Discord was laying in bed, clutching a picture of him and his beloved wife, Fluttershy. “It seems I’m to join you soon, my dear.”
It was the end for discord, funny thing is, he honestly didn’t mind it coming, but that was just it, wasn’t it? For all his power, he couldn’t predict that the day of his greatest joys final departure, also known as his lowest day of the year, and the day he lost her, would also be his last day on Gaia.
“It was going well, my last day in a few hundred years of contentment… I got to taste Pudding Pie’s latest candy, I am about to get a visit from my dear granddaughter and her friends, and Spike even paid me a visit yesterday with news that Ember laid an egg! Oh, to see what Stygia and Imperium would think! Killed by something so mundane as getting old… they’d probably laugh at me before deciding to come along for the ride… although they’d be jealous as well, they’d also be there for me, as they had always been, so long ago.” Discord thought back to all the years he had spent with Fluttershy after her adventures had ended, of the family they had made, of the laughs, smiles, grins and guffaws and… and he knew. “ I’d not change a second of it”
Meadow, a yellow Draqonequine that looked exactly like what Discord imagined Fluttershy would look like as a member of his own species, poofed into his room as her friends followed her via the stairs, and smiled as she saw her doting grandfather. “Hi, grandpa! So… what is it you needed from us?”
Zircon,who had moved in just a few years ago from Canterlot, after having finished his education at the hands of his adoptive mother Twilight, was a large, well built teenage dragon with dark gray and silver scales, with eyes a marvelous mix of purple, green, and yellow.
He had a quill and scroll in his claws, which he seemed to be fidgeting with absentmindedly. “Yeah, what’s the big rush, gramps? You remember another funny escapade you wanna write down for posterity?”
A hippogryph then followed after, this particular hybrid of gryphon and pony a descendant of Gilda and the Apple family, specifically, Gildas son and Big Macs daughter had hooked up and produced this mighty, masculine member of the village guard. “Now hold on, Zircs, we gotta make sure everyone gets upstairs first, Discord was specific about that. Seriously, what’d it say of us youngins if we just disregarded the village Elder like that?”
Zircon deadpanned. “You did it again, Ed, we gotta break you of that fogey talk habit, else you’re never gonna get a date.”
Ed smirked. “You mean like how you are in the same boat, cause you can’t tell a girl you think she’s cute without freezing up?”
Pudding Pie then literally bounced up the stairs, her pink coat easily marking her as Pinkie’s granddaughter, but her oddly helix shaped unicorn horn and even more blatant toon physique hinted at her far more powerful father figure as, apparently, Pinkie had unicorn ancestry, which showed in her daughter with Cheese Sandwich.
This delightfully random mare then had the brilliant idea at twenty one to do a drunk summoning, and got pregnant with the child of an outer realm being. Oddly enough, Ylxraguv is actually a very good, responsible father, and a loving husband. “Hiya Uncle! Daddy says hi, and momma Parley says she would love for you to come over for some Quiche!”
Next up was a Diamond dog who carried himself with an air of grace as he came upstairs, his clothes looking like some hybrid of a tuxedo and a vest, and his coat like that of a dalmations. “Come come, Pudding, we must make way for Yovette, you know the stairs are a small bit... er… small, for a yak.”
Pudding nodded and made way for yovette as she smiled at the Diamond dog before saluting. “Sure thing, captain Rex!”
Rex frowned. “Pudding, you know that we can’t play pirates for another week, our parents were very strict about that.”
Pudding huffed as a very strong looking white furred,blue eyed Yak came up the stairs. “How did you two get grounded anyway? I never got the scoop on that.” She asked.
Rex blushed and Pudding did as well. “Well, let us just say that lying about what happened is apparently what got us grounded, not the deed itself… that’s all we need to share.”
Meadow smiled as everyone gathered and sat in a seat Discord had long ago made for each of them when they came to visit. “So, what is the big emergency, Grandpa?”
Discord smiled sadly “I am not long for this world, dear children.”
Everyone present paled before looking to Discord, Meadow taking the initiative to ask what all present were thinking. “C-can we stop it? C-can we help?”
Discord smiled warmly and held out a scroll, much smaller than Zircons. “Cast this spell, all of you. It will do what must be done.”
They all nodded and followed the instructions, marking the floor under the rug they were standing on until recently, now cast aside. They quickly made a magic circle with the signature mark of Discords, a perfect circle with arrows radiating out from it in all directions, all at differing lengths, a mark that another race of people, a whole universe away, would recognize as a chaos star. He smiled as they followed the instructions to the letter, setting the ritual up as only friends just like the six mares he knew so long ago could do.
