Arc 1: Sunrise | Eldritch Spectrum
It was a strange day. Even stranger was that I am here. I mean, I didn’t know that filling up that document for fun would be like this. I mean, it’s the real fucking deal. What the hell? But of course, that was a long time ago.
I looked at my appearance in my mirror. I looked like an anthropomorphic pony version of Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony… well, sort-a. My pupils have an ever-changing, color-shifting Spirograph overlaid inside them. Both my mane and tail have bits of branches and assorted leaves. I tried plucking one many years ago, but it grew back instantly so I didn’t pluck it anymore. I also have a broken horn in my head. Strangely enough, I have the Tsureme Eyes that some of the humans living here instantly noticed and commented upon.
I have gained numerous scars during my stay here. On my head, there’s an X scar on my left cheek, a scar from a cut that runs upwards in my left eye, and a large scar that runs from the right side of my forehead to my right cheek. On my body, that’s very different. I have a very large X scar on the right side of my chest that goes to my stomach area, numerous cuts all over the torso, and a large burn scar on the left side of my body. For some reason, the scars didn’t diminish my beauty but added more to it a la Amazon.
Ironically enough, I have a modified cutie mark. The rainbow went full circle and the clouds surrounded it in a spirographic pattern like Skaia itself. There are two symbols inside the rainbow circle, the symbols of the Time Aspect and the Space Aspect. Both are overlapping one another, causing the mark to look like a vinyl disc. Inside both symbols is a symbol for SBURB, a house, and inside the house are the symbols for the Elements of Harmony and random cutie marks that always change from one to the other. The rainbow’s interior arcs have the symbols for the Aspects from SBURB except for Time and Space. Inside the spirographic clouds are the symbols for the extended SBURB Zodiac.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The metaphorical chains holding this body slowly unraveled. I opened my eyes and saw what I truly am now my Unrestricted Mode.
I grew several times until I barely fit into this small bathroom without crouching. I have the head of an equine-like creature… Or as close to an equine as it can be. I mean, it looks like an emancipated skull more than anything. I have three pairs of eyes, each symmetrically arranged in my eye sockets, and I have a single large eye in the middle of my forehead, just below the long pointed helical crystalline horn. My eyes have black sclera and the irises along with the pupils are now similar to Lord English’s eyes.
I have two pairs of antlers, one growing upwards and the other growing downwards, both of which are twisted and looked more like branches of dead trees. I have a long flowing ethereal mane and my tail is akin to segmented bones in a facsimile of the spine with ethereal fur surrounding it. I also have a broken halo above my head.
My limbs are long and lanky. My feet and hands are… strange. They looked like black masses mimicking said parts of the body. I have scales or as close to one all over my body. I have six pairs of crystalline wings. The upper-middle wings are bigger and they shrink as they go away from it. Each wing turns into pure energy as they reach the edges of their feathers, and each wing corresponds to the colors of a rainbow except red. They also have black veins but fade away when they reach the energy feathers. I also have a pair of crystalline wings above my brows; they are colored red.
I am wearing a strange robe in this form. But that’s enough to remind me of who I am. I took a deep breath once more, and the metaphorical chains attached to my very being once again. I opened my eyes and saw myself again. But my appearance occasionally glitches back into my reflection.
Strangely enough, there’s a floating red crystalline spear called Thorn that follows me wherever I go. It has the same power as the Power-Pole, but I know that it has more powers than that. I can’t place it on the Inventory because it always gets out one way or the other. It also teleports to me when I go out of its range.
I’ve decided to take a shower. My mane takes a rather long time to gain its curls, though. Another difference between me and Rainbow is that I will make sure to be as fabulous as possible in this life. I used the towel to dry myself and exited my bathroom. I looked at the replica of Lord English’s Cairo Overcoat. It is still the same as when I modified it. It gained a double-breasted design. I cut parts of it to expose my shoulders to reveal my cutie mark, mark and added a pair of epaulets, a pocket on its left breast, and a colored emblem of my cutie mark on my right breast. I have my Elements of Harmony placed in a manner that surrounds my emblem and modified said Elements to look like ordinary emblems.
I just moved into Ponyville after Dragonslayer accidentally destroyed my home in Cloudsdale due to how heavy it is. I did the Rainboom twice when chasing after the Dragonslayer and before trying to stop my fast descent. I was given a membership to Wonderbolts immediately, but I politely declined. I prefer not to interact with people due to how often I end up being alone in several timelines. How many tears have I shed, realizing that my resurrective immortality of DETERMINATION prevents me from dying? I… I am saddened by this fact. I always forgot that whenever I RESET, I went back to being a baby. Those were the worst years of my life.
I took a look in the Inventory for the items I picked; they are the only ones that can’t be erased whenever I RESET. For some reason, the Berserker Armor is surrounded by some sort of black flesh and dark energy. When I first donned it, its cape materialized and modified itself to incorporate my wings in its design. Soulcalibur and Soul Edge are just the same, but I have to store them at the Inventory to prevent some morons from trying to use them like what happened in the games.
I was about to get the Dragonslayer, but I, fortunately, remembered that the Dragonslayer is so heavy that it will break the floor; thus I never got it out again unlike the Mjolnir. Strangely enough, the Mjolnir looks more like a giant blunt sword-like hammer than the ones depicted in mythologies, comics, and games. It is currently in my living room, acting as a hat holder for a hat that I made.
Looking at more stuff, I found what I am looking for. The Ruyi Jingu Bang, a futuristic umbrella and an ordinary-looking longsword, the Unbreakable Faith. I grabbed the former and made it small enough to disappear into my right ear. How did it disappear? I will never know. I took the Unbreakable Faith and unsheathed it briefly. I looked at its ordinariness briefly before I placed it back in its sheathe. Despite it being ordinary, it is indestructible and capable of harnessing huge amounts of energy. I placed it on its sheath in my belt, which bears the symbol of a spirograph. I took out the umbrella and placed it on my back along with its make-shift holder.
I donned my usual clothes after coming here. A collar with a ruby heart, a black latex-like scarf, an amulet with a visage of a horse with horns and wings that has glowing red eyes and a small ruby heart in the center, a collared, sleeveless polo shirt with my Cutie Mark, my Cairo Overcoat, and a pair of form-fitting cuffed shorts. The left side of the shorts has my cutie mark. Then I put on my stockings and then my white thigh-high boots with rainbow threads. I looked into a big mirror in my house and did a finger gun pose briefly. I looked at the limiter on my right wrist. It was given to me by a god named Kubera. Without it, I would never have lived a normal life.
“Alektrou,” I uttered a Word of Power I have created personally. Word of Power is magic itself, conforming Reality to a concept tied to that word. This Word of Power I’ve made is something similar to Haste but also accelerates my perception of time and allows me to ignore Newtonian Laws of Physics. Thus making me extremely fast to everyone as if I’m teleporting all over the place. However, it is very stressful to use in my restricted mode when I continually use it and it will cause its effect will last shorter than before while making my body extremely tired. Fortunately, it lasts for a full ten seconds in my restricted form.
Everything stopped, even gravity itself. I saw feathers made entirely of heat and light falling from somewhere up above. A side effect of Alektrou is that I am now linked to some sort of conceptual space-time and now I can see things differently. That is a common sign of what’s going on whenever I use it.
I made my way to the Everfree Forest. Unlike the other Equestria versions, this version of Everfree is very different. It is known locally in our world as the Nexus. A term for a place where dimensions intersect and the worlds connect. Ever since the Golden God Incident, in which a Multi-dimensional Entity known as Scion from Earth Bet, decided to off everyone, Everfree became a Nexus. Good thing we all collectively hauled our asses and fought him, whereas a girl named Taylor Hebert dealt the final blow to him by using the Black Blade.
What is the Black Blade? It is known as the Equalizer in countless worlds, but it is also known as the Stormbringer, The Blade of the Cosmic Balance, and the Sword of Return. The Black Blade disappeared from her possession as she lay there, dying. She is remembered by all as a great hero.
After Scion’s death, there are a lot of people seeking asylum from the dying Earth Bet. We also learned that they have Parahumans in place of magical creatures. They have heroes and villains. Which means there are also unruly individuals. Fortunately, my people dealt with the unruly individuals like what they always do. Learn everything from them forcefully, then kill them. Some villains became citizens on the spot. One of them was the former Tattletale, Sarah Livsey, who was made ambassador by the refugees for some reason about her ‘smugness’. She is suffering a lot due to paperwork.
Anyways, back to the matter of the Everfree Forest; I took on a cushy job to patrol the area and I tamed some Timberwolves. What are Timberwolves? They are wolves, but trees. They smelled of rotten flesh and wood thanks to magical fungi spores in their system that served as their blood.
Fun facts Despite what everyone believes, they can’t move about after an hour of constant movement as their energy will be spent up and they will immediately plant themselves on the ground. Hence why almost everyone being chased by them often escapes. They needed to be very efficient hunters to feed, and thus evolved in such a way that they always surrounded their victims. As a result of me taming them, I’ve decided to make some research papers that I've published. It won an award. I’m pretty sure I am now a scientist and a vet.
Anyways. Numerous Anomalous Events happen in this World’s version of Everfree. I mean, weird things were happening to me over a week ago. I met a Manticore that had gotten a thorn stuck on its paw. I removed it. Nothing unusual happened on that day.
The next day again, some sort of dragon kept crying about its mustache being ruined. I grew it back using the Queen Shaper and gave him food while listening to his stories. Later that night, again, some dudes called Shadowbolts asked if I wanted to join them. My only reaction is to complain, a lot. What kind of group name is Shadowbolts? I gave them an even better name. Moonstriders. They seemed to accept that and they disappeared. I’m pretty sure their feelings of pride are somewhat damaged for not thinking of a new name for a long time.
The next day after that, I found myself in a creepy part of the forest. I laughed at the faces so much that they all actually got unnerved and moved away from me. I never stopped laughing for an hour without reminding them how awful their creepy faces are. I could make an even creepier face than them after all. Later that night, I found a filly named Scootaloo trying to climb up the cliff that she fell into. I managed to save her by telling her to let go and trust me. She did and she was promptly caught by some of my magical drones that patrolled the area. They moved her back to the surface. She cried for that scare, but I hugged her out. After a while, she occasionally visits me on my outpost and I teach her magic. Not pegasus magic, real magic. The one that fucks with reality that the cost for it to be used is nigh-ineligible.
I explored the entirety of the forest as I checked the cameras, then I stopped briefly in front of Zecora’s hut. I felt the effects of Alektrou disappearing as such; I went out of the forest while checking the last quadrants. No pies or carcasses I have to catalog in my shift. Good.
Wait. I had to double-take on what I saw. Is that a castle? I entered it as the last vestiges of Alektrou’s effect disappeared entirely. I looked around and rummaged through some stuff. I found books and a cookie jar, though. The cookies are still fresh and taste good. I store them in the Inventory, except the cookie jar. I’m eating it. I went to the basement and found a crystal tree. It shone with bright light, and six objects flew and surrounded me. The Elements of Harmony currently attached to my Cairo Overcoat glowed, and they flew around, orbiting one another before my Elements of Harmony returned to me, and the six objects, the Elements of Harmony of this world, flew right back to the Crystal Tree. Weird.
