"Morning Octy, you're up later than normal." Vinyl's voice grabbed Octavia's attention the moment she walked into their shared living room.
Octavia blinked sleepilly at the DJ. Vinyl stood behind her massive mixing board. Her headphones covered only one ear and her shades sat next to her laptop. Vinyl looked concerned. "You doing okay Octy? You've been sleeping later and and later. You sleeping okay?"
Octavia smiled weakly and attempted to stifle a yawn. "Aaah-humm. I'm fine Vinyl. I've been sleeping fine."
"Well, you adjusting okay?" Vinyl's eyes appeared to do a quick sweep over the grey mare.
"I guess it's still taking a bit for me to get into the swing of things." Octavia admitted with a sigh.
"I guess..." Vinyl's brow furrowed. "Where's your bow?"
Octavia rubbed her bare throat. "Huh.... I must be more tired that I thought."
"Are you sick?" Vinyl frowned. "Do you want me to feel your head?"
"No, no. Vinyl. I'm fine." Octavia sighed and waved Vinyl's concerns away with a hoof. "I think I may go out and get some air, might stop by Sugarcube Corner for something caffeinated."
"You sure?" Vinyl raised a brow. "It's Tuesday."
Octavia blinked. "Huh... So it is. I'm sure I'll be fine."
"I'm sure you will." Vinyl shook her head and smiled at her roommate.
Octavia pulled a set of saddlebags down from a hook by the front door. She sat on her haunches to strap them on. With a nod she made to leave, but stopped before she got to the door. "Oh before I go anywhere, how's Geralt?"
Vinyl blinked, a small blush grew on her cheeks. "He's.... He's fine. I think he was training with Rainbow today."
"Oh?" A sly smile grew on Ovtavia's lips. "Should you be worried?"
"W-what?" Vinyl stammered. "No! He's mine!" She shook herself. "I-I mean that Rainbow's not into stallions! She told me herself." Vinyl took a breath. "She's still kinda salty about her defeat, but I think she appreciates the training."
"Right." Octavia smirked. "Oh Vinyl, another thing real quick. Mind if I borrow a set of headphones and a sample of your work? Your noise is the next best thing after coffee." She giggled as she grabbed a bag of bits from the counter and dropped them into her right saddlebag.
"Sure. I've got a few things that I've been working on with Geralt's help." Vinyl nodded with a smile, lit her horn, and levitated over a pair of grey headphones attached to a small square music player.
"Many thanks." Octavia nodded as she attached the player to her saddlebag strap and slung the headphones over her neck. "I'll see you later Vinyl."
"Later." Vinyl waved. "Try not to die."
Octavia giggled and shook her head as she pushed the door open and stepped out into the somewhat chill mid-morning air. She took a breath, inhaling the crisp air, and donned the headphones. She pressed the button on the player and tensed, waiting for the music to ruin her ears with pure bass.
She blinked by what came out of the headphones. She felt her head begin to bob as she began her walk away from her house. She found herself walking to the beat of the music.
A smile split her lips. "This is rather nice Vin-" Then the simple beat expanded and Octavia's eyes widened. Her smile grew and her head bobbed harder in time with the beat. Octavia wasn't headbanging. Octavia was a proper mare and proper mares do not headbang.
Octavia felt her hooves tapping out different parts of the beat. The mare was practically dancing into Ponyville. The few ponies she'd passed watched her pass with small smiles on their faces. She wasn't sure if they were embarrassed by her jamming as Vinyl would put it, but she really didn't care.
Strangerly as the song came to a close, Octavia found herself a little breathless. "I believe that's enough for now." Octavia said pausing the music before it could change to a new song and envelop her in its spell once again. She pulled the headphones down to her neck and took a moment to sit still and calm herself down. "Vinyl, I don't know where you got the inspiration for that," Octavia thought aloud, "but that was just fun."
She sat down, realising that she now sat in the middle of Ponyville Park. So enveloped in the music was she, that she hadn't really paid attention to where she was going. Thankfully Sugarcube Corner wasn't too far away.
"Ummmm... Excuse me?" A soft feminine voice spoke up behind her. "I-I don't mean to be a bother..."
