lot less…crispy, than I remember.” I commented uncertainly. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cook you. I don’t handle tight spaces well.” That much was the truth. Tight spaces freaked me the hell out. Magic Barrier: EqG [APDEG]Author's Note This story was....whew. What a mess. Alticron and I prodded it for quite some time before deciding it just wasn't right, so we scrapped it. I've contemplated uploading it for quite awhile because honestly, I really don't like it, for various reasons. Too Gran Turino~y imo. So it was scrapped. Alticron: Will we ever see a full Equestria Girls story with characters from any of the APD stories? Who knows what the future holds. Also perhaps worthy of note, this story made quite some time before Friendship games came out. The prologue was made in July of 2015 and the last edit to chapter 1 was a single day before Friendship Games' release. Magic Barrier: EqG [APDEG] Prologue “I’m comin’!” Barrier growled out, shaking his head slightly to try and clear the headache. Glancing around at the bottles littering his bedroom floor, his eyes finally settled on one atop his desk. Lazily grabbing it he hefted himself upright, pain spiking through his head. A quick swig of the bottle saw the pain on its way. Passing through his empty hallway and dusty living room, he pulled the front door open with a jerk, blurry vision settling on the young girl standing in front of him looking awkwardly at him with her dark violet eyes. “Whatever you’re sellin’, I’m not interested.” Barrier shoved the door shut, blocking the blue-tinted girl from his sight before she could even open her mouth to respond. “Kids these days…” Barrier mumbled to himself as he made his way back to the bedroom, all but falling back down onto his bed, half-empty bottle clattering to the floor with its brothers. Just as sleep made to overtake him once more, another knock came from the door, this one in three sharp taps, followed by a familiar voice. “Dad! You up? I need to talk to you!” Just can’t leave me to sleep this off, can you? Barrier thought to himself, tiredly jerking a pillow over his head. “Dad, we’re coming in!” Barrier heard the door unlock and open, causing him to toss the pillow off with a huff. “Isn’t a few days too early for your monthly intervention, Nighty?” Barrier yelled out, glancing at his room. When had it gotten so damned messy? With a tired grunt Magic Barrier hefted himself up for the second time that day and departed his bedroom, without a bottle this time. As he made it into the living room his eyes narrowed as they found the young azure-tinted girl sitting on the couch, both hands on her knees as she stared at the gaunt old man awkwardly. “What’d this kid rope you into selling cookies or some shit, Nighty?” Barrier called out to the kitchen where he could hear his son rifling around. “If only it were that simple,” Night Light commented as he returned to the living room, “So, I noticed your liquor cabinet was empty…” he commented as he carefully filled the three cups and doled them out. Barrier snorted in response, “Yeah, I started buying in smaller amounts and putting it up since someone kept emptying them out while I’m asleep. Wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” “You’re never asleep when I pour them out,” Night Light shot back, “you’re passed out drunk.” “So what do you need this time?” “Why is it that you always assume I need something? It’s not like the only time I visit is when I want something, you know,” “Night Light,” Barrier spoke flatly, his eyes boring into the younger male, “don’t bullshit with me, I’m too old and too tired for it. Just tell me what you need.” Night Light’s expression faltered slightly before he audibly sighed and nodded, “Okay, fair enough. It’s about this girl. Her name’s Trixie.” “You’re married,” Barrier deadpanned, “with two kids. I’m not bailing you out for sleeping with a teenager. Is she even legal?” “It’s not like that!” Night Light was quick to point out, neither adult paying attention to the girl’s beet-red face. “It’s...complicated.” “Well, I’m waiting.” Barrier’s eyes drifted over to Trixie, noting the azure skin, only a shade lighter than his son’s. “This is Trixie Lulamoon,” Night Light began, taking a deep steadying breath, “and she’s your granddaughter.” “Come again?” Barrier locked eyes with Night Light, his hard, icy-blue eyes boring into the younger man. “Last I checked I’ve got two grandkids and she’s not either of’em.” Trixie shrunk back into the couch, glancing uncertainly between the two. “Trixie,” the blue-skinned girl all but snapped to attention nervously, “why don’t you go take a look around the house while Dad and I talk?” Night Light suggested. She quickly did just that, leaving the two alone in the living room as she made her way towards the hallway. “Wanna explain to me the hell this is all about?” Barrier asked as soon as they were alone. “I…screwed up,” he started, “seventeen years ago I got drunk on an out-of-town trip and had a one-night stand with some girl I met at the bar. Didn’t think anything of it until she shows up at my door.” “Dammit, Nighty...” Barrier stood and made his way into the kitchen for a moment before returning with an unopened bottle of bourbon. “Really? You’re going to drink right now when I’m trying to explain all of this? Are you-” Night Light was cut off as Barrier thrust the bottle at him. “Not for me, for you. Though I want it back whenever you’re done.” Night Light glanced uncertainly at the dark amber liquid before he screwed the cap off and took a quick shot, expression souring as he did so, much to his father’s amusement. “Does Velvet know yet?” Barrier took the bottle, throwing back a shot of his own. “Not yet…she’s gonna kick my ass. I plan on telling her tonight…” Night Light’s gaze drifted to the carpet, “but Trixie needs a place to stay. We just don’t have the room for her at home unless we put her on the couch or in Twilight’s room and that doesn’t feel fair. You were the only one I could think of…” “I’m too old for this Nighty…” “She deserves better than I can give her.” Night Light shrugged half-heartedly. “I’m not proud of what I did, but I don’t wanna see her end up on the streets or something. Worst case scenario: I put her up with Twilight but I kinda see them butting heads.” Barrier remained silent for several long minutes, vaguely aware of Trixie watching them uncertainly from the hall. “Well,” he finally spoke, “I can’t turn away family…not her fault she’s here…” Night Light began to smile slightly, but Barrier was quick to cut him off. “But that doesn’t mean I’m takin’ charge of her.” he stated gruffly, “You’re her dad, Night Light,” Barrier seldom used his son’s actual name, “and that means you take responsibility for her, same as Twilight and Shining, got it? That means that all of them need to know.” Blue eyes met amber as Barrier waited for his response. “Don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can to include her once everything is sorted out. Thanks for this, dad. But uh…” he glanced uncertainly at the bottle of alcohol held loosely in his father’s hands. “You might need to ease up on the drinking though. She’s still a kid after all.” Barrier only grunted in response. CHAPTER 1 “I’ll be out of your hair in just a sec dad, just gonna go talk to Trixie really quick…” Night light quickly sidestepped his father and made his ways towards the hallway. “I wish I could do more Trixie…” Night Light stated genuinely, “but right now there just aren’t a lot of options. I’ll figure something out, promise.” The two stood in awkward silence for a moment before Night Light turned and departed, frown clear on his face. Barrier waited until the familiar sedan rolled out of his driveway. “So…” Barrier turned to face Trixie who still stood