I got back into the lookout outpost and sat in front of a desk. I kicked back and relaxed. No ponies are going out in the forest at the current date. The Summer Sun Celebration starts tonight after all. Come to think of it, I forgot something important. Hmm… I’ll just remind myself to figure that out.
I looked at the monitor, then switched it to a channel and cycled through the camera feeds. Area A to E, clear. Quadrant F is currently being stared at by a strange cartoony cat I made last year. It waved at me before I switched the channel. G to K, clear. Area L seems to be flickering for some reason. I made a note to figure out why. So far, Area N to Z is clear. Then I cycled once again.
I was about to observe more when I heard the floorboards creak. I casually changed the channel while glancing at who was the one coming here. A Pegasus with pink mane and tail. She has three butterflies as her cutie mark on her right cheek. There is only one person that I know of that lives in Ponyville that matches that description, and she is my best friend and my significant other… Fluttershy, also known as Panacea Everdream.
Her mane and tail are ethereal pinkish colors. She has these, Tareme Eyes that the local humans spoke of. She is wearing her usual nature dress, which exposes her shoulders and the tribal tattoos on her back.
“Did I get you at a bad time?” Her soft voice is soothing to my nerves.
“Oh no. Not at all. Just checking the magical recording devices, I have set up in the forest. Can’t be too careful of something happening when I’m not near that area.” I paused and motioned her to sit. “Anyways, what can I do for you, my love?”
She blushed before murmuring under her breath. “Um… I’m just wondering if… um…” She paused briefly to take a deep breath. “I was wondering if you can watch my house in Summer Sun Celebration. I know that you are kind of busy right now and…” She blushed again.
“Oh, that’s okay. I’m never a celebration pony after all. Too crowded, I dare say.” I nodded.
“Oh, thank you.” She murmured in her quiet voice before, leaving.
…
She needs more confidence like before but… I shook my head briefly, to stop worrying about the past. I looked at the monitors once more and saw something peculiar. It appears something is happening as the cameras suddenly flickered on and off before going off permanently. I narrowed my eyes and shut down the monitors.
“Alektrou.” Everything froze and I moved to find out what had happened to the cameras. They are heavily scrambled by something… Alektrou’s effects ran out when I got to the last camera. I stopped and closed my eyes. I could feel something watching me. The non-existent wind is moving erratically in random directions. I know this feeling. I met him before… I made him. I opened my eyes to narrow the slits.
“I know you are there, Operator,” I muttered while turning to the direction where I felt them. I saw him once again, a pale, faceless humanoid in a black suit. His root-like tendrils are in his back, continually moving as if grasping something in the air.
The Operator, the Slenderman, didn’t speak as always as his voice causes problems for everyone and everything around him unless they have sufficient protection. It slowly pointed upwards and I looked at him in confusion. Then I turned to look at what he was pointing at. I could see magic in the sky and past that, the moon. The magic on the moon has completely disappeared. Then I remember what was going on.
“Ah fuck.” I muttered, then I turned back to the Operator. He is gone, but he left a note. I read it. “The Nightmare descends.” I looked around to see if he was still there, but nope. I placed the note in my inventory and I went to take a look at the cameras. They are no longer being scrambled. One of these days, I’ll make something to unscramble these cameras automatically. But that day is not today.
I pulled on my Lich Lord Essence and I raised smoky apparitions. “Find Nightmare Moon, report back once you did so.” The smoky apparitions disappeared all at once in random directions.
I went back to the outpost and pressed a button near the door. That button is placed by me with orders from the freshly made Ponyville-Everfree Nexus Border Control. That button shouldn’t be pressed unless the direst situations happen. And a dire situation did appear. The Mare in the Moon returns to wreak vengeance upon her sister, the Maiden of the Sun. The klaxons blared and red lights spun above the outpost.
I went to Fluttershy’s house and I met her once again. “Oh, um… Hello once again. I, uh, talked to my sweeties that someone will babysit them and they better be on best behavior.” As she talks, I see a familiar rabbit that I met a few years ago at my job.
“Captain Snowball, is that you?” I muttered and the rabbit hopped towards me. He hugged me immediately.
“H-huh? You two know each other?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah. I met him on the job a few years ago when an Ursa Minor accidentally wandered in the Nexus Border fence and destroyed it. I managed to call its mother and get it inside the Everfree before something bad happens.” I rubbed Snowball-err… Angel’s ears. “I thought he is a wild bunny at fi9rst but he is really good to help on notifying me when my schedule gets hectic sometimes. With permission from the Nexus Border Control Council, I promoted him into a mascot of my outpost, hence Captain Snowball.”
“O-oh. I didn’t know that.” She paused briefly. “Then I guess I shall be going then. Thank you for agreeing to babysit them on the Summer Sun Celebration.” I nodded and Fluttershy left.
Come to think of it, if I’m not in charge of the Summer Sun Celebration’s weather, then who is? That is a question for another day… wait… I blinked as Fluttershy pushed several clouds into the sky. So, Fluttershy is in charge, huh? Our roles ended up being similar to one another, huh.
“So, do I need to know anything about her… sweeties?” I asked Angel. He smiled and spoke at me with chittering noises. Turns out Fluttershy has many pets. A lot of pets. I placed my sword nearby the doorway, and it took me a while to acclimate with all of them. I relaxed a little bit when I heard Angel hop on the table. He pointed at the window, and I knew what he meant. I saw my smoky apparitions in the window before dissipating entirely.
Nightmare Moon is here. The moon itself lost its image of a mare, as it glowed with all the lights in the stars. I telekinetically attached my sword and sheath to my belt while I stood up. I took a deep breath and felt the vestiges of power I never used.
I smiled and uttered the Word of Power once again. “Alektrou.” Reality screeched to a halt as I saw feathers falling from the sky. Then I saw black feathers. I narrowed my eyes. That is not a common sign. Black feathers only appear whenever something far out of the norm arrives in the material world.
I followed the trail and found something, not Nightmare Moon. I saw Princess Luna being a puppet for it. I saw what it was. Too many eyes, too many mouths. A Kamala. That thing looked, roared into this conceptually frozen world, and attempted to go after me. I held my sword with two hands and struck it down. The thing became weakened enough that it froze in this static world.
What is a Kamala? It is an entity that exists in a higher dimension. It has many varied forms, but its default forms are that of a shadow with white eyes. It festers and feeds on negative emotions. They often manipulate their prey into doing unspeakable things like what one of them did to the Caribou King, Dainn, before an even bigger threat arrived. Their weaknesses are magic and water. Why water? Water is often associated with the Valokas, their polar opposite, and a symbolic representation of life. If sufficient magic or water is dealt with the Kamala, they are turned into Valokas.
I smiled at what was going to happen next while I blinked briefly. I saw the newly made Mane Six and smiled. I met them a long time after all.
The Element of Honesty is Sheriff Applejack of Ponyville; her Element is located in the middle of her Sheriff Star. She is wearing her usual sheriff's garb and a green neckerchief with apples imprinted on its edges.
The Element of Generosity is my cousin, former Baroness Rarity Belle von Sparkle; she is now a Princess after marrying Prince Spike von Blueblood. She is wearing a formal gown and her element is located on her tiara. Long story, short of their life. They are Beauty and the Beast, respectively.
The Element of Kindness is still Fluttershy; she is wearing her party dress. Her element is located on the small bow on her hair.
The Element of Loyalty is Scootaloo. She is wearing her overalls and she is wielding a wrench. Her element is in an armband on her right arm. Wait, Scootaloo became the Element of Loyalty in this timeline? Who knew? Her Cutie Mark is different now. It is now on the back of her right palm; its symbol has been upgraded from a pair of differently colored wings overlapping one another to three pairs of different wings surrounding a wrench rotating a bolt with a crystal heart inside.
The Element of Laughter is Empress Pinkamena von Rockholm’s daughter, Pinkie Pie von Rockholm, my cousin once removed. She is wearing casual party attire and her element is located in her brooch.
The last one, the Element of Magic, is none other than my cousin once removed, Twilight Dawn von Sparkle. Ponyville’s other Librarian arrived last week to help Shimmy catalog the new books into digital copies and help the local humans acclimate to Ponyville’s anomalous events that kept happening all the time near it. Her element is a badge pinned to her somewhat frazzled robes.
They are currently utilizing the Elements to purify Princess Luna. It wouldn’t have worked if Kamala infecting her was strong enough to break Alektrou’s effects. Nonetheless, I think I helped them a bit by weakening it enough.
I went back to Fluttershy’s home, becoming tired upon entering it as the Alektrou’s effects disappeared. I placed my sword and umbrella nearby the door before I laid down on the couch. My tired eyes slowly closed and all I could see was the void of space with stars ever reaching out to me. Then I realized something. Does Sheriff Applejack always have a pair of large wings on her back and a pointed horn in her forehead?
I dreamt of a landscape filled with countless swords. I saw two personifications of the same individual fight over it. The Wrought Iron Magus. One is tainted while the other is not. The two fought until the one that wasn't tainted won. Then, when the killing blow with a red barbed spear was about to strike, the taintless magus was stopped by a figure in white. He smiled softly as the dream shifted.
I saw a man and a woman fighting an impossible being across the stars. One is in the visage of a Demon King while the other is in the visage of a Goddess. The two fought for the being and lost. The dream shifted once again.
I saw myself as a filly with my Cairo Overcoat oversized to my former small stature. I am being mocked by people for my weird eyes. I was a filly, ignored them, for she is wearing AirPods.
“W-what?” I heard a noise and I turned. I saw Princess Luna and I waved at her.
“This is normal, don’t worry about it.” I looked into the mirror nearby and saw myself glitching in and out of my restricted and unrestricted form before settling into my restricted form. “It was always like this as I remembered walking in my dreams. Watching everything without being noticed by everything inside.” I looked at the shouting crowd still trying to get a rise of my filly self but failed.
“I still remember that. Good times.” I chuckled slightly.
“Pardon me but why haven’t you… oh, WE don’t know, retaliated against them for thy jeers?” Princess Luna asked in confusion.
“I never bothered with hating much as I bother having fun. I was… Abnormal with some peculiarity. Not equal to the conformity of something called society.” I spoke earnestly. “I never enjoyed playing with children back then and I never felt anything really, other than utter emptiness in my life. But of course…”
The dream shifted once more; I smiled fondly at what was going next. “It wasn’t like that always.”
My younger self is dragging something pointing towards the ground. It is the Dragonslayer. “Found that on Everfree when I snuck out. I thought that it is heavy but it’s kind-a not…” Then we saw my younger self placing it in my room only for it to fall through the clouds. “For me, anyway. I’m rather strong for a Pegasus, unlike everyone I met.” My younger self realized how heavy it was and chased after it.
BOOOOOOOM!
A sonic rainboom was created when my younger self caught up to it. Then my filly-self realized that she hadn't stopped. With a heartbeat, she threw her wings forwards… Creating another sonic rainboom. This time, stopping her. She panted and laughed as a cutie mark appeared on her, my fillyself’s, shoulder. Slowly, my fillyself descended to the ground.
“I realized how cool things can be in the simplest things.” I continued, I turned and saw Princess Luna smiling. Then that smile disappeared and went to a combat stance. I blinked, I slowly turned around and saw the dream freeze as the color slowly washed away. The Operator is there, with his tendrils slowly waving in the air.
