Chapters Alex Rider: Universe Shift
It was late in England, very few people were driving home from work. One of these people was Alex Rider, however, he wasn't simply returning from a shift. It was never that easy with him. He was returning from his mission in New Zeland, thinking about it still sent chills down his spine.
The man's name was long since forgotten, Alex knew that it was for a good reason. He had attempted to take over the world -much like the other's Alex had faced- however, he was very different at the same time. This man had run an organization called Midnight, and he was absolutely insane -not nuclear warfare insane, start the next ice age insane. it had been a long mission, and at this point he was tired.
Alex was a handsome man with a light tan, messy blond hair that was just long enough for his comfort. A single strand of his boyish hair dangled in front of a pair dark brown eyes that had seen too much. His body was similar, scared in ways no one could really explain normally, but that no one questioned. Especially the one on the back of his right hand, which was an old burn from a old case.
Despite merely being nineteen, Alex had already lost his boyish appearance, however, he had gained one new look, courtesy of several long years of military training and his small time in Scorpia, Alex looked dangerous, allowing him to be used as a deep undercover agent. Alex's outfit was simple, consisting of a dark blue t-shirt, a black hoodie, grey jeans, and sneakers.
Alex shifted his car into gear and drove towards the Royal and General bank. Of course, the bank was a fake, it didn't really exist. It was simply a front for the agency that Alex worked for his entire life, the MI6.
Alex worked for them since he was fourteen when his uncle Ian Rider was killed after discovering the virus embedded in the Stormbreaker computers. It was left up to Alex to stop the madman himself, which he ultimately did. After only eleven days of military training and no gun training, with the Special Air Service (SAS).
Alex had signed himself up for a five-year course, using his connection to Commander Wolf. He had been top of the class and had learned to perfect his aim with most kinds of guns. Something he knew was extremely useful, and it had been. It had helped save his life a few times, and he had gotten one rule changed, he was now allowed weapons, but nothing that could kill a man.
Alex let out a small sigh as his phone began to ring, tapping the screen he rolled his eyes. The MI6, Mrs Jones to be exact. Groaning lightly, Alex allowed the call to go through, letting out a small sigh.
"Calling to check up on me Mrs Jones? Worried about your best agent?" Alex teased, sarcasm dripping from his words.
"Please Mr Rider, we simply have something we want to show you," Jones replied, voice nearly toneless. It had taken Alex's trained and familiar ears to hear the small little chuckle. It was likely that she knew he was on his way to report the success anyways, making the call slightly pointless.
"I just got home Mrs Jones. If it's Mr Blunt being insistent, tell him he's feeding me then." -Alex glanced at his watch quickly, shaking his head, -"I normally have dinner about now, so it's a bit of a late night."
"Dinner is part of the plan, Mr Rider. I will see you when you arrive." Mrs Jones reported, hanging up the phone.
It wasn't long before Alex pulled into the parking lot of the building, walking into the lift with a small sigh. He let out a small whimper as memories flooded his mind. Everything he had been through up to that point threatening to bring him to his knees. Alex forced himself to breathe, knowing that nothing would be accomplished if he broke.
"Mr B, why are you letting him hurt?" The young voice asked tugging on the business man's jacket.
The boy, who was merely six years old, would grow up to be handsome. His messy long ginger hair -which in the right lighting could appear quite blond- fell over his ice blue eyes and girlish eyelashes. However it wasn't just his eyes and pale skin that his hair covered, it also covered his true identity.
A long scar rested on his neck, so straight it could have been drawn with a ruler. Of course, this wasn't the case, he had been shot during an assignment in the tropical rainforest.
The young boy was in a bright red t-shirt with a large spider on the front, blue ripped jeans-from the boy playing 'Spy' in the air vents- and a pair of sneakers.
Alan Blunt glanced at the child, his face showing no emotion. The man was the complete opposite of the child beside him, everything about him was clean, grey and boring. "Look Yassen..."
"Yasha! Y-a-s-h-a! My name is not Yassen. I want my old name back." Yasha hissed glaring at the man, his eyes surprisingly dark. "And I don't want an excuse. I want to know why you let him get to the point that he's nearly crying, then send him out again!"
"Alex is a very strong man Yasha, but he needs to release," Mrs Jones soothed, gently placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. Her eyes held pure sympathy, something Yasha rarely saw from anyone at the MI6.
Yasha sighed lightly but nodded, placing a hand over his scar.
It wasn't long before Alex reached the office, but was surprised by the colourful toys scattered around the otherwise completely grey room. The trains and dolls contrasting against the otherwise boring office, as well as it's inhibitor. Looking around Alex found his eyes landing on the brightest thing in the room, Yasha.