in the hallway. “Welcome to the family Trix,” Barrier motioned at the chair across from him which she hesitantly approached and slid into. The pair sat in silence before Barrier grimaced and opened his mouth, “I’m sorry Trixie.” He noted the look of confusion on the girl’s face, “About Night Light I mean. I doubt he said it himself.” He watched the girl nod in confirmation, “he’s never been good about apologizing. Probably my fault. Sorry about the situation ya’ve been placed in.” Barrier sighed heavily. “Can’t imagine it’s easy.” Trixie rested her hands on her knees but remained otherwise silent. “Well come on, I’ll show ya’ ‘round. Got any belongings?” Trixie pointed towards the small garbage-bag. That’s it? Barrier asked himself. There couldn’t be more than a few outfits, at best. “Alright well, we’ll have to go shoppin’ to get you some stuff. Expected a girl your age to have more.” “Trixie had limited space at the orphanage,” she explained, “she shared her room with two others.” “I see,” Barrier replied gruffly, “well, I ain’t got much here but the guest room’s yours.” Barrier motioned to the door the pair had stopped at, across from his own room. Trixie hesitantly opened the door revealing a painfully simple room. It contained a full-sized bed, a pair of nightstands, and a solitary dresser. “It probably needs a good dust. I don’t clean much anymore these days.” Barrier confessed. “Not much reason too. I only see Night Light here when he’s emptying out my liquor cabinet or needs something. Don’t see Twi or Shining much these days either.” And it’s your own damned fault, Barrier’s mind stated traitorously. “I’m across the hall here,” Barrier motioned to his own door though he didn’t open it to show her the interior. “Bathroom’s at the end of the hall, laundries just off’a the kitchen, next to the garage door.” Barrier rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, “think that’s about it. Probably isn’t much in there right now. Anyways, I’ll let ya’ get settled in while I go out to the garage. Might have some furniture out there if ya’ need somethin’ else in here. You can come out and take a look,” Barrier turned and made to leave the girl before stopping and slowly turning his gaze to the girl “If you need anything else just let me know.” Barrier took a few steps before stopping again, “Even if you just wanna talk, or ask questions,” *** Trixie stood uncertainly in the room for a long half-hour before she finally mustered the nerve to head towards the garage. The situation was...overwhelming and had thrown the girl out of her usual routine. She’d met her father -and grandfather- in a single day and her life had changed drastically. “Magic Barrier, are you out here?” Trixie poked her head into the dimly lit garage, “In front of the truck,” a voice responded,, followed by the sound of a hood closing, followed by the elderly man carefully making his way around the faded, light-blue truck in question. Eyes drifting elsewhere, Trixie noted the furniture stacked in various places around the garage “Surprised to see you out here,” he began gruffly, “I expected you’d still be in your room trying to work all this out in your head.” “Trixie,” she started, “wanted to apologize. She did not intend to intrude on you.” Barrier mentally noted that she talked in first person though gave it no attention, “Eh, it’s fine.” Barrier shrugged the statement off, “So, you’re still in school, right?” Barrier carefully sidestepped the young lady, “Not at the moment,” Trixie admitted, “Trixie was thinking about going to Crystal Plaza High but with the orphanage kicking Trixie out…” “Might be able to get you in at Canterlot High,” Barrier commented as he rested against the side of his truck, “I know the vice-principal there, bet we could get you in pretty easily.” Barrier thought back to the lone trash-bag of belongings that Trixie had. “Besides, going to Crystal Plaza High would mean an extra four miles either way. Got your’ license?” Trixie didn’t reply immediately, thoughts running amok. She had the intelligence to attend Crystal Plaza High -all of her test scores made that much plain- but Canterlot High, while not quite as prestigious was more widely known. “Who do you know from Canterlot High?” Trixie asked, eyeing the old man in curiosity. “Vice-Principal Luna,” Barrier stated, his jaw tightening only slightly, “we’re fairly well-acquainted. Woman doesn’t know how to mind her own damn business,” Though Barrier was certain Night Light had more than little to do with the woman’s rather frequent visits. “Trixie sees,” Trixie stated plainly, “Trixie does not have her license yet. They didn’t offer classes at the orphanage and Trixie hasn’t had the opportunity yet.” As she spoke, she slowly turned her gaze away from Barrier, “Well, we can work on it,” Barrier stated gruffly as he pressed a button on the wall, causing a dull rumbling as the garage door opened itself. “I gotta make a run to the store. Take a look around, see if there’s anything you need moved to yer’ room. Desk or somethin’ maybe. And don’t go into my room.” As Barrier spoke he climbed into the pickup, the truck starting up with a rumble. “I’m gonna go get some groceries. Don’t keep more than the bare minimum these days.” he stated from the window before departing, the garage-door sliding shut behind him. *** Trixie slumped into the wall as the truck departed and slowly slid to the floor, finally coming to a halt with her head hanging limply on her knees as she was finally alone -truly alone- for the first time in as long as she could remember. First the orphanage had told her that they were full-up and needed to free up some room for new arrivals. As the oldest, she was the first to go. With forty-dollars and a small bag of clothes, she found herself on the street with little more than a piece of paper listing homeless shelters. Then her mind drifted back to her mother’s death and subsequent reading of her will where her father had been mentioned. With the help of a police-officer who pitied her and several days of searching she soon found herself on a bus and in front of Night Light’s door. That had been a mess all on it’s own, trying to explain herself to the man followed by having to all but beg for assistance and then being pawned off on her grandfather, an apparent relic of a man who seemed nice, though he reeked of booze. NOTES Beginning: Night Light has a one-night stand, kid comes back to him. He is unable to support her financially or doesn’t have room/time for her, asks his father Magic Barrier to look after her until she is of legal age. MB agrees, story starts there. Middle: Bonding of the two? Trixie doesn’t like being saddled with her grandfather, feels like her father doesn’t want her involved. Magic Barrier tries to comfort her, clearly angered at his son for his treatment of his daughter, feeling regardless of his thoughts that it is his responsibility. End: Trixie grows to legal age, Magic Barrier dies of old age, maybe leaves everything save a token amount to Trixie. Have Trixie coping with the only father figure she feels she knew, end with her reconciling with Night Light. Magic Barrier is 65{?} at story start. Shining Armor is 19 at story start. Twilight Sparkle is 16 at story start. Trixie is 16{ish} at story start. Night Light is 43{?} Luna is 34 at story start. Magic Barrier lost his wife age 47, 1 year after Shining was born.