Curious, Octavia turned around to find... A plant.
Well, not exactly a plant. It simply looked like a plant. It was bright green and stood on two legs that seemed to end in something resembling roots. It torso was somewhat round, giving it the appearance of having a bit of a belly. Octavia could see it also had a small tail. Its arms were wide and kind of flat, which reminded Octavia of a leaf. The tops of its arms bore veins like those on a leave. The arms themselves ended in three purple vine-like fingers. Atop its torso was a round head. The head itself bore a wide mouth with a few fangs poking out here and there, as well as two eyes of a solid emerald green. A bright pink and yellow flower, with a long red style and yellow filaments with red tips, at the top of its head gave the illusion of a mane.
The creature, as it stood was about half Octavia's height. Come to think of it, the plant was about the same size as that small dragon that lived with Twilight Sparkle. 'Spike?' She thought. 'Yes, his name was Spike.'
Octavia blinked in surprise at the plant creature. Said creature looked uncomfortable. It shifted from... foot? Foot. From foot to foot and twiddled its fingers. It also didn't appear to want to make eye contact with her. Octavia saw the eyes shift ever so slightly, noting that it was now looking at her. "Ummm... I hope I'm not bothering you, but could you tell me where I am?"
Octavia's heart broke. "Oh goodness. Are you alright?"
The plant gave a little nod, breaking eye contact with the mare. "I-I'm okay... I think..."
"What's your name sweetie?" Octavia asked, with a small frown.
"Umm... My name's Ivy..." A small smile grew on Ivy's lips. "It's kinda ironic now..."
"Well Ivy, I'm Octavia. It's nice to meet you." Octavia smiled. "You're in Ponyville, to answer your previous question."
"O-oh... I-I thought so." Ivy twiddled her vine-fingers as the small smile returned to her face. "This would be a dream come true... if it weren't so unexpected."
Octavia sat on her haunches. "If I can hazard a guess, you went to a convention right? Maybe met a Merchant selling something."
Ivy gasped as her eyes widened. "How'd you know?!"
"Oddly enough, it seems our little world has attracted a few like you. Other Displaced as they like to refer to themselves." Octavia's smile broadened.
"Oh my God! Oh my God!" Ivy brought her "hands" up to her mouth. As if trying to hid the wide toothy grin on her face and the blush on her cheeks. "It's all real! All the stories were real! All of them!" She bounced on her roots happily.
Then her stomach rumbled. "Eep!" She squeaked loudly and covered her stomach. A bright red blush covered her face.
"Have you eaten anything today?" Octavia asked, hiding her own smile behind a hoof.
"N-no.." And Ivy was back to being sheepish. "Not since I woke up under that tree... half an hour ago? Ish?"
"Well I was just on my way to get some coffee, I'd be more than happy to feed you." Octavia could barely hide her grin.
"O-oh! N-no... I wouldn't want to impose..." Ivy stuttered. Her growling stomach however had a counterpoint. Ivy's hands tried to hide the grumbling as a deeper blush grew on her face.
"N-nonsense." Octavia had to stifle a giggle. "I wouldn't mind at all. In fact I'd love the company."
Ivy twiddled her fingers and refused to meet Octavia's eyes once again. "I-if you're sure.... I suppose I could eat something...."
"Marvelous..." Octavia grinned. "If you want you can ride on my back there."
"I'm... I'm not a kid..." Ivy mumbled. "I-I can walk on my own if I want..."
Octavia blanched. "Oh goodness... I'm so sorry. I simply assumed.... based on your size and the way you act...." She tried to explain somewhat weakly.
"It's okay..." Ivy blush and tried to hide her eyes under her flower. "I'm... shy... It was a miracle I went to Denver Comic Con at all..."
"How old are you Ivy?" Octavia asked cocking her head to the side.
"I'm nineteen..." Ivy said with the smallest of smiles.
"Not at old as I expected, yet not as young as I'd guess either." Octavia mused while tapping her chin with a hoof. "Sorry, thinking aloud."
"It's okay..." Ivy's small smile grew, yet could still barely be called a smile at all. Then her stomach growled again. "EEP!"