"Mr Blunt. What is a six-year-old child doing in your office? I didn't think you had children." Alex asked a note of venom in his voice. The child in front of him froze, eyes growing wide in shock. Alex couldn't tell if he was afraid, but there was something familiar in the look, a darkness that he had seen somewhere before but couldn't quite place it.
"Alex, I would like you to meet Yasha Gregorovitch," Blunt responded, his voice still revealing nothing. "I believe you know him by another name, however."
"Yassen? You're saying this is Yassen Gregorovitch?" Alex gasped turning quickly to the man. hos breath hitched, as his eyes narrowed. "What kind of horrible joke is this? I saw what happened to Yassen, this boy can't be him!"
"I assure you this is no joke, the MI6 collected his body from air force one. Using some technology you don't need to know about we brought Yassen back in the only stable form we could."
"Yasha! I do not want to be called Yassen! I want my old name back! I know what I did! I know everything that I did! I don't want to be that man anymore! " Yasha snaped, English quickly slipping into Russian in his anger. Tears streamed down his face, a hand yanking his hair back from his neck. Both Alex and Mr Blunt went completely silent.
"Alex, all that we ask is that you assist us once more. You see, the reason we are introducing you to Yasha is that he's going with you." Mrs Jones cut the silence, gaining all three of there attention. "We have word from our friends at the UPED that they require some assistance, a spy."
A small screen dropped, revealing the picture of a young woman, with fair skin and bright blue, almond-shaped eyes. Her hair -which was striped with blond, pink and purple- reached her mid back in loose curls. A small tattoo was visible on her left shoulder, a blue heart of some sort, partially hidden by the pink sleeve of her top.
"This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, she resides in the Crystal Empire. Being the..."
"Hold up, what? The Crystal Empire? What the heck is the Crystal Empire?" Alex hissed, jaw-dropping as the slide changed revealing an entire town, not filled with people but pastel ponies. "What the hell is today?"
The Ponies were walking and Alex couldn't help but notice that they were behaving more like humans than equine. He also couldn't help but notice the pastel pink pony, a horn on her head, wings on her back. She looked familiar, almost like the girl. Her main was long -tri coloured just like the girls- with a tail to match, her wings were a gradient of pink to purple, her eyes were the exact same almond-shaped blue, and as the camera zoomed Alex noticed that she had a mark on her flank. It was a large blue crystal heart with two gold spirals underneath it.
"This is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, more commonly called Princess Candace. She's the Princess of love if I remember correctly," Blunt responded, deciding to take over the debriefing, only to be interrupted as well.
"Mr B was talking to a nice weight pony, he looked silly in that world. But she said that she needed a young pair to investigate the pink one because she was acting a bit strangely." Yasha reported, however unlike Blunt or Jones, he was chuckling. "Apparently she's been investing a lot of money into technology research, which wouldn't be too suspicious if which wasn't acting like she had something to hide."
Yasha shook his head as he continued," I talked to her myself Alex, she seemed nice but jumpy. She didn't want to tell me why she was doing as much research as she was, just that she was researching a way to take something from here to there. I don't think she meant literally, I think she meant like information."
Alex was taken aback by the boy, who was dragging him from Blunt's office toward's Smythers. His was excited, Alex could tell and didn't blame him. Smythers was extremely kind and had always bent the no weapons rule. He was the gadget man of the MI6 and was also a genius.
Alex was pulled to a halt however when Mrs Jones grabbed both him and Yasha by the shoulder, shaking her head disapprovingly. Were they not getting gadgets? Alex couldn't believe it as they were both pulled back into Blunt's office, which seemed to have lost the toys in the few moments they were gone.
"Not so fast you two, as much as gadgets would be interesting, we cant really send them through the portal. They would malfunction and most likely explode, most things from this world would in fact." Jones informed the two pouting boys as she closed the door, a small smirk toying at the lips.
It didn't matter how old Alex got, he still got excited about the possibility of using gadgets. It was their own fault really for doubting his natural talent, but he was always pouty when he was told 'no gadgets' and she still found it adorable.
"Not to mention that you're not going to be human at all. The moment you pass through the portal, you will be a pony. We are not certain what species or what you will look like exactly." She reported pressing a small button, the filing cabinet in front of them splitting to reveal a large mirror.