A Love Lost... [APD]Author's Note This was initially the ending to my first story on-site, A Pony Displaced. It was scrapped for obvious reasons and later used as an April fools joke. Since then it's been collecting dust. Not my best writing {in truth, I hate it} but what I like and don't like isn't the point of it all. A Love Lost... [APD] The room was silent and empty, the machines having been powered down hours ago while the ponies had left shortly after. Only a single pony remained, glued to the bedside as he was, dried tear-tracks clear on his face. Don’t close your heart. Her final words echoed endlessly in his head, over and over again. Glancing down at the now-cold form of his wife, Barrier stood and took in her features one last time. There was a smile on her wrinkled grey face, accompanied by slight tear-tracks. Her passing had been peaceful at the very least; she had simply went to sleep. “Barrier.” a soft voice from the doorway called to him. “The funeral home representatives have arrived to remove her body…” The voice was awkwardly gentle, as if not knowing how the unicorn would react. “Relax, Luna. I’ve known this was going to happen for a long time now.” Barrier leaned over and pecked the cold body of Octavia one final time, his tears renewed as he trotted carefully past the princess of the night. “Even so, it doesn’t make it any easier.” The princess of the night followed. Barrier couldn’t really argue that; the princess was one of only a handful of creatures who could understand what he had -and was- going through at this moment. How many more times would he feel this hollow ache in his chest? He had already buried Night Light and Twilight Velvet…Shining Armor would be next, he supposed. After that, only his children and grandchildren would remain. “Barrier…?” Luna placed a hoof on the unicorn’s shoulder. “How Luna? How can I let this go? I’ll have to watch them all die…” he began to cry anew, suddenly hugging the alicorn and burying his face in her shoulder as he cried. *** “What do you mean I’m still twenty-seven?” “Just that,” he repeated “you’re a perfectly healthy twenty-seven year old stallion.” It had been nearly ten years since Barrier and Octavia had gotten married; after the first eight years, Barrier began to suspect something; he didn’t feel older, despite all the years that had passed. After that, he and Octavia had started watching his health more closely. After another two years, they decided a doctor’s visit was in order; according to the doctor, Magic Barrier was in the prime of his youth. With that nugget of knowledge, they turned to the highest authority on the matter: Princess Celestia and her sister, Luna. They had ultimately decided that when Barrier was hit by the Elements of Harmony and sealed with Princess Luna, one of two things happened; either his soul was bound with that of Luna, or, the more likely of the two, that the elements of harmony had caused him to stop ageing entirely; they had forced his body into perfect harmony. Barrier hadn’t taken the news well, the thought of likely never reuniting with his family or outliving Octavia and his kids. It had been more than he could handle and he’d had a break-down no sooner than they walked through the door of their Manehattan home. Over the next several years, Barrier found himself in and out of therapy for a mixture of depression and alcoholism. The unicorn couldn’t even begin to count how many times he’d found himself holding nothing more than a length of rope. Ultimately, Octavia had managed to once again save him from himself, convincing him that he should be living.
The Violinist [Removed Story]Author's Note This story was an idea that wormed it's way into my head while listening to Nox Arcana at like...two-thirty in the morning quite a long time ago. Ultimately, it was scrapped because I lost my direction on it. I toyed with the idea of trying to write it once more but I've long since lost the drive to do so. The basic premise was that an entity known as The Violinist ferries the souls of the dead from one world to the next, and no living ponies have ever been able to see him, until Octavia. The story was going to delve into her trying to make sense of the whole thing, whether she was crazy, etc,. I'd planned on ending it with her on her deathbed/death...chair and the Violinist greets her one last time. Something like that, anyways. The Violinist [Removed Story] Prologue Octavia cried gently as she tried and failed to lift her mother’s foreleg. With a grunt, the young filly lost her grip on the larger mare’s foreleg and went tumbling back through the sticky-black liquid that surrounded her mother. Warm tears rolled down the mare’s cheeks for reasons she couldn’t understand as she wobbled unsteadily towards the older mare once more before doing her best to curl up against her cold form. The filly’s stomach let out a tiny grumble as she closed her eyes tightly, trying to stem the heavy flow of tears that she couldn’t quite understand just yet. For nearly half-an-hour the filly laid up against the older mare, both shivering and hungry. What had been soft crying grew into heavy sobbing as the infant seemed to realize that her mother wasn’t going to move again. The sobbing grew and the filly tried to lift the mare’s foreleg once again. The attempt was even shorter this time and the filly fell backwards, curling into a sobbing ball. The filly’s eyes suddenly opened wide as a new sound made its way into her ears. The melody started out low and haunting with a hint of uncertainty; the filly instinctively curled up tightly to her mother at the slow sound as the low whine of strings filled the silence. Slowly the tone of the music began to change, shifting to a steadier, more somber, tone. The filly couldn’t understand why, but as the melody shifted, she found her tears slowing as she was lulled into a peaceful slumber, curled up against the cold, older mare. *** Octavia grimaced as she held her instrument upright, as well as herself, trying to recall the melody. Like so many times before, the young mare had awoken and all but sprinted to her prized instrument, trying futilely to hold onto that same eerie melody that always accompanied the same jumbled and blurry dream. The dream itself was always just out of her reach, but the melody always came in clearly and everytime she tried to recreate it, her memory would fail her. With a dejected sigh, Octavia fell back onto four legs, replacing her cello in its case with practiced ease; yet again, her mind had proven incapable of recreating the tune. Glancing briefly at the clock on the wall, Octavia kneeled down and hooked the strap of her case around her neck and heaved, pulling the case carefully onto her back and departed, an expression of melancholy written across her face. *** Octavia’s bow slowly slid to a halt as a tune besides her own found its way into her ears. “Do none of you hear that?” Octavia’s eyes drifted down a nearby hallway to the patient rooms. When all of her fellow musicians simply stared at her in uncertainty, she carefully placed her cello back into the case, along with her bow and quickly hefted them onto her back, taking off down the hall at a gallop. Like every Saturday, Octavia and a half-dozen other members of the music club sat or stood in the common-room of a nursing home, playing for anywhere from two to three-dozen elderly ponies. Normally, she would have played another two or three songs before trading out with another cellist in the club. This time however, she’d heard something she’d never heard before, in the waking world at least. It was the same bone-chilling violin that she’d heard dozens of times before but had never been able to retain. As she grew closer to the end of the patient rooms, the melody grew more audible to the grey mare. She could tell the song was approaching its end as it grew somber and heavier. Octavia slid into the room just as the melody faded into oblivion, breathing heavily as she glanced at the nurses gathered around the bed. As the last of the melody faded, her hearing was replaced with the simple flatline of a heart-monitor. As quickly as she had entered the room, Octavia departed, leaving the nurses