//-------------------------------------------------------// Diamond Journals Issue 3: Diamond Between Worlds -by DiamondAnvil- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue: Four Planets, One Evil //-------------------------------------------------------// Prologue: Four Planets, One Evil -BEGIN LOG. MULTI-PERSPECTIVE.- Planet Mushroom: Mushroom Hill [Mario's POV: Third-Person] Mario bounced into a couple hovering golden boxes with big white question marks welded into them. As he did so, they became plain brown blocks and spat out their contents. One block contained a stash of golden coins, while the other one contained a flame-coloured flower. Jumping on top of the blocks, Mario stuffed the coins, including a large 10-Coin, into a small bag and took a large bite out of the flower's fiery bloom. His red shirt and hat became white, with the red M still sewn into the front. His blue overalls became red, and his gloves and shoes made no change. He thrust his hand forward, throwing a medium-sized ball of fire at a few incoming Goombas and a Koopa Troopa. Each enemy hit vanished in a puff of white smoke as they were carried back to Bowser's Castle in order to re-spawn. "Phew..." Mario said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Some days, this-a gets pretty tiring." He then noticed his brother Luigi, clad in his own Fire getup, fighting a few Koopa Paratroopas and Koopa Bombardiers*. Luigi was taller, but slightly younger than his twin brother, and also wasn't quite as chubby. His Fire getup was similar to his bro's, but with green overalls instead of red and an L stitched into his hat. He threw green fireballs instead of red, but appeared to struggle. "Hey, bro! A little help would-a be appreciated!" he yelled, throwing another fireball at an incoming Bob-Omb to detonate it. Mario sprang over and touched down on a Paratroopa's head. It's wings popped off of it's shell, and it fell to the ground as Mario leapt off of it's head and onto the next. Luigi tossed a fireball at it the second it touched down, and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. The process was repeated on each Paratroopa, until each one had been sent back to re-spawn. "Well, we've-a faced a lot more Bowser enemies recently," Mario said. "As opposed to what? The Guardians? Dharkron AND Negaton's forces? We never see anything else these days. Heck, even the Twilight realm was more-a varied!" Luigi exclaimed. "Let's-a not talk about those, Luigi," Mario replied. "Sometimes, I just want to take a quick break from fighting. Even for-a one day..." "Well, the kingdom needs us, Mario," Luigi said. "If we left, who was gonna defend it from the Koopa Troop's onslaught?" "Fair-a point, Luigi." Neither bro, however, noticed a dark portal forming in the sky, far above Bowser's Castle. -Planet Mushroom: Bowser's Castle [Bowser's POV: Third-Person] Towards the east of the Mushroom Kingdom, a looming volcano stood. Within that volcano, a grey castle with a godzilla-sized spiked shell welded to the top. This was Bowser's Castle, home to Mario's arch-rival, Bowser. He was a large, turtle-dragon hybrid with a spiky shell, a neck choker, two spiked armbands per arm and orange hair atop his green scalp and for his giant, bushy eyebrows. His castle was surrounded by all kinds of technological weapons, gadgets and gizmos, most of them heavily unfinished prototypes. Security cameras watched over every hallway and room in the castle, with the exception of the bedrooms, bathrooms and living quarters belonging to each of the Koopalings and Bowser. "Lord Bowser! We have a small problem," one of the Koopa lookouts said, wandering into Bowser's throne room and approaching the mighty Koopa king. "A strange anomaly has formed above the castle." "What kind of anomaly?" Bowser asked. His voice was deep and menacing, like it should be. "Some sort of...portal?" the lookout replied. "Alright, do we have any information?" "No, other than it's power level is off the charts! Maybe we should send someone through it?" "If anyone's going through, it's gonna be me. Junior!" "What is it, Dad?" Bowser Jr. asked, running into the throne room from his own. He looked just like his dad, but a lot shorter and not nearly as developed. He wore a white bib with red fangs painted onto it, and he never took it off. He only had one armband per arm, and no neck choker to make room for the bib. He was the heir to the Koopa throne, as he was Bowser's only biological son, unlike the Koopalings. "I need to check out an anomaly. You're in command until I return," Bowser told him. "Just...don't get into trouble." "I promise, Dad. Won't let ya down!" Junior called as Bowser left the room. He then took a seat on the