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          [Displaced] THS: The Hero of Many Forms          
                   -by TheAlienBrony22-                    
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                   Built Up, Broken Down                   
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Built Up, Broken Down
[Present Day, 2020; 12:14 AM]
A thunderstorm, probably one of the worst there's ever been is raging outside, nearly flooding the streets and the asphalt roads too bad for anyone to drive through it... and yet, one brave and very drained soul was bold, brave, or stupid enough to drive in such conditions anyhow.
A vehicle, one that looked like a beat up and very worn out Honda, carefully drove through the night, the rain cascading down on the faded cinnamon colored paint. The vehicle swerved and slipped on the road, narrowly avoiding anything or anyone unfortunate enough to be in the vehicle's way. Eventually, the car skidded to a stop and pulled into a garage, and out from it was a very tall, stocky, and very drained man.
The garage door closed as the storm seemingly got worse, the wind howling like a cacophony of wolves and coyotes, the rain crashing down onto the roof of the garage like bullets being fired from a million assault rifles. It was hell, but this was the life he was used to. Constantly being reminded of his current point in life, even by the harshest weather conditions.
"Guess I got lucky, for once..." the man walked through a door, wiping his feet on a black welcome mat with white letters spelling 'Welcome' on it. The man was dressed in a heavy snow coat, colored in an aubergine color. He took it off and hung it on a rack. Despite the removal of such a coat, the man was still dressed in a huge trench coat, his face being obscured by the popped collar. "Let out of work early, got my work done before the deadline instead of on the deadline, got another raise... God damn it, who am I kidding, this is awful!"
The man took the coat off and laid it on the back of a bubble-wrapped recliner, one that seems to have not been touched in a while. The man's skin was caucasian, but it seemed a bit pale, even for most white guys. His hair was a mess, nothing but a dark brown fuzzy mess, and the slightly untrimmed stubble on his face looked incredibly prickly, like small black needles were growing out of his face. He wore a pair of aviators, though the obvious black rings and bags around his eyes were clear as day. He grabbed a photo off of a nearby shelf, examining it.
"Life was so simple back then," The photo contained what looked like a photo of a fourteen year old boy, standing next to his father and mother, they smiled gleefully. The man bit his lip and clutched onto the photo. "Hard to believe this was five years ago... Leon Derrickson, where did our time go?"
[5 YEARS EARLIER...]
[Early 2015; 8:15 AM]
The blaring of an alarm clock rang out, causing someone to yelp and sit up. In bed was a fourteen-year-old boy, with short light-brown hair and a shining glint of hope in his eyes. He looked towards the alarm clock, seeing it flash as it continued to blare.
"Oh yeah, I got time." the boy said, hopping out of bed as he turned a lamp on, illuminating what seemed to be a pretty well-taken care of room, adorned in numerous posters of superheroes, monsters, aliens, as well as some posters of black metal bands and movies. "Let's get this rollin'!"
He undressed himself as he pulled a few clothing items out of a closet. He dressed himself in a deep blue and white t-shirt with a black short-sleeved dress shirt over it. He pulled up some dark black dress jeans and put on a white belt, then slipped on some white socks and gray sneakers. He dusted himself off and went over to a mirror, combing and styling his hair just a fair bit before looking himself over with a smile that oozed confidence and optimism.
"Who is this handsome devil I see in the mirror? Oh wait," the boy shoots some finger guns at his reflection as he puffs his chest out. "It's me! Ahh... the next day of work always feels like the first, excellent!"
"Leon!!" A feminine voice called out. Leon opened the door and looked towards a set of stairs leading down. "Better get down here before your breakfast gets cold! Can't go to work on an empty stomach!"
"I'll be right down, Ma!" Leon yelled out, smiling as happy as can be. "Thanks for the reminder!"
Leon Derrickson quickly made his way down the stairs, walking past a man who sat on a very fuzzy orange couch, dressed in nothing but a yellow hawaiian shirt with dark green flower patterns all over it, cargo shorts and blue crocs with socks.
"Mornin' Dad!" Leon called out, sitting down at the kitchen table as he beheld the sight of his breakfast. French toast with powdered sugar, syrup, scrambled eggs, bacon, and orange juice. "I guess you already ate?"
"Nah, just takin' a moment to wake up so I don't choke on anything." the father remarked, sipping on a can full of some kind of drink.
Leon shrugged and scarfed down his breakfast, making sure he had his fill before he left for work. Leon worked at a supply warehouse, because he needed the money for a lot of stuff, mainly stuff he thought looked cool or neat because it was on TV, not that he watched TV, he'll just catch glimpses of stuff that looked awesome or cool, and dare he thought, radical; It'd be on his mind till he got it, even if he didn't know what all he was getting, it just caught his eyes.
Leon, in a little matter of time managed to clean his plate and down his juice. He got up and put his dishes in the sink as he quickly moved towards the front door, ready to take on the day as he let the sunlight shine all over him, laughing as he ran to his mother's car. A Cinnamon colored Honda that looked practically brand new.
[Present Day, 2020; 12:21 AM]
The sound of loud thunder and lightning crashing outside snapped the man back to reality. He looked over at a window, seeing a lot of the night sky outside light up due to the number of flashes of lightning happening. The man seemed to have a lack of expression, until he grimaced, gritting his teeth as he closed the curtains. The dark storming world outside lighting up, even through the closed curtains.
"This isn't the life you wanted for me," The man lamented, looking at the photo. He removed the aviators from his face, showing a pair of darker cyan eyes staring back at the photo, but also looking at the man's own reflection through the glass picture frame. "But it's the life I got... and it's the one I'm stuck with."
Suddenly, the phone begins to ring. The man walks over and grabs it off the wall, seeing it was an unknown number. He pressed the talk button and put it on speaker.
