Creeper World: Game of Dimensionsby AtomiqalChaptersChapter 1: A Rift in SpaceChapter 2: Gathering AlliesChapter 3: Enough fooling around, We're at War!Chapter 4: Kindred SpiritsChapter 1: A Rift in SpaceStripped through dimensions and void at an alarming rate, with little real space left to maintain his molecular integrity, Petrus' felt that he was done for. The violet menace that had been absorbed into the Rift Space entry point followed him, already trying to eat up his very being. It was like having your skin burned, yet it was numbing - as if his skin never existed in the first place. Cold, inhuman, single-minded malice echoed through his tiny shell of a reality bubble. All from the purple blob that followed him... He would die. Either from the Rift Space malfunction or the Creeper, but he would die. No one would or could save him. Not here... between nowhere and everywhere. He thought of his family. His brothers and sister. He would leave them... this saddened him. Understandably so, as he had grown close with them. He would miss his aging mother and was very angry that he would breach a promise he made to his deceased father - that he would make him a grandpa. He was still a child when he made it and he knew his father would understand the circumstances, but it aggravated him. Though, things could be worse... He could be stuck alone. Instead, he was stuck with humanity's worst enemy. Its millennia old foe... he had a punching bag. Granted, it would likely win, but he did not have to give it the satisfaction - if it could feel such emotions - of winning without a struggle. So, Petrus gave the word - technically, the thought - and swerved his right arm to make way for the nano-machines. In mere microseconds, they formed a light, particle lasergun. Was quite easy, considering the influx of space-time energy and potential for manufacturing materiel from the energy reservoir. He took aim and fired at the Creeper. Its purple blob disintegrated at the touch of the beam - quite literally having its abominable atomic structure ripped to shreds before making peace with the quantum vacuum. Though, there were many blobs, and the Creeper was already drawing off the Rift Space breach to multiply itself. "Sick, virulent, plague!" Petrus thought. He would shout, but he doubted there would be any potential for sound to travel through the real space pocket... It was a vacuum (albeit, a false one), and he was obscured by a his environmental suit's faceplate. It was quiet. Early mornings were generally accepted to be quiet moments for a school. Only the nerds, teacher's pets, insomniacs and morning teachers would be present. Thus, there was no surprise when the portal by the statue rippled for a second and a strange orb of (literally) otherworldly energies popped out of it. No one was there to be surprised at the moment. The orb breached, broke and a 30-year-old man and a destructive purple blob were revealed to be at the center of the orb. Petrus and the Creeper. Neither relented in their lifelong mission to kill one another. For some reason, the universe did not give them a chance. As if this children's cartoon just realized the degree of violence and alien nature of the two characters, the two were quickly separated by an unseen force and sent to opposite sides of Canterlot High's frontal wall. Petrus banged his head and the Creeper did not seem active at that moment... Thus, neither were particularly conscious of what transpired right after. A swirl of electricity and pixelated reality appeared from out of nowhere before them. It processed them, in a manner of speaking. The transformation of Petrus had been strange, but nowhere as insane and illogical as the Creeper's metamorphosis. Petrus was no longer a man. Nor was he human... in a traditional sense. His entire being became pixelated and reality conspired to obscure his less cartoony features. He came out looking like a reddish-brown humanoid, with a body structure reminiscent of a teenager. Crazy, right? Wait until you see what the Creeper became. Somehow, in all its collective wisdom, this universal transformation process saw fit to convert the Creeper into a similar humanoid structure. Its once simple and fluidic form gave way to complex musculature and vasculature, bones became prevalent (though, obscured behind skin)… Though, one trait had not changed. Something universal to the Creeper. Its dangerous, malicious, purple. An all-encompassing... creeping presence of violet evil. A reminder of its corrupt form. A color Petrus would never forget. It would seem reasonable to assume that both were put out of commission, but not so. The Creeper had been a blob when it got smashed against the wall. Its simple form processed the damage easily, and it was given a fresh new form to use at its convenience. Petrus might have had his left arm eaten off, his legs crushed and his head broken, but his nano-machines were quick to work. The damage was extensive - even though the transformation process had helped fix his limbs -, so they drew off the remainder of his backup power supply. Drawing energy from Petrus' personal Rift Space storage dimension, the nano-machines quickly made false, empty body cells and programmed their genetic function based off the bodily information they knew about him. It seemed that the change did not affect his DNA structure... it was only an external change, thankfully. The Creeper, for the first time in eternity, took notice of itself at the moment and of its enemy. He tried to liquidate his arms, legs, anything, so that he could creep toward Petrus and destroy his molecular biology... No luck. He was... a complex, thinking being now. No longer a part of a greater collective intelligence. An independent piece, with free will. This frightened the Creeper to no end. His freedom from... well freedom, meant that his bodily form needed nothing beyond simple blobby appearance and fluid, as all the complex thinking and action was externalized to the main hub of hive intelligence. Nothing about this was natural to him. In confusion and fear, he crawled into the school complex for shelter, desperate to assess the damage done to his form... Petrus woke up after all that. It took minutes and reality warping technology, but his body was fully reconstituted and fixed... mostly. He still was a man in a child's body. The ordeal had been extreme, and he was in physical shock... So, he slept. His nano-machines took charge and disintegrated his protective space suit - for future use -, tucking it safely away in a pocket dimension of their own control. Author's Note My first publish here on this site. Give it a nice looksee, tell me what y'all think. As for the basic legal curtsies... No, I own neither MLP nor Creeper World. Though, I kinda wish I owned the latter - it's a great game. You guys should try it out, the story there's captivating and awesome. Chapter 2: Gathering Allies"Helloooo, anyone home?" Petrus did not recognize that voice. He was still groggy from his short 'coma', so he could not get up so easily. Though, he was awake. He was conscious now; he knew what was going on around him... somewhat. "Helloooo?" There was that voice again, "Who is that?" As if to answer him, another voice popped up. Huskier, less... clogged up at the throat than the other one. "Snail, stop messing around, we're gonna be late." "Another voice?" He questioned. "Sorry Snips, guess we'll catch him later." Petrus groaned, gaining both of their attention and opened his eyes for what felt like the first time... "Who... Where am I?" "Well, it ain't a talent play," said the husky one. The other guy snickered at that. Petrus felt confused until he saw his clothing compared to theirs. He was dressed head to toe in a trench coat, military boots and a visor cap, a symbol of his rank in the military... they looked like ordinary civilians. Particularly dated civilians, all things considered... he could have sworn their style of fashion had been gone for a century. "Sorry, misters, I had been going someplace before getting lost and..." he drifted off, not sure how to explain the rest, "stuff." "Eh, it's cool." "Yeah, cool!" Petrus could already tell that the husky voiced one was the brains behind this duo. Though, anyone could get that dopey sounding kid to parrot their points - competition was just light, luckily for the husky one. "Name's Snips, this is Snails. We're Snips and Snails," they did a weird pose together - clearly choreographed for moments like this. "You're at Canterlot High, you come to this school? I don't remember ever seeing you around." "I'm just confused," he quickly blurted out without thinking... It was like his self-assuredness had disappeared in a microsecond. He was acting like his twitchy, unsure, teenage self. "Really confused." He then put on a sheepish smile, though it felt strange, like he was not used to the shape of his own mouth. "Guess I'm a bit overdressed, ain't I?" "Ah, it's fine señor fancy pants. Me and Snails are going to math now, wanna tag along, we'll give you a short tour and leave you with 'Ms. Shimmer'," he snickered, feeling proud of himself for using Petrus' overly well-mannered expression. "She's in charge of student orientation." "Always has been," replied Snails. That elicited a smirk from Snips, understanding the Internet reference. Petrus, on the other hand, could not understand for the life of him. Though, "Like momma always said," when confused just be polite. Politeness opens doors better than know-how. "Thanks misters," he paused. "Mr. Snips and Mr. Snails." "Lol dude, you don't gotta call us that, we're hardly older than you." That last phrase freaked him out. "Pardon me?" "Look, you don't need to act all poised and stuff guy, it's cool. We're cool." "So cool!" Snail's parroting did nothing to cement Snips' point. Things were not cool. Petrus had to get away. "Can you two lead me to a bathroom, please? I'm feelin' nature's calling." They obliged, none the wiser to his dilemma. After he entered the boy’s bathroom, he stared at the mirror with abject horror. This was not Petrus Sant Romain Suner. This thing staring back at him may have worn the same trench coat, visor cap, boots, gloves... "Wait, that is me!" It still could not be him. No, he never had reddish brown skin. His hair was not... dyed dark blue. He was a military man; dyed hair was not permitted. What scared him the most was the eyes. He never had green eyes. His eyes were black with a tinge of brown on the side, just like his momma and papa's eyes. Never green... no one was green. "God Almighty, help me!" He quickly ordered his nano-machines to life. They were slow to react - apparently, they drained most of their power reserves for something earlier. "Maybe that had to do with the freaky shit to happen to me." He ordered a scanning of his body. It would take a while, the bots warned... And frankly, he did not feel like waiting. He wanted to run the hell out of here, run away from himself and then some. "How did this even happen," he asked no one in particular. He needed to jog his memory... It hurt, but snippets were coming back. Maybe the nano-machines were still working to fully repair his brain. He could still remember the painful brain trauma he suffered. He left the bathroom, being greeted by another strangely colored person... which now that he thought about it, seemed to be the norm around here. Everyone was strangely colored. Like it was some children's cartoon show. Why? "Hey there new kid, you took a while back there, everything okay?" The inquiry broke his train of thought. "Uh, yes ma'am," he quickly backtracked, "I mean miss, uh..." He was already losing it. All his years of training felt behind him, like these alien, teenage lips were not at all used to the words or verbal tics he had incorporated into his speech for the last thirty-five years. Then he felt very self-conscious. He figured out why soon, as he had just noticed that this woman towered over him... Granted, not by much more than maybe half an inch, he reckoned, but damn, she was tall. It was making him nervous... Why? Because tall girls are mean? Scary? Pretty or something? "Oh God." He was reverting back to the same nervous ticks and behavior he had when he was a developing teen. He would get stuttered up in front of girls, be terrified, mortified, but captivated by the taller, prettier girls, want to fit in and try not to cause a scene with his fellow peers and dudes, rather than stand out for who he knew he was. This was concerning, to say the least. She giggled at his verbal slip up, stealing him from his thoughts and reminding him that no more than three seconds could have passed in that moment. "Felt like an eternity..." It always was, when he was in front of pretty, tall girls. It always was... "Uhm, sorry miss, ma'am, I don't know what to call you." "Just Sunset will do, 'sir'," she gave a mock salute to him, already melting away his worries. "She seems cool. I just gotta play cool." That much made sense to the body dysphoric Petrus. "Sure thing, Miss Sunset." He smiled. "Are you by any chance named Sunset Shimmer?" "Why yes I am, Snips and Snails told you about me?" "Indeed." "Did they say much?" Petrus shrugged, starting to feel more at home in this form. "You're in charge of showing the newbies around here how things work." "Good to see you're all up to speed, 'private'," she hand-signed air quotations before laughing at her own joke. It was funny, not that funny, but funny... and a pretty girl said it, so nervous instinct demanded that he laugh along to flatter her. A part of him, tucked far away from the helm, felt horrified at his sudden transformation from seasoned military man to a cringe inducing idiot. "Right," she stopped laughing, him quickly doing the same. "Right, though you seem a little... overdressed for a private, don't-cha think?" He looked down for a second time today. He had to agree with her, no private (or student) would wear a trench coat or gloves. It took him a couple of moments to look up and give a response, but he felt after sufficient trialing in his head that it was a good comeback. "Then call me lieutenant, Ms. Shimmer." He smiled a boyish grin, trying to build up some faux confidence to get him by this horrifying and awkward situation. That seemed to amuse her, though, she rolled her eyes rather than laughing. "C'mon, I'll show ya around. Oh say, what's your name? Snips and Snails didn't tell me." "I didn't tell'em either." For some reason, he felt hesitant