Prologue: The Unusual Day (Reset)
Act 1: Prologue: The Unusual Day
Prologue: The Unusual Day
The damp, stone walls around me are barely lit by the torches near the cell’s entrance. The sounds of dripping are constant, and non changing. I lie in the corner of my cell, patiently waiting for any sign of life. I can see. I can move. I can hear. Yet, I am terrified to do anything in fear of upsetting my captors. Not because they’ll try to hurt me, but because I don’t want a target on my back because of a misunderstanding. I give a garbled sigh to my companion Dave, who’s sitting across from me. He’s rubbing the bridge of his nose in restrained annoyance.
“We’re so stupid,” he says. I grunt in affirmation.
“You’re just getting used to magic dude, it’s not your fault you accidentally lied. Besides, did you see that guard’s face when he shoved that spear in me?” I ask. Dave scoffs and chuckles.
“Yeah...”
We wait in silence, hoping this misunderstanding can be cleared up. Finally, I hear the sound of multiple steps coming down the cold, stone hallway. I send a tendril over to nudge Dave, making him sit up in attention. I walked to the cell’s bars to see if I could see down the hall. Literally squeezing my entire head, I successfully squeezed through the bars slightly to look down the hall. In the dark, a lantern is held up with a faint glow around it. I can also see the shine of gold armor, moving towards our cell in calm movements. I can still smell their fear. I back up to the back of the cell to try and give them some reassurance for their safety. Two gold armored unicorns and one tall winged unicorn walks into view and stands by one side of the cell’s gate. The lock unlocks and the gate swings open, letting the tall horse walk in. The guards walk in after her and stand on either side.
“...” The tall one keeps looking at Dave and I expectantly. I silently kept my calm gaze on her, while Dave keeps looking nervous. The guards are stoic and stiff, their gaze set in front of them. The long silence is only broken by the continuous dripping throughout the dungeon.
“... So, here we are,” I say, trying to break the ice.
“... Indeed,” Sunbutt says. I notice her flanks have sun tatttoos.
“... I would like to apologize for the... misunderstanding that has-“ Dave attempts to say, but he gets cut off by Sunbutt.
“A misunderstanding? That’s what you call this mess?” She asks coldly.
“Well, you did just point spears at us,” I say, intentionally with no tact. Dave turns to give me a death glare.
“We fell out of the freaking sky Max! How are they supposed to react?!” He asks.
“Yep, and we said-“
“Silence!” Sunbutt yells. The room falls silent, save for the usual dripping. Awkward silence aside, I think we’re making some great progress. “I want your side of the story, and I shall be checking your honesty. Now, explain what you remember.”
“... Max, you know what happened better than I do, go ahead,” Dave says. I sighed and think back to yesterday.
“Well, it started when we noticed that people in our world were dissapearing...”
One Day Ago...
I sit in the cafe, listening to my friend, David, as he rants on about a new game he got. To my left, I can see through the glass window to watch the world go by. To my right, I can see most of the cafe. It’s mostly empty save for the cashier and a couple other people in the booths enjoying coffee. I turn my attention back to Dave. At this moment, he’s wearing his black hoodie unzipped with a gray t-shirt underneath. His blue jeans are clean and spotless. I take of sip of mocha frappe, and look at myself. My dark red jacket covers my black t-shirt. My khakis are a bit wrinkled, but clean nonetheless. I sigh, causing Dave to stop for a minute.
“You okay Max?” Dave asks. I nod my head.
“Yeah, I'm just tired. I’ve been watching the news a lot lately. The weird sightings are starting to weird me out. Then, there are people turning up missing. I’m starting to get worried,” I explain. Dave sighs.
“Bro, you’re fine. We’re two nerds that don’t have any significant importance to the world and would be forgotten really quickly,” Dave says. I give him a slight glare. “... Right, not funny. Look, tell you what, I'll walk you home tonight when we leave okay?” I think about it before chuckling slightly. “What?”
“The way you worded that, made it sound so gay,” I say, starting to laugh. He scoffs.
“Max, it’s twenty eighteen, accept other people’s differences,” he replies before we both start laughing. As we were metaphorically rolling on the floor, I noticed that I felt someone... watching us. I slowly died down and look around while Dave was chuckling. “Oh boy, I haven’t laughed like that in so long.” My smile fades when I remember something important.
“Hey man, speaking of which, how’s your love life after She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?” I ask. His expression turns sour almost instantaneously. His face went stoic for a second before sighing.
"Eh, forgive and forget. I'm not looking for anyone at the moment, but I'm still checking out the girls," he says coolly. I smile.