They then began reciting the words of the spell, not some arcane phrase, or some primal chant, but simply different languages across the dimensions depiction of the same primal force of change; words for chaos, the force that sustained him for so long.
As they chanted, the arrows began to fill with a red light, a warm, motherly warmth began to envelop Discord, comforting him, as he knew that his spell was indeed working… all the way to the end of the spell, he laid there, memorizing the faces of these amazing young individuals.
All of them were, in some way or another, linked to the six mares who had given his long life a level of joy he never thought possible.
He smiled kindly at the six Individuals before him, grunting as his tail quickly petrified and turned to dust, the six of them having just recovered from the crescendo of their spell, and staring at him in shock.
“What?” He said, as he watched himself fall apart as if it was the most natural thing in the world, his expression unwavering. “You honestly thought I’d have some sort of mystical mcguffin to revitalize myself? This world… this wonderful, beautiful world… it is not as malleable as you’d like, my dear. Even spirits such as I have an expiration date, only by ascending to godhood like Twilight, Celly, and Lulu, could I have stayed forever… and that would have made things so much more hollow...”
The yellow Draqonequine teared up as she realized what was happening. “Ah, tut tut, young meadow… no tears, I know that this is not what you’d have liked, granddaughter mine, but the fates had decreed my time was coming anyway…” He smirked. “And it is our people’s way, to go out with a unique ending… I think I’m the first spirit of chaos to ever be mourned.”
Meadow was staring at Discord in horror now, frozen to the spot. “Y-you… You knew this would happen?”
Discord smiled warmly. “I have been weakening for years, my dear. If not today, then any day now, would have been my last. That spell I had you all cast on me? It sent a spark out. This is the spirit triads way. With my passing, our three sparks will head to worthy successors. While they would have gone out had I died anyway, this copies my soul as it were, to teach the inheritor of my power how to use it their own special way, then join me in the afterlife, fusing into one dead discord.”
Zircon was next to speak, showing more than a little distress as he tugged at his right horn while he looked for where he had put his quill and scroll, to keep his hands busy. “Why in the name of Bahamut would you trick us into basically euthanizing you?! That’s so messed up, on so many levels!” he gasped and froze in place. “ Am I a murderer now?!”
Rex shook his head. “No, while euthanasia is frowned on by modern society, a practice like this, would be viewed as a spiritual sendoff… so no...we are clear on any murder charges, as well as involuntary manslaughter.”
Pudding’s mane straightened and her posture sagged, her body almost shrinking a little as she continued. “D-did I just hurt someone? I… I don’t like how that feels…”
Ed, short for Edward, huffed. “This is complete horse apples… Why the hell did you trick us like that, Discord?”
Discord looked to the collected individuals, and sighed sadly, the dissolving of his body up past his pelvis now. “Because, I had promised Imperium when he died that I would make sure to be there to teach my replacement, unlike the last chaos spirit, who just… well, he left me to figure things out myself.” He chuckled bitterly. “And it is not even possible for a chaos spirit to break an oath with the spirit of order.”
Meadow frowned, picking up discords hint immediately. “There was a spirit of order?”
He smirked. “There are four forces in Gaia that are crucial to the continued existence of the realm. Order, Chaos, Darkness, and Light. Three of them are embodied and looked after by spirits, and the last, is overseen by the Tree of Harmony.” he smirked “My candy stash goes to the first person to guess what the tree oversees.”
Pudding immediately belted out “Order, it’s gotta be order, yeah? I mean, it undoes so much rampant anarchy!”
Rex shook his head slowly. “No… it’s Light, isn’t it? A light to soothe the damages done by the clashing of Chaos and Order, as well as to balance out the darks hold over the world… I read that in an old ruin once, on a trip with my father.”
Discord nodded glibly, his fingertips now beginning to fade. “Got it in one, kiddo.” and a massive bag of perfectly preserved treats appeared by his side.
Right as Pudding pouted at failing to obtain the candy, Rex offered her a chocolate bar, immediately brightening her mood, only for it to fall again as Discord spoke again.