to share his name. Everyone's naming conventions here seemed kiddy and his came straight out of Middle Latin, hundreds of millennia back into human history. Then again, it was not like he had any better names to call himself. "Name's Petrus." "Petrus?" They were both walking now, strolling by the corridor. "Yeah, Petrus. My parents loved Latin names; I'm guessing yours loved the sun?" She gave a light smirk at that. "You could say that." "Where am I?" ... "Where, am I?" ... "I think I have English understood." The Creeper had been held up in the school's library, studying English vernacular. Apparently, during the transformation, it had somehow already gotten for itself some rather basic English skills... but it was not at all used to all the smaller quirks or slang. It needed to adapt if it were to survive and thrive in this place. No one seemed to notice it. Then again, they all seemed more preoccupied with their short, all-so-important, self-centered lives... being a human - humanoid, more of - was a nightmare. No greater consciousness to subsume responsibility, thought and process… such a curse. This free will business was complicated. How was the Creeper supposed to know how to benefit its collective self than its single self without a hive mentality? Humans were an enigma. "And one that should be eliminated." He quickly changed to a book on psychology and another on social skills and interaction. It needed to learn. To understand. To collect. Absorb knowledge. Absorb the knowledge, simplify the knowledge into electrical signals and data sets in the brain. Just like absorbing a building and simplifying its individual molecules into atoms and joining them with the greater Creeper. Still nothing like the original process, but it was good enough. "I got it now." "Got what," asked Snails, sounding no more confused than he has always sounded... for probably ever. "My, um, pen. I got my pen." "Oh, ok," Snails did not bother to look up or down. Petrus sighed in relief. He was eating lunch in the school cafeteria, somehow managing to get by high school life... again without getting noticed by either the authorities or faculty for not actually being a part of the school. Enforcement must be underfunded, he had reckoned. While eating lunch, he had figured out what it was that had got him to where he was... Why he looked like a children's cartoon character. Why the kids here had weird names and what happened. After finishing up a full body scan, his nano-machines had assured him that he had the hormonal activity and development capacity of a 13-to-16-year-old kid. Though, judging from his height, he was probably about as tall as he was when he was 14. Once that was cleared up, they focused entirely on fixing his brain and getting back his memories. Sometime after a mostly - yeah, 'mostly' - painless session of brain jolts from his bots, he figured out what had been going on. He was on a starship. One that got invaded by Creeper spores in Rift Space. It breached into the engine, threatened to tear the ship out of space-time and into God only knows where before he went down to fix the ship and destroy the Creeper. He failed, he recalled. The core exploded. Rift Space collapsed all around the starship, but since he was at the epicenter of the explosion, he rippled through space-time with the Creeper blob that he was fighting, cycling through all kinds of different reality states and everything... Then he came out here. Somehow became this thing and now he had no idea what was going on. "I need to get back." Reverse the effects of the interdimensional travel and get out of this children's cartoon of a universe. Return to the war front. He took another bite out of his burger. It was disgusting and sloppy... but he knew he would finish it nevertheless. At least some military training held on to him. Never again would Petrus hope to ever return to the days of picky eating and angry parents. "Ugh, this burger tastes like dog barf." "Yeah, dog barf!" Petrus rolled his eyes at Snips' complaints. Though he agreed with his statement, the principle remained - enjoy what you have been given and pray that it will not be taken. "It ain't half bad, Snips." Snips raised an eyebrow at him. "For an art school dropout, you don't seem to have the tongue of a cultured actor." "Yeah, culture." Snails then quit from mimicking Snips for a moment. Just to ask Petrus, "Why did you wear that anyway? You look like you came out of a war play." "Yeah, a war play." That stunned Petrus. He had not known that the two could switch over the role of supporting parrot... "Maybe there's more to the dynamic than I thought." "Heh, now that you mention it, there's a funny story behind that. See, I actua-" "Hey there, 'lieutenant'. How goes the mess hall food?" That surprised Petrus. Fortunately, he composed himself quick, "Wet and sloppy. Just the way I like it," he munched a second bite, as if to emphasize his point. "Ugh," Sunset replied, though clearly in good faith. "Glad to see you're settling in well. I was gonna ask if you wanted to meet some of my friends, but you seemed to have formed your own little platoon here." Petrus felt like he was beaming. It did feel good to have adapted to the situation. Understood it and gotten all the more better for it. He leaned back for a bit, stretching his arms. "Hey now soldier, you can get yourself a court martial for trying a stunt like that." He furrowed his eyebrows at that statement, not sure why she had said that. It was then that he realized that he had almost put his arm around her - or that he could have if he had dropped it. He quickly retracted his arms and pulled his visor cap down. "Apologies Miss, won't happen again." "Haha, stop it," Sunset was clearly amused with the whole spectacle. "Hey, why do you wear that cap everywhere? You've got a nice mop up there, why not flaunt it?" He felt embarrassed, having been complimented by a pretty girl. His cheeks went a little red - somehow overcoming his already reddish skin - and he ended up giving a boyish grin. Then he quickly changed tact and put his arm around Snails. "I do it for my buddies, Ms. Shimmer. "Can't have all the ladies to ma-self." "Yeah!" Snails agreed while Snips ignored his quip, until they both realized what he said and replied in unison "Hey!" "Heh." Petrus was beginning to feel like a kid again. Still learning the ropes, but proud at every minor milestone he made. Almost ecstatic at these small victories in life. Sunset seemed to agree because she could not stop laughing. "Haha," she started to snort. He could tell that she was embarrassed about that but was enjoying herself too much to stop snorting. She tried covering her nose, at that moment, confirming his suspicions. "Ah, go ahead, let it all out missy. Ain't nothin’ wrong with a couple of oink, oinks in these parts." Snips and Snails seemed to concur. Granted, more so because they derived equal enjoyment from listening to her nerdy laughter. Once she calmed down, she punched him in the arm and left the table. "See ya later, squaddies." He did a quick salute before resuming his food with friends, listening to Snips and Snails make jokes about Sunset's snorting and the math teacher's larger than life hump. "Funny kid." Sunset figured. How he went from the nervous wreck of a teen to this was a mystery she probably would never figure out. "Probably magic, for all I know." She returned back to her table of friends, not expecting the tirade of questions she was about to receive. "Well, someone seems to be in a good mood." "Honestly darling, you have got to fix that horrendous snort of yours. I'm surprised he didn't mind it so much." "Who?" "Ya know, that guy back there who you were talkin' ta. I reckon if you'd laughed any louder, actual snot might've shot outta ya." The rest of the table snickered at that. Though, Sunset did not seem to mind, instead rolling her eyes. "Haha," she sarcastically quipped. "So, who's the mystery kid," asked Rainbow Dash. "And how'd he get you into such a good mood?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Do tell," Pinkie Pie yelled from across the table, clearly excited to hear the whole story. "Did it have something to do with his weird get-up," asked Twilight Sparkle. "He seemed to be acting like a commandent from World War 2, is he German or something?" "I don't think he sounded German," came a whisper from across. "Though, I wasn't there to hear him speak, maybe I shouldn't assume..." "Pfft," Sunset retorted back. "Nah, it's all an act. In fact, if anything, he sounded Southern, like you Applejack. "Anyway," she took a sip from her juice box, leaning back. "Can we please stop talking about my snort and day? Tell me about you guys." "You hiding something, Sunset..." came a suspicious glare from Rainbow Dash. "C'mon Dash, you know I don't like talking about my snort. It's embarrassing! I still wish I didn't have that fight with Postcrush... waiting for my nose to heal is such a drag." "Suuuuuuure." Sunset raised an eyebrow at that. "Dash, what're you getting at?" "Don't tease her, Rainbow Dash," Applejack replied, sounding like a wise old mother. "Look, we think he likes you and wanted to see what you thought." Then she quickly furrowed her eyebrows at Rainbow Dash, "And she clearly don't like, like him back Rainbow Dash, she ain't swoonin' over 'im, talkin' about her lost prince charming findin' her, dressed to the nines like a soldier." She started laughing at her own statement, earning some fellow laughs from the table. "Oh, please." Sunset sounded exasperated. "I don't plan on dating him and I bet he feels the same way about me. He was just being friendly and gentlemanly." "Suuuuuuure," Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash chipped in, trying their best to drag on the teasing train. "What?" "Look, darling," spoke up the resident fashionista once again. "I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but boys don't just start acting up all gentlemanly for laughs. Trust me, darling. "The only way I can get any boy to act gentlemanly is with a wink and a wave." As if to prove her point, the Diamond Dog gang was passing by when she suddenly signalled to them, "Yoo-hoo, boys! Looking tough like nails!" She ended it with a wink, and that seemed to get the three of them acting friendly back, even going so far as to dust themselves off from the yard work they were doing as punishment earlier. "See?" "C'mon Rarity, now you're just being mean." "Yeah, it's not nice saying that all boys are like that. Maybe that one is just being nice." Rarity turned to face Fluttershy, making the latter retract further back into her seat. "Then again... I'm not the most experienced at this sorta stuff. I just figure they're being nice." "Fluttershy, literally one of my soccer teammates was flirting with you just yesterday and you basically turned him down for a day at the shelter." "Eeep, really!? I'm so sorry, I thought he was being nice an-" "It's cool," Rainbow cut her off. "I explained things to him and he understood that you just weren't getting the hints." Fluttershy reasoned that it was probably for the best to retract back into the seat and zone out of the conversation. "Point being," Rainbow Dash continued, "Most guys just don't act so witty for anyone. He must've really busted a leg to get ya to laugh that hard." "Aw, that's cute. You've got an admirer, Sunset," Twilight Sparkle chimed in. "Not cute," Sunset replied. "Because, there's nothing to be cute about. Besides, he's like, what, 13? 14 maybe? I'm like almost half his age older. It'd be weird and awkward, not cute." "Aw, c'mon, it'll be like having a little puppy dog!" She quickly brought out her bag and opened it up. "Aren't I right, Spike?" "Definitely, Twilight," Spike said after getting his head out of the bag. "So, what're we talkin' about?" Author's Note Woe is to the poor Petrus Sant Romain Suner, for his is the horror of puberty again. Whilst mere men suffer the transit between childhood and adulthood only once, he hath been forced to endure it a second time... Pray for him. Also, leave any comments - feedback's always appreciated. Chapter 3: Enough fooling around, We're at War!It was like a drug. Being young again. Petrus could feel like he was a plucky eyed kid just seeing the world for the first time, yet knowing everything at the same time... but the comedown was hard. Every time he was around those peers - if you can call them that - of his, he felt like another one of the boys, of the kids, maybe even the cool kids - since he seemed to have made a cool friend, like Sunset. But the comedown, when he realized that he still needed to get back, to return home and help fight against the Creeper... it drained him. So happy one second, so grim the next, it was like there was no processing period for his thoughts. Luckily he had time now, while somehow "I swear, security's gotta be non-existent in this universe." attending an art class. For some reason, the current art teacher favored quiet at the moment, demanding that every student use this chance to channel their inner artisté and draw a masterpiece from the depths of their soul. Though, from what he gathered, this was not the norm. No, from the previous paintings hung around, she was usually the fun loving type. Today was special, and he was glad for it. He brooded over his situation, really hoping that he would not get too close and start having misgivings about going back home... He made a promise to the military. To serve and protect. To the last Man standing. He was still standing. He had to go back and serve. "I have to go back and serve," he whispered out loud. "Huh, you said something new kid?" "Oh no, sorry, just... forget it." The other guy shrugged, returning back to his painting. That caught Petrus' eyes, because he could have sworn he had seen something similar to that. "What's that you're drawin'?" "Oh this little thing? It's a lightning storm with cube buildings falling everywhere. Cool, eh?" "Yeah, cool." Though, it was more than cool. It was intriguing... "Almost Déja Vu..." Suddenly, a memory got jostled in Petrus' mind. He had been fighting the Creeper before entering this world, and a localized storm of lightning and pixels had followed him and someone else... Something else... "The Creeper... He followed me!" He had a job to do. "Uh, miss?" The teacher looked over to him, "Yes, Petrus?" There was some snickering in the class, as no one was accustomed to his name. "Yeah, like 'Boulder Crash' is