"Hello, you've reached the police department, fraud division, how can I help you?" The man asked.
**You know that'll never work on me, right Leon?** A gruff but high pitched voice spoke out through the phone.
He recognized that voice, and he hated the guy behind the voice.
"And whatcha gonna do, report to HR, like the last secretary did to you when she just got the job, Jameson?" Leon remarked.
**Haha, hah... oh, you're a funny guy, really funny, pal.** The voice said with an unsettling chuckle.
Leon liked a lot of people at work, but this guy was just the embodiment of uncomfortable. Maxim Jameson, a real asshole, and someone who thinks he's incredibly funny, but has comedy standards and jokes so low, not even a worm, deadly parasite or an STD would find him funny.
"We're not pals, and you know it. What the hell do you want anyway, especially at this hour? You know the only reason I'm your emergency contact is because I'm the only one trying to keep you out of handcuffs. But when you start acting like you, you make that very difficult." Leon stated.
**I'm aware, and I'm very thankful! I paid you handsomely many times for your service! Remember?** the man asked, seeming to be acting coy.
"You didn't pay me money, Maxim! Instead, you gave me numerous unused rubbers and called them 'favors', you frickin' idiot." Leon sneered, looking at one of the unused rubber packages on his counter top.
The storm raged on, the sounds of large objects could be heard falling to the ground, crashing onto the road, or just mainly the streets. Leon kept the phone in his hand as he moved the couch in front of a side-door that led to the front yard, then proceeded to use a deadbolt lock on his garage door.
"Look, it's storming bad out there, so whatever you want, just cut to the chase and say it. I'm already in a bad mood, and I will hunt you down just to scream! You know I will." Leon chastised, getting very angry.
**Fair enough, pal. Listen, what I'm about to say might sound crazy, but I found a cool thing online during work hours yesterday, and I just had to share it with ya.** Maxim said.
"You called me just for that?! I swear, you are one of the most irritating creatures on god's green Earth, you know that? It's storming outside, I might lose power and I already had a restless and bad day, bucko! Don't contribute to making me mad!" Leon warned, looking incredibly exhausted, but still had a furious demeanor. "I swear if it's another link to--"
**Hey, It's not a bad thing, I promise! Plus, with how steamed you're beginning to sound like, you might benefit from this more than I could.** Maxim interjected. **It's just breathing exercises, a prayer to make before you go to sleep. Supposedly, it's been reported to work. C'mon bud, would I lie to you?**
"You'd sell your sister for money, then pimp her out just to pay back your mother! Of course you would lie to me, there's a reason why your nickname at work is 'Miser Max'." Leon remarked.
**Look, just hear me out, pal. I forwarded the exercise and prayer to you, so just have a little faith in me, and by the time you wake up in the morning, you'll be right where you want to be, feeling right as rain!**
Without another word, Leon groaned and hung up, putting the phone back where it was as he went upstairs into his old room. No longer dressed in the numerous posters, but now dressed in nothing at all except for a fresh coat of gray paint. He turned on the lamp by his bedside and pulled out his laptop, logging into his emails and found the very email Maxim forwarded to him.
'For all I know, this has foreign malware that will mess up my work and get me fired, or it'll destroy my laptop and I'll have to get a new one... Why should I even trust this?' Leon thought to himself.
Leon went over his options and decided to have some malware detection installed before opening the email. It took a couple minutes, but eventually he got it installed. He carefully opened the email, and saw a whole PNG of a list of instructions. The file of the image was 'SeekWisdomBeGrantedStrength'. The instructional file was decorated with what looked like blacked out silhouettes of what seemed to be ponies, and immediately Leon was second guessing going through with this.
"I knew this asshole couldn't be trusted." Leon muttered, "But, might as well see if this actually works. I could use a new method of relieving my work stress. How do I do this shit, let's see..."
Leon set the laptop aside and got out of bed, then took off his work clothes, feeling the coldness of the air sending a chill or two down his body. He dressed himself in some more casual clothes, like a black t-shirt and blue shorts. He looked over the instructions, and oddly enough, it was just instructions to do a certain prayer, or certain kind of prayer.
Best Wishes Prayer
Do this prayer before you fall asleep at any given point.  
1A. MAKE SURE YOU ARE ALONE.
Breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth whilst you're on your knees; Bow once.
Pray to your designated God, then for whatever you wish in the following fashion, 'Mighty heavenly lord above, hear me not as one of your creations, but as someone who needs your guidance and directions to a better future. Please, heavenly lord above, give unto me '[Insert Wish here]', that is what I hope for the most.'
After praying, fall asleep.
When you awake, you will be right where you wanted to be, gifted with the tools to help you.
"Here's to hoping I don't summon the devil to my abode, or I'm really gonna kick Maxim's ass..." Leon remarked, stifling a yawn as the storm kept raging on outside. "Who am I kidding, I'm gonna look and sound ridiculous because I went along with this nonsense, this is punishment enough."
Leon slowly got down on his knees and started to follow the instructions on the image. He took in air through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, then bowed before getting into another position, putting his hands together as if he were getting ready to pray at church.
"I haven't done this in years..." Leon took a deep breath and sighed, trying to steady himself as he tried to recount how the prayer went. Soon enough, he remembered it... as he did, the storm seemed to get even more aggressive outside.
"Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven..." Leon began.
The house began to rattle as the winds picked up, the lightning flashed brighter, striking the ground as parts of the asphalt was broken by the strike. the rain poured down so much, it was just a wet, hazy pitch black nightmare to navigate through, even with bright lights or a proper vehicle.
"Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;" Leon continued, closing his eyes as he kept his focus on the prayer at hand.
The sound of metal being torn away could be heard, indicating that the storm was beginning to get incredibly destructive, yet Leon kept praying.