“Oh. It’s him again. Hey! How it’s going!?” I shouted before Princess Luna put herself between him and me.
“Watch out, Our young subject. It appears you are suffering from some sort of nightmare.” Huh? Nightmare? He isn’t a Nightmare. I know what my Nightmares are, thank you very much.
The 'Operator' stood still, looked at her, then at me. He gave a thumbs-up before disappearing. The colors returned and the dream resumed.
“I… we… what?” Princess Luna looked on in confusion.
“I forgot to tell you. He is known as The Operator. Used to fight him a long time ago but we kind-a settled not to, due to how damaging our fights are in the local ecosystem. Now he is just one of those friends that appears and silently disappears in the crowd.” I paused briefly. “Now that I think about it, that isn’t the weirdest thing that happened to me.”
I watched as the dream continued and a few Pegasi landed near my filly self. They all looked at my younger self in amazement as she placed the Dragonslayer on the ground. Then they gave her a trophy. “The weirdest thing was that they gave me a trophy even though I didn’t join the competition. They kind of forget about that and I rolled with it.”
“Wait, that is the weirdest thing!?” Princess Luna shouted. I nodded.
“Weird, right?” She still looked on, confusedly at my reply.
“Weird? WEIRD!? You never find this, Operator creature, weird!? And by OUR and Equestrian standards, that manner of a creature is weird! You never find that giant sword you dragged from Everfree is weird!? And the worst part of it all!? The weirdest thing you found in your life, is a Faust-damned TROPHY FROM A COMPETITION YOU NEVER JOINED!?” She shouted before pinching the bridge of her nose. “You know what? WE think we’ll just say to our sister that we are tired from being the Nightmare Moon and we can’t dreamwalk until we are ready and I’ve truly forgotten about this dream. Because of this!” She motioned to my dream. “Is perhaps the weirdest dream we have ever seen! And compared to Discord, at least he has a semblance of chaos to be found inside his dream! How’s that for a comparison!? Have a good rest, my subject! And may we never meet in the Dream World… ever again!” Then she left without saying goodbye. That old mare is rude.
Why did she say that the things I found were weird? They aren’t that weird, right? Bah, it doesn’t matter. I took control of my dreams and I sat upon a throne of stars. I looked at my subjects, the Tantabus, the Nightmares, the Atrumni, and the Lucisa. Krad, a member of the Atrumni, appeared and gave me a glass of wine like always, and I took a sip from my wine. Feels like home as always.
What are the Atrumni and the Lucisa? Well, both are collective terms for races of dark and light, respectively. The Atrumni has members that are Kamalas. However, not all Kamalas are members of the Atrumni. All of them serve me with utmost loyalty as I have created all of them through time shenanigans. I didn’t create the Lucisa and the Valokas. Someone else created them.
When I woke up, I was no longer on the couch but on a bed. I was about to get up when I felt someone hugging me. I slowly looked to my right side and came face to face with Fluttershy. I could feel my cheeks blushing. I immediately traded positions with a long pillow nearby and teleported away… after leaving a note that I have a great time with her pets and a breakfast that she always likes. A toast with a sunny-side-up egg on top and a glass of milk.
I went home, freshened up a bit, then I went to my outpost. The klaxon alarm is no longer blaring. I went to the monitor and cycled through the channels. I found some peculiarities. On a nondescript-looking lake is a single pony. She looks like Sunset Shimmer, the former local librarian and a graduate of the Sunlit Dawn Academy of Canterlot.
I closed the monitor and used my Word of Power. “Alektrou.” Reality froze and I moved. I weaved across trees and I saw the lake. I arrived at the location without any issues.
I found a Kamala surrounding her. An ethereal version of herself as a demonic-looking pony. I immediately purified Kamala using a little bit of magic. It turned into a Valokas, immediately, the demonic-looking pony becoming an angel. However, unlike the Valokas I’ve met thus far, this one still surrounds her.
“Yinsilium,” I uttered the immediate cancelation phrase for my Word of Power, and time resumed.
I looked at her and I saw that she was crying a lot. I walked near her, causing her to stop briefly to take a look at me. “You can cry here for all you want, but things are lurking here that you might as well get out of the forest immediately. Then again, I’m not one to judge after all if one wishes to die.” I spoke with a sad sigh. “The name is Rainbow Mary Anne Dash von Danger.” I lowered my hand and reached out to her with my left hand. She accepted it and I helped her stand. “What’s your name, bacon girl?” When I said the last word, she twitched.
“M-my name is Sunset Shimmer.” Ah ha. I was right. “And I…” Her shoulders and tears intensified. I grabbed her by the shoulders to calm her down and hugged her immediately. I used Fragile One’s emotional aura to give her a feeling of calmness. Her cries slowly softened and she hugged back.
“There, there. Let it all out.” I rubbed her back to soothe her and slowly parted away. “Now, can you tell me what ails your heart?”
She did. She told me everything. I can see the differences between our worlds and that of hers. Her world’s version of Equestria is similar to this world, except it is inhabited by quadruped ponies, unlike the other Equestria that got connected to Everfree through a cave. My world’s ponies can still go quadruped, only if they know how to transmogrify their bodies, which is mandatory for everyone who can do so due to the current student curriculums. Not only that but Princess Celestia kicked her out and in her sorrows, attempted to drown in a lake in Everfree. Fortunately, the lake connects us to our world. Unfortunately, I need to place her on Suicide Watch like some of the people from Earth Bet.
I sent a telepathic message to my co-workers to get me to help asap and a therapist immediately. Only for me to remember that there are like only three therapists active around weekends and they are not in the nearest town here. I sighed. Looks like I have to become one temporarily, again.
The things I have to do in this job. Rubbing my head. I grabbed the girl in bridal style as I spread my wings. She yelped in surprise before, with one flap, we’re now flying above the sky. “Hold on. I’m taking you somewhere.”
The flight is very quiet aside from the occasional sniffles from Sunset. As I flew, I noticed that she was slowly falling asleep. So I took a small detour to make sure she was fully asleep. After that, I landed in front of the Golden Oaks Library. I opened the doors telekinetically.
I saw her. Sunset the Librarian. She is wearing her usual robes and she is cataloging new books from Earth Aleph. She merely glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. “Code Indigo Dalet?” She asked.
What is Code Indigo Dalet? It is something the Triquestrians have made after the Golden God Incident. It is often an acronym for Interdimensional Displacement.
Uh. What’s that? Triquestrians? Ah right. Ever since humans from Earth Bet appeared, we have had to expand Equestria. One-third of it is ruled by the Princesses; the second-third is ruled by my family; the last is ruled by the humans.
I nodded. “Code Indigo Dalet,” I replied. “I already told my co-workers to put her on Suicide Watch.” I looked at the still sleeping Sunset briefly. I looked at Shimmy’s eyes. “And I need your help. She is you in some way. What is the best way to make her feel better?”
Shimmy looked at me, then sighed. “I’ll make a list for you to memorize then you’re on your own.” She is now writing something on temporary paper made out of magic. “And… Be careful with her. If she is like me then she is very volatile. It is a good thing that I learned how to control my emotions thanks to Aegis and that therapist. What’s her name again? Oh, I’ll remember it later.” Aegis? Oh, that emotion blasting hero from Earth Bet.
“Thank you.” I bowed briefly and received the paper. I memorized it and it disintegrated into motes of light.
“Now that you know, get out. The Public Library isn’t open today. The lock you broke is going on your paycheck.” Shimmy glared at me and I gulped. Now I remember why I never went here. She still hates me when we’re at the academy due to me constantly showing up with new spells that helped me make an entirely new magic system. Said magic systems are being taught at the Moonlit Dusk's Academy for the Arcane and Spellcraft.
Now as for that list. Nice Cream. Yep. An Undertale reference. Great. Then again, the Undertale Universe itself is linked in a rift on Everfree. Just across a broken Archtree from Dark Souls and the Red Pond of Chaos. Thanks to the Scion creating rifts across dimensions, the Monsters are freed far earlier than expected and they helped us, along with their version of humanity, to fight off the creatures that the Scion has created, the Endbringers.
What are Endbringers? Incredibly dense multi-dimensional weapon units. They have powers tied to them that fucks with physics such as Behemoth’s Energy Manipulation, Leviathan’s After-Echo, and whatever the hell Simurgh has, to name a few. The last one is more benign than the rest when I freed her using my Elements of Harmony. She is the only one that fought alongside us. Thus she is the only one that survived and is now in orbit in this world, watching the world with a smile.
The Monsters and Humans got really along with one another. We build portals to allow them to safely go back to their world or go here if they want to explore it once again. Seriously, why would they want that? We have tons of problems here, but alas, their choices, not mine.
I placed Sunset on a nearby bench as I went up to a familiar Nice Cream Vendor. “Two Nice Cream, please?” I asked while giving him the money.
“Coming right up!” Nice to see that he still dons that goofy grin of his and that blue hooded jacket of his. “Anything new that I should note, miss Dash?” Sans the Nice Cream Vendor asked while giving me the Nice Creams.
“Got a Code Indigo Dalet situation. Placed her on Suicide Watch for attempting to drown in her world.” When I said the last sentence, Sans winced.
“That better work out well like what happened with Frisk. Poor kid lost their parents and attempted to find them on Mount Ebott for a suicidal mission to die.” Sans spoke in a sad tone.
“Say, how’s Papyrus?” I asked. Sans’s usual happy demeanor returned with full force.
“Oh, he’s fine. He’s perfecting his pasta-making skills with a good teacher. I heard they are dating. That Cheerilee is one lucky gal. And no, not the Pony. The other Cheerilee. The one from the Human World connected to this world and that world filled with centaurs.” He chuckled a bit. He begins to regale a tale about his brother meeting his plus one. It is a cute story. Although, I do remember noticing Papyrus and Cheerilee walking together when the skeleton brothers first arrived in this town. Didn’t know that the two of them clicked together and went on a date later.
It took me all of my will to not freak out on the new voice nearby. “Aww. The two are adorable.” I turned and saw Pinkie holding two branches of a bush.
“Hello, Princess.” I bowed briefly to her.
“Shucks. Don’t go formal on me. We talked about this years ago. Just call me Pinkie.” She blushed as she placed the branches somewhere… How? No idea.
“So, why are you here, Miss Pie?” Sans asked.
“Oh, nothing. My Pinkie Sense pings out to me and I have to find the newcomer to throw a private party welcoming her to Ponycity. I’ve no clue why but I think it’s a Suicide Watch situation.” I nodded at her correct words. “Oh, it is. Good. I thought my Pinkie Sense is annoying me like the time when it alerted me of something and it turns out to be just a fly landing on a cupcake.” She laughed a bit before waving us goodbye.
“Oh. I remember that. She went full Hysteria that time, right?” Sans spoke out loud. I remembered that as well. Her colors became dull and her intellect was boosted tenfold. In that mode, she makes excellent observations and actually can use her hammerspace for lethal effects. We made a mental note to never, ever let her into Hysteria Mode again.