"That's good! Real progress is made if you're a little calm about it," I say. I look out the window to see that it's getting dark. "We should get going, it's getting late." Dave nods and stands up to throw away any trash we had.
We walk out the door of the cafe to be greeted with the summer's hot air. We continue our trek on the sidewalk, passing by various businesses and shops. We walk in relative silence, the sound of the wind keeping us company. Even though I'm with my friend, I can still feel the sense of being watched. I look behind me to see if anyone's there. Seeing no one creepy or suspicious, I turn my attention back to the sidewalk. Dave notices this.
"Max, are you okay? I've noticed you're acting like a paranoid undercover agent," he says. I heave a sigh. "... Well, if it makes you feel better, why not just rant whatever's on your mind?" He tries. I look up in thought. After a moment of thinking, I nod.
"Alright, well, you know how I'm watching the news for the kidnappings? I noticed that these people were around our age, about to either leave high school or begin college. We're almost the same age as the victims. There are already four people missing, and it feels like we're next. I feel like we're about to experience something unreal. You know me David, I have a pretty good intuition. If my gut says we're next, we're probably next," I rant. Dave listens intently, nodding at my words. "Ever since the last kidnapped person's disappearance yesterday, it feels like something's watching us."
"Why, how perceptive of your intuition!" A new voice said. I whirled around. No one behind us. "I must say, the others weren't as handy in being psychic." No one to our right. "You two look pretty close already, I think you'll be perfect candidates!" No one to our left. "I think everyone back home will get a kick out of you!" No one above us or in front of us.
"Show yourself!" Dave yells. We stand back to back, trying to find any movement.
"Aren't you a brave one, very well," the voice says. The ground beneath our feet shifts and shapes into a hand and grabs both of us.
"W-What the hell!?" I yell before being pulled into the ground. I could hear my heart beat, pulsing at a fast rate. I could feel myself sweating bullets. I wipe the sweat off and realize I can move. I turn to see David freaking out. "Dude, dude, it's okay, we're fine-" I try to hold Dave, but he shoves me a little. Thankfully, I didn't get shoved too far away.
"Fine!? FINE!?" He screams. "I feel like I'm on drugs or something!" He yells.
"Now now, it's impolite to yell at people," the voice from earlier says. I look at the direction it came from to see a ridiculous looking amalgamation of animals.
"... What in the nine circles of hell are you?" I ask calmly.
"I second that," Dave says.
"I am a draconequus, Dicord's my name," he replies.
"... Cool, I'm-" David starts to say, but gets cut off by a magical zipper. I wish I was joking.
"I know who you two are, but pleasantries will have to wait I'm afraid. Have fun in your new 'skin.'" He says.
"Skin? What do you mean new ski-" Before I can finish my question, Discord snaps his lion paw and a lever appears.
"You'll see. Toodle-loo little humans!"
"Wait a-" Again, I was cut off by the magical abomination. He pulls the lever, and I swear Discord's laughter could surpass true psychopaths everywhere. David and I start floating backwards from Discord. I turn my head to see a portal that is wide enough to fit us. I start trying to doggy-paddle my way against it, but to no avail. In a few seconds, Dave and I get sucked down the inter-dimensional tube of travel. I honestly wish I was making this crap up.
My vision is filled with rainbows and warped images of my face, probably scarring me for life in the process. I swear I could feel crawling on my entire body, like tiny needles piercing the surface of my skin, only to retract and pierce another spot. I can only writhe in agony in the rainbow-space-time-tunnel as I swear I can feel my own anatomy change. Like how it all happened suddenly, it all suddenly stops. Now, I can feel the cool air rushing past my face. I open my eyes slightly to see Dave and I still falling, though the rainbow tube finally picked a solid consistent color, blue. As I turn to look around, I saw a cloud fly past us.
Oh crap. I look all around and realize we’re practically skydiving towards a castle in the side of a mountain. “Holy crap!” I yelled before frantically looking around. David’s still unconscious, and we’re still falling to our deaths. Crap. I can’t do anything. We’re going to die... I need to protect David. My vision changes to tunnel vision towards David. I glide over quickly. I could feel something within me speaking.
Command yourself. Command your body.
Being guided by my instincts, I concentrated on my body. I could feel myself shift and morph into a sort of sphere. I can see the castle coming dangerously close. I prepare myself for impact while protecting my only friend. I close my eyes before crashing through a skylight. I feel the impact of a stone floor, and I hear the gasps of many people. My body loses its spherical shape and retracts into my normal form. I slowly get on my belly and crawled over to Dave’s unconscious form.