“They will be, as a rule, new to this dimension… I know not how my power, or even the other spirits' power, will affect them all. They may become a Draqonequus like me, or develop into an as before unseen lifeform, or even look the exact same as before they arrived… There is no telling what our sparks will do to them… I ask of you, as a final favor to an old fool of a spirit who wasted his hayday spreading his hurt to others… Be their friends, teach them… like Fluttershy taught me,” he smiled as his neck was now beginning to dissolve, the fading seeming to have picked up serious speed. “Teach them that they need not be alone…”
And with that, the doting grandfather, the pranking partner Uncle, the village elder, the last of a generation of spirits, had all, finally, faded away, passing the torch to another generation, and leaving several young adults in quite somber conditions.
On Earth, ???POV
I was walking with my sister Emily, whistling a tuneless song as I looked out for my mark, someone has been stalking my sister the last few weeks, and I was going to end his little creep fest NOW. ‘Ah! There’s that little scumbag now.’
I immediately stopped as Emily kept walking and tripped the shithead with the head of my cane, he landed face first on the pavement. Ooh, looks like I broke his nose~!
“Ouch, looked nasty. Almost as nasty as what your face will resemble if you keep stalking my baby sister.”
“I-I have no idea-” I cut off the dickhead by using my boot to smack his dicks head, hard.
“You have no idea what I’m talking about? Oh, playing dumb, when your already in so deep? Unwise.” I chuckled as I looked him over appraisingly. “But maybe you aren’t playing, I mean, ya look the part, fucking mouthbreather mc dumbass version 3.0, now with 500 Percent more stupid-as-FUCK!” I then smirked as he got pissed off, as I had anticipated, he got up and charged me with a knife that he was likely going to employ in the use of kidnapping my dear sister.
“Oh, oh, you poor little scat stain on humanities ass...you were going to use that on that little girl, hmm?” I smirked in an insincere manner. “Guess what that means?~” He shuddered as I grinned and drew the blade from my cane after unlocking it. “My mercy for you has been spent...” He paled and fled, only for me to smirk. “Yup, total dumbass, couldn’t even tell it was plastic.”
Emily looked at me happily as I walked after her, her smile radiant. “So, big brother, what is on the agenda now? I figure I owe you a free meal and maybe pre order that new game you were so excited about? Nioh 2, was it?”
I smirked and tousled her hair. “Thanks squirt, but you know October is when my work picks up. Already have three gigs on three separate movies.” Turns out that a theater major with a minor in psychology, and a degree in both of those and art, makes me invaluable for the horror movie business. I smiled at her lovingly, I’d scare anybody shitless if it meant keeping her safe. Hell, I’d probably kill to ensure her safety… “Well, time to go squirt, tell your flatmate she sucks.”
Emily huffed. “Sigmund Wilson Cain! I can’t believe you still hold a grudge against her!”
I huffed. “She tazed me, Emily. Made me soil my favorite pair of pants. They cost a good bit of money. And not only that, she refuses to even apologize!”
Emily snickered, likely prepping a snappy comeback, before she looked at me oddly. “B-brother? What’s that?” She pointed at the sky, behind me, and as I turned to look, I saw two glowing orbs like you’d see in a fantasy game spiraling towards us, only this wasn’t some fantasy game, so those would probably mean some serious pain on impact. “GET DOWN!” I shout as I try to save my sister from the impact, only for the black orb to send me sprawling before I saw the blue orb lodge itself in Emily.
Whatever the orb was doing to me, it was agonizingly painful, and judging from Emilies screams the same was true for her, I spat out a deep, dark, viscous liquid that looked like ink, and before I even knew what was happening, the ink spread beneath me until I was sinking into it. I struggled with all my might to reach Emily, even as blue flames began to envelop her. “S-squirt! I… I can’t-”
She screamed… Oh god, her screams… they echoed in my skull, reverberating long after the blinding light of her flames dissipated, and all that was left was the inky black void I had fallen into.
…
……
………
‘How long have I been floating here?’ I thought to myself
“About three days, and please, let me adapt your eyes for you, dearie, can’t have you bumbling about in what’s to be your domain soon!” The void of nothingness suddenly was completely replaced with what looked like a witches hut from a fantasy novel. At the pot was what looked like a living shadow woman with an amply endowed physique, seriously, damn, for a lady made of darkness, she sure had a fine ass and tits.
The as of now witch hatted shadow woman chuckled. “Flattery will get you nowhere, dearie, for while you will soon be the king of shadow, I shall not live to be your subject.” She smirked. “Although, it’s good to know you will have no problem finding a queen.”
I blushed. “You can hear my thoughts?”