"...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Leon finished, opening his eyes as he grabbed his laptop and ran downstairs. He went through a door and went down lower into his home, into what looked like a storm shelter. He closed the door and flipped a switch, showing a pre-prepared mattress, a radio, bottled water and food.
Leon sat his laptop down and got back down on his knees. He couldn't believe he was trying this, but he gave up some faith, hoping this prayer had some weight behind it.
"Mighty heavenly lord above, hear me not as one of your creations, but as someone who needs your guidance and directions to a better future. Please, heavenly lord above, give unto me A better Life, that is what I hope for the most." Leon prayed, feeling some kind of emotion whelling up from within him. "Please, I know I stopped praying, I stopped believing... please, if you know anything of mercy, please spare some hint of it unto me... spare me the grisly fate of death this storm threatens to bring me!"
Leon's words echoed around the concrete walls, all while his home was torn to shreds by the storm, yet he remained. Leon got onto the mattress, covering himself up in a blanket as he just laid there, waiting for some kind of end. As he slowly fell asleep, the lights in the storm shelter went out, and the loudest crack of lightning echoes from up above.
All was silent.
Author's Note
This is a reboot of The Hourglassed Stranger, mainly because I thought the original story was kinda stuck where it was... I couldn't figure out where to take it, so the best idea was to reboot it.
Hopefully you all enjoy the reboot, because the original will still be up for those who want to read it, but it's not going to be continued.

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                  Unfamiliar Surroundings                  
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Unfamiliar Surroundings
[?; XXXX; 01:36 PM]
An unexpected calm fills the area. Leon is fast asleep, resting on a patch of grass, shrouded by leaves that occasionally let sunlight peak through. The air seemed cleaner, the feeling of a heavy grime and gritty disgust Leon was used to inhaling and exhaling day in and day out, before, during and after work... it was gone.
Leon slowly opened his eyes, yawning as he rolled over, only to feel something pushing up on his lower back. Leon sat up, groggy, but oddly well-rested from his slumber. He reached underneath and back behind him, grabbing something that felt smooth and leathery. Leon took a deep breath, letting more of that incredible fresh air into his lungs as he gripped onto the thing behind him, pulling it to the front of his body as he beheld it.
In his hands was a pristine white leather book, packed full of these blank, charred black pages. The book, despite feeling like the lightest thing in the world, certainly didn't look it. It had a small gray rope to use as a bookmark of some kind, as well as some strange symbols on the side of the book's spine.
The book looked like it would've been used for some kind of majorly big and well-informed thesaurus or history novel, if it had anything written down within its pages... yet, all of them were black, blank and untouched. Leon couldn't tell how many pages were in this book that suddenly showed up out of nowhere, per say, but it looked like it was somewhere around five-thousand pages long.
"Well, that's... unconventional," Leon was still too tired to properly register where he is, though he did seem oddly at peace within this small nature area. "What a lush place, it's so alive. Almost reminds me of my grandparents' place..."
Leon slowly got up and stretched out, letting out another yawn as he rubbed his eyes, trying to adjust to the sunlight peering through the leaves. For a moment, he felt unbalanced, as if something was weighing him down. Leon looked at his hands, and just now noticed the odd white band on his right wrist, as well as the four black tubes connecting to it. they led up to a black dial with four white nodes, bright cyan blue lights glowed from those nodes. Leon beheld the cyan glow, seeming almost entranced by its light, all while fixating on the cyan colored hourglass emblem in the middle of the dial.
'Well this is a strange object, and I know for sure I never owned something like this,' Leon examined the device, noticing a cyan button being on the front of the device. Upon pressing it, the dial seemingly popped up, revealing some kind of core that was attached to the dial itself. The hourglass emblem inverted into itself, forming a cyan diamond shape, revealing an icon of some kind of strange creature. 'I probably shouldn't mess with this... it probably belongs to someone, I should try to find whoever owns this strange watch, and return it.'
Leon stopped messing with the device, and it seems to have deactivated for the time, the emblem returning to its hourglass shape. Leon slowly grabbed the book and looked around, seeing a light shining in front of him. With no real sense of where to go, it'd be best to get a brighter and clearer look around the area. Leon slowly but surely found his footing, his bare feet walking along the cool and cushioned comfort of the grassy path. He stopped and felt the trees, the texture of the bark, seeming almost nostalgic of the patterns.
Leon walked further and further, the light beginning to shine brighter, blinding him just a little bit. Soon enough, he found himself standing on a cliff face, his curiosity and tired confusion showed him in shock, and in awe of the large and vibrant world he was in, one that definitely wasn't familiar to him. He reached into his pocket and tried to pull out his phone, but remembered that he swore off getting a phone due to some trendy fad he overheard that went wrong. But, he did find a pencil, a pencil that felt tough, but maneuverable. It was red, almost like a maroon type of color, and looked like it was fashioned out of some kind of special tree.
"Something tells me that I'm not gonna make it to work from..." Leon looked around, seeing the wide open plains down below, including some strange man-goat creature chewing on something. Needless to say, Leon suddenly lost the feeling of peace, and now just felt very worried. "Wherever I am."
Leon backed away slowly from the cliff and clutched onto the book tightly, then got an idea. he flipped the book open and began writing on the first page.
"Leon's Emergency Log; No. #0:
'I'm going to kick Maxim's ass, big time, for what he tricked me into doing, if I can ever find my way home from wherever it is I am. This place, I have no words, no terrible words to be specific, for how lost I am. I was in a storm shelter when my home started to get torn to shreds, then I find myself in the midst of a small wooded area on a cliff face. I don't know where I am, but I can only hope I can get home, somehow. There's also a strange watch on my wrist as well, and it looks very advanced. If this belongs to anyone, I wish to return it, on the condition that you keep your reward.'