“Dave? Dave?! Come on dude, wake up!” I almost yell. He slowly stirs and slowly opens his eyes.
“What the hell happened?” He asks. I hug him with extended arms.
“I thought we were going to die! I didn’t know what to do! I-“
“What is the meaning of this!?” A new voice yells. Dave and I quickly sat up and tried to look around the room. There aren’t any people here. Just horses. Well, pastel colored horses, unicorns, and pegasi. That alone weirds me the hell out, but I try to keep calm.
“Who said that?” I ask.
“I did,” the voice said. I twirl my body and head around to meet this new person, only to find a tall winged unicorn. My eyes widen at it.
“Wow,” I say. I walk towards it a little bit.
“Stop!” It, or rather she by the way the voice sounds, says.
“Oh! I’m sorry,” I say. I take notice that there are a few other horses in gold armor around her. This suggests she’s important if the way their standing in front of her like a meat shield is anything to go on. I also notice that their only weapons are spears. They must not be as technological as humans then. Dave decides to speak up.
“Um, hi! My name’s David, this is Max,” he says. The winged unicorn glides down from her throne, her wingspan scares me a little.
“Greetings,” she says. Dave reaches out to offer a handshake. Before I could stop him to tell him that wouldn’t work, the hand he offered glows and his eyes glow white for a second. He disappears. “Huh?” Horse lady asks. I see Dave pop into existence behind her.
“He’s trying to assassinate her! Seize them!” A guard yells. I twirl around to see the spears point at me. I slowly raise my hands to surrender, but they took it as an offensive stance. “Quick! Before he kills us!” Another guard yells. The unicorn guard closest to me had his horn enveloped in an aura of some kind. The spear beside him glows the same color. The spear jets towards me, and impales my chest. I look down at my injury in shock and surprise.
“Oh God,” I say. A few moments pass as I wait for the pain. It doesn’t come. Dave slowly looks up at me to find some kind of reaction from me. The guard that stabbed me looks up as well, his eyes slowly going wide. I keep my eyes on the spear. I grab it with both my hands and slowly pull it out. It doesn’t have any stains on it. No blood, flesh, or any fluids. I drop the spear. I can feel the new hole in my chest close up. A smell hits my nose. I don’t know why, but I know what it is. Fear.
“Alright. You stabbed me. Do you feel a bit better now? I know we’re terrifying, but I promise you we mean no harm,” I start. I look up at Horse Lady. “We will wait in any room deemed necessary to keep us in. Once you feel like you can talk to us in peaceful terms, come talk to us and we’ll figure something out,” I say. Honestly, I’m just making all this up as I go along. I don’t know how I know how to talk for this instance, but I didn’t care. It works.
“Very well,” Horse Lady replies carefully. “Guide them to the dungeons,” she says. Dave starts to argue, but I cut him off.
“Don’t argue. Their house. Their rules,”; I say coolly. He looks at me in frustration before sighing. He nods and gestures the, to lead the way.
After settling down in our new cell, we both start talking. I just now realize that we both have our original clothes, though mine was spotless.
“How in the hell did I save you?” I ask. Dave gives me a confused look. I explain that after we got out of the rainbow tunnel, we were falling to our deaths. “Then, I just got this instinct to command my body! When I realized I could morph my body, I morphed it into a sphere around you. I crashed through a skylight and landed on the stone floor. To say it hurt would be lying...”
“Hmm, interesting,” Dave says. “You sound like a sort of shapeshifter.” I look up in thought. I snap my fingers when I get an idea. Dave looks over at me while I command myself to grow two more arms. Surprising myself, I grow two arms, one arm under each original arm. My jacket accommodates the new arms by forming new sleeves for them. It seems my clothes are part of my body. That reminds me of Prototype. Wait. I concentrate on retracting my new arms and sleeves. I then concentrate on forming the claws from Prototype. Just as I thought, I form claws. I inspect their sharpness, and see that they are sharper than razors.
“It seems like I’m the Blacklight virus from Prototype,” I say. I chuckle at this insane sounding information. “I went from a normal person to an apocalyptic virus shapeshifter in one day.” Dave laughs a little before nodding. It dies down slowly, and gets replaced with guilt.
“This is all my fault,” he says. I look over at him and sigh.
“Well, it kind of is, but it’s also mine. Don’t worry about it,” I say. It does little to help him. He sighs again in guilt. I extend an arm and pat him on the back in attempted comfort. He looks at my arm and shivers.