Her smirk brightened. “Clever boy, I know my spark chose well. Now, drink the memory brew, sweetie, it’ll give you the basic knowledge of your new powers. Nothing major, but you’ll know what an average Umbra-born will now, so as to not… embarrass yourself.”
At the mention of new powers,I reached for the offered cup, only then I noticed my gaunt, downright skeletal physique. “What the hell? I look like I'm anorexic! Where did all my muscles and fat go?”
She smiled warmly. “Oh, while your new form may look weak, you have power aplenty, you are the 12th spirit of darkness, after all, that means not only are you stronger than me, your stronger than me by a FAR margin. Something about every third spirit getting a massive boost to their power, I never listened to that cackling old hag when it came to schoolin’. Much easier to just make a brew ta teach ya.”
I sighed and drank the brew, which tasted oddly like a cream soda, but had a slight aftertaste of lemon lime… not bad. I looked to the milf shadow and smirked. “So… when do I start learning? I mea-GAH!”
I suddenly had a migraine that made every hangover I ever had feel like a fucking love tap, even that job at Rio was nothing by comparison. God….
The lady began to fade and she chuckled. “Welp, take care, dearie, see you in dreamland~”
I scrunched my brow up in confusion, trying to ask what the hell she meant, only for vertigo to overtake me as the floor once again sucked me up, only this time, it spat me out in some bright, colorful looking town. I looked to my left, then my right, only to see a gathering crowd of … how do I know these are ponies? I jerked upright as I realised that the brew that lady gave me must’ve given basic knowledge as well… huh, thank you shadow milf.
I then looked at the crowd, seeing that they were mostly female, I knew cause boobs, and looked for my sister. “Have any of you fine Equestrian citizens seen my sister? I believe I have taken a bit of a wrong turn.”
Emily POV
You ever wake up one morning and think: "Today's gonna suck."? Yeah, that's me right now. Forget almost shooting my ear off in the morning, it's what I get for keeping a loaded pistol with the safety off. Forget cutting your leg with a month old razor, at least I got my tetanus shots. Just when life gave you a win, just when things were finally looking up…
SLAM
Blue ball of… something… hits you dead in the chest like a ton of bricks. Oh no, but that's not the worst part. You know what the worst part is? Getting your insides torn open, your guts incinerated, and your every damn bone pulverized into a fine dust.
Then there was the screaming… oh boy there was some screaming… in fact, I could actually still hear it… wait…
Blinking, my eyes were met by an endless expanse of blues and whites… clouds floating endlessly through a sea of nothing. Before I knew it, I had my hands on my throat, coughing my lungs out as the screaming stopped… the screams being my own.
Everything felt… wrong, but calm. Wrong in that I had no concept of up or down. My feet kicked air that should have been floor. Wind whipped around me as I fell in place.
"What the fuck…" I gasped out, my throat having still been dry and hoarse from screaming my lungs out. Of course, my near silent question seemed to get something's attention, my body freezing in place as a heavy foot fall seemed to echo in this empty blue world.
I wanted to scream again, I wanted to flail around and move… I wanted to be anywhere but here… at least… at least until the music started. It… was a harp. A gentle tune washing over the empty. Slowly, but surely, something started walking towards me. It was upside down surprisingly… or maybe I was?
The closer it got, the clearer and less upside down it became, like a mirrored pool finally settling after being disturbed. Now only a few feet away, I began to see that it was… well, I want to say big but it wasn't just big. It was massive. It was like a jagged, crystal, baby blue boulder with arms and legs, an equally giant harp in its hands.
Despite how painfully slow it was already moving, it slowed down even more once it was probably about three feet from me, large and expressive green eyes staring into my soul… desperately wanting to say… I'm sorry.
Blinking away some stray dust from my eyes, I reached out only to fall on my face, gravity finally working it's magic. Grunting, I slammed a fist on the non existent floor, the giant moving as if to help me, only to stop halfway, almost as if it feared hurting me.
Somehow… I really couldn't blame it.
With a pained gasp, I slammed the other fist down, followed by my right and left feet. Just about ready to get up, I flinched and fell backwards as it presented me with a blue crystal, a carving of an axe, a brain with a thought bubble, and… a pretty accurate image of my face.
"What?" Was all I could really ask as it pulled the slab away. This time, it did offer me a hand and I finally got to my feet. His hands were cold… his hands… how did…
I looked into his eyes again, sad and apologetic… like a shimmering emerald sea being reflected by a rain kissed mirror. We let go of each other slowly, his right hand moving to his back as he pulled at a massive blue twin headed axe… though, it looked more like an oversized twin headed woodsman's hatchet.