Wait-- Maybe it's my paranoia messing with me, or its my imagination, but I thought I heard footsteps... I don't feel safe, especially since I saw some furry man-goat below the cliff face. I need to stop writing and possibly run."
Leon closed the book and slowly turned around. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he could feel that the peace and calm he had earlier, had faded... right now, something was watching him and he couldn't figure out where it was, let alone what it was. Leon tried to get the watch to do something, and just pointed it like it was some kind of weapon, then he heard heavy footsteps approaching him from the direction he walked away from.
"Hey!! Don't come closer," Leon called out, trying to sound threatening. His body shook, whether it was because of the fear coursing through his body, or from how heavy this unknown attacker's footsteps were. "I-I'm warning you!! I don't know how this watch works, but... I-I'm not afraid to use it!!"
The footsteps came to a sudden stop. Leon closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, taking slow breaths as he tried to not panic. Leon opened his eyes for a split-second, noticing that he couldn't actually see anyone or anything nearby. Leon was very confused, and he didn't know why. Leon kept his eyes moving, from side to side, and constantly looking in front of him. He was terrified, he just wanted to go home and pretend that none of this was happening.
"Hey there, big boy~" a deep, gruff feminine voice whispered, sending a sense of dread through Leon's body, and a chill up his spine. Leon slowly turned around, looking up to what might've been the scariest thing to him all day. "Come here often all by yourself?~"
Standing above Leon was a dark teal skinned female humanoid. Slender, robust, and very dangerous. They had two teeth pointing upwards past their upper lip, fierce yellow eyes, pointed ears, long and wild flowing fiery red hair, and had a necklace of assorted bones around her neck, one of them seemed to resemble that of a horse's femur. The woman was dressed clad in a shiny bronze chest plate with chainmail underneath, wearing leather gauntlets and leather pelts around her legs, each one in various colors with numerous different textures. Leon had also noticed that she was several feet taller than he was, because his head was meeting her knees.
"Well, aren't you an interesting find, hm?" The woman seemed to be eyeing Leon up, smirking as she showed off some very sharp teeth. Leon was in a frozen state of fear, confusion and dread, he wanted to run yet he couldn't. "The Ōkugoburajinn are gonna make the most out of you. Got a name, little man?~"
Leon finally felt some semblance of control over himself return, and without another word or wasted second, immediately ran away from the towering woman, only to be grabbed by the neck by a much tougher and aggressive creature. Similar to the tall woman, it had sharp pointed teeth going past its upper lip, only it seemed to lack hair around its head, though it had a lot of it around its muscular and very fatty body. The creature looked to be a mix of a pig, a demon, an orc and a goblin, all while its eyes glowed red, staring the panicking human down.
"Hey, you porky plundering punk!" The woman called out. Leon and the creature looked towards the towering woman, who seemed to tower over the strange creature by just three feet. "That's my catch, go scrounge up some damn truffles if you're desperate to not go back to the tribe empty-handed!"
Leon felt as if he was gonna be caught in the midst of some kind of brawl, but to his own surprise, the creature let him go, letting out an intimidated, yet very hurt squeal and grunt as it backed away. Leon was about to make another run for it, until he was grabbed by the woman, being dragged by his leg in one direction.
"This is going to be interesting, you'll be the first of your kind to witness the tradition of the Ōkugoburajinn," The woman stated, looking back at Leon with a spine-chilling smirk. "You are a lucky little man~"
Leon struggled to get out of the woman's grasp, but nothing was working. He tried to use a rock to beat her hand open, but it failed. He was frantically looking for a solution, and not a single one presented itself. Distraught by what his fate will soon be, Leon passes out as the woman chuckles, continuing to drag him off to who knows where.
[?; XXXX; 07:52 PM]
An echoing cacophony of screams, wails, groans and grunts echo through a dark and damp cavern, lit up by torches adorned to the walls. The woman stops in her tracks, looking over a big village within the cavern itself, showing numerous types of living individuals, though they were outnumbered by the various tough beastly creatures.
Leon began to slowly awake, feeling as if he was literally dragged down to hell itself, only to remember his situation. The woman looked back at him, smiling yet again.
"Ahh, you've awaken! Just in time too, we must prepare." The woman said cryptically.
"NO!!" Leon screamed out, fear and anger blending together in his voice. His fearful anger resistance echoed throughout the cavern, causing the village within it to go silent. "I just want to go home! I have work in a few hours, and I'm already late enough as is! So you listen here, you gargantuan greedy girl, I don't want anything to do with this place! I'm going home, now! I don't know where I am, and I certainly don't know where this place is... hence why, I'm leaving!"
"Brave, strange or silly man, you are home, this is your home now," She pulled Leon closer by his feet, standing him upright as he beheld the sight of numerous different creatures, most of them resembling the beastly creatures that resided within it. "Welcome to the Un'Drr Village, home to many unique walks of life, mostly populated by my kind, the Ōkugoburajinn."
Though Leon was still angry for being dragged somewhere, and practically kidnapped by a tall beastly woman, he was rather impressed, and very enamored by the side of this village within such an expansive cavern. For a brief moment, Leon seemed pretty intent on playing along for now, but still felt the need to return home. He sat down and looked over the village, contemplating.
'I must be mental if I think I can just stay here, I have to go home... But then again, I can't help but feel like I'm here for a reason, But if I stay here too long, who knows what they'll do to me.' Leon was uncertain, but he did have an idea of sorts. 'Maybe some of these other people will know what's going on, maybe they have an idea of how to escape, if I can talk to them for a moment. I'll have to do what I did back home when the boss got swatted. Play it cool, and plead obliviousness.'