“Now that’s just creepy,” he says. We laugh about it. “Alright, well, goodnight Max. I’ll hopefully see you tomorrow.”
“Alright, ‘night Dave,” I say as I drift to sleep.
Author's Note
Wow, almost 100 views! The Chapter 1 is going to be published soon (in, like, two days since I was working on it early and it's gonna be between 3000 to 4000 words)! I'm also working on my own cover art for this, in alliance with Linkvsgaming!
I hope ya'll have a great day!
Chapter 1: Arena Battle Royal (Reset)
Chapter 1: Arena Battle Royal
Chapter 1: Arena Battle Royal
I awake in a mass of tendrils and tentacles. Wait, I am the mass of tendrils and tentacles. I slowly morph myself into my original body and clothing. Getting up, I look over at Dave to see him staring at me in concern. I chuckle uneasily. “Did you see my tentacles? Cause we’ve probably seen enough hentai-“
“NOPE!” He yells, throwing his hands up before turning to his corner of the cell. I laugh at his antics, my unease slowly melting away. I sigh, calming down from the laughing. I look around us to see that the cell is rather neat and clean for a dungeon. The unease returns, though for a different reason. I look at Dave.
“Hey Dave, remember when you teleported? I saw your hand glow. What was up with that?” I ask. He looks over at me and looks at his left hand. I finally notice that his hand has a purple mark on it.
“Well, remember that one game called Dishonored?” He asks. I nod. Then, my jaw literally drops to the floor, much to Dave’s amusement.
“No way, you got magical powers,” I say. I chuckle as a silly thought came to me. “You’re a magical assassin,” I say like an idiot before laughing.
“Shut up Max, I have magic powers. I can be able to stop time, summon packs of rats, posses the living-“
“And. how exactly are you going to get these powers if you needed a rune in the game?” I ask. Dave freezes in place.
“Um... I don’t know. Wait, how are you going to improve your skills?” He asks back, trying to turn the table.
“I’m basically a murderous version of Kirby, but I can keep what I take. I can literally improve whenever I want,” I answer coolly.
“Murderous Kirby? Doesn’t he already eat things alive?” He asks. I nod. Suddenly, I hear the sound of hoofsteps of a guard. I look over to see this newcomer. He comes into view from the right, and stops in front of our cell. He turns to us before speaking.
“Your Royal Highness is coming to interrogate you two in an hour. Be prepared to answer any and all questions from The Royal Sun Herself,” he rants. I nod in short response
“Cool,” I say simply. He trots off to God knows where...
Present
“... and you know the rest,” I say with a nonchalant hand motion. Sunbutt nods while listening to me. She sighs once I was finished.
“... this is a difficult decision for me,” she says.
“I say execute them,” the guard on her right says. Before Sunbutt could respond, I scoff.
“Dude, I took a spear where my lungs or heart would be. If I could die, that should be a killing blow. I’m a shapeshifter, I could just change the position of anything I consider vital into a different area that won’t get hit or badly damaged,” I say. “Also, if I wanted to hurt either of you, I would just do so. I know what I can do,” I continue. Sunbutt hums in thought. The guard just looks pissed.
“Oh really? How about you and me, right now? I bet that rookie just hit the wrong spot, I’ll teach you to mouth off!” He rants on. Sunbutt gives the guard a soft glare before he shuts up. I shrug. The Horse Lady stops for a minute, thinking about something.
“... Very well then. Max, I would like to you offer a wager,” Sunbutt says. I look at her in the eyes and see a spark of... amusement? I could see Dave’s face in the corner of my eye, shaking his head.
“... alrighty lady, what’s the deal?” I ask. She smiles softly.
“If you and David can defeat five of my personal guards, without killing them of course, you and your friend can go free to an extent.”
“And if I lose?”
“I doubt you will,” Sunbutt says. The guard that mouthed off to me earlier gives her an offended look. I hum in thought.
“Wait, that’s not an answer!” Dave says in the corner. I saw Sunbutt crack a smile for a split second. A troller are we?
“Alright, if I lose Dave gets humiliated by having to exclaim that he is a trash bag while wearing nothing but a garbage can,” I say. Each guard raises one eyebrow, but Sunbutt nods like this was a normal conversation. Dave is freaking out.
“Wait, what the hell man!? Don’t betray me!” He exclaims. I crack a smile for a second. “Don’t you do it.”
“Can I refuse?” I ask, trying to maintain some loyalty.
“Yes,” Sunbutt says. “But I doubt you will.” I nod. Dave gives me the darkest glare I’ve ever seen. Being the jackass I am though...