to their business, her mind reeling with what had happened, trying and failing to rationalize it. Octavia spent the rest of the day in a daze, returning to her senses only when her door snapped shut behind her. Almost immediately,the mare jolted, turning around rapidly in surprise. Taking in her surroundings, she quickly realized where she was and the day’s events. Once again, she prepared her cello and made to draw her bow back. Unlike all of the other times she had done this, the composition was clear to her. The first few strings went without issue, but as Octavia progressed through the song she began to feel a chill creep up her spine, as well as a gradual weariness beginning to overtake her. As she made to shift to the second segment of the song, she flinched back, the strings of her cello suddenly snapping. Almost as if broken out of a trance, Octavia began to heave, taking in deep breaths and shivering. She was winded, as if she’d ran a marathon, but she felt as if she’d just taken an ice-bath. A slight sticky sensation trickled across her fur and she instinctively made to brush it away. As she did so, she felt tears form in her eyes as several disjointed images flashed through her mind. Wiping the moisture from her eyes and staring at her damp hoof almost in disbelief, Octavia let out a shaky, choked, breath and all but fell forward onto her bed, pulling her covers tight to herself as she sobbed for reasons entirely cryptic to her. *** Octavia groaned in irritation as she hobbled out of Ponyville’s hospital on three legs, a cast wrapped around her fourth. As she made her way along the side of the hospital and towards the town-square, a familiar song - or rather, the end of one - seemed to drown out all of the other sounds, as it had done once before. Octavia quickly realized she had no chance of making it back into the hospital before the song reached its conclusion. Instead, she leaned her side against the building and closed her eyes, ear pressed to the wall. As the song slowly faded into obscurity, Octavia found a bittersweet smile perched on her muzzle. For some reason the song always seemed to calm her down, almost as if it were a long-time friend. Opening her eyes, the mare sighed softly and made to continue on towards the town-square once more, only for her eyes to widen in surprise a pure-white, ethereal pony phased through the solid-wall of the hospital and then, as if she wasn’t even there, right through her as well. Chapter 1 Octavia groaned as her head fell onto the table, the book in front of her jumping slightly as she sighed in defeat. Nearly a week of searching the town library for everything dealing with spirits, deaths, or the occult, and she’d come no closer to identifying the apparition from the previous day. He completely ignored me…could he even see me? “Miss Melody, is everything okay?” Octavia jerked around in surprise. “Ah sorry Princess Twilight, you surprised me,” Octavia sighed and rested her head on the table once more. “I suppose I’m okay just frustrated.” Twilight took a seat at the table, briefly skimming over the various titles sprawled out amongst the charcoal mare. “Mind if I ask why?” Twilight quirked her head slightly, levitating one of the books towards her in her magic. Octavia hesitated, glancing uncertainly at the princess, her eyes shifting downwards. “You’d think I was crazy. Celestia knows the doctors did, but…” Octavia bit her lip slightly; she’d long-since stopped talking about the ‘hallucinations’ with other ponies, but Twilight was a Princess and if anypony would know about the problem it’d be a
Ruin in Equestria [Scrapped Story]Author's Note Let me start with this: I was interested in making a Displaced Story back when Thadius0 was still in the middle of Headless, Not Heartless. I toyed with the idea forever but by the time I finally got around to it, the concept was...tired, to say the very least. Needless to say, this story was scrapped very quickly when I realized the concept was barreling downhill. No reason to beat a dead horse and what not. That said, I've always loved the concept, even if the quality of these stories has gone to literal crap in recent months. This displaced was going to be a human turned into Ruin, Steed of War, fromk the Darksiders series. There was also a reference to another displaced story/author who suggested I just throw caution to wind and write the damn thing in the prologue. If anybody figures out the reference I'll give you a cookie. Ruin in Equestria [Scrapped Story] Prologue The first few seconds of consciousness were hazy and my first instinct was to try to figure out what the hell had happened, regardless of my caffeine-starved brain. It wasn’t until I opened my eyes that I was enlightened to just how little that actually mattered. Oh it was important, to be certain, but of equal - and arguably more - importance was the fact that there was a dull green forest rushing to meet me as my freefall came to a not-so-grinding halt. “Oh fu-” I winced as I crashed through the canopy, followed by the wind being forced out of my lungs as I rag-dolled through the lower branches, spun head-over-heels a couple of times before the - is that a tent? - hard ground greets my face. The last thing I saw before fading into blackness was a Quake 2 logo on my ass. That was certainly new. *** “Quit your complaining, you look fine!” I glanced balefully at my friend and the only reason I was here: Clyde Pierce. With a grunt, I shifted the rune-etched pauldrons resting on my shoulders uncomfortably. “I never even beat the damn game,” I complained as I followed him through the convention center, taking in the various other nutcases that had dressed up. I’d never admit it to Clyde - I had lost a bet and ended up here against my will, after all - but I felt pretty badass, despite the fact that I was baking alive in the outfit, to say nothing of the twenty-pound sword replica I’d been forced to carry around for the last three hours. “Can I go home yet?” I glanced over at Clyde as he stalked over to a nearby table run by someone dressed as the Merchant, from Resident Evil 4, complete with the tattered trenchcoat and purple face-cover. Clyde huffed and dug out his wallet as his eyes settled on a small handcrafted figurine. “Fine, fine. Just lemme get you a souvenir or something, so you can at least remember you came.” “Yeah, no, this is definitely something I want to remember.” I shifted my gaze as another Resident Evil 4 character walked by a short distance away, this one dressed as Ada Wong. No amount of alcohol would ever make up for seeing a middle-aged man dressed up as Ada Wong. “You should thank him, stranger.” Huh, cockney accent and all, I thought in amusement. That’s dedication. “You’ve got a good friend.” The merchant took a twenty from Clyde and threw a small figurine towards me. On instinct, my hand reached out and snatched it out of the air, rolling it around in my hand. “I don’t think ‘good friend’ are quite the words I’d use,” I commented mildly as I rolled the figurine over in my hands. I smiled slightly when I realized it was a small-scale replica of Ruin - the steed of War, my character - with a keychain hooked through its tail. “Gotta admit, that’s some damn fine craf-” I noticed the colors of the room blur and fade to black as I fell backward, a sudden weightless sensation overtaking my body. Just had to make me go to the damn convention, didn’t you Clyde? Chapter 1 “Stay back!” I didn’t spare the effort to actually glance back at the lavender unicorn that I’d noticed in my peripheral vision. I was simply too happy to have the mutt back to care. Watching as the massive hound tore his way through waves of demons towards the doors, I grimaced and reared up onto my hind-legs -heh, hind legs, man that had been a trip- and