"You said you wanted to prepare, miss..." it just donned on Leon that he had no idea what this woman's name was.
"Xa'Vine," The woman introduced with a smirk. "Though, it'll be Princess Xa'Vine to you, little man~"
"Well, coulda fooled me..." Leon stood up and held his hand out to Xa'Vine for a handshake. "I'm Leon, Leon Derrickson. Nice to make your acquainta-Ah!!"
Leon was then pulled by his outstretched arm down a spiraling wooden platform, barely able to keep his footing as he followed along. Leon got a good look at some of the individuals, other than the beastly things living here, and noticed that one of them was a bright shamrock green pony with a four-leaf clover shaped crystal on its flank.
'If I didn't think I was anywhere close to home then, I'm definitely seeing stuff that confirms it now.' Leon thought to himself, unsure of how to process any of this information. "Question, where are we going?" Leon asked.
"To prepare you for examination, of course," Xa'Vine stated simply. "I can't just put you with any of the females and expect something to happen, especially if it won't benefit to healthy offspring~"
"Huh?! Say that again, please?! What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Leon was confused and already conflicted. If his left hand wasn't being dragged along by a tall beastly woman, he'd try to do something, regardless of what it'd entail. Despite Xa'Vine's firm grasp on Leon's arm, he was continuing to struggle. "I demand answers, if this is what I think it is, I don't consent to this at all! Help!!"
Xa'Vine looked back at the human, seeing him trying to get his arm free from her hold, and noticed that he wasn't seeing the cliff face nearby. She smiled and let him go, watching him stumble backwards. Leon walked back and soon noticed he was on the edge, and was cornered.
"Now now, little man Leon, I assure you that it's not as bad as one would think," Xa'Vine said, slowly approaching the panicking human. "Most males of various species would see this as a blessing, especially if it means being with a strong, powerful and very capable Ōkugoburajinn woman. Surely you're a little curious, no?~"
"I'm not most men, I prefer to wait till marriage, and not be forced into something that'll make me miserable and sore for the rest of my life," Leon barked, trying to get really angry. There went his plan of playing along, but even he knew he couldn't play along with that. "I'm not going to be some cheap toy for a woman's nightly entertainment. Is that what most of these other living creatures are too, toys to use for your aroused amusement?"
"You caught on quick, but I was tired of baiting you anyways," Xa'Vine stepped closer, Leon had nowhere to go, until he remembered about the watch on his wrist. "Think about it; You'd be treated like a king, worshipped like a god and treated as such. Free from the shackles of labor and work, no more doing the same thing every day."
"I'm trading one cycle of slow eventual torment for another, only it'll be equally physical and emotional torment! I've had enough of that for one lifetime, and I'm finally realizing that I've been going through a cycle of torment for five, nearly six years of my life! Forget going back to work, I'm setting my boss's desk on fire and telling him I quit!" Leon's words echoed throughout the cavern once more, causing numerous of the beastly inhabitants and other various creatures to look above towards Xa'Vine and the cornered human. "Don't get me wrong though, I'm sure some of these various guys love the girls of your species, more power to them for what they're into... but, that's not me. I'm no god, and I won't pretend I am! I'm leaving and going home, whether you like it, or not! Good day to you, your highness, but I am saying no!"
Xa'Vine was shocked. She was also very impressed by the guts this human must've had to resist such an offer, but was still shocked. She would've developed a form of respect for the human, if it wasn't for the fact that he compared something sacred to their kind to something as mind-numbingly barbaric as torment.
"I see... Well then, let's see you earn your right to leave!" Xa'Vine grit her teeth as she pulled some kind of iron-plated rhino horn, and blew into it like a horn, letting a low but very loud humming sound echo throughout the cavern. "No one shall disgrace our sacred ways by comparison to torment, and walk out of here alive! Mighty Ōkugoburajinn warriors, Small, tall, fast and impenetrable, bring me the heads of the little man known as Leon Derrickson!"
A symphony of battle cries and roars echoed from down below, and he saw Xa'Vine rushing towards him. He ducked and rolled between her legs and immediately began to run back up the wooden platform, trying to get to where he was dragged from. Out from the corner of his eyes, several of those beastly creatures had jumped from the ground floor of the village, and landed in front of him.
"Ok, turning around then!" Leon immediately skidded to a stop, barreling back the direction he was escaping from, only to see numerous other beastly warriors behind Xa'Vine, who was waiting for him. "Oh no..."
Leon backed up, only to see more beastly warriors, equipped with spears, hammers, shields, some of them even had fire or lightning grasped in their hands. Leon was backed towards the edge of the platform, surrounded.
"I must say, you made quite the daring attempt, I applaud your grit... unfortunately for you," Xa'Vine stepped forward, grabbing Leon by the neck as she dangled him over the edge, watching him panic, flailing his legs in the open air. "I have to make an example out of you. I congratulate you, dare I say, I nearly respected you for wishing to wait till the holy union of matrimony. But, no one compares our sacred ways with torture, and thinks they can walk out of here without a fight. Before I end you, however, I will grant you with a last set of words, and a last request, at least. Anything coming to mind, little man?~"
Leon was panicking, and he looked down at the now nearly barren village below. It was gonna be a huge drop if she let him go, and he didn't want to die. He looked at the watch, and decided to put his plan into action.
"I do have a last request," Xa'Vine gestured for the human to go on. "Let me figure out what this watch on my wrist can do, because I still don't know how to use it... If I can't return home, and I'm destined to die here in a cavern, surrounded by monsters... then at least let me figure out how this stupid thing works before I end up as a red stain on the ground."
The numerous warrior beasts murmured in disagreement, but they soon kept quiet the moment Xa'Vine set him down, backing away as Leon observed the device. Leon pressed the button, watching the core pop up, the hourglass formed into its diamond shape as it displayed the same icon from earlier.
