In Twilights Shadow

Chapters

Chapter 1- Well this is new...
Chapter 2- A Knowledgeable Gain
Experiments and Practical Appliance
Chapter 4- "Startling" Revelations
Chapter 5- The Manehatten Fault: Part 1: This Might Be Interesting
Chapter 6-The Manehatten Fault: Part 2: "We"
Chapter 7-The Manehattan Fault: Part 3: Practical Application Part 2
Chapter 8- Brief Respite

Chapter 1- Well this is new...

A bed. That was the first thing I noted when I came to. Now, usually this isn’t exactly strange, as when one would fall asleep, one assumes they would fall asleep in bed, and wake up as such. This however was problem for me. Putting aside the fact that the bed is much comfier than what I should have with my dirt cheap, low end bed in my dirt cheap, low end apartment, my memory is telling me this is impossible.

“Oh man, I musta really been downing the booze last night” I groaned in a voice that was most certainly not my own. It took a few moments for my mind to catch up to this fact, but when it did, I totally didn’t freak out, scramble, and proceed to chin-plant the floor.

After regaining my composure and sitting down, I started rationally going through what’s going on.

“OHMYVARIOUSUNBELIEVEDCREATORSWHATINSTYXISGOINGONWHYWASIINANEXTREMELYCOMFYBEDTHATSNOTMYOWNWHENISHOULDCLEARLYBEOUTSIDEWALKINGHOMEANDWHYDOISEEPURPLEANDWHYISMYVOICEHIGHPITCHEDLIKEAGI…”

It was at this moment I realized something, and doing something, my fears were realized. My *ahem* “plumbing” had changed. This of course bought my thought processes to a screeching crash, where the driver was then rocketed out of the car, proceeding to go splat against the wall if the track. During this time, I actually realized I could see my surroundings.

“Ooooooo, pretty crystals” I slurred out in my shut down state of mind. The place I was in though was accurately described as such. It was a bedroom, with a Royal touch to everything, made out of a purpley bluey crystal. There was a bed in the corner, a set of window doors that led out onto a balcony, a wardrobe, a dresser and mirror a set of big wooden doors that led further into the abode, and a hidden away door near them into what I would assume is a shower.

After once again regaining my natural thought processes, I decided to crawl my way over to the mirror, in order to get a look at my obviously changed self. What I saw, was purple. A dark lavender would probably be more accurate, but purple still works. I seemed to have an adorable snoot(yay for manliness…pfft whatever) and a horn, sticking out of dark blue hair with one purple, and one pink stripe going through it. The hair was very spiky, but not a mess, and actually looked pretty awesome, and OH MY MEMES ARE THOSE MY EARS NOW! It seems I had horse ears. Looking upon my eyes, I noticed they were a brilliant shade of crimson red, looking almost like they were flowing with power round and round and round in circles and circles and circles. It made me laugh as I remembered a dumb video I saw on the Internet’s one time.

“MY LORD! I look like one of those cartoon ponies from that show I watched a few years back! If my friends saw me they would be laughing their butts off. Well, maybe except Joel, he would be squealing in delight” I started to invigoratively say to, well, myself.

Oh yeah! Myself. I should probably talk about that. My name is Theos Sammunds, aged 16, Homo Sapien, of the male biology, giving no time of day to if people think I’m manly or not, playing to many video games, lover of the internet and its horrendities(is that a word? It is now) and general “weirdo” whatever that means, and regardless of what I said earlier, not one to ever drink alcohol. I mean, carbonated drinks are just soooooo much better, don’t give hangovers, make you hyper, and in my personal fact, taste better. Did I mention sugar is amazing. Actually, I just noticed something wrong with the image I see before me. Twinkle sprinkle(or whatever her name is, its been five years for crying out loud) shouldn’t:
1) Have crimson red eyes(they should be lavender)
2) Have fangs(pretty sure ponies are herbivorous, and thus have a lacking need of canines)
3) Have bat wings( if for some reason they did make her a, what was it…Alicorn, yes I believe so, it would have been pegasi wings)

In fact, with what is shown as my own random dabbling in the fandom(AKA surfing the internet and randomly coming across this stuff) then I looked like what would be called a vampony, or vampire pony, version of twilight. GREAT! Now I feel like I’m in a bad fanfic. Luckily, that can’t be true, or I would be having an existential crisis right now. It was at this point, I felt a scratching in my mind.

‘Huhn, what’s going on?” I heard the original owner of this body say inside the confines of my(her?) mind.

“Whatever it is, its not my fault” I try to calmly say, and panic rising in my(our?) chest.

“WAIT, why can’t I move? What’s going on? Why do I look like that? How did my mouth speak to me? Wait, who are you, and why are you in control right now?! What did you do to me?!” I could feel and hear her anger and panic rising with each question, no doubt already blaming me.

“Well, I was walking home from an outing with my friends at the pub, when I left, and started walking home. Next thing I know, I’m waking up in your bed, in your body. Believe me when I say I’m just as confused as you. And since I felt pain earlier when I totally didn’t chinplant the floor, I know this isn’t a dream.” I explain in as monotonous as her voice could get, trying to relay the memories directly to her, which seems to have the desired effect. She goes quiet for a bit, probably thinking over what I’ve said, so I leave her to it. By the time she starts speaking again, I’ve chalked up to knowing how to move as muscle memory, after all, it is her brain I’m using.

“I… believe you. Those memories were real from what I can tell, and you seem to be giving off genuine confusion from what I can read from your mind.” She says, which brings a wave of relief running through our body, “I’ll start the introductions. My name is Twilight Sparkle, I am equestria's fourth alicorn princess, title yet not known, and my special talent is magic.”

“Well, can’t be rude to royalty now can I? I am Theos Sammunds, regular human being with no special talents or titles to speak of, from the wondrous and horrible city of the tree of coven, also more widely and properly known as Coventry, of the planet earth, and to make things even more awkward between us…Male.”

“Wait wait wait wait…you’re male?” she inquired, and I could almost hear the pity drop like a needle in a library. Kinda fitting simile if my memory holds right.

“Yepsedoodles,” I replied as nonchalantly as I possibly could, before adding “Ya don’t have to worry about me screaming about my ‘manliness’ going down the drain, just note its going to make things slightly awkward.”

“Oooooookay then…” she stated in a manner that stated she was not convinced, silly pretty purple pony princess. Don’t you know that I never lie! Only so that when I need to I’ll away with it, but still, I NEVER LIE! Peh.

“So what now?” I interrogated(really running out of said words here) which of course was the words the world needed to hear to be a McGuffin, cause the sun chose that exact moment to start shining through the window, directly on to us, which started an unbelievably painful process, to which I was of course, screaming my head off to.

“What’s wrong?!” I heard my host say in a panic, to which I replied with a screech. Of pain. Because sunlight. I somehow managed to keep my focus on the mirror in front of us, and saw something quite grossing, except I don’t get grossed out easily. Our eyes seemed to have bulges along the veins, as their colour changed from the crimson to violet. The fur coat seemed to grow a few shades lighter into actual lavender, the mane and tail seemed to groom themselves to be more flat and less spiky, the muscles visibly became less lithe, and the wings started bleeding out as feathers took the place of the leathery substance in the wing, turning in normal pegasus/alicorn wings. By the time the pain had died down, I was laughing my head off in pain.

“Can we go again mummy?” I stated in an innocent manner in my pain riddled state of mind, and promptly fainted

Chapter 2- A Knowledgeable Gain

To the first of my conscious thoughts, it was along the lines of “hey, that’s pretty good!” before I had to sans that to go with “screw dat, this here thing in my mouth is AMAZING!”. It was sour tasting, and reminded me of one thing from our world. The green abble. ALL PRAISE GREEN ABBLES!(yes, really do say that instead of the proper word, sometimes) The next sense to come on was scent, and I could smell the dust, and age inside the room, along with a certain amount of newer smelling smells. I could also smell something metallic somewhere very far away. Next was touch, of course, I could now actually feel the glorious abble in my mouth, and not just taste it. Other than that, I felt a comfy surface beneath my posterior, and a strange liquidy feeling coming from above my head. It seemed connected to various other things, each with their own texture, but overlaid by this liquidy feeling aforementioned. Next came hearing, and for the most part it was mostly silent, except for a flipping noise going off every few seconds, a few scratches, crunching and muttering. Eventually my sight returned to me and ohohoho, I believe I know where I am.

“A Library!” I exclaimed from my passenger position in my host mind, which made her jump in shock, with an adorable little “EEP!” causing all the objects in her magical grip to fall from the lack of concentration. Well, except for the glorious abble, which was in her mouth at the time, and thus got rocketed into the wall. NUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!! YOU HAD SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR a.k.a OUR STOMACH!

“THEOS! You made me jump! I was doing some very important research, and now I have to find where I was again.” She said in a tone of annoyance.

“Yes, yes I did. And can I say, that eep was quite adorable when you did jump at my sudden exclamation of not so genius. Sooo, may I ask what you were researching?” I chuckled out.

“Our strange predicament actually” she stated matter of factly, though I could feel the slight burning in her cheeks at being called adorable “I’ve tried looking through many many books since your *ahem* transfiguration(I cringed internally at this point, which I’m sure she felt, if the pang of pity was anything to go by), and I can quite honestly find Nada on this. The only thing I can absolutely be sure about is that you’re here by choice, whether or not that choice was yours. Though after doing a scan of ourself, which is going to be weird to say, I do believe we’re generally stuck like this. Whatever connected you to me, intertwined our thaumic energies on a cellular level, though yours was different looking to mine, it is almost impossible to differentiate the two right now.” I could actually feel a slight feeling of giddiness rising from my host, Miss Twilight Sparkle, which for some inexplicable reason, filled me up with dread.

“So, in the most basic sense of words, due to how closely and minutely our “souls” are intertwined, we are stuck with each other for the foreseeable future?” I asked inquisitively, unsure of if I’m correct.
“Basically, yes” she replied “Even more interesting to me, is the actual changes the take place between us. Magically speaking, our affinities change, while I hold an extreme affinity to the harmonious magic of Equestria, your magic seems more primal and primordial, like the magic that comes from the Everfree Forest! On top of that, the physical ones. Our muscles most definitely become more lithe in form, but the fangs, coat, mane, tail, eyes and wings all change. Although only of myth, whatever bound you to me, decided to make you take on the form of a vampony! This…” It was at this moment I realized, it was getting exceedingly difficult to focus on what she was saying. Luckily, my saviour can in the form of a small male voice behind the door to the library.

“TWILIGHT! Pinkie’s here to see you! She says it was world endingly urgent!” Exclaimed the voice behind the door.

“*sigh* Coming Spike!” my host replied, getting up off of the seat, obviously in reluctance in order to research what was currently on her mind. The predicament we found ourselves in. It was at this point upon opening the door my glee shot through the roof.