oversized throne, which suited him very well. -Planet Mushroom: Anomical Portal [Group POV: Third-Person] The troop raised their king using a remote-controlled crane that extended 100 feet, 5 feet above the height of the volcano. The crane was built to carry 100 troops, which was just under Bowser's weight, but only a select few could join him on this quest. Bowser had gathered his most trusted lieutenants, fastening each one to a very long cable. Safety harnesses were used, obviously. Bowser then hooked himself up to a harness, then gave his orders. "Alright then. So, you're jumping first, Lieutenant Pyro." he commanded. "If it's safe, let us know and we'll follow. If not, tug the rope and we'll pull you out. Alright?" "Yes, sir!" Pyro yelled, leaping through the portal. -Planet Equis: Ponyville Portal [Pyro's POV: First Person] As I leapt through that portal on my King's orders, I came out on the other side relatively unscathed. All I saw in the beginning was darkness, but when my vision cleared, I was nowhere near the Mushroom Kingdom anymore. "Uh, guys? Can you even hear me?" I asked into the portal's black abyss. "Not very well, but yes!" was the response. "Alright, well I think it's safe here. Come on through!" I said, ever so wanting to tug the rope. Bowser said something to the Koopa holding my rope, and I found myself shooting downwards. Upon touching down on the ground, I removed my harness and the other Lieutenants, plus Bowser, appeared out of the portal. They were lowered down at the same pace as I was, removing their harnesses on touchdown. They were all pulled back through the portal, causing it to close. Well, not fully, of course. It was still visible, but only a Wisdurm could possibly squeeze through there. Bowser even swallowed one once...it wasn't pleasant. "Well...where are we?" Lieutenant Frost asked. "GPS ain't picking up any sort of signal. No clues here," Bowser replied. "The mini-map's getting no data back either." Lt. Hammer said. "I can't get a decent connection!" In that moment, I noticed that another portal formed. It wasn't the same colour as the one we went through earlier, that one being purple. The one that showed up there was cyan, so there was only one owner for that: Diamond. [Group POV: Third-Person] "Yo guys. What'd I miss?" Diamond asked. His portal closed behind him as he walked through it to prevent others using it. "Not a lot, Diamond, other than we're stuck in an alternate world with no clue how to get home!" Bowser answered. "Welcome to Planet Equis, Koopas," Diamond said. "The Celestial System is home to the Equine species, who have NEVER seen your kind before." "So, what do we do?" Lt. Blast asked. "Obviously we can't "act natural," since we don't belong here OR have the right form." "Allow me," Diamond said, firing his magic at the Koopas. The dark magic coated his targets, becoming a hurricane large enough to obscure the view from both inside and outside. Bowser and the Lieutenants felt Diamond changing them as alternate DNA was entered into their blood. Each Koopa emerged different when the dark and purple gusts cleared, but all of them had something in common: their yellow fur, the mane and tail styles and colour and the lieutenant gear. Lt. Hammer was a unicorn. He had a green, spiky mane, not that you could see it very well. He had a green helmet and shell similar to his Koopa form, and wore green boots on each leg. His main form of magic was conjuring hammers, but he also knew the simple unicorn spells like levitation and shields. His cutie mark was a hammer that resembled the ones he used in his original form. He also had a green Koopa shell behind it. Lt. Pyro was also a unicorn. He had similar features to Hammer, but his shell, helmet and boots were red instead of green. He was a master of flame magic, as well as knowing simple levitation spells. His cutie mark was a large fireball with a red shell behind it. Lt. Frost was a pegasus. Unlike the others, he didn't need a unicorn horn to create his icy projectiles, but he had a curved horn attached to his left and right flank. One burst of air into the horns could call a snowstorm or a hailstorm at will. Like the others, he had a Koopa helmet, shell and boots which were light blue. His cutie mark was an large ball of ice with his Koopa shell behind it, not that you could see it very well. Lt. Blast was an Earth pony. He had a bomb bag attached to his left flank, which he could draw Bob-Ombs from at any given moment, which would be a little awkward to do at first. He also had mines in his shoes, which he could drop at will every few seconds. Like the other Koopa Lieutenants, he had a helmet, shell and boots in black. His cutie mark was an explosion