As for Hysteria Mode, well, it is an amplifying power-up mode that all ponies in this world could access. A pony named Alice Wonderland first discovered it when she attempted to pull power from the inside of her very magic to try and hatch a dragon’s egg. Only for her to drain the color of her surroundings and cause her to look horrifying. She is also invincible in that mode, so yeah. Everypony has now gotten their Hysteria Modes after that. My Hysteria Mode gives me Lord English’s gold teeth and eyes, and that’s it. My Hysteria Mode is not too flashy like everyone else’s Hysteria, but it gets the job done.
“Anyways, I should be going. These Nice Creams wouldn’t sell themselves after all. Ta-ta~” Then Sans left with his cart. He still has snow on top of it. He must’ve asked Pegasi to put that snow for a marketing move.
I sat near Sunset. She is slowly waking up and yawning. She rubbed her eyes and looked at me. “Ain’t a dream, sugar. Now have some Nice Cream. They're great.” I gave her the Nice Cream and she took it from me… err... Tried to.
“Ah right. You don’t know how to use your extremities yet.” I spoke out loud. I raised my hand as I telekinetically held the Nice Creams. “A word of advice, they might not listen to you for a while. But they will. Just do this...” I curled my fingers and then stretched them. “A couple of times then try holding the Nice Cream… Are you listening?” She seems to be more interested in how the Nice Creams hover in the air.
“W-what? How?” She looked at the floating objects in confusion.
“Ever heard of the Telekinesis spell?” She nodded.
“I only know that unicorns can use telekinesis.” She spoke out loud. I grabbed mine and began eating it.
“Well, your world is that racist, huh?” She looked at me in confusion. “In this world, everypony can learn magic if they want to. However, racial magics are still a thing but everyone can learn them from pretty much anyone if they push themselves.” I pointed upwards, she followed where I was pointing at, and saw Unicorns and Earth Ponies with ethereal wings moving clouds.
“Impossible.” Her eyes widened in shock. “H-how!? This doesn’t make sense! How can they fly!?” I looked at her with confusion.
“Everypony here in this world is free to follow their Cutie Marks or find a new calling which causes their Cutie Marks to change immediately. It happened a long time ago when Queen Solaria, this world’s Celestia, suddenly have her Cutie Mark changed from a crown to an ornate sun inside a crown. Everyone is confused on why did that happen during those times and they just note that Alicornae can change their destinies at will… Until the very next year where a foal named Snowdrop changed her very destiny by accidentally casting magic and curing her blindness.” She looked at me like I'd grown two heads. I could, but I won’t. Conflicting thoughts and all. I coughed in my hand briefly. “So yeah, everyone is free to do whatever they want as their Cutie Marks would change upon doing so.”
She looked in shock. She must be contemplating what she has learned.
“Oh and your Nice Cream is melting. You should eat it. It’s nice. Ha. I made a pun.” She took the Nice Cream with her hands and began eating it. As she ate, her tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at the frozen creamy goodness in her hands.
“This is…” She begins to cry, but I wipe her tears away and hug her with one arm briefly.
“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” I smiled at her. “Even if it didn’t then someday will. That’s the slogan for Nice Cream. They make emotions in the form of sweet creamy frozen goodness. They also sell Loving Nice Creams. The Fairfolken practically worshipped them for it.” I pointed in a direction and saw this world’s Changeling Nymphs and Adults going to Sans’s cart. He waved at us before going back to selling Nice Creams.
“Is that a skeleton?” Sunset asked as she began to lick her Nice Cream… I should have worded that better. Now I can’t think of any lewd things.
“Yep. Sans the Skeleton. Pranking Specialist Extraordinaire and the local Pun Master.” Sunset quietly enjoyed the Nice Cream as I talked. Occasionally she sniffled. “He and his brother are instrumental in saving this world from the Scion.” She stopped and turned to me.
“Ah right. Code Indigo Dalet.” I cleared my throat briefly. “The Scion is a multi-dimensional lifeform that once made several worlds into its petri-dish to observe what happens if it gives powers to everyone. They appear when the people there are mentally broken. They are the negative versions of Cutie Marks without the positive aspects.” I sighed. “Then suddenly, without any warning, it has decided to wipe the slate clean. It began destroying the Petri-dishes, the worlds it experimented on. Good thing that we all helped in killing it. However, the damage the Scion has done is irreversible. Everfree is now an artificial Nexus connected to countless other worlds that my people have to create a Border Patrol to stop whatever is coming from it or escort the refugees from other worlds out of the forest. Code Indigo Dalet is a term made to notify everyone that we have an interdimensionally displaced refugee.”
She looked surprised actually. She finished her Nice Cream and spoke up. “Your ponies have no qualms in kk-killing?”
“Yep. Mostly on self-defense, accidental miscast, or when they are too unruly that they disrupt this world’s society. Executions are numerous in Queen Solaria’s heyday. Nowadays they are just thrown into prison for life imprisonment due to the introduction of the Vita-chamber from Rapture, a city under the sea from another world. Now everyone can’t die unless of natural causes.” I pointed in a direction and saw a pile of bodies from the same person killing themselves near a capsule. The capsule lit up briefly and the same person appeared from it. They grabbed the bodies and put them in a truck. “Unfortunately, the old bodies won’t disintegrate thus they either grind it down to become fertilizers or give them to the medical schools for quick money. The last one isn’t illegal although it is frowned upon.”
The look on her face was priceless; then she looked like she had seen a ghost. Huh? What is she looking at? I turned to what she was looking at. I noticed her standing near us two. Sheriff Applejack. The recently ascended Alicornae. She is sitting on top of Buttercup, a mechanical horse that the Applebloom twins, Flynn and Flan, made out of boredom. They are like their grand uncles’ Flimsy ‘Flim’ and Flammel ‘Flam’ Applepines when they are young adults. Good times.
“Are you traumatizing someone again, Miss Dash?” She asked.
“Oh, you know me. Always getting someone traumatized during the tour for Ponyville. I was thinking of getting her to the Mystery Flesh Pit but that is closed for Biological Maintenance until tomorrow.” I replied.
“Then you better not traumatize her even further.” AJ tipped her hat as she turned to Sunset. “Good day, Ma’am. I am the Bearer of the Element of Honesty, Sheriff Applejack. I was recently crowned Princess Applejack, Alicornae of Honesty, Justice, and Apples.” I snickered at the last one.
“Mom?” I asked and AJ sadly nodded.
“Yep, Queen Solaria.” AJ sighed deeply.
“She is such a troll sometimes. Metaphorically of course. The actual trolls are idiots that always start flame wars on the internet… always.” I nodded.
“Well better get going. This place ain’t getting safer if I just stick around ‘fer a single location.” She tipped her hat. “Tally-ho, Buttercup~!” Then galloped away.
“She is… interesting,” Sunset spoke. I nodded at her words.
“Definitely.” I looked at the trinary stars of red, green, and blue just on the horizon slowly going up, and I stood up. “So. Shall I show you more of Ponyville?” She stood up, then nodded while smiling.
We moved to another location. She gawked at the sight before her. A giant, spacious factory in the middle of a city. “Welcome to the Weather Factory!” I exclaimed out loud as we entered its always open gates on the weekdays. “Well, the Ponyville Branch. The rest of the other branches are way smaller than this one because they have modernized their looks. This one is a relic of the past and used to be in the skies until Cloudsdale fell due to an Endbringer. A creature that is apocalypse given form.”
“Good morning, Teacher Dash!” We turned to see Scootaloo near a large machine beside the main factory. She is wearing her uniform. A light orange jumpsuit with a violet tee-shirt. She is currently waving at us.
“Good morning, Scootaloo! I’m just giving a tour to the newbie. Code Indigo Dalet scenario, after all.” I waved back.
“Interdimensionally Displaced? Whoo-wee. This is going to be one of those days.” Scootaloo hummed as she nodded. “I would go there personally to greet her but I need to fix this cloud generator. The damn thing always breaks down because of how old it is.”
“Well, see you then!” I turned to Sunset after saying my piece. “This is as far as you’ll get to the Weather Factory. They don’t want people and or ponies without sufficient knowledge on Environmental Control Spells and a Master’s Degree in Weather Hazard Studies inside.” We heard a crackle of thunder inside and the upper right window broke as a lightning bolt escaped from it.
“That goes on your paycheck!” A voice from the inside shouted.
“Sorry, Chief Weather Report! It won’t happen again!” We heard another voice shouting from the inside.
“That better be! Do you know hard it is to catch a lightning sprite!? That one is needed for the upcoming thunderstorm next week!” There is a pause. “And can someone shut off the damn Snow-inator!? It’s the middle of fucking July! Not fucking November where the Winter Court needs it to create their special snowflakes for December!” Sunset looked embarrassed at the cuss words emanating from the factory. Why is she embarrassed? Does she not cuss now and then like everyone here? Weird.
“So, I guess we’ll skip this one then.” I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. “Don’t worry, this is the only one that has that limitation. The modern ones are better at containing lightning sprites.”
We ventured forth and we stopped briefly in front of a closed store. “Ah. Cakes and Bacon. This is a fascinating place. Unfortunately, it’s closed. Fortunately, it will open on weekdays. Their slices of bacon are great. They also have veggie bacon if you don’t want the actual bacon. They taste the same.”
“Now then. Let’s go!” Then off we go. As we went on the streets, we stopped by a coffee vending machine. I showed her how it works and I taught her how to use it. She looked at the mocha-cappuccino can like it was the most interesting thing in the world. She opened it and took a sip. She moaned from its sweet texture.
“You can drink while we walk,” I said to her before taking a sip on my caramel macchiato can. Ooh~! That hit the spot.
We moved on with the stroll. I showed her the Museum of Natural and Unnatural History that used to be owned by the Applepines twins. Where are they now? They went on an adventure with a glowing yellow Dorito boy named Bill Cipher.
We looked at some of the murals from recent events. The Caribous fighting against the Endbringer, Behemoth; the Endbringer, Osiris, unleashing a plague of death against an empire of muscly humanoids; the freeing of the Endbringer, Simurgh; and the death of the Golden God that started it all.
Then we got to the zoo and she saw something that unnerved her. A flying tentacle monster watching the dolphins. “Don’t worry. That’s just their manager. He is great at unnerving people.” I nonchalantly said.
“W-what?” The tentacle monster passed us by, revealing that he had a name tag. ‘Johnson, Manager of the Ponyville Zoo’, it read. Sunset has a strange expression on her face.
“Yeah. I got that expression as well.” I sheepishly smiled at her.
We went on the tour and we met one of my co-workers along the way. His name is Thragg. He is a Viltruumite, one of the many races that became refugees to this world when the Endbringer, Osiris, struck their planet with the Scourge Virus. A very infectious disease that eats a living thing from the inside. Compared to my height in my restricted form, Thragg is a massive beast of a man. He is incredibly big and tall. He also carries an air of professionalism. That might have to do with his haircut. “Hey, Thragg, how’s New Viltruum?” I asked.
“It’s fine but the people are rather afraid that a multi-dimensional being would show up again and place parasites in their mind.” He replied. “They are very paranoid towards the humans of Earth Bet due to that.”
“Oh right. Thragg, this is Sunset. Sunset, this is Thragg. He used to be a scientist from Planet Viltruum but now he is one of my co-workers in the Nexus Border Control.” I cheerfully introduced one another.
Thragg stared down at Sunset as she cowered behind me. He then stared at me with a raised eyebrow. “Not much friendly like the ponies here in this world, huh?”