"Let's see... pressing the button makes the core pop up, and by doing nothing for a period of time, it seems to deactivate, but let's try turning the dial a little bit..." Leon muttered to himself as he cautiously twisted the dial on the device, causing the icon to change into an icon of another monster-like creature. "Interesting, I wonder what this thing's supposed to be used for..."
One of the beastly warriors walks up to Xa'Vine, and Leon seems to be put on edge. Leon could notice that this one was shaking, looking almost apprehensive.
"Speak, Za'rr." Xa'Vine commanded, not even taking her eyes off of the human.
"F-Forgive me for stepping out of line, Princess... Your father has heard of the commotion going on from the next few tunnels down, and he grows curious, wondering what the situation is this time," Xa'Vine looked back at the beast, known as Za'rr, a feral and aggressive look could be seen in her eyes. "S-Shall I--"
"You so much as move your snout the wrong way, and you'll be going without food for a year. Again." Za'rr backed away, flinching at the response. "My father has grown old, senile, he's. gone. soft. I'm running our kind like how our ancestors would've, and we've prospered. Some old soft fool doesn't have any right being king. Not in their condition."
Leon decided to ignore the conversation and continued to toy around with the device, all while he thought to himself on how he was gonna actually get out of here. He knew he was gonna have to use this strange watch, but this was his only chance to truly find out what it could do. Leon cycled through icon after icon, and before he knew it, the icons began to repeat. He counted ten different icons, and he had no idea what to do with any of them, let alone how to make them useful. That is, until something clicked in his mind, something he didn't try before.
'I've let this thing deactivate, and that slides the core back in automatically, but nothing happens...' Leon could feel the grinding of gears within his brain as a plan finally came to him. 'Perhaps, if I select one of these icons, and push the core back in myself, then maybe it'll do something to get me out of here, or at least give me a fighting chance. It's not like I got a lot of options.'
Leon twisted the dial and found an icon, one that would probably be useful, in one way or another. It was a tall, robust biped wolf-like creature with some kind of strange jagged protrusions poking out of its back. Leon made his choice, and stood up. The beasts looked over, as did Xa'Vine, curious as to what exactly the human was about to do. Leon put a finger onto the faceplate, and slowly pushed the core back into place. As he did, he was enveloped in a bright flash of cyan light, blinding not just himself, but the beasts that surrounded him.
Leon's body began to shift, his muscles warped and grew as his eyes began to glow red entirely. His body became much more muscular, but also adapted some canine-like features. His nails grew out, forming into claws, and he sprouted a huge icicle from his tailbone, thought it flowed freely like an actual tail. A shivering sensation went through him as his body became encompassed in a thick layer of jagged ice chunks, only for most of those chunks to be fully enveloped in a dark black fur. His face shaped into a wolf's muzzle as a thick visible cloud of freezing air escaped his lips. The beast had on some white spandex shorts as the watch's emblem formed on the creature's pale blue-ish white chest, surrounded by small tough dried ice chunks protruding from his pecs. The beast howled as a beam of ice, snow and slush escaped its maw, before lunging forwards.
The flash of light soon died down, and the beast that stood in the human's place shocked the warriors. Xa'Vine was equally just as shocked, but also impressed.
"Call me the frozen wolf," The beast growled out, its voice raspy, gruff and chilling to hear. It pointed a claw at Xa'Vine, then gestured the claw to the rest of the warriors that had him surrounded. "Because I put the bite back in Frostbite!"
Author's Note
I am using my own custom made fan aliens for this. I don't have any designs figured out yet, but I'll put them in whenever I get them figured out and properly made.

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               The Ōkugoburajinn Snow Brawl                
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Ōkugoburajinn Snow Brawl
The whole cavern went silent. This one single human ended up transforming into some kind of strange creature of his own, and it looked physically capable. One of the warriors ran towards it, ready to swing down some kind of axe upon the canine's head, only to be enveloped by a beam of freezing cold slush and snow. The warrior was trapped and encased in ice, and the canine lifted the frozen warrior up above its head.
"I'm feelin' real frosty right now, and you all need to chill!" The beast threw the frozen warrior back at them, knocking several of them back as the ice shattered to pieces. The canine howled again and lunged towards Xa'Vine, claws ready to strike. "Hope you were prepared for another ice age!"
The beast was about to strike Xa'Vine with its claws, only for the soldiers to get in the way, tanking the hits as best as they could. They were impenetrable, but this beast was on some other level. Their defenses were at their best, but the beast was chipping away at them, cutting through their armor as if it were wet clay. The beast's ears perked up, hearing something being drawn, and instinctively leapt into the air, only to hear the soldiers he was trying to get through had been stuck in their guts with arrows.
The beast whipped around and fired out another powerful beam of ice towards where the arrows could've originated, hearing numerous faint, but still clear indications of panic as several archers fled their posts. A fierce and aggressive scream rang out, and before the beast could react, Xa'Vine had jumped towards the beast, with a huge hammer in hand, only it was ignited in a blistering flame.
"Now this's what I call turning up the heat, but let's see you match the fires of Tartarus!!" Xa'Vine roared out, slamming the fiery weapon down onto the canine, sending it careening down through the wooden platform, causing the remaining warriors to fall helplessly to the bottom. The beast growled, and began to dig his claws into the rocky wall, stopping his descent, and fired numerous large spheres of slush, snow and ice towards the ground, encompassing everything in a cold, but cushiony blanket for the falling warriors to land upon. "You saved my people, but that doesn't mean I'll let you off easy!"
"Funny, I forgot the part where that's my problem!" The beast roared as it began to scale the walls and leap towards Xa'Vine, tackling her to the stone platforms along the wall. "You're not bad, but like you said, I gotta earn my right to leave. Something tells me it's gotta be Mano-a-Mano!"