“OH MY CREATIONARY DIVINE! IS THAT A DRAGON! I LOVE DRAGONS! THERES SO MUCH MYTHOLOGY ON DRAGONS! I HAVE A BOOK ON DRAGON MYTHOLOGY!” I exclaimed completely and utterly calmly. If completely and utterly calmly is gleefully shouting our head off, in two ways. I noticed Spike’s look of concern when he saw Twilight flinch at my outburst.

“Are you okay Twi?” He asked, in the sort of child-like innocent that wouldn’t completely understand.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just…trying to process all I’ve found out! I just messed a part and so I cringed” she tried to explain away. He honestly did not look like he was buying it. At all. But decided not to question it, bless the kid’s naivety.

“So, what were you looking at, its been a while since I’ve seen such a need to study so intensely?” his inquisitive little mind inquired inquisitively (Too annoying? Probably)

“Magic and Myths” she replied instantly, almost like a well oiled machine, almost too fast, almost like she was trying to keep me a secret. Not that I blame her in the slightest. If you woke up with another person in your head, you might not either due to consequences. What consequences I could not see, but the fear in her mind about this was good enough for me to play along a say nothing for the next three minutes, while I eavesdropped on their conversation. After all, if Bethesda has taught me anything, its that if you eavesdrop, you get quests. Also that horses can gallop up sheer cliff faces. Speaking of which, since I’m technically a horse right now, can I do that? I’ll have to find out later.

We came upon the entrance hall of the castle. It was big. Very big. Very big indeed. It followed a similar structure to the rest of the castle, with crystal walls and ceiling. There was a red carpet lining the middle of the hall, and two other halls that went off to the sides, there were to doors off the side of the central hall that I could only assume led to staircase up on the overlook of the entrance hall. Down in the middle was a pony who was pink. Poofy mane. That was pink. Eyes. That were pi…nah, just kidding with ya, they were blue. She also had a mark of three balloons.

“So, Pinkie, what’s this world endingly urgent thing you needed to see me about” my host said in a voice that, while caring, was definitely skeptical of the severity of the situation.

“OH NO Twilight, its sooooooooooooooo much worse than that” she almost screeched out reappearing in our face. I could feel twilights face switch to a very much unamused expression for a second, before realizing something was actually troubling her friend, when her worry started to grow. I heard something pass through her thoughts about parasprites and trust and having to keep practicing on lessons.

“What’s wrong Pinkie?” Twilight asked in a voice that was full of worry.

“*gasp*THERESANEWPONYINTOWNANDICANTFINDTHEMANYWHEREINORDERTOASKTHEMWHATTHEIRFAVOURITECAKEISAND…” It was at this moment I tuned her out, as I noticed that the metallic smell was coming from her and the dragon. However, I could seemingly differentiate the two on more than place. The pink one’s smell was full of sweetness and the dragon’s one was full of earthy smells.”…ANDHOWCANITHROWTHEMAPARTYIFICANTFINDANDASKTHESEQUESTIONS!” She ended, and I swear she didn’t breathe. Even afterwards she just returned to her normal breathing pattern. My host quickly glanced at Nyarlothep…I mean Pinkie Pie’s neck and I felt a pang of hunger and third go through us, and based on the sudden worry crossing our mind, she’d noticed it too.

“Well Pinkie, I’m sure that when he wants to be found, he’ll be found, but there us really nothing I can do to help in the search except tell you if I notice somepony strange wandering about” my host replied.

Waaaaiiiiiit, How do you know it’s a he? I never specified their Stallionhood.” Our pink friend, looking like she was suspicious, said in a manner that one says things when they are suspicious. It was a real blue jacket moment(if anyone gets that reference).

“I, ummmm, guessed?” my host replied with a less than sure statement.

“OkieDokieLokie” The pink horror(hah, warhammer) replied, instantly losing all suspicion, and proceeded to bounce away, out of the castle.

“Spike?”

“Yes Twilight?” he replied obediently.

“Have the day off to do with what you will,” my host insisted, “if you need me I’ll be relaxing in my room. I need some rest after a hard days research, I trust you to be smart with your gem intake, we have to make sure you don’t get out of shape after all.” Her voice was full of mirth. It actually reminded me of a big sister looking after a little brother.

“Twiiiiiiliiiiiight,” he droned going red in the cheeks, “thanks” he said as if he meant it. “See you later” to which he proceed to quickly scamper off.

Twilight started to walk towards what I would assume would be our room, and I felt that dread inducing giddiness rise in her mind again, instantly shattering the warm moment before. As we reached her room, she grabbed a notebook and quill and ink and sat down at a desk.

“Time for a Q&A~” she said in a sing song manner. She actually seemed really excited by this fact, and even though my uneasiness grew as she stated it, I thought that I should let her have it. After all, What can go wrong…

Hours later, Moonrising
WHY MURPHY!? WHY?! It was hell, the questions she asked. Some were actually painful. Like what is x*x if x is a variable multiplier equaling a=BC over 2B when B=23 and C=19. Why on earth would she want to know if I could do that sum!

“To check your intelligence, dummy” she giggled. Ohhhhhhhh, I’m going to show you, as soon as the develop computers, I’m going to show you!

“I am not a dummy!” I exclaimed, trying to be angry, but honestly, with how happy she was feeling right now, I couldn’t help but break down into a chuckling fit. Sadly, it was not to last, as a familiar feeling came over us. Obviously intrigued how this would go the other way round, Twilight went and stood in front of the mirror.

It wasn’t long till the screams of pain began, as the eyes bulged in the veins and pulsed into the iris, and the feathers brutally tore themselves off, leaving blood to trickle down the now leathery membrane. Next, two teeth on the upper row ejected themselves as fangs violently ejected, as the muscles GRE taught and strong, agile and mobile, the eyes to start to grow crimson, the ears to change, and the coat to darken. The mane and tail took on that spiky appearance, and lastly, a part we missed last time, her marks main star changed from purple to red. A blood red. I really felt guilty just standing there as she screamed in pain and I felt nothing. Finally control was handed over to me, and to my surprise, Twilight was still awake, albeit definitely doing the mental equivalent of gasping after some serious pain.

“And now” she stated “to experiment.”

Ever free forest, thirty minutes after moonfall.

The Timberwolves gathered, each one howling to the moon in greeting. In the middle stood something familiar. While it was most definitely equine in shape, except for standing on two legs, it bared an uncanny resemblance to the Timberwolves surrounding it. This, was a timbermaw. And it stared at the barn of the ones who had cause him such grief before…

Author's Note

Woooo, this was a bit tricky, but hey! I wanna get more of this out. Ideas ponies, ideas. But it looks like Theos and Twilight are going to be thrown into the deep end pretty quick.

Experiments and Practical Appliance

Now I have to say, the Ponyvillian night is beautiful. There is no light pollution with which to cloud the sky, and all the stars are all glistening and gleaming in their celestial thread. Even what we found out to be my enhanced vision could take away from it all, as it merely let me see more in the darkness, and more in detail. We also learnt I can somewhat fly, very badly, enough that I can elevate myself with wobbly control for around 10 seconds, but can glide and land seeming fast and fluidly well. So that’s good. I guess. Enough to get me atop town hall, which is where we currently are perched. It was here that my host spoke up:

“If our eyes are better, do you think our ears are too? It would make sense considering the metamorphosis they undertook.”

“Well, why don’t we find out!” I said enthusiastically, in her voice, as I was in control of the body, and thus, the voice box. I then proceeded to close my eyes, and focus on what I could hear. The first thing was the wind, but not just that, I could hear the differences in the air movement, speed, direction and place, via only hearing. Then came the crickets that chirped, the grass and leaves that rustled on the various winds, and lastly, the sound of many drums, banging twice in quick succession, followed by a flowing sound, like water pushing through a rapid. The sound was…calming. I felt almost superior, when each beat of the drums made me feel hunger, and each flow of sound gave way to thirst. And I believe Twilight was running calculations in her mind with which to accurately pinpoint where the drumming was coming from.

“THEOS, STOP FOCUSING ON THE DRUMS!” She shouted, most likely in payback for the dragon incident earlier. “That’s the sound of the hearts of the residents of Ponyville!”

“That… actually makes me feel a little sick. But could be extremely useful. Knowing you, you’ve probably got the range down on how far we can hear.” I say, trying to get my mind off the idea that my new ears were made to hunt, other things, but not for their flesh, for their very life force, and how I almost lost myself to the sensation.

“Well, your natural hearing reaches the edge of the Everfree Forest, which is around 500 metres away, before it star degrading, and the sound of the drums stops at about 100 meters flat.. However, this is only when you focus on it, you’re natural hearing is just slightly better than average when there is no focus, and my estimates dictate hearing the…hearts of lifeforms at around 10 meters.” She said in a manner as if trying to figure out this thing on the fly. “But enough of that, let’s see what else you can do!”

“Agreed,” I replied simply, knowing we were both going to be uncomfortable if we kept on the notions of hearts. So I jumped off of Ponyvilles town hall, and I swear it was a light jump, but ended up going ten feet into the air. Without trying. Suffice to say, we both screamed our heads off as the ground came up fast.

“WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR!” cried Twilight from her passenger position, knowing full well that the only pain we did not share was that of the transformation.

“I have no idea! I swear that was a light jump!” I shouted back, actually fearing for my life right now.

“Light…jump?” she sputtered out, “WE JUMPED TEN FEET INTO THE AIR!, AND EVEN THEN, WHY DID YOU JUMP OFF THE TOP OF A LARGE BUILDING!

“I JUST SORTA DID IT ON INSTINCT!” I shouted back, upon which it hit me. Instinct. This body seemed to have a lot of them. So I closed my eyes, and let myself fall to instinct, while my passenger screamed at me to move. A mere meter from the ground, my body snapped round, all four hooves facing the ground, and a glowing red energy formed around my hooves, and the energy dispersed upon impact with the ground, shifting the feedback of suddenly not moving into the air around us, giving us a slight updraft for a second, before the area returned to normal, and we were standing on the pathway of Ponyville, the ground completely undisturbed from our impact with it, and not a single sound was made from our impact with the ground.

“Sweet Celestia (I felt a sudden pang of dread when she said that), please never do that again, or at least, give some warning next time. But that spell you just did. It was. Interesting. You never channeled through our horn. In fact, from what I could gauge, you channeled the magic through our blood. And its effect, from what I could tell, was countering every force, so no forces had any effect.” She said, star struck and giddy with the prospect of new magic to study.

“So basically, I said ‘HELL NAW' to the universe’s physics being a thing, by using said universe’s physics, to make it so the impact on the ground never actually happened?” I inquired

“While I don’t understand part of what you said, by cross referencing I can guess you said with what I know, I guess what you say is pretty accurate. The spell made forces, to counter all forces. Instantly. It even created sound waves to counter sound waves, so there was no sound upon impact! It was amazing!” she cried in joy. It was actually quite heartwarming seeing her like this. “And adorable” I muttered under my breath.

“Let’s keep going shall we?!” she excitedly exclaimed, and I had a feeling that was less of a question, and more of an order. Luckily for her, an order I was more than willing to agree on.