He looked at his weapon forlornly, gripping it tightly with both hands as he moved it forward slightly before pulling it back. It was almost as if he wanted to give this to me, but hated that he needed to, not because of not wanting to part with it, but because it's burden was no doubt a great one.
"I'm… dead. Aren't I?" I asked as I looked him in the eyes again, that dust from before returning with a vengeance.
His arms fell slightly as he nodded.
"And… so are you?" His eyes brightened with surprise, a more lively nod being my answer.
"You can't move on… not unless I take that from you," Another sad nod, his grip tightening further, "That tablet… you were guarding something?" A shake of his head, "Some… one?" A nod.
I turned away slightly, head down and hands behind my back as I started to pace, "I'm dead, but there's a chance I… won't be?" I caught his nod from the corner of my eye, "But that means I take your place?" Another nod, "You don't want me to take your place?" He looks away as if ashamed, "But it's your only choice."
At this, he lowers his gaze before raising the axe into the air, turning it and slamming it point first into the ground as he kneeled, shocking me from my mindless walk.
I could tell that the time for words was over, I didn't want to be dead… Not until I had answers… and so, against my better judgement, I took the axe handle as my mind went blank.
My sense of… well… anything... was gone, replaced by a void of white. That is until a… a vision came into view. Like an old choppy VHS tape was trying to play one last time before it finally gave out.
Imperium POV
I was walking with Stygia and Discord, smiling as we played around as we usually did, we would have play battles, and use blunted, cloth covered weapons. A pony then approached us and bowed. “Oh mighty spirits, Celestia and Luna, the princesses of our realm, would like to have a diplomatic meeting! May we encroach upon thy sacred lands, and parley so that more of our ponies may settle them?”
I smiled and pointed to him with a laugh as I looked to Discord. “Brother! Sister! They fear we may punish them as gods! How humerous!” I turned to him and smirked. “Fear not pony, we shall not smite-” upon me saying that, a beam of pure power extended from my finger, obliterating the pony on the spot until only a red mist remained.
What… what? What have I done? Oh gods above, I murdered this poor soul! I… I killed a messenger of the ponies! They are a skittish, jumpy bunch! They will think of us as foes of ponykind for sure! Wh-what horrors have I unleashed upon us?!
Fast forward many years.
‘It is over… I… I am alone, my sister, dead, my brother, sealed into a hellish prison… all my fault, because I could not keep my powers in check… I swear, I shall refine these powers, so that my replacement, they will not have my heartache…’ I think this as I slide into a meditative position, the last bit of movement I would ever have… for there I remained, meditating, learning control, for thousands of years, until my body gave out, and I perished.
This is my mental message to my replacement...I am so, so sorry, to place this burden upon thee. Thy siblings in arms, the other spirits, shall hopefully manifest near you… may my sins be forgotten by the time you arrive, and may my judgement be just...for I swear, I never wanted any of this.
The pictures fade, and my world fades to white.
Emily POV
I shot up, gasping for air as I started coughing my lungs out, "MOTHER FUCKER!!" I shouted at no one, my heavy hands reaching out at nothing… well, I did grab something.
Panting, I looked to my left, my arm covered in the same baby blue crystal, my hand holding a smaller version of that woodsman's hatchet. I pulled at it, only to watch it split in two, the second handle falling on my chest and pinning me to the ground, "Hahh… for fuck's sake…" Well, whatever, I had a splitting axe, a splitting headache, and I was probably covered in crystals. Don't care where I am, it's nap time.
??? Pov
"She's really heavy…" A pony grunted, struggling to pull a cart. He was a chestnut brown colored colt with a wild and tangled black mane and tail. Dried mud covered his tan work shirt and shorts. His magenta eyes squinting with frustration.
"How do you know she's a she?" Another pony asked, her black eyes looking back at their cargo, but doing nothing to help the struggling colt. The mare's coat was colored a very pale pink, her well kempt curled ruby and sapphire mane and tail seemed to bounce as she walked. She wore a brilliant gold and white dress with pieces of precious stone stitched into the fabric.
"She's got really soft skin and it looks like she has mamories." The colt replied, whining when a wheel got caught in a pot hole.
"Heh, perv~" The mare teased.
"Mm… not a perv… those books aren’t mine…" the crystal armored girl muttered as she squirmed.