"I prefer these odds, it just means I can have the pleasure of making an example out of you, all to myself!" Xa'Vine reaches underneath one of per pelts, pulling out a dagger, the blade was jagged and red, and she thrust it forward, trying to stab the creature in the side, only for the sound of snapping metal to be heard. The dagger's blade had snapped in half, rendering it useless. "My favorite dagger!"
Xa'Vine managed to find a way to overpower the beast and sat up, kicking it in the head as it skid across the rock, lying right on the edge below the cold cushion he created. Xa'Vine got up and grabbed her hammer, the flames re-igniting as she walked forward.
"You put up quite the fight, little man, you even managed to get me to use my finest weapon on you, I can respect that," Xa'Vine raised the hammer above her head, ready to make the final blow. "But, like all things in life that are good, they eventually have an end. I gave you your last request, but do you have any last words?"
"Just four..." The beast's eyes snapped open, glowing red as the ice on its back shifted and formed into a thin needle of ice. Before Xa'Vine can react, the needle rises up at blistering speed, puncturing her shoulder as she begins to fall unconscious, and trapped within a pillar of ice. The beast gets up and smirks, "Beast defeats Princess... Checkmate."
With what little consciousness Xa'Vine has, she scowls, but immediately smiles before becoming fully trapped in ice, in a state of unconsciousness. The beast picks up the frozen Xa'Vine and looks over at the array of tunnels, as well as that Za'rr individual, who seemed to be standing in front of a room, trying to seem intimidating to the beast.
'Well, better leave, but not before putting her in the right hands,' The beast thought, knowing he can't just lug some frozen princess warrior all over the place. The beast walks over to Za'rr, who has a slightly broken spear in-hand, ready to fight. The beast sets the frozen Xa'Vine down in front of Za'rr, and backs away slowly. "I believe she's better off with you, probably." The beast states.
Before Za'rr could say anything, the device began to flash red in rapid succession, before enveloping the canine creature in a red light. In the beast's place, was Leon, who seemed rather overwhelmed by what just occurred. Za'rr looked back at the frozen Xa'Vine, then back at the human. Za'rr raised his hand up and Leon thought he was gonna get hit and braced himself, only to feel a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you, Leon Derrickson." Za'rr stated, taking a knee before the human, who was more confused now than he was earlier. "Allow me to give you some context, if I may be allowed to."
"I feel like I'm in dire need of a lot of context, so yeah, let me have it," Leon looked back, seeing several of the warriors looking towards him, kneeling. "What in the hell are they doing?"
"It's tradition. Those who defeat the strongest, or the leader amongst our tribe in combat, the victor of the fight is dubbed as the strongest, our Champion." Za'rr begins, "It all predates back to the darkest age of our people, The Age of Impure Purity. It started when our former leader, now retired and under constant watch and care of several of our strongest mages and doctors, former King Xa'Phurr the Second."
Leon sat down on a rock and continued to listen to Za'rr's explanation.
"There was a devastating disease, only able to affect our kind, the Ōkugoburajinn... We dubbed it, 'The Infliction from Tartarus'. It affected mainly our species, as all other species seemed very unaffected by our illness. So many of our ancestors were affected by this illness, that the illness itself has become ingrained into our very beings as the generations went on, and we soon became unable to produce pure Ōkugoburajinn offspring," Za'rr moved aside one of his armored shoulderguards, revealing some kind of disfiguration in his green-ish brown skin, showing it to be more wrinkled, scabbed over, and gray, not even to mention cold to the touch. "I was one of the very few of my kind to be born pure, and not perish to the disease, but it soon became clear that we would not be so lucky next time."
"That's horrible!" Leon stated, visibly mortified by such a tale. "How did such a disease even come to exist!? You'd have to be a prodigy level Virologist to make something as awful and as vile as that!"
"We never found out, and we still don't know how it originated, or where it's creation started, but it's why some of us have been gathering folk, much of them just travelers, like you, to assist us in our cause, to keep our kind from dying out too soon," Za'rr gestured to Xa'Vine. "Princess Xa'Vine was the first and only successful cross-bred Ōkugoburajinn offspring to be born into our tribe. As such, she inherited many traits from us, but also inherited strength and experience from the brood mother she was born from."
"That's incredible, and very terrifying now that I think about it," Leon let the information sink in, realizing that it may be a bit more complicated to just find directions back home, but to also try and stay alive. "So, that's why numerous other walks of life are here? They aren't slaves, their willing participants?"
"Of course, but the number of willing participants has dwindled in recent years, due to how much more aggressive, ferocious and demanding the princess was becoming. We suspected it was because of her other half, and it pushed us down a road of having to be more intimidating," Za'rr seemed to sound disappointed by such a thing happening in the first place, and Leon felt just as bad for them. He initially thought they were just gonna be aggressive and intimidating, but that was just Xa'Vine. Guess it makes sense now, as to how that first Ōkugoburajinn reacted to her words in his presence. "She only got colder, craftier, and crueler by the passing hour."
"Once we explain to the king that his daughter has gone rogue, but was stopped and defeated in combat, I'm sure he will realize that there is much to be done, in the ways of spreading our message across the Farlands of Equestria," Leon kept that last word in mind. So that's where he was, Equestria. Now if only he knew where such a place actually was on a map. "Forgive me, I was just letting everything sink in. Finally free from the princess's cruel reign, I never thought I'd see such a day arise, and all because of you, Leon Derrickson."