"L-let's get some food in you before you wilt." Octavia giggled, standing back up.
"O-okay..." Ivy walked up next to the grey mare. "Ummm... I... I think I'll take you up on that offer for a ride... I have short legs...."
Octavia had to stop herself from laughing... That would just be rude. She knelt down and allowed Ivy to clamber up onto her back. She settled herself between Octavia's saddlebags.
Octavia stood slowly as to not jostle Ivy too much. "You situated?"
"Yes." Came the quiet response.
"Well then, to Sugarcube Corner." Octavia said with a smile as she began a slow trot through the park.
"Yay." Came a quiet cheer.
Octavia swiftly found the road and trotted at a decent pace.
"Octavia?" Ivy spoke up.
"Yes?' Octavia asked in response?
"What's on the headphones?" The plantmon asked. "I-I mean, what were you listening to?"
"Oh, that." Octavia shook her head and smiled. "That's a collection of songs that my roommate Vinyl has put together. She's working with another Displaced named Geralt, her kind of coltfriend. I believe Geralt may have taken the songs from somepony else, but that may not matter here due to the fact that the creator may or may not even exist on the planet."
"That.... That was a lot more confusing than I thought it would be." Ivy said sounding confused.
"To use a term from Guilmon, Pinkie Pie's Guilfriend as she calls him, tl;dr it's EDM that Vinyl and Geralt worked on together."
"That's what I thought." Ivy said as Octavia felt the headphones get pulled from around her neck.
"Oh? Are you a fan of Vinyl's style of music?" Octavia asked, briefly glancing back at her green companion.
"Some types. There's a lot of EDM that's just noise. A beat or a set of sounds that simply repeat. I like EDM that actually does something or goes somewhere. I like EDM that makes you feel. That's the best kind." Ivy said with a small smile as she held the headphones over her head. "I'm gonna see if this is the kind I like."
"Have fun." Octavia nodded at the Digimon as she put the headphones of over her flower. "That's the most she's said yet, she must love music." The mare giggled as Ivy closed her eyes and began to lightly bob her head.
The walk lapsed into silence, only somewhat broken by the quiet humming from from Ivy.
Then.
"I am colorblind. Black and white my mind. My life is on the line." Ivy sang softly.
"What a lovely voice." Octavia said. She could feel Ivy swaying back and forth to the music. "Wait a moment, if Ivy's singing lyrics.... Who sang the original lyrics?" Her brow furrowed. "Can Vinyl sing? But what if it's a stallion singing? Can Geralt sing? I have so many questions."
Octavia passed Cilantro's Cafe. A nice little coffee shop that featured some of the bests Daisy Sandwiches she'd ever had. It was also only a few minutes away from Sugarcube Corner. It might make for a good place for lunch, but that was a few hours away at least. She paid no mind to the the three ponies chatting at one of the small tables outside. If they wanted to spend time outside on a Tuesday that's their prerogative. However-
"Twilight's being a butthead!" A gravelly stallion's voice made her stop dead.
She blinked. 'Butthead?'
"Can you blame her? Her husband gets taken, she refuses to believe he's dead, everyone else thinks he's dead, and they don't believe her when she says he's not dead." A second stallion's voice (this one sounded more soft, almost smoothe in a way) said with a sigh. "Don't worry though. She'll find him. He's in-"
"Ah! Spoilas!" A mare's voice (with an accent Octavia couldn't place) snapped. "I don't wanna know yet! I like surprises."
Twilight? Twilight Sparkle? But she wasn't married.
"Dammit Glacier, how do you know what's going to happen?" The gravelly voice groaned.
"I have a weird view of time. It's rather annoying sometimes." The smoothe voice, Glacier? Glacier said with a hint of annoyance.
"Because you Trinity'd yourself." The mare giggled.
"Oh, so sue me for wanting to still feel human." Glacier snapped back.
Human?
Okay... what was going on?
Octavia looked over at the table. There were three different ponies, one earth pony, one unicorn, and one pegasus.