with a black shell behind it. Nothing compared to Bowser, though. He, of course, was a dragon. He had a spiked neck choker, spiked wristbands, a green, spiky shell and his incredible orange hair. He could call a storm of fire at any time, as well as knowing very complicated Alicorn magic on top of his fire mastery, which he could cast with his hands. He could also still breathe fire like normal, and was stronger than even Princess Celestia. He had a golden symbol embedded into his chest, showing off his brilliant Bowser symbol. "Gotta say, Diamond. This...is awesome," Bowser said, spreading his wings proudly. "But why did I get dragon DNA while the others got ponish?" "I mixed in a little draconian DNA with the rest, giving it to you and the Equine DNA to your lieutenants." Diamond answered. "Might as well, since you are sort of a draconic hybrid." "I'm gonna see if I can get these wings going. You guys see if you can get used to your new body," Bowser said, flapping his wings. They immediately grew in size, ending up about twice his own, allowing him to take off with ease. As he did, however, he noticed another portal opening in the distance, in the middle of the Everfree Forest: most likely in the Castle of the Two Sisters. "Alright, looks like another anomaly showed up just now. They've been everywhere recently," Diamond said. "What you say we go check out that crash site?" He quickly drew his sword and dashed off, transitioning into a run. "Let's move," Lt. Hammer said, able to work his body. "This is pretty easy to use. Just walk on all fours, since we are like horses. As for the magic...well, that might get complicated." On Hammer's command, the Lieutenants began to gallop after Diamond, while Bowser began to glide over to the castle to meet his troops and Diamond there. -The Castle of the Two Sisters [??? POV, First-Person] "Hey, Link! Get up!" called a voice I knew all too well. That was Navi, my faithful fairy companion. She was mainly just a glowing cyan ball with wings, but she was like an annoying little sister. I liked having her around, since she was my only family ever since I left the Kokiri Forest and found out I was a Hylian. "Come on, Link!" she said. "Alright, Navi. I'm getting up," I replied, gaining my footing back. My sword, shield and other items had been dislodged from my possession in the crash, and as far as I know, they're all over the planet. "Looks like my load's a little light." "A little? You've lost EVERYTHING, Link!" Navi said. "Unfortunately, I don't have anything to go on here, so who knows where your items were. The only thing I can salvage near here is your Boomerang and that Sheikah Slate. No Sheikah Towers here, but I think Diamond can download some map data." "Whatever. I just need a weapon." "Why not use that tree over there to make one?" Navi flew towards the tree she specified and used her surprisingly sharp wings to cut down a large branch. I then found a carving knife on the floor and used it to fashion up a wooden sword and sharpened it using a hammer. I then used the same tree to carve up a Boko Shield and used a leather strap to fasten it to my shield arm. I gave the sword a couple swings, a little but unimpressed with the craftsmanship. "Not the greatest thing ever, but I think I can make it work." I said, fastening the sword and shield to my back. I then pocketed my Boomerang and fixed the Slate to my side. "Now...the rest of my gear." [Group POV: Third Person] "Yo, Link! What's up?" Diamond called. Link drew his sword, ready for a fight, only to see Diamond burst out from the bushes. "Oh, it's you, Diamond," Link said, sheathing his sword and shield again. "Lemme guess, those guys with you are Bowser and his lieutenants?" "Good guess, Link. Here, gimme the Sheikah Slate," Diamond stated, holding out his hand. Link handed the slate over, allowing Diamond to download a map of Equestria and reactivate the runes. "Sweet. Uh...any leads on my missing items?" Link asked, taking back the slate. "I DID see a sword on the way here..." Hammer said. "I mean, I never picked it up, but..." "Out of our way, guys!" Navi said, guiding Link to the Master Sword. "Hang on one second! I've got another item of yours!" Diamond yelled after them, chucking Link's Ocarina of Time towards them. Link caught it and placed it safely back in his pouch, then resumed following his fairy. "Well...what now?" Lt. Hammer asked. "Why don't I introduce you to some of the residents?" Diamond suggested, and didn't wait for an answer before dashing out of the forest. The Lieutenants decided to follow him anyway, but Bowser didn't care for the Equines as much. "I'll catch up with you guys," he said, taking off towards the Dragon Lands. -The