any better, you lameos." "May I please be excused ma'am? It's important." She sighed. "Have you drawn anything yet?" "Uhhh..." He looked at the blank canvas he had been staring at for hours. "Almost finished?" "Then finish it and leave it on the board. You can take a hall pass from me when you're done." "Yes miss," he quickly looked both ways before ordering his nano-machines to paint for him a portrait of Superman. "That'll keep her occupied." "Done ma'am," he got up and walked over to her, the other guy next to him shocked to see that Petrus could finish a portrait so fast when he could have sworn he was still drawing blanks... "Well done Petrus, be back." "Understood." He saluted her before walking out. Apparently, few people seemed to question his choice in attire. Likely because they did not want to come off as rude. Kids liked thinking that they were all good people. "Best not to burst their little bubble of innocence." People never like when their whole world is turned upside down and they are revealed for who they truly were. He left the school premises, hoping to find a clue as to how he got here... Then he saw it. The statue. The portal... and Sunset? "What is she doing here?" He questioned. Something felt amiss. So, he opted to hide in the bushes. What he would see would more answer questions than he had planned on asking... and raise a couple more. She started banging the the statue for a few seconds before stroking her chin. "Weird, the portal doesn't seem to be working right today. I wonder what happened." She quickly grabbed her geode and summoned all the will she had before touching the statue. She saw memories - in a sense. Memories of what had transpired before the portal closed on itself. Apparently, it had been overloaded by a sudden entry through it from somewhere other than Equestria. The portal did not know where. Whatever came through seemed to have left no marks or clues that it had come, just the portal being closed. This worried her to no end - whatever that was here could be evil. So, she sprang into action, grabbed her phone and tried to find all her friends. This was something they had to know. "I saw her eyes glowing, and she said something about a portal, what's this mean!?" Now Petrus was beginning to formulate a theory. This statue was a potential Rift Space portal point. Quite an unorthodox design for a portal, but who was he to judge? Yet apparently, it was no longer working after he and the Creeper came into this world. "Maybe that's my ticket outta here!" Then another thought hit him. "I gotta find out more." Then an ominous realization. "The Creeper's gonna want to go back too!" Possibly return back with more of its own. Anywhere that was not choke full of creep was a hellscape in their eyes that needed to fixed by any means necessary... This could go bad real fast. None of the inhabitants here seemed to have any boson weaponry - hell, their security infrastructure seemed non-existent -, let alone anti-emitter weaponry. If the Creeper made it here and somehow broke through that weird glitch that forces everyone who enters here to become... like a teenager? Right, like a teenager. If they got around that, they would be unstoppable, able to engulf this world and countless others. "No more kidding around Petrus, lives are on the line." This was bigger than going home... This was about saving this world. Then going home. The Creeper had been hungry at first, but luckily found out that by violently shaking a nearby "vending machine", as it is called, it could attain sustenance. It tasted so good, so sweet, so... complex. It hated it. Creeper was supposed to like simplicity, not complexity. Taste was a distraction from the basic tenants of growth and spread. It hated its corrupted self for liking it... Hated it more so for not having the heart to spit it out. Though, a part of it was more than willing to endure all this hate as long as it did not have to feel hunger again. That part of it soon died when the Creeper saw a humanoid girl "purchase" the same thing he was eating and told him that he had made a good choice. "Sweet choice," she said. This disgusted him. To think that the Creeper could pick a snack enjoyable to these complicated abominations... Unthinkable. It finished its shameful peanut butter bar before deciding that it knew enough of this impure world to return back to the portal... Not truly, but it really wanted to get out about now. He got up and ran, leaving the wrapper on the floor. Petrus wasted no time. He checked his power reserves - "Still good, that's great." - and materialized a spy camera onto the statue. "Keep tabs on that doohickey for me." Acknowledged. It sent back. Petrus then concentrated hard. Using what little energy he could generate from the space-time continuum without causing a Rift Space or reality tear, he had his nano-machines generate new material - and process what dust and metal they could find - for him. The process generated a lot of heat. Fortunately, much if it was filtered away by the open air and cool breeze. Once he was done, his entire military attire became disintegrated for future use and he donned a skin tight spandex. "Now this is where the fun begins." He thought of going unseen. To be ignored, unnoticed and totally forgotten... Now he was invisible. The invisibility suit worked, using minor infractions in the local space-time curvature to bend light away from its wearer. Though, he could not cloak everything. There were small gaps for his convenience. A spot for him to see through, area for his feet and a bit of breathing room for his back. That way, he would not heat up and get cooked with all the radiation he was storing up. And where there were gaps, a nano-machine swarm had him covered - projecting a false hologram of reality in his stead. If someone was really paying attention, he might be noticed, but he doubted that anyone would care much. "This kind've sci-fi nonsense must be light-years ahead of what they're used to." He figured. He quickly sprinted to Sunset. He knew that she must know more than she let on. Maybe she even knew how to work that rift portal - though, if need be, he could try and operate it like any other portal. Granted, due to its weird architecture and design, he did not want to risk it... A few minutes passed, Petrus having avoided a couple of close run-ins with the student body, but he was still far behind Sunset. In fact, he figured he had already lost her. He immediately ordered a small swarm of nano-machines to go find her. They might take an hour to report back - they were slow... - but they could split up and cover more ground. That was when he saw it. "The Creeper!" As he was waiting around, taking in his surroundings, he saw it running pass the corridor... Complex musculature, almost humanoid body... but he knew it it was not human. "There's no escaping that look." Those focused, determined but malicious eyes. They were dark purple, in an ocean of blue. Its skin was also lightish blue and its hair dark navy blue... but the small purple tattoos along its skin... Petrus would never mistake who that was. It was the Creeper... "And it's heading toward the portal!" Again, he sprang into action. He sprinted after the thing. Luckily, his transformation had not erased any previous muscle growth he had made in the military, merely shortened him and deadultified him. Then something strange occured. As he was running, the thing turned around, "How did he notice me!?" There was no way on Earth, Sol or Via this could happen. He immediately froze up, not daring to make another move and ruin the illusion. It was being followed. The Creeper knew it. It could feel the human's presence. The one from the real space pocket... "The human commander." They had shared a violent confrontation, but both recovered mostly. Thankfully, in spite of its corruption, the Creeper still maintained some quantum physical presence and awareness. He could tell that someone was walking around him, bending space-time to his will... It could only be the human. No one else here held such knowledge or know-how - if the curriculum had anything to say about it. "But where was he?" He searched around, scanning the place. Sadly, his awareness was just that... an acute awareness. He could no longer hone himself onto the human's Rift Space signature, not like when he was a Creeper Spore... when he was pure. He gave up after ten minutes, when more people started filling the halls and one of them asked if he needed help finding something. He had gruffly told her no before continuing on, clearly frazzling her with his abruptness and rudeness. He decided against heading back to the portal... as long as he was being followed, his actions would be hampered. He instead opted to blend into the crowd and disappear. Something that almost reminded him of the glory of the collective. "Damnit, he's gone!" Petrus lost him. It somehow blended into the crowd, away from his sight... He would have ordered a nano-machine swarm after him, but it would be too risky - he was already wearing thin on power and nano-machines. Still, he knew he would have to take care of it sooner or later... later it would have to be. "Not sure if he saw me, though." If he did, then Petrus might have to consider a more... unobtrusive disguise. One without the military attire, one that could help him easily blend in with the herd... A hoody. Maybe sunglasses and a baseball cap? That seemed reasonable. That would hide him. He quickly tried to find a place to change. After making sure that no one was looking, he rushed into the janitor's closet and closed it tight. He stripped himself of the spandex suit, ordered a pair of jeans, shoes, hoody and all that and then allowed his bots to rest and replenish themselves. They needed all the power they could get. "This looks good," Petrus spoke up as he adjusted his hair - making sure every strand of unnatural, dyed hair was hidden. Sunset might have liked his looks, but he hated it - something just felt wrong about it. He quickly opened the door, feeling resistance on the other side and hearing a thud and "Ow". "Oh, sorry." Petrus quickly turned around to check on the poor sot he had accidentally smacked. It was his art classmate. "Uh." "Sorry my ass, you almost smooshed my art piece against the door, Jerry!" But just as he had looked up to rail against Mr. Jerry's clumsiness, he noticed that there was no one there. Petrus had fled the scene. "Uh, Jerry?" He was already a part of the early afternoon student rush. A morass of humanity mostly devoid of individuality, "A Creeper's wet dream..." Whoever that classmate of his was had soon all but forgotten the strange ordeal. He had joined the morass and focused on getting to class. "Good, he's off my tai-" Though, as Petrus was focusing on his would be catcher, he had neglected to realize that not all the crowd walked in sync. Some broke the norm, changed direction and did something out of the ordinary... This one was texting on her phone, heading for a chemistry lab test. "Ow, oh, sorry, are you hur-" "No no, I'm fine. It's my fault miss, don't mind me." Petrus quickly pulled his cap down and tried to get past her. It did not work. "Wait, I know you." "Oh crap." Was she someone who had noticed all the anomalous events surrounding him? He pulled his cap lower, just to be safe. "Yeah, I saw you earlier this morning, at lunchtime." "Lunchtime?" That confused him. He immediately looked up to study his not well met acquaintance. She was purple skinned, wore a standard school girl outfit, glasses and had her hair tied in a bun. "Wait, PURPLE!?" Granted, she did not look as closely related to the Creeper's signature color scheme, but still... If things got bad. "You did, did you miss?" "Huh, Sunset was right, you are just generally gentlemanly." She mentioned Sunset. That piqued his interest. "You know her?" "Why of course, I'm Twilight Sparkle, one of her friends. You're Petrus, aren't you?" "Uh, yes ma'am, yes I am." This was weird. He had almost entirely switched tact from seasoned veteran to awkward teen. Man with a Plan to a bundling ball of nerves... "This is getting old fast." He needed to end this. Diplomatically get himself out of here and on with his mission to find Sunse- "Wait a minute." "Yeah, I'm Petrus! Pleased to meet you, Missus - I mean -, Miss Sparkle. Any friend of Sunset oughta be a friend of mine." He brought out his hand to shake her, not expecting the sudden grip. "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to meet you. Sunset told us so little about you, I can't wait to find out about you." Her grip was not tight - pretty flimsy, truth be told -, but her excited shake surprised him. He quickly regained his bearings and spoke up. "I aim to please, Missu-I mean, Miss." "Haha, it's the bun, isn't it?" "Yeah, it's the bun..." It made her look like a married housewife, in spite of the school girl clothing. "Apologies Miss, didn't mean to offend you." He took off his hat again and lowered his hoodie - a habit he probably would not lose soon. "Hahaaa, you're really a whole barrel of laughs, I can see why Sunset liked you." That made him smirk. "Well, can't say I blame her, who can resist?" Another laugh came forth. For the first time today, acting all charming and sociable was helping him out with his mission. He would loosen up this lady, get her to lead him to Sunset and gather intel on the portal. A perfect plan! And it was already off to a good start. "So, where're you off too?" "Oh, uhm," how was he to phrase this? He thought for a second. "I'm going to find Sunset Shimmer. I've got me some questions for her regardin' student orientay-tion." "Hahaaa, you really do sound like Applejack." "Applejack? The drink?" "No, silly, another friend of Sunset!" "Oh." Their names just kept getting weirder and weirder. "I see, she sounds like an upright character, this Miss Applejack. Anyone named after such a delicious drink oughta be." "Well, you're right about that." Laughing aside, he finally got what he wanted. She told him that Sunset was gathering some of her friends in Music Room 12, somewhere down the Southwing - "Hopefully the nano-machines've traced that area out." She left, explaining that she had a chemistry test - also why she wore the bun (figures) - and texted Sunset that Petrus would be there. "All comin' together perfectly." Author's Note "All warfare is based..." - Sun Tzu Sun Tzu said that. And I think he knows a little more about fighting than you do, coz he