“Yes, let’s,” I stated simply, thinking about what we could do. I started to run, just to get the mind going, and to test to see if we had any more speed to us. We ran at such a speed that everything became a blur. And I could feel the power rippling through our legs. It felt amazing, as it does, to exert power, power that belonged to me, and my host.

“Hey slow down a second.” She stated, to which I complied by stopping completely., and very quickly, considering I was moving at extremely high speeds. “Try to do that force negation spell while running or walking,” she said, almost cryptically, so again, I complied. I then realized as I walked, that there was something missing.

“I can’t hear our hoofsteps,” I called out, to which she replied in affirmative.

“Turn around,” she said. Upon doing so, I noticed that before we began this trial, hoofprints could be seen, bright as day, but after the test, there were no hoofprints with which to speak of. “Its less of a stabilizer spell as we first thought, and more off a stealth spell. In fact, I think the stabilization effect is just a happy coincidence.” She continued.

“So I could go dishonored on some fools?” I stated, in a tone of amusement.

“I don’t know what that is, but I’m going to go with the fact the its probably one of those video games of yours that you talk about,” she stated,” I think I’ve figured out your magic!”

“Oh, cool! Explain away” I happily exclaimed.

“Okay, so my magic, and almost every other unicorns spell casting requires the making of spell matrixes, which are patterns of magical energy, that are like runes in a way. They each are made up of many parts to create purpose, and are then fueled with energy. Some even have multiple levels, and inside the horn is a bunch of magical pathways that can make up one level of a spell. These spells are innate spells, able to be done without to much effort, like levitation. However to do more complex spells, one must harmonize with the worlds ambient magic, in order to create more levels to the spell matrixes.” She takes a moment to think over what she is going to say next, while I sit in the middle is the street, looking stupid, as I am enraptured by her talk, “you, however, throw all that to the wind, and use imagination to completely bypass the need for a spell matrix, which shows a lack of need for a horn to which to channel to, as, if the spell could be activated closer to the desired point, it would be more efficient. And the thing that is closest to every point in the body while still having room to channel magical forces are”

“Veins and arteries!” I shout out, interrupting her speech, which makes her giggle in our head.

“Correct. You use your imagination in place of a spell matrix to give purpose to the magical energy, and then channel it to the desired point. This of course does not mean your limited to not use unicorns spells, seeing as I can still sense a levitation matrix in our mind.” She happily chirps, obviously pleased at her gifting of knowledge to another. I love to learn the theory behind things. It is one reason I love science and computer science so. It’s all about how things work. “However, though this does come with increased flexibility and casting speed, it does come with a cost, and that cost, is the very blood in our veins. You see, the magic needs to actually flow through the blood, meaning that blood cells need to take magic energies inside them instead of oxygen, meaning that when the cell has done its job, it gets destroyed, as the magic energies kill it as soon as they enter it, and is only keep it together through force of will. As soon as the magic’s own ability to keep it together is lost, the cell itself is also lost. This also makes this magic casting type more exhausting in its own way. This is probably why you would need to… drink blood.”

“So, magic is fueled by imagination, and my own blood, one of which is not infinite. So limited magic, that, as long as I think it through, has endless possibilities. Gaigaigit, that song is one thing I’m going to miss.” I snorted in annoyance. I then got the idea to go even faster, by using magic. “I’m going to try something”

“Go ahead,” she said, obviously trying to understand things and eager to see what I attempted. So I thought, deep within my mind, about speed, about going fast, about moving along the ground. I then felt something, a connection to something of great power, deep within the bowels of our being, as it pushed towards our legs, and then fizzled out.

“Huh? What happened?” I inquired confused to the non cooperating magic.

“Maybe you imagined it wrong.” She stated, as though it was the simplest thing in the world. “I mean, you imagined going fast, and while that is the desired outcome, maybe you have to imagine what actually happens to make us go fast?”

“Well, its worth a shot.” I stated back, closing my eyes and starting to focus on that, on imagining the muscles in our legs pounding forwards and backwards like finely tuned pistons, pulling forward to land on the ground, pulling back to drag us forward, and exploding like a cannon behind us. I then felt that surreal connection again, as it moved downwards. I took up a position, hooves slightly forward, body lower to the ground. I could feel the magic flowing down our form, tingling with the cells it was bonding to, sending feelings of utter glee. With a shout and snapping my eyes open, I launched myself forward, moving faster than I have ever moved before, having accelerated in an instant, and yet, I felt in control. As I came to a turn, my mind automatically can up with the instructions. Spread the magic to the ground, tether ourself so we may turn, even at such a high speed. And that’s what it did. The magic responded, the crimson veil around our hooves spread to the ground as I dug into the ground to gain traction to turn, coming to a stop, before slamming myself forward once again.

“This is AMAZING” I whooped for joy, as we started running down a path to what I assumed was that apple farm(Sour Able Acres?) Twilight had told me about a few hours back.

“I’d say the speed we’re moving at equates to around 120 miles per hour” came Twilights voice in my head, which grew quieter as she was unsure of what to think. “That’s double our normal speed we were running earlier!”

it was at this point, we heard a filly’s scream come from the farmyard quickly approaching ahead of us, which sent us cold with the fear inside it, so I tried to make my way as quickly as I could to our new destination, leaping over the fence that cut off the rows upon rows of apple trees from the rest of the world, and ended up landing on top of the barnyard, but not before stopping the speed spell, and putting on the stealth spell(really need better names) in order to safely land on top of the barn without alerting anyone to our presence.

“That sounded like Apple Bloom!” Came the voice of Twilight, frantic in my mind, “I think I heard her come from below us! We have to help her!”

“And I plan to,” I told her as calmly as I could, with both my own panic rising, and hers at an all time high in our chest. “but we can’t panic, we have to do this right, and we have no second chances. I need your help in this seeing as we’re in this together, whether we want to be or not.”

“Alright, your right, no use getting worked up about it. We need to calmly and rationally approach this.” She said, most definitely calmer, but still not completely panic free.

“Extensive video game knowledge, don’t fail me now!” I whisper shouted to myself as I dropped down through a window onto the beams of the barn. From what I could see, there were about four, no wait, five wooden wolf things. One was outside, from what I could hear from its slow and steady heart beat. There was a filly, yellow fur and red mane and tale, with a mark of an apple backed by a tri-coloured shield. And, the main presence in the barn room below was the seeming mixture of a beast between an anthropomorphic pony and one of these wooden wolves. It stood on two legs and was a whopping 7 feet tall. That, and it was speaking, with the biggest mouth I have ever seen on something mammalian, and in real life.

“Alright, listen up you mutts! This here filly is a hostage. You are to make sure she doesn’t escape. She’s my insurance if things go wrong with the elders of this stinking family. I have your brother outside standing watch, so this would be easy for you useless excuses for Timberwolves” said the gruff voice of an obviously aged stallion, yet did not seem to old. He then proceeded to leave.

“We have to go after him!” muttered Twilight in my mind.

“While I’d normally agree, I believe saving this filly in here should be our top priority. If we go after him, he might try to escape and use apple bloom as a hostage to make him untouchable. In the long run, we’ll have to hope the apple family can hold out while we save apple bloom.” I tried to get across, using my gamers mind to properly plan out the task given before me. In my head it was along the lines of the big guy being a main objective, and apple bloom being secondary. One that would help in the main objective if I was to do it. The only problem was, I only had so much time with which to do this, and no retries. Meaning I had to do this flawlessly. “These things have blood right?”

“I suppose you’re right and yes, they do. Wait, what are you planning?” she asked, a hint of fear and suspicion in her voice.

“To suck the blood out of them till they’re unconscious in order to leave this as silently as possible.” I said, aligning myself above the one which was watching the other three, but had no-one watching its back. I then leapt of the beam onto the Timberwolf below, somehow landing on its shoulders before instantly snapping my head and fangs to its neck, causing it to instantly lock up, as its heartrate changed from slow and confident to panicky and erratic, and slowly its eyes closed. The feeling of the blood going down us was so amazing it was hard to stop at unconsciousness, but I managed to pull myself out. In order describe it, one would have to imagine their favourite drink, but mixed in with utter power, that seemed soooo addicting. I could also taste meat in the wolf’s blood. My magic caught and wrapped round the wolf as it fell to the floor unconscious, making its impact with the floor silent. I then proceeded to pick up the wolf and bring it up to the Worden beams above, something I was surprised I could do, even though it was not easy.

“Oof, what has this thing been eating?” I muttered, finally laying it balanced on the beam.

“I honestly don’t know what to say about what I just experienced” I heard twilight say, the disgust and want clear in her emotional control of the body. “I knew we would have to drink blood eventually, else fear the consequences, but I do not believe I was ready. I am really disgusted, yet it felt amazing, heck we feel amazing. Our coat even seems to have more life in it.”

“I know what you mean, and, if its any consolation, we didn’t kill him!” I muttered loudly, and maybe a bit too jovially. It was then that I noticed one of the other wolves had come to investigate the old one. So I reenacted the plan, and it worked to a dot. What’s that saying again? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it? I do believe so. I did not want to drink any more blood, out of fear of losing myself, so I decided for the second to last one to take the stealth spell off and jump on its head. This worked about as well as could be expected, knocking it out, and alerting the last wolf of my presence, who then proceed to turn around and get bucked in the face by my magically engineered cannon: my back hooves, induced with magic to give them the speed spell, just instead of speeding me up, the extra power was exerted on some beasts cranium, which caused it to howl in pain and crash into the barn wall, knocking it out.

The last wolf came in, snarling and growling, and actually looked quite terrifying, seeing as it was taller than me. By quite a bit. So I did the first thing that came to mind. I charged. Now this was actually a stupid idea, because even with the speed I was coming in at, I hadn’t had time to accelerate properly, so it just sorta swatted me to the side, taking a large gash out of mine and Twilights barrel. I heard two shouts of pain in her voice. One of which was my own.

One thing I should say about being cut deep by claw marks, is that it hurts, and I was hissing at the agony. I looked to our barrel, and saw something that horrified me. Three straight marks. Cutting deep. The Timberwolf started walking towards us when an idea came to mind. Mitosis. I started sending my now increased reserves of magic that also just took a major blow into enacting mitosis in that area. Expand the cell, double the chromosomes, split the cell. The crimson haze could be seen seeping from the wounds, as they visibly closed up. However, they would not close in time for the incoming Timberwolf.

As the Timberwolf was only 10 meters away I realized something. I still felt a magic connection to the blood outside of my body, like I could will it to travel there, and eject my minds will onto the now outside blood. Twilight must’ve noticed it too if her words were anything to go by.

“whatever it is you’re thinking of, just do it,” she muttered through the pain of our rapidly regenerating body, which, the regeneration in itself, was also painful. In response to her words, I merely grunted, and imagined vibrating spikes, stabbing through the wolf, overloading its senses, as I thought this, I felt something move away from me, and then watched as what I imagined came true, as the Timberwolf was stabbed by many sanguine needles, each shaking, and instantly falling down.

“Did…did…did you just kill it?” Twilight muttered, growing angry and fearful as the pain died off. I closed my eyes to focus on my ears and check.

