The Trials Of The Scarlet Kingby Warp ContrastChaptersChapter 1 - In The Beginning...Chapter 2 - Lies And Half-TruthsChapter 3 - A Not-So-Subtle TellChapter 4 - Curiosity Killed The CatChapter 5 - RSVPChapter 6 - In DreamsChapter 7 - Stinging SensationsChapter 1 - In The Beginning...There is, or rather was, a man. His name, for the purposes of this story, will be unknown. It doesn't matter, it has never mattered, and it will likely continue not to matter long into this story. Today, he had chosen to go to a convention. His name will be no more important there than anywhere else, surely. "Hi, and welcome to SecureCon! Who are you?" He calmly strode past the strange person and proceeded to the opening ceremony on the first day, silently glad to not have a tail for his costume quite yet, as it would make sitting in those cramped seats that much harder. As he listened to the speaker drone on about the convention's history, he could't help but be excited. He was supposed to meet with an online vendor that day to pick up that which was missing from his awesome and terrible costume, that of the dreaded Scarlet King from the very same mythos as the convention itself was based around. It took about three more hours before the artist's alley was open to buyers, but he was the first in line, rushing in to have first pick and, more importantly, get himself some tail. The tail. ...get your mind out of the gutter. He carried on quickly and spotted the table of the one artist he really came here to see, though he quickly noticed their table was strangely barren of, well, anything but the tail itself, which almost seemed to move a little. Strange, but not the oddest thing he had ever seen. He approached the table and noticed a note next to the tail. Picking it up, it read "Hey duder, sorry I couldn't make it, I had some other stuff to attend to, so I decided that this is gonna be my gift to you. Careful though, there is a weird little caveat to this transaction. If you put on the ta-" Which is as far as he read before he quickly crumpled up the note and tossed it as he took the tail for his own. Too excited to think for another moment, he quickly affixed the tail to himself and immediately passed out. People rushed to where he was but found nothing there, save for a marking on the ground, a scratch, as through from some kind of gnarled claw. He came to much later, awakening in a dark and damp forest, the thick shade of the canopy completely blotting out the sun and the pervasive darkness creeping in from odd angles. He heard the calls of wild animals and things he didn't even recognize, some seemingly cut short as the cycle of life caught up with them. He tried to stand but couldn't seem to manage it at first. His legs almost felt like jelly, but then again so did the rest of him. He tried to reach with an arm but found only something like a tendril unless he focused hard on it, though finding it easier after that first time to form a proper limb. He gathered himself up into the only form he could manifest at the moment, something covered in spines and spikes and pain so as to scare away the native denizens to avoid being hurt, himself. He forced himself into the form of the Scarlet King once again, though he felt far more comfortable like this than he ever did in that bulky costume, or even as he did before he ever put it on. "This is... weird..." He said, the words escaping his "mouth" without a thought otherwise, though that quickly changed when he noted how strange it felt to speak, and how horrible the sound that escaped him sounded. Like the crawling of a thousand insect, or the screaming of a thousand souls, though impossible to grasp the difference between the options in his voice, the sound seeming like a combination of the two. The sort of sound that might drive a man insane,, he thought to himself, though I can hardly be called a man anymore, can I? He had readied to step forward before bumping his "foot" lightly against something on the ground. Thinking it was merely a root or something, he merely stepped over it, before glancing back for some reason, though his logical brain dictated that it was only curiousity. He noticed it was a book, small, yet large, and colorless, yet far too colorful. He picked it up and noticed it felt light as a feather and heavy as a stone all at once. He resolved to keep track of it. After all the book was strange, he was strange, it just made sense. He took a look at the cover, disregarding the obviously incomprehensible nature of the book and reading the text with ease. Encyclopedia Eldritch Or Everything You Need To Know About Your New Existence As An Elder God "Oh. Good. An instruction manual," he thought to himself again, this time seemingly amused, though who knows if I can actually make any use of it. I don't know. Any structure is welcome at this point. He silently resolved to move on and wandered for a while before spotting a mysterious hut in the woods. He saw what he thought was a zebra walking calmly into her hut, though she stopped for a moment and stiffened, seemingly taking note of something, before fearfully rushing inside. He took note of her form and decided to see what he could do to change into something that looked a little less... harmful if he was going to be interacting with anyone here, wherever here was. He opened the manual to the table of contents and skimmed through before he found a section on transformation and disguise. He quickly absorbed the knowledge as he read for a moment. He focused and cleared his mind of all but his desired form, a zebra, like the one he just saw, but male. He began to feel his form shift and crack in places where it had hardened until he felt certain he had gotten the form right before creating a small cavity in his chest and tucking the book into there for safe keeping. He endeavored to change his voice, too, and managed to settle on a comfortable sounding baritone. Happy with what he had chosen, he approached the hut, hoping to find some information on where he'd found himself, but he failed to notice the face in the window that had been watching him since close to the end of his transformation. He knocked carefully on the door, oblivious, and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, he had had enough of waiting and called to her. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know! I promise you that! I'm just confused, and worried. I only want to know where I am or when I am or whatever." He waited once again at the door and stepped back as he saw a shadow just beneath the doorframe. "If what you say is true, then let me see the real you. I know that form you wear is not yours to be taken, and I won't let myself for a fool be mistaken." She said fearfully from the other side of the door, prompting him to quickly mold himself again into the form of the Scarlet King, though, not discarding his voice. "Is this what you wanted to see?" He asked, waiting still a moment before she opened the door again, clearly uneasy, but more willing to trust than a moment before, despite how horrifying he looked. "Your form doesn't please me, but the truth makes me less uneasy. Come inside now, and we will speak, and you may find the answers you seek." Author's Note This is kind of a first draft? I'm trying to get the tone right, but it's kinda tricky. I'm not a super experienced writer, but I hope this is alright? Edit: I think it might be a little better now, though. The tense is a bit more consistent. Chapter 2 - Lies And Half-TruthsHe followed her into the hut, finding the interior to very much match the aesthetic of the outside, various tribal masks, herbs, and brewing accoutrements lined the walls and were placed here and there. ...huh. A witch doctor? I mean, I'm some sort of eldritch horror and she's a talking zebra, so, I mean, not too farfetched," he thought, before realizing they hadn't really acquainted themselves quite yet. "My name is... huh," he paused, trying his best to remember his own name. He'd gone by it his whole life, he'd always been known by it. Any other time he'd know it for sure, but at that moment it was as though he simply had a hole in his mind where that memory used to be. He decided he would fill it, perhaps with a new memory. A new name, to fill the gap the old one left behind. "It's King, I suppose." The zebra paused and looked at him, tilting her head in confusion, distrust written plainly on her face. "You don't seem too certain of that name of yours. Is this another of many monsterous lures?" She paused, looking into his eyes for moment, though a very short one as she grew very uncomfortable doing so immediately. "I promise, it's not, though with how you seem not to trust me, my promise probably isn't worth much. I've only been wherever it is I am, and whatever am I for that matter, for a few hours now, at most. I don't know how I got here, and I certainly don't understand why it is that I can't seem to remember my own original name, so I decided to try something new instead. I'm sorry, I guess. That's just what I've got," he said as he raised his hands in what he hoped came across as a supplicating gesture rather than a threat. The witch doctor seemed to lose a little of that tension from before. Sighing a moment, she spoke again. "I am sorry, I suppose, for acting that way before. Living here makes one wary of strangers at their door. My name is Zecora, and that's the truth. To find yours, I'd likely need more than a sleuth. I'm sorry, again, for treating you as such. Like Ponyville once treated me, perhaps I deserved as much. Where you find yourself now is the Everfree, the heart of the forest is home to me," she paused a moment, hoping perhaps for some semblance of recognition to appear in his face, though, finding none, she continued. "The wider lands are called Equestria, further still are the Badlands, Griffonstone, and Zebrica. More still rest on this planet called Equus, upon which live ponies, dragons, zebras, and rarely, moose." She paused once again to study his face, deciding that maybe she'd rather have something a little closer to normal, after all. He picked up on this, quickly asking, "Do you mind if I turn to something a little more normal for this place? You seem really uncomfortable with how I look right now and I'd rather not make things too much worse right now." She nodded quickly at his question and he stepped out of the door again, not wanting her to see his transformation as he wasn't sure of the kind of effect it might have had on her mind. He turned himself into a zebra stallion again, this time polishing the look somewhat, artfully designing spiralling designs across his body that seemed somehow smooth and jagged at the same time, coming to an end in the