It was a strange experience to say the least. The visuals while transferring reminded me of Inigo's games, but much brighter. I felt as if every bit of me was being tugged in all directions. After 20 seconds worth of time, I felt everything beginning to contract, and my vision began to clear up. Eventually, the white in my eyes cleared up, and I felt normal again.

Well almost normal, I got a splitting headache with bleary vision from that. Safe to say, I wasn't able to catch myself due to the pain gained from it. I groaned in agony as I pulled myself up.

You'll adapt to it eventually, the human body is capable of change.

I got myself off the ground. Fuck that, I'll just walk there next time. How you feeling Skorri?

It's not as bad as dying, so I'm good to go.

Alright, let's head inside the cave then. That way nobody can sneak up on us while training.

I entered the cave, my optics changing to nightvision automatically. The place wasn't even touched as far as I could see. One would think the previous owners of the castle would use this as a dungeon, or some sort of mining zone.

There was one particular thing that stood out among the rest however. A tree, glowing with a soft energy, wrapped by vines trying to drain it. Analysis from Rasputin said that the energy is similar to the energy I have.

Maybe it’s a gift from the Traveler to help the inhabitants?

Don't you remember the multiverse theory? It could be warped in some way we wouldn't have spotted immediately.

I could say the same to you, a new found voice said.

I sighed. Lemme guess, telepathic tree?

You're funny, it said. I can tell you have no knowledge of me, mortal. I am the embodiment of harmony.

Harmony huh? Hey, maybe you can go balance some of my brother's games. I heard they've got some rather unbal-

I have no need for jokes. Do you fight for peace, or do you fight for chaos?

Easy. Neither of the two sides. I'd like to think I'm more of a middle man that aims for justice a bit more than others, though it's best to keep an open mind about it all though.

The tree was silent for a little, before speaking again.

You speak like him, but you're a bit softer... perhaps you could be the one to win the war through normal means.

Okay two questions:One, I'm not going into a war until I know enough, so would you care to explain? Two, who is this “him” you're speaking of?

I assure you, it's nothing to worry about. As for the war, the last of my followers are struggling to take back Equestria. They've lost their leaders, are going up against a patriarchal society that treats females like cocksleeves, and the best they've got is a weak rebellion to fight against them.

As much as I wanted to sign up immediately, I could tell something was off here, namely this him guy. I decided to consult Rasputin and Skorri without the involvement of Harmony, which it had no qualms about.

Be quick. The vines shall entangle me once more, if you don't decide in time, it said as it closed off the connection.

Should we trust them?

Ageless lifeforms are generally skilled on all forms of diplomacy and combat. There's also the chance its followers aren't who we think they are, and will eliminate us after we do our directive.

I'd say that having someone like them around would be a good thing, but that him guy is a bit suspicious. Maybe he's like that titan I met? He was always such a weird one.

The titan?

As far as I noticed from the post-collapse records, he's the first guardian. Really nice, powerful guy with the hand cannon known as Rose. Everyone idolized him, even us iron lords.

It made me feel slightly better about the whole situation. Rasputin however was silent, almost as if calculating something...

"I'll take you up on your offer later." I said. "For now I'm going to seek out the embodiment of chaos. Who knows, maybe their name will be Discord. Sounds like a-"

"You rang?" a male voice suddenly said. I turned and saw the most disfigured living creature ever. Something an embodiment of chaos should look like.

"So you're Harmony's opposite?"

"What gave it away? You may call me Discord, Master of Chaos, and-"

"I get it, you have over a thousand titles. What do you think about them?"

"Well you're a blunt one aren't you?" he said with an annoyed expression. "I don't really care if you ally yourself with them. Just make sure you do me a simple favor, involving the warmind of yours." His face contorted into one of anger. The kind of rage of someone who's lost someone close to them. "There's an enslaved mare known as Fluttershy. Long pink hair, yellow body, and really quiet. Get your warmind to kill her slaver in the most agonizing way possible. Do this, and I'll see about giving you and your brother a one way ticket to getting home, perhaps without Rasputin on your back."

I almost took a step back by pure instinct. This guy meant business, and I could barely imagine having to fight a foe like this early on.

"Got you. Know where she might be located?" Discord smirked, knowing I couldn't refuse and that I'm not a dumbass. He materialized a map for me to look at.

"Inside the Crystal Empire. While you're there, I suggest assassinating the King. Preferably choking him with the Crystal Cock. Make sure you call me so I can film it!" He rubbed his hands together maliciously, a smile adorning his face. "My popularity in the repaired Equestria shall skyrocket if I get that footage. I'm sure a nice number of mares shall LOVE watching the life drain from his body, as he chokes to death on the symbol of maledom."

"What are you, a bisexual sex god? I'm not going to do that!"

He laughed at the insult.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll change your mind about that soon. Anyways, I have chaos to spread! Ta ta!"

With that, the god of absolute bullshit snapped his fingers and disappeared into Butt Fuck, Egypt. A sigh escaped my mouth, before turning back to the tree. During the whole conversation, the vines had almost finished smothering the tree once more.

I considered grabbing Harmony's power, before it was too late. But something about this 'him', made me feel as if siding with them will seal my fate once she made use of me.