“Six heartbeats, including the filly, sooooo nope” I laughed out, the slight stab in my side now a pleasant feeling in my mind. “So what should we do with Apple Bloom?”

“Well, seeing as there are no more wolves all the way to Ponyville, I’d suggest sending her to get the guards, while we try to deal with that….thing.” she said, as her fear and anger subsided, now turning to post battle relief and joy. “You really know what you’re doing don’t you?”

“I blame spending most of my time playing video games or watching them!” I shouted out. “Of course I know what I’m doing.” After getting my well deserved rest, I got up onto our four hooves and went straight to the quivering filly.

“Its alright Apple Bloom, the big bad wolves are gone and there are no more big teeth which are all the better to eat you with,” I say in an as soothing and calming voice I could make Twilight's do, which came out rather well actually. I was, of course, staying out of sight, letting a hoof or two show so she knew I was there, hoping that the darkness of the barn would hide the darker shades. It was hard for me to tell how dark the barn was exactly, considering to me it just looked liked it was all under a mildly blue light.

“A-a-are ya sure T-t-twilight?” she stuttered through the tears. Poor filly, this seems like it was quite traumatic for her. I could hear Twilight concur in our mind as she picked up on that thought.

“Yes, they quite have. Now then, I need you to be a brave little filly, and do something for me,” I started laying out, to which I heard her nod based on the wind currents and Twilight’s calculations. “I want you to run to Ponyville and get the guard, tell them that the Apple family is in danger, I will watch you go to make sure you are not being followed, and then will leave to help the Apples, okay?”

“Ah can do it Twilight.” She said, now feeling more confident at my reassurances.

“Good, now get going, and don’t look back! Gallop like the wind!” I shouted to her, which promptly moved her into action, as she ran out the barn door without looking back. I then proceeded to move out and watch her go, as I had promised.

“You handled that really well, you know, you’re not as talentless as you think you are,” my host said, in a truly honest fashion.

“………………………….Thanks” I merely say, already trying to focus on the task at hand, the stopping of…whatever the hell the thing is. However, being only human, and not confident enough in my skills as a *ahem* “vampony” to fight something the big, and I lacked weaponry in any other way. That’s when I got an idea. A very good idea. There was still a lot of blood on the ground after I was used as a scratching/thwacking post. So I collected it up together, and forged a weapon, by hardening the outside, but keeping the inside charged with magic by keeping it fluid, in order for the weapon to maintain shape and do other things I had yet to think of. By the end of it all, I had, held in my hooves, a black twin headed scythe known as the Caustacyst, a weapon from warframe.

“That looks effective, but I do hope you don’t plan on killing him unless completely necessary,” my host said, impressed by my feat of haemic engineering, but nervous at possible intentions.

“Relax, I don’t plan to, I blunted the normally sharp sides, so it deals more impact than slash based damage, however, the points are still sharp enough to be a puncture weapon” I stated, before laughing out at my own unrealized bad jokes. “Anyhow, we’ve got a big…thingy to hunt!” And thus we rushed off, out of the barn, and across the grasslands to the currently building apple residence, upon arrival, I saw to bodies on the floor, one, an orange coated made with a blond mane and tail was snapped against the fence, with many bruises and cuts along her body, supplying gore. I almost couldn’t see her mark of three apples amongst it all. Another was a sleeping old mare on a rocking chair, just on the porch, green in coat, and grey in mane and tail, a mark of a pie, somehow sleeping through the screams of the big monster and big red stallion, who looked majorly beat up, and had a mark of a green Apple cross-section. The big creature then punched the stallion in side of the face, just below the eye, sending him crashing across the ground. I saw the beast look with malicious intent. I heard my host scream to stop it.

“Hey! Ugly! Listen! Hey! Listen!” I shouted at the beast which caused it to turn around and sneer.

“Go away little pony. My fight is not with you. So if you value your life…” it said, as though the rest was clear.

“Too bad I don’t value my life in the slightest!” I smirked back, standing up on my hind hooves, flapping my wings to take away the pain on our spine and to help me balance, and used some blood to make magic claws with two fingers and one thumb on my forehooves, with which to actually grip my weapon, which I had held via oral methods by this point. At this height, I was around two feet smaller than my foe, so around five feet. He had big claws, big teeth, and what looked like wolverine claws unsheathing on the back of his hands. My guess is that he likes to play with his victims, showing the lack of use earlier.

“Alright, you asked for it!” he shouted as he started charging towards me, one arm in front to guard, the other bending back behind him and away in striking readiness.

“Oooo- I sure hope you know what you’re doing,” my host nervously muttered, so decided to reassure her in the best way possible.

“Not a clue,” I shouted, giddy and nervous for what I was about to do. Which is engage in combat. Ooooo, I’ve waited so long to do things like in video games.

“Wait-WH?!” was all she managed to screech out as I leapt forward, using my wings to glide towards my foe at high speed as to not have to touch the ground and strain this body anymore than it has to be, which of course turned my hosts screeching into screaming.

“OH LUNA! WE’RE GONNA DIE!” was what she shouted out in the short time it took for me and my foe to converge. As he was bringing through his ready strike, I put one hoof on the ground, leapt upwards putting our other hoof on our foes guarding hand, and spring boarding off of it in order to dodge his attack, and then leaned forward over his head, striking the twin heads of my scythe into his stomach area, ending in a bridge position as our rear hooves finished the front flip. This was extremely uncomfortable, painfully so, it was a wonder our spine hadn’t broken. I then saw the red veil of magic come over our forehooves as I started to life the scythe, him still attached, and could feel the strength running through my arms. It seemed to happen unconsciously, as if our body knew by instinct we needed this boost. It was successful and we ended up smashing him face first into the ground.

I proceeded to take the scythe back out of my now face planted for, and backed up a bit, ready to use my weapon induced longer range to my advantage, getting into a ready position with our left hooves forward, fore one up to block, and our right hooves back, the fore one holding the scythe, and my stance lower to the ground, wings still flapping. He then proceeded to get up.

“I think I figured him out,” my host started to explain, which, to be honest, was the boost of hope I needed after seeing him get up after what I just did to him. “He’s very much a brute force type of fighter. His attacks are straight and to the point, and while he may not hit all his attacks on nimbler opponents, he doesn’t need to, as a few good hits will knock them out due to the sheer force behind them. So he is very much slow, but powerful. I’ve got an idea, something I can only do due to your heightened senses.” I could literally feel the smirk she gave off saying this, and suddenly felt sorry for the for we were facing, as what little I had learnt of Twilight, I had learnt that when she felt confident, all shall quake in their little hoovsies at the judgement she brings. After cryptically saying you’ll understand soon enough, I noticed our for was charging straight towards us. However just before he started attacking, I could almost see a phantom of him attacking me as calculations assaulted my mind, telling me where exactly, how fast, how strong and areas of errors entered my mind. I moved out of the way as his attack came by rolling to his left, proceeding to then sweep him on his feet by pulling the scythe through his legs. He, of course, got up again, so I backed up and reassumed my ready position.

“I think it’s time we messed with our for,” I muttered to her, sending her my idea, in tribute to a bazaare anime. “I’ve got you all figured out!” I shouted, as calculations were forced through our brain as Twilight tried as quickly as possible to solve them, allowing me to act upon them. “Like next, you’re going to say ‘Oh really now?’”

“Oh really now?” He replied, a bit slow on the uptake.

“And now you’re going to say ‘How’re you doing that, you stupid brat!'” I continued to taunt, as calculations rammed them self through my mind, taking in heart rate, speech patterns, inflections, tone, and mood, and outputting his thoughts.

“How’re you doing that, you stupid brat!” he replied.

“’Stop that!’”

“Stop that!”

“’Now you’ve just made me mad, punk!’”

“Now you just made me mad, punk!” to which he then exploded in anger, and started rushing towards us, becoming all too predictable in his moves. Meaning that me and Twilight were dodging them flawlessly, and causing quite an annoyance with our weapon, wearing him down and bleeding him out, until my ears took their cue to leave, the sound of 8 or so pegasi, carrying restrictive crossbows, by what Twilight told me. So I decided to dissolve the haemic caustacyst, and my claws, and activate the speed spell, and run away and leave the detaining of the beast which was now left, kneeling in exhaustion, to the trained professionals. I decided to take the long way around to the castle, jumping and flying up to our room.

“Sheesh, with all this blood matting our fur, we will need to take a shower in the morning” I stated, a yawn escaping me.

“I refuse to let you make more work for me in the morning by caking our bed in blood, we are taking a shower now!” she stated firmly.

“But-“

“No buts” she commanded, and this I went off and took an awkward shower, which she also afterwards, regretted slightly. However, we were quickly cleaned up, and both of us said good night to each other, and fell into a deep sleep.

Author's Note

Thought you were gonna get a shower seen, eh? Too bad, I'm not that kind of author.>:) I feel like the ending was rushed, but this chapter was taking a lot out of me, and I really wanted to get it done, so I hope you can forgive that. Due to tablet use, their may be parts missing on certain words, or some words that were auto corrected wrong. And I do hope you enjoyed.

Chapter 4- "Startling" Revelations

I awoke with a shudder of excitement. Today’s the day. I could barely contain myself. I’d finally be tested to see whether or not I could go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns! I got out of my bed and looked down at… my two hooves and hands… no… that can’t be… what am I saying? That’s how I’ve always been. I got off the side of my bed and looked around the bedroom. It was exactly as I left it. The bookcase was a mess along with my desk, and my head could not seem to be able to decide whether or not this annoyed me.

“If only my parents and brother didn’t stop me studying, I would feel so much more prepared right now,” It was at this point, some part of me was screaming about not having a sibling, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out why. “Hmm, maybe the excitement really is getting to me,” I giggled out.

I then proceeded to get dressed, getting put of my PJ’s and into a T-shirt that was white except for the sleeves which were blue and some jogging bottoms. Wait, since when did clothing become a thing past special occasions…Pffft what am I saying, the idea of not wearing clothing is indecent, and quite honestly ludicrous, unless your one of those people who like to do that, or are in the privacy of ones own private space, or if its beyond your control, or…I should really stop going off on a tangent.

“Twilight, huney! Breakfast is ready! Its your favourite! Pancakes!” came a motherly voice from downstairs. Part of me recognized it, while another was saying the voice was that of a stranger. In my head, I decided it was best to investigate this recognised/strangers voice before jumping to conclusion
So I hurried downstairs. Upon reaching the table which was giving off one of the most pleasant smells, I noticed two more…antrhopomorphic ponies. One, the female one had white fur and mane/tail, the latter two havig large purple chunks in them. She was wearing what looked like a shirt with a vest around it, and a skirt that came down to her halfway through her shins. The other had a white button up shirt on, with jeans that were in surprising good condition, and had suspenders on at that. On his head was a fedora. He had a blue coat and a darker blue mane and tail. They were both unicorns.

“So how’s our little magician doing today?” the male one asked, rubbing my head.

“Great, Dad!” I said before I could stop myself. “I’m just so excited for today! I’ve been studying for weeks!” He merely smiles as some parts of me noticed so much wrong with that statement.