rough, thorny shape of a rose on his flank. He wasn't precisely Picasso, but he was happy with his form for the moment, nonetheless. He walked back into the hut, and turned to show Zecora his form. "Is this any better?" Zecora turned to look, paused a moment before a small blush came to be on her muzzle, if only for a moment. "Much, I... I suppose. Apologies, I seem to have lost my prose," she turned away for a moment as she collected herself. When she had done so, she turned back to speak again. "You remind me much of one I once knew, but that cannot be, after all, it's just you. That aside, I assume that you seem civilization. I can't give you that, but there's Equestria's nation," she said and seemed to chuckle at her own joke, and he joined out of some awkward sense of obligation. "Ponyville is as far as I'm willing to go. From there you're alone, just so that you know." He nodded sagely at this, or whatever approximation of sageness he could manage in a form he wasn't terribly familiar with. "That's alright, I suppose. Anything's better than nothing. I appreciate the help." "It's not much help at all, though I'm sure that you'll see. Ponies aren't always what they're cracked up to be..." She then held open the door of her hut, gesturing out, and the two of them left, beginning the short journey to Ponyville, arriving shortly thereafter, Zecora bidding him good luck as he walked into town. The first pony he encountered immediately turned and walked away, clearly trying to keep herself from panicking. She had a rose cutie mark and had a pasted on smile, avoiding King whilst attempting to seem friendly for appearances. Many other ponies seemed to have the same reaction to him as he passed until he heard a sound like something between grunts of anger and barely restrained tears. He followed the sounds until he came upon a white-furred unicorn with striking two-tone blue hair, her beautiful bright red eyes only marred by tears and anguish. "Urgh!! What did I do to deserve this shit!? I was born like this, why the fuck does it matter what color my eyes are!?" She continued raging against the nearest wall as he approached, cautious but concerned. "What's wrong with your eyes? I happen to think that's a wonderful color," he asked, looking only to help. "It's just... ugh, you wouldn't even get it..." "Try me, I might understand better than you think," he said, turning to show her his eyes, the bright crimson color shown like precious rubies. "They... no one comes to my shows. Not since Octavia busted my damned sunglasses. Ever since people started spreading rumors that I was some kind of monster because of my red eyes." She sniffled, "I just... I wish I never even had to show them, that people would just forget about my eyes and listen to my music..." "Well, I disagree, but if you really feel you need to hide them..." He paused thoughtfully before settling on an idea. "Here, just a moment, please." He turned around for a moment, hiding his hoof as he extended a bit of it and stretched it out, pulling and stretching it thin until it became a shaded lens, then two, forming a large pair of dark purple sunglasses which he quickly snapped off, deciding not to think about it when he didn't feel any pain from it, a sensation akin to clipping a nail the only feeling that accompanied it. "Try these. They should help you cover them if you really feel you should." She accepted them and smiled, happy for the help. "Why are you doing this, anyway? Why help some random mare you heard yelling in the middle of the day?" "Why not? It was worth it for that smile, anyhow." He smiled at her, happy to have helped, before turning and holding a hoof in the air in farewell. "Well, see you around." "Wait! At least tell me what I can call you next time I see you," she chuckled as she spoke, surprised he hadn't even given her his name. "I'm Vinyl." "King," he stated confidently. "It's nice to meet you." Author's Note I think I got it right this time? Don't be afraid to inform me that I am, in fact, a huge big dumb idiot. Still don't have an editor. Chapter 3 - A Not-So-Subtle TellKing wandered off after that conversation, searching for someplace to hunt down more information about this world. He decided a library might be a good place to start, though it wasn't easy to find on it's own, especially with that eyesore in his line of sight. "Who the hell's idea was it to build a damned tree out of shiny crystals anyways? he thought, his eyes seemingly constantly assaulted by the gleaming of light off of it's myriad "branches" if they could be called that. "Maybe I should just ask someone for help? One of these little horses should know the way around here, I'm su-" Though his thought was shortly cut off as some sort of pink blur flashed abruptly in front of him before disappearing a moment. He started to continue trotting forward before he was again halted by the pink flash, this time, however, it stopped right in front of him, revealing a painfully pink pony, with hair like cotton candy and sky blue eyes that shone just a little too brightly for his tastes. "Oh! Oh! I've never seen you around here before, which means you must be new here! That must mean you're a new pony, which is ironic because you're not even a pony, you're a zebra or something, and that means I've never thrown a party for you, which can't stay that way because obviously I can't be the number one party pony if I don't throw you a party," she paused only to inhale deeply, "and what kind super duper party planner pony would I be if I just left you party-less anyways?? Not much of one I thi-" He quickly moved to cut her off by lightly pressing her muzzle shut with both hooves, clearly a little irritated as she just kept going. "Alright, fine, you can throw me a party, just shut up, jesus christ!" He slowly removed his hooves from her muzzle to make sure she wasn't just going to blast him with words again and continued. "I'm King." "Silly! No you're not, I already know all the royalty in Equestria, and you're not on the list!" She giggled a little as she said so before continuing, her expression shifting imperceptibly to something almost conspiratorial as she leaned in to speak with a near whisper "Besides, we both know who you really are, don't we?" "I- wha- no- what are you talking about?" He was panicking, clearly, worried that someone had caught on, though he wasn't entirely sure why, the only thing he was really trying to hide was the thing he looked like. Did these ponies see what he really was the whole time? Had the disguise really meant nothing? "Who are you, anyways?" She brightened up instantly, a look of pure cheer instantly lighting up her face. "Why, I'm Pinkie Pie! And you're a zebra named King, Secret Cool Pony Number One!" she exclaimed with a little too much cheer before again shifting to that knowing expression and turning to some unseen camera and winking conspiratorially. "Your party is tonight at Sugar Cube Corner, don't miss it, Number One!" She then turned and pronked off casually as if what she had just said wasn't somewhat concerning, at the very least. "I- hmm..." He struggled to even think, he was panicking internally about this entire encounter and was worried about the possible ramifications. Was it that obvious? Was he as good as caught? For that matter, what did she mean, "Secret Cool Pony?" when he's a zebra right now? There were too many questions swirling in his head, so he decided to disregard them for the moment as, even if it was that obvious, he could hardly do anything about it just yet, so instead he chose to head for the center of town to get his bearings and maybe find somepony to ask for directions to the library. Meanwhile, in another part of town, a certain DJ, sitting at home, decided to try out the sunglasses she had been gifted earlier that same day, finding that they didn't even really tint her view all that much, as her past pair had, leaving her still with unimpeded sight. She wasn't sure if they would help, but she was willing to try just about anything at this point. After all this, though, they would still remember what color her eyes were, wouldn't they? That much couldn't possibly change. She decided to try them out and see how other ponies reacted to her changed aesthetic. She walked out into the street and trotted towards the club she liked most to play at. If they didn't call her out on them or give her strange looks, she would call this a success. She walked in the doors and immediately, eyes were on her. She didn't see a single glare amongst them, though. It was like they had just forgotten about those eyes they hated with these sunglasses on, like she had a second chance. She strode confidently up to the manager to speak with him. "Is there a spot open for tonight?" she asked excitedly, anxious for a chance to finally draw a crowd at her show. The manager nodded and handed her the requisite forms she needed to fill out to host a show that night. She took them to a corner booth and quickly filled them out before rushing them back to the manager and handing them to him. "Alright, now you get yourself ready for tonight. Those magenta eyes are gonna shine in the spotlight, I promise you," he smiled warmly at her, excitement showing in his own eyes, as well. "Can't wait for it, kid." She smiled back before realizing something off about what he had said. "Magenta?" She thought to herself, confused for a moment that was as quickly gone as it had arrived. Of course her eyes were magenta. They always were, and they always will be. How silly of her to forget. King arrived at the town hall, only to be blocked from entering by a city guard. He had a scowl on his face and looked as though cruelty came as second nature to him. As King tried to walk past him, the guard turned and barked at him, "Where do you think you're going?" His scowl turned into a cruel smirk. "I don't recall Mayor Mare sending for any dirty zebras to come to town hall. Why don't you go back where you came from?" "Excuse me? I'm sorry, but you're blocking entry from a public building, why?" He smiled a wry little smile as he raised his voice a few decibels. "I mean, it's not like you're speciest or anything, right? You wouldn't want to be seen like that, of course!" His smile grew a little wider as he noticed that ponies nearby had taken notice of his little display, turning to glare at the guard, whose smirk quickly vanished from his face. Cowed, he moved from the door, grumbling, and let King through. The eldritch zebra knew that all he had to do now was head in and talk to the attendant at the front desk. He didn't even need to see this "Mayor Mare" as he was just looking for directions. He walked right up to the concierge and greeted her with a