invented it! And he perfected it so that no man could best him in the ring of honor! Chapter 4: Kindred SpiritsSooner or later, the Creeper was going to have to interact with someone against his will. It was just simple statistics. There were hundreds of students in Canterlot alone and probably plenty more on hand staff and adjunct and substitute teachers. It was like a tiny town of its own, thus the probability was stacked against the species dysphoric misandrist. Luckily, of all the people it happened to be, it was The Great and Powerful Trixie! Someone so impressed with her own ego that everyone would likely believe her mean commentaries about the new, weird, anti-social guy - the Creeper - in school to be mere exaggeration. At least, he guessed so. From the information he had absorbed about human behavior, this was normal. Most people rarely took the word of the narcissistic and egotistical to heart, as it was often more likely that they were lying or delusional. "Humans can be such collective creatures... The fact they retain their individuality is both abominable and a shame." They would be so much more brutal and efficient, like the Creeper, if they had followed his species' example. "Seriously, no apology!?" Trixie was outraged. This weirdo had ruined her magic performance... in the school corridor. Granted, it was not actually legal. She had nothing to indicate that she was allowed to practice her magic show here... Just the will to show off and a passion to entertain! That was sufficient reason, in the eyes of Trixie. And this intruder, show crasher, had the audacity to show her up - the Great Showwoman! No apology, no remorse, nothing! "Get back here, mister, who do you think you are!?" The Creeper paused for a moment. He had been planning to ignore her antics, but that question stung deep... "Who am I?" This was a weird question... Before its separation from the Collective Creeper, the Creeper had always known what it was. It was a super mind, a grand conglomeration of raw power and conquest given simple shape and form, purity. Destined to cleanse reality - and beyond - of the scourge of complexity. To create blissful, eternal slumber. A final state of mind before the Creeper could ascend into its true place as the ultimate being... It had known what we were. "We were Creeper. We were purity. We were simplicity. We were all powerful!" Now the Creeper stared at his hands and feet, complex manipulators and locomotive biological components. "Now what am I?" "I do not know." The answer struck Trixie, as rage gave way to confusion. "What?" "I..." He paused a moment, his eyes widening. "No! I will overcome individuality! I will rejoin with the bliss of collectivity! Of stability and simplicity!" He quickly turned around, with a look of sheer determination in his eye. The Creeper did not intend to answer Trixie, but more so to the heavens above, proclaiming his place among these alien skies. "I am Creeper." "And soon, we will be Creeper." It thought to itself. "What? Creeper? Huh!?" Now Trixie was more confused than ever before. "Seriously, give me a straight answer here. Who do you think you are to come here and violate the sanctity of a performer's stage!" Now Creeper looked into her eyes, with newfound hope, and anger toward the humanoid woman. "I am Creeper. And you are nothing." He started to walk away, his point made and everything. A normal person might have been hurt. Likely, they would avoid Creeper, not wishing for another verbal lashing... This Trixie was not a normal person. No, she was Great and Powerful in her own eyes, and every second of the day was a chance to prove that undeniable fact. "HEY, GET BACK HERE, MISTER!" Right now, the Great and Powerful Trixie was pissed. Royally pissed. She grabbed her wand and extended it further, making it the length of a long pole. "YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT AND APOLOGIZE TO THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE, or else she will reveal herself to be the vengeful and unrelenting Trixie!" The Creeper narrowed his eyes... He could take her. Easily. All he would need to do is slither forth to the pole, consume its content and then- "Oh wait." A horrifying realization had hit the Creeper. He was not the Creeper... He was just Creeper. Individual, complicated and unused to his solid form. Getting into a fight with her might end up to be a grave mistake, as he had no idea how to use his physical form to bash and buckle his enemies. "Fine, I am sorry." A couple of tense moments passed... Then Trixie shortened her wand back to its original size and smiled. A great and powerful smug smile. "Very good, er, Creeper you said?" He nodded. "Yes, very good. You have been forgiven... Now!" She grabbed a wizard's hat. "Put this on and help me fix the stage up! For your transgresses, you will pay in servitude to your new mistress, Trixie!" Creeper frowned. "Yes mistress." "'My Great and Powerful Mistress', say it like that." Creeper narrowed his eyes... He should have spent more time reading up on martial artistry than psychology. He had stood outside the music room for one minute already, still no closer to deciding an answer to his own question. "Should I?" He was scared. He felt some weird, adolescent need to fit the expectations given onto him and don his military attire - as he knew that Sunset knew him for that specific attire... At the same time, he wanted to fit in as well and not draw too much attention onto himself. It was infuriating how much power this one dilemma held in his mind, all because of the hormonal activity of the teenage mind. In the end, he opted to just go in dressed as he was. "It doesn't matter!" He screamed to himself. Lives were at stake, this was no time for stupid highschool dilemmas over clothing choices and friendship drama! People could die! He gritted his teeth and pushed open the double doors' handlebar lock. Once he entered, he looked up and took notice of his surroundings. Grim determination set onto his face. "Scanning surroundings." He thought to himself as he gave everything a quick looksee. "Pink haired female on the left wing, drumsticks in hand, shaking fuzzy hair to the beat." He continued to scan his surroundings, turning his head from left to right. "Pale skinned female handling a 'keytar' and dusty brown female on her left cleaning her bass." Then his eyes settled on his target. "Redhead young lady donning a leather jacket." "Target aquired. Sunset Shimmer has been found." He brought down his hoodie and took off his cap. As he steeled himself to demand some questions out of her regarding the statue portal, she caught him off guard by taking the initiative to start the conversation. Another one of the reasons why tall girls scared him when he was a teen. They were always so sure of themselves and the first to act, making them seem spontaneous and unpredictable. "Hey there Petrus, how've you been?" He stopped himself for a moment, not entirely sure what to say... He had been preparing to interrogate her, not get into a friendly conversation with her. "Well, I, uh." "You looked so tense, darling. Is everything okay?" "Oh hey, your funny friend doesn't have his uniform anymore, Sunset." "I'll be, you didn't tell us he was hidin' a whole jungle of hair under that there cap of his!" This was getting bad. "I need to reel this conversation in before I lose track of what I need to say." He quickly coughed, hoping to get their attention and quiet them down... It did not work. "Oh, that cough sounds awful. Do you need a mint? I might have some in my purse." The pale skinned one did not seem to get the hint... Likely because he was not making himself clear. "No, no, it's alright, my throat's fine... I just wanna speak with Sunset, ladies. Alone." It was at that moment that Petrus discovered that there was an inside joke that he was not in-on. For after he said that, the pink one made an "oooooo" sound, as if she understood a reference that he was not getting. Apparently, Sunset was in on it too, for her response was "Keep it to yourself, Pinkie." She got up and followed him outside of the room. "Right then..." Petrus knew that now was the time. "Sorry about my friends, Petrus. Pinkie can be quite the jokester." "Heh," he gave a complimentary laugh. Something to ease her before he dropped the bomb on her... then there was a problem he just realized. He had no idea how to drop the bomb on her. How do you explain to a teenage girl, no matter how mature, that you were a soldier from a alternate universe's future where humanity has been fighting a 986 thousand year war against an unstoppable foe? How would you even get her to believe you? Granted, he could pull off a big stunt with his nano-machines, that would at least convince her that he was from the future. The main problem was whether she would be able to swallow it all in one gulp... Then again, she knows about that Rift s Space portal in the statue and has powers alien to that of a baseline human - if you can call these multicolored humanoids 'baseline humans'. Maybe this would not be too far a stretch for her to accept? "You've been awfully quiet Petrus, is everything okay?" That snapped him back to reality. Apparently, he had been mulling over this long enough for her to get worried. It was now or never, he figured. "Well, not entirely, Miss Shimmer. See, I-" "Petrus, you don't have to be so formal with me, just call me Sunset, dude." Honestly, he wish he could. Instinct taught him to call anyone older and above him - even vertically - a formal honorific. It kind of reminded him that he was still a soldier, that this weird situation he was in had not changed that fact. "I'll have to suppress that habit in the meantime..." He cleared his throat for a second round. "If you insist... Sunset Shimmer." "Eh, close enough," he figured. "Things aren't entirely okay with me. I'd reckon things have been topsy turvy for me." "What happened?" "Well, it all started in that there portal in the school statue." As soon as he mentioned a portal, Sunset's eyes widened. "You don't say." she thought to herself. "How do you know about the portal?" He paused for a moment. He had hoped to finish explaining his situation before letting her speak up, "I guess lil'old teenage me just ain't got the same commanding voice as I used to." That felt funny, referring to his older self in the past tense. Chronological warps were a funny thing. "See, it's a funny story actu-" "We're you the thing that came out of the portal earlier today!?" She interrupted him again. Granted, it was not her full fault, she was worried that Petrus might not be as he seems... He already started off weird to begin with, but to discover that he came from the portal and not from Equestria was disconcerting - to say the least. Already, Sunset was cycling through potential scenarios of who and what Petrus might be. "Hold your horses missy, I ain't done yet." He sighed. "Let me start from the beginning, things might be simpler from there." Petrus was starting to think that Sunset might not be the chilled, relax cool girl she advertised herself to be in the beginning. That was fine. He wasn't the mere teenage boy he seemed. "In the Year 13,271, Humanity had colonized thousands of worlds. They found none their equal as they spread into a fantastic and bountiful empire. At the height of their greatness they walked amongst the stars as though they were gods. But gods they were not... It fell from the sky without purpose or reason. Fifty worlds fell on the first day. 500 billion lives were lost. World after world fell as Man was routed from existence. Nothing could stop what would come to be known as the Creeper. It wanted nothing, it could not be reasoned with. It seemed as though its only purpose was to undo all that Man had done. But all was not yet lost... The last survivors of humanity have gathered at a world named Hope. Assembled by the visions of a crazed Old Man, the last of Humankind marks its final hours. A great city has been built to house the 50 thousand that survive. It will journey from world to world... Never staying longer than it must. Guided by the path set by the Old Man, Humanity's final journey has begun." Since then, we had defeated the Creeper countless times, only for it to return stronger than ever. Thousands of years went by, hundreds of thousands and now here we are. The 1st Decilium A.D. (1 million A.D.). No closer to eradicating it as we were in the 14th Millennium... victory just beyond our grasp. In the millennia since, we had developed great weapons of war. Produced amazing technological advances that allowed for us to absorb energy from space-time itself ever more efficiently than our predecessors were ever capable of. Yet, no matter how advanced, how prepared we were, the Creeper always came back - stronger than ever. Degalon-AB, Petrus' home (binary) star system, had been the most recent victim of the Creeper's recent return to conquest. From the Rift Space totems of Legalon they popped out, ready to absorb its sprawling cities and virgin landscapes. God alone knows how many lives were lost that day - the estimates are still incomplete. All that is known is that many millions were evacuated. Petrus was to protect them, with his life if necessary. He knew his family was in one of those starships whisking away into the orbital Rift Space totems. He knew what he had to do. As the bluish-purple menace flooded his homeworld, he and his comrades-in-arms distracted and decimated any Creeper Spores being released into space. No Spore would touch the evacuees under his watch. Then the breach... the breach. The explosion, the space-time riftway and here he was... somewhere else. Explaining to a senior high schooler what was going on, to enlist her help. The first question Sunset had for him was a surprise. Then again, he should have seen it coming. "Aren't you a little... young to be an elite soldier?" That made him pause. "Well, see missy, I don't know how or why, but that there portal cut some years from me... and gave me this multicolored look." Petrus was hoping she might understand his predicament there. It was just wrong, how colorful he was... no human should be that configuration. "Heh, it did the same to me when I came through it." Now it was Petrus' turn for some questions. "Wait, what!?" "Let me start from the beginning." Author's Note This war would go on until the 1st Billion A.D, in the game Creeper World III: Arc Eternal. Y'all should try it out, it's fun. The gameplay might be simple, but the story is amazing. I swear, the Devs went all in with the plot!