"She sounds kinda delirious." The mare said as she looked at the sleeping woman.
"Isn't that why… we're taking her to the hospital!" With a pained roar, the colt managed to get his cart back on track, "You know, I don't know why you're here if you won't even help."
Taking on an air of mock offense, the mare put her nose in the air, "I am helping," she stated with a bit of a whine, "I'm here to make sure you don't take advantage of sleeping beauty here!"
The colt only rolled his eyes at his companion's haughty smile and closed eye.
"Stop following me… I'm not interested…" The girl muttered.
"You think somepony was following her?" The mare asked as she looked the woman over.
"It does explain why she's armored," The colt replied, "and if she was passed out, chances are that whoever she was running from actually managed to get her." Without warning, the colt was unceremoniously pushed away, the mare taking the reins of the cart.
"Then what are we waiting for!" She shouted, "We need to get her to a doctor yesterday!!" With a rebel yell, the young mare pounded the earth as she started to speed off.
"NOW YOU HELP ME!!" The perturbed colt shouted, scrambling forward as he tried to catch up to his companion's side.
??? POV
I woke up, only to feel something slamming into my chest. "The heck?" I drowsily slurred.
As I looked around, I saw the room fade away like it was nothing but fog before an odd looking creature made of a mishmash of animal parts showed up. “Hello there, apprentice. It seems you will be taking my place as the spirit of chaos soon… here’s hoping you have an easier time of it.” he chuckled softly. “I still have nightmares about the pigeons.”
He was next to me in an instant, tapping the side of my head. “There we go, basic Chaos spirit knowledge, now, unlike the other two spirits, you have no kingdom or subjects, but you DO have a lot more power to start with. Just…please, don’t go too crazy, okay? I happen to be fond of the natives.”
"I will go three crazy to spite you." I deadpanned at the probable hallucination.
The creatures face took on an unamused look. “You do know, that you are stuck in this limbo dimension until I release you, yes?”
"...I was joking. I still think I'm dreaming right now." I said to the figment of my imagination. How my imagination got the shrooms to think all of this up I don't know, I sure as hell didn't take them.
The creature sighed. “How would you like me to prove that you are not dreaming, and are legitimately dead at this point in time?” He held up three fingers from his lion paw. “I could unblock the memory of you getting my divine spark, but that would likely be painful, I could show you your apartment, with your charred skeleton laying in your bed, or we could just go along with the possibility that this is all real, and that I am asking you, as one dead soul to another, to be careful upon your reincarnation. Especially since I have my granddaughter and her friends to worry about…”
He sighed before beginning to pace, his arms folded behind his back. “Okay, long story short, you, a human from a dimension foreign to my own, have been selected to inherit my power, sort of a one for all thing, but I want to secure a spirits oath from you that you will not needlessly harm my granddaughter or her loved ones. This is serious, these oaths are not breakable.”
"Oh, so I'm displaced? That's all you needed to say man." I said after a moment, smirking. "Magic here I come!"
Discord huffed. “Oh great, you know about displacement, well, that makes this… somewhat easier. You will be displaced as a blend of you and myself, as in, you will be you, but with my powers, and your body might change slightly due to the chaos powers… Please, just make the promise so I can rest… I do not wish to stay around for the token appearing, we chaos displaced tend to get… injured, by them.”
"I promise to not intentionally harm them as long as they do not harm me first," I replied, a serious look on my face. "If they attack me first, I'm not gonna let it happen though. I'm sure they've learned to not blast first by now though, right?'
Discord nodded. “Unless they see you deliberately attacking a civilian, not even the most hotheaded of them will attack you.” He smirked. “Welp, the promise is made, so I will see you once the basic knowledge kicks in fully, and you need training.”
Giving Discord a wave, I smirked. "Arivaderci!" I said as I was sent to the next world, chuckling to myself.
I soon found myself in what had to be the Everfree, I looked around as I stood up to find none other than a massive Timberwolf and several much smaller ones staring at me. “ it smells of change, mother… is it a sister to the dark?”
"Possibly! Wait… Sister?" I questioned the wooden wolf, not scared of it. I looked down at myself, and things had very much changed, my body being silver, with darker spots of a sort of onyx black. "Huh… neat." I said, cupping my new breasts, the mother turned to the pups quickly, barking for them to look away as she covered the one of the pack that didn’t obey’s eyes with her paws.
“Dark-sister perhaps, but still, no grope self! Improper!”