“Of course you have” giggled the other one, which a part of me was saying was Mum, while another was screaming stranger danger. She then set out pancakes for us all, and we started digging in. Well, I dug in like a carnivore to a meal, while Mum and Dad just ate more reserved. Something felt wrong even in my eating, like I wasn’t supposed to be eating this enthusiastically. I just chalked it up to nerves.

“Where’s Shining?” I inquire, haven’t just gulped down the entire last pancake in one, not without chewing of course.

“Oh, he had guard training to go to. He said he’d see you when you both get back.” Replied the one now known merely as Dad. “Speaking of which we might as well get going shouldn’t we?”

“Mmmhmmm, I said as I hurriedly placed my plates on the washing board, and made my way to the door of the house. After waiting a small bit for my parents we departed.

Nothing much happened between leaving the house and reaching the school I believe, though I do have a hard time remembering. We were currently waiting outside the test room, waiting for my turn. I could feel every minute tick by.

“Will Twilight Sparkle please enter the classroom!” a voice bleeped over the intercom. I gingerly made my way over to the door. I swear Mum and Dad said something, but my brain could not at that moment fully comprehend what, just that it was meant to be encouraging. I entered the testing room and saw a surprise in front of me. It was a small cart, coming up to about my hips. What surprised me was what was on it. It seemed to be a dragon egg. It was purple on the bottom, and seemed to fade to green at the top. All the facts about dragons I knew came rushing through my head, but the main thought that caught me off guard was ‘HA! It looks like a chao egg'. Needless to say, I was worried about my mental state of wellbeing at this point. All I could make out from the judges from behind their table in their table was that they too were anthropomorphic ponies, and that they were adults. I was really having a hard time getting any sort of lock on them, to describe or even properly see them. One then started to speak.

“Your task is simple. Hatch the dragon egg. You may begin.” He said, his voice reverberating through my mind. And so begin I did. I first scanned the egg, which came back normal, stating that the egg was healthy and ready to hatch. I looked around the room for anything to help and saw nothing. It was then I thought ‘if the egg is ready to hatch, from what I know from my obsession with dragons, it should just need to be heated up, right?’. I started focusing, felling a wave of power inside my horn. I felt the threads of magic inside reform into a matrix. I continued this, and started to make the second matrix with which to start the he spell. Something felt off. I suddenly started panicking. ‘what if I fail?! What will happen then?! Will I be thrown out?! Maybe to the streets?! Maybe out-'

BOOM!

A loud sound was heard and I felt a rush of power as uncontrollable magic went flying everywhere. I somehow managed to hold on to logical thoughts long enough to realize the I was having a magical surge, before I blacked out.

Coming to, I found myself in a void, with white-green particles flying around. Looking down, part of me was curious about the form I now held, while another part seemed embarrassed. I was wearing the same clothes as before, just enlarged for my now adolescent body, and seemed to have two large mounds in my view directly connected to me. Before I could continue my inquiries into this form/embarrassment at what I was seeing, a voice echoed deep within the void.

“So this is the form your essences have chosen… interesting” stated the voice in mild amusement as I looked up and saw… well, an eye…an orange eye… surrounded by gnarled teeth in all directions, which moved as it spoke.

“Where am I? What do you mean?” I shouted, terribly afraid, but also thirsty for knowledge. The eye seemed to get a glow that I somehow knew as mirth.

“Simple little ones…this is your dream. As for what I mean, the Theos Essence and Twilight Essence have chosen a form that is both of them in one. You see, time is getting short. What you must realize, my champions, is that your essences are not unified, but are not at war. You will slowly lose yourselves before you become the Twilight/Theos amalgamation. If you do not unify yourselves, you both will die, and both will live. But enough of your personal calamities, I have come to you for a reason. The Twilight Essence’s world is being corrupted by the other hrfbhbfjajhfbt, not that you can understand what I’m saying, but they are in ,mortal comprehension, gods. They themselves will use champions of supposed myth to corrupt the world, have been doing so for so very long, though only your Princesses know about it, and their monster hunters. You are my champions, and you too, will stop them.” It said as if there was no room for argument.

“Who are you to command me?” I said, now starting to feel sleepy.

“Simple. The architect.” Were its last words before the world once again faded to black.

We both awoke with a start, and I quickly felt my control receding to Twilight. We both simply sat there, taking in what was said to us. It was hard to comprehend. We both knew how real that was.

“We’re dying” I heard Twilight whisper. It never really struck me before, but that was a very possible thing that could happen to us.

“And we need to save the planet…from Gods.” I said, not quite believing, but having a hard time disproving.

It was on these dark notes, that my host got up to start her day.

Author's Note

Oh wow. Its been a while. I'm sorry to say I have been going through a really rough patch as of late, and its been emotionally strenuous. The and exams coming up. Hard times have befallen me it seems. I hope you enjoy this while I try to figure out where to go from here. Also, got to love me some Eldritch Abominations.

Chapter 5- The Manehatten Fault: Part 1: This Might Be Interesting

This bumping was kind of annoying to us. The rattling of the train, while subdued enough for a normal person/pony to sit in relative comfort, with our heightened sense of touch, it was worthless. And it was doing nothing for the worrisome and depressive mood of my host. After the revelation given to us by The Architect, she had been in a slump. And to be honest? I don’t blame her. I myself feel down. But for a completely different reason. I couldn’t help but feel like it was all my fault.

“Theos?” My host inquired to my waking state of mind.

“Yes?” I simply reply, though already had a guess at what she was going to say.

“Please understand that I don’t blame you. I’ve had time to think this through, and though I did want to blame you at first, I came to realize that that was not the correct course of action. In the end, you’re in this with me, and it wasn’t your fault, but The Architects” she said,” so please don’t beat yourself up over it.”

I felt slightly better about myself after that, but then thought there was something I could get out of this. So as my host stared out of the window, I replied.

“Sure, I can do that” I said, as the relief became apparent on her reflected face, ”if…if you stop beating yourself up over it too” the surprise was visible in the window mirror. “I know full well how this will go. I will stop being blamed, but then you will starting blaming yourself along with The Architect. The way I see it, the fastest route to our individualities survival… is The Architect. So we’re better off doing what he wants for now.”

“That…that was strangely insightful Theos.” She then giggled, “I’ll admit I do feel better after that pep talk. You’re right, we’re both in this together, and can’t start blaming each other, as then we will stand no chance of finding answers.”

“Right… and in the end, we don’t technically die… we just lose all sense of individuality from each other!” I stated in a jovial manner, to which she proceeded to actually laugh. I heard something coming down the train, multiple sets of hooves. “You’re friends are back. Be wary of Applejack… she’s been looking at you strange, and I don’t think it’ll be long till either she demands answers or the others notice and demand answers.”

She nodded her head in the affirmative and then looked from the scrolling landscape to the door of the train carriage, just as it opened, revealing five mares and a dragon, sleeping on the back of a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail and green eyes, who’s name was Fluttershy. There was also a blue pegasus, with a short rainbow mane and a rainbow tail, with magenta eyes. Her name was (surprise surprise) Rainbow Dash. There was a white unicorn with a curly mane and tail, sapphire eyes, who’s name was Rarity. Then there was that poofy pink party pony named Pinkie Pie who we met earlier. Finally, there was an orange Earth pony wearing a Stetson over her blond mane, with green eyes full of suspicion. Suspicion that, was quite rightly aimed at Twilight and me. She was luckily only minorly injured from last nights kerfuffle, nothing a few healing spells couldn’t deal with, as long as she rested.

“If you don’t mind my asking, why are we heading to Manehatten darling? I’m not complaining of course, oh no, seeing as I’ll able to check on my boutique and of course it is one of the most illustrious cities, but all you said when you called us all in was that you got a letter from Princess Celestia” inquired Rarity.

“Oh, that is perfectly fine Rarity. I must of forgotten to tell you in my worry. Its quite simple really, supposedly ponies have started going missing in Manehatten for a few weeks now. The guard is getting nowhere, and with our track record, the princess thought it might be a good idea if we can find anything out.” She replied, perhaps a bit to cheerfully, but she was trying to keep up a good mood, so I can’t really blame her.

“Hey”, I started, “you don’t think it could be something that ties to what The Architect was talking about do you?” I asked. I felt the thought passed through her mind, as I felt her face go serious, as she started to agree with the chances.

“Oh dear, I really hope those missing ponies will be okay” said the yellow pegasus timidly.

“Of course they are! We’ll have them found in an instant. After all, you’ve got me!” Boisterously declared Rainbow Dash, and from what I’ve been told, a lot of that pride is not misplaced. As long as that ego won’t get her killed, I’m fine with it. Friends with quite a few people with big egos. The rest then voiced their agreement, and went off to do their own thing for the rest of the train journey. All except one. No guesses on who. Applejack. Both me and my host were in agreement at one thing, if both our panics rising were anything to go by. She proceeded to plonk her behind on the seat opposite us, and started staring deep in to our eyes. It was honest to Cthulu creepy, and intimidating.

“Ah’m going to cut right to the chase sugarcube. Ah wanna know what happened last night.” she stated in a firm manner, never giving up on the atmosphere. I was starting to feel small, no matter how much scarier in actuality I was. I felt my host grip onto a train of thought and hold it long enough to reply.

“What’re you talking about Applejack? I don’t mean to imply I don’t know what your talking about…but…um, could you be a bit more specific?” Twilight manage to mutter out. To be honest? I was proud of her. That statement was non threatening, and gave us, if answered properly, exact perimeters to the information we would need to give.

“Well…OK then.” Applejack started. “Ah didn’t see none of it myself, but after Ah got beat up and knocked out by that big monstrous fellow, Ah woke up, and Applebloom told me what happened, how you saved her, and the guards restrained the thing. Ah want to know what happened.” She continued in a tone that left no room for argument. Now this was perfect. I could feel me and my host move along e same network of an idea. Which might be bad. Considering how we may be fusing. But enough of that.

“It’s really quite simple Applejack. I managed to help hold off…whatever it was, long enough for the guards to get there.” My host spoke, quite cool and calm considering the situation. Applejack pondered what we said for a while before she started to speak up, her face softening.

“Ah believe ya Twilight. I’m sorry about how I must’ve come across, Ah just needed to know what happened. And while Ah am sure you’re hiding something, I won’t pry. You must have a good reason, and I’m sure you’ll tell us all in time.” She replied, a lot calmer, and with a softer atmosphere around her.

“Its alright Applejack. I don’t old it against you. So how’s the farm coming along?” my host replied, and the two started talking, and did not stop until we reached our destination, around 1’oclock. So lunch time.

“*squee*Ohhhhh, Manehatten, it has been much to long since I last visited you!” cried Rarity, to which my host could not help but giggle at.

“Ooooo, Oooooo, how long? Wait! Don’t tell me! Let me guess. A day? No? A week? No? GASP! A YEAR!” started sputtering the horror known as Pinkie Pie, and continued on regardless of everyone else talking.