The earth pony was a somewhat slim blue-grey stallion will a long white mane. He had ice blue eyes that unnerved Octavia for some reason. His Cutie Mark made her blanch. It was an ice covered skull. Yet a skull from a creature she didn't recognise.
The pegasus was a brown stallion with a short spiky black mane that had the build of an earth pony like Big Macintosh, yet had wings that could rival Princess Celestia's. He had burnt orange eyes that, Octavia swore, actually glowed. On his flank was a black orb covered in orange cranks and surrounded in an orange aura.
The unicorn was a slim dark blue mare with a short orange mane. She had grey eyes and a pair of glasses sat on her muzzle. Around her neck was a necklace with orange gem cut into a triangle, with the point facing down. On her flank was simply a white capital letter a.
"So, Nel. Got anything else to vent about?" The voice Octavia identified as Glacier came from the earth pony stallion.
"Oh I could go on and on about Al and Lena, and Scoots... and Ammy...." The pegasus, Nel, groaned facehoofing. "I know I should feel irritated that another god is hanging out on my planet, even making her own town to worship her, but I'm honestly not. She's cute." Nel chuckled.
"Think she knows who you are?" The mare asked looking curious.
"I think she suspects." Nel grinned.
"She does." Glacier's mouth turned into a devious smirk.
"Stop it." Nel snorted at the other stallion.
"Who's stronga?" The mare asked.
Both stallions stopped and stared at the mare.
"What?"
"In a competition between me and Ammy, Rain," Nel started grinning at the mare, Rain. "Scootaloo would win."
"Not surprising. Scoots OP." Glacier laughed.
"Oh come on she can't be that powerful." Rain frowned.
"Okay." Nel unfurled his wings and raised a single feather. How was he doing that? "One, she's a natural born psychic." He raised another feather. "Two, She's Bonded to one of the most powerful Psychics on the planet, which only makes her more powerful." And he raised a third. "Three, she's well on her way to becoming an Incarnation. She's the perfect storm of OP."
"Just you wait." Glacier grinned. "She-"
"Fucking stop that!" Nel whacked the now giggling earth pony with a wing.
Octavia blinked. What was going on here? Who were these ponies?
Then Rain looked over at her. Immediately the mare's eyes widened in shock. She stiffened. "Guys."
Nel continued to whack the cackling Glacier.
"Guys!" The mare's horn lit up with a hazy golden light. Both stallions froze as the were magically grabbed. Rain's eyes narrowed as both the stallion's heads were turned towards Octavia.
"We have an eavesdroppa." Rain gestured her head towards the shaking grey mare.
"Huh. Kay." Nel shrugged.
"Aren't you worried?" Rain's face twisted into a look of confusion.
"Rain, a bit of advice from someone who's had the benefit of perspective." Glacier began. "She's probably thinking one of three things. One, we're just crazy ponies. Two, we're simply bullshitting each other. Or three, and this is most likely, she fully believes that we're not ponies at all and are actually beings in the shape of ponies."
Octavia was somewhat horrified by the fact that that's exactly what she'd been thinking.
"Well what do we do?" Rain asked, glancing between Glacier and Octavia.
"This." Glacier said as he turned toward Octavia.
Octavia stiffened.
Then.
"Don't mind us, we're just three godlike beings hanging out on a Tuesday. Don't mind us, go feed Ivy."
Octavia blinked.
"Go. Shoo." Glacier gestured her away with his forehooves. "You're lucky she's too absorbed in the music. Poor thing's probably starving."
"O-oh!" Octavia jumped and looked at the small plantmon on her back, swaying and mouthing lyrics with her eyes closed.
"Feed the poor thing!" Rain provided.
"Thank you Rain." Glacier nodded at the mare.
"Ummmm... Thanks for not killing me?" Octavia asked weakly.
"You're welcome. See you later." Glacier smiled as Octavia began to trot away.
"How do you know we'll see her later?" Nel asked raising a brow at Glacier. "Well, besides the obvious?"
"It's Tuesday. She'll be back this way. Just wait." Glacier leaned back in his chair. Then his brow furrowed. "On the note of waiting, where is that waiter? He went to get our waters like half an hour ago."