Darkness of Space [Onyx POV: Third Person] Onyx was the anthropomorphised form of pain, suffering and even death. He had powers that could create dark portals on whichever planet he wanted to, and even transcend dimensions. His dark powers rivalled the combined abilities of even Diamond, the Crystal of the Day AND the Harmony Strike. He saw all planets and dimensions, and was planning to destroy them all to build up his own empire. Planet Dark had been long gone for years, and he was the only surviving resident of that planet when it's core was destroyed by...a certain individual. He now lived on Starship Onyx, a battleship constructed by his own people right before the planet blew up. It had everything he needed, including magic and technology alike. "Finally...I have you RIGHT where I want you," he said to himself, viewing Diamond and co. through one of his Magic Mirrors. "You shall pay for what you did to my people, and eventually I will make you fade into a legend never to be seen again." He laughed maniacally, ready to put his plan into action. Author's Note *I know Koopa Bombardiers don't exist, but it's been 5 years, remember. Bowser could have trained his troops to handle Bob-Ombs, which is what I can envision. The Planet Mushroom section of this chapter acts as a sort of teaser for the yet-to-be-released Mario All-Stars Battle™ series, envisioned, planned and developed by me. Brought to you by ©GemTech Games Ltd. This is EASILY the longest prologue to a FIMfiction I've ever written. Can't tell if you guys like long chapters or not, but I'm just putting that out there. //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Meetup //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1: The Meetup -Planet Equis (Equestria): Ponyville [Group POV, Third-Person] Diamond and co. stopped running/galloping when they came back to Ponyville. On the way there, Link had recovered his Master Sword, Hylian Shield, Hero's Bow and Longshot, but was still missing a good majority of his items. After 5 years, Diamond had helped the Equines advance. Some of them had added GemTech technology to their homes, others had robotic parts attached in place of their normal limbs. "Alright then, so, we'll split up. Meet me back here in about half an hour, an hour and a half at max," Diamond said. "I gotta go check out these anomalies a bit closer. Find out where they're coming from." "Sounds good, Diamond. See you here later," Lt. Blast replied, with him and the other Lieutenants galloping off in separate directions. Link sprinted off in a different direction as well, mainly to recover a few more missing items. -Sweet Apple Acres [Lt. Hammer's POV, Third-Person] Lt. Hammer found himself in Sweet Apple Acres, looking for ponies to befriend. He then heard a mighty clank, like the sound of metal striking wood...or flesh striking metal. He decided to follow the sound, ending up at the barn, where he noticed a few strange looking ponies. One of them was old and wrinkled, but had a robotic flank that still exposed the cutie mark. She had green fur, a white mane and tail, and a cutie mark in the form of an apple pie. The second was middle-aged, with no technological advances. She had orange fur, a yellow mane and tail with red hairbands holding them in shape and a cowboy hat was balanced on her head. Her cutie mark appeared to be three red apples, and she had a VERY nasty kick. The third was a teenage filly with a robotic eye and front legs. She had lime green fur, a red mane and tail and a pink bow tied behind her head. Her cutie mark was a red, white and purple shield with a purple apple in the centre. "Uh, excuse me for asking, but what was that giant clank I heard just now?" Lt. Hammer asked on the way through the gate. "Oh, that'd be Big Mac bucking those apple trees. He had his two hind legs replaced with robotic ones, since he thought it could help with the process," the orange pony answered. "Makes a lotta noise, though. About as much as a sick rooster with a distorted crow using a voice changer o' Diamond's during Cider Season." "Eeyup," said a big, red stallion emerging from the orchard. He had an orange mane and tail and carried a large basket of apples on his back. His cutie mark was a halved green apple with the open end visible. "Name's Applejack, by the way. This here's Apple Bloom and Granny Smith," Applejack introduced, pointing to each pony respectively. "That stallion over there's Big Mac. So...who might you be?" "Lieutenant Hammer, at your service, ma'am!" Lt. Hammer cried, performing a very horrible salute with his right hoof. "A lieutenant, eh? Which army do ya serve, if you're OK sharing?" Apple Bloom asked. "Uh..." Lt. Hammer stumbled, not knowing