Alex looked downright shocked, Yasha was smiling brightly. Their reflection wasn't right, where they should have been stood two ponies. The first one was a dark brown pony with wings, a messy blond main with an ice blue stripe, the tail matched his main. Alex took quick note of the long scar on his chest from where the sniper shot him and winced a bit. Beside it was a smaller brown pony with a fire red mane and tail. His eyes were grey with a touch of blue, with Yasha's girly eyelashes. Alex was quick to notice -once again- the scar that lined up perfectly with the child beside him.
"Alright, you two are going to walk into an entirely new world with entirely new laws. Be careful who you trust, you are going to meat Princes Luna, and she's going to show you around." Blunt reported as the two walked forward, thru the mirror and into the other world. "Equestria is counting on the both of you."
"Should we have told them what they were doing in more detail, sir?" Mrs Jones asked, turning to face Blunt. The man simply shook his head, sitting behind his desk as the cabinet returned to normal.
"Yassen actually summed it up pretty well Mrs Jones. I'm certain they will be perfectly capable of adapting to that world. they are going to have to if they are to succeed."
Alex Rider: Universe Shift
Princess Luna sat quietly behind her desk, waiting patiently for her guest to arrive. Her gaze was fixed on the mirror and her assistant, Pikimania "Pinkie" Pie sighed, a bit worried about her employer. She had been fascinated with the mirror portal the entire morning, and she was waiting patiently for the two boys.
Luna was known as the Princess of the Night, of course, that was simply a cover. The Princess of the moon had long since given the title up to run Equestria's secret services, the Unicorn Pegasus Eatrhpony Defence -the UPED for short. She had been running it ever since her return from being Nightmare Moon.
Luna was an alicorn -having both wings and a horn- with a navy blue coat. Her main was long and misty, resembling the night sky, flowing constantly despite the lack of wind. Her cutie mark was a small crescent moon on a large black spot.
Pinkimania was second in command at the UPED, joining not long after it started. Despite her seemingly upbeat personality, he was actually extremely serious when she had to be. The young pony was also in charge of gadgets, which she was always creating in her spare time.
Pinkie was a bubble gum pink earth pony, with large puffy dark pink mane and tail. She had two yellow and one blue balloon -with alternate strings- for a cutie mark. Her eyes were large and sea blue, her normally happy expression long went, a stern glare had taken its place. This stern glare simply darkened when the two boys walked through the portal.
"Alex Rider and Yasha Gregorovitch, welcome to Canterlot. My name is Agent Luna, that is my assistant Ms Pie." Luna said a smile sketched on her face. "I hope you are both able to adjust to your new forms quickly, as you are going to be sent out right away."
"I hope so as well Mrs Moon," Alex nodded bowing lightly, his voice holding little emotion. "I would suppose that it would be normal for him to be unstable with his magic"- Alex nodded to Yasha,- "But extremely unusual if I couldn't fly."
Luna paused silently before nodding, quietly she walked around the two. Yasha could feel the blue ponies eye's scanning him, almost as if she was looking for something. His body tensed as she paused, eyes focusing on his neck. A small whimper escaped his lips as she moved onto Alex.
"Both of you are definitely special. Alex, where I want to place you, it would definitely make no sense for you to not be able to fly." Luna reported looking at the two. "I think it would make sense for you to be part of my personal night guard. At least temporarily. I know your cover."
"Alright then Princess, do you mind filling us in on it?" Alex sighed shaking his head lightly, "Because I really doubt that I'm going to like this."
Alex sighed, allowing his wings to unfold, gently wrapping his left around Yasha. "I hated being used as a child. I was fourteen when the MI6 recruited me. Did you know that? I thought I was done after I destroyed Scorpia's reputation. However, I couldn't drop the sense of guilt, and the kneed to do something. I joined the SAS for five years, where I learned to kill. I accepted that it was part of the job, no matter how hard it was."
Yasha turned to Alex, a small look of fear entering his eyes. He had never seen Alex so upset, nor had he known all that much about the boy. He had known his age, he could remember there first meeting clearly. Even when Alex had confronted him on the roof he hadn't held that much raw emotion, anger.
"Many of my guards are recovering from the Nightmare curse still. Everyone is recovering slowly, however, it would be a good cover to set the curse on you, and assist you in healing." Luna nodded dropping her head, walking up with a small sigh. "The young one besides you will not be harmed of course. It is my job to help ponies in need, mainly though there dreams. After the curse is gone, or at least mostly gone you will be transferred to Candace's guard."
"What exactly does this curse entail? Because if there is any chance at all of Yasha being hurt, I'm not doing it! I don't care if it's physical or emotional pain. We can come up with another plan if that is the case."
