My Little Overlord: Harmony Desync

Have you ever been hit in the face? Let's rephrase that, have you ever been hit in the face with a metal folding chair by a burly biker on steroids? Amplify that image, enhance it times 75% and then some. That was the most accurate comparison Jonathan could make in his mind. The beast’s paw and claws swiped him across the face, his body lifting off the ground in one violent burst of motion. His entire form went flying across the river, slamming violently into a tree. His bare back smashed into the rough bark of the tree with enough impact to send chips crumbling in all directions.

Jonathan’s back felt like it was being nipped at by hundreds of fire ants, turning the smooth skin red and raw. Being naked was in fact a heavy detriment, making every second that he tried to decompress his lungs for breaths a pain. Saliva launched from his lips, along with whatever remained in his stomach.

Jonathan struggled to breath, having had the wind knocked from his lungs from the unprepared blow to his face and back. He smacked both hands to either cheek, fully expecting to feel the gashes of those claws across his face. The fact he was even alive took a couple seconds to even register in his mind. “I’m not dead….? I-I’m not dead!”’ His short-lived victory was cut short from the roar of the manticore.

Its misshapen form clambered rapidly across the river, its amber scorpion tail thrashing wildly in the air. ‘Shit, Shit, SHIT! Not for long!’ Jonathan forced his body to move just as the Manticore went for a pounce. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, with the monstrous hybrid body would soar inches over the human’s head. In sync the human was hitting the dirt, sliding away just in time so the beast would end up crashing into the tree he had his back to.

Jonathan could practically feel the warmth of this thing’s fuzzy body, he was close enough to smell the pungent odor of blood on its hide. From the corner of his eyes he could see spears, arrows, and even what appeared to be an ax embedded in its back. Landing on his stomach this human who had not seen so much as a fist fly was in a life or death situation, no room for error. That’s why he was surprised when his body seemingly moved on its own, rolling and flipping forward on his hands, springboarding forward from the ground in a dead sprint opposite of the monster.

The Manticore yowled, roared, hissed, its venomous tail whipping about in the air while trying to re-adjust its massive form. When it did, its blood red eyes glared daggers at Jonathan’s back while he made a dead sprint deeper into the forest. The beast had hit the tree hard enough to snap it like a dry branch, sending a few parasprites buzzing into the sky. It crouched down on all fours, its leathery wings spread wide, with a mighty roar it flapped while kicking, shooting off like a bullet despite its lumbering size towards its strange looking prey.

Jonathan heard the roar, then the sound of paws rapidly advancing towards him at breakneck speeds. Lions run at speeds of 50 miles per hour, Usain Bolt in perspective could reach record breaking speeds of 27.79 miles per hour. That was why it was very much a surprise that he, an author, one who only spends 4 hours a day doing squats, almost passes out on the treadmill, was internally freaking out as to how he was managing to outpace this mythical creature on foot. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t scream, it was like a part of him deep down was coming to the surface, suppressing his terror into a cold, steely, determination, and with one word echoing in his mind….SURVIVE.

The beast lunged again and again in quick bursts, trying and failing to pounce this bipedal creature. Each lunge resulted in its claws stopping either a few inches short, or it overshooting over the biped. Each miss gave its prey more time to run, more time to flee deeper into the natural maze of vines, scary trees, and hostile fauna. Sense had long since been abandoned by the lion amalgam, with only a burning, yearning, bloodthirsty desire to sink its fangs into this man’s flesh remaining.

Jona kept moving forward, dodging, sliding, and jumping over every swipe, pounce, and slash the monster made with its tail. His hands would reach out, ripping aside vines, shoving branches, and downright pulverizing rocks beneath his feet into gravel without care. Even as the sharp thorns pinched his skin, the force of the branches whipping his naked skin, and the sensation of bugs smacked his face, he kept running. If he stopped now he would have been this thing’s next meal, a fate Jonathan was far from comfortable from suffering.

It wasn’t until he saw the first glimmers of moonlight peeking through the underbrush ahead that his heart swelled with renewed hope. He was safe, he was getting out of here, he was gonna break through those branches, and he was gonna call for help-

However when his body lunged through the branches and his feet met nothing but air, reality came crashing down on him like a 2 ton anvil. His wide eyes and hopeful smile contorted into an expression of sheer terror when he launched himself clear off the cliff and plummeting down beside the waterfall towards a massive lake bellow. With arms flailing in the air Jonathan was able to let out in his mind, his final word.

“SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

The beast behind him was fortunate enough to be born with claws, not just for cutting meat from bone, or fending off other predators in the wild, but also to gain enough traction to stop itself from sharing its foolish prey’s fate. Pawing at the ground angrily it would snort, letting loose one final roar that echoed through the Everfree, disturbing all the wildlife that slumbered peacefully.

Princess Luna had lived for many years, watched the rise and fall of many empires, and led wars against her sister. She had seen many things, but this…this was something completely different. Whatever manner of magic had interrupted the festivities was something or somepony new. She had helped her sister defeat discord, she knew when chaos magic was involved, but something to this magnitude of destruction and madness was not “his style” as he would say.

Luna took a long sip of her coffee, the castle of friendship was lively with the sound of maids rushing about, guards patrolling, and concerned murmurs of ponies who had taken shelter throughout the night while guards assessed the situation outside. She would watch in calm silence as the Elements of Harmony whipped about, doing what they did best, bringing about harmony and order to these trying times.

Fluttershy had lulled the children to sleep, allowing many of them to slumber while their worried parents desperately tried to get answers from the guards as to when they could return home. Miss Rarity was walking about with the help of Miss Applejack, hoofing out blankets, pillows, and drinks to the ponies huddled around the main chamber. Pinkie Pie in all her crazy glory served cupcakes fresh from the oven, aiding the maid’s efforts to sooth the panic.

Miss Twilight, her fellow princess, sat beside her at the table, looking frantically through book after book, trying her best to figure out what happened that night. The poor mare looked on the brink of a mental breakdown, reasonably so. Her mane was sticking out at odd angles, one eye twitching manically, She had lost track of how many drinks of coffee the panicking mare had drank to keep awake.

Luna sighed softly, unfurling her wings to soothingly rest it on Twilight’s shoulders, feeling her flinch and sag into her comforting touch. “I-I’m sorry Princess- I mean Luna…I’ve scoured every book in my library, every single one on reality magic, space, and even chaotic illusionary magic, but NONE of them could EXPLAIN IT!” She slammed the book shut. drawing more than a few looks of either annoyance or panic from the masses around her. When she noticed she could only flinch again before sagging into her seat. She buried her head into the book, letting out a muffled groan of defeat.

Luna slowly shook her head, a frown gracing her face as she gently ran a hoof through Twilight’s mane to straighten it. In her blue magical aura she would float the book on “Moonrocks for Dummies” away. “My dearest Twilight…you must rest, you are the brightest pony in Ponyville, by morning my guards will have ample to report…until then you must regain your strength, I take it you have sent a message to my sister?” Twilight nodded, resting her muzzle on the table.

“Yes Luna…I have, she said that she would be sending her best researchers and guards here to relieve you of your duties here so you may return home. Being the most capable…*Yawn*...pony here when it comes to…uh….mnn…magical anomalies, I’ll be doing my best to resolve this…” She mumbled, rubbing her eyes with a hoof.

“Even more of a reason for you to rest…I'm not saying this as a princess of Equestria deal Twilight, but as your friend…please rest your eyes, sleep…” Luna cooed softly, continuing to lull the purple Alicorn to sleep. Even without magic the princess of the night still had this natural aura about her. Even as they spoke many ponies curled around their loved ones, drifting off to a sweet slumber.

“B-but what if-” Twilight spoke, her eyes drooping, but she was swiftly hushed up by Luna who only smiled and shook her head.

“Hush Twilight…I shall handle everything…just…sleep…” With that Twilight as well as many of the other ponies not working had fallen asleep. The rest of the 6 had curled up in different parts of the massive room. Luna levitated the books into the air with her magic, setting them atop a passing maid who was already in the process of collecting the unconscious mare’s books to be sent away to the library. Luna’s wings folded back to her side, allowing her to lean back and let out a soft sigh.

“Princess Luna…I have news…may I speak with you in private?” One of the night guards approached, speaking low and quietly, having noted the slumbering princess beside his princess. The guard’s leathery bat wings shook slightly causing his dark armor plates to softly rattle against his form.

“At ease captain Night Glaive…yes, we shall continue this outside…” She said smoothly, causing the guard to give an affirmative nod. His entire form released its already pent up tension from that night’s Equis rocking events. He and the princess walked side by side, him ordering his men to stand guard at all entrances to castle friendship.

Thanks to Princess Celestia they were able to receive extra Lunar guards shipped to their location, many of whom were combing the town on patrol. Those who were not at castle friendship were ordered to stay in their homes. The town itself had gone under swift lock and key, nopony in, nopony out.