felt a familiar line of runes flare up along the sides of my neck as I brought them crashing into the ground with a force that shattered the ground around me and opened a fissure in front of me, the giant rift passing right through the fire and towards the gates of Tartarus. Nearly all of the ground-bound demons lost their footing and the vast majority of them that had been trying to funnel out of the opened gate fell into the fissure. With a shout of pain I felt the runes on my shoulders light-up, followed by the familiar molten cracks lacing their way up my legs. I grimaced as I felt the power I’d forced into myself trying to break free. It’d been a long damn time since I’d pulled anything like this. Didn’t exactly have access to the sun inside of Tartarus. Once more I reared onto my hindlegs and brought them crashing down on each side of the fissure, the molten cracks running up my four legs raving into the ground beneath them, causing my hooves to smolder painfully as the energy departed. After nearly three seconds of nothing, I smiled as a deep rumbling sounded through the deep fissure and copious amounts of sunfire erupted from the fissure, melting the edges of and clearing out any demons unfortunate enough to have fallen in. Around this time, Cerberus managed to slam the door shut with a hard hind leg and quickly moved around to close the other door as soon as the demons quickly backed away into Tartarus in fear of one of the few things that could truly bring their existence to an end; the pure, uncorrupted fire or a friggin’ star. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I turned towards the purple mare who was staring at me with a completely dumbfounded expression. Later, I decided, as I turned my gaze towards the three-headed hound, my expression hardening as I stalked towards him. “Are you out of your damned mind! You nearly doomed Equestria! What in the actual hell were you thinking!” Cerberus whimpered and reeled back slightly, barking lowly several times. “You’re fuckin’ kidding me. You got bored? I…” I pressed my hoof to my forehead, prompting a dull thump as the two made contact. “I should stick your ass in there with them.” Cerberus only whimpered in response, bowing his heads. I grumbled irritably to myself as I held the hoof in front of me, inspecting my fur. It was short, incredibly coarse, and like the rest of me, dry and matted. Couple thousand years with your only bath being in the blood and fire of demons tended to do that to a pony I supposed. Glancing up irritably at the dog one last time, I turned my back to him and made my way towards the purple mare. Glancing the mare over carefully, I finally began, “So, I guess I have you to thank for bringing Cerberus back to his post?” She seemed to cower back slightly before nodding uncertainly. I chuckled slightly and fell onto my haunches, “Relax, I’m not going to eat you.” “Uh sorry,” the mare started, her soft voice making me almost giddy. It had been a long damn time since I heard a voice belonging to anything other than hellspawn. “You’re just really intimidating.” “Sorry about that, I can’t really turn that off.” I shifted my gaze skyward. It sure was taking her a long time for something this serious. After a moment of silence the mare began again, “So are you a demon as well or…?” “Uh technically, I guess. Never really figured out the specifics of that whole thing. I’m a demon but…not from this universe I guess?” That perked the mare’s interest. “You’re from another universe!” Her childlike expression elicited another chuckle from me. The expression was a damn-near carbon-copy of Clover the Clever, and I told her just that. “Oh boy, I’ve seen that expression before right before Clover grilled me for twelve hours about everything. Thanks for the scholarly interest, but no thanks.” I grimaced inwardly at the mare’s crestfallen expression. “Besides, we don’t really have time for it. Tia should’ve been here by now.” The mare raised an eyebrow to me questioningly. “Princess? White, big-ass, spear on her head? Her sister’s a blueberry?” The mare actually giggle-snorted, causing a wry smile. “You know, she still hates that name.” I whipped around fast enough to give a normal pony whiplash as a familiar voice spoke, the same warm tone from forever ago. I couldn’t help the massive grin that spread across my face as the immaculate alabaster mare approached me with an almost teary-eyed expression of my own. Like Celestia, I carefully made my way towards her. The slow walk we had quickly built up a trot and the pair of us quickly met with a heated kiss and colliding bodies, charred and black hide meeting Celestia’s pristine white coat, our lips searching each other out. As far as I was concerned, nothing else existed in this moment...that was, until Cerberus whined and both of us became aware of a lone lavender pony watching us, eyes nearly bugging out of her head. Finally I asked, “Someone you know, Celly?” Celestia blushed and nodded firmly. “It seems we’ve much to discuss.” “Yeah…” I trailed off, my gaze drifting to the gates of Tartarus sadly. “The gates are going to need some work. Plus a few of them got out. When Cerberus left, the demons decided it’d be a great time to swarm. They got the gates open and started to flood out. Managed to cut most of them off but a few of’em got away. A couple you’re going to be really interested in. So, how do you want to do this?” I took a step back as Celestia’s horn flared to life, a testament to the mare’s power. The gates of Tartarus were enchanted to negate any and all magic within a set distance. That she could cast a spell at all was incredible, much less that she was effecting the gates directly. “That should hold for a few days. I’ll have Luna pay a visit sometime soon to further reinforce them. For now, we should reconvene at Canterlot.” “Uh,” I raised a hoof. “Canterlot?” “It’s atop Mount Canter, which you may remember from our travels. It’s almost directly north from here. Can you meet us there?” I felt a dull ache in my chest at the thought of being away from the mare for any period of time after such a short reunion, but nodded in assurance. Bigger things were at stake here than rekindling our relationship. “I’ll meet you there.” Turning my back to the two mares, I took off a light gallop before jumping and angling my face towards the ground. I imagine the purple mares expression was widening right about now but I didn’t get to see it myself as I disappeared into the earth with a burst of flame. *** In hindsight, I should have thought twice at the thought of breaking up through the cobblestones of the mountain-city but after a solid eleven-hundred years being locked in Tartarus fighting hordes daily I was simply too giddy to care. Well, I cared slightly when the guards at the front-gate of the castle rushed me, and even-more-so when the populace began to panic and scream in horror. Ah well, time to worry about that later. Scrapped Prologue “Oh…goddammit…” I groaned tiredly and rolled upright onto my hands and knees. My everything hurt, most notably my ribs and head. After a couple of pained dry-heaves, I made an effort to stand, only to realize my head was chained to a peg in the ground. Along with both of my… “Oh hell no,” I made to jerk my newly discovered hooves upwards. After a brief moment of resistance from the pegs, the chain - peg and all - jerked out of the ground and smacked me square in the…muzzle. Stay calm…deep breaths… I could feel my heart and lungs begin to pump faster as I fought back the impending panic. “The demon is escaping!” A voice ripped me from my concentration and my head jerked around. My first reaction, likely wasn’t the best. I didn’t run, or try to argue the point. I glared at the stallion in obvious irritation - a light golden horse with a