“H-how did you know I am not around here?” Sunset asked. He pointed in a direction, and she followed that direction. She saw her counterpart, Shimmy, taller than her, with floating books around her. Shimmy is currently staring at us before waving at us briefly and flipping the bird towards Thragg while going away, with the books trailing around her. She is still flipping the bird at Thragg until she turns the next corner of the street.
“That and the Sunset Shimmer that I know would punch me in the face immediately after a while.” He placed his hand on his face. “I still feel the punch from years ago. She would make a fine wife by Viltruumite standards. But of course, not my type. I like taller, muscly girls than me after all, like one of those fine Zebranica Amazons or the Caribou Vikings in the far north.” Okay. I didn’t know that information. “Now if you need me, I should be going.” He hovered in the air before he flew upwards. Then he flew away with a loud sonic boom.
I whistled. “Viltruumites have an innate gravitational pull. They are like moons and the suns up above albeit in the form of humanoids.” I explained as I looked at Sunset; her surprise was known on her face. “They are very, very durable and incredibly strong. They have immense stamina that one can go in for pleasurable experiences in bed for a long time.” Sunset reddened her cheeks immediately. I moved near her ear and whispered. “Their genitals are bigger than most ponies. The taller and muscly they are, the better at the bed. But of course, those are rumors by the ladies in the brothel.” I waggled my eyebrows at her. Sunset’s face reddened immediately. I giggled as I moved away from her. “Now come along. You must be famished.”
It is a store that my friend Pinkie Pie has made. It looks like one of those restaurants from Manehattan, but then again, this store’s main branch is in Manehattan, so they are rather welcomed fondly by tourists.
“Welcome to Pinkie’s.” I saw a Caribou waitress smiling at us as we entered it.
“Morning Pinkie’s All-round Special. Don’t hold back on the flavors. You know, the usual.” I replied. “Oh, and get me the Morning Pinkie’s Pony Special. My friend is famished from our tour.”
“Very well.” She held up her hand and I gave her my card. She scanned it briefly on a machine, then gave it back to me. “Enjoy your breakfast at Pinkie’s.”
Sunset and I are then escorted to our table and I noticed that Sunset is looking at the different races chatting and eating. Caribou Vikings eat with hearty laughs, while their Far Eastern Caribou cousins eat silently with immaculate grace. The Ponies are varied and some of them are of different races as well. One of the Humans has a Half-Fairfolken Nymph eating with them.
Sunset looked on in surprise when the Caribou Vikings raised their ales and clinked them together at once. “Cheers, my brothers! Another year of goodwill thanks to Odin, our Lord! And Hail to the Ikea, the great store that contains Valkyrie-grade furniture from beyond space and time!”
“They are always like that. Don’t need to fret them.” A waiter arrived with our food. Mine is the Morning Pinkie’s All-round Special; it is a dish made personally by Pinkie before deciding to make it into her recipe for her restaurant.
The All-round Special features dishes from all over the world and the refugees that became part of this world. Viltruumite’s scrumptious roasted beef, Viking Caribou’s stone mushroom soup; Eastern Caribou’s sushi platter; Humanity’s special bacon-egg toast; Triquestria’s hamburger steak with the special Loving Nice Cream syrup, a-la flambé, Cloudsdale’s cloud crackers, and many more. The flame of the hay burger steak is somehow edible and doesn’t burn out, my favorite.
Sunset’s order is the Pony Special, which is made specifically for vegetarians with added dishes from different dimensions. The same Triquestria’s hamburger steak as earlier, Viking and Eastern Caribou’s stone mushroom and buttered broccoli fried rice; Viltruumite’s vegetable mix, Canterlotian bread, and a pancake with a tiny edible little flag on top of it. The pancake is then sauced with Pinkie’s secret syrup and added a Nice Cream on top of it.
The waiter placed it on our table. He is a pony-like pegasus with blue hair and yellow fur. He seems to be familiar. “Wait. Aren’t you Rainbow Mary Anne Dash von Danger?” The waiter spoke. I nodded and immediately he cheered. “Oh! I am a huge fan of yours. Can I have an autograph, please?” He asked while he gave me a photo of me posing over the dead body of Scion.
Sunset looked confusedly at the photo as I casually signed the photo, and then he cheerfully said out loud. “Oh, yes~! My sister’s going to get jealous.” He left after saying thanks.
“Wait… Rainbow Dash?” A Caribou Viking asked out loud and everyone stared at me. I waved back at them. “The Savior of our Horned King, Jarlon Balgruuf!” All of the Caribou Vikings hollered.
The Far Eastern Caribou merely nodded in my direction, and one of them uttered, “Ojou-sama. Emperor Lung sends his regards for saving our country from the rebel scum of the False Teacher.”
The Ponies and Humans looked in shock before they started cheering in my direction. “Rainbow! Rainbow! Rainbow!” They chanted. After a while, they stopped and continued what they were doing while occasionally speaking about my ‘normal’ exploits.
“Wait… You are famous!?” Sunset said out loud as I ate my bacon.
“Well, what do you expect? Me being normal? Well yes, for most of the time. But I did save several civilizations across dimensions just so I can punch an omnicidal Eldritch God hell-bent in destroying countless worlds in the face and helped someone to kill it.” I casually spoke before taking a bite out of my bacon-egg toast. “You should eat. An empty stomach wouldn’t make you fight another day.”
Sunset took my advice quickly and ate a piece of the hayburger steak. Sunset froze before moaning due to the delicacy. “This is delicious!” She exclaimed. I merely smiled at that while she began to try everything on her platter. As I am eating, occasionally, I could hear her moaning over her food.
As we finished up, I was given a bill by a robot that saluted at me briefly before getting the plates inside it and moving away. “I don’t think I can eat anymore.” Sunset groaned. “The food, it’s too delicious. Far more delicious than the ones they served at Canterlot in my world.” Sunset struggled to stand up and I helped her.
We exited the building and I continued on the tour. When we reached the next block, “Umm…” I turned to Summer. She is rubbing her knees. “Do you know where’s the?” She asked and I immediately escorted her to the nearest public bathroom. I waited for a bit, then I heard screams and then moans before a sound that could very well be an onomatopoeia of relief. Ah right. I forgot to tell her what the buttons for the bathroom are for.
She walked out with relief on her face. “This is the best bathroom I have ever been to.” She spoke out loud and I mentally face-palmed.
“I take it she’s a newbie. A Code Indigo Dalet.” I heard a gruff voice and I turned. Sunset merely gasped.
“Ah, Great Uncle Sombra.” Sunset flinched at the name. “What are you doing here?” I asked with my usual grin.
“Nothing much, Mary Anne. I was trying to get by after my mad scientist days. Who knew that my inventions could save the world if I just used it right?” He smiled as he patted my head. I pouted at his gesture. He then turned to Sunset. He looked down at her feet, then to her head, and blinked. “She looks exactly like my daughter, Sunset Shimmer before she sufficiently understood her calling and ascended to Alicornhood many years ago.” He patted her head briefly, and Sunset flinched. “This Sunset is one meter smaller than Shimmy though. She is very tall for her age when she is young. Now if you’ll excuse me.” He hefted a strange gun-like contraption over his shoulder. “I have to catch a lightning bolt for Weather Report. See you soon at the family reunion next month, Mary Anne.” He then left.
“That was weird,” Sunset spoke, and I shrugged. I heard a howling wind and saw an ethereal pony nearby. I think I saw many more of those ethereal ponies. Wherever they went, cold wind followed them. One of them is looking at me.
All at once, they spoke. “Message from the Winter Court. This year, winter snow is not coming due to the lack of liquid snowmium to crystallize in the Far North. Please note that despite the snowfall will not come, it will be very cold. Take heed and try not to go hypothermia. That is all.” The ethereal ponies, the Windigos, then disappeared into streams of cold winds with ice trailing behind them.
“Those are Windigos, right?” Hmm…? Did I hear right? She asked about Wendigos.
“Uh. What?” Sunset blinked at my question.
“Windigos. The Spirits of Winter Frost.” Oh. Ooooh~.
“Windigos? Oh. I thought you mean Wendigos. Those skin-stealing monstrosities created from Ponies who eat their flesh and blood, they are cursed by the very magic coursing through their bodies because of that one sin.” Sunset looks very scared now. “Don’t worry, they are mostly druidic and tribal in the Everfree but they will never kill again due to the Vitachambers.” Okay, now she looks like she is going to fall and die.
“Okay. Let’s take it easy, let’s go to my favorite spot.” Then we’re off. We took a street, then a turn, and now we’re here at Mister Smoothie. This is the branch of Mister Smoothie for this world. They went interdimensional when that Golden Idiot broke several dimensions and the Naljians, a multi-dimensional life-form, had to intervene to keep those dimensions from breaking apart. “I welcome you, my fair maiden, to my favorite spot in Ponyville. Mister Smoothie. It used to be called Sugarcube Corner but it was bought out by the new owners after the previous owners died during the Golden God’s attack.” I said sadly.
We entered the establishment and to my surprise, I saw Twilight sitting at a table.
“Ah! Ray-Ray!” She waved at us and I waved back. I took my order and remembered the list. So that’s what her favorite is. Mocha-Caramel. I took Sunset’s order. I gave Sunset her milkshake and we went to sit at Twilight’s table.
“Long time no see, cousin,” I spoke in-between of my sips. “How’s life thus far?”
“Nothing much. Everything’s going according to my plans and schedules.” Twilight spoke before looking at Sunset. “Say. Is she new here?”
“Um. Hi. I’m Sunset Shimmer, nice to meet you.” Sunset spoke before drinking her milkshake.
“She’s a Code Indigo Dalet. Just showing her Ponyville then I’m going back to my job. My co-workers would be mad if I take a day off.” Twilight smiled.
“Tell you what, how about I take things from here? After all, I have some free time until the next matter on my list starts.” I hummed a little bit at her words.
“Sounds good to me.” I turned to Sunset. “Say, do you wish her to take things from here?” I asked.
“That’s okay. Although I do have a question though.” Sunset thought of something deeper. “How strong are the ponies here?”
“Well. There are some abnormal ponies from time to time but other than that. They are stronger than most dragons I met.” Twilight replied while I sighed.
“Twilight’s view of how strong ponies are rather skewed. Twilight is very strong. She used to spar with me and Queen Solaria both at the same time. Solaria and I either get too exhausted to fight or Twilight knocks us out with a delayed spell coming from a random direction. Good times, now that I remembered about it.” I paused. “And if you think she is that good. Wait till you hear her Hysteria Mode.”
“Hysteria Mode?” Sunset asked.
“It is an amplifier power-up form that all ponies have if they just dig deep down to their very cores. First discovered by Alicia Wonderland, a pony trying to hatch a dragon’s egg. Once accessed, their abilities and skills rose a hundredfold to the logical extremes while their cutie mark glows with unfathomable light. Twilight’s Hysteria Mode sets her on fire with flames of arcane might constantly surrounding her. If she beats us on just normal form, then she is a threat in Hysteria Mode that Solaria and I have to power down our limiters to fight on equal grounds. We still lose thanks to some random delayed spells she left around the battlefield.” I smiled fondly at the memory. “I heard she is going to be a Royal Librarian soon.”
“Aww shucks. You don’t have to say that, cousin. I am not strong. No, not at all.” Twilight said while shaking her head.