Both princess and captain spread their wings, flying towards the top of castle friendship, settling on the yellow tiles of the roof. Without looking to one another their conversation went from friendly to cold and calculative in an instant. “Scouts have reported that there is unusual activity coming from the Everfree. Something or somepony has stirred activities from the hostile animal life…lieutenant Moonglow said that she heard what sounded like screaming and roaring further in, but was unable to confirm.” The captain grunted.

“Hmmn..” Luna closed her eyes, watching as the world melted away into darkness…and with her closed eyes she could see the world before her in a whole new way. She could see the town before her, she could feel the flow of harmony in the air in the form of wispy auras. Her guards all held a navy blue colored aura, with them each individually harboring fragments of her lunar power. Such power granted them the affinity and biological traits of the night, wings, fangs, eyes, and appetite to ease burdens of being nocturnal for the job. Her captain held the brightest and most powerful aura of them all, harboring a strong bond to the night.

Looking to the forest with these “magic eyes” resulted in a mix of results that would typically send her senses into a frenzy. The aura of the forest was alight with activity and life, a rainbow of different colored auras from species, emotions, and potency. Typically that was the way of the Everfree, a chaotic mess born from the vicious battle between the forces of harmony and chaos. For once the forest was…calm, all the chaos, all the excess chaos magic had dwindled, to a deep shade of purple. The aura around the crash trail of the meteorite was hot pink, the epicenter a brighter shade of blue.

“Captain, double your forces around the Everfree, nopony enters unless they receive direct permission from either myself or my sister…understood?” Luna spoke firmly, her eyes opening to reveal the steely blue gaze that pierced through the night like a beacon. “Whatever landed in the forest appears to have altered its chaotic properties…by morning I request swift transit back to the capital, this matter must be brought to my sister immediately.”

“Yes your highness…It shall be done.” The guard stood tall on the roof, giving his princess a salute with his hoof. Adjusting his helmet he would soar into the night sky, darting downwards in a swift glide towards the treeline surrounding the forest that had grown so active as of late. The princess closed her eyes yet again as if to reconfirm her assessment of the chaotic woodlands. Nopony, not even both herself and her sister, nor the elements could tame the nature of the forest. Even with the most recent aid of Discord after his successful reformation bore no fruits in removing the spell that plagued the Everfree.

“Chaos magic is like a rash, the more you aggravate it by scratching, touching, and prodding it, the more festered and aggressive it spreads. The best you can do is contain and let it go away on its own. One can’t simply control chaos, even when I use its powers half the time it has a will of its own. However if somepony were able to subjugate it…well…they’d certainly surpass me I dare say.” Discord laughed, much to the bemusement of Celestia, Luna, and Twilight.

Based on the aura that was gradually spreading from the landed meteorite’s impact zone confirmed the creeping dread swelling in her stomach. Something or somepony was subjugating chaos, slowly but surely, assimilating the living aura of the forest into a tidal wave of purple. Her breaths came out shakily, her feathers rustling at her sides. Something about this was wrong, a fundamental of nature was being tampered with, by a force potentially stronger than that of discord. If that were the case and they harbored ill will towards her subjects, then a swift use of the elements may be needed in the future.

“Oh Tia…I have so much to tell you…”

Jonathan felt himself floating, his eyes fluttering open to see nothing but a vast, gray, infinite darkness that surrounded him at all angles. Faint particles of white light were his only illumination, and strangely…he felt so safe, so cool. His chest raised and fell, taking in slow, steady breaths. His entire body drifted in a downwards spiral, simply enjoying the calm moment amidst the chaotic sprint that lead him to….wait-

“Am…I…dead…?” Jonathan mumbled, blinking slowly as memories came rushing back to him. The manticore, the dead sprint through the forest, the drastic alterations to his appearance, the creepy forest, and…the fall. From all around he would receive an answer in the form of a soft, echoing, and soothing voice.

“No…not dead, that was quite the fall you’ve taken son…if I hadn’t stepped in you more than likely would have died of shock on the way down. Your body might be strong but…with the mind of a mortal you may still suffer certain inadequacies they may harbor…” The voice boomed, its sounds echoing in his skull, invading his thoughts. Pictures of his descent from the skies, his awakening in the crater, his discovery of the manticore, all taken from the third person. Someone had been watching, and judging from their voice they were finding his plight rather amusing.

“Mortal….shock…? W-what…am I? Where am I? Why…am I…I just…wanna go home…” Jonathan whispered, his body slowly curling up into a ball. Like a child he tried his best to hide from this warped form of reality he found himself in, only there was no bed or covers to hide under.