"No, I will make sure that Yassa is taken care of during the procedure, he will not witness a single thing. Ms Pie, will you lead Yasha out? I want to talk to Alex alone." Luna ordered nodding lightly, smiling as Pinkimnia walked up to Yasha. Luna watched them leave before turning to Alex, continuing. "Alright, I must warn you that it's going to hurt, a lot. Normal magic in this world magic is fairly harmless but this particular brand is quite dark and unforgiving. There is a chance that you will not fully recover, are you alright with this?"
There was a long pause as Alex thought, gently biting his lip. A small concerned look entering his eyes, as the possible dangers played out in his head. Admittedly, Alex didn't trust the Princess as much as he could as she had already given him reason to doubt.
"Look Princess, as much as I do want to help I don't trust you. When I first got here you instantly wanted to use Yasha in this mission, and really I cant trust you after something like that. Not to mention the fact that I may not ever fully heal, and that may hurt Yasha. I really don't know if I can go thru with that." -Alex shook his head sighing heavily- "Look, perhaps you could explain it further I would agree but under these circumstances, I don't think I can."
"I'm sorry Alex, but I really don't think there is another way." Luna huffed dropping her head lightly, letting out a small sigh. "This is really the only option Alex. You have to go thru with this. Look, I don't want to force you to do anything, however, we do kneed your help, Alex."
"You know what! I'm kind of over being used like this! There is an illusion of me having a choice, then that is taken away. But you know what, it doesn't matter! Just do it." Alex hissed shaking his head angerly. Taking a deep breath he shook his head angerly, glaring at Luna somewhat darkly.
Luna nodded, allowing her magic to surround Alex, who let out a scream of agony. Alex groaned as his entire body changed out of his control, his wings stretching thin into a more bat-like shape. Alex huffed as his skin rippled, eyes burning with a strange heat. When the light faded, Alex was much darker, his scars accented against his somewhat disfigured form. His wings were bat-like, with small claws on the tips, his eyes were a bright yellow with snake-like slits. His mind was foggy, not unlike the feeling he got after waking up after being knocked unconscious.
"Alex, are you quite alright my loyal subject?" Luna asked tilting her head as Alex whimpered, tears rolling down her face. "I apologize, the transformation back isn't going to be nice ei..." Luna paused watching as Alex stretched out his wings, groaning lightly before taking off. "Well, shit."
Alex Rider: Universe Shift
Pinkamania sighed as she lead Yasha into town, yelping when she saw the dark figure cross the sun. Tracking it with her eyes, she glared storming back into the office. Storming up to Luna, Pinkimania let out an annoyed huff to get the Princess's attention.
"Do you realize what you've done right?" Pinkimania hissed, glaring darkly at her boss. "You could have put all of Equestria in danger again, with a nightmare curse, again!"
"You abandoned a small child who has no idea how this world works or where he is going, who also has a large curiosity and a traumatic past." Luna retorted turning to Pikimania. There was a short pause before a look of terror crossed there faces.
"We really fucked up, didn't we?" Luna muttered, wincing lightly, shuddering lightly. "I mean neither of them has any idea what they're doing, in a world, they have no idea how it works, and are both lethal weapons." Luna shook her head as a young lavender alicorn walked into the room, her long flowing main trailing behind her. Her dark purple eyes were narrowed slightly, like she knew what was up.
"Hello Luna, Pinkie. What seems to be the issue?" She asked walking up, tilting her head lightly. "Did you see the strange pony that flew over Canterlot?"
"Yeah, Twilight that was my fault. Unfortunately, I was trying to give Alex a bit of an alibi for joining the guard. This alibi included cursing and uncursing him, however, he took off before I could undo the curse."-Luna dropped her head, letting out a small sigh.- "As for Pinkimania, she left a traumatized child defenceless in an unusual environment. We both really messed up, and now we really feel bad about it."
"Oh, hey Pinkie, hi Luna. Look I ran into another princess." Yasha said walking out from behind Twilight's leg. "Wait what did you say about Alex?"
"He flew off after the curse was placed on him. We have no idea what he's planning or where he is going." Pinkimania reported dropping her head in shame. "Admittedly, the most likely place is the crystal empire. However we can not be certain, and it would be unwise to go after him."
"I know Alex, he's definitely going to the Empire, mainly because that's what he was told to do. However, he's not going to use your plan. I think he's going to use the fact that he was once part of Scorpia to get in, then figure out exactly what Candace is doing, then take her down." Yasha sighed lightly, shaking his head. "We really should go after him, make sure he doesn't do something that he's going to regret."