“Ah reckon its been about 3 days.” Answered Applejack, which of course got giggles from everyone except Pinkie Pie, who was still talking, and Rarity, who was doing her best impression of a car starting up on a cold morning.

“Well, as I have said before…any amount of time spent away from such a city is far too long!” she replied with gusto, to which my host started to chip in her own thoughts.

“OK everypony, I hate to be a spoiler of a good mood, but remember we’re here for a reason. Let’s get settled in to our hotel room, and then go and ask around for information on the missing ponies.” My hosts authority rung true, and the others followed her with murmurs of agreement. The hotel was a nice place. As in it was luxury. The princess seemed to leave this out when they told Twilight they had already reserved a space for her to say, and suffice to say, she was not pleased, but went along with it anyway. After getting the room key, we all headed up to it, and boy was it a long way up.

Upon entering I could hear the murmurs of wonder. The “magic” chandelier in the centre of the large room, the lavish couches by the lavish fireplace. The table by the window, the small kitchen area in the corner, and the six doors I could only assume would lead to bedrooms, each, I would assume, with their own on suite. I had but a few words to say.

“Well, this is definitely better than my low end, dirt cheap apartment.” This elicited a giggle from Twilight, and the others looked at her strangely, to which she just rubbed a hoof on the back of her head and chuckled.

“Just remembered something funny” was all she said, and they all just went back to woahing. They quickly got back on track and left to do what they wanted/ what they were meant to be doing. Following throughout Twilight’s day(it’s not like I had a choice in the matter) we had a decent lunch to start off with. Sadly, as we could really expect, no one had any answers to our questions. And it was with this that about half six in the evening, did we return, our face glum with defeat, from one afternoons restless work.

“Please tell me you lot found something worthwhile.” Twilight groaned to the five mares currently around the table, to which they all replied in the negative, causing my host to groan as she plonked herself on the seat and slammed her chin on the table. I could feel a panic attack coming on when suddenly we heard it. A glimmer of hope.

“Uhm, actually, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I did find something.” Said the timid Fluttershy, to which I was actually surprised, and by the looks of the other mares, so were they. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No please, do go on Fluttershy” my host quickly interjected, maybe a bit too forcefully.

“Um, well, if you’re sure,” to which I could feel our head nod up and down. “Well, I was talking to this one mare, and, um, she said that one night, when she was walking home, she saw a group of ponies. These ponies were dragging another one into a horrible bar. The Fang Bazaar. The pony they were dragging away, was the pony declared missing the next day.”

“That place sounds simply dreadful darling. I would not wish to enter such a place.” Replied Rarity.

“Oh, I don’t know Rarity. The place could actually be lots of fun, with streamers and cupcakes and cakes and games. After all, if it’s a place where ponies go, then it can’t be that bad.” Replied our pink friend.

“However it is, Ah think we should get some rest and continue tomorrow, when we all are feeling less tired” said our appley friend, to which there was a murmur of agreement. So we all split off to our rooms. It turns out spike was sleeping, and still is, in our room. It was a simple room, with a big bed by the window, a small balcony, and a dresser. Spike had a little basket bed in the corner between the door and the dresser.

“Good night Spike.” Twilight murmured before casting a soundproofing spell around us. Then it started happening. The transformation. This time it happened faster, and from what I can tell was severely less painful. I proceeded to work the joints now that I was in control, getting used to the sensation of actually controlling our movement, before narrowing my eyes to the balcony.

“Let me guess. The Fang Bazaar.” I merely stated, trying to be serious for once. With a silent agreement, I glided into the city night.

Author's Note

Wooowee. This one was tough. And the next one might be too! Why? You may ask. Though you probably aren't, and are just shouting for more. Well its quite simple really. I can't write large groups of characters. And I'm impatient. The bad things. So here's your new chapter.

Enjoy >:]

Chapter 6-The Manehatten Fault: Part 2: "We"

I honestly don’t know what it is about Equestria. Even the city nights are beautiful. I find myself being sucked into the hustle bustle of the city night life, which, while quieter, is still definitely not quiet. This black hoody I’m wearing hiding mine and my hosts alicorndom well. I of course had the hood down, so I could actually see, but I always loved wearing hoodys. We were walking along the pavement trying to reach this infamous ‘The Fang Bazarre'

“This place never seems to fail in blowing me away.” I stated simply to my host. “That, and its my first time in a place like this”

“Well, I’m glad your enjoying your stay, Theos” my host replies behind a giggle. I just continue on walking along the dimly lit pavements, until I come across the place I was looking for. It was indented into the row of streets by what looked like a carpark, probably for people with personal carages. There was a large neon light sign up top, glowing blue and stating the name of this establishment in curvy letters. There were large doors leading into this small looking establishment, that was only one story tall comparatively to the two or three story buildings around it.

“Yeeeahhhhh, this doesn’t scream out seedy in the slightest” I sarcastically mutter.

“So, how’re we doing this?” my host inquires, to which I put the first amount of actual thought into it since leaving.

“Well, I’m going to look around, see if I can’t dig anything up. If not, we leave, and come back with the others tomorrow.” I say, a plan already forming in my head. Thank you video games. You come to my rescue…YET AGAIN!

“Sounds good” is all I hear Twilight say as I start moving towards the door, the small murmurs of noise becoming apparent as I get closer. Upon opening the door I instantly shut it again, as a wave of noise assaulted my incredibly sensitive ears, almost knocking me to the ground. Once the ringing had stopped, I opened the door once more, this time prepared, and with a bit of effort, made my way inside. The entrance was risen a bit by a curved snaking ramp. Along the right edge were boxed off booths, most likely filled with ponies doing who knows what. The rest of it had many ponies bustling about, quite a few being shady. The floor was lusciously carpeted in a pale blue. In fact, there was a lot of blue. Blue lights along the ground, tracing the outline, a blue light behind the bar, which it itself was situated in the middle of the room, being curved into a circle. Almost makes me wanna dabadeedabooda.

Taking initiative, I decided to make my way to the bar, seeing as it probably had the best view of this establishment. I took a seat on one of the high stools, elevating my view point by quite a bit. From here I could see the tables on the other side, either filled with just generally people, or those type of people you just know are up to something.

“What can I get for you ma'am” said a voice that sounded way too noble to be in a place like this. I turned round and saw a cream thestral, with gentle emerald eyes, and greying mane, working the bar. He was currently doing what your stereotypical bar man does. That being of course, cleaning a glass.

“Just some pop or carbonated drink if I may. Don’t typically drink alcohol. Doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a night out.” I replied with a smile.

“Very well ma'am” he merely said in that voice of his before leaving to get my order. I then proceeded to get out a few bits.

“What’re you doing? We’re meant to be asking questions, not enjoying ourselves!” I heard Twilight whisper angrily in my head, to which I couldn’t help but chuckle. It seemed she didn’t quite understand.

“Well, one, there is no reason we can’t enjoy ourselves in the process, two, its called fitting in, three, I’m first observing to see who would be the right person to talk to, and four, I doubt you have to whisper. No one else can hear you.” I whisper back, hoping to appease the adorably angry Twilight.

“Well, I guess that makes sense,” she replied, before getting cut off by the return of our drink. It was a coke, which meant I was happy person. Very happy person. Me likely me cokey. Very muchy. I took a sip of my newly acquired beverage, the taste send signals of euphoria to my brain. I seriously cannot get enough of this watered down tarmac. The way it fizzes in your mouth, that somewhat indescribable taste, the sugar rush, that sense of satisfaction. However, drinking it made my teeth start to ache. Some very specific teeth. My canines, or should I say, fangs. It was almost as if they were desiring something, and the discomfort of my host became apparent. Whether from the ache, thought of what it means, or the sudden lecherous aura coming from our left. Wait…wha-

“Hey there, baby, I haven’t seen you around here before, and as a regular, I recognise all the little pretty faces, and might I say, yours is the prettiest one yet.” Came a creepy voice to my left, which made both me and Twilight jump, an eep coming from both me and her. I turned and saw another thestral. This one was wearing what looked like a bikers jacket, the leather like substance most likely faux. His eyes were a deep blue, his coat a dark purple, and his pitch black mane and tail were groomed, the former into spikes going backwards, and the other seemingly random, but a pattern to its spike being visible. He had a cutie mark of a safe with a key in it. His heartbeat was calm, which told me that he had done this whole hitting on a mare fiasco before. Ugh, its weird just thinking about it.

“You’re going to need a better pick up line than that to get under any mare's tail, Safe Keeper” sighed out the barman “That is just too cliché”

“Really? It has worked before, Noble Fall” came the lecherous voice of this ‘Safe Keeper' to the barman, now apparently named Noble Fall, who proceeded to sigh, and walk off to do whatever his job entails, “YEAH THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT! Also, get me a pint would you!” he then proceeded to turn his attention back to us. I could practically hear Twilight’s thoughts of running away running in my head.

“Sorry about that cutie, the old goon has no idea what ponies privacy is, or how to not butt into other peoples conversations. So tell me, what’s a made like you, doing all on your lonesome, in a place like this?” he inquired. He seemed suspicious, like some sort of sixth sense inside me was telling that he was hiding something. I decided to play along.

“Mostly to quench my thirst, to be perfectly honest. Its started getting hard as of late” I replied, hoping maybe to get some sort of hint from him. The sudden change in his eyes made me think maybe I was. My host was staying strangely quite from this conversation, though seemed to be radiating an immense aura of disgust. It was hard to stop myself from getting overwhelmed by it.

“I see, and what’s your name, a if you don’t mind my asking, you look like a certain princess.” He replied, the lecherous tone giving way to a more greedy one. He is definitely hiding something. I guess he’s good at that.

“Theos, you can call me Theos. As for why I look like the princess, eh, just born this way. Why do you think I wear the hoody? It’s so ponies don’t mistake me for her. That got old pretty quick.” I reply, creating this up on the fly.

“Well then Theos. While I’m sure that’s an alias(I honestly felt some anger at that. My name is awesome!) I have something to show you, if you would be willing. It might help in sating some of those more…unique…thirsts.” He replied, full on foregoing trying to get under our tail in favour of getting us to follow him. I was wary, but this could be the breakthrough we need.

“Twilight, I’m going to start acting a bit differently, keep up a façade, so don’t annoyed at what I’m doing.” I whispered to her, before turning back to Safe Keeper. “Intriguing, lead the way.” I simply stated, to which a look of glee came onto his face.

“Sure thing, cutie,” he simply said, back to his normal manner, after getting me to agree to come with him. He hasn’t done that too many times, and lacks the confidence to do it naturally it seems. We both got up and started walking around the bar. On the way round I was stopped by the barman, Noble Fall, who whispered into my ear.

“Be careful My Lady, Safe Keeper is not the most smart of ponies, but he is dangerous, and what you are about to see is quite frankly downright horrifying. If you can manage to get them to stop it, I’d be thankful. And yes, I know who you are, Night Rider” he said, the last bit confusing both of us, as we continued onwards.