polite "Hello!" and, after a short polite, yet forced conversation, he received his directions and headed off, surprised to find that his destination was that damned crystal castle after all. Author's Note This chapter you was brought to you in part by the weird ass music I sometimes listen to casually because my tastes are pretty much busted. https://youtu.be/hCzfzeobeNM As always, reviews are extremely welcome, I am absurdly unsure about this chapter in particular, so if y'all don't like something about it, please let me know. Chapter 4 - Curiosity Killed The CatKing had seen a few interesting locales while he'd been in Equestria. Even just in Ponyville, for that matter, as he was pretty certain he had passed a giant gingerbread house earlier and that seemed pretty odd to him. That aside, this castle certainly took the cake on local oddities, himself aside. He approached the door and knocked, expecting a guard or something, only for the door to be answered by a large purple lizard, nearly big enough to reach his chin, if you counted his spines. "Hello..?" the lizard asked, head titled in confusion. "Uhh..." King began, pausing in confusion of his own before continuing. "...is this the library?" "Yeah," he said before making a slightly puzzled face. "Well, this is actually the Castle Of Friendship, but we have a library here, and it is open to the public. Are you looking to borrow a book?" "Actually, I am. I'm a little, uhh, new in town?" he said, hoping the creature didn't ask too terribly many questions. "I'm just sort of trying to piece together what kind of place Equestria is, I guess. I've never been before." "Yeah, I kinda woulda guessed that one. We don't tend to get a lot of zebras here in Ponyville, aside from Zecora. Well, if you'd like, I can guide you to the library and you can have a look around, see if there are any books that catch your eye." He smiled broadly, shortly before coughing up a small gout of green flames that somehow turned into a scroll in his hands. He opened it and quickly skimmed through the contents. "Oh, geez, that's Twilight. I'd better help her with that. Uhh, the library is down the hall, and it's the last door on the left. My name's Spike, by the way, it was nice to meet you." "King, and likewise. See you around, Spike," he said before waving to Spike and heading into the castle, quickly finding his way to the library and tearing into the history section first and working through each section incredibly fast, finding himself capable of reading and processing information at a rate far above what he was used to. He had made it through three quarters of the books there before the sun finally began to set and Twilight entered the library. "Oh, hello! I didn't know anycreature was still in here!" She smiled despite not recognizing the zebra before her, always eager to make a new friend. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?" "King," he coolly responded, mostly disregarding her in favor of the books. "King, huh? That's an interesting name for a zebra, isn't it?" She tilts her head quizzically, though when he doesn't respond further, she tries to continue. "That aside, it seems like you really love books, huh? I may be understating it here, but I'm pretty fond of them myself, you know. Maybe we could trade favorites or discuss them sometime?" "Maybe, I suppose." He was already starting to get annoyed, and he kinda wanted to get her off of his back for the moment. While behind the cover of books, he removed his guide from his chest. "Here, actually. I found this strange book not too long ago. Seeing as how you seem to enjoy books as such, maybe you should have a look at this one?" He was hoping the strange book might keep her off of his back for a few minutes. Naturally, she immediately accepted, always interested to read a book she had never seen before, and certainly willing for a potential new friend. However, once she picked up the book and got a good look at it, once she felt the slimy yet dry cover, read the incomprehensible text, felt exhausting hefting despite it also feeling lighter than air, she immediately felt as though she had to put it down. Now, however, she was curious. She immediately opened the book and set it down to read it. Skimming through the countless illegible pages, she began to feel strange. She could almost read the text, like it was written in a language just barely harder to read than standard text, yet she just couldn't seem to comprehend it. "I'm sorry, King, was it? Do you mind if I borrow this book for a bit?" "I dunno, you probably shouldn't" King said, suddenly realizing that it might be kinda hard to explain why he had to keep track of a book he just happened to "find." "Are you sure, I'd just like to borrow it for just a few minutes, I'll have it right back to you," she said before rushing out of the room to her own personal study, planning to thoroughly dissect anything and everything about this book that she could manage, no matter what. "That... could be an issue. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine. Hopefully." He shrugged casually. It wasn't like she could read the damn thing anyways. She'd probably just show up tomorrow or something and return it. She wasn't the type to get that obsessive over something silly like a book, right? Shortly after this, King felt he had learned enough, at least for the day, and began to leave the castle before being stopped by little lizard, Spike, again. "Hey, did you happen to see a purple alicorn while you were in there? She hasn't come for dinner yet and I'm a little worried." "No, I haven't," he replied, and it was the truth, as he hadn't been paying a single iota of attention to what Twilight had looked like before, only that she was distracting him from reading. "I hope you find her, though. Have a good night, little dragon." He then headed out into the night, hoping to find an inn to stay for the night. He found one after not too long a search, though he quickly realized he might need money to stay there. Luckily, he had found a single bit on the ground not too long ago, so he had a good base to work from. He molded the hoof outwards again, creating four golden coins that looked just the same as the first before heading into the inn. "Hi, and welcome to The Hungry Sprite! Are you looking to stay the night here, sir?" the mare at the front desk asked jovially, excited to have a customer. Turns out, naming an inn after a small disaster the town experienced a few years back is not a good way to drum up business. "I am. How much would a night be, here?" "Four bits, sir," then she smiled a shy smile and continued. " though I'll mark it down to three if you'll tell your friends about us. I would really appreciate it." "I'll take it, and I'll make sure everyone knows just how pleasant a stay I had here." He smiled at her warmly before handing her his three copied bits and heading to his room. Immediately, he laid down in bed, feeling exhausted. It didn't take him long at all to fall asleep. However, his sleep didn't last too long as he heard some heavy knocking on his door and the sound of strange music oompah-ing loudly just outside his door. "Oh god..." "I forgot the damn party..." Author's Note Sorry it took a whole day. It was my day off work and I was very tired. I pretty much just slept all day. Back though, so that's nice. Also, sorry for the errors. Wrote this one on my phone and autocorrect is a stupid bitch. Chapter 5 - RSVPKing quickly tossed off the covers and rushed to the door to answer it. Pinkie stood behind it, glaring at him angrily. "...Pinkie? Y'alright?" He waited a moment, a little weirded out by the fact that she wasn't responding yet. She held this furious glare for about three more seconds before bursting out into a snorting giggle. "Hah! snort You- snirk The look on your face!" Then, just as quickly as the giggles flowed, they stopped and her face got deadly serious. "Now, King, you knew your party was tonight." "Yeah, I'm sorry for not turning up yet, I was seriously tired after today. I'm fine now, though." He smiled at her, partially just happy she doesn't seem genuinely vindictive. "So, Sugarcube Corner?" "Nope," she smiles brightly, practically dancing in place. "It's right downstairs! I thought, if you were maybe not gonna be at the party, I would bring the party right to you!" "Oh. That's, uhhhh..." he found himself dumbfounded. Brushing past Pinkie, he rushed downstairs, and, sure enough, there were tons of ponies partying it up downstairs, even the owner of the inn was reveling in both the music and the publicity her little place was finally getting. "Noice." "Right? I think you're really gonna enjoy yourself here. I betcha that you're a real party animal!" She gives a light shove into the crowd and he finds himself wandering through. "Wooo!!!" "Crazy ponies shoving me into crowds..." he grumbled grumpily as he muddled through and found his way to the snack table where, to his profound surprise, he found Zecora again. "Oh, hey. What's up, Zecora." She turned and looked to him and, surprisingly smiled at him, though it was an odd one, not that noticed. "Oh, King, what do you think? I knew you'd be here, so I made you a drink. I think you'll like it, I really do. I'm known quite well for it, it's quite true." She smiled again, though this one reserved, hiding something, but, again, not that he'd ever notice. She handed him a small drink, the size of a shot and blue in color, bubbling and frothing in strange ways. "A perfect drink, but a small aside, it may make even you run and hide. It's likely far too strong for you, after all, it's my Joker's Brew. It will bring no harm, of course, but if you still choose it, I'll have no remorse." "I'm no chump, this drink has nothing on me, I'm confident in that much." He quickly accepted the drink, tossing it back and, despite the sour taste, absolutely nothing happened immediately. "Is that all?" "Find me by the end of the night, just in case you aren't feeling right." she says as she snickers into her hoof. She turns and casually trots off. He walked into the throng of ponies after snacking on a few of the available treats, actually enjoying what he ate, though he didn't actually feel hungry. He wanders outside, into the night for a few. "I wonder why I'm not in constant pain, anyways. 