“You threw a pebble and shattered a meteorite falling from the sky.” Sunset looked at me, then at Twilight, then back to me.
“She… what!?” Twilight and I laughed.
“Oh my, I can’t believe she didn’t catch on our act. We often messed with Code Indigo Dalet individuals whenever we meet one another.” Twilight smiled. “Although, what she said is true. I used a pebble to destroy a giant rock from the void of space. It was fascinating to see how much space rocks I can study.” Twilight sipped on her shake, and I looked at the time of the grandfather clock near the vending machine. Oh, it’s noon already.
“Welp. Gotta go, duty calls and all that.” I stood up and waved them goodbye before I went back to my outpost.
Checking the monitors, I started my shift. Only for the Operator to appear and place a note on the monitor, then he disappeared once more.
“Go to the other side of the lake. An interesting event will unfold…” I sighed. One of the perks of being a Nexus Border Control is that you will be considered doing your job if you wish to help extradimensional entities with something. This is one of those somethings. Without any further disturbances, I notified my co-workers telepathically as I grabbed the paper and went into the lake area. I dove inside.
The trip wasn’t as bad as I expected; everything was as good as a rainbow road. Then I remembered that I forgot to give Ms. Shimmer that important spell to allow her to be resistant to Triquestria's strange nature. Oh fuck.
Author's Note
Let me know if I get something wrong. Now time to explain some things.
There are several tiers of Powers That Be running around the story, but most prefer to work in the background due to their nature. One of those that doesn't is the Operator or the Slender Man.
The highest-ranked Power That Be is known only as “The Oldest Dream” or “The Most Ancient Dream”. It has other names than those two, such as Haruhi Suzumiya, Azathoth, Void-That-Which-Binds-All, and many more. But in Equis Cosmica, they are known only as Queen Solaria Cosmica.
Proxies are beings or objects empowered by the Powers That Be. An example would be Lord English. An unbeatable demon that is the Proxy of Yog-Sothoth, the Spectrum Calamitas.
Nightmare Moon or Princess Lunaris Cosmica is known as Nyarlathotep by the humans living in the Earth Multiverse Cluster in Equis Cosmica.
The Ponies of Equis Cosmica tend to have their Cutie Mark when they are born, but often change as their aspirations in life also change. An example has already happened in-story: Scootaloo.
The things that Rainbow Dash has are from different worlds that either got destroyed or absorbed by the World of Triquestria during the rampage of Scion.
Thorn is from the Tower of God, and that tower in this story was toppled over in the fight against Scion.
The Berserker Armor is from the World of Apostles, which got obliterated by an Endbringer known only as Osiris.
Soulcalibur and Soul Edge came from the World of Souls, and are Proxies of the Serpent of Cycles.
Unbreakable Faith is from the World of Regressors. That world is destroyed when the fight against the Golden God spilled into it.
Taylor Hebert is the protagonist of Worm, a Web-Serial by Wildbow. It is a gritty dark telling of superheroes living in a crapsack world.
The Caribous are from an alternate Equestria that was promptly irradiated by Surtr or as what the humans called them: Behemoth.
Weather Report is an amnesiac human found by Ponies exploring the dimensionally broken Everfree.
Shard or Shardborne is a multi-dimensional construct that is created by Entities. Fragile One is a Shard that has a force field and an emotion expulsion field.
Valokas and Kamalas are based on old legends and the game, Fran Bow.
There are several tiers of Powers That Be running around the story, but most prefer to work in the background due to their nature. One of those that doesn't is the Operator or the Slender Man.
The highest-ranked Power That Be is known only as “The Oldest Dream” or “The Most Ancient Dream”. It has other names than those two, such as Haruhi Suzumiya, Azathoth, Void-That-Which-Binds-All, and many more. But in Equis Cosmica, they are known only as Queen Solaria Cosmica.
Proxies are beings or objects empowered by the Powers That Be. An example would be Lord English. An unbeatable demon that is the Proxy of Yog-Sothoth, the Spectrum Calamitas.
Nightmare Moon or Princess Lunaris Cosmica is known as Nyarlathotep by the humans living in the Earth Multiverse Cluster in Equis Cosmica.
The Ponies of Equis Cosmica tend to have their Cutie Mark when they are born, but often change as their aspirations in life also change. An example has already happened in-story: Scootaloo.
The things that Rainbow Dash has are from different worlds that either got destroyed or absorbed by the World of Triquestria during the rampage of Scion.
Thorn is from the Tower of God, and that tower in this story was toppled over in the fight against Scion.
The Berserker Armor is from the World of Apostles, which got obliterated by an Endbringer known only as Osiris.
Soulcalibur and Soul Edge came from the World of Souls, and are Proxies of the Serpent of Cycles.
Unbreakable Faith is from the World of Regressors. That world is destroyed when the fight against the Golden God spilled into it.
Taylor Hebert is the protagonist of Worm, a Web-Serial by Wildbow. It is a gritty dark telling of superheroes living in a crapsack world.
The Caribous are from an alternate Equestria that was promptly irradiated by Surtr or as what the humans called them: Behemoth.
Weather Report is an amnesiac human found by Ponies exploring the dimensionally broken Everfree.
Shard or Shardborne is a multi-dimensional construct that is created by Entities. Fragile One is a Shard that has a force field and an emotion expulsion field.
Valokas and Kamalas are based on old legends and the game, Fran Bow.
Arc 1: Sunrise | Honest Lawmare of Ponyville (1)
-=|Worldline: Equis Nexaean | Location: Triquestria | Time - ?: 7/09/2???, 8:20AM|=-
-=|???|=-
I was late. These varmints are doing it again. Ah looked at the damages done by these creatures lying down dead on my feet, riddled with holes either from bullets or magic. These aren’t one of those K-words. Fuck, I forgot what they are called. Shit. Looking closely, these things have bony appendages and red markings in their blackened flesh. They are slowly dissipating away into black motes that disappeared immediately after a while.
I looked at the other carcasses in my feet. They are shriveled up like a husk, yet they managed to at least took down three of these creatures. I tipped my hat in respect. No survivors here as well like the last town.
“I reckon these varmints will be on the move. Their feeding grounds aren’t as crowded now as they drained them too much.” I paused briefly. “Not to mention that the Vitachambers have been rerouted to somewhere else due to the machines failing by being used over and over again.” I hummed as I stroke the synthetic mane that Buttercup has. “Ain’t that right, Buttercup?” The mechanical equine neighed. Where did I get Buttercup? My great uncles made her. Flimsy and Flammel. The two are currently on an adventure with a floating pyramid. No idea why, but I really want to punch that pyramid in the face for something for calling me Sixer.
Ah right, I should learn to introduce myself to metaphysical observers of our reality that Pinkie always mentions either recording this to share with people or just make a novelization of the events that follow. The name’s Sheriff Applejack or Jacqueline Pierre fon Apple. Princess of Justice, Honesty, and Apples. Queen Solaria joked that last part but it stuck on because she is the Queen and now everyone is expecting me to give them apples. Oh, how I will give them their apples... at the speed that exists the same wavelength as light, then we’ll see who's laughing now.
The Apple Family Household always has twins at least a generation once in a while. Brig Macintosh and I are the currently non-twin Apples living in Ponyville. The rest of my family have twins. In fact, Cousin Pinkie Pie has a twin but I don’t think I will count Maud the Second as one. We are also great at making silks thanks to the silkmoths we own. According to Grandma Smith, our ancestors have been blessed by two Insectoid Goddesses known as Radiance and Mothra. Not gonna lie, but I think Grandma should lay off smoking the applewood we have in storage. One of my ancestor’s twins is actually the one responsible for the modern Equish. Something about the Afterlife being boring and they ascended out of total boredom.
“Tally-ho.” I intoned and Buttercup trotted onward. As we continue our way, we found ourselves looking at a strange sight. I whistled at it briefly. A lightning sprite inside a net is being dragged by Professor Sombra.
“Morning, Sheriff. Just getting this to Weather Report.” Professor Sombra said to me as we traveled in the same direction.
“Morning, Professor.” I looked with confusion at the net. “Is that net durable enough?” I shuddered. “I remember the last time that a lightning sprite went out of control and it was through the efforts of the twins that it is contained.
“Of course. I tested it a couple of times. That’s the reason why my former greyish coat became charred grey.” His reply earned me my confusion. I never noticed. I mean, his coat is still the same. Then again, my doctor said that I have a wee bit of colorblindness.
Our trek was silent and awkward after that. When we reached Ponyville, I could see that the Lunar festival is in full swing. Even though I am used to it, it is very strange to see the fifteenth celebration this month. They should just get all the damn festivals into a single week and be done with it. But alas, the idiotic court noblemen saw through this and they never did so. I mean, I know that they are so damn competent at their jobs to the point that there is little to no paperwork for us royalty to do but really? I really want a stack of paperwork damn it not unlike the good ole days when the Sheriff’s Office is filled to the brim with ‘em! It’s not the same when everyone is competent. Too competent.
“Morning, Sheriff fon Apple!” Sans the Skeleton shouted on his stand. Ah, the usual sight of him and his cart’s rooftop being covered in snow. I bet the Weather Factory placed that for a marketing strategy.
“Morning, Sans. I see that you’re still selling those Nice things.” I joked. He chuckled slightly.
“By the way, people suddenly appeared out of the Vitachambers earlier this morning. They kept saying that Kamalas attacked their villages. But I have a suspicion that they are not Kamalas. After all, that is not what a Kamala does.” Ah, now I remember. Kamala. That’s the word.
“Indeed. They parasitized their hosts and feed on negative intent as long as possible, not feed them dry. It must be something else.” I harrumphed. “There must be something else that got out of Everfree before the Border Control was made.”
“Indeed. Oh, and keep up the good work, Sans.” Buttercup and I moved to another location.
I arrived just outside my office, just in time as the festival music st- wait. Was that Miss Fluttershy singing in a hovering float stand? Yep, she is.
I entered my office and placed my hat on the stand. I looked at my co-workers resting nearby. He is a Caribou wearing a western cowboy outfit with a Neighponese yukata replacing the long sleeves. His Deputy star is on his right armband that has the symbol of the New Caribou Shogunate. A golden deer standing against a one-eyed rock demon. I heard about stories that my grandma used to tell us until she has decided to leave in search of that one idiot who never gotten inside a robot. Something about child support and really need to release the pent-up frustration.
“Bad day, Sheriff-san?” The Caribou, Sergeant Kyosuke, asked.
“Yep. A town emptied like what happened last time. Not Kamalas though.” I sighed. “Something else must’ve escaped from Everfree before the Border is made.”
“Not Kamalas?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Do you wish to see?” I asked and he nodded. I tapped my sheriff star and it projected a rectangular box with a picture of the creature I’ve met in that abandoned town.
“Yokai.” I blinked at the word he said. “They are known as Yokai in our lands. They are also known as Grim by my kin’s northern cousins.” He shuddered. “They are creatures that are made from negative intents and shape them by their whims to feed and cull, not unlike the Kamalas that feed and festers on negative intents.” He continued. He placed a hand by his chin. “Why is it here? It’s miles away from my lands...”