“What was that about?” my host inquired, to which I simply replied with confusion, as I continued on round the corner of the bar. We came to a metal door, where he took a key out of his pocket and opened it. Upon passing through the metal door, we came to the kitchen. There were many ponies in chef uniforms running about the many counters, trying to cook food for the customers, and none of them seem to care that we entered. Except one. This one was a unicorn with a navy coat and white mane/tail.

“Ah, Mosieur Safe Keeper, It iz a pleasure to have you back. Pleaze may you and ze fair lady follow me.” Said pony in accent that seemed wrong. Like it was butchered up.

“Please Coldbar, stop doing that fake accent, I swear your are going to offend someone” Safe keeper said. So I was right! HA! TAKE THAT ARCHITECT! I CAN BE RIGHT TOO! Not that you ever said I couldn’t.

“Very well, old friend” replied the pony I now know as Coldbar. No defence in his little game? They must really not care about it, or this Safe Keeper has more power than we thought, considering how stupid he seems. We soon came upon a set of doors in a diamond patterns, like in an old elevator. They opened up and we went inside to a elevator. Guess that clears that up.

“I got a bad feeling about this Theos” came the voice of my host as the elevator started descending to the depths. Not wanting to give anything away, I just nodded my head in response. “I feel like what we’re going to see down there is a lot of suffering.”

Again nodding my head, I returned to the real world as the elevator came to a stop with a ding. I honestly couldn’t lp but laugh, which got smiles of amusement from the other two. As we stepped out of the elevator we sa-
Horror. Screams. Fear. The sound of a few hundred heartbeats as one. I tried to cut myself off from it, not failing happily, but the shock to both mine and Twilight’s system was enough for the others to take notice. Luckily, they mistook it for excitement.

“Real beautiful sight isn’t it, baby” said Safe Keeper, pointing a hoof out to the rows upon rows of caged ponies, and I had to resist the urge to backhand him right there. “All these ponies, in cages like the livestock they are compared to us, the greater race. I know you’re one of us, and just so you know, this isn’t even the best part!”

Bes part? Oh Nine Circles below, it gets worse! I could almost hear my host faint inside, but she managed to hold on, and we started walking forward, through the rows upon rows of malnourished and defeated ponies, all looking forwards us with either resignation or spite. We finally came upon “the best part” and that’s when I broke. There were foals. All crammed into a few cages, to the point of breaking the cages without breaking them.

“So what do you think baby? Ain’t it a beautiful sight?” asked Safe Keeper with a sadistic grin on his face, a grin his friend right next to him was sharing. He then proceed to grab a foal inside by the head, and shove it outside the cage, and then bit down on its neck.

I felt something snap.

Something very important snapped.

We felt a hunger explode within. A madness different to our thirst. The fool decided now would be a grand time to gloat in our face.

“How delicious! Foals were always my favourite!” he shouted with utter glee, and then proceeding to turn towards me. “Hey cutie, you should…try……one…”.

It was marvelous! The look on his face in the face of our rising retribution! Our mind moved on one instinct, and in an instant he was toppled onto his back, Coldbar standing nearby in complete shock.

“We hunger…” was all we said to which his face contorted into a ball of horror. “Your very evil will sate us!” we shouted, plunging our mouth into their heart, somehow phasing through all physical aspects, and pulling. What came out was not a still beating heart, but a grey and black weapon, a whip with many spikes adorning it, that looked decrepit and decayed. We could just feel the lechery and greed emanating from it, and from the look on Safe Keepers face he recognised it. He shouted something, but it fell upon death ears. It was at this time we decided to speak.

“This is your Evil realised, a physical realisation of what is within your heart. Nothing but greed and lechery, and a decayed sense of right!” We shouted, grabbing the whip with her telekinesis, and striking across with his will. He was sent flying into a wall, leaving a heavy imprint. With a blast of our power, we decimated the arcane locking mechanism on every cage. All the trapped ponies regarded us in fear, and quickly ran to the elevator to escape.

However, we did not care. We slowly moved ourselves over to our downed for, wrapping the whip around our barrel in such a way it would be easily grabbed again. Upon finding our quarry we saw the delightful look of fear on his face as he regarded us with one eye. Within this eye we saw nothing but an endless pit of greed, obviously thinking of someway to save himself at the cost of another. This fear…it made our teeth ache, an ache with which to consume this sickly blood.

“Hush now…there is nothing to fear but us.” We cooed as we hard him whimper in response. We just couldn’t contain this desire any longer. WE JUST HAD TO SINK OUR TEETH IN! And sink our teeth in we did. Right into the neck. There was a short burst of blood splurging, but then it calmed down, and we drank…no…yes…

“STOP!” I shouted pulling away at the last possible moment before this pony was killed. No matter how much he deserved it for all his acts, and fought with the bloody lust inside. I managed to come out on top, panting in the exertion of fighting myself.

“W-w-w-what was that?” I heard Twilight stutter in fear, and who can blame her. We lost control, and almost killed someone.

“I have no idea.” I responded truthfully. I started trotting back to the elevator. I could feel that Twilight was too shaken up to talk right now, and thus got myself back to the elevator, scanning the room to make sure no one was left in a cage, just as it came down. The ponies that were saved were obviously afraid of me, and I might as well use that to my advantage.

“I’m going up first, and by myself!” I shouted to all of them, to which a line opened up through them, just like Moses and the red sea, leading straight to the elevator. They all regarded me with fearful eyes, not that I can blame them. I just showed an immense amount of some form of unholy power, a power they have most likely come to fear over their stay down here. I got back onto the ramshackle elevator, and turned round to regard the mass of fearful ponies.

“I’m going up to make sure there is no one up there to hurt you. When the elevator returns empty, you know that it will be safe to come up. I know most of you fear me, and none of you trust me, but I promise you, I will keep you safe.” I tried to reassure them and reaffirm my plan of action in my head. I felt the crowd murmur among themselves as I closed the elevator and it started to rise.

“That w-was well s-s-said.” Murmured Twilight, still obviously shook up from the incident we just had. Things were going lucky for us, and I’d rather things stayed that way until we got all of them out of here.

As the elevator shook upwards and the mass of ponies started to disappear from sight, I took one look at the weapon now wrapped around my barrel in disgust, and ascended to the inky blackness…

Author's Note

Woooey, another chapter that is the accumulated work of less than two hours. I believe. Over a lot of months. I could blame real exams being a reason, but I started writing this again as soon as I started real exams, so that's no excuse. Oh well, I hope the chapter makes up for it, and the fact that it obviously won't be leading to an instant fight scene next chapter. I don't know what your talking about. <_< >_> ^_^. Phew, no one saw that. So please leave a comment below! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 7-The Manehattan Fault: Part 3: Practical Application Part 2

To the ponies working in the Fang Bazaar, they had the utmost confidence in themselves. Almost all of them knew what was happening, and either relished in it, or just stayed indifferent to the other half of their job. They were so confident, that they felt they had little to fear from even the princesses. So to all those ponies, they were rather confused and shook up when the elevator came dinging up from the kitchen, and a delirious Coldbar came out, shaking and shouting for all of them to get ready for a fight. When they saw the elevator return to the depths, they knew he wasn’t wrong, but were far from afraid. After all, what reason had they, probably the strongest low key criminal group in Manhattan, have to really fear. However, when the elevator returned a second time, all they could see were two crimson eyes of such piercing rage, and they, for the first time, truly felt fear.

The elevator crumbled through the bleak and gloomy shaft, continuously crashing and scraping across the rocks that made up the outer walls. My eyes were closed in some bid to help calm myself down. The monstrosity I had just witnessed, it…. I had never seen such things. Never thought I’d have to outside a screen. The spikes pressing around our barrel a less than helpful constant reminder of what we had done.

“T-Theos?” came the inquiring mind of my host. Opening my eyes and taking a deep breath I replied.

“Yes?”

“What’s going to happen now?” she asked somewhat worried.

“Either we find that scumbag Coldbar and hope that the rest of the employment are not involved, or we’re probably fighting our way out. I sure hope its just the former.” I replied, trying to be as honest as possible. Anything to abate the fear coming over us of a big fight after what we just witnessed. Last night we got caught up in the excitement of what we could do to really take a look at the peril we were putting ourselves in, but now, we were shook up, and realized full well, we may have to fight through a large group.

Finally light seem to come through the shaft, and I hoped with all my heart that what I feared would not come to pass. However, as the elevator slowed, and as my eyes looked out over the kitchen area, I could see many ponies, holding various weapons, looking straight towards the elevator. I couldn’t help but feel an intense anger, which I was sure was showing in my eyes, by the way some of the ponies visibly flinched.

As the elevator came to open, my anger was immense. I ripped the spike whip off of our barrel, causing it to bleed along the cuts, much to neither me nor my hosts dismay. As the blood pooled at our hooves, we slowly walked forward among the crowd of ponies, glaring with such intensity, it seemed, that they refused to make a move. I could feel the pool of blood follow along at our hooves, and the whip scratch along the tiled floor.

“Theos?”

“Yes Twilight?”

“Make them pay.” With such word said, my glare changed to a smirk, as I felt that same joy one gets at being highly over levelled compared to the creatures surrounding you in a game. The change in attitude was enough to shake most of the ponies free from their frightened trance, as I heard the distinct voice of Coldbar order an attack, causing the ponies to start to charge us.

2 came at us from the front with kitchen knives, swinging erratically, as if they had not been properly trained. I just did a quick step back, and took a swing left with the whip, smashing the one on the right into the one on the left, and for them both to tumble over a counter. I felt a sudden breeze from behind, giving me all the warning needed to duck from the long knife that just barely missed our cranium, proceeding to activate the speed spell in cannon mode, bucking him into the wall behind us, causing a web of cracks to appear inside it, as he slipped down. Looking up, I saw three more ponies coming in fast, faster than I would be able to bring the whip up to.

It was in this moment I remembered a connection I felt at our hooves. I sent forth the blood that had pooled, forming a sort of brick like structure that shot out of the blood and smacked them all unconscious. I felt a sudden smell, one I recognized quite well, come from my far right. On complete instinct, I deformed our body and reformed from the shadow of a counter to our right, just as a bang went off, the impact hole being clearly visible from our location, and clearly showing that our heart would have an unwanted addition if we didn’t miraculously dodge somehow.

“Theos, what was that?!” said an understandably panicked Twilight.

“A firearm, more typically referred to as a gun. A weapon that uses gunpowder in order to accelerate a small projectile at a high velocity.” I replied. “They seem to only have pistols, and there are…” I paused to sniff “…around 5 of them”

“How are you remaining so calm right now?!” was all she could say, but I could tell that the curiosity of those weapons was pulling at her mind. To be honest, I have no idea, I certainly am not one to remain calm under pressure, however, I didn’t feel any pressure at all. I might not of accepted this as reality yet. No… its not that I haven’t accepted that I could die but…

“…I don’t feel like they are of any threat to me at all. Its almost like I’m a level 50 fighting a swarm of level 1s. They have the same feeling of threat.” It seemed that my body instinctually knew what was dangerous, and these lot were not it. This conversation had taken a matter of seconds and they had seemed to decide enough time had passed that thy started to unload the clips into and around my cover. Again, while I did feel a little twinge of fear of the pain I might feel if one hit me, I didn’t actually feel like I was threatened, even with bullets whizzing around my head.