how to respond. "I'm a lieutenant of an interplanetary task force known as the Koopa Troop." "Then...how come we never see your kind round here?" AJ followed, trying to bribe out more information. "We don't usually come to this world," Lt. Hammer answered, lying pretty badly. "...right. Anyway, what brings ya to Equestria?" It was Granny Smith's turn to ask a question this time, and Diamond had made her sound a lot younger than she actually was. "I thought I was on Planet Equis. Where's this Equestria you speak of?" Lt. Hammer asked. "You ARE in Equestria. Beings from alternate planets call our land Planet Equis, though," AJ pointed out. "And that ponish DNA Diamond gave ya ain't fooling anypony." "Can we see your original form?" Apple Bloom asked. "Uh...how do I change forms with multiple forms of DNA inside my body?" Lt. Hammer responded. "All ya gotta do is think of the form you wanna take. Diamond reconfigures his own genes all the time, to match the natural form of the main residents of a planet. After your form is in the thought, the genes will reconfigure themselves." "Sounds easy enough," Lt. Hammer said, letting his Koopa form circulate through his brain. His body became black, and bones could be heard cracking as the Equine DNA was overpowered by the original. When the body recoloured itself and Lt. Hammer regained his vision, all of the currently present Apple family members had dropped their jaws. Literally, their jaws were on the floor, so he had to pick them up and replace them on the face. "Diamond said there were lots 'a worlds out in what he calls the Galactic System, but I never expected THIS," AJ said. "Ya never know what planets the galaxy has ta offer," Apple Bloom followed. "Just wait until you meet the rest of the Lieutenants and my boss." Hammer lightly chucked a hammer into the air, then tossed it at one of the apple trees in the orchard, most of the apples falling into the baskets that were preset. A few missed, but most hit the mark. "You got quite an arm there," Big Mac said, clearly impressed. "Guess you've been tossing those hammers all your life." "Let's talk more about this inside, how's that?" Hammer asked. The Equines nodded, heading into the barn. -Carousel Boutique: 1st Floor [Lt. Pyro's POV, Third Person] Lt. Pyro arrived in front of the fashion shop in Ponyville and used his warrior's blood to burst into the place. The bell went off quite loud as the door slammed open, sending a large sound wave through the building. -Carousel Boutique: Rarity's Room [Rarity POV, Third Person] Rarity was still asleep, eye mask over her face, lightly snoring. The door's slam caused a light stir, with Sweetie Belle charging in moments later to wake her. "Rarity, someone just burst into the store!" Sweetie Belle said, jolting Rarity awake in a flash. She didn't even have time to take off the mask charging downstairs. -Carousel Boutique: 1st Floor [Group POV, Third Person] Since the building had hardly any advancements in tech, Pyro hardly noticed he'd set off an alarm until Rarity and Sweetie Belle appeared in the opposite doorway. Sweetie had replaced her left eye with a mechanical one, and the horn had been altered to work with Electromagic, a very temperamental but very powerful form of magic physically and chemically bonded to electricity. Rarity had replaced her two front legs with mechanical ones, which were thousands of times better at creating garments, and had also altered her horn to conduct and control Electromagic as well as normal magic. She had also taken an offer on Diamond's experimental robotic organs by replacing one lung with a mechanical one and her brain with an extremely powerful processor. "Oh...crud." This was all Pyro could say when he realised his mistake. Rarity finally removed her eye mask to reveal that she had altered her eyes into something akin to Diamond's visor. You could see a bit of energy surrounding the retinas, and the organic parts of her eyes were heavily bloodshot. "What are you doing here?" Sweetie asked, charging up her horn's electrical energy. Rarity did a similar motion, taking a battle stance and locking onto the target. Her eyes turned red, like how Diamond's tend to do when fighting: she'd activated the Combat Visor. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were closed. But, if this is how it's gonna be, then bring it on," Pyro said, cloaking himself in magical fire. Just as he was about to throw an explosive fireball, however, Rarity completed a scan, as she had switched to her Scan Visor as Pyro cloaked himself in flames. She immediately changed into Neutral mode and stopped charging her horn. "Relax, Sweetie Belle. He doesn't seem to be malicious, he just has the blood of a warrior," she assured. Sweetie Belle contained the energy in her horn, albeit not easily, allowing the three to initiate conversation properly. "So...I know we kinda got off to a rough start, but I didn't know the place was locked," Pyro said. "I'm not really good at these whole apology things, since my boss, Bowser, never lets me when I'm commanding my squadron." "It's alright. We can forgive you," Rarity replied. "Now, who might you be?" "Lieutenant Pyro, reporting for duty!" Pyro yelled, clumsily saluting with his hooves. "You can probably already tell I'm not an Equine." "Definitely. What does your regular form look like?" Sweetie Belle asked. Pyro shifted his genes and reverted back into his Koopa form to answer that question, and Rarity switched once again to her Scan Visor. This is what data was returned: -Recorded to Logbook. -Morphology: Shroomian Fire Bro -The Shroomian Fire Bro is an elite-ranking member of the Koopa Troop, an army of Koopas led by the Koopa King Bowser, but they are only evil under specific orders. -The Shroomian Fire Bros are capable of throwing powerful fireballs from their hands at any opponents they come across. Like other elite soldiers, they also have incredible jumping power. -When combined with Equine DNA, they become unicorns with a mastery of flame magic and knowledge of other basic spells. "I see...so you come from...and this is a complete guess, Planet Mushroom?" Rarity asked. "Spot-on guess...uh..." Pyro stumbled with his words, since he didn't know the pony's names. "Rarity, and this is my sister, Sweetie Belle." "Pleased to meet you, even though we got off to a rough start," Sweetie said. Pyro just saluted, then went to jump out. "My goodness, Pyro! You can't leave here in THAT! I HAVE to find you a new outfit!" Rarity sped off to grab her equipment. "She always like this, Sweetie?" Pyro asked. "Yep. She probably doesn't like that armour." "The only reason I wear this stuff is because it's compulsory Koopa Troop garb. It helps with defence, as well as offence since we can slide around in them." "Nonsense, dear! I will make you something new to wear. That shell's got to be uncomfortable, right?" Rarity asked, reappearing with her sewing equipment. "A bit, but I can't take it off or else I'll be fired. I appreciate the offer, but I just can't." "Then take off, my friend. Come back whenever you need a new garment!" Rarity called as Pyro jumped out. Rarity extended her left hoof and shut the door behind him, then pulled up a hologram of him to create a few Koopa garments. -Cloudsdale [Lt. Frost POV: Third-Person] Lt. Frost flew to where most Pegasi make their homes: Cloudsdale. A LOT of Pegasi had been technologically advanced, a few of them COMPLETELY roboticised. They were all still able to walk on clouds, luckily for them. Lt. Frost touched down on one of the clouds, finding he could stand on it without falling through. Koopas could do that anyway, but Planet Mushroom's clouds were quite a bit thicker than the Equine ones. "Hey, look at this guy! No robotic advancements!" one Pegasus said. "Guess he didn't quite stick with the times," replied another. "That, or he isn't from this world," added a third. "Don't judge me, Pegasi, or I'll summon a hailstorm on ya! And a BIG one at that," Frost threatened, reaching for his Icy Conch. Everypony instantly backed off, but one Pegasus refused to retreat. She had a rainbow mane and tail, light blue fur and no technological advancements. A teenage filly stood behind her, with a purple mane and tail and robotic wings. "Another bio-Pegasus, eh? Thought I was the only one left," the rainbow-maned Pegasus said. "Also, you can actually call hailstorms with that conch alone? Gimme a taste of that!" Frost unbelted the Icy Conch and blew into it for a few seconds. Almost immediately, storm clouds formed above and decently small hailstones began to drop. "They're small right now, but the longer I blow into that thing, the larger the stones will be," Frost explained, belting his conch back to his left flank. "Now, let's clear this baby up." He flew into the air and began bucking at the hail clouds, with the rainbow-maned Pegasus and a few other Pegasi helping him. "Hey, we never really introduced ourselves. I'm Rainbow Dash," she introduced. "Lieutenant Frost, at your service!" Frost saluted clumsily in the air, then dashed forward and coated his hind legs in ice. His next buck released a large frozen shockwave, popping the majority of the hail clouds rather easily. Rainbow Dash, looking to top that, flew at speeds no cyborg Pegasus could handle and eventually created a huge explosion of rainbows behind her at maximum speed. She couldn't help but be impressed by Frost's icy