001 was. It would probably kinda suck though, so, hey, I'm glad not to, too," he mused, shortly before tingles flickered across his emulated skin for just a moment, though it didn't last for long before several long, spotted tendrils burst forth from all along his body, almost like strange hairs. Tendrils he couldn't control. They seemed to move erratically, shifting in various directions at their own whims. He tried to force them down, to get them under control, but they stubbornly refused, attempting to grab various things around him seemingly with no purpose except to cause him difficulties. It took him a minute, but he realized, or at least had a hunch about, what had happened to him. "Zecora!" Off around the side of the building, there was a small laugh and he saw a black and white striped tail just past the corner. "Zecora?" he quickly followed, hoping she might help him without being seen too terribly much. "Hey, this isn't funny!" "Now, my tentacled friend, I must disagree, though I do wonder who it is behind that tree..." He heard a voice next to him and was shocked to see Zecora standing there, looking quite amused. "Well, I don't happen to think so, though I don't have any idea who I've been following now." He frowned deeply at this revelation, before turning again to Zecora. "Why the fuck did you spike my damn drink with whatever the hell does this?" She frowned at the expletives, but quickly regained her smirk as she spoke. "I did not make you that drink, though you're answer's closer than you think..." At that moment, Pinkie, wearing a Zecora costume, tapped King on his shoulder from behind before slinking in front of him as he turned to look. When he turned back he jumped in surprise her standing there before she quickly revealed that it was a disguise. Somehow, however, he wasn't surprised that she was behind all of this. Zecora decided this was as good a time as any to leave the explaining to her, and headed back to the party. "Tada! Now, look behind you one more time!" "No, I'm not just gonna-" was all he was able to say before being pushed into the pony-sized tub of hot water and poison joke curative that he somehow didn't notice behind him. She started laughing and was practically rolling on the ground as she did so when King peeked his head grumpily out from beneath the water. "Ha ha, very funny, now can you help me with these fucking tentacles?" "Silly King, you didn't think I was just pushing you into the water for nothin', didja?" She giggle-snorted again, before straightening up a bit. "Nope, I decided I was gonna prank ya, so you just got Poison Joke'd! That was the cure though. You've probably been stewing long enough. Hop on out, you'll see what I mean!" "Urgh..." He shuddered, thrown off by the unwanted additions to his carefully crafted body falling away. He stepped out of the bath, certainly happier though, now that he'd gotten rid of the extra bits. He smiled a small smile when he turned to her for a moment as he had already begun the planning for his retaliation. "I'm gonna get you back, Pinks. You won't know when, or where, it'll be when you least expect it!" "I wouldn't expect any less, pal-o-mine!" She beamed brightly, clearly ecstatic about the new prank war ready to unfold. "Now, come on! We've still got the rest of a party to enjoy!" They headed back to the party together and he enjoyed the next half hour of it before finally shuffling back up to his room, truly exhausted, though not finding sleep easily. The party below, surprisingly, wasn't the problem. His mind kept going back to Twilight and his book. He had to get it back. He needed that book, and he knew it. He forced his eyes shut, and tried to make himself fall sleep. After about forty minutes, he finally slipped off into a dream. A strange, cloudy, starry dream. He realized immediately that he was upright again. In the form of the Scarlet King, at the very least, it seemed he could dream in relative comfort. The world around him on the other hand, felt strange. Like it wasn't even his dream. "This is a weird dream, I think. I mean, least it's not a nightmare, so that's neat. I was worried I'd be getting some pretty nasty ones with a body like this..." he immediately froze, however, when he saw a dark shadow in the corner of his little dream world. "Methinks, perhaps, you may have spoken too soon, beast! A nasty dream you'll have, surely! Nay, a nightmare!" Author's Note Sorry for taking so long to post. It's been very much a long few days. I'm very, very tired. I am sleep now. Probably gonna rewrite this chapter later when I'm awake and not terrible, so don't get too attached. Edit: Made several changes to it, but I actually sort of liked the direction I was going with some of it while I was only half there, so some is unchanged. Hopefully folks like it and don't think Luna is racist. I meant for him to be The Scarlet King in his dream, but I was too busy dying to do that. Chapter 6 - In DreamsAuthor's Note Hey, I'm back. Sorry for vanishing, but things were stressful before the c-virus stuff. Needless to say, it's been... fun since. Hey, though, I'm back, and in the mood to make some content, hopefully. Maybe get this story going in a direction. I dunno. I'm going to bed now... Chapter 6 - In Dreams "Woah! Woah, woah, woah! Hey, I know what it looks like, I promise, but I have no idea who you are, and I'm fairly sure you have no idea who I really am." He backed up a pace or two, but didn't seem any further from the clearly angry shadowy being in front of him. "We, too, have no knowledge as to who thou art, but we have no illusions as to thy clearly monstrous nature! We will give thee but one chance to explain thyself, and if we do not like what thee hast to explain thyself, then we shall quickly amend these sparing moments wherein we are not tearing you a new set of mouths from which to lie from," the figure snarled in cold anger. "I'm stuck here, this isn't even the form I started in and I have no clue why I'm here or why I look like this. I hide my form because I don't want to scare the peop- ponies of this world." He tried still to back up, stepping as quickly as he could. For a bare moment, he seemed to put a little extra distance, but quicker than a whip, the threatening foe zipped practically in his face. Instinctually, he lashed out with his power, slashing the figure across the chest and slamming them backwards in a fit of fear and a brief surge of rage. He shrank back in horror after realizing what he'd done. He rushed to the being, the shadows receding to reveal a pony, this one dark blue with wings and a horn. He hadn't seen one with both before and found himself growing more worried with each second. Just who had he upset... Just who had he hurt? "Oh god, are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you..." Suddenly, she lashed out at him, a blade of magic held aloft and she glared at him with harsh eyes before leaping back, a gash across her chest, quickly healed the magic of the dream. The dream. Oh right, this is all just a dream, right? I don't have to hold back, this is just some kind of dream pony. Bet I made her up. He chuckled darkly before manifesting a large grin, the smile splitting his false lips wide as he made to dash at her, she made alike to attack with tenacity. "HAVE AT THEE, KNAVE! THOU SHALT FALL TO THE MIGHT OF PRINCESS LUNA!" She bellowed as she scalloped towards him, her blade swinging wildly. He vanished, leaving her confused for a mere instant before she realized what was happening and struck behind her, narrowly missing him as he reappeared and wrapped a bevy of spiked chains like barbed wire around her body, squeezing her tightly. She acted quickly and moved to teleport, and he moved to follow, missing her as he tried to bind her again. "Hmph. Be a lame dream if the same trick worked twice, huh? Guess I'll have to try harder..." "You will NOT BE ALLOWED TO HURT OUR PONIES!" Luna screeched as she drove a lance of dark energy directly into his chest, to which he responded with amusement as he dissolved into a sort of puddle and rose again to bind her again, himself forming a painful binding around her, piercing her skin. She let out a scream as her hide was torn at all angles and King felt a pang of guilt for a moment and loosened his grip, not seeing the energy blast that Luna had been readying as the light at the tip of her horn spread and overwhelmed him. He was left, exhausted and in pain as he laid on the floor and Luna slowly approached, a smug smirk across her face. "Hah! As though you ever really stood a chance. Any last words, you disgusting monster?" "Yeah. Watch out." "What?" She panicked a moment before quickly realising it was a trick and lunging for a final hit on King before stopping short. A trickle of blood slipped from her mouth as she looked down and saw a vine of black piercing from the ground through her stomach, impaling her. "You lose." He said, feeling powerful, a dark gleam showing in his eyes. "Wh- what have you done..?" She gasped out between strangled breaths before collapsing in a bloodied heap. The moment she hit the ground, he woke up, a mild feeling of nausea and dread hit him as he realised the pain from his dream hadn't left him on waking. "Weird... I'm... sure it's fine." He said, attempting to reassure himself as he headed downstairs and out to look out at the sky and gather his wits. It was strange, the full moon sat still in the sky. It would be beautiful if this strange, overwhelming sense of dread wasn't overpowering his feelings on the subject. He sat for hours on end, bored out of his wits but unable to find sleep again. He noticed that as the sun began to rise, the moon didn't seem to leave the sky. He made a few connections as he realized what had happened with growing horror. "That mare, her name..." He shook his head and stamped off, refusing to believe this could be his fault until he encountered Pinkie Pie, who seemed strangely worried. He couldn't help but approach, worry still nagging at the back of his mind as he walked closer, worried she'd somehow know what he'd done. "Hey, Pinkie, what's going on? You seem really freaked right now. Look like you've seen a ghost or something." "I can't talk right now, Kingy, I gotta get to Canterlot for an important meeting! You saw it, right? The moon's stopped up in the sky there! Spike says there's gonna be a lot of trouble." "Like what? What's wrong, pinks?" "I dunno if I can tell you this... it's pretty serious." "I promise I won't tell anyone, I swear." He crossed a hoof over his chest. "Pinkie Promise?" "Pinkie Promise. Now can you tell me?" "No, silly, you gotta do the moves! Say 'I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!'" She led him through the motions, ending in her placing her hoof in her eye. "Okay, okay, as long as you'll tell me. I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" He copied her movements, ending with an eye poke. "Now, can you please tell me what has you so worked up?" She hesitated a moment, looking around to make sure no one else could hear before leaning in close and, in an uncharacteristically somber tone, she spoke. "Last