//-------------------------------------------------------// The Change -by BeastPone- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Rising Action //-------------------------------------------------------// The Rising Action It was another calm, sunny day in Ponyvile, as the summer breeze swept through raising all the leaves high in the air. While most of the citizens were busy buying their usual groceries, doing some very much needed 'spring' cleaning, or helping set up for the festive Summer Solstice Bonanza; the colts and fillies leap from their seats with great haste, as the bell rang throughout the schoolyard. Though most of them ran to their homes hoping to get started on their summer activities, AppleBloom, Scootaloo, and SweetieBell galloped towards their, now somewhat defunct, Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse. "So," AppleBloom began, with a hint of giddiness in her voice, "What do Y'all got planned?" Scootaloo went on about her typical extreme sports, adrenaline-fueled ideas that would surely end with them in the hospital. Some of SweetieBell's ideas were either mundane or consisted of something her sister would do, and most of AppleBloom's ideas was most of the plans they've already done. "Well, now what do we do?" Scootaloo asked disappointedly. As they continued their walk, a strange humming sound from the Everfree Forest perforates their ears. " 'Wonder what that weird noise's all about ?" questioned AppleBloom edging closer to the entrance of the forest "It's probably nothing," Sweetie disregarded "Besides, it's probably for the best that we don't go into the Everfree" "Why? You chicken or somethin', " Scootaloo jeered, slightly irritating her. Sweetie replied about the possible dangers of the forest could be. However, Scootaloo interrupted her boasting about how it could be a new start to their summer vacation. Truly, it could be some sort of interesting lead to one, of hopefully many great adventures. With that idea in mind, AppleBloom entered the woods, followed by Scootaloo, and then finally Sweetie. Moving through the woods, the humming noise grew louder and louder; which was then followed by a green luminant light. "What is that !?" Scootaloo exclaimed, "Well whatever it is" AppleBloom trudged through the intense light by covering her eyes, "Let's just hope it's friendly!" As they finally make their way towards the portal, the intense green light dimmed and the odd noise lowered in volume. Slightly bewildered and confused the group of three began investigating the area. It wasn't until Sweetie found an odd, 'L' shape item. "Hey, guys..." Responding to her call the other two fillies walked towards her direction looking at the object. "What do you s'posed this thing is" asked AppleBloom. While examining it, the interior angle of the object had some small trigger at the end of it. Both Scootaloo and Sweetie were befuddled by the object shrugging. Slightly intrigued by the object the three school girls took it back to their clubhouse to further examine the item. At the CMC Clubhouse After much examination, the three were still somewhat confused, but now had a better understanding of the object; as it turns out to be some projectile weapon because of the object's, now christened the name Eagle Eye by Scootaloo, contained cone-cylinder shaped pieces near the hammer. "How do you think it works?" levitating the 'Eagle Eye' Sweetie pointed it out of the window. "I mean," AppleBloom began "It's basically like a bow an' arrow right?" They nodded in agreement,"Then maybe we should just keep it just for super serious problems; so, that way we can help out with Twilight and-" A loud bang perforated their eardrums followed by the scream of one of the cows on the farm. "What in Celestia!" The three froze in their spots as they hear AppleJack nearly break down the front door to the farm house. By the time the farm pony approached the bovine, thick crimson liquid poured from the cows right thigh. Through its anguish, the cow pleaded towards AppleJack to tell her what happened. The farmer stammered in complete shock at the sight of, whatever came out of the animal; and, once she regained herself, AppleJack immediately called for BigMac, Granny Smith, and AppleBloom to help the poor heifer. With a stern tone in her voice, Scootaloo commanded that Sweetie hides the object. "B-But..." Sweetie stammered, unnerved by the entire situation, as tears began to stream down her snow-white cheeks. "But nothing!" Scootaloo exclaimed, "We tell nobody about this, as long as none of us tell anyone, we'll be in the clear" "But, what about honesty?" Sweetie whimpered. Sighing in annoyance, Scootaloo responded in a strangely cold tone; almost as if she became a totally different character. "Look if you guys wanna tell AJ about what we did go ahead, but what do you think going to happen when she finds out that we seriously hurt that cow!" Complying with her demands, Sweetie quickly hid the weapon under some spare blankets. The tension surrounding the clubhouse was quickly cut short by AppleJack calling for her sister. "Remember AppleBloom," said Scootaloo "Not. A. Soul" With that in mind, AppleBloom ran towards the door and out the clubhouse. Whilst running towards her family, AppleBloom felt an odd change that made her cringe in, but she simply ignored the feeling