Octavia tried to shake of what she'd just witnessed. She wasn't even sure if she believed it. 'No. It's impossible.' She shook her head.
"Hey what smells so good?"
"GAH!" Octavia almost jumped out of her skin at Ivy's voice.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you!" Ivy yelped.
Octavia stopped and looked at the now shivering Ivy, who had pulled the headphones off and rested them on her shoulders. "Oh Ivy, I'm sorry. My mind was elsewhere. You just surprised me. It's okay."
Ivy stopped her shivering. "Okay...." The plant spotted something. What... What is that?"
Octavia blinked owlishly at Ivy before turning her head back around. Sugarcube Corner lay before them. "That's Sugarcube Corner."
"It's a giant gingerbread house?" Ivy asked sounding dumbstruck.
"No, it's just shaped like one." Octavia giggled. Both their stomachs rumbled. "And that's our queue to go in. I hope Guilmon doesn't lose his mind like he did with Geralt." Octavia said with a blush and she trotted towards the bakery.
"There's a Guilmon? And he calls himself Guilmon?" Ivy sounded very confused.
"Yes, yes there is." Octavia pushed open the door to Sugarcube Corner.
"That's... That's a bit weird." Ivy said somewhat flatly.
"Yes, I thought so too after Geralt explained a few things." Octavia chuckled. The smile on her face dropped to confusion when she saw that there wasn't anypony inside. On a Tuesday this was somewhat normal, however there also wasn't anypony behind the counter.
"Wow, this place seems surprisingly busy." Ivy commented.
"True." Octavia chuckled a bit at Ivy's comment. "Hello?" She called out.
"Just a sec!" A familiar voice called out from the kitchen.
"Alex?" Octavia called out. "What are you doing here?"
The door to the kitchen popped open and Alex the Gaomon walked out wearing an apron. "Oh, hey Octavia." She walked over to the register. "I'm on loan from Saffron. The twins came down with something and are being checked out at the clinic and Pinkie is out doing some kinda practice with Guilmon, Geralt, and Rainbow. Thus I'm here."
"Well that's nice of you." Octavia smiled.
Alex shifted to the left slightly. "Octy, I think you got something on your back. Whatever it is, it's moving."
"What?" Octavia blinked then felt Ivy trying to hide in her mane. "Ivy, what are you doing? Alex isn't scary"
"Y-you sure?" Ivy squeaked.
"Yes, she's as cute as you are." Octavia giggled.
"Hey!" Alex snapped. "I am not cute!"
Octavia felt Ivy shift. There was a gasp. "She is cute!"
Alex's eyes grew. A glove flew up to her chest. "Hnnnngh! Nope! Done! Goin down..." Alex slowly sank to the ground behind behind the counter.
"No! I can save you!" Ivy cried, hopped off Octavia's back, and ran around the counter.
Octavia giggled and walked around only for her heart to melt in her chest.
"Don't you die on me!" Ivy was doing chest compressions on Alex's chest fluff and Alex herself was barely keeping the grin off her face.
Octavia was having a hard time not bursting out laughing. If she didn't soon she'd might faint from an overexposure to too much cute. This was a moment she'd remember.
Unfortunately it was a moment that couldn't last.
A roar shook the bakery. Octavia frowned, Ivy screamed, and Alex jumped to her feet.
"Stay here!" Alex snapped as she tore off the apron and raced out the door.
"No don't go out there alone!" Octavia cried in a panic nad raced after her.
"I'm coming too!" Octavia heard Ivy cry and felt something lash around her briefly. Then she felt a brief tugging sensation, followed by the familiar weight of Ivy on her back. "How'd I do that?" She heard Ivy mumble in almost awe as the three raced out the door.
The first thing they saw when coming outside was Geralt flying past them. He slammed into the dirt so hard his body dug a long trench in the road.
"Ahhhhhh-" He was followed by Rainbow Dash, who sailed overhead and disappeared into a tree.
"Pinkie, get back!" Octavia heard Guilmon roar in a much deeper voice. Moments later there was a shockwave that almost knocked her to the ground.
"Growlmon!" Pinkie screamed.
Octavia whirled to the right. What she saw almost made her wet herself out of fear.