night, Princess Luna fell into a coma." Chapter 7 - Stinging SensationsSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 1 - In The Beginning...There is, or rather was, a man. His name, for the purposes of this story, will be unknown. It doesn't matter, it has never mattered, and it will likely continue not to matter long into this story. Today, he had chosen to go to a convention. His name will be no more important there than anywhere else, surely. "Hi, and welcome to SecureCon! Who are you?" He calmly strode past the strange person and proceeded to the opening ceremony on the first day, silently glad to not have a tail for his costume quite yet, as it would make sitting in those cramped seats that much harder. As he listened to the speaker drone on about the convention's history, he could't help but be excited. He was supposed to meet with an online vendor that day to pick up that which was missing from his awesome and terrible costume, that of the dreaded Scarlet King from the very same mythos as the convention itself was based around. It took about three more hours before the artist's alley was open to buyers, but he was the first in line, rushing in to have first pick and, more importantly, get himself some tail. The tail. ...get your mind out of the gutter. He carried on quickly and spotted the table of the one artist he really came here to see, though he quickly noticed their table was strangely barren of, well, anything but the tail itself, which almost seemed to move a little. Strange, but not the oddest thing he had ever seen. He approached the table and noticed a note next to the tail. Picking it up, it read "Hey duder, sorry I couldn't make it, I had some other stuff to attend to, so I decided that this is gonna be my gift to you. Careful though, there is a weird little caveat to this transaction. If you put on the ta-" Which is as far as he read before he quickly crumpled up the note and tossed it as he took the tail for his own. Too excited to think for another moment, he quickly affixed the tail to himself and immediately passed out. People rushed to where he was but found nothing there, save for a marking on the ground, a scratch, as through from some kind of gnarled claw. He came to much later, awakening in a dark and damp forest, the thick shade of the canopy completely blotting out the sun and the pervasive darkness creeping in from odd angles. He heard the calls of wild animals and things he didn't even recognize, some seemingly cut short as the cycle of life caught up with them. He tried to stand but couldn't seem to manage it at first. His legs almost felt like jelly, but then again so did the rest of him. He tried to reach with an arm but found only something like a tendril unless he focused hard on it, though finding it easier after that first time to form a proper limb. He gathered himself up into the only form he could manifest at the moment, something covered in spines and spikes and pain so as to scare away the native denizens to avoid being hurt, himself. He forced himself into the form of the Scarlet King once again, though he felt far more comfortable like this than he ever did in that bulky costume, or even as he did before he ever put it on. "This is... weird..." He said, the words escaping his "mouth" without a thought otherwise, though that quickly changed when he noted how strange it felt to speak, and how horrible the sound that escaped him sounded. Like the crawling of a thousand insect, or the screaming of a thousand souls, though impossible to grasp the difference between the options in his voice, the sound seeming like a combination of the two. The sort of sound that might drive a man insane,, he thought to himself, though I can hardly be called a man anymore, can I? He had readied to step forward before bumping his "foot" lightly against something on the ground. Thinking it was merely a root or something, he merely stepped over it, before glancing back for some reason, though his logical brain dictated that it was only curiousity. He noticed it was a book, small, yet large, and colorless, yet far too colorful. He picked it up and noticed it felt light as a feather and heavy as a stone all at once. He resolved to keep track of it. After all the book was strange, he was strange, it just made sense. He took a look at the cover, disregarding the obviously incomprehensible nature of the book and reading the text with ease. Encyclopedia Eldritch Or Everything You Need To Know About Your New Existence As An Elder God "Oh. Good. An instruction manual," he thought to himself again, this time seemingly amused, though who knows if I can actually make any use of it. I don't know. Any structure is welcome at this point. He silently resolved to move on and wandered for a while before spotting a mysterious hut in the woods. He saw what he thought was a zebra walking calmly into her hut, though she stopped for a moment and stiffened, seemingly taking note of something, before fearfully rushing inside. He took note of her form and decided to see what he could do to change into something that looked a little less... harmful if he was going to be interacting with anyone here, wherever here was. He opened the manual to the table of contents and skimmed through before he found a section on transformation and disguise. He quickly absorbed the knowledge as he read for a moment. He focused and cleared his mind of all but his desired form, a zebra, like the one he just saw, but male. He began to feel his form shift and crack in places where it had hardened until he felt certain he had gotten the form right before creating a small cavity in his chest and tucking the book into there for safe keeping. He endeavored to change his voice, too, and managed to settle on a comfortable sounding baritone. Happy with what he had chosen, he approached the hut, hoping to find some information on where he'd found himself, but he failed to notice the face in the window that had been watching him since close to the end of his transformation. He knocked carefully on the door, oblivious, and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, he had had enough of waiting and called to her. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know! I promise you that! I'm just confused, and worried. I only want to know where I am or when I am or whatever." He waited once again at the door and stepped back as he saw a shadow just beneath the doorframe. "If what you say is true, then let me see the real you. I know that form you wear is not yours to be taken, and I won't let myself for a fool be mistaken." She said fearfully from the other side of the door, prompting him to quickly mold himself again into the form of the Scarlet King, though, not discarding his voice. "Is this what you wanted to see?" He asked, waiting still a moment before she opened the door again, clearly uneasy, but more willing to trust than a moment before, despite how horrifying he looked. "Your form doesn't please me, but the truth makes me less uneasy. Come inside now, and we will speak, and you may find the answers you seek." Author's Note This is kind of a first draft? I'm trying to get the tone right, but it's kinda tricky. I'm not a super experienced writer, but I hope this is alright? Edit: I think it might be a little better now, though. The tense is a bit more consistent.
Chapter 2 - Lies And Half-TruthsHe followed her into the hut, finding the interior to very much match the aesthetic of the outside, various tribal masks, herbs, and brewing accoutrements lined the walls and were placed here and there. ...huh. A witch doctor? I mean, I'm some sort of eldritch horror and she's a talking zebra, so, I mean, not too farfetched," he thought, before realizing they hadn't really acquainted themselves quite yet. "My name is... huh," he paused, trying his best to remember his own name. He'd gone by it his whole life, he'd always been known by it. Any other time he'd know it for sure, but at that moment it was as though he simply had a hole in his mind where that memory used to be. He decided he would fill it, perhaps with a new memory. A new name, to fill the gap the old one left behind. "It's King, I suppose." The zebra paused and looked at him, tilting her head in confusion, distrust written plainly on her face. "You don't seem too certain of that name of yours. Is this another of many monsterous lures?" She paused, looking into his eyes for moment, though a very short one as she grew very uncomfortable doing so immediately. "I promise, it's not, though with how you seem not to trust me, my promise probably isn't worth much. I've only been wherever it is I am, and whatever am I for that matter, for a few hours now, at most. I don't know how I got here, and I certainly don't understand why it is that I can't seem to remember my own original name, so I decided to try something new instead. I'm sorry, I guess. That's just what I've got," he said as he raised his hands in what he hoped came across as a supplicating gesture rather than a threat. The witch doctor seemed to lose a little of that tension from before. Sighing a moment, she spoke again. "I am sorry, I suppose, for acting that way before. Living here makes one wary of strangers at their door. My name is Zecora, and that's the truth. To find yours, I'd likely need more than a sleuth. I'm sorry, again, for treating you as such. Like Ponyville once treated me, perhaps I deserved as much. Where you find yourself now is the Everfree, the heart of the forest is home to me," she paused a moment, hoping perhaps for some semblance of recognition to appear in his face, though, finding none, she continued. "The wider lands are called Equestria, further still are the Badlands, Griffonstone, and Zebrica. More still rest on this planet called Equus, upon which live ponies, dragons, zebras, and rarely, moose." She paused once again to study his face, deciding that maybe she'd rather have something a little closer to normal, after all. He picked up on this, quickly asking, "Do you mind if I turn to something a little more normal for this place? You seem really uncomfortable with how I look right now and I'd rather not make things too much worse right now." She nodded quickly at his question and he stepped out of the door again, not wanting her to see his transformation as he wasn't sure of the kind of effect it might have had on her mind. He turned himself into a zebra stallion again, this time polishing the look somewhat, artfully designing spiralling designs across his body that seemed somehow smooth and jagged at the same time, coming to an end in the rough, thorny shape of a rose on his flank. He wasn't precisely Picasso, but he was happy with his form for the moment, nonetheless. He