Morning in Canterlot was a time to be savored. The city’s position on the mountain allowed for a postcard picture-perfect view of the sunrise. However, not all could easily appreciate the rising sun.

A perfect example laid in the Canterlot Garden, just inside the hedge maze and near the statue of Discord, Spirit of Chaos. It was a red and black anthropomorphic cat. However, not just any kind of anthropomorphic cat, it was a Mobian cat.

The rising sun somehow managed to position itself to blast a direct beam of sunlight into the cat’s eyes, stirring him from sleep. In a bit of reflex, he raised his hand to his head to rub the sleep from his eyes as well as protect them from the light, but only ended up punching himself. The clang of metal against bone sounded out from the garden, followed by a loud and robotic meowling-howl of pain.

The cat had stood up at this point and was practically dancing around while clutching his face. Unbeknownst to him, the Statue of Discord had started to crack.

(Inside the Castle, a few minutes earlier)

Celestia wasn’t happy. However, contrary to popular belief, the unhappy feelings she had weren’t because of a minor slip up from a servant or guard, it was from the fact that she had to raise the sun and rule a country. For almost two millennia, she had lived with these responsibilities, and her dislike of them only started to show in the past few years.

Granted, she learned how to hide her discontent from everypony she met so as not to unintentionally instigate the papers and their rumor columns. There were only two ponies that could see through her masks. One was her sister, Luna. She shared a similar discontent for some of her tasks, primarily for constantly messing with her sleep schedule. The other…

“Your Highness, this is not the time to try to be stubborn about staying in bed,” Raven Inkwell, Celestia’s assistant, admonished the alicorn. “The sun is just barely peeking over the horizon, and it is slowing down...again.”

With a huff, Celestia threw her covers off and moved to her balcony in her pajamas. She raised the sun without any ceremony or immediate fuss. When she turned back to Raven, she saw that she was blushing. A quick look at herself and she saw that she had chosen that night to wear her more risque blue and banana patterned pajamas.

Before she could attempt to cover herself, she heard something metal hit bone and a loud cat yowl that sounded electric for some reason. After quickly grabbing a bathrobe and covering herself up, she moved back to the balcony and used her magic to sharpen her sight to try to find who and/or what made and is making the noise in the garden.

It didn’t take her long to find the noise source. It turned out to be a cat. However, unlike most cats that I’ve seen, even among the Abyssinians, this one was unique. For one, he wore more clothes than the standard Abyssinian, as most often wore just a simple shirt or a trench coat. The cat here seemed to wear a set of Feudal Japony Samurai clothing, specifically the sleeveless kimono shirt and the hakama pants.

Another thing that seemed unique about the cat was his arms and legs. While Abyssinian arms and legs resembled standard cat limbs and paws, this cat’s limbs looked like a pony’s limbs, except for his ‘hoof’ region, which looked more like oblong pads. They also looked like metal. Has this cat seen some form of heavy combat and lost limbs?

As she finished examining him as he started slowing down in his pained dancing, she noticed some cracks forming on the nearby statue...the statue of Discord...which also happens to be his prison.

Celestia sighed as she pulled out a scroll and quill pen. “Of all the times to remember where and when I imprisoned him, it had to be when he’s just escaping.” She said out loud to herself. She looked back at Raven and spoke. “Raven? Could you be a dear and send a few guards to collect our new guest from the garden? I’ve got to ready a message to send to my student.” Raven simply nodded and left the bedroom.

(Back in the Garden)

After the pain started to ease, the cat stopped his ‘dancing’ and began to examine his surroundings. After a few seconds of looking, he spoke, “Where on God’s Green Earth am I?” He instantly moved his hand to cover his mouth upon hearing the robotic voice, only for his hand to clang against something metal just in front of his mouth.

The cat could only look at his hands in a form of fascination and a bit of fear. His voice was robotic, his forearms and hands were cybernetic….he took a better look at himself to see he was in a set of clothes that aren’t ‘normal’ by any means and noticed that his feet (and presumably, his lower legs) were cybernetic as well.

Let’s not forget the tail, one can’t forget the cat tail.

Anxiety began to build up in the cat, but before it could ‘explode’, the nearby statue did, shattering into small chunks and sending out a shockwave that knocked him down...and seemed to have knocked a white gem and a red spiraled gem out of his pockets or wherever they were kept.

Upon seeing the two gemstones, the cat’s vision blurred a bit before he was suddenly standing in a barren wasteland with the red gemstone in his hand while a sun was plummeting towards the ground toward a large army of anthropomorphic animals.

His vision blurred again and he was standing in an abandoned lab area and was holding the white gemstone in one hand and the red one in the other. Both seemed to be emitting some sort of energy that clashed between them...violently.

The cat’s vision returned to the garden and he landed on his back just as some anthropomorphic pony guards in ancient greek styled armor appeared. They got between him and a shadow that was in the smoke from the explosion. Suddenly the spears were holding turned into sunflowers and a maniacal laugh sound off before the shadow literally popped and was gone. All of the guards tossed their sunflowers aside and all but a few began to search the area for the shadow, or whatever made the shadow.

The few that stayed behind with the cat helped him to his feet. “Are you okay sir?”

The cat nodded and answered, “Yeah, just shaken from a few memory flashbacks.” The cat looked around the area before noticing that the two gems were gone. “Wait, where did the gems go?!”

“What gems?”

“They were knocked out of my pockets when that statue exploded,” the cat said. His chest practically seized up in anxious fear. “Whatever that that shadow was or whatever made that shadow must have them! Hold me back from panicking!” The guards took his request seriously and quickly cuffed his hands behind his back and started to move him into the castle. “Thank you.”

One of the guards rolled his eyes and quietly answered, “You’re welcome.”

Author's Note

Much better Displaced Crossover thing than I had originally began writing.