kick, though. "Hoof. You guys do this every d-oh right, these robot Pegasi are complete RACISTS," Frost said. "Yeah, we control the weather here," Rainbow answered. "Come on, let's head to my place. We can talk more there." She took off towards home, Frost following close behind. -Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash's House [Frost + Rainbow's POV, Third Person] "So, not from this world, are we?" Rainbow asked. "Not from here. I come from Planet Mushroom, a planet in the Superstar System," Frost answered. "I can't lie, though, that buck was pretty cool, what when you coated your hind legs in ice." "I call it the Cryo Kick. Incredible way to clear out clouds in Equine form." Frost then reconfigured his genes to re-assume his Koopa form. Rainbow just gawked for a couple seconds, then contained herself. Another Pegasus glided in, this one a teenage filly, which Frost recognised as the one he saw with Dash earlier. "I didn't know your species could stand on clouds. Oh, and hey, Scoot!" Rainbow called. "Frost, this is my...preemptively adopted sister, Scootaloo. Scoot, this is Lt. Frost from the Superstar System." "Pleasure to meet you, Frost! What even are yo-wait, don't answer that," Scootaloo said, pulling up a Scan Visor. Here is the data she got back: -Recorded to Logbook -Morphology: Shroomian Ice Bro -A Shroomian Ice Bro is the polar opposite of a Shroomian Fire Bro, but still an elite-ranking member of Bowser's army. -Being an opposite of the Fire Bro, the Ice Bro has the uncanny ability to throw impossibly cold ice balls at opponents that freeze any entity they contact while still retaining the agility of the Shroomian Elites. -When combined with Equine DNA, they have a chance to either become a unicorn or a Pegasus. The unicorn has a mastery of ice magic and knowledge of simple spells, while the Pegasus can summon snowstorms and hailstorms with the conchs on their flanks. "Interesting...Planet Mushroom, is it?" "Spot on. Now, where were we?" Frost asked. "I was wondering how you can walk on clouds!" Rainbow said. "Oh right. Nobody knows why, but our shoes are enchanted so we can walk on clouds, but unfortunately, we still can't walk over liquids." The conversation carried on for a few minutes as the Lt. and the Pegasi exchanged information, but eventually Frost took his leave to punish some of the Pegasi who teased him before. -Sugarcube Corner: Pinkie's Party Cave [Pinkie's POV, FP] Planning parties down here is as easy for a party pony like I am as it is for Twilight to do her science-y stuff, what with the Mirror Machine and all the early technology she created before Diamond got into the picture. Anyway, I was busy planning parties in my secret party-planning cave (though really it isn't much of a secret now I just told you all,) when all of a sudden I hear a knock upstairs. "Cheese, I thought these panels were soundproof!" I yelled. "They're sound RESISTANT, not soundproof, Pinkie!" he yelled back. Regardless, I slid back up the slide and headed down to the lobby. -Sugarcube Corner: Lobby [Group POV: TP] Lt. Blast clumsily knocked on the door again, since he was nowhere NEAR used to his Equine body. An amber-coloured Earth pony answered the door in mere seconds, which was still strange for the Lieutenant. He had a brown poofy mane and a poofy tail, and seemed to carry...a rubber chicken with a number 2 on his back? "Hey there, stranger! Had a doozy just now, so it must have been you arriving here that caused it," the Earth pony said. "My name's Cheese Sandwich. I know it sounds weird, but...don't judge." "Not gonna. Who's in charge here? Usually, I say that looking to blow them up," Blast replied. "Blow them up? Don't be setting off any bombs in here." "Again, not gonna. My bomb bag's sealed...for now." "Anyway, if you're looking for Pinkie, she's probably upstairs." Blast immediately charged past and used his superior strength as an Earth pony to thrust himself up the stairs in a single go, with a small bang to go with it. He came face to face with the pink pony, who was probably going to be Pinkie Pie when the dots were connected. "Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie, but you probably already guessed that. I can tell you aren't from this world with the way you handle the Equine DNA, which is clumsy at best." she said, and all in one go. ...did I just jump into some living quarters or a simulation of crazy? Lt. Blast thought. It's alright, Blast. Just...act casual. "Hey," Blast said. "I'm Lt. Blast." "Not much of a talker, eh? I think a party can change that attitude!" "I don't DO parties." Pinkie gasped at this, and pretty hard. "In fact, none of the Koopas do fun of any kind." "Oh boy, this won't