dark yellow mane in a set of fairly comprehensive armor - as I made an effort to stand up onto my four new legs as another half-dozen horses - each more ridiculously colored than the last - only to fall flat on my face, wincing as the impact jarred my already aching-head and causing one of them to snort in poorly concealed laughter. “Fuckin’ horses…” I mumbled as I struggled back upright, wobbling unstably as I fell backwards onto my ass. “Fuckin’ Clyde and his fuckin’ convention…” Satisfied that I wouldn’t fall over again, I took in the various horses around me - a dozen of them, ranging from regular horses to pegasi and unicorns. “Can’t even panic, too much damn absurdity.” Carefully balancing myself on four legs and trying to balance my newly proportioned body, I glanced up angrily at them. “Fret not, we shall subdue this demon!” Throwing my hooves up over my ears to try and blare out the loud voice, I realized too late I needed those on the ground as I fell forward and face-planted for the second time. With a tired groan, I glanced up at the offender with tired eyes, taking in - go figure - another friggin’ horse, this one notably larger than the rest, sporting both wings and a horn, as well as a dark flowing mane and tail, complete with stars and a moon on her ass. “I quit.” I closed my eyes sorely, hoping it would all go away, despite knowing that it wouldn’t; the pain I’d felt thus far had been all too real. “By the gods, it talks!” the blueberry called out. “Tis’ unheard of, for a demon to speak! Private, go seek out my sister, tell her I require her counsel regarding this creature!” “Can you little bastards stop referring to me as an ‘it’ or a demon?” I shot upright, surprisingly having little issue this time. Only now, when a pair of the small horses rush in front of the Blueberry did I realize I towered over them, Blueberry included. While the smaller ones were clearly nervous, Blueberry only matched eyes with me, glaring right back. “Be still and silent demon, our sister will soon help us sort this out!” “Get bent, Blueberry, I don’t take orders from you.” I began doing circles, trying to get a good glance at my ass and side. The Quake II logo - I think - was the only thing worthy of note, with the exception of my hind-hooves seemed to be on fire. They didn’t feel hot but at this point I honestly had no idea what the hell was what. “Yeah, okay.” I glanced down at my front hooves which were also flaming slightly, flames occasionally licking their way up my legs. “Any of you got a mirror?” “Sister!” Another really loud freakin’ horse, because why not. Another winged horse, this one white with a multi-hued mane and a sun on her backend. I likely would’ve commented, if not for the mark on my own ass. The white horse glared at me with the same intensity that the blue - purple? - one had, this time however I stared back with a plainly disinterested stare. “Should I put on a pot of coffee? Any other freaks of nature I should know about?” The white horse drew her head back in surprise and turned to Blueberry to ask a question, only for an ear-shattering screech to rip through the clearing all of us were standing in and cut her off. All of the ponies visibly cringed and collapsed, throwing their hooves up to try and drown out the sound with the exception of himself, Sunbutt and Blueberry, the latter igniting their horns and turning skywards. As the light erupted outward from their horns and bathed the clearing in their respective colors, the screeches died out and a multitude of shadowy black figures appeared in the dimly lit canopy. “Guards, fall back to camp! Captain, gather the unicorns and put up a magic barrier, nopony gets in or out until my sister and I return!” Sunbutt thundered out. Without hesitation, all of the guards rushed to follow the command.. “Sister, cover me while I prepare my fire!” I backed up slightly, heart starting to race as my brain went into overdrive, still not having had the time to process…well, much of anything really. As the horses fled the clearing, I found a dark blue bubble around myself, blocking out my vision of the event and boxing me in. “Oi! Lemme out of here you bastards!” Thrusting a hoof at the shield only sent slight ripples around it. “No, no no…” My throat tightened slightly as the feeling of dread set in. “Let me out!” Like a true claustrophobic, I began to panic. “Let! Me! OUT!” I punctuated each word with a swing of a hoof, the ripples glowing casually. I felt a slight twinge of pain starting at my shoulder and running up into my neck, though I was too busy hyperventilating to really care. With a grunt, I hunched forward and threw both of my hind-legs, bucking at the barrier as well as a newly-born horse could. With the sound and feeling of a thin pane of glass shattering and an intense burning feeling erupting from my body, followed by a scream of pain from Blueberry, I realized the small barrier was gone. Taking a few deep and unsteady breaths, I glanced uncertainly around the clearing. Blueberry looked visibly charred, her fur smoldering as she laid unconscious on the ground. Marshmallow looked better off, being hidden behind a magical shield of her own. Beyond those two, the clearing looked like it had been reduced to ash. The treeline had been pushed back significantly and the ground was devoid of grass and dirt. The clearing was little more than a solid-black surface, with a trio of ponies inside of it, the creatures nowhere to be found. Glancing nervously at Marshmallow, I braced myself as the barrier faded. “What have you done?” Her voice was low and dangerous as she looked around the remains of the clearing and the near-cooked body of her sister heaving on the ground. “Uh…” I hesitated, glancing from the body to the dangerous gaze - and glowing horn - of Marshmallow. “Oops?” My world faded to black as a bright light discharged from her horn and sent me ragdolling through the forest, caving in a pair of trees before I slumped to the ground. *** What are you? My eyes shot open as Blueberry’s voice reverberated through my head. Glancing around there was nothing but white in every direction, doing little favors for my headache. “Dead, apparently.” I commented idly to the voice, closing my eyes to block out the white. “Dead?” The voice sounded…amused. “You’re not dead, you’re dreaming.” The voice began to chuckle. “If I’m dreaming then what the hell are you doing in my head Blueberry?” I snapped back, irritation getting the better of me. The laughter died down almost instantly, causing me to smirk slightly. In a far less amused tone, she answered. “We want to look through your memories.” I felt a slight probe…somewhere, in my head. Almost immediately I focused on one image to the exclusion of all else. I couldn’t remember which book I had read it in, but one book had it’s characters use this as a method to protect their minds against intrusions. Luckily for me, it worked and the probe seemed unable to find any purchase in my…head. Unluckily for me, the image that served as my mental defense had turned out to be the last thing I saw before this whole dream-thing. Marshmallow. Or, for some reason I couldn’t yet fathom, Marshmallows ass, big sun and all. At this point I wondered whether Blueberry had stopped because of the mental defense of because I barred her with a picture of her sister’s ass. The silence and inactivity born from the event was quite palpable. For nearly five minutes the two of us -me physically and Blueberry…in spirit, I guess, stood there, completely unspeaking. Finally, Blueberry spoke. “You…seem to think very highly of my sister’s…posterior.” It was a stunted, awkward statement. “It was the first thing that came to mind.” I defended lamely, “She’s the reason I’m…asleep? Unconscious? Here, I guess.” “Unconscious.” Blueberry confirmed for me. “So, uh…yeah. Not really comfortable with anything poking around in my head.” Blueberry snorted in irritation, “Many would take that to mean you’ve something to hide.” I actually snorted in response, “I’ve got plenty of stuff to hide.” Another brief silence, “Can you uh…get out of my head? This is weird.” I inched my eyes open to the white once more, only to see it broken up by Blueberry. “You’re a lot less…crispy, than I remember.” I commented uncertainly. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to cook you. I don’t handle tight spaces well.” That much was the truth. Tight spaces freaked me the hell out.