walked back into the hut, and turned to show Zecora his form. "Is this any better?" Zecora turned to look, paused a moment before a small blush came to be on her muzzle, if only for a moment. "Much, I... I suppose. Apologies, I seem to have lost my prose," she turned away for a moment as she collected herself. When she had done so, she turned back to speak again. "You remind me much of one I once knew, but that cannot be, after all, it's just you. That aside, I assume that you seem civilization. I can't give you that, but there's Equestria's nation," she said and seemed to chuckle at her own joke, and he joined out of some awkward sense of obligation. "Ponyville is as far as I'm willing to go. From there you're alone, just so that you know." He nodded sagely at this, or whatever approximation of sageness he could manage in a form he wasn't terribly familiar with. "That's alright, I suppose. Anything's better than nothing. I appreciate the help." "It's not much help at all, though I'm sure that you'll see. Ponies aren't always what they're cracked up to be..." She then held open the door of her hut, gesturing out, and the two of them left, beginning the short journey to Ponyville, arriving shortly thereafter, Zecora bidding him good luck as he walked into town. The first pony he encountered immediately turned and walked away, clearly trying to keep herself from panicking. She had a rose cutie mark and had a pasted on smile, avoiding King whilst attempting to seem friendly for appearances. Many other ponies seemed to have the same reaction to him as he passed until he heard a sound like something between grunts of anger and barely restrained tears. He followed the sounds until he came upon a white-furred unicorn with striking two-tone blue hair, her beautiful bright red eyes only marred by tears and anguish. "Urgh!! What did I do to deserve this shit!? I was born like this, why the fuck does it matter what color my eyes are!?" She continued raging against the nearest wall as he approached, cautious but concerned. "What's wrong with your eyes? I happen to think that's a wonderful color," he asked, looking only to help. "It's just... ugh, you wouldn't even get it..." "Try me, I might understand better than you think," he said, turning to show her his eyes, the bright crimson color shown like precious rubies. "They... no one comes to my shows. Not since Octavia busted my damned sunglasses. Ever since people started spreading rumors that I was some kind of monster because of my red eyes." She sniffled, "I just... I wish I never even had to show them, that people would just forget about my eyes and listen to my music..." "Well, I disagree, but if you really feel you need to hide them..." He paused thoughtfully before settling on an idea. "Here, just a moment, please." He turned around for a moment, hiding his hoof as he extended a bit of it and stretched it out, pulling and stretching it thin until it became a shaded lens, then two, forming a large pair of dark purple sunglasses which he quickly snapped off, deciding not to think about it when he didn't feel any pain from it, a sensation akin to clipping a nail the only feeling that accompanied it. "Try these. They should help you cover them if you really feel you should." She accepted them and smiled, happy for the help. "Why are you doing this, anyway? Why help some random mare you heard yelling in the middle of the day?" "Why not? It was worth it for that smile, anyhow." He smiled at her, happy to have helped, before turning and holding a hoof in the air in farewell. "Well, see you around." "Wait! At least tell me what I can call you next time I see you," she chuckled as she spoke, surprised he hadn't even given her his name. "I'm Vinyl." "King," he stated confidently. "It's nice to meet you." Author's Note I think I got it right this time? Don't be afraid to inform me that I am, in fact, a huge big dumb idiot. Still don't have an editor.
Chapter 3 - A Not-So-Subtle TellKing wandered off after that conversation, searching for someplace to hunt down more information about this world. He decided a library might be a good place to start, though it wasn't easy to find on it's own, especially with that eyesore in his line of sight. "Who the hell's idea was it to build a damned tree out of shiny crystals anyways? he thought, his eyes seemingly constantly assaulted by the gleaming of light off of it's myriad "branches" if they could be called that. "Maybe I should just ask someone for help? One of these little horses should know the way around here, I'm su-" Though his thought was shortly cut off as some sort of pink blur flashed abruptly in front of him before disappearing a moment. He started to continue trotting forward before he was again halted by the pink flash, this time, however, it stopped right in front of him, revealing a painfully pink pony, with hair like cotton candy and sky blue eyes that shone just a little too brightly for his tastes. "Oh! Oh! I've never seen you around here before, which means you must be new here! That must mean you're a new pony, which is ironic because you're not even a pony, you're a zebra or something, and that means I've never thrown a party for you, which can't stay that way because obviously I can't be the number one party pony if I don't throw you a party," she paused only to inhale deeply, "and what kind super duper party planner pony would I be if I just left you party-less anyways?? Not much of one I thi-" He quickly moved to cut her off by lightly pressing her muzzle shut with both hooves, clearly a little irritated as she just kept going. "Alright, fine, you can throw me a party, just shut up, jesus christ!" He slowly removed his hooves from her muzzle to make sure she wasn't just going to blast him with words again and continued. "I'm King." "Silly! No you're not, I already know all the royalty in Equestria, and you're not on the list!" She giggled a little as she said so before continuing, her expression shifting imperceptibly to something almost conspiratorial as she leaned in to speak with a near whisper "Besides, we both know who you really are, don't we?" "I- wha- no- what are you talking about?" He was panicking, clearly, worried that someone had caught on, though he wasn't entirely sure why, the only thing he was really trying to hide was the thing he looked like. Did these ponies see what he really was the whole time? Had the disguise really meant nothing? "Who are you, anyways?" She brightened up instantly, a look of pure cheer instantly lighting up her face. "Why, I'm Pinkie Pie! And you're a zebra named King, Secret Cool Pony Number One!" she exclaimed with a little too much cheer before again shifting to that knowing expression and turning to some unseen camera and winking conspiratorially. "Your party is tonight at Sugar Cube Corner, don't miss it, Number One!" She then turned and pronked off casually as if what she had just said wasn't somewhat concerning, at the very least. "I- hmm..." He struggled to even think, he was panicking internally about this entire encounter and was worried about the possible ramifications. Was it that obvious? Was he as good as caught? For that matter, what did she mean, "Secret Cool Pony?" when he's a zebra right now? There were too many questions swirling in his head, so he decided to disregard them for the moment as, even if it was that obvious, he could hardly do anything about it just yet, so instead he chose to head for the center of town to get his bearings and maybe find somepony to ask for directions to the library. Meanwhile, in another part of town, a certain DJ, sitting at home, decided to try out the sunglasses she had been gifted earlier that same day, finding that they didn't even really tint her view all that much, as her past pair had, leaving her still with unimpeded sight. She wasn't sure if they would help, but she was willing to try just about anything at this point. After all this, though, they would still remember what color her eyes were, wouldn't they? That much couldn't possibly change. She decided to try them out and see how other ponies reacted to her changed aesthetic. She walked out into the street and trotted towards the club she liked most to play at. If they didn't call her out on them or give her strange looks, she would call this a success. She walked in the doors and immediately, eyes were on her. She didn't see a single glare amongst them, though. It was like they had just forgotten about those eyes they hated with these sunglasses on, like she had a second chance. She strode confidently up to the manager to speak with him. "Is there a spot open for tonight?" she asked excitedly, anxious for a chance to finally draw a crowd at her show. The manager nodded and handed her the requisite forms she needed to fill out to host a show that night. She took them to a corner booth and quickly filled them out before rushing them back to the manager and handing them to him. "Alright, now you get yourself ready for tonight. Those magenta eyes are gonna shine in the spotlight, I promise you," he smiled warmly at her, excitement showing in his own eyes, as well. "Can't wait for it, kid." She smiled back before realizing something off about what he had said. "Magenta?" She thought to herself, confused for a moment that was as quickly gone as it had arrived. Of course her eyes were magenta. They always were, and they always will be. How silly of her to forget. King arrived at the town hall, only to be blocked from entering by a city guard. He had a scowl on his face and looked as though cruelty came as second nature to him. As King tried to walk past him, the guard turned and barked at him, "Where do you think you're going?" His scowl turned into a cruel smirk. "I don't recall Mayor Mare sending for any dirty zebras to come to town hall. Why don't you go back where you came from?" "Excuse me? I'm sorry, but you're blocking entry from a public building, why?" He smiled a wry little smile as he raised his voice a few decibels. "I mean, it's not like you're speciest or anything, right? You wouldn't want to be seen like that, of course!" His smile grew a little wider as he noticed that ponies nearby had taken notice of his little display, turning to glare at the guard, whose smirk quickly vanished from his face. Cowed, he moved from the door, grumbling, and let King through. The eldritch zebra knew that all he had to do now was head in and talk to the attendant at the front desk. He didn't even need to see this "Mayor Mare" as he was just looking for directions. He walked right up to the concierge and greeted her with a polite "Hello!" and, after a short polite, yet forced conversation, he received his directions and headed off, surprised to find that his destination was that damned crystal castle after all. Author's Note This chapter you was brought to you in part by the weird ass music I sometimes listen to casually because my tastes are pretty much busted. https://youtu.be/hCzfzeobeNM As always, reviews are extremely welcome, I am absurdly unsure about this chapter in particular, so if y'all don't like something about it, please let me know.