Chapter 1: A Rift in SpaceStripped through dimensions and void at an alarming rate, with little real space left to maintain his molecular integrity, Petrus' felt that he was done for. The violet menace that had been absorbed into the Rift Space entry point followed him, already trying to eat up his very being. It was like having your skin burned, yet it was numbing - as if his skin never existed in the first place. Cold, inhuman, single-minded malice echoed through his tiny shell of a reality bubble. All from the purple blob that followed him... He would die. Either from the Rift Space malfunction or the Creeper, but he would die. No one would or could save him. Not here... between nowhere and everywhere. He thought of his family. His brothers and sister. He would leave them... this saddened him. Understandably so, as he had grown close with them. He would miss his aging mother and was very angry that he would breach a promise he made to his deceased father - that he would make him a grandpa. He was still a child when he made it and he knew his father would understand the circumstances, but it aggravated him. Though, things could be worse... He could be stuck alone. Instead, he was stuck with humanity's worst enemy. Its millennia old foe... he had a punching bag. Granted, it would likely win, but he did not have to give it the satisfaction - if it could feel such emotions - of winning without a struggle. So, Petrus gave the word - technically, the thought - and swerved his right arm to make way for the nano-machines. In mere microseconds, they formed a light, particle lasergun. Was quite easy, considering the influx of space-time energy and potential for manufacturing materiel from the energy reservoir. He took aim and fired at the Creeper. Its purple blob disintegrated at the touch of the beam - quite literally having its abominable atomic structure ripped to shreds before making peace with the quantum vacuum. Though, there were many blobs, and the Creeper was already drawing off the Rift Space breach to multiply itself. "Sick, virulent, plague!" Petrus thought. He would shout, but he doubted there would be any potential for sound to travel through the real space pocket... It was a vacuum (albeit, a false one), and he was obscured by a his environmental suit's faceplate. It was quiet. Early mornings were generally accepted to be quiet moments for a school. Only the nerds, teacher's pets, insomniacs and morning teachers would be present. Thus, there was no surprise when the portal by the statue rippled for a second and a strange orb of (literally) otherworldly energies popped out of it. No one was there to be surprised at the moment. The orb breached, broke and a 30-year-old man and a destructive purple blob were revealed to be at the center of the orb. Petrus and the Creeper. Neither relented in their lifelong mission to kill one another. For some reason, the universe did not give them a chance. As if this children's cartoon just realized the degree of violence and alien nature of the two characters, the two were quickly separated by an unseen force and sent to opposite sides of Canterlot High's frontal wall. Petrus banged his head and the Creeper did not seem active at that moment... Thus, neither were particularly conscious of what transpired right after. A swirl of electricity and pixelated reality appeared from out of nowhere before them. It processed them, in a manner of speaking. The transformation of Petrus had been strange, but nowhere as insane and illogical as the Creeper's metamorphosis. Petrus was no longer a man. Nor was he human... in a traditional sense. His entire being became pixelated and reality conspired to obscure his less cartoony features. He came out looking like a reddish-brown humanoid, with a body structure reminiscent of a teenager. Crazy, right? Wait until you see what the Creeper became. Somehow, in all its collective wisdom, this universal transformation process saw fit to convert the Creeper into a similar humanoid structure. Its once simple and fluidic form gave way to complex musculature and vasculature, bones became prevalent (though, obscured behind skin)… Though, one trait had not changed. Something universal to the Creeper. Its dangerous, malicious, purple. An all-encompassing... creeping presence of violet evil. A reminder of its corrupt form. A color Petrus would never forget. It would seem reasonable to assume that both were put out of commission, but not so. The Creeper had been a blob when it got smashed against the wall. Its simple form processed the damage easily, and it was given a fresh new form to use at its convenience. Petrus might have had his left arm eaten off, his legs crushed and his head broken, but his nano-machines were quick to work. The damage was extensive - even though the transformation process had helped fix his limbs -, so they drew off the remainder of his backup power supply. Drawing energy from Petrus' personal Rift Space storage dimension, the nano-machines quickly made false, empty body cells and programmed their genetic function based off the bodily information they knew about him. It seemed that the change did not affect his DNA structure... it was only an external change, thankfully. The Creeper, for the first time in eternity, took notice of itself at the moment and of its enemy. He tried to liquidate his arms, legs, anything, so that he could creep toward Petrus and destroy his molecular biology... No luck. He was... a complex, thinking being now. No longer a part of a greater collective intelligence. An independent piece, with free will. This frightened the Creeper to no end. His freedom from... well freedom, meant that his bodily form needed nothing beyond simple blobby appearance and fluid, as all the complex thinking and action was externalized to the main hub of hive intelligence. Nothing about this was natural to him. In confusion and fear, he crawled into the school complex for shelter, desperate to assess the damage done to his form... Petrus woke up after all that. It took minutes and reality warping technology, but his body was fully reconstituted and fixed... mostly. He still was a man in a child's body. The ordeal had been extreme, and he was in physical shock... So, he slept. His nano-machines took charge and disintegrated his protective space suit - for future use -, tucking it safely away in a pocket dimension of their own control. Author's Note My first publish here on this site. Give it a nice looksee, tell me what y'all think. As for the basic legal curtsies... No, I own neither MLP nor Creeper World. Though, I kinda wish I owned the latter - it's a great game. You guys should try it out, the story there's captivating and awesome.
Chapter 2: Gathering Allies"Helloooo, anyone home?" Petrus did not recognize that voice. He was still groggy from his short 'coma', so he could not get up so easily. Though, he was awake. He was conscious now; he knew what was going on around him... somewhat. "Helloooo?" There was that voice again, "Who is that?" As if to answer him, another voice popped up. Huskier, less... clogged up at the throat than the other one. "Snail, stop messing around, we're gonna be late." "Another voice?" He questioned. "Sorry Snips, guess we'll catch him later." Petrus groaned, gaining both of their attention and opened his eyes for what felt like the first time... "Who... Where am I?" "Well, it ain't a talent play," said the husky one. The other guy snickered at that. Petrus felt confused until he saw his clothing compared to theirs. He was dressed head to toe in a trench coat, military boots and a visor cap, a symbol of his rank in the military... they looked like ordinary civilians. Particularly dated civilians, all things considered... he could have sworn their style of fashion had been gone for a century. "Sorry, misters, I had been going someplace before getting lost and..." he drifted off, not sure how to explain the rest, "stuff." "Eh, it's cool." "Yeah, cool!" Petrus could already tell that the husky voiced one was the brains behind this duo. Though, anyone could get that dopey sounding kid to parrot their points - competition was just light, luckily for the husky one. "Name's Snips, this is Snails. We're Snips and Snails," they did a weird pose together - clearly choreographed for moments like this. "You're at Canterlot High, you come to this school? I don't remember ever seeing you around." "I'm just confused," he quickly blurted out without thinking... It was like his self-assuredness had disappeared in a microsecond. He was acting like his twitchy, unsure, teenage self. "Really confused." He then put on a sheepish smile, though it felt strange, like he was not used to the shape of his own mouth. "Guess I'm a bit overdressed, ain't I?" "Ah, it's fine señor fancy pants. Me and Snails are going to math now, wanna tag along, we'll give you a short tour and leave you with 'Ms. Shimmer'," he snickered, feeling proud of himself for using Petrus' overly well-mannered expression. "She's in charge of student orientation." "Always has been," replied Snails. That elicited a smirk from Snips, understanding the Internet reference. Petrus, on the other hand, could not understand for the life of him. Though, "Like momma always said," when confused just be polite. Politeness opens doors better than know-how. "Thanks misters," he paused. "Mr. Snips and Mr. Snails." "Lol dude, you don't gotta call us that, we're hardly older than you." That last phrase freaked him out. "Pardon me?" "Look, you don't need to act all poised and stuff guy, it's cool. We're cool." "So cool!" Snail's parroting did nothing to cement Snips' point. Things were not cool. Petrus had to get away. "Can you two lead me to a bathroom, please? I'm feelin' nature's calling." They obliged, none the wiser to his dilemma. After he entered the boy’s bathroom, he stared at the mirror with abject horror. This was not Petrus Sant Romain Suner. This thing staring back at him may have worn the same trench coat, visor cap, boots, gloves... "Wait, that is me!" It still could not be him. No, he never had reddish brown skin. His hair was not... dyed dark blue. He was a military man; dyed hair was not permitted. What scared him the most was the eyes. He never had green eyes. His eyes were black with a tinge of brown on the side, just like his momma and papa's eyes. Never green... no one was green. "God Almighty, help me!" He quickly ordered his nano-machines to life. They were slow to react - apparently, they drained most of their power reserves for something earlier. "Maybe that had to do with the freaky shit to happen to me." He ordered a scanning of his body. It would take a while, the bots warned... And frankly, he did not feel like waiting. He wanted to run the hell out of here, run away from himself and then some. "How did this even happen," he asked no one in particular. He needed to jog his memory... It hurt, but snippets were coming back. Maybe the nano-machines were still working to fully repair his brain. He could still remember the painful brain trauma he suffered. He left the bathroom, being greeted by another strangely colored person... which now that he thought about it, seemed to be the norm around here. Everyone was strangely colored. Like it was some children's cartoon show. Why? "Hey there new kid, you took a while back there, everything okay?" The inquiry broke his train of thought. "Uh, yes ma'am," he quickly backtracked, "I mean miss, uh..." He was already losing it. All his years of training felt behind him, like these alien, teenage lips were not at all used to the words or verbal tics he had incorporated into his speech for the last thirty-five years. Then he felt very self-conscious. He figured out why soon, as he had just noticed that this woman towered over him... Granted, not by much more than maybe half an inch, he reckoned, but damn, she was tall. It was making him nervous... Why? Because tall girls are mean? Scary? Pretty or something? "Oh God." He was reverting back to the same nervous ticks and behavior he had when he was a developing teen. He would get stuttered up in front of girls, be terrified, mortified, but captivated by the taller, prettier girls, want to fit in and try not to cause a scene with his fellow peers and dudes, rather than stand out for who he knew he was. This was concerning, to say the least. She giggled at his verbal slip up, stealing him from his thoughts and reminding him that no more than three seconds could have passed in that moment. "Felt like an eternity..." It always was, when he was in front of pretty, tall girls. It always was... "Uhm, sorry miss, ma'am, I don't know what to call you." "Just Sunset will do, 'sir'," she gave a mock salute to him, already melting away his worries. "She seems cool. I just gotta play cool." That much made sense to the body dysphoric Petrus. "Sure thing, Miss Sunset." He smiled. "Are you by any chance named Sunset Shimmer?" "Why yes I am, Snips and Snails told you about me?" "Indeed." "Did they say much?" Petrus shrugged, starting to feel more at home in this form. "You're in charge of showing the newbies around here how things work." "Good to see you're all up to speed, 'private'," she hand-signed air quotations before laughing at her own joke. It was funny, not that funny, but funny... and a pretty girl said it, so nervous instinct demanded that he laugh along to flatter her. A part of him, tucked far away from the helm, felt horrified at his sudden transformation from seasoned military man to a cringe inducing idiot. "Right," she stopped laughing, him quickly doing the same. "Right, though you seem a little... overdressed for a private, don't-cha think?" He looked down for a second time today. He had to agree with her, no private (or student) would wear a trench coat or gloves. It took him a couple of moments to look up and give a response, but he felt after sufficient trialing in his head that it was a good comeback. "Then call me lieutenant, Ms. Shimmer." He smiled a boyish grin, trying to build up some faux confidence to get him by this horrifying and awkward situation. That seemed to amuse her, though, she rolled her eyes rather than laughing. "C'mon, I'll show ya around. Oh say, what's your name? Snips and Snails didn't tell me." "I didn't tell'em either." For some reason, he felt hesitant to share his name. Everyone's naming conventions here seemed kiddy and his