Magic Barrier: EqG [APDEG]Author's Note This story was....whew. What a mess. Alticron and I prodded it for quite some time before deciding it just wasn't right, so we scrapped it. I've contemplated uploading it for quite awhile because honestly, I really don't like it, for various reasons. Too Gran Turino~y imo. So it was scrapped. Alticron: Will we ever see a full Equestria Girls story with characters from any of the APD stories? Who knows what the future holds. Also perhaps worthy of note, this story made quite some time before Friendship games came out. The prologue was made in July of 2015 and the last edit to chapter 1 was a single day before Friendship Games' release. Magic Barrier: EqG [APDEG] Prologue “I’m comin’!” Barrier growled out, shaking his head slightly to try and clear the headache. Glancing around at the bottles littering his bedroom floor, his eyes finally settled on one atop his desk. Lazily grabbing it he hefted himself upright, pain spiking through his head. A quick swig of the bottle saw the pain on its way. Passing through his empty hallway and dusty living room, he pulled the front door open with a jerk, blurry vision settling on the young girl standing in front of him looking awkwardly at him with her dark violet eyes. “Whatever you’re sellin’, I’m not interested.” Barrier shoved the door shut, blocking the blue-tinted girl from his sight before she could even open her mouth to respond. “Kids these days…” Barrier mumbled to himself as he made his way back to the bedroom, all but falling back down onto his bed, half-empty bottle clattering to the floor with its brothers. Just as sleep made to overtake him once more, another knock came from the door, this one in three sharp taps, followed by a familiar voice. “Dad! You up? I need to talk to you!” Just can’t leave me to sleep this off, can you? Barrier thought to himself, tiredly jerking a pillow over his head. “Dad, we’re coming in!” Barrier heard the door unlock and open, causing him to toss the pillow off with a huff. “Isn’t a few days too early for your monthly intervention, Nighty?” Barrier yelled out, glancing at his room. When had it gotten so damned messy? With a tired grunt Magic Barrier hefted himself up for the second time that day and departed his bedroom, without a bottle this time. As he made it into the living room his eyes narrowed as they found the young azure-tinted girl sitting on the couch, both hands on her knees as she stared at the gaunt old man awkwardly. “What’d this kid rope you into selling cookies or some shit, Nighty?” Barrier called out to the kitchen where he could hear his son rifling around. “If only it were that simple,” Night Light commented as he returned to the living room, “So, I noticed your liquor cabinet was empty…” he commented as he carefully filled the three cups and doled them out. Barrier snorted in response, “Yeah, I started buying in smaller amounts and putting it up since someone kept emptying them out while I’m asleep. Wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” “You’re never asleep when I pour them out,” Night Light shot back, “you’re passed out drunk.” “So what do you need this time?” “Why is it that you always assume I need something? It’s not like the only time I visit is when I want something, you know,” “Night Light,” Barrier spoke flatly, his eyes boring into the younger male, “don’t bullshit with me, I’m too old and too tired for it. Just tell me what you need.” Night Light’s expression faltered slightly before he audibly sighed and nodded, “Okay, fair enough. It’s about this girl. Her name’s Trixie.” “You’re married,” Barrier deadpanned, “with two kids. I’m not bailing you out for sleeping with a teenager. Is she even legal?” “It’s not like that!” Night Light was quick to point out, neither adult paying attention to the girl’s beet-red face. “It’s...complicated.” “Well, I’m waiting.” Barrier’s eyes drifted over to Trixie, noting the azure skin, only a shade lighter than his son’s. “This is Trixie Lulamoon,” Night Light began, taking a deep steadying breath, “and she’s your granddaughter.” “Come again?” Barrier locked eyes with Night Light, his hard, icy-blue eyes boring into the younger man. “Last I checked I’ve got two grandkids and she’s not either of’em.” Trixie shrunk back into the couch, glancing uncertainly between the two. “Trixie,” the blue-skinned girl all but snapped to attention nervously, “why don’t you go take a look around the house while Dad and I talk?” Night Light suggested. She quickly did just that, leaving the two alone in the living room as she made her way towards the hallway. “Wanna explain to me the hell this is all about?” Barrier asked as soon as they were alone. “I…screwed up,” he started, “seventeen years ago I got drunk on an out-of-town trip and had a one-night stand with some girl I met at the bar. Didn’t think anything of it until she shows up at my door.” “Dammit, Nighty...” Barrier stood and made his way into the kitchen for a moment before returning with an unopened bottle of bourbon. “Really? You’re going to drink right now when I’m trying to explain all of this? Are you-” Night Light was cut off as Barrier thrust the bottle at him. “Not for me, for you. Though I want it back whenever you’re done.” Night Light glanced uncertainly at the dark amber liquid before he screwed the cap off and took a quick shot, expression souring as he did so, much to his father’s amusement. “Does Velvet know yet?” Barrier took the bottle, throwing back a shot of his own. “Not yet…she’s gonna kick my ass. I plan on telling her tonight…” Night Light’s gaze drifted to the carpet, “but Trixie needs a place to stay. We just don’t have the room for her at home unless we put her on the couch or in Twilight’s room and that doesn’t feel fair. You were the only one I could think of…” “I’m too old for this Nighty…” “She deserves better than I can give her.” Night Light shrugged half-heartedly. “I’m not proud of what I did, but I don’t wanna see her end up on the streets or something. Worst case scenario: I put her up with Twilight but I kinda see them butting heads.” Barrier remained silent for several long minutes, vaguely aware of Trixie watching them uncertainly from the hall. “Well,” he finally spoke, “I can’t turn away family…not her fault she’s here…” Night Light began to smile slightly, but Barrier was quick to cut him off. “But that doesn’t mean I’m takin’ charge of her.” he stated gruffly, “You’re her dad, Night Light,” Barrier seldom used his son’s actual name, “and that means you take responsibility for her, same as Twilight and Shining, got it? That means that all of them need to know.” Blue eyes met amber as Barrier waited for his response. “Don’t worry, I’ll do everything I can to include her once everything is sorted out. Thanks for this, dad. But uh…” he glanced uncertainly at the bottle of alcohol held loosely in his father’s hands. “You might need to ease up on the drinking though. She’s still a kid after all.” Barrier only grunted in response. CHAPTER 1 “I’ll be out of your hair in just a sec dad, just gonna go talk to Trixie really quick…” Night light quickly sidestepped his father and made his ways