I removed my hands from my breasts, letting them sway at my sides. "Sorry. I… Did not look like this before. It seems Discord had to get one last bit of Chaos off before he left…" I said, minorly annoyed. I was going to have no sense of balance whatsoever, for a while at least.
The Timberwolf mother huffed a little and looked to the north. “The Dark one is in the town… must greet new Dark Spirit… follow?” The mother asked, seemingly offering to guide me to civilization.
Humming, I nodded. "That'd be great yeah. Maybe a ride… I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to walk like this. Just by looking at the trees I'm at least like half a foot shorter than I was so my balance is gonna be non-existent." I explained to the giant wooden wolf.
The mother Timberwolf nodded. “Only permitted because you comrade of Dark Spirit. Know this great honor for everkin to give.”
"Then I express my sincerest gratitude. I'd bow, but this movement I'm doing is the only thing keeping me upright right now." I said, waiting until she got closer, then clumsily climbing on.
The mother looked to her pups and seemed to smile warmly. “Go to cave, pups, will bring food from hunt.”
The pups yipped and ran off towards a cave that I had not noticed before, and that seemed to disappear soon after the last pup went in. “We are natives of the Evergloom, but guardians of Everfree, made to serve it’s one true leader, last order of lady Stygia: Keep intruders from nearing ruins, protect Gremlinkind homes.” She looked at me sternly. “No tell ponies of this, Ponies must not know Evergloom secrets unless new Spirit decree otherwise.”
"I really don't care enough for the ponies to help or harm them, and it's your land. Do what you want with it," I said with a careless shrug, leaning on the Timberwolf. Couldn't sit up or I'd risk sliding off more than this.
As the mother wolf made her way to the outskirts of the forest, and then into what must have been Ponyville, the Ponies were not the only race present, there were Diamond dogs, Griffons, yaks, and… what the hell was that thing baking in Sugarcube corner? It looked like Zoidberg, but actually potentially intimidating, green, and muscular. Not to mention he had hands.
The expected response was not what was recieved, instead of panicking and mass hysteria, they only eyed the Timberwolf warily, local Diamond dogs were instead staying near, ready to act if the Timberwolf became aggressive. The Timberwolf then let me off into a chair, sat down, and howled.
Sigmund POV
Right as I finished talking to the assorted (And oddly welcoming) Ponies, I heard a loud howl that seemed to call to me on an instinctive level. I walked over to it, keeping my hands free as I eventually came upon a large wooden wolf that hummed with a familiar energy. I then smiled as if greeting an old friend on instinct. “Well, hello. Fancy seeing you here…”
‘wait, why am I saying this?’
The Timberwolf bowed. “It is an honor to meet you, master. Many moons we have guarded thy lands. May we return to our home?”
I suddenly felt the tickling of knowledge at the back of my mind, before it integrated with me. These Timberwolves were residents of my realm, the Evergloom, inhabiting wooden bodies, ordered to guard the Everfree from intruders. “Yes. You may give up your centuries long vigil as alpha, and anoint another in thy stead.”
The wolf then began to crumble as she smiled. “Thank you, my liege, the pups will understand… I am just… so tired….” she laid down at my feet, and a portal to the Evergloom opened in a nearby shadow, before the pale, spotty darkness that held her together went through, soon being replaced by a much deeper, richer darkness, that took the wooden husk and made it their own.
“Ah, strange, being in a body. Used to just puttering about as a shadow.” it looked itself over and seemed to frown. “The spell matrixes used to hold this body together are beyond outdated, I shall have to make us all new bodies… doing so with paws will be difficult, but manageable.” The new alpha timberwolf looked at me and smiled. “I am Ink note, of the Evergloom inhabitant species known as the Umbraborn. Think of us as your loyal subjects. I apologize for the difficulty my predecessor had in speaking, she was… beyond old, honestly… Ancient? It was honestly a testament to her resolve that she lasted as long as she did. Now, If I am to take the debriefing seriously...she had pups, so as to bolster the numbers of the Everfree guard force?”
I nodded “She mentioned pups, so I’d assume so.”
She nodded and looked toward the everfree. “Feel free to get acquainted with the ponies, I must make new, less old fashioned bodies. Mayhaps i’ll leave us as Lupine in this generation, as an honor to Grim Purpose, but a bipedal form and some hands are definitely in order…” she rambled off as she went off into the forest.”