Chapter 4 - Curiosity Killed The CatKing had seen a few interesting locales while he'd been in Equestria. Even just in Ponyville, for that matter, as he was pretty certain he had passed a giant gingerbread house earlier and that seemed pretty odd to him. That aside, this castle certainly took the cake on local oddities, himself aside. He approached the door and knocked, expecting a guard or something, only for the door to be answered by a large purple lizard, nearly big enough to reach his chin, if you counted his spines. "Hello..?" the lizard asked, head titled in confusion. "Uhh..." King began, pausing in confusion of his own before continuing. "...is this the library?" "Yeah," he said before making a slightly puzzled face. "Well, this is actually the Castle Of Friendship, but we have a library here, and it is open to the public. Are you looking to borrow a book?" "Actually, I am. I'm a little, uhh, new in town?" he said, hoping the creature didn't ask too terribly many questions. "I'm just sort of trying to piece together what kind of place Equestria is, I guess. I've never been before." "Yeah, I kinda woulda guessed that one. We don't tend to get a lot of zebras here in Ponyville, aside from Zecora. Well, if you'd like, I can guide you to the library and you can have a look around, see if there are any books that catch your eye." He smiled broadly, shortly before coughing up a small gout of green flames that somehow turned into a scroll in his hands. He opened it and quickly skimmed through the contents. "Oh, geez, that's Twilight. I'd better help her with that. Uhh, the library is down the hall, and it's the last door on the left. My name's Spike, by the way, it was nice to meet you." "King, and likewise. See you around, Spike," he said before waving to Spike and heading into the castle, quickly finding his way to the library and tearing into the history section first and working through each section incredibly fast, finding himself capable of reading and processing information at a rate far above what he was used to. He had made it through three quarters of the books there before the sun finally began to set and Twilight entered the library. "Oh, hello! I didn't know anycreature was still in here!" She smiled despite not recognizing the zebra before her, always eager to make a new friend. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's yours?" "King," he coolly responded, mostly disregarding her in favor of the books. "King, huh? That's an interesting name for a zebra, isn't it?" She tilts her head quizzically, though when he doesn't respond further, she tries to continue. "That aside, it seems like you really love books, huh? I may be understating it here, but I'm pretty fond of them myself, you know. Maybe we could trade favorites or discuss them sometime?" "Maybe, I suppose." He was already starting to get annoyed, and he kinda wanted to get her off of his back for the moment. While behind the cover of books, he removed his guide from his chest. "Here, actually. I found this strange book not too long ago. Seeing as how you seem to enjoy books as such, maybe you should have a look at this one?" He was hoping the strange book might keep her off of his back for a few minutes. Naturally, she immediately accepted, always interested to read a book she had never seen before, and certainly willing for a potential new friend. However, once she picked up the book and got a good look at it, once she felt the slimy yet dry cover, read the incomprehensible text, felt exhausting hefting despite it also feeling lighter than air, she immediately felt as though she had to put it down. Now, however, she was curious. She immediately opened the book and set it down to read it. Skimming through the countless illegible pages, she began to feel strange. She could almost read the text, like it was written in a language just barely harder to read than standard text, yet she just couldn't seem to comprehend it. "I'm sorry, King, was it? Do you mind if I borrow this book for a bit?" "I dunno, you probably shouldn't" King said, suddenly realizing that it might be kinda hard to explain why he had to keep track of a book he just happened to "find." "Are you sure, I'd just like to borrow it for just a few minutes, I'll have it right back to you," she said before rushing out of the room to her own personal study, planning to thoroughly dissect anything and everything about this book that she could manage, no matter what. "That... could be an issue. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be fine. Hopefully." He shrugged casually. It wasn't like she could read the damn thing anyways. She'd probably just show up tomorrow or something and return it. She wasn't the type to get that obsessive over something silly like a book, right? Shortly after this, King felt he had learned enough, at least for the day, and began to leave the castle before being stopped by little lizard, Spike, again. "Hey, did you happen to see a purple alicorn while you were in there? She hasn't come for dinner yet and I'm a little worried." "No, I haven't," he replied, and it was the truth, as he hadn't been paying a single iota of attention to what Twilight had looked like before, only that she was distracting him from reading. "I hope you find her, though. Have a good night, little dragon." He then headed out into the night, hoping to find an inn to stay for the night. He found one after not too long a search, though he quickly realized he might need money to stay there. Luckily, he had found a single bit on the ground not too long ago, so he had a good base to work from. He molded the hoof outwards again, creating four golden coins that looked just the same as the first before heading into the inn. "Hi, and welcome to The Hungry Sprite! Are you looking to stay the night here, sir?" the mare at the front desk asked jovially, excited to have a customer. Turns out, naming an inn after a small disaster the town experienced a few years back is not a good way to drum up business. "I am. How much would a night be, here?" "Four bits, sir," then she smiled a shy smile and continued. " though I'll mark it down to three if you'll tell your friends about us. I would really appreciate it." "I'll take it, and I'll make sure everyone knows just how pleasant a stay I had here." He smiled at her warmly before handing her his three copied bits and heading to his room. Immediately, he laid down in bed, feeling exhausted. It didn't take him long at all to fall asleep. However, his sleep didn't last too long as he heard some heavy knocking on his door and the sound of strange music oompah-ing loudly just outside his door. "Oh god..." "I forgot the damn party..." Author's Note Sorry it took a whole day. It was my day off work and I was very tired. I pretty much just slept all day. Back though, so that's nice. Also, sorry for the errors. Wrote this one on my phone and autocorrect is a stupid bitch.
Chapter 5 - RSVPKing quickly tossed off the covers and rushed to the door to answer it. Pinkie stood behind it, glaring at him angrily. "...Pinkie? Y'alright?" He waited a moment, a little weirded out by the fact that she wasn't responding yet. She held this furious glare for about three more seconds before bursting out into a snorting giggle. "Hah! snort You- snirk The look on your face!" Then, just as quickly as the giggles flowed, they stopped and her face got deadly serious. "Now, King, you knew your party was tonight." "Yeah, I'm sorry for not turning up yet, I was seriously tired after today. I'm fine now, though." He smiled at her, partially just happy she doesn't seem genuinely vindictive. "So, Sugarcube Corner?" "Nope," she smiles brightly, practically dancing in place. "It's right downstairs! I thought, if you were maybe not gonna be at the party, I would bring the party right to you!" "Oh. That's, uhhhh..." he found himself dumbfounded. Brushing past Pinkie, he rushed downstairs, and, sure enough, there were tons of ponies partying it up downstairs, even the owner of the inn was reveling in both the music and the publicity her little place was finally getting. "Noice." "Right? I think you're really gonna enjoy yourself here. I betcha that you're a real party animal!" She gives a light shove into the crowd and he finds himself wandering through. "Wooo!!!" "Crazy ponies shoving me into crowds..." he grumbled grumpily as he muddled through and found his way to the snack table where, to his profound surprise, he found Zecora again. "Oh, hey. What's up, Zecora." She turned and looked to him and, surprisingly smiled at him, though it was an odd one, not that noticed. "Oh, King, what do you think? I knew you'd be here, so I made you a drink. I think you'll like it, I really do. I'm known quite well for it, it's quite true." She smiled again, though this one reserved, hiding something, but, again, not that he'd ever notice. She handed him a small drink, the size of a shot and blue in color, bubbling and frothing in strange ways. "A perfect drink, but a small aside, it may make even you run and hide. It's likely far too strong for you, after all, it's my Joker's Brew. It will bring no harm, of course, but if you still choose it, I'll have no remorse." "I'm no chump, this drink has nothing on me, I'm confident in that much." He quickly accepted the drink, tossing it back and, despite the sour taste, absolutely nothing happened immediately. "Is that all?" "Find me by the end of the night, just in case you aren't feeling right." she says as she snickers into her hoof. She turns and casually trots off. He walked into the throng of ponies after snacking on a few of the available treats, actually enjoying what he ate, though he didn't actually feel hungry. He wanders outside, into the night for a few. "I wonder why I'm not in constant pain, anyways. 