“Dude, that’s perfect logic. I can’t argue with that,” I say. Sunbutt nods. Dave freezes before placing his hands on his face.
“It is decided then, Mr Max,” she says, bowing slightly.
“Indeed Mrs...”
“Miss Celestia,” she corrects. I bow slightly as she gestures the guards to escort us out.
“She’s not so bad after all,” I say. Dave drops his hands and gives me another death glare.
“Max, I swear to God I’ll kill you if you lose this on purpose,” he says. I shake my head.
“Nah man, we’ll be fine. I’ll just knock them around a bit and you'll do your slashy-slash,” I say. I could feel Dave glare daggers into my very soul.
“Oh really? Max, I know that you’ll be fine, but do you remember that I'm not invincible like you?” He asks. I nod.
"I'll watch your back dude, don't worry," I say. Dave rolls his eyes. “Also, I’m not invincible, I just heal quicker than you.” Dave ignores me and brings up something else.
"And if we win we get freedom to an extent. She's gonna make us slaves Max," he says in a worried tone.
“Dave, didn't you see her expressions? She was curious. If she sees that we're able to take down her personal guards easily, we won't be considered inferior enough to be slaves or some dumb crap like that,” I say wisely. The bars of the cell rattle from the knocking of a hoof.
"It's time to go to the arena, creatures," the guard says. Dave shakes his head as he gets up. I get up as well. We walk out of our cell, hoping to be away from it for a long time.
We get escorted to some sort of indoor arena. It was like a mini colosseum, with most of the seats a royal purple with a velvety looking feel to it. The only seats that looked different were the ones to my left. There were four seats in the midsection that had some space around them. The one farthest to the left had a purple and dark pink star on the front of it. The second one from the left has a sun on it. Next to that seat, was a blue seat with a white moon. Then, the fourth and final seat had a pink crystalline heart. I look at the ‘pit’ of the arena. It’s a standard pit with sand for the floor. I hum in thought. Our escort brings us to one of the chairs closest to the pit.
“This is where you will be up against the elite. I hope you’re ready for a world of pain buddy,” the guard escorting us says. Dave goes to get a wooden sword and I sit down while the guard sits on my right. I sigh in boredom as I wait for the fight. As Dave comes back, I realize he hasn’t really practiced his new magic yet...
“Hey Dave, you, me, train, now,” I say.
“Won’t you be tired? You’re weak looking as it is-“ the guard starts to say. I hold up a hand.
“No, I'll be fine, it’s Dave I’m worried about.”
“Max, I’m not inexperienced,” David says. I shake my head.
“Not sword play. I mean your magic. You don’t know your powers too well, and you could accidentally teleport into an area I or your opponents strike. I'm training you to use magic whether you like it or not,” I say. Dave sighs, and relents as I lead him to the center of the pit.
We stand in the pit, the guard is watching us closely. “Alright Dave, tell me, what did you feel before you teleported?” I ask, circling around him. He looks at the floor to ponder.
“...Ah, I see what you’re thinking,” he says. He closes his eyes, and brings up his marked hand. After a moment, he clenches it, apparently triggering it to glow bright as he seems to concentrate. I stop circling and wait for him to continue. He opens his eyes, revealing them to be glowing a dark purple. That actually freaked me out for a second.
“Alright, try to concentrate on where you want to go,” I suggest. He nods before looking beside me. He unclenches his hand and disappears. He reappears beside me in the blink of an eye. It scares me enough to jump back a little. I gather myself before chuckling. “Alright, good. We’re so fricken lucky to be getting this stuff easily,” I say. He scoffs and nods. “Alright, now let’s try dodging exercises.” I raise my right hand and morph my hand into a wrench. Dave frowns.
“Max.”
“If you can dodge a wrench-“
“Max I swear to God-“
“You can dodge a ball.” I quickly threw my ‘wrench’ at him. He teleports just in time to dodge it. He reappears beside me. I grin evilly. “Hey, can I have my wrench back? It’s handmade.” Dave punches me in the face before walking over to the fake wrench. My face merely reforms to its original shape as I laugh at our antics. The guard in the stands looks so confused as to what the hell is going on.
We train for over an hour before being told to sit at the side of the pit. Horses of all types enter the stands. The guard stays in his seat, genuinely curious to see us humans in action. As I look at all the horses, I come to realize they are mostly smaller than actual horses. They're ponies. Finally, I can see the four weird seats from earlier be seated by their owners. Celestia, a purple, blue, and pink smaller versions of her are seated in the color scheme of their seat. I can see the purple one look over at Dave and I before quickly looking back at Celestia, seemingly excited. The blue one seems to be worried, and the pink one is confused and worried.