towards the hallway. “I wish I could do more Trixie…” Night Light stated genuinely, “but right now there just aren’t a lot of options. I’ll figure something out, promise.” The two stood in awkward silence for a moment before Night Light turned and departed, frown clear on his face. Barrier waited until the familiar sedan rolled out of his driveway. “So…” Barrier turned to face Trixie who still stood in the hallway. “Welcome to the family Trix,” Barrier motioned at the chair across from him which she hesitantly approached and slid into. The pair sat in silence before Barrier grimaced and opened his mouth, “I’m sorry Trixie.” He noted the look of confusion on the girl’s face, “About Night Light I mean. I doubt he said it himself.” He watched the girl nod in confirmation, “he’s never been good about apologizing. Probably my fault. Sorry about the situation ya’ve been placed in.” Barrier sighed heavily. “Can’t imagine it’s easy.” Trixie rested her hands on her knees but remained otherwise silent. “Well come on, I’ll show ya’ ‘round. Got any belongings?” Trixie pointed towards the small garbage-bag. That’s it? Barrier asked himself. There couldn’t be more than a few outfits, at best. “Alright well, we’ll have to go shoppin’ to get you some stuff. Expected a girl your age to have more.” “Trixie had limited space at the orphanage,” she explained, “she shared her room with two others.” “I see,” Barrier replied gruffly, “well, I ain’t got much here but the guest room’s yours.” Barrier motioned to the door the pair had stopped at, across from his own room. Trixie hesitantly opened the door revealing a painfully simple room. It contained a full-sized bed, a pair of nightstands, and a solitary dresser. “It probably needs a good dust. I don’t clean much anymore these days.” Barrier confessed. “Not much reason too. I only see Night Light here when he’s emptying out my liquor cabinet or needs something. Don’t see Twi or Shining much these days either.” And it’s your own damned fault, Barrier’s mind stated traitorously. “I’m across the hall here,” Barrier motioned to his own door though he didn’t open it to show her the interior. “Bathroom’s at the end of the hall, laundries just off’a the kitchen, next to the garage door.” Barrier rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment, “think that’s about it. Probably isn’t much in there right now. Anyways, I’ll let ya’ get settled in while I go out to the garage. Might have some furniture out there if ya’ need somethin’ else in here. You can come out and take a look,” Barrier turned and made to leave the girl before stopping and slowly turning his gaze to the girl “If you need anything else just let me know.” Barrier took a few steps before stopping again, “Even if you just wanna talk, or ask questions,” *** Trixie stood uncertainly in the room for a long half-hour before she finally mustered the nerve to head towards the garage. The situation was...overwhelming and had thrown the girl out of her usual routine. She’d met her father -and grandfather- in a single day and her life had changed drastically. “Magic Barrier, are you out here?” Trixie poked her head into the dimly lit garage, “In front of the truck,” a voice responded,, followed by the sound of a hood closing, followed by the elderly man carefully making his way around the faded, light-blue truck in question. Eyes drifting elsewhere, Trixie noted the furniture stacked in various places around the garage “Surprised to see you out here,” he began gruffly, “I expected you’d still be in your room trying to work all this out in your head.” “Trixie,” she started, “wanted to apologize. She did not intend to intrude on you.” Barrier mentally noted that she talked in first person though gave it no attention, “Eh, it’s fine.” Barrier shrugged the statement off, “So, you’re still in school, right?” Barrier carefully sidestepped the young lady, “Not at the moment,” Trixie admitted, “Trixie was thinking about going to Crystal Plaza High but with the orphanage kicking Trixie out…” “Might be able to get you in at Canterlot High,” Barrier commented as he rested against the side of his truck, “I know the vice-principal there, bet we could get you in pretty easily.” Barrier thought back to the lone trash-bag of belongings that Trixie had. “Besides, going to Crystal Plaza High would mean an extra four miles either way. Got your’ license?” Trixie didn’t reply immediately, thoughts running amok. She had the intelligence to attend Crystal Plaza High -all of her test scores made that much plain- but Canterlot High, while not quite as prestigious was more widely known. “Who do you know from Canterlot High?” Trixie asked, eyeing the old man in curiosity. “Vice-Principal Luna,” Barrier stated, his jaw tightening only slightly, “we’re fairly well-acquainted. Woman doesn’t know how to mind her own damn business,” Though Barrier was certain Night Light had more than little to do with the woman’s rather frequent visits. “Trixie sees,” Trixie stated plainly, “Trixie does not have her license yet. They didn’t offer classes at the orphanage and Trixie hasn’t had the opportunity yet.” As she spoke, she slowly turned her gaze away from Barrier, “Well, we can work on it,” Barrier stated gruffly as he pressed a button on the wall, causing a dull rumbling as the garage door opened itself. “I gotta make a run to the store. Take a look around, see if there’s anything you need moved to yer’ room. Desk or somethin’ maybe. And don’t go into my room.” As Barrier spoke he climbed into the pickup, the truck starting up with a rumble. “I’m gonna go get some groceries. Don’t keep more than the bare minimum these days.” he stated from the window before departing, the garage-door sliding shut behind him. *** Trixie slumped into the wall as the truck departed and slowly slid to the floor, finally coming to a halt with her head hanging limply on her knees as she was finally alone -truly alone- for the first time in as long as she could remember. First the orphanage had told her that they were full-up and needed to free up some room for new arrivals. As the oldest, she was the first to go. With forty-dollars and a small bag of clothes, she found herself on the street with little more than a piece of paper listing homeless shelters. Then her mind drifted back to her mother’s death and subsequent reading of her will where her father had been mentioned. With the help of a police-officer who pitied her and several days of searching she soon found herself on a bus and in front of Night Light’s door. That had been a mess all on it’s own, trying to explain herself to the man followed by having to all but beg for assistance and then being pawned off on her grandfather, an apparent relic of a man who seemed nice, though he reeked of booze. NOTES Beginning: Night Light has a one-night stand, kid comes back to him. He is unable to support her financially or doesn’t have room/time for her, asks his father Magic Barrier to look after her until she is of legal age. MB agrees, story starts there. Middle: Bonding of the two? Trixie doesn’t like being saddled with her grandfather, feels like her father doesn’t want her involved. Magic Barrier tries to comfort her, clearly angered at his son for his treatment of his daughter, feeling regardless of his thoughts that it is his responsibility. End: Trixie grows to legal age, Magic Barrier dies of old age, maybe leaves everything save a token amount to Trixie. Have Trixie coping with the only father figure she feels she knew, end with her reconciling with Night Light. Magic Barrier is 65{?} at story start. Shining Armor is 19 at story start. Twilight Sparkle is 16 at story start. Trixie is 16{ish} at story start. Night Light is 43{?} Luna is 34 at story start. Magic Barrier lost his wife age 47, 1 year after Shining was born.