A monstrously huge hydra loomed over a wide crater that a bright red set of arms, legs, and tail protruded from. It's scales were a deep green, with the underbelly scales being a dark crimson. The gaps in the underbelly scales glowed with an eerie purple light. It stood on four legs thick as tree trunks. Its clawed feet (one of which was actually in the crater) carved gouges out of the ground. Five long necked heads burst from its shoulders and back from around the larger main head. The four smaller heads were dragonic, bore large red frills, and had a streak of red mane running down their necks. The eerie purple light glowed within the head's eyes and mouths.
What made Octavia freeze however, was the main head. It was almost bird-like with a sharp pointed beak-like mouth filled with rows of teeth. Two spikes of bone erupted from either side of its jawline. It's mouth seemed too wide for its face too, giving it the appearance of having a permanent grin. tendrils of flesh twitched and writhed on the things jawline. Five long horns of bone swept back from its head, the base of each one bore a single glowing eye, the sharing the same glow as its lesser heads. a shock of red mane could be seen from behind the horns. The eerie purple glow pulsed within its throat.
As if it knew that it was being watched, the main head slowly turned. Though she couldn't see any features besides the unnatural glow, she could feel its gaze on her. The jaw twisted ever so slightly.
It was smiling at her.
It saw easy prey.
"DAD!" Alex's scream made Octavia break out of her trance. Her head snapped to Alex as the Akita charged towards the monolithic hydra.
"No! Don't!" Octavia screamed, but she was too late.
Almost lazilly the hydra raised a leg and backhanded Alex, sending her through the wall of Sugarcube Corner. The hydra's smile seemed to widen as the other five heads swiveled to lock their eyes on Octavia.
'Run Octavia!' A voice erupted in her head.
Octavia stood frozen. She felt Ivy's shivering form
The hydra reared back. Only for it's heads to lash forwards. Its jaws opened and Octavia could actually see the wave sound ripple through the air seconds before the shrieking roar almost deafened her.
'RUN!' The voice ordered.
Octavia bolted. She felt the ground shake as the hydra gave chase.
She felt tears sting her eyes. Her heart pounded in her chest as her legs began to burn. She could feel one of the heads lash at her. It's racid hot breath enveloped her.
"ZA WARUDO!" A familiar voice roared.
Everything seemed to stop as the colors of the world seemed to drain away into a more uniform dead grey.
Octavia fund that she could indeed move despite everything around her being frozen. "W-what?" She asked aloud, her voice echoing through the nothingness.
"W-what.... W-what's going on?" Ivy asked. Her voice was half-choked by sobs.
There was a whistle. "Octy. Over here." Came the same voice.
Octavia blinked and looked over. She'd ran back to the cafe, and who should she see but Glacier, Nel, and Rain still sitting at the table. Glacier waved. "Hey." Behind the stallion was a shadowy bipedal figure. Octavia could only vaguely see something resembling a skull for a head, but could clearly see the glowing crimson eyes.
"Might wanna move honey." Nel pointed behind her.
Octavia turned and screamed. The hydra's main head was only inches from her. She immediately backpedaled and blindly bolted towards the table.
"It almost got you." Glacier smiled as he got of the chair to stand before the grey mare. Octavia noticed that his eyes were now glowing and seemed to shift between ice blue and crimson.
"Don't you have rules for not interfering?" Rain asked.
"Yes." Glacier nodded at the mare. "However this event isn't anywhere near important enough to qualify for non-interference. Plus, it wasn't Octavia's time."
"Is this one of those things where you knew we had to be here in order to stop Octavia from being killed?" Nel asked, his brow furrowing.
"Well, I had to be here, but yes." Glacier grinned.
"My head hurts." Nel facehoofed.
"What... What did you do?" Octavia asked, trying to both slow her racing heart and wrap her head around what was happening.
"In short, I'm Death. I stopped time." Glacier smiled. "It seems your friends weren't anywhere near prepared for that today." He pointed a forehoof at the hydra.
"A-also..." Ivy squeaked. "JoJo reference."
"Hey! She gets it!" Glacier said happily bouncing on his hooves. "Brohoof!" he held out a hoof to Ivy.