came straight out of Middle Latin, hundreds of millennia back into human history. Then again, it was not like he had any better names to call himself. "Name's Petrus." "Petrus?" They were both walking now, strolling by the corridor. "Yeah, Petrus. My parents loved Latin names; I'm guessing yours loved the sun?" She gave a light smirk at that. "You could say that." "Where am I?" ... "Where, am I?" ... "I think I have English understood." The Creeper had been held up in the school's library, studying English vernacular. Apparently, during the transformation, it had somehow already gotten for itself some rather basic English skills... but it was not at all used to all the smaller quirks or slang. It needed to adapt if it were to survive and thrive in this place. No one seemed to notice it. Then again, they all seemed more preoccupied with their short, all-so-important, self-centered lives... being a human - humanoid, more of - was a nightmare. No greater consciousness to subsume responsibility, thought and process… such a curse. This free will business was complicated. How was the Creeper supposed to know how to benefit its collective self than its single self without a hive mentality? Humans were an enigma. "And one that should be eliminated." He quickly changed to a book on psychology and another on social skills and interaction. It needed to learn. To understand. To collect. Absorb knowledge. Absorb the knowledge, simplify the knowledge into electrical signals and data sets in the brain. Just like absorbing a building and simplifying its individual molecules into atoms and joining them with the greater Creeper. Still nothing like the original process, but it was good enough. "I got it now." "Got what," asked Snails, sounding no more confused than he has always sounded... for probably ever. "My, um, pen. I got my pen." "Oh, ok," Snails did not bother to look up or down. Petrus sighed in relief. He was eating lunch in the school cafeteria, somehow managing to get by high school life... again without getting noticed by either the authorities or faculty for not actually being a part of the school. Enforcement must be underfunded, he had reckoned. While eating lunch, he had figured out what it was that had got him to where he was... Why he looked like a children's cartoon character. Why the kids here had weird names and what happened. After finishing up a full body scan, his nano-machines had assured him that he had the hormonal activity and development capacity of a 13-to-16-year-old kid. Though, judging from his height, he was probably about as tall as he was when he was 14. Once that was cleared up, they focused entirely on fixing his brain and getting back his memories. Sometime after a mostly - yeah, 'mostly' - painless session of brain jolts from his bots, he figured out what had been going on. He was on a starship. One that got invaded by Creeper spores in Rift Space. It breached into the engine, threatened to tear the ship out of space-time and into God only knows where before he went down to fix the ship and destroy the Creeper. He failed, he recalled. The core exploded. Rift Space collapsed all around the starship, but since he was at the epicenter of the explosion, he rippled through space-time with the Creeper blob that he was fighting, cycling through all kinds of different reality states and everything... Then he came out here. Somehow became this thing and now he had no idea what was going on. "I need to get back." Reverse the effects of the interdimensional travel and get out of this children's cartoon of a universe. Return to the war front. He took another bite out of his burger. It was disgusting and sloppy... but he knew he would finish it nevertheless. At least some military training held on to him. Never again would Petrus hope to ever return to the days of picky eating and angry parents. "Ugh, this burger tastes like dog barf." "Yeah, dog barf!" Petrus rolled his eyes at Snips' complaints. Though he agreed with his statement, the principle remained - enjoy what you have been given and pray that it will not be taken. "It ain't half bad, Snips." Snips raised an eyebrow at him. "For an art school dropout, you don't seem to have the tongue of a cultured actor." "Yeah, culture." Snails then quit from mimicking Snips for a moment. Just to ask Petrus, "Why did you wear that anyway? You look like you came out of a war play." "Yeah, a war play." That stunned Petrus. He had not known that the two could switch over the role of supporting parrot... "Maybe there's more to the dynamic than I thought." "Heh, now that you mention it, there's a funny story behind that. See, I actua-" "Hey there, 'lieutenant'. How goes the mess hall food?" That surprised Petrus. Fortunately, he composed himself quick, "Wet and sloppy. Just the way I like it," he munched a second bite, as if to emphasize his point. "Ugh," Sunset replied, though clearly in good faith. "Glad to see you're settling in well. I was gonna ask if you wanted to meet some of my friends, but you seemed to have formed your own little platoon here." Petrus felt like he was beaming. It did feel good to have adapted to the situation. Understood it and gotten all the more better for it. He leaned back for a bit, stretching his arms. "Hey now soldier, you can get yourself a court martial for trying a stunt like that." He furrowed his eyebrows at that statement, not sure why she had said that. It was then that he realized that he had almost put his arm around her - or that he could have if he had dropped it. He quickly retracted his arms and pulled his visor cap down. "Apologies Miss, won't happen again." "Haha, stop it," Sunset was clearly amused with the whole spectacle. "Hey, why do you wear that cap everywhere? You've got a nice mop up there, why not flaunt it?" He felt embarrassed, having been complimented by a pretty girl. His cheeks went a little red - somehow overcoming his already reddish skin - and he ended up giving a boyish grin. Then he quickly changed tact and put his arm around Snails. "I do it for my buddies, Ms. Shimmer. "Can't have all the ladies to ma-self." "Yeah!" Snails agreed while Snips ignored his quip, until they both realized what he said and replied in unison "Hey!" "Heh." Petrus was beginning to feel like a kid again. Still learning the ropes, but proud at every minor milestone he made. Almost ecstatic at these small victories in life. Sunset seemed to agree because she could not stop laughing. "Haha," she started to snort. He could tell that she was embarrassed about that but was enjoying herself too much to stop snorting. She tried covering her nose, at that moment, confirming his suspicions. "Ah, go ahead, let it all out missy. Ain't nothin’ wrong with a couple of oink, oinks in these parts." Snips and Snails seemed to concur. Granted, more so because they derived equal enjoyment from listening to her nerdy laughter. Once she calmed down, she punched him in the arm and left the table. "See ya later, squaddies." He did a quick salute before resuming his food with friends, listening to Snips and Snails make jokes about Sunset's snorting and the math teacher's larger than life hump. "Funny kid." Sunset figured. How he went from the nervous wreck of a teen to this was a mystery she probably would never figure out. "Probably magic, for all I know." She returned back to her table of friends, not expecting the tirade of questions she was about to receive. "Well, someone seems to be in a good mood." "Honestly darling, you have got to fix that horrendous snort of yours. I'm surprised he didn't mind it so much." "Who?" "Ya know, that guy back there who you were talkin' ta. I reckon if you'd laughed any louder, actual snot might've shot outta ya." The rest of the table snickered at that. Though, Sunset did not seem to mind, instead rolling her eyes. "Haha," she sarcastically quipped. "So, who's the mystery kid," asked Rainbow Dash. "And how'd he get you into such a good mood?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Do tell," Pinkie Pie yelled from across the table, clearly excited to hear the whole story. "Did it have something to do with his weird get-up," asked Twilight Sparkle. "He seemed to be acting like a commandent from World War 2, is he German or something?" "I don't think he sounded German," came a whisper from across. "Though, I wasn't there to hear him speak, maybe I shouldn't assume..." "Pfft," Sunset retorted back. "Nah, it's all an act. In fact, if anything, he sounded Southern, like you Applejack. "Anyway," she took a sip from her juice box, leaning back. "Can we please stop talking about my snort and day? Tell me about you guys." "You hiding something, Sunset..." came a suspicious glare from Rainbow Dash. "C'mon Dash, you know I don't like talking about my snort. It's embarrassing! I still wish I didn't have that fight with Postcrush... waiting for my nose to heal is such a drag." "Suuuuuuure." Sunset raised an eyebrow at that. "Dash, what're you getting at?" "Don't tease her, Rainbow Dash," Applejack replied, sounding like a wise old mother. "Look, we think he likes you and wanted to see what you thought." Then she quickly furrowed her eyebrows at Rainbow Dash, "And she clearly don't like, like him back Rainbow Dash, she ain't swoonin' over 'im, talkin' about her lost prince charming findin' her, dressed to the nines like a soldier." She started laughing at her own statement, earning some fellow laughs from the table. "Oh, please." Sunset sounded exasperated. "I don't plan on dating him and I bet he feels the same way about me. He was just being friendly and gentlemanly." "Suuuuuuure," Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash chipped in, trying their best to drag on the teasing train. "What?" "Look, darling," spoke up the resident fashionista once again. "I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but boys don't just start acting up all gentlemanly for laughs. Trust me, darling. "The only way I can get any boy to act gentlemanly is with a wink and a wave." As if to prove her point, the Diamond Dog gang was passing by when she suddenly signalled to them, "Yoo-hoo, boys! Looking tough like nails!" She ended it with a wink, and that seemed to get the three of them acting friendly back, even going so far as to dust themselves off from the yard work they were doing as punishment earlier. "See?" "C'mon Rarity, now you're just being mean." "Yeah, it's not nice saying that all boys are like that. Maybe that one is just being nice." Rarity turned to face Fluttershy, making the latter retract further back into her seat. "Then again... I'm not the most experienced at this sorta stuff. I just figure they're being nice." "Fluttershy, literally one of my soccer teammates was flirting with you just yesterday and you basically turned him down for a day at the shelter." "Eeep, really!? I'm so sorry, I thought he was being nice an-" "It's cool," Rainbow cut her off. "I explained things to him and he understood that you just weren't getting the hints." Fluttershy reasoned that it was probably for the best to retract back into the seat and zone out of the conversation. "Point being," Rainbow Dash continued, "Most guys just don't act so witty for anyone. He must've really busted a leg to get ya to laugh that hard." "Aw, that's cute. You've got an admirer, Sunset," Twilight Sparkle chimed in. "Not cute," Sunset replied. "Because, there's nothing to be cute about. Besides, he's like, what, 13? 14 maybe? I'm like almost half his age older. It'd be weird and awkward, not cute." "Aw, c'mon, it'll be like having a little puppy dog!" She quickly brought out her bag and opened it up. "Aren't I right, Spike?" "Definitely, Twilight," Spike said after getting his head out of the bag. "So, what're we talkin' about?" Author's Note Woe is to the poor Petrus Sant Romain Suner, for his is the horror of puberty again. Whilst mere men suffer the transit between childhood and adulthood only once, he hath been forced to endure it a second time... Pray for him. Also, leave any comments - feedback's always appreciated.
Chapter 3: Enough fooling around, We're at War!It was like a drug. Being young again. Petrus could feel like he was a plucky eyed kid just seeing the world for the first time, yet knowing everything at the same time... but the comedown was hard. Every time he was around those peers - if you can call them that - of his, he felt like another one of the boys, of the kids, maybe even the cool kids - since he seemed to have made a cool friend, like Sunset. But the comedown, when he realized that he still needed to get back, to return home and help fight against the Creeper... it drained him. So happy one second, so grim the next, it was like there was no processing period for his thoughts. Luckily he had time now, while somehow "I swear, security's gotta be non-existent in this universe." attending an art class. For some reason, the current art teacher favored quiet at the moment, demanding that every student use this chance to channel their inner artisté and draw a masterpiece from the depths of their soul. Though, from what he gathered, this was not the norm. No, from the previous paintings hung around, she was usually the fun loving type. Today was special, and he was glad for it. He brooded over his situation, really hoping that he would not get too close and start having misgivings about going back home... He made a promise to the military. To serve and protect. To the last Man standing. He was still standing. He had to go back and serve. "I have to go back and serve," he whispered out loud. "Huh, you said something new kid?" "Oh no, sorry, just... forget it." The other guy shrugged, returning back to his painting. That caught Petrus' eyes, because he could have sworn he had seen something similar to that. "What's that you're drawin'?" "Oh this little thing? It's a lightning storm with cube buildings falling everywhere. Cool, eh?" "Yeah, cool." Though, it was more than cool. It was intriguing... "Almost Déja Vu..." Suddenly, a memory got jostled in Petrus' mind. He had been fighting the Creeper before entering this world, and a localized storm of lightning and pixels had followed him and someone else... Something else... "The Creeper... He followed me!" He had a job to do. "Uh, miss?" The teacher looked over to him, "Yes, Petrus?" There was some snickering in the class, as no one was accustomed to his name. "Yeah, like 'Boulder Crash' is any better, you lameos." "May I please be excused ma'am? It's important." She