“You have many questions, that I can tell for certain, and I have answers…however my hands are tied to certain answers I can disclose to you little one. To begin I must apologize for plucking you from your world, but there is much here that needs to be done, and after discovering your rather…particular portfolio.” The voice seemed to alter the space, the images being seen all around Jonathan. He saw pictures of him when he was 16, giddily typing away on his computer with sketches and notes of his first ever character coming to fruition.

“Your will, imagination, ingenuity, and passion…all of those were put into this seemingly childish, broken, and as you might have called it…mary sue…of a fictional character. You unknowingly created a being so strong that it managed to tear the foundation between fiction and non-fiction right down the middle, creating little holes. Those holes took in excess dreams, willpower, and ideas, manifesting themselves into individual entities. What was once fiction, gradually cultivated and became reality.” The voice said with a twinge of sorrow in his tone, revealing a glowing fabric with holes in the middle in another image.

“Your character has bled through to the fictional plane of Equestria, a realm of magic, harmony, chaos…if left unchecked, such a being of his power could utterly annihilate the unstable walls that separate fiction from reality. Such a cataclysmic event could irreversibly alter existence. Gods, monsters, demons, angels, all existing in a place that doesn't require or need them. Belief is belief, tales are tales, and it is my job as The Author to see to it that all goes according to plan.” He hummed, a massive pair of shimmering blue eyes appeared above Jonathan who could only blankly stare back at them, the shining blue rays calming his soul.

“Mr. Jonathan…I bring you here, to this realm of Equestria not of ill will, but of necessity…it is only you that can wield, cultivate, and bend the powers of Lord Dezmond to your command. It is only YOU who can collect the shards of the fragmented reality before you, and do what Dezmond does best…kill all the gods and entities that have bled into this world. Your existence has become a paradox, infinitely existing, infinitely non existing across all dimensions simultaneously. Your fate...is tied to here, to Dezmond.” The voice…The Author called out with complete neutrality in his tone.

“It is because of my power that I will draw these fictional beings to you in order to staunch the flow of fiction oozing into reality…so you may reap and send them back to the mindscape where all fiction dwells.” The voice reached out, many hands grasping at Jonathan’s body, sending forth a cascade of knowledge onto him…of this world, of Dezmond’s life, all in accelerated time.

“The knowledge I have given you will not come all at once, rather you must traverse the world, find fragments of Dezmond’s past within the world of Equis. Places he has tread in his fictional existence you must go, the reincarnated remnants of his harbingers must meet, and slay those whom he called foe. Only then will you discover the full extent of this power growing within you.” Multiple hands made from the floating grey orbs of light came together, manifesting a harmonic energy between their fingers, shaping it into that of a colorless tome.

“As a token of my good will…I bestow upon you The Tome of Knowledge, a book that can give you the answers to many things, teach you the way of magic, and aid you in your harrowing quest…do not give up Jonathan, for this world, and the world as you knew before hangs in the balance…slay all those who don’t belong, who seek its untimely destruction, and I shall grant you the peace you so desperately crave.” The Author’s voice gradually began to fade, the book itself floating into Jonathan’s arms which held onto it so tightly.

"Keep in mind, your body, your mana, at this moment is limited, spells you learn may not be achievable unless you cultivate your reserves. No offense but I would prefer not to see you again so soon, because you tried to use a time freeze spell on your first week."

Jonathan felt his eyes grow heavier, and heavier, drifting deeper into this downward spiral that moved faster, and faster. He could feel his body stretching, his soul BURNING, and his mind defragmenting. The darkness became clear, taking on the appearance of stars, planets, moons, all whipping past him at breakneck speeds incomprehensible to the human eyes.

Jonathan was no longer human, he had become something so much more. He watched as infinite versions of himself on either side plunge into planets, mirrored echoes of himself all going into infinite versions of these WORLDS. It was in that moment that he’d see his body rapidly approach the surface of this planet. His astral body broke through the sky and down into the depths of the jungle, down the waterfall, and finally into his own body.

….

Jonathan’s eyes would shoot open, his breaths coming out in choked gasps before he promptly rolled onto his side. Water vacated his lungs and stomach, warranting a fit of violent coughing. His naked form had washed ashore, and with it…a silver tome, with jade and amethyst stones bedazzling its surface. Everything he had seen, everything that he had heard, his reason for being in this world…it was all so clear, yet so unbelievably vague at the same time.

However the one thing on his mind at that moment was so unbelievably mundane that it made him laugh, hysterically laughing with tears pouring down his cheeks.

“Man…I could really go for some clothes right about now…”