"Eep!" Ivy hid in Octavia's mane.
"It's okay Ivy. He won't kill you. You'll find Glacier's nice when you get to know him. If you get the chance to get to know him that is. I don't think we'll be staying here much longer."
Slowly, and somewhat shakilly Ivy slipped out of Octavia's mane and tentatively booped Glacier's hoof with a hand.
"Nice." Glacier giggled.
"Death is a goofball." Nel said flatly. "This is my life now."
"What are we going to do about the hydra?" Rain asked, raising a curious brow. "We can't just leave it here."
"We're going to kill it obviously. I mean, when's the last time you've gotten to really cut loose?" Glacier said with a grin. as he trotted towards the hydra. Ice began to grow up his legs. The shadowy spectre hovered over his shoulder. "Octavia, take a seat. You're in for a show!"
Blinking owlishly, Octavia took Glacier's seat. Ivy crawled around to sit in front of her.
The hydra slowly regained its color. Just as slowly hydra began to move. As its color fully returned, the prime head's jaws snapped closed on nothing but air. There was a moment where the hydra's head looked very confused. It knew that something had been right there.
"Hey buddy!" Glacier waved from a few feet in front of it.
The hydra snorted, unleashed another of its roars, on of its lesser heads snapped forward. Glacier simply stood there smirking. Right before it could reach him, the shade appeared in front of him. The shadows rolled away to fully reveal the bipedal skeleton. It was adorned in ragged crimson robes. It also wore a tarnished silver breastplate as well as tarnished silver gauntlets and boots.
"ORA!" The skeleton roared in a cold, hollow, distorted voice that sounded oddly similar to Glacier's. It swung a fist that connected with the hydra's snout. To Octavia's surprise the hydra's head snapped to the side and slammed into a building. Strangely the building took no damage. On hit, the other heads shook their heads roughly, as if they too took the blow.
"Oh, in case you're wondering," Glacier said, rising up onto his hind legs. "While I'm stopping time, I'm also making everything else supernaturally hard. Meaning that nothing can take damage. So, whenever you want to tag in guys, you're free to go all out."
"Good to know." Nel said in a growl that didn't sound like the pony's normal voice.
Octavia looked over to see that Nel had stood up from his chair. His eyes had shifted, turning into glowing dragonic slits, flames flickered at the edges of his eyes. His legs were changing, the fur rippling up his legs into black scales covered in steaming, glowing orange cracks. His hooves had turned into draconic claws. The wings of his back had warped into a massive pair of dragon wings. He grinned toothily, revealing a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.
"Show off." Rain commented blandly.
The hydras roar instantly returned Octavia's attention to Glacier's fight. The prime head loomed over the Glacier and his shade. The hydra reared back onto its hind legs in an attempt to crush the two. Glacier smirked and point a forehoof at it. The skeleton seemingly disappeared only to reappear directly under the beast.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!" The skeleton roared. It's arms seemed to disappear dozens of impacts exploded against the hydra's underside. The impacts hit so hard in fact that hydra was sent hurtling into the air straight up.
"Mine!" The half-dragon-fied Nel cried as he leaped off the ground with a beat of his wings. Four orbs of fire erupted around him as she streaked towards the still rising hydra.
Nel reared his head back as if inhaling. "BOOM!" he cried, lashing his head forward. Octavia expected a stream of fire, or at least a fireball. He jaw dropped when dozens of orbs of gold light erupted in front of the dragon-pony, spreading out in complex patterns that were almost beautiful. Then the orbs of light actually hit the hydra. On contact, the orbs exploded. splitting into even more orbs. The grey sky was filled with hundreds of points of light as the hydra was literally thrown around like a rag doll by the constantly exploding orbs. Why it wasn't disintegrated by now was a mystery.
"Ooooooooo!" Ivy cooed as if she was watching a fireworks display.
"Rain!" Nel roared down at the unicorn with a wide grin on his face. "You're up!"
"I suppose." Rain sighed as she stood. Almost lazily, she got up and stretched. She slowly strode forward and looked up at the hydra as finally all the orbs died out. The hydra began to limply fall as gravity regained control.