"Well Dave, she multiplied," I say in a joking manner.
"Hmm," he responds distantly. I sigh.
"Buddy, we'll be fine. You're not gonna die. Sure we're pit against some professional ponies in melee and magical combat, but we'll be fine," I say. Dave slowly turns his head to me. He breathes in.
"Max. I know you're serious, but you sound like you're on drugs," he says. I start laughing. Dave joins in as I start clutching my stomach. The pink pony standing next to me also joins in as we all laugh... Wait a minute... I slowly stop laughing and look over at this new stranger. She slowly stops laughing and looks at me too. Dave stops laughing, and looks at the pink pony. She's just a regular looking pink pony, with a poofy darker pink mane.
"..."
"..."
"..."
I look over at Dave. I look back at pink pony. "Who are you?" I ask calmly. She giggles.
"My name's Pinkie Pie! My friends and I were invited to come to this arena immediately to watch some monster fight the guards!" She says in a fast pace that I can barely follow. She gasps. "Are you two the monsters! You don't act like monsters, anyone that can laugh like you has to be good!" She says. I do a double-take. "Oops! I gotta go! Rarity's calling! Bye! Good luck in the arena today!" She says before zipping off to God knows where. I look at Dave.
"Fricken ponies man," I say simply, before I see Celestia clear her throat. Everyone goes silent almost instantly.
"Welcome everypony! I am here on behalf of recent events regarding the creatures from yesterday. One of them has proven to me that they mean no harm to us. The incident yesterday was a simple misunderstanding," she says.
"She sure has a lot of faith in us," I say. Dave shushes me.
"Although, that is only one of the reasons we are here. One of my personal guards had given me the idea to test out their abilities by arguing with them. The creatures and I made a wager. If they win against my guards, and one special guest-"
"Wait, we didn't agree on that," I say to Dave. He gives me the famous 'I told you so' look. "Ugh, it doesn't matter, I got your back nonetheless."
"-of course, we have established that no guard is to be killed in this arena. Now, without further delay!" Celestia says with enthusiasm. A guard raises a trumpet. "Get ready!" David and I step into the center of the pit, standing back to back. "Gets set!"
"Why does she make it sound like a race?" I wonder out loud. Five guards walk out and surround us. I see the smirk on some of their faces, but I can smell the unease from some of them. I ball up my fists. "remember Dave, non-lethal hits, dodge quickly, and strike hard," I remind him. He grunts in acknowledgement.
"Begin!" Celestia exclaims before sitting down.
I feel Dave teleport away and smile. I immediately sprint toward the three guards ahead of me.
I make a beeline for the guard ahead of me. He smirks and lifts his sword with his mouth to strike. I stop in front of him suddenly, making him miss when he tried to attack the immediate vicinity in front of him. He was not left to handle me alone, as I felt the whack of a pole of some kind against my head. Looking over at what just hit me, I see a unicorn guard smiling with a spear in his magical grip. "Really?" I ask. Suddenly, something hard and metallic impacts me from behind. Even though there was a lot of force and weight behind the attack, I barely moved from my spot. I look behind myself to see a pegasus guard with a mace. I chuckle, causing my opponents to give me a look of confusion. "Let's stop the tickle fight, shall we?" Using memories of Prototype, I try to command my body to morph my arms into bigger, stone-like fists.
My body follows my orders, and I have the best weapons to use in a situation like this. I look at my new appendages and smile. "It's hammer time," I say before hefting my right arm. I swing with enough force to punch the unicorn guard hard enough to fly back into the pit's walls. I laugh darkly at the display and look at the next two. Using my giant hand, I gesture them to come at me. The regular guard charges at me, his eyes filled with the determination to take me down to prove victorious. I ready myself and prepare to knock him back. He positions his sword to face his right, thus he must be trying to either stab me in my arm or cut it off completely. Piece of cake. I raise my right arm and try to blackslap him, but he surprises me by stopping infront of my range of attack, spinning the opposite direction of the slap, and using the momentum to throw the sword at me. It flies right at my face, and pierces my forehead, stopping at the hilt. The crowd gasps at this display, only to look sick as I just pull the sword out of my head. The injury closes up slowly.
"Heh, nice one," I say. The guard stands there, stunned at my regeneration. I toss the sword aside and punched the guard. He flies back, landing on his side.
"No!" The pegasus guard says as he flies over to check his comrade. After making sure he was still breathing, the pegasus guard turns towards me.