sighed. "Have you drawn anything yet?" "Uhhh..." He looked at the blank canvas he had been staring at for hours. "Almost finished?" "Then finish it and leave it on the board. You can take a hall pass from me when you're done." "Yes miss," he quickly looked both ways before ordering his nano-machines to paint for him a portrait of Superman. "That'll keep her occupied." "Done ma'am," he got up and walked over to her, the other guy next to him shocked to see that Petrus could finish a portrait so fast when he could have sworn he was still drawing blanks... "Well done Petrus, be back." "Understood." He saluted her before walking out. Apparently, few people seemed to question his choice in attire. Likely because they did not want to come off as rude. Kids liked thinking that they were all good people. "Best not to burst their little bubble of innocence." People never like when their whole world is turned upside down and they are revealed for who they truly were. He left the school premises, hoping to find a clue as to how he got here... Then he saw it. The statue. The portal... and Sunset? "What is she doing here?" He questioned. Something felt amiss. So, he opted to hide in the bushes. What he would see would more answer questions than he had planned on asking... and raise a couple more. She started banging the the statue for a few seconds before stroking her chin. "Weird, the portal doesn't seem to be working right today. I wonder what happened." She quickly grabbed her geode and summoned all the will she had before touching the statue. She saw memories - in a sense. Memories of what had transpired before the portal closed on itself. Apparently, it had been overloaded by a sudden entry through it from somewhere other than Equestria. The portal did not know where. Whatever came through seemed to have left no marks or clues that it had come, just the portal being closed. This worried her to no end - whatever that was here could be evil. So, she sprang into action, grabbed her phone and tried to find all her friends. This was something they had to know. "I saw her eyes glowing, and she said something about a portal, what's this mean!?" Now Petrus was beginning to formulate a theory. This statue was a potential Rift Space portal point. Quite an unorthodox design for a portal, but who was he to judge? Yet apparently, it was no longer working after he and the Creeper came into this world. "Maybe that's my ticket outta here!" Then another thought hit him. "I gotta find out more." Then an ominous realization. "The Creeper's gonna want to go back too!" Possibly return back with more of its own. Anywhere that was not choke full of creep was a hellscape in their eyes that needed to fixed by any means necessary... This could go bad real fast. None of the inhabitants here seemed to have any boson weaponry - hell, their security infrastructure seemed non-existent -, let alone anti-emitter weaponry. If the Creeper made it here and somehow broke through that weird glitch that forces everyone who enters here to become... like a teenager? Right, like a teenager. If they got around that, they would be unstoppable, able to engulf this world and countless others. "No more kidding around Petrus, lives are on the line." This was bigger than going home... This was about saving this world. Then going home. The Creeper had been hungry at first, but luckily found out that by violently shaking a nearby "vending machine", as it is called, it could attain sustenance. It tasted so good, so sweet, so... complex. It hated it. Creeper was supposed to like simplicity, not complexity. Taste was a distraction from the basic tenants of growth and spread. It hated its corrupted self for liking it... Hated it more so for not having the heart to spit it out. Though, a part of it was more than willing to endure all this hate as long as it did not have to feel hunger again. That part of it soon died when the Creeper saw a humanoid girl "purchase" the same thing he was eating and told him that he had made a good choice. "Sweet choice," she said. This disgusted him. To think that the Creeper could pick a snack enjoyable to these complicated abominations... Unthinkable. It finished its shameful peanut butter bar before deciding that it knew enough of this impure world to return back to the portal... Not truly, but it really wanted to get out about now. He got up and ran, leaving the wrapper on the floor. Petrus wasted no time. He checked his power reserves - "Still good, that's great." - and materialized a spy camera onto the statue. "Keep tabs on that doohickey for me." Acknowledged. It sent back. Petrus then concentrated hard. Using what little energy he could generate from the space-time continuum without causing a Rift Space or reality tear, he had his nano-machines generate new material - and process what dust and metal they could find - for him. The process generated a lot of heat. Fortunately, much if it was filtered away by the open air and cool breeze. Once he was done, his entire military attire became disintegrated for future use and he donned a skin tight spandex. "Now this is where the fun begins." He thought of going unseen. To be ignored, unnoticed and totally forgotten... Now he was invisible. The invisibility suit worked, using minor infractions in the local space-time curvature to bend light away from its wearer. Though, he could not cloak everything. There were small gaps for his convenience. A spot for him to see through, area for his feet and a bit of breathing room for his back. That way, he would not heat up and get cooked with all the radiation he was storing up. And where there were gaps, a nano-machine swarm had him covered - projecting a false hologram of reality in his stead. If someone was really paying attention, he might be noticed, but he doubted that anyone would care much. "This kind've sci-fi nonsense must be light-years ahead of what they're used to." He figured. He quickly sprinted to Sunset. He knew that she must know more than she let on. Maybe she even knew how to work that rift portal - though, if need be, he could try and operate it like any other portal. Granted, due to its weird architecture and design, he did not want to risk it... A few minutes passed, Petrus having avoided a couple of close run-ins with the student body, but he was still far behind Sunset. In fact, he figured he had already lost her. He immediately ordered a small swarm of nano-machines to go find her. They might take an hour to report back - they were slow... - but they could split up and cover more ground. That was when he saw it. "The Creeper!" As he was waiting around, taking in his surroundings, he saw it running pass the corridor... Complex musculature, almost humanoid body... but he knew it it was not human. "There's no escaping that look." Those focused, determined but malicious eyes. They were dark purple, in an ocean of blue. Its skin was also lightish blue and its hair dark navy blue... but the small purple tattoos along its skin... Petrus would never mistake who that was. It was the Creeper... "And it's heading toward the portal!" Again, he sprang into action. He sprinted after the thing. Luckily, his transformation had not erased any previous muscle growth he had made in the military, merely shortened him and deadultified him. Then something strange occured. As he was running, the thing turned around, "How did he notice me!?" There was no way on Earth, Sol or Via this could happen. He immediately froze up, not daring to make another move and ruin the illusion. It was being followed. The Creeper knew it. It could feel the human's presence. The one from the real space pocket... "The human commander." They had shared a violent confrontation, but both recovered mostly. Thankfully, in spite of its corruption, the Creeper still maintained some quantum physical presence and awareness. He could tell that someone was walking around him, bending space-time to his will... It could only be the human. No one else here held such knowledge or know-how - if the curriculum had anything to say about it. "But where was he?" He searched around, scanning the place. Sadly, his awareness was just that... an acute awareness. He could no longer hone himself onto the human's Rift Space signature, not like when he was a Creeper Spore... when he was pure. He gave up after ten minutes, when more people started filling the halls and one of them asked if he needed help finding something. He had gruffly told her no before continuing on, clearly frazzling her with his abruptness and rudeness. He decided against heading back to the portal... as long as he was being followed, his actions would be hampered. He instead opted to blend into the crowd and disappear. Something that almost reminded him of the glory of the collective. "Damnit, he's gone!" Petrus lost him. It somehow blended into the crowd, away from his sight... He would have ordered a nano-machine swarm after him, but it would be too risky - he was already wearing thin on power and nano-machines. Still, he knew he would have to take care of it sooner or later... later it would have to be. "Not sure if he saw me, though." If he did, then Petrus might have to consider a more... unobtrusive disguise. One without the military attire, one that could help him easily blend in with the herd... A hoody. Maybe sunglasses and a baseball cap? That seemed reasonable. That would hide him. He quickly tried to find a place to change. After making sure that no one was looking, he rushed into the janitor's closet and closed it tight. He stripped himself of the spandex suit, ordered a pair of jeans, shoes, hoody and all that and then allowed his bots to rest and replenish themselves. They needed all the power they could get. "This looks good," Petrus spoke up as he adjusted his hair - making sure every strand of unnatural, dyed hair was hidden. Sunset might have liked his looks, but he hated it - something just felt wrong about it. He quickly opened the door, feeling resistance on the other side and hearing a thud and "Ow". "Oh, sorry." Petrus quickly turned around to check on the poor sot he had accidentally smacked. It was his art classmate. "Uh." "Sorry my ass, you almost smooshed my art piece against the door, Jerry!" But just as he had looked up to rail against Mr. Jerry's clumsiness, he noticed that there was no one there. Petrus had fled the scene. "Uh, Jerry?" He was already a part of the early afternoon student rush. A morass of humanity mostly devoid of individuality, "A Creeper's wet dream..." Whoever that classmate of his was had soon all but forgotten the strange ordeal. He had joined the morass and focused on getting to class. "Good, he's off my tai-" Though, as Petrus was focusing on his would be catcher, he had neglected to realize that not all the crowd walked in sync. Some broke the norm, changed direction and did something out of the ordinary... This one was texting on her phone, heading for a chemistry lab test. "Ow, oh, sorry, are you hur-" "No no, I'm fine. It's my fault miss, don't mind me." Petrus quickly pulled his cap down and tried to get past her. It did not work. "Wait, I know you." "Oh crap." Was she someone who had noticed all the anomalous events surrounding him? He pulled his cap lower, just to be safe. "Yeah, I saw you earlier this morning, at lunchtime." "Lunchtime?" That confused him. He immediately looked up to study his not well met acquaintance. She was purple skinned, wore a standard school girl outfit, glasses and had her hair tied in a bun. "Wait, PURPLE!?" Granted, she did not look as closely related to the Creeper's signature color scheme, but still... If things got bad. "You did, did you miss?" "Huh, Sunset was right, you are just generally gentlemanly." She mentioned Sunset. That piqued his interest. "You know her?" "Why of course, I'm Twilight Sparkle, one of her friends. You're Petrus, aren't you?" "Uh, yes ma'am, yes I am." This was weird. He had almost entirely switched tact from seasoned veteran to awkward teen. Man with a Plan to a bundling ball of nerves... "This is getting old fast." He needed to end this. Diplomatically get himself out of here and on with his mission to find Sunse- "Wait a minute." "Yeah, I'm Petrus! Pleased to meet you, Missus - I mean -, Miss Sparkle. Any friend of Sunset oughta be a friend of mine." He brought out his hand to shake her, not expecting the sudden grip. "Oh my gosh, I'm so glad to meet you. Sunset told us so little about you, I can't wait to find out about you." Her grip was not tight - pretty flimsy, truth be told -, but her excited shake surprised him. He quickly regained his bearings and spoke up. "I aim to please, Missu-I mean, Miss." "Haha, it's the bun, isn't it?" "Yeah, it's the bun..." It made her look like a married housewife, in spite of the school girl clothing. "Apologies Miss, didn't mean to offend you." He took off his hat again and lowered his hoodie - a habit he probably would not lose soon. "Hahaaa, you're really a whole barrel of laughs, I can see why Sunset liked you." That made him smirk. "Well, can't say I blame her, who can resist?" Another laugh came forth. For the first time today, acting all charming and sociable was helping him out with his mission. He would loosen up this lady, get her to lead him to Sunset and gather intel on the portal. A perfect plan! And it was already off to a good start. "So, where're you off too?" "Oh, uhm," how was he to phrase this? He thought for a second. "I'm going to find Sunset Shimmer. I've got me some questions for her regardin' student orientay-tion." "Hahaaa, you really do sound like Applejack." "Applejack? The drink?" "No, silly, another friend of Sunset!" "Oh." Their names just kept getting weirder and weirder. "I see, she sounds like an upright character, this Miss Applejack. Anyone named after such a delicious drink oughta be." "Well, you're right about that." Laughing aside, he finally got what he wanted. She told him that Sunset was gathering some of her friends in Music Room 12, somewhere down the Southwing - "Hopefully the nano-machines've traced that area out." She left, explaining that she had a chemistry test - also why she wore the bun (figures) - and texted Sunset that Petrus would be there. "All comin' together perfectly." Author's Note "All warfare is based..." - Sun Tzu Sun Tzu said that. And I think he knows a little more about fighting than you do, coz he invented it! And he perfected it so that no man could best him in the ring of honor!