Since most of the remaining ponies had moved over to the side with the guns in order to stay out of the crossfire, I had decided now would be as good as time as any to make my move. I willed the pool of blood into an ovular shape, and stood behind it. As the bullets impacted the shield, the blood actively arrested all momentum in the shield. I started to walk forward, behind the shield, walking slowly in order to maintain the concentration to keep this waterfall of blood up. Plus, it made me look more epic.

Their faces started to grow more frantic as I got closer, the bullets becoming more erratic and quick paced, I stopped a few feet away in order to make sure that the shield still protected me fully. It was quickly after that that I hard the satisfying noise of a few clicks, that signaled they were out of ammo. I felt a smirk form on my mouth as I blasted the shield away, the blood and shrapnel knocking down many a pony. In the end only one pony was left, and in a clichéd twist of fate, it was-

“COLDBAR!” I shouted, fury as blazing as the solar sun.

“Eeep!” he said, in a most unadorable fashion, and started backing into the door to the foyer. I, however, beat him to it, in that I punched him through the door, causing him to land rear end in the sky in the main foyer, where it had suddenly grown quiet. I walked through calmly, and put my head right next to Coldbar's, and whispered quietly into his ear.

“If I ever catch wind of any of you doing this ever again…expect even less mercy than I’m giving now. We clear?” After getting a pained affirmation from him, I started to walk away. After I walked a good few metres, I started to feel nauseous, and my vision started to swim. I saw Noble Fall quickly making his way to me, some form of shotgun on his back, and the last thought I thought before blacking out was

“Well, this is bloody embarrassing…”

Hundreds upon hundreds of ponies slumbered, in such a way as though they were giving reverence to something. Said thing seemed to be a stone throne. A sudden inhale of air could be heard as the pony sitting on the throne woke up for the first time in generations. Two purple eyes could be seen staring into the ether, and two white fangs, glittering in the dark. A voice, melodic, and pleasing to the ear came from the pony, and whispered of vague intents.

“So…they’ve finally returned…”

Author's Note

WWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.........!!!!!!!!! NEW CHAPTER! Though I doubt anyone feels like that. Watched venom recently, which reinspired me to write this. So I hope you enjoyed this action packed chapter, and all its little pieces. Please leave a comment if you wish, like if you like, and if you dislike, well, turn whatever device you're on upside with rotation locked, and hit the dislike button. It makes it a much better dislike. Trust me. *starts whistling totally non-suspiciously*

Chapter 8- Brief Respite

I awoke again within the void. The seeming conflict of my mind between curiosity and being startled no longer causing me worry, as the reason was clear to me.

"Twilight/Theos Essence, You have done well." Came the indistinguishable voice from the circle of teeth I could see after...floating upright(?). Both sides of me were in agreement with one thing. That was a general dislike towards the glowing orange eye we knew as...

"...The Architect, hello"

The eye seem to take a knowing glint at our plight.

"There is no need for pleasantries. How the essences feel about me is of no concern. As long as the essences can do their assigned task, the essences may view me as the essences wish." Was what he muttered out in a cold tone. One half of me was confused by this God's seeming uncaringness, while the other just felt there was something wrong within the way that he spoke. It felt like a machine.

"So why am I here?" I voiced out the consensus question I had to the God before me. The eye merely started to look upon me with indifference.

"You have completed a task, Twilight/Theos Essence, I have deemed it right to let you know. As a reward, I shall tell you that through completing this task, your bond together grows towards unity, but is still closer to amalgamation. I have also come to warn you that a legacy is coming for you, and that it may either be a great boon to you, or may destroy you." This information was a lot to take in. So he's saying that by completing his tasks, we will become closer to this unification that is not amalgamation? And what does he mean by legacy? As I start to voice these questions, he speaks again.

"The time is short. Twilight/Theos Essence. You will wake up now"

And like that, I felt myself get ejected from the void.

******

Beep

I felt myself stir, and eyes flutter open.

Beep

That beeping was a pretty telltale sign of where I was. Upon leaving the beeping to become white noise, I took note of the room. It seemed to be able to house 2 pon... people, as there was another bed on the opposite side of the room, a single window between the beds. However, this other bed was vacant.

Looking further forward,, I notice a desk for places to be stored and a green curtain, most likely to wrap around the bed and give patients some degree of privacy. The room was clean, as a hospital room should be. However, I felt the elation of the clean room drift away from me as I recessed back into my own self.

"That's going to get some taking used to..." I said to my host in some tired non-committal manner.

"Yes, I can agree to that" was all I got as a reply as Twilight closed our eyes and tried to nurse this headache we had. I did notice however, that our fur was looking really pale, and that we seemed to be hooked up to a Intravenous line. When she opened our eyes, I noticed our muzzle was looking quite blue.

"I see, blood loss..." I muttered in the lethargy that was still chaining me.

"More than that Theos," Twilight replied in a similar manner, "Hypovolemic shock. We lost far to much blood in that altercation."

"Sorry..." was all I was able to reply with, even if I couldn't really feel it. Didn't mean I meant it any less though.

"Didn't I say I don't blame you before?" She winced out, "while we should of expected such a thing to happen, we were far too emotional at the time to worry about it. If anything, I'm to blame for not pointing it out."

I laughed weakly in reply, as she leaned back, what weak excuse of a triumphant smirk forming on her face. We remained like that for a short while, my brain not exactly properly splicing time together properly due to the headaches, lethargy and dizziness that we were overcome with.

I could feel a definite thirst, and not of your regular kind. The kind I feel I'm going to have to get used to. Luckily, I could not feel any madness beset me along with this thirst. In fact, that blood bag was smelling mighty delicious, and with how Twilights gaze lingered on it, either she agreed, or my mental state was affecting her. Either one was morbid.

Just as we were thinking of acting upon such desires, the doors opened, revealing faces I did not expect. The first was a nurse, to whom I did expect. I was in a hospital after all. Her coat was a white and she had a yellow mane and tail, that were done flat and tied back. The second was a familiar cream thestral, the emerald eyes full of life, the mane that looked casually messy but smart, greying hair, and the tail that had a centre piece with tufts of fur jutting out in the cardinal directions halfway down.

"Noble Fall..." Twilight muttered out in suspicion. Her suspicion was well placed and shared by me, as Noble Fall had said some suspicious things before the whole fiasco, aside from the fact he was working there and seemed well aware of what was happening.

"That would be I, your Highness" he said very cordially, if with a bit of mirth, before bowing. Twilight not in the mood for antics, just narrowed her gaze.

"And what are you doing here?" She interrogated, her voice firm and steady despite the crippling effects of blood loss currently on us. He rose from his bow and his demeanour instantly changed. It's at this point the nurse decided to leave, obviously done with whatever she was doing.

"Can't an old fool with nothing left care about the lives he saves..." his demeanour became solemn, his eyes tired and tone sorrowful. He seemed to realise how he was acting before shifting his demeanour back to his happy, lively self. "...because I must say, you were out of it with the amount of blood you'd lost from your veins.. I'd dread to have think what would have happened had I not called for the guard's and an ambulance."

Twilight, though her suspicion still existed, seemed more accepting of his presence where we were.

"Very well then, if you insist." He started, on a more serious manner, but still with that mirth. "I'm here to talk with you two about the world you are now a part of, Night Rider." He said those last two words with a smug emphasis, though we were more hung up on the fact he seemed to know about us.

"What do you-" was all Twilight mannered to mutter out before Noble Fall interrupted again.

"No point trying to hide it. I've lived long enough to realize the presence of our princess's bloodline. That's the other you by the way." was all he said. The fog in our head was starting to clear up as proper amounts of blood started to circulate through our body.

"Princess?" I said to my host with confusion. I mean, I'm no princess, I'm not even a Prince! Or anything close to royal. I'm not even quickly noble!

"Princess?" Twilight repeated, obviously also curious about what he means.

"But of course! It is the Ichor of Erebus that fuels their magic, and it requires them to have a physical tether to this world. That, is a life form. In this case, you are that life form. However, neither of you seem to know anything of this." He finished off.

I notice our vision drop, and constantly dart in many different directions. I could literally feel Twilight's mind working quickly. It was quite a feat considering our earlier state.

"So you're saying that my friend, who is inside my head has this "Ichor of Erebus", and that has bound him to me? And what do you mean 'our' princess?" She inquired to the stallion, who smiled back.

"Yes, and Penumbra, those gifted by the Night Rider, who serve her to help protect the populace of this world from the supernatural. I am one who remained awake since the fall of the last Night Rider, as did some others, while most of us hibernated until your return." He replied, all to happy to answer our questions.

"And when did the last 'Night Rider' fall?" Twilight asked, and I somehow felt we were going to be surprised by the answer.

"Trying to end the Celestial War" he said, and I could feel our pupils widen in surprise.

"B-b-but that was 1000 odd years ago! That would mean you are even older!" She shouted in surprise, to which he merely chuckled.

"Why yes, I suppose it does." He merely replied.

"Celestial War? Whazzat?" I asked Twilight, as it seemed important. She proceeded to look to the side, as if talking to someone else, which she was.

"It was when Princess Luna became corrupted into Nightmare Moon. The war happened quickly, ending with 3 years, and quickly became a lost annal of history. Only since Luna's return, information became known to the world." She helpfully explained.

"Ah, a civil war then?" I inquired.

"Yes" she replied.

"How strange it is to hear these one-sided conversations again after all this time. Fascinating this feeling. I believe it is called nostalgia? It is a nice feeling." Came the voice of Noble Fall from in front of us. I could feel Twilight's gaze instantly snap back to him and her cheeks start burning up, obviously embarrassed that she had been caught talking to 'herself'. "May I know the name of our newest princess?"

Twilight mulled this over for a short while, and it started dragging on for a while. So I decided to make the decision for her.

"There is no problem in telling him my first name is there?" I asked her, to which she merely sighed.

"I suppose not, sympathetic magic is far less potent without a full name. Very well. Theos, Noble Fall, his name is Theos." He looked surprised for a moment, before nodding slowly.

"A male? I suppose there never was a rule stating the successor could not be as such. Just that it has not happened in recorded history. Would it be possible to talk with him?" He then asked hopefully.

"Ummmm, no" was all Twilight replied, to which he started muttering something.

"Can't change on will yet, must be new" was all we heard from him before we looked up. "Well, it matters not. I have a proposition to make to you, if you would both be willing to hear it?"

This instantly piqued mine and Twilight's interests, and thus she said, "Go on..."

Author's Note

Woooooooo! This has been a while in the making. I've recently been hit by the pony hard, and thus wanted to return to writing this somewhat, rather than my story on Royal Road. After all, this is my first story. I'm just sad I haven't been able to watch season 7,8, and 9 of FIM, because I really want to. I just don't know how. Anyway, enough glooming. Let's see where this leads shall we? Kyu~!