"You know, that sword actually stung a little," I taunt. The guard yells in rage, and charges at me, accidentally leaving his mace behind. I merely side-step as he flies past me. He crashes into the walls of the pit and knocks himself out. I smirk in victory. “Are you not entertained!?” I yell out, raising my fists, only to realize my hammer fists were gone. It seems that my body will only keep shape if I concentrate enough.
While I was fighting the three guards, Dave was to fight the other two. Unlike me, he was nervous. Right after I charged off to fight, he teleported to the unicorn guard to his left. Using his wooden sword, he bats the guard with a good amount of force. The guard growls slightly and turns around to blast him with a bit of magic. He targets Dave, lowering his glowing horn. Dave disappears the moment the laser fires, allowing the laser to hit the guard’s companion, a regular guard. As the other guard falls over from the sudden force, Dave appears behind the unicorn and swing the sword like a bat. It knocks out the guard, surprising Dave.
“Ow! Watch where you aim tha-“ the regular guard stops mid sentence as he see Dave standing over the unconscious unicorn. “You dirty little-“ the guard rushes over to Dave, preparing to use hoof-to-hoof combat. He was caught by surprise however, when Dave teleports right on top of the pony, landing on his golden armor.
“Oh sh-“ was all David could say before he tries to hold on for dear life while the guard jumps around violently to try and get the dazed human off him. Finally, he gets on his hind legs and starts to fall backwards in an attempt to body slam. Dave realizes this and teleports away quickly. The guard accidentally slams him self on his back, causing quite a bit of pain for himself. Dave appears on his back on the floor, next to me as I lean on the wall to watch the display. “Max, *pant* can you *pant* help me?” He asks. I shrug.
“Nah, you’re doing fine,” I say.
“Screw *pant* you *pant* asshole,” Dave says as he tries to get up. He clenches his hand to prepare for teleportation, but his hand barely shimmers.
“It seems you’re out of magic to use for now,” I note. He shoots me a glare, panting.
“No shit Sherlock,” he says.
“Use this as a learning tool, don’t rely solely on magic,” I say. “Props on making them hit each other though,” I continue. He gives me a thumbs up.
“Why hasn’t Celestia called match yet?” He asks. I nod towards the opponent that tried to body slam him.
“He’s up and about to ram you,” I say. Dave immediately side steps. The guard rushes past him and rams into the wall next to me. He falls to floor. He gets up shakily, and notes how badly beat up he is and sighs.
“To Tartarus with this,” the guard says before laying down, exhausted, beaten, and most likely bruised. I smirk.
“Good job buddy, you fought two ‘elite’ guards and survived,” I congratulate. Dave nods, finally catching his breathe. I finally take a look at the crowd. Everyone is stomping their hooves. Probably their version of clapping. I see Pinkie in the stands, waving frantically at me before an orange pony holds her down. I smirk and wave back at the strange female pony. I look at Celestia to see her smiling at me. She stands up, and everyone falls silent.
“That was definitely entertaining. Though, I believe I said there was a special guest here to fight these strange creatures. I give you all, Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard!” She exclaims before sitting down. The ponies go in an excited uproar, cheering for this pony’s name. From the entrance of the pit, I see a single, white unicorn with a blue mane trot out in confident strides. Shining Armor, I presume, trots to one side of the pit, staring at us like we’re animals. He stops at the opposite side of the pit.
“So, you’re the monsters I’ve been hearing about,” he says. I shrug.
“Dunno ‘bout you, but I don’t see any monsters around here,” I say. He barks a laugh. His horn glows and three shield-like auras surround him.
“Max, I think he’s going for a defensive attack. Defense can be a great offense after all,” David says quietly to me, keeping his gaze on the pony.
“Oh yeah, it’s definitely what he’ll do,” I say in the same volume.
“... I’ll go first. I think I can take him,” Dave says, stepping forward. I stare at Shining for a minute before nodding. “I can feel that some of my energy has come back.”
“Alright, savor whatever’s left of your energy and remember that he’s mostly a defensive opponent. Your best bet is to try and coax him into an offensive attack. Then, try coming from behind to strike,” I reply. Dave nods as I step back.
“What? Sending your lackey to do dirty work?” Shining asks. I scoff.