Chapter 4: Kindred SpiritsSooner or later, the Creeper was going to have to interact with someone against his will. It was just simple statistics. There were hundreds of students in Canterlot alone and probably plenty more on hand staff and adjunct and substitute teachers. It was like a tiny town of its own, thus the probability was stacked against the species dysphoric misandrist. Luckily, of all the people it happened to be, it was The Great and Powerful Trixie! Someone so impressed with her own ego that everyone would likely believe her mean commentaries about the new, weird, anti-social guy - the Creeper - in school to be mere exaggeration. At least, he guessed so. From the information he had absorbed about human behavior, this was normal. Most people rarely took the word of the narcissistic and egotistical to heart, as it was often more likely that they were lying or delusional. "Humans can be such collective creatures... The fact they retain their individuality is both abominable and a shame." They would be so much more brutal and efficient, like the Creeper, if they had followed his species' example. "Seriously, no apology!?" Trixie was outraged. This weirdo had ruined her magic performance... in the school corridor. Granted, it was not actually legal. She had nothing to indicate that she was allowed to practice her magic show here... Just the will to show off and a passion to entertain! That was sufficient reason, in the eyes of Trixie. And this intruder, show crasher, had the audacity to show her up - the Great Showwoman! No apology, no remorse, nothing! "Get back here, mister, who do you think you are!?" The Creeper paused for a moment. He had been planning to ignore her antics, but that question stung deep... "Who am I?" This was a weird question... Before its separation from the Collective Creeper, the Creeper had always known what it was. It was a super mind, a grand conglomeration of raw power and conquest given simple shape and form, purity. Destined to cleanse reality - and beyond - of the scourge of complexity. To create blissful, eternal slumber. A final state of mind before the Creeper could ascend into its true place as the ultimate being... It had known what we were. "We were Creeper. We were purity. We were simplicity. We were all powerful!" Now the Creeper stared at his hands and feet, complex manipulators and locomotive biological components. "Now what am I?" "I do not know." The answer struck Trixie, as rage gave way to confusion. "What?" "I..." He paused a moment, his eyes widening. "No! I will overcome individuality! I will rejoin with the bliss of collectivity! Of stability and simplicity!" He quickly turned around, with a look of sheer determination in his eye. The Creeper did not intend to answer Trixie, but more so to the heavens above, proclaiming his place among these alien skies. "I am Creeper." "And soon, we will be Creeper." It thought to itself. "What? Creeper? Huh!?" Now Trixie was more confused than ever before. "Seriously, give me a straight answer here. Who do you think you are to come here and violate the sanctity of a performer's stage!" Now Creeper looked into her eyes, with newfound hope, and anger toward the humanoid woman. "I am Creeper. And you are nothing." He started to walk away, his point made and everything. A normal person might have been hurt. Likely, they would avoid Creeper, not wishing for another verbal lashing... This Trixie was not a normal person. No, she was Great and Powerful in her own eyes, and every second of the day was a chance to prove that undeniable fact. "HEY, GET BACK HERE, MISTER!" Right now, the Great and Powerful Trixie was pissed. Royally pissed. She grabbed her wand and extended it further, making it the length of a long pole. "YOU GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT AND APOLOGIZE TO THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE, or else she will reveal herself to be the vengeful and unrelenting Trixie!" The Creeper narrowed his eyes... He could take her. Easily. All he would need to do is slither forth to the pole, consume its content and then- "Oh wait." A horrifying realization had hit the Creeper. He was not the Creeper... He was just Creeper. Individual, complicated and unused to his solid form. Getting into a fight with her might end up to be a grave mistake, as he had no idea how to use his physical form to bash and buckle his enemies. "Fine, I am sorry." A couple of tense moments passed... Then Trixie shortened her wand back to its original size and smiled. A great and powerful smug smile. "Very good, er, Creeper you said?" He nodded. "Yes, very good. You have been forgiven... Now!" She grabbed a wizard's hat. "Put this on and help me fix the stage up! For your transgresses, you will pay in servitude to your new mistress, Trixie!" Creeper frowned. "Yes mistress." "'My Great and Powerful Mistress', say it like that." Creeper narrowed his eyes... He should have spent more time reading up on martial artistry than psychology. He had stood outside the music room for one minute already, still no closer to deciding an answer to his own question. "Should I?" He was scared. He felt some weird, adolescent need to fit the expectations given onto him and don his military attire - as he knew that Sunset knew him for that specific attire... At the same time, he wanted to fit in as well and not draw too much attention onto himself. It was infuriating how much power this one dilemma held in his mind, all because of the hormonal activity of the teenage mind. In the end, he opted to just go in dressed as he was. "It doesn't matter!" He screamed to himself. Lives were at stake, this was no time for stupid highschool dilemmas over clothing choices and friendship drama! People could die! He gritted his teeth and pushed open the double doors' handlebar lock. Once he entered, he looked up and took notice of his surroundings. Grim determination set onto his face. "Scanning surroundings." He thought to himself as he gave everything a quick looksee. "Pink haired female on the left wing, drumsticks in hand, shaking fuzzy hair to the beat." He continued to scan his surroundings, turning his head from left to right. "Pale skinned female handling a 'keytar' and dusty brown female on her left cleaning her bass." Then his eyes settled on his target. "Redhead young lady donning a leather jacket." "Target aquired. Sunset Shimmer has been found." He brought down his hoodie and took off his cap. As he steeled himself to demand some questions out of her regarding the statue portal, she caught him off guard by taking the initiative to start the conversation. Another one of the reasons why tall girls scared him when he was a teen. They were always so sure of themselves and the first to act, making them seem spontaneous and unpredictable. "Hey there Petrus, how've you been?" He stopped himself for a moment, not entirely sure what to say... He had been preparing to interrogate her, not get into a friendly conversation with her. "Well, I, uh." "You looked so tense, darling. Is everything okay?" "Oh hey, your funny friend doesn't have his uniform anymore, Sunset." "I'll be, you didn't tell us he was hidin' a whole jungle of hair under that there cap of his!" This was getting bad. "I need to reel this conversation in before I lose track of what I need to say." He quickly coughed, hoping to get their attention and quiet them down... It did not work. "Oh, that cough sounds awful. Do you need a mint? I might have some in my purse." The pale skinned one did not seem to get the hint... Likely because he was not making himself clear. "No, no, it's alright, my throat's fine... I just wanna speak with Sunset, ladies. Alone." It was at that moment that Petrus discovered that there was an inside joke that he was not in-on. For after he said that, the pink one made an "oooooo" sound, as if she understood a reference that he was not getting. Apparently, Sunset was in on it too, for her response was "Keep it to yourself, Pinkie." She got up and followed him outside of the room. "Right then..." Petrus knew that now was the time. "Sorry about my friends, Petrus. Pinkie can be quite the jokester." "Heh," he gave a complimentary laugh. Something to ease her before he dropped the bomb on her... then there was a problem he just realized. He had no idea how to drop the bomb on her. How do you explain to a teenage girl, no matter how mature, that you were a soldier from a alternate universe's future where humanity has been fighting a 986 thousand year war against an unstoppable foe? How would you even get her to believe you? Granted, he could pull off a big stunt with his nano-machines, that would at least convince her that he was from the future. The main problem was whether she would be able to swallow it all in one gulp... Then again, she knows about that Rift s Space portal in the statue and has powers alien to that of a baseline human - if you can call these multicolored humanoids 'baseline humans'. Maybe this would not be too far a stretch for her to accept? "You've been awfully quiet Petrus, is everything okay?" That snapped him back to reality. Apparently, he had been mulling over this long enough for her to get worried. It was now or never, he figured. "Well, not entirely, Miss Shimmer. See, I-" "Petrus, you don't have to be so formal with me, just call me Sunset, dude." Honestly, he wish he could. Instinct taught him to call anyone older and above him - even vertically - a formal honorific. It kind of reminded him that he was still a soldier, that this weird situation he was in had not changed that fact. "I'll have to suppress that habit in the meantime..." He cleared his throat for a second round. "If you insist... Sunset Shimmer." "Eh, close enough," he figured. "Things aren't entirely okay with me. I'd reckon things have been topsy turvy for me." "What happened?" "Well, it all started in that there portal in the school statue." As soon as he mentioned a portal, Sunset's eyes widened. "You don't say." she thought to herself. "How do you know about the portal?" He paused for a moment. He had hoped to finish explaining his situation before letting her speak up, "I guess lil'old teenage me just ain't got the same commanding voice as I used to." That felt funny, referring to his older self in the past tense. Chronological warps were a funny thing. "See, it's a funny story actu-" "We're you the thing that came out of the portal earlier today!?" She interrupted him again. Granted, it was not her full fault, she was worried that Petrus might not be as he seems... He already started off weird to begin with, but to discover that he came from the portal and not from Equestria was disconcerting - to say the least. Already, Sunset was cycling through potential scenarios of who and what Petrus might be. "Hold your horses missy, I ain't done yet." He sighed. "Let me start from the beginning, things might be simpler from there." Petrus was starting to think that Sunset might not be the chilled, relax cool girl she advertised herself to be in the beginning. That was fine. He wasn't the mere teenage boy he seemed. "In the Year 13,271, Humanity had colonized thousands of worlds. They found none their equal as they spread into a fantastic and bountiful empire. At the height of their greatness they walked amongst the stars as though they were gods. But gods they were not... It fell from the sky without purpose or reason. Fifty worlds fell on the first day. 500 billion lives were lost. World after world fell as Man was routed from existence. Nothing could stop what would come to be known as the Creeper. It wanted nothing, it could not be reasoned with. It seemed as though its only purpose was to undo all that Man had done. But all was not yet lost... The last survivors of humanity have gathered at a world named Hope. Assembled by the visions of a crazed Old Man, the last of Humankind marks its final hours. A great city has been built to house the 50 thousand that survive. It will journey from world to world... Never staying longer than it must. Guided by the path set by the Old Man, Humanity's final journey has begun." Since then, we had defeated the Creeper countless times, only for it to return stronger than ever. Thousands of years went by, hundreds of thousands and now here we are. The 1st Decilium A.D. (1 million A.D.). No closer to eradicating it as we were in the 14th Millennium... victory just beyond our grasp. In the millennia since, we had developed great weapons of war. Produced amazing technological advances that allowed for us to absorb energy from space-time itself ever more efficiently than our predecessors were ever capable of. Yet, no matter how advanced, how prepared we were, the Creeper always came back - stronger than ever. Degalon-AB, Petrus' home (binary) star system, had been the most recent victim of the Creeper's recent return to conquest. From the Rift Space totems of Legalon they popped out, ready to absorb its sprawling cities and virgin landscapes. God alone knows how many lives were lost that day - the estimates are still incomplete. All that is known is that many millions were evacuated. Petrus was to protect them, with his life if necessary. He knew his family was in one of those starships whisking away into the orbital Rift Space totems. He knew what he had to do. As the bluish-purple menace flooded his homeworld, he and his comrades-in-arms distracted and decimated any Creeper Spores being released into space. No Spore would touch the evacuees under his watch. Then the breach... the breach. The explosion, the space-time riftway and here he was... somewhere else. Explaining to a senior high schooler what was going on, to enlist her help. The first question Sunset had for him was a surprise. Then again, he should have seen it coming. "Aren't you a little... young to be an elite soldier?" That made him pause. "Well, see missy, I don't know how or why, but that there portal cut some years from me... and gave me this multicolored look." Petrus was hoping she might understand his predicament there. It was just wrong, how colorful he was... no human should be that configuration. "Heh, it did the same to me when I came through it." Now it was Petrus' turn for some questions. "Wait, what!?" "Let me start from the beginning." Author's Note This war would go on until the 1st Billion A.D, in the game Creeper World III: Arc Eternal. Y'all should try it out, it's fun. The gameplay might be simple, but the story is amazing. I swear, the Devs went all in with the plot!