"I agree, however you have to be completely certain that he's going there. We do not want to blow out cover!" Pinkimania sighed shaking her head. "I think it would be a good idea if you got a new name. An undercover name."
"I just got my name back. I don't want to give it up again. Please, do I really need to change my name again?" Yasha whimpered lightly glaring darkly. "Are you sure I have to change it?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry Yasha. You can help pick the mane, but I would suggest a new one." Luna nodded, walking beside Yasha. "You don't have a cutie mark, so we can't go off of that. However, if you have any idea what your talent could be, you can base it off of that. I'm sorry that you had to give up your name for this. But here you don't really meat ponies names Gregrovitch, or Yasha. Heck even your old Yassen name doesn't fit."
"Forest Scope. Forest because of my coat and my scar, and scope because I'm really good with a gun." Yasha nodded smiling weakly. "It's also the name of my fan character. He's a powerful unicorn who lives in the Everfree Forest and protects Equestria with his partner and older brother, Flaming Scope who is a pyromaniac."
"You know what, I'm not going to question it. I mean, I have a human character named..." Pinkimania started only to be cut off by Twilight's hoof.
"Anyways, you should get used to your new name. So from here on out we will call you Forest Scope." Twilight nodded, gently placing a hoof on Yasha's shoulder. "Do you understand Forest?"
"Of course Twilight. I understand fully." Yasha nodded letting out a small sigh. "I'm a bit upset, but I do understand. Also, I will find Alex. I swear I will find him and bring him back so that you can remove the curse."
"Thank you Forest, however, you will not be alone. I am going to come with you. You do not know how to get around Equestria, and I do. I can help you, and that is what I plan on doing." - Twilight smiled gently wrapping her wing around Yasha. - "If you kneed anything, I will be right here for you I promise I will help rais you again."
Yasha nodded dropping his head lightly. Taking a deep breath he smiled, turning to the young princess. "It's getting late, perhaps we could look for him in the morning. I mean, I should probably go to bed. Where am I staying?"
"Oh, you going to be staying in the room next to mine. Follow me alright?" Twilight responded with a small nod, leading Yasha to his room.
The room was large, and Yasha had to wonder why. A large bed rested near a window, dressed in wight. The whole room was light, with pinks, wights and blues. Toys were scattered around, and Yasha noticed a small couch near the wall.
"This is amazing Twilight, thank you!" Yasha beamed, running into the room happily. Quickly he climbed into the bed and soon fell asleep.
]Yasha was awake early the next day before the sun was even raised. He always was, he rarely slept longer than four hours as that was how his body was rigged. Sleeping longer- or more attempting to- always made him anxious.
Quickly -making sure he was quiet enough to not wake anyone- he snuck out of the castle, and into the city. Looking around, he let out a relieved sigh. He was not the only person- or pony he supposed- out and about.
"Hey, kid? Were are your parents?" The voice startled Yasha, as did the pony. She was blue - Yasha cold only tell by the gap in her outfit, and her main was a rainbow. "Kid?"
"O-oh! I'm sorry! I just!" - Yasha whimpered dropping his head. - "I'm so sorry."
"Hey, why are you being so jumpy. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I didn't mean to scare you. The name is Rainbow Dash." Rainbow soothed, wrapping her wing around Yasha. "What's your name?"
"Forest Scope. The strange Pony that just took off, that was my brother. His name is Sky Rider." Yasha whimpered, leaning into the hold.
"I am so sorry kid. Why don't you ask..."
"I can't ask the princess! It's complicated alright! I have to do this on my own!" Yasha hissed, horn glowing a bright blue. Rainbow Dash quickly gasped as it slowly turned red, a small dot appearing on her chest.
"Hey kid, look. I think I know what's going on. Look, I'll bring you to the empire under one condition. You let me help. There is no way you can do this on your own." Rainbow hissed gently, forcing herself to take a few breaths. "Not to mention the fact that we have to talk."
"Fine, where to first?" Yasha nodded, but didn't drop the spell.
"How about you don't try to run away from the people who want to help you?" Twilight hissed lightly, storming up to him in a clear huff.
"I'm sorry Twilight, I just. I didn't sleep. I can't. I never can, it's too hard. I remember too much. Now with everything that is going on, with Alex. Well I just couldn't do nothing." -Yasha dropped his head, spell quickly falling. - "Rainbow Dash said that she already knew, and well I believe her. Besides I never told her the entire story, I used a cover and everything."
"We all know, all six of us. We are here to help you Yasha. You just have to let us." Twilight sighed lightly, dropping her head. "Now, why don't we go and meet the others."