I looked around “Soooo…. I’m going to head to the hospital, not partly to check if this all that I’ve seen is, like, my mind breaking from pain. Anyone who wants to come with raise your hand!” I saw what looked like a teen female dragon raise her hand and shrugged, picking her up and carrying her with me like a sack of spuds.
Emily POV
Some dream… met a giant, got an axe, fell asleep in some woods, went to heaven… Yawning, I brought a hand to my head and smoothed my hair back, flinching a little as a few strands got caught in… my crystal covered armor…
"Fuck me that was not a dream…" I whisper as I felt my blood run cold.
"Hey Bark!!" A girl shouted just next to me, she looked like some freakish but adorable horse child colored… well, she looked like a lollipop kinda… Soon after, another horse… child… thing… came in, he looked like a farm hand if the clothes and dirt meant anything, and he was carrying three cups of something hot.
"Plum? Oh, our mystery woman is awake," The boy said as he got closer, "Welcome to the land of the living."
I gave a huff, grabbing and tossing my bed sheets off of me and to the side, sweeping my heavy legs off the bed and onto the floor, "Right, who got me here?" I asked as I looked at the two, "Lemme guess, Bark?"
"Well actually-"
"That's my Bark for you," Plum cheered as she took the colt by the arm, "Always helping those in need~"
The boy blushed at the contact, but put a hand on her head.
"You two an item?" I asked as I got to stretching, the boy barely saying: "That's a complica-"
"Bark and I have been a couple for quite a few years now~ He's everything I could ever hope for." She replied playfully.
Grunting, I started to give the room a once over, "Hey, did you two happen to pick up an axe when you got me here?" I asked as I mindlessly started to look for said axe.
"I'm afraid that whatever was chasing you must have taken whatever belongings you had." Hey, would you look at that, Bark managed to say more than three words. I would have joked about this, but I seemed to have stepped on something crunchy hiding underneath my discarded bed sheets.
“Ooow! Owowowowowowow! My tail! My poor, poor, cute little tail! I knew I should have hidden under the chair! Rookie mistake!” The oddly cute looking creature shouted in full feminine fury at the sheet, her head only reaching up to my crotch. “Evil cloth warmth bringer! I shall make you pay for ensnaring me in your comfy, silken clutches!” She then pounced like a cat at the poor, helpless sheet, scratching it to ribbons before freezing, and turning to us, a small part of sheet in her mouth before she spat it out. “Errr…. I suppose that we can’t imagine I made a more dignified entry than that, can we?”
Plum and Bark shook their heads. “No, no we can not.”
The odd creature, clad in what looked like a black one piece swimsuit with blue glowing wiring going underneath it, seemed to pout. “Awwww…. Mister Yuska is going to make me do apology jumping jacks... again…” She grunted sadly and muttered. “Old pervert better get fired soon…”
"Cute," I huffed out before giving her my hand, "And you are?"
The creature blushed a deep red. “I-I’m Jeshki, a-a Gremlin…” She then gasped and pulled out a little piece of paper from… between her breasts? “I am a female, first class rank sergeant of the outside world integration committee! I-I am s-single, and… fertile?” She looked over the rest of the paper before crumpling it up in her fist, rage emanating from her in waves as fire reflected in her eyes. “I’m going to neuter that old perv, and make him eat them!”
She sighed. “Look, I’m sorry about how unofficial this all seems, but You are the new spirit of Order, yeah? We were under orders from Imperium not to show ourselves to the ponies until after you showed up… we’ve been doing recon on Equestria since Nightmare Moon returned. We were ready to… incapacitate her, if need be.”
I blinked at this, taking my hand back and nodding, "Riiiight, look, I kinda lost my axe and all this is kinda surreal anyway so, I'm just gonna…" I nodded and waved at the ponies and whatever Jeshki was and looked out the window.
"She's not gonna…" I heard Bark mutter.
I opened the window and looked down, nodding to myself.
"Oh she's definitely going to." Plum replied.
With that, I maneuvered myself out the window and jumped and WHY THE HELL DID I JUMP!?
"THIS WAS A TERRIBLE DECISION!!" With closed eyes, I prepared for the no doubt painful landing.
Jeshki immediately leapt to action, grabbing me and pulling a grappling hook from her bosom, basically pulling a batman/spiderman and swinging me to safety...or she would, if an oddly familiar looking shadow man in a top hat wasn’t walking by while holding a teenage Dragon girl… we collided, and I could swear I heard a wilhelm scream.