I heard the door opened and I saw the other Sheriff posted here. He is a tall humanoid with bone-white pieces of machinery incorporating his organic frame. He is hunched over due to his immense size and I could hear his breathing from his apparatus inside him. He wears a fedora with a Sheriff star pinned in its lapels. This is Sheriff Qymaen Jai Sheelal or as he would be preferred to be called, Grievous. “What is miles away?” His metallic voice echoed from his speaker.
“Yokai. The evolved forms of Kamalas.” He pointed at the picture.
“Ooh~. I faced one of these before. Terrifying creatures, I must say.” He took a deep breath briefly, his respirator making a very loud noise of his breathing. “Not as horrifying as their next stage.” I immediately paled. I’ve seen one before, and it was Sunset on her Hysteria mode that managed to deck it out before it can go on a rampage.
“Definitely.” We turned to the newcomer’s voice. It is Deputy Moondancer, who is currently looking at her fingers as if they are the most interesting thing in the world. She is leaning by the wall near the coffee machine, a mug is underneath its dripper. “That is merely the beginning of something worse. I’ve fought the stage after that and believe me. Not even a single living thing would’ve survived if such a thing appears again.” She pressed a button and coffee dripped down from the machine to the cup.
“What is it called?” Deputy Kyosuke asked. “My people never found a step up evolution of the Yokai in our lands.”
Deputy Moondancer looked at the filled mug and uttered a word. “Hollow.” Without another second after speaking that word, she grabbed the filled mug underneath the coffee machine and went to her desk.
“Hollow,” Grievous murmured out loud and for some reason, deep within my very being, I know she is right about that.
“Creatures that are so empty that they feed off the energy in an area,” Deputy Moondancer explained before taking a sip on her mug. “The looked vaguely humanoid, unlike its previous stages. They suck the energy out of anything they get their hands on and I’ve seen the people that got unlucky meeting one. No marks or anything at all, just dead as if their souls are just gone.” Deputy Moondancer shuddered.
“That is terrifying.” Deputy Kyosuke shuddered. “We need to find the Yokai ASAP otherwise they will create more Kamalas by the dozens.” I continued.
“On it. I’ll have the drones go into a full sweep and have all villages be notified.” Deputy Kyosuke spoke and as he begins typing on the keyboard, he stopped. “Umm... Sheriff.” Sheriff Grievous and I looked at Kyosuke as he turned the monitor.
“Oh bucking apple tree in a weather factory,” I muttered out loud. What is on the monitor is a camera feed just outside of the snowy town of Nowhere. I saw a bunch of shambling humanoids with bones jutting out of them, they have bony masks, or rather that’s their face. They phased through objects before something fired upon them. Holes appeared in their body and they regenerated it back. They roared and charged up ahead. I heard screaming as the feed is cut off.
“Notify everyone now. Call backup and place Nowhere on Class 5 Quarantine.” Grievous spoke as he took his Pancho from the rack and took his weapons. Six bladeless hilts. “Nothing goes out of that place and nothing goes in without sufficient protection.” He looked at Kyosuke and continued. “Get those guns loaded and weapons sharpened or ignited. Tell everyone to prepare for extermination.” He grabbed a bladeless hilt from his belt and threw it at me. “Take this.” I caught it. “For close-combat. Press the button, don’t aim at your face.” I nodded, realizing what this meant.
I walked away as I took my hat and placed it on my head. I pulled some things out of my locker. They are two pairs of holders with matching revolvers. I grabbed a Garand rifle with an affixed bayonet and engraved with silence runes, and placed it on my back. I looked at my Spatial Inventory before blinking. I brought out a strange hexagonal object called Alchemical Weapon that those Tinkers made in the R&D. I shrugged mentally and placed it on a holder.
I prepared and placed magical ammunition in my belts and holders. I left the building and go up to Buttercup. I took out the Sheriff Poncho from its storage compartment and wore it along with a pair of goggles. I closed the compartment immediately. I tapped my Sheriff to stop showing the picture.
The goggles lit up briefly and showed me a HUD and directions for Nowhere. I stroked Buttercup's artificial coat before I mount upon her. I grabbed hold of her as I felt something pulling me and I saw Buttercup is being pulled as well. I turned and saw black root-like tendrils coming from a faceless tall humanoid in a suit. It nodded slightly and my vision blurred. I shook my head and saw that I’m on the outskirts of Nowhere... H-how!? This is five miles away from Ponyville. I was placed back to the ground and the faceless humanoid disappeared, leaving a single note.
I took the note and read it. “Double-tap. Destroy the container. Aim for the glowing spots. Do not piss of the Multi-Colored static.” That was cryptic, and there is a smudge before the static. I wonder what that word is. I turned the note around and saw a picture of two beings. One is a humanoid grim albeit shattered into many pieces with glowing spots inside its body. One on the torso, one in the abdomen, and one in the head. The other is a strange vaguely humanoid made entirely of black splotches of ink. I placed the note in my pocket. I pulled my Garand rifle and checked the ammo. None. I must’ve used it the last time. I threw away the magazine and loaded it with a new magazine filled to the brim with magic bullets immediately.
I hefted it and aimed briefly. I patted Buttercup and she went to her combat mode. Weapons appeared from her back as a visor covered her eyes. She followed me as I kicked the gates open. I looked around with my rifle on the ready.
The wind howled as windows and doors creaked open and close thanks to the strong wind blowing around this area, the sound echoing this town as if the people living here didn’t even exist. The heavy atmosphere is rather suffocating as if this place is bereft of something that ponies needed to live, Magic. I noted that the Vitachambers in the streets are all deactivated or welded permanently shut.
I hefted the rifle and I slowly made my way to explore a building. I took cover in the wall and stopped the wooden door from closing. I looked around the corner as I entered the building, Buttercup staying behind due to her size and weapons. I heard scratches in the distance and slowly made my way inside. I saw claw marks all over the place. I looked to see anything of note and I found a photo frame on the floor. I examined it and saw a smiling mare and a kid. By Solaria, a kid... Kids are living here.
I went up the wooden stairs. Each step creaked and I lowered my gun. I moved to a door and kicked it open, I searched the room immediately. I saw no one here. Just some claw marks and a destroyed bed. Descending to the first floor, I went outside.
I explored another building, then another, then another. It’s the same thing over and over again. Then I stopped in front of the tavern and hefted my rifle. I went inside it and looked around. Nothing but rubble and broken wooden furniture. The stairs going to the next floor are broken. The stairs going downwards to the cellar...
I looked on and I could feel my heartbeat going faster. Keep calm. Remember what Pa always tells you, Applejack. Be honest with your aim, shoot with your heart, kill those that harm those you care about. I calmed down a bit and slowly descended to the dark depths of the Tavern. Each step downwards is accompanied by a creak. I tapped the goggles briefly and activated the night vision mode, which gave off a soft hum in my ears. I looked around then I slowly moved to the underground hall. I noticed that there are black cracks with seeping black ichor falling to the ground.
What the hell? I narrowed my eyes whilst hearing giggles behind me. I turned briefly and saw no one. I gulped. You’re a brave pony, Applejack. You’re better than this.
I went to the broken corridor and looked. The soft humming of my goggles accompanied me. The corridor splits off on three doors. The leftmost hallway is blocked by a pile of rubble, the rightmost is welded shut. I readied my rifle and I walked into the middle door, an elevator. I looked at the buttons and pressed the only functioning button, the basement.
I was about to wait when I felt the elevator wrenched upwards before being sent on a freefall. I deeply cursed whilst I managed to levitate just in time to get out of it as it falls. I felt the spell slowly lose effects faster than I thought and I managed to grab hold of the elevator cable. I looked downwards and I sighed. I slid downwards using the elevator cable, noting that other broken elevator doors are either blocked by rubbles or something. I reached the bottom where the broken elevator crashed. I saw the elevator door open with lights flickering briefly in the halls unlike the rest up above that went dark.
I went through the open door and looked at the spacious hall. There’s another elevator that is intact near me but it currently has no power. There’s a hastily written note near me. “Power grid is FUBAR in this sector. Rewire the generator to use the elevator.” That is confusing.
There’s also something in the corner of my eye. I turned right and looked at it. It is vaguely humanoid in shape. It is like a silhouette. Several functioning heaters are pointed towards that creature, containing it somehow. The silhouette just sat there, menacingly.
I gulped. I looked around and found the button... and stairs. Very intact stairs, when I observed it. Oh. I made my way up the stairs, I will not redirect power and get that silhouette to chase me. What am I? An unreasonable stubborn mare? Nope. That’s either Miss Dash or the Great and Magnificient, Trixie.
KRAKOOM!
What the hay!? Where did that thunder and lightning come from? All I said in my mind is either Miss Dash or the Great and Magnificent, Trixie.
KRAKOOM!
There it is again. Miss Dash? Hmm... None. It must have been the Great and Magnificent, Trixie.
KRAKOOM!
Then again, she is part of those R&D fellas. She must’ve made something like that to herald her name or something.
Going up the stairs to the next floor, the lights are still on. I managed to find two corpses. They are mostly intact- I heard something, my fur stood up when cold air blew from the halls of this floor. I feel the sweat on my brow whilst I looked around. I saw another set of stairs going upwards.
I was about to enter the stairwell when I heard a noise behind me. I turned and saw the corpses are gone. In fact, the damages are now fixed.
My sheriff badge begins to blink a few times and a monotone voice appeared from it. “Class 2 Reality Shift has been detected. Please don’t go to the area where it is detected. The location is...” It paused briefly.
“Nowhere, Triquestria.”
Oh bucking tomato on the mirror cabinet. I should’ve waited outside. I saw static all over the place and everything reversed, the damages are fixed as a result. I dodged the debris whilst I placed my rifle in my back.
As I was dodging the objects, everything stopped then accelerated. All the damages were returned at full force. I saw cuts appeared in the hallway and when it neared me, a cut appeared in the wall beside me... then a cut appeared in my arm. I widened my eyes and dodged the invisible claws. Shit.
If that was enough of a problem, they appeared. The two corpses from before. They are surrounded by static and their body kept trailing as if reality isn’t holding them together and constantly glitched between static and non-static, with parts of their bodies constantly reforming and deforming repeatedly.
I got my rifle and fired upon them. Turns out their weaknesses are- I heard something. A static behind me. Shit. Shit! SHIT! I remembered what is being contained here earlier before the reality shift. The area must’ve changed so drastically that the heaters disappeared.
I looked in fear before the ground beneath me gave away and I fell. I land on the lower floor, kneeling on the ground. I brushed off my clothes briefly and looked at the elevator, my only salvation. I telekinetically pressed the button and its doors opened. Good. I immediately entered and pressed the up button. The elevator moved upwards before stopping on a floor.
The floor shook, I just saw an entire room sunk in the void. I never bothered looking down at the void as I am already panicking about what just happened. So I did something stupid, I ran forward. I tripped and fall, but on the corner of my eyes. I saw someone familiar.
A being made entirely of multi-colored static. I know of her. I saw her planted a punch on that Thing’s face after all. Miss Dash. She is currently in a large hole in the wall. Her scarf contorted and became a black fleshy sword with red glowing markings. She caught her scarf-turned-sword and brandished it. She flung herself whilst throwing me forwards on the other side of the wall. I saw the wall slowly filled up by debris and fixed itself. I heard several crashes on the other side of the wall.