“I ain’t the boss of him smartass,” I say. Dave takes this opportunity to try to circle around the unicorn in a sprint. Like I suspected, his magical shields immediately jets towards Dave. Shining also regrows shields with his magic to replace the expended numbers. Dave dodges each shield narrowly, slowing down or speeding up to make them miss. He grabs one, flips it slightly and jumps on it. Before it could dissipate, Dave jumps off it towards Shining Armor. Predictably, he merely reconjures shields to protect himself. Dave lands face first into a shield before comically sliding off. Shining starts laughing at the admittingly funny display. He fails to notice Dave raise an arm. Dave teleports, appearing above Shiny. Shining stops laughing enough to look up to see Dave’s wooden sword smack him in the face. Shining staggers back, raising a hoof to wipe off the blood from his nose.
“Heheh, that looked like it hurt,” I say. He growls and a magic shield flies at me. I side step and twirled. As the shield passes me, I morph my arm into something like a whip. Using the momentum of the twirl, I whip my arm at Shining, condensing my fist to make it hard as stone. Shining’s head whips the direction I whip-punched him and falls to the ground. After seeing him breathe, we realize he’s just knocked out, thankfully. The crowd slowly stomps their amusement. I see Pinkie in the crowd again, jumping and screaming excitedly. I turn my attention to Celestia as she gets up.
“My subjects, I would like to announce that the arena battle is over, and the victors are the humans!” She exclaims with a hint of genuine excitement. As everyone cheers, I raise my hands in the air.
“Are you not entertained!?” I yell. Dave facepalms... and copies my gesture.
“Are you not entertained!?” Dave yells too. The crowd only grows louder in responce.
Later, in a waiting room with nothing but a number of chairs and a pile of magazines with two doors on opposite sides, I sit in a comfy chair and read a magazine about home style crafting. By that, I mean I actually just keep criticizing the terrible practicality. “It’s literally a freaking tent! I know these ponies aren’t as technologically advanced as humans, but this is just stupid!”
Dave just sits beside me, looking at the picture of a ‘house’ as well. “Between the fact that they have magic and they have plentiful resources, I agree. A five by three foot tent is not a house.” We were told to just wait for Celestia and some guests. I, of course, am able to patiently wait. Dave is ready to get the hell out of dodge. I look over at him.
“Exactly, you would think that after using a disco ball as a dress, they would realize they need to be a little smarter. But nooo, they made a contest on whether or not they can be worse,” I continue.
“Indeed, It is sad to see the current generation of ponies. Back then, they were not so trivial in terms of clothing,” a new voice says. David and I jump in surprise and finally notice the blue winged unicorn from the arena standing at the doorway. She snorts in amusement. “For valiant warriors such as yourself, you two seem a bit jumpy,” she comments. I sigh.
“Well, when people sneak into rooms like a ninja, they tend to scare people,” I reply. Dave chuckles.
“And boy, you scared us good,” he says. The new guest smiles sheepishly.
“Forgive me, it wasn’t my intention to sneak up on you two,” she apologizes.
“It’s okay, what’s your name?” I ask. She smiles genuinely.
“My name is Luna,” she replies simply. I nod.
“I’m Max, this is my friend David,” I say in return. Luna nods.
“My pleasure,” she says. The doors at one side of the room open to reveal Celestia and seven other strangers. Of course, the pink menace was one of them.
“Greetings Max and David, I brought several guests with me to introduce,” she says. Pinkie immediately zips up to me.
“Oh my gosh! It’s so good to see you again! I saw you kick butt earlier, it was so cool!” The deranged looking mare says quickly. “First you were like, ‘Rawr! I’m super scary!’ And they were like, ‘not scary to us!’ And they went bam, bam! Then you went all, ‘Stop the tickle fight!’ And then, you were all elastic like and beat those ponies up!” Pinkie rants. I just barely understood any of that. She takes a deep breathe to continue, but I silence her with a finger.
“I know. I was there too,” I say. She grins sheepishly before a skittle-haired, cyan pegasus flies up in my face.
“Woah woah woah, you know Pinkie?” She asks suspiciously. An orange hoof reaches up and yanks the pegasus away from my face
“Now simmer down Rainbow, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t met Pinkie,” an orange pony says. The purple winged unicorn walks up and inspects Dave.
“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like these humans from all the books I’ve read,” she says. I feel a weight on my head, and noticed a distinct lack of Pinkie.
“Wow! He’s super tall!” Pinkie says from above. I sigh.
“This is my life now, isn’t it?” I ask no one in particular.
Author's Note
Wow! Already 100 views? I feel like that’s an achievement of some kind. Anyway, I hope ya’ll enjoyed this chapter, I can’t promise any chapters coming up as fast as this.
Also, some of you might have noticed that I accidentally published this chapter early. I apologize for that.