and continued towards the injured creature. Author's Note Later on in the story, there's going to be quite a surprising shift in not only ponyvile, but possibly all of Equestria itself! Hopefully, this is an alright beginning for the story //-------------------------------------------------------// The Start of the New World //-------------------------------------------------------// The Start of the New World "Ah," AppleJack's mind was completely blank, as she and her other family members sat on the chair next towards the hospital room that was currently occupied by their befallen bovine friend, "Ah just don't understand..." Her grandmother placed a hoof on her shoulder in a sign of condolence. AppleBoolm sat there silently, as the guilt slowly crept in Scootaloo's words repeated in her head. As her brother was about to speak, nurse red heart exited her room with an expression of concern and a bit of fear. AJ hopped from her seat and pleaded with the nurse for any information about the patient in question. "She's alright now," the nurse reassure followed by the Apple Family's sigh of relief. Granny-Smith blessed the nurse for her assistance, before placing her in a tight hug. "Really, it wasn't mush of a big problem," Red Heart sheepishly reassured "We were just lucky enough to get the blood to stop and set an IV stand. AppleBloom's ears perked to the nurse's words. What in the heck is, that word? AppleBloom called, for the nurse and asked her about, that word. AppleJack looked upon her sister in annoyance, the absolute nerve of her to joke at a time like this! "AppleBloom," she barked, in an irate tone of voice, "This is not the time, nor the place for jokes!" Both confused and ashamed, AppleBloom went quiet. After a few hours talking to their cow friend, the apple family left the local hospital mostly relieved, however, AppleJack halted her sister mid-walk "Sis'," she began, "I don't know what would possess you to say something like that?" Still ashamed of her actions from her earlier conversation with Scootaloo, she stayed silent. Back at the CMC clubhouse, the two girls sat in silence as they pondered about the current condition of the farm animal, and the entire situation at hand. The creaking of the club's door ended the long silence, which was then followed by Sweetie's ask about the animal. "She's fine now," she affirmed with a sigh, "But she'll be there for a few days until she's on her hooves." Ultimately relieved, the tension of the room began to simmer down. It wasn't long, however, when Scootaloo spoke about the dangerous object once more. The object, as she saw it, was a certain type of power and control to which she could be trusted, yet loved with. Looking at her, AppleBloom could swear that it was almost as if her eye color had changed from its vibrant magenta to an unusually deep blue. AppleBloom urged her tomboyish friend, about getting rid of the weapon entirely, but to no avail as her eyes were strictly looking at the weapon. "Hey," Sweetie awkwardly stepped in, "There's still some daylight left, how about we go to SugarCubeCorner?" Breaking from her trance, Scootaloo, and Applebloom followed her to the local bakery shop. It wasn't until they took their seats they noticed a small pamphlet written in blue reading out Town Hall meeting at 10:30 No Foals allowed! Confused, the group of three asked the Cakes. They replied with their usual smiling expression, stating how it mostly concerns with, the incident over at Apple Orchard. Mrs. Cake entered the discussion with an, unusually stern tone. "In all honesty, I just want to know why that did it; what kind of sick pony would do such a thing?" As a way to avoid suspicion, the three simply nodded and order their drinks, and later leaving the shop as Celestia's sun set, and girls went their separate ways to their respective families. As the three went to their beds, snuggled up under a blanket, the dream world they each of them enter appear to all be the same white void. It was quiet enough to where hoof their noise made echoed loudly. Each one of them thought of the same response, as they looked around the emptiness 'Where am I' Without notice, a tall black bipedal figure behind one of each girl, simply replying with"... The OverWorld..." Author's Note Well, for a second chapter, there's nothing much here word count wise, but as a good transition to the other stories that follow. //-------------------------------------------------------// Gods of the Unseen //-------------------------------------------------------// Gods of the Unseen As the night drew on the three fillies, each in their own dream sequence, stared in befuddlement at the tall bipedal green creature wearing a suit. With a look of worry, AppleBloom quickly asked the creature about their presence. "Wh-Who are you?" The biped replied; giving them one piece of information "My Name is Anonymous," he said "Or Anon for short." Applebloom looked at the creature with a hint of skepticism on her face. Awkwardly replying to the oddity of his name she asked him another question. "Well Anon," she nervously said, "Where exactly, are we?" Before he could answer streams of bright lights and screens shot behind Anon, causing the yellow earth pony to back up in both wonder and fright. Turning towards the startled pony anon informed her about the rooms