My musings are brought to a halt when I heard something. I turned and saw countless shambling corpses. Immediately, I took out my Garand and aimed. I missed a couple of times, their bodies begin to regenerate immediately except for the glowing spots. I fired whilst I charged up ahead, stabbing one of them on the weak spots. That should put some of them down. Alas, I ran out of ammunition. Turns out most of the ammo I took are blanks and doesn’t do anything. I am surrounded now by these shambling corpses.
I grabbed the bladeless hilt and pressed the button. A blade made out of light coalesced into being. I waved it around, cutting them apart. Unfortunately, I didn’t hit their weak spots. Fortunately, they can’t move due to being limbless. Turns out cauterizing wounds is good at stopping dangerous zombified opponents.
I managed to kill most of them before I lurch downwards. The ceiling is ripped apart and I saw it. A creature made entirely of static. It is descending from the sky, reaching out to me. Before it could touch me, everything is bathed in an orange glow...
Finally. I am free to do what none other bravely mares could do. I immediately turned and put my legs on the ground to a crouching position. Then I pushed, the ground cracking in my wake as I jumped. I reared my fist and punched the static entity. Cracks of orange formed in that entity as it flew backward.
I landed on a piece of debris flying in position to fix a wall, I saw other debris as well leading to that static entity. I leaped out of the debris and landed to the next, then did it again until I am already in range. Cocking my fist like a gun, I punched whilst orange lightning gathered in my fist just before it hits. The static flew away and I saw Rainbow Dash flinging herself from somewhere whilst wielding a giant sword.
I turned to land but I could feel my prison slowly acting up, trying to break my hold. No! I will not be imprisoned once again! Nonononono~! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-
I blinked my eyes and looked around, I saw the ground in front of me. All I see is nothing but darkness.
“She is dead.”
“I know.”
“There is another way. The one that allowed you to go back...”
“Doing so will need of my death. The power of RESET.”
“Dash?”
“Yes, Twilight?”
“Would you be okay? I mean... With this?”
“Yes. It is my fault for not going earlier.”
“I see. I’m sorry... For everything...”
“Don’t cry. I would always be your friend, even if it means I have to RESET every now and then to get you all live the next day.”
“Kid...”
“Yes, Sans?”
“Make a better future, okay?”
“Sure. That’s my promise to Paps, after all.”
-=|Worldline: Equis Nexaean | Location: Triquestria | Time - New Era, Lunar Return: 7/17/2059, 12:30AM|=-
-=|Third day to the Lunar Return Calendar - During Arrival of Sunset Shimmer from Equestria ???|=-
I woke up in a startled jolt. I shook my head and looked around. It’s just my office. I looked at the almost negligible paperwork. Wait... I rubbed my eyes and saw this creature right in front of me. Two beady red eyes and white-pink fur. It looks like a fox.
“Hello.” It spoke to me. “My name is QB. I am a Familiar created by Mistress Pinkie Pie out of spite for all Magical Girls living on a couple of Earths.” It tilted its head. “I’m just here to tell you to stop sleeping on the job and wake up already. That’s all.” Then it grabbed its feet and begin eating itself. Just before it fully devours itself. “Seriously. You really need to take a vacation, lady. The Operator has been forced to get Dashie on vacation for not doing it. I mean, she is always on the job as far as anyone remembers... and her vacation time is being saved always that her boss actually asked the Operator to do so by getting her to explore that newly discovered reality.” Then with a cartoonish pop, the creature ceased from existence.
Rubbing my forehead, I froze. I looked at my reflection. Since when did I have another pair of eyes and two more horns? I blinked and the eyes and horns disappeared. Must’ve been my imagination.
Nope. That is real. But you won’t even remember that, do you?
I... think I heard a voice somewhere? No. Don’t think about it.
Even if you forgot about it. I am still around. After all, I am you. A more hysterical version of you.
I must be tired. Yes. Too tired. I looked at Sheriff Grievous looking at me. He is still staring at me before I yawned.
“I think, I’m going for a day off,” I murmured out loud whilst standing up.
“Definitely. You’ve been at the desk for a couple of weeks now.” Moondancer paused. “Looks like I win the betting pool.”
“Damn you, Moonie.” Grievous raised his fist and shook. “Now I have no money until the paycheck next week.”
“Wait...” The two turned to Deputy Kyosuke as I slowly made my way to the door. Trying to not get noticed by them. “You guys get paid?” Nope, not dealing with an angry Kyosuke right now. The last time that happened, it is last week. He is so angry that he took an entire building, compressed it into a ball then ate that ball. All that he has ever gotten out of it was an upset stomach.
I left the office as I donned my hat, only for me to realize that it has been stuck there since yesterday thanks to my ascension to Alicornhood two days ago. I stretched my body, popping a button out of my button-down shirt. I twitched.
Why does ascending to Alicornhood make an Earth Pony bigger in certain areas? I envy the Pegasi-turned-Alicorns whose wings just became bigger and the Unicorns-turned-Alicorns who just gained longer curved horn and that’s it. Now I have to find bigger clothes or borrow one from Big Macintosh.
I heard a flurry of feathers and I looked up. I saw her. General Gilda of New Griffonstone. Old Griffonstone is vaporized when the Endbringer, Behemoth, rose from under it. Turning the mountain into a volcano. They moved to a new land and made a new government.
I looked at her appearance and noted that she is still the same as all the griffins I have met. Instead of a pair of feathery wings like the Pegasi, in place of that are Eye-like appendages that function both as wings and eyes. They blink in rhythm all over her body, her eye sockets are filled with countless avian-like eyes and a single beak with teeth. On second thought, those were countless rows of teeth. She opened her mouth briefly to laugh, revealing she has a fleshy mouth with the same amount of rows of teeth inside her beak.
Her hands are filled with many claws. In fact, her entire forearm is made entirely of claws merging into a bladed limb. Her fingers are also made out of claws. Her feet are the same as her arms. Beginning at the foreleg to the feet, they became clawed appendages that merged to become her legs.
“You’ve grown big.” Her symphonic, guttural voice rang out of both the beak and second mouth. “And you really need better clothes. Might I suggest, Gemstone Rarities? That brand was from your friend’s.” She continued.
I rolled my eyes. “I would if not for the fact that my paycheck is in next week. That, I don’t even have money for that.”
“Why don’t you ask her? She is very generous to those who require help.” Gilda asked and I sighed.
“Look. I don’t want to trouble her. It’s just...” I motioned with my hands and Gilda blinked, all her eyes did.
“Oh. Not you, huh?” Gilda lifted her many-clawed hand scratched the back of her head. She sighed briefly. “Look. You really need to go out more and...” Gilda stopped and turned in a direction.
I heard a scream and I immediately turned in a direction. We saw a familiar pony is holding a younger-looking Sunset Shimmer who whimpered and screamed as she tried running away. Blood is running from her eyes and mouth.
“Greetings. This one is new.” That familiar pony, Twilight, spoke with a smile on her face. “She met Gilda a while back and then ran away.” Her hands are glowing green as we saw Sunset Shimmer gone from pale to healthy coloring.
“Code Dalet Indigo?” The Griffin spoke with a raised eyebrow. I nodded briefly.
“Don’t worry. Gilda won’t eat you,” Twilight said while still holding the alternate dimension Sunset Shimmer. “She prefers to eat after cooking her prey unlike the rest of her kind.” The younger Sunset Shimmer whimpered.
“Where’s Rainbow? Wasn’t she supposed to be the one giving a tour?” I asked.
“She gave the tour privileges to me.” Twilight smiled creepily. Her eyes and mouth became darker than the abyss. Black ichor begins to droop from them. Her smile reminds me of the smile that Rainbow has shown me, albeit her version has too many eyes and teeth. I could tell that the one she is holding has fainted, she smelt of urine. Until Twilight used her magic to clean her and herself.
“Aww... It was the best day of my life.” She sighed sadly. “I was about to give her to Pinkie.”
“Remember the last time Pinkie was in charge of touring the new ones?” Everyone, including the Suns and Moons above, shuddered at my question.
“DO NOT REMIND US OF THE PINK MENACE.” The First Sun spoke.
“WE DO NOT WISH TO REMEMBER THE HORROR FROM THE PINK COLOR.” The Second Sun added.
“IS THAT PERRY THE HONORARY DRACONEEQUS OVER THERE!? WHAT IS HE DOING WITH THE PARTY CANNON 5000!?” The Third Sun blurted out.
The Two Suns and the Twelve Moons turned to the third sun with a confused look.
“NOT GONNA LIE. THE THIRD ONE IS AN ACCIDENT.” The First Sun spoke once more.
“By the way, do they, the Twelve Moons, always have red tentacles in them?” Gilda asked.
“Gilda. You should check your eyesight.” Twilight said in a joking tone before chuckling. “Of course they have red tentacles, don’t be silly. After all, most of the corpses we generated are eaten by them.” She said with a wink.
“Ah don’t get it,” I said, noting that my old accent has returned briefly.
“Me neither,” Gilda uttered before staring at me. “Twilight thing?”
“Twilight thing.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well. I should be going. I’m going to give little Sunset to Pinkie and watch the anarchy unfolds. Ta-ta~!” Then she left. Literally, she slid in the left side of reality and disappeared along with the Sunset she is holding.
“I have no idea what just happened. But then again, you Ponies does those weird things a lot of times.” Gilda shrugged.
“Tell me about it,” I said before walking away. Then I stopped. “By the way, what are you doing here?”
“A faceless tall man gave me a note that says ‘Greet the other Sunset’. I greeted her and... yep. She screamed and run away.” Gilda huffed, annoyed at that other Sunset’s view to other races.
“She must be racist. But of course, we can’t know for sure unless we asked her about it.” Gilda hummed and nodded at my words.
“This is the weirdest day of my life.” We turned and saw Derpy Hooves. Her many angles breaching several possible and impossible dimensions. “I just saw two Sunsets in a single world. I think I should lay off the muffins.”
“Definitely.” Gilda rolled her eyes briefly and literally. Her eyes rolled on the floor, mid-air, on the streams of water that floated above us, and throughout reality itself.
“Would you stop that? It’s weird.” Derpy blurted out, her voice coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I winced because the same voice appeared right beside me by the ear, on full volume.
“I should get going, as well. I’m taking a day off and I have to nurse this headache.” I blurted out whilst nursing my head.
“Yes?” ‘Tis Headache asked as he appeared out of nowhere.
“No. Not you, the headache in my head.”
“Oh.” ‘Tis Headache looked sadly before he disappeared.
“Was that ‘Tis Headache? Didn’t he get exiled to Mars last year?” Derpy asked and we both shrugged.
“No one really follows the banishment anymore after everyone figured out how to teleport a couple of years ago.” Gilda replied in a motonous, guttural voice.
I scooted away from them. Not literally, I don’t have a scooter. Those things don’t exist. Even if Scootaloo tells me so. I will not change my mind. Those things don’t exist!
Author's Note
First look at what happens at a Pony’s Hysteria mode. This is very terrifying in many aspects. What are they keeping inside of themselves? Was it a demon? Or something else? That’s for me to know and for you to find out.
In case you didn’t figure it out. This is a Cosmic Horror fic. Well, Reverse Cosmic Horror for everyone living in Equis Cosmica. Every single native in Cosmica is a Cosmic Horror in their own right.