do at all! I better-" "Eat it, you little pink bitch!" Blast shouted, unsealing his bomb bag and pulling out a stick of dynamite. "One more word about parties from you, and I'll light it," he threatened. "I...I see," Pinkie said. This threat, along with Blast's swearing, forced Pinkie into a state of depression and caused her hair to deflate. Blast put his bomb away and resealed his bag as Cheese walked in. "Is something going on up he-WHAT DID YOU DO TO PINKIE?!" he yelled. "She's in no condition to throw a party like that!" "Good. Wouldn't shut the fuck up about them," Blast said. "And don't you start either, or I'll blow up the both of you with a single stick of trinitrotoluene." "Uhh...what?" Pinkamena was confused. "TNT." Blast summed it up in one word, causing everypony to retaliate. "In fact, why wait? Detonating this place'll be fun." "No, wait! There's fillies in the vicinity!" Cheese warned. "Don't care. I'll detonate them too. And maybe I'll grab this cannon from whatever remains." He directed the attention to Pinkie's Party Cannon before galloping over and firing it. Confetti and party decorations flew everywhere. "Now THAT'S what I need!" Pinkie's hair re-inflated as she sprang upwards and tossed a few hooffuls of confetti around the room. This didn't stop Lt. Blast from lighting one of his bombs and chucking it into the room, though. He then leapt out of a window to escape the explosion. Cheese charged downstairs to grab the fillies, then escaped the building at the last second. Pinkie dived out of the window in desperation, but the bomb went off before she could get too far out. -Ponyville: Town Centre [Diamond's POV, TP] Diamond was trying to locate Link's lost equipment when he heard a large explosion. He followed the sound to see black smoke escalating from Sugarcube Corner. "God dammit!" he yelled, attempting to thrust over when his Sonic Thrusters shut down. He fell to the ground quickly and attempted to analyse the problem, but most of his tech seemed to be malfunctioning. "Gah, I'll just run," he said, sprinting towards the area. -Sugarcube Corner: Wreckage [Group POV: TP] Lt. Blast observed the damage he'd caused to the building, as an evil smirk broke onto his face. The Cakes were left homeless, and wept over the wreck. Pinkie had fallen unconscious, but had barely escaped the explosion. However, her rump had been completely incinerated, and her hind legs had been ripped off her body nowhere near cleanly. Blood spilled over the dirt roads in extremely large quantities as Diamond showed up, panting for breath. Sheesh, is this what normal people do? This is nuts! he thought. "Diamond! That guy is INSANE!" Pinkie warned. "No duh, Sherclop Pones!" Diamond said. "I could tell just by looking at ya!" "Maybe stop standing around and START HELPING!" Cheese yelled. Diamond dashed over and set up one of his workbenches. He made two mechanical legs for Pinkie, bones and all, and quickly fastened them to her body to stop the bleeding. "Won't be able to walk on those for a few hours. Give 'em until tomorrow morning to initialise." Diamond pocketed his workbench, then turned to Blast and activated his Mask of Fury. His visor immediately disappeared to be replaced by a large metal mask covering the entire head. Where Diamond's eyes were, magical red orbs flickered inside the plastic slots, most of it shining in Diamond's eyes. As the brightness reached it's max, Diamond was consumed by fury and his tech was forced online. Most of it now showed a red glow instead of it's usual cyan. "LT. BLAST. EXPLAIN YOURSELF." Diamond menaced over Blast, using his Atom Resizer to make himself 3 times as big as he was usually. "I...uh...I..." "NO...YOU'RE NOT WORTH THE HASSLE. BUT I SWEAR TO SATAN, I WILL MAKE SURE BOWSER KNOWS ABOUT THIS." He then took off the Mask and reverted down to normal size. "Rosette, deploy the probes. We gotta get this place fixed." -Starship Onyx: Command Deck [Onyx POV: TP] Onyx saw over everything that happened on Planet Equis, proud to see that Lt. Blast's short temper could make him a perfect ally for evil. He grabbed his microphone and tapped into Blast's brain with a simple command. "Lt. Blast. If you hear me, I have need of your services. Head to the Castle of the Two Sisters. I will meet you there," he spoke into Blast's head. Almost instantly, Blast could be visualised on the many, MANY monitors following his orders. "As for you, Diamond..." he added, no longer into the mic. "Well, you'll see. Your tech is down, giving you a HEAVY disadvantage. Now, it's my turn..." Author's Note Midway through the chapter, I kinda gave up labelling the perspective in full each time. You see an FP, it's First Person, ThP is Third Person.