001 was. It would probably kinda suck though, so, hey, I'm glad not to, too," he mused, shortly before tingles flickered across his emulated skin for just a moment, though it didn't last for long before several long, spotted tendrils burst forth from all along his body, almost like strange hairs. Tendrils he couldn't control. They seemed to move erratically, shifting in various directions at their own whims. He tried to force them down, to get them under control, but they stubbornly refused, attempting to grab various things around him seemingly with no purpose except to cause him difficulties. It took him a minute, but he realized, or at least had a hunch about, what had happened to him. "Zecora!" Off around the side of the building, there was a small laugh and he saw a black and white striped tail just past the corner. "Zecora?" he quickly followed, hoping she might help him without being seen too terribly much. "Hey, this isn't funny!" "Now, my tentacled friend, I must disagree, though I do wonder who it is behind that tree..." He heard a voice next to him and was shocked to see Zecora standing there, looking quite amused. "Well, I don't happen to think so, though I don't have any idea who I've been following now." He frowned deeply at this revelation, before turning again to Zecora. "Why the fuck did you spike my damn drink with whatever the hell does this?" She frowned at the expletives, but quickly regained her smirk as she spoke. "I did not make you that drink, though you're answer's closer than you think..." At that moment, Pinkie, wearing a Zecora costume, tapped King on his shoulder from behind before slinking in front of him as he turned to look. When he turned back he jumped in surprise her standing there before she quickly revealed that it was a disguise. Somehow, however, he wasn't surprised that she was behind all of this. Zecora decided this was as good a time as any to leave the explaining to her, and headed back to the party. "Tada! Now, look behind you one more time!" "No, I'm not just gonna-" was all he was able to say before being pushed into the pony-sized tub of hot water and poison joke curative that he somehow didn't notice behind him. She started laughing and was practically rolling on the ground as she did so when King peeked his head grumpily out from beneath the water. "Ha ha, very funny, now can you help me with these fucking tentacles?" "Silly King, you didn't think I was just pushing you into the water for nothin', didja?" She giggle-snorted again, before straightening up a bit. "Nope, I decided I was gonna prank ya, so you just got Poison Joke'd! That was the cure though. You've probably been stewing long enough. Hop on out, you'll see what I mean!" "Urgh..." He shuddered, thrown off by the unwanted additions to his carefully crafted body falling away. He stepped out of the bath, certainly happier though, now that he'd gotten rid of the extra bits. He smiled a small smile when he turned to her for a moment as he had already begun the planning for his retaliation. "I'm gonna get you back, Pinks. You won't know when, or where, it'll be when you least expect it!" "I wouldn't expect any less, pal-o-mine!" She beamed brightly, clearly ecstatic about the new prank war ready to unfold. "Now, come on! We've still got the rest of a party to enjoy!" They headed back to the party together and he enjoyed the next half hour of it before finally shuffling back up to his room, truly exhausted, though not finding sleep easily. The party below, surprisingly, wasn't the problem. His mind kept going back to Twilight and his book. He had to get it back. He needed that book, and he knew it. He forced his eyes shut, and tried to make himself fall sleep. After about forty minutes, he finally slipped off into a dream. A strange, cloudy, starry dream. He realized immediately that he was upright again. In the form of the Scarlet King, at the very least, it seemed he could dream in relative comfort. The world around him on the other hand, felt strange. Like it wasn't even his dream. "This is a weird dream, I think. I mean, least it's not a nightmare, so that's neat. I was worried I'd be getting some pretty nasty ones with a body like this..." he immediately froze, however, when he saw a dark shadow in the corner of his little dream world. "Methinks, perhaps, you may have spoken too soon, beast! A nasty dream you'll have, surely! Nay, a nightmare!" Author's Note Sorry for taking so long to post. It's been very much a long few days. I'm very, very tired. I am sleep now. Probably gonna rewrite this chapter later when I'm awake and not terrible, so don't get too attached. Edit: Made several changes to it, but I actually sort of liked the direction I was going with some of it while I was only half there, so some is unchanged. Hopefully folks like it and don't think Luna is racist. I meant for him to be The Scarlet King in his dream, but I was too busy dying to do that.
Chapter 6 - In DreamsAuthor's Note Hey, I'm back. Sorry for vanishing, but things were stressful before the c-virus stuff. Needless to say, it's been... fun since. Hey, though, I'm back, and in the mood to make some content, hopefully. Maybe get this story going in a direction. I dunno. I'm going to bed now... Chapter 6 - In Dreams "Woah! Woah, woah, woah! Hey, I know what it looks like, I promise, but I have no idea who you are, and I'm fairly sure you have no idea who I really am." He backed up a pace or two, but didn't seem any further from the clearly angry shadowy being in front of him. "We, too, have no knowledge as to who thou art, but we have no illusions as to thy clearly monstrous nature! We will give thee but one chance to explain thyself, and if we do not like what thee hast to explain thyself, then we shall quickly amend these sparing moments wherein we are not tearing you a new set of mouths from which to lie from," the figure snarled in cold anger. "I'm stuck here, this isn't even the form I started in and I have no clue why I'm here or why I look like this. I hide my form because I don't want to scare the peop- ponies of this world." He tried still to back up, stepping as quickly as he could. For a bare moment, he seemed to put a little extra distance, but quicker than a whip, the threatening foe zipped practically in his face. Instinctually, he lashed out with his power, slashing the figure across the chest and slamming them backwards in a fit of fear and a brief surge of rage. He shrank back in horror after realizing what he'd done. He rushed to the being, the shadows receding to reveal a pony, this one dark blue with wings and a horn. He hadn't seen one with both before and found himself growing more worried with each second. Just who had he upset... Just who had he hurt? "Oh god, are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you..." Suddenly, she lashed out at him, a blade of magic held aloft and she glared at him with harsh eyes before leaping back, a gash across her chest, quickly healed the magic of the dream. The dream. Oh right, this is all just a dream, right? I don't have to hold back, this is just some kind of dream pony. Bet I made her up. He chuckled darkly before manifesting a large grin, the smile splitting his false lips wide as he made to dash at her, she made alike to attack with tenacity. "HAVE AT THEE, KNAVE! THOU SHALT FALL TO THE MIGHT OF PRINCESS LUNA!" She bellowed as she scalloped towards him, her blade swinging wildly. He vanished, leaving her confused for a mere instant before she realized what was happening and struck behind her, narrowly missing him as he reappeared and wrapped a bevy of spiked chains like barbed wire around her body, squeezing her tightly. She acted quickly and moved to teleport, and he moved to follow, missing her as he tried to bind her again. "Hmph. Be a lame dream if the same trick worked twice, huh? Guess I'll have to try harder..." "You will NOT BE ALLOWED TO HURT OUR PONIES!" Luna screeched as she drove a lance of dark energy directly into his chest, to which he responded with amusement as he dissolved into a sort of puddle and rose again to bind her again, himself forming a painful binding around her, piercing her skin. She let out a scream as her hide was torn at all angles and King felt a pang of guilt for a moment and loosened his grip, not seeing the energy blast that Luna had been readying as the light at the tip of her horn spread and overwhelmed him. He was left, exhausted and in pain as he laid on the floor and Luna slowly approached, a smug smirk across her face. "Hah! As though you ever really stood a chance. Any last words, you disgusting monster?" "Yeah. Watch out." "What?" She panicked a moment before quickly realising it was a trick and lunging for a final hit on King before stopping short. A trickle of blood slipped from her mouth as she looked down and saw a vine of black piercing from the ground through her stomach, impaling her. "You lose." He said, feeling powerful, a dark gleam showing in his eyes. "Wh- what have you done..?" She gasped out between strangled breaths before collapsing in a bloodied heap. The moment she hit the ground, he woke up, a mild feeling of nausea and dread hit him as he realised the pain from his dream hadn't left him on waking. "Weird... I'm... sure it's fine." He said, attempting to reassure himself as he headed downstairs and out to look out at the sky and gather his wits. It was strange, the full moon sat still in the sky. It would be beautiful if this strange, overwhelming sense of dread wasn't overpowering his feelings on the subject. He sat for hours on end, bored out of his wits but unable to find sleep again. He noticed that as the sun began to rise, the moon didn't seem to leave the sky. He made a few connections as he realized what had happened with growing horror. "That mare, her name..." He shook his head and stamped off, refusing to believe this could be his fault until he encountered Pinkie Pie, who seemed strangely worried. He couldn't help but approach, worry still nagging at the back of his mind as he walked closer, worried she'd somehow know what he'd done. "Hey, Pinkie, what's going on? You seem really freaked right now. Look like you've seen a ghost or something." "I can't talk right now, Kingy, I gotta get to Canterlot for an important meeting! You saw it, right? The moon's stopped up in the sky there! Spike says there's gonna be a lot of trouble." "Like what? What's wrong, pinks?" "I dunno if I can tell you this... it's pretty serious." "I promise I won't tell anyone, I swear." He crossed a hoof over his chest. "Pinkie Promise?" "Pinkie Promise. Now can you tell me?" "No, silly, you gotta do the moves! Say 'I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!'" She led him through the motions, ending in her placing her hoof in her eye. "Okay, okay, as long as you'll tell me. I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" He copied her movements, ending with an eye poke. "Now, can you please tell me what has you so worked up?" She hesitated a moment, looking around to make sure no one else could hear before leaning in close and, in an uncharacteristically somber tone, she spoke. "Last night, Princess Luna fell into a coma."
Chapter 7 - Stinging SensationsSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