workings. "You see AppleBloom," he began "in this room, I watch all that occurs not only in your world but, other universes as well." As he said that, he walked towards an assortment of nobs, buttons, and levers. "Here, watch this." Slightly intrigued, AppleBloom watched the screen as it showed what appeared to be the town hall building. "So, what are we waiting for?" The startlement from before quickly wore off, as she trotted towards the two-legged creature. "You'll see." He replied, with a slight look of excitement. In the town hall building, many of the parents, store owners of the village. Besides the mayor who was leading the meeting, many of patricians were talking over one another some even arguing intensely about the current issue at the orchard. Amongst the chaos, Mayor Mare attempted to ease the panic. "Will everyone please, stay calm!" she asserted "Our investigators are working very hard on the situation." "Oh sure," snarkily commented one of the parents at the meeting "How are those sacks of crap going to finger the culprit behind this, if they can't simply investigate that robbery over at the Cakes shop?" Somewhat stunned by the question, Mayor Mare was about to respond to the outburst before she was interrupted by two more concerned parents. "If I may," said Mrs. Cake, raising her hoof, "I that stallion has the right idea." Intrigued by this notion, the Mayor questioned her. "What what did you have in mind?" Clearing her through Mrs. Cake explained her idea. "Well I think that maybe we should perhaps hire a tougher team of police ponies" Many in the room began to nod some vocally agreeing with her. However, both the mayor and Twilight Sparkle were slightly concerned by the concept. "Though it's not a bad idea," she began "are you sure we should go as far as adding more to the panic of this ordeal." As she finished her statement; looks of disdain directed towards the tan colored mare. Realizing the inaccuracy of her word choice, she quickly continued "I-I mean," she stammered "this is the first time, at least by our standards, we've had an accident such as this; I'm sure our boy's in a blue can will get our guy in not time." "Are you so sure of that?" To everyone's surprise, the oddly cold voice came from Mrs. Cake; even her husband was shocked by her tone."Um, honey?" "Sure, we could wait for our 'boys in blue'" she mocked "As for all we know whoever maimed that bovine could be looking for their next prey!" Taken aback by the sudden outburst, Mayor Mare attempted to calm the situation; however she was quickly cut off. "Mrs. Cake please understand-" "Understand What," her iris's began to take on a fiery red color as she went on "that you're willing to let innocent foals be slaughtered as these shit for brains policemen play freaking tiddlywinks!" The temperature slowly began to raise as her rant continued "If they can't even get the culprit who robbed our store, THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY GOOD FOR!" For what seemed like an eternity, the room was deathly quiet, as looks of absolute bewilderment were drawn on everyone's faces. In a matter of seconds, the room's temperature went back to normal as did Mrs. Cake. "Oh, sorry about that dearie," she said, turning almost red due to the embarrassment. Twilight was the first to speak, "Well," she began "All in favor in extra police ponies say aye" Everyone's hooves shot right up as they all agreed in unison. "All who oppose say nay" Like before, the room once again went quiet. "What the hey was that all about" exclaimed Apple Bloom, as she backed from the contraption. "You see Apple Bloom" Anon began, his eyes still glued to the monitors "When you and your friends found that weird object, it messed with the natural order of the universe" "Natural Order?" Anon sighed, as he explained to the southern filly about her universe. "You see Bloom," he began "Your universe is more controlled, or scripted than it all appears to be." AppleBloom cocked her head in confusion. What does he mean by 'scripted'? Before she could ask him, Anon materialized a large stack of papers in his hands and dropped them in front of her. "What's all that stuff?" she asks "You see Bloom your universe is what we like to call the control-verse," As he continued talking, the filly began skimming various pages of the pamphlets; reading each title. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season One? What in all of Equestria does that mean? Opening the pamphlet she took notice of some familiar names. Mainly those of her family, friends, and even some of the former foes. What could all of this mean? She continued reading for what felt like hours. Before she could get to the last page of the final pamphlet AppleBloom felt an odd vacuum like force pulling her away from the stack. "Wait a minute," she exclaimed, as she tried to keep her ground "What does all of this mean!?" Anon simply smiled at her, waving his hand. "Until we meet again!" he shouted. Unable to hold herself any longer she flew back towards the white vortex, causing her to scream in the process. AppleBloom awoke in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. She wasn't sure of what to make of that dream but she knew what she had to do once the sun rose. "I need to talk to the girls about this." Author's Note It's time to break the 4th wall baby!