Plus its name is Harmony, and Harmony stands for order, synchronization, fellowship, and the most notable one, peace. Once it’s made use of me, just like the Vex that Inigo told me about, it will most likely attempt to get rid of me. Considering I'm not one of it’sr creations, and that it didn't expect me, it'll most likely consider me a bundle of death once she's made use of me.

My ultimatum was that I would do this without her. I consulted Rasputin for advice.

Your best option right now would be to learn the uses of SIVA. While I can command those you take with your melee, everything else would be out of your current ability. I suggest learning how to upgrade your grenade to a SIVA swarm, and make it function like your melee.

Sheesh, my abilities revolve around brainwashing people if they so much as get touched by me.

False. The timberwolves were already weak foes. The targets need to be weak enough to be transformed, or SIVA will not have enough power to nullify brain activity. This is a requirement to turn any foe to our side.

That's a relief. I was literally about to say that humanity was weaker than I thought back then to lose you, if SIVA can turn anything with a single touch.

I was left behind by who? Was it Clovis Bray?

Humanity in general. They couldn't get you saved, so they left you in the Plaguelands

That is unfortunate that they couldn't save me. Though it would've been of great help if they provided me a directive.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out here. You're telling me that you don't know of the darkness? Or even after all this time tried to fight it?

I do know of the Queen of Final Shapes. She only allies with those who she considers perfected, whether they like it or not, and grants them infinite power. This power has a drawback however. Their hunger feasts upon [O] energy, and without it they'll die. I am uncertain as to whether or not she's still alive, or someone has taken her throne. I can only hope we don't have to fight her. She's stronger than us, even combined with [O] energy. Her defenses are impenetrable, which is why the [O] lifeform has been running. She'll consume it regardless of how much It struggles.

At Rasputin's brief summary of the queen, a shiver went down my spine. Whoever made the idea of that queen is really good at character development. I only had one question though.

Rasputin... just how exactly can the Queen of Final Shapes die then?

The Queen of Final Shapes isn't a thing. It's an energy that's like SIVA, only much worse. Whoever slays the bodies she's chosen will find their wills, their souls taken. She will corrupt those who kill her soldiers, and no amount of programming can defeat her. That's why she can't die. I doubt that even the rest of the dead back there will manage to defeat her. She can only be defeated by one stronger than her, and there's nothing stronger than the Queen of Final Shapes. Not even [O].

Then everything we've done up to now is pointless!

Don't be like that Skorri.

NO! You don't understand what he just said! How exactly are we going to haul the Traveler away from her?! How will we survive without it?!

My body was trembling with anger. Yet I was calm.

Rasputin says that she needs to feed on [O] energy right? So all we need to do taunt her into chasing us instead.

Without SIVA, the chances of beings with [O] energy surviving a total of a few millenniums far away from [O] without dying by her hands are 0.00000000000357129348728350000503410203050620470000103541006010406301365% of success. And that's with everybody dying for stalling.

Well, I'm out of ideas then.

If Skorri could send me a scorching look, she most definitely would've.

Look, the point here is, we're still alive, and definitely whole dimensions away from the Queen. She's not going to go after us, like a ludicrously greedy pirate not willing to lose a coin to the ocean. We might as well do some good before we get devoured. Now let's get to training.

Weeks had passed, and I was unable to gain use of Skorri's light. I found out however, that if was to unlock her powers, I would have to take the brunt of a solar flare up close, which means I had to get to a place like Mercury. This would end up shutting down SIVA, which not only means I lose its abilities, but because my armor is made of it I'm unable to move. How long is undetermined, so I'll have to rely on SIVA until I have friendlies at my back to get her in battle with me.

And that was only step 1 of just 1 out of the 3 other versions of light for me to access. If all the stuff I had to do was in a video game, then players would be complaining how long it would take to max a single class of light.

Due to the inability to improve my light (and wasting a week-long attempt to make a spaceship), I ended up being focusing solely on SIVA. I was going to need it anyways if I was to take down Dainn, which will at least earn me a few favors from the new ruler. The only thing I managed to make in terms of ranged weaponry is a stationary swarm. The grenade acts similar to a landmine, but stepping on it releases strands of SIVA that bind and weaken the target. If the target is weak enough, SIVA converts it to my side, as well as giving it a few abilities.

This would be useful, if it wasn't so easy to hear. As much as I'd like to say it's a good alarm clock, it lasts for only 20 seconds. I doubt that anyone will walk into it within 20 seconds of that noise. So I had to hope they'd slip and fall on it.

For me though, it was good enough. One thing for certain, though, is that I needed to locate his lieutenants, and using the guards would be my only means of destroying the hierarchy to taken down Dainn. Fortunately enough, a patrol that was passing by the edge of the Everfree said a captain will be strolling through town. A perfect opportunity to make the first step towards saving the place.

Thus, I went into Ponyville to prepare a 'welcome' for the captain. A surprise party of this level, would need to be carefully planned out to absolute perfection.

Author's Note

I just realized exactly How much I say SIVA in all of this. Take a shot of alcohol everytime You see it. Or don't if You're underaged,shouldn't be doing so.

Editor:Vutava