"I should just put it out of its misery." Rain sighed as a golden aura erupted around the mare. She held out a hoof and what looked like a card appeared above it. The card rotated, the face revealing image of a silhouette Octavia couldn't recognise, the background behind the silhouette however was showed purples reds and browns. Octavia sword she could see the letters J and B as well as some kind of golden circle on the card. The border of the card was blue and at the bottom was printed the Romane numerals II.
"Per-so-na." Rain spoke each syllable. The light around her blazed brighter, becoming almost blinding. Something erupted from the light. Octavia felt like she could only catches hints of what it truly was. Black armor. A tattered blue cloak. A colossal golden sword.
In an instant the summoned being disappeared. Only reappear in front of the hydra.
A deep masculine voice spoke, causing the ground to shake.
"Alpha inForce."
Octavia blinked. Everything was back to normal. The hydra was gone. She was sitting at the table. Ivy was sitting in a chair next to her. Rain, Glacier, and Nel were all back to their normal pony selves. All of them sat around the table eating sandwiches and drinking tea.
"What." Ivy and Octavia said in unison.
"What just happened." Ivy asked. "You!" She thrust a "finger" at Rain. "You did a thing!"
"Yeah..... Alpha inForce has a unfortunate side effect that fucks with time." Rain winced. "Don't worry you only skipped ahead a few minutes."
"B-but... What happened to the hydra?" Ivy asked. "Did it explode?"
Octavia was still processing.
"Nope." Glacier shook his head as he swallowed his bite. "Imagine seeing something getting cut once and actually being slashed thousands of times."
"Oooooooohhhh.... Awwww man! That sounds awesome!" Ivy whined.
"Sorry!" Rain wilted. "This is why I don't summon Alphamon."
"It's okay Rain, you'll get the hang of it." Nel patted her with a wing.
"Oh, Octavia?" Glacier spoke up, pulling the mare from her thoughts. She looked over at him as he slid a bright green hexagonal device with blue buttons on it across the table. "Since the robed asshole didn't let poor Ivy here take her stuff with her. I'm giving you that. You'll need it in the future. "
"Is that a Digivice?" Ivy asked peering at it.
"Indeed it is." Glacier grinned. He threw his hooves in the air. "Ta Da! You're partners!"
Octavia blinked. Before she could fully process what exactly that meant she heard the pounding of hooves and feet.
"It went this way!" Geralt's pained cry came from down the street. "Last I saw, it was after Octavia."
A very roughed up group consisting of, Geralt, Rainbow, A small red digimon that looked like Guilmon (that was riding on Pinkie Pie's head), Pinkie Pie, and Alex, came tearing down the street. When they got to the cafe, they stopped and looked around in confusion. Then Pinkie spotted Octavia.
"Octy!" Pinkie cried. She raced over to the grey mare. Octavia's former confusion was swiftly replaced with worry for her friends.
Octavia was assaulted with questions.
"What happened?!"
"Where'd it go?!"
"How are you alive?!"
"Oi!" Glacier snapped causing the group to immediately go silent. "Leave her be, she's very tired."
"Course she is. The poor girl." Nel patted Octavia's mane.
Octavia blinked at Glacier and Nel in confusion. 'What are they doing?'
"I've never seen a mare snap like that." Rain nodded then took a sip of her tea.
"So you see, Ivy fell off Octavia's back." Glacier began. Octavia didn't like where this was going. "And the hydra was about to eat her."
Octavia heard a soft giggling and looked over to see Ivy stifling her laughter.
"So, Octavia screamed 'No!'" Glacier continued, his face a mask seriousness. "Octavia rushed forward, stood over the downed digimon, and punched the hydra in the snout!"
The group listened with rapt attention as Glacier regaled them with the tale of how Octavia single-hoofedly slew an Ancient Primal Hydra.
Octavia slowly facehoofed as the tale continued.
What exactly could she say. 'No that's not what happened, they're actually gods who killed it after one of them stopped time?'
"I hate Tuesdays."
Author's Note
I'm a bad author.
I shamefully ponified my friends mattchilly and Dragonfire2lm.