"Maybe save your praise for someone who deserves it, sir," Za'rr looked at the human, seeming rather surprised by his rejection of praise and thanks. "I'm just trying to find a way back home, and your aggressive princess was being a serious inconvenience. One moment I'm in my storm shelter, my home is being torn to pieces by said storm I'm hiding from, then I wake up in a small wooded area, near a cliff face, and get kidnapped by your princess. I'm still trying to comprehend what exactly happened to me, I was a werewolf. A Werewolf, for god sakes. With ice powers, no less!"
"Yes, though it seemed like you were quite experienced with becoming such a creature," Za'rr stated. "To think that this was your first time using such a power with such grace, and tactical precision, such ferocity, yet you showed some care for a bunch of warriors who were trying to kill you. Sure, some were injured, but you still made an attempt to save them from plummeting to the ground."
"I'm a monster... no, I'm something worse than a monster! What am I?! How did I even end up in a place called Equestria?! Is there any way I can even get back home!?" Leon exclaimed, his panicking becoming apparent.
"Fear not, human freer of tyranny! I believe we may have some supplies for you, something to help keep you going if you do intend to leave. I believe the nearest city is to the right, when you get back to the surface. The moment you get out of the cave, and stand at the entrance, you need to go right. Once you see a city full of dapper westerneers, you'll know you finally reached the city of Appleloosa," Za'rr walked over to a chest and fished out a dusty brown rucksack, dusting it off as he handed it to him, as well as packing a few fruits, glass bottles filled with water, and handing Leon a light and rusty, but still pretty efficient broadsword. He was also handed another book, one that had numerous routes marked along the paths. "Hopefully you won't get lost along the way."
Judging by the distance of this cavern and Appleloosa, which was about four pages long, Leon was in for a hell of a trek. "Oh, speaking of not getting lost, I have an old friend in Appleloosa by the name of Crisp Core, you should be able to find them easily at the Salt Lick Platoon. He can assist you in finding out more about your sudden transformation, and how that watch on your wrist may be connected to it." Za'rr added.
Leon was truly flabbergasted. He took a moment to look over everything. He was given food, water, a means of navigation, something to hold the items he'd probably need later, a weapon to defend himself. Surely there was a catch to all of this.
"I don't have any money, and I don't think if I did, the money I had wouldn't be enough to cover for all of this." Leon stated, genuinely surprised by how much he was given. "I can't take this."
"Of course you can, after all, no one can survive out there without the proper tools. We don't have those said tools, but this'll help you get to where you should be going to obtain those tools, it's the least we can do, you did defeat our tyrannical and aggressive leader, after all, and with little to no experience under your belt, too!" Za'rr took a knee once more. "Leon Derrickson, from lands unknown, you've freed us, showed us the path we were strayed from and defeated the princess, now that we can venture back on that path we were led off of so long ago, we, the entirety of the Ōkugoburajinn tribe, are forever in your debt."
"I appreciate the gesture, but it's really no trouble at all, I'm glad that I could help, even if I had no clue about your situation until now. I'll at least be thankful for what you've given me." Leon took a knee, as a way of showing his gratitude for the supplies given to him. "I guess I better get going. Feel free to give your king my best wishes, and my condolences."
Leon quickly walked away, clutching the sword in his hand as the various inhabitants cheered for their strange heroic savior. Leon never liked feeling praise, let alone receiving any praise, but he was at least glad to help out, no matter how unorthodox and unexpected his plan and the results that came from it were. He waved back and said his farewells to Un'Drr Village, and began to make the trek back up to the surface.
[Un'Drr Village Cavern Entryway; XXXX; 10:42 PM]
After a few long hours of walking up a few spiraling rocky ramps, Leon finally made his way back to the surface, standing in the entryway as he looked up at the night sky, a crescent moon that glowed a fluorescent lime-green color. For a moment, Leon could feel as if his physical stamina was back to peak strength, and almost felt endless.
"Okay, Za'rr said I have to go right to get to Appleloosa, and Appleloosa is in some kind of rocky desert place, according to the map, and considering the path to Appleloosa is four pages long," Leon took a minute to do some kind of math in his head, and eventually came to a conclusion. "I'm in for a devastatingly long journey... maybe on the way, I can try getting used to this watch, maybe see what other things I can turn into. I'll have to write some stuff down though, and that's why I have the other journal... that manifested out of nowhere, as did this watch."
Leon decided to question the origins of the book filled with black pages and the origins of the watch another day, preferably tomorrow afternoon, and proceeded to start walking. He twisted the dial on the device, noticing that its cyan color had been replaced by a neon red color, all while letting out low tone beeping noises.
"Must be out of juice. Whoever or whatever made this thing, it is advanced," Leon marveled at the device, noticing that it was bulky in design, but felt like it fit him perfectly. He also noticed that he was getting more used to the weight of the device, to the point where it's beginning to feel lighter upon moving. "I wonder if this thing needs like some kind of special charger, or something."
Leon kept on examining the device, feeling the smooth, yet durable material it was crafted with. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen, it was incredible, in its own ways. He took a minute to look around, noticing that it was getting a bit harder to look around. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to set up camp for the night." Leon stated.
He fished out a bottle of water and one of the apples from his rucksack and sat down against one of the birch trees, slowly snacking away as he got some nutrients and energy back into his body, and prepared to sleep till morning. At least, if it wasn't for the sound of something running towards him. Leon jumped up and grabbed the sword from his sack, readying it as he braced himself for whatever monster was about to jump out at him.
What he wasn't ready for, however, was that biped man-goat creature he saw hours ago, roaring out as it crashed through the trees, slamming its horns into the rocky wall in front of it. Upon further inspection of the creature, it had one singular giant eye as it looked around. Leon immediately tucked the sword back into the sack, as well as abandoning what was left of his apple, but he did save the bottle. He hid behind one of the trees, witnessing the beast slam its head against the rocks with incredible force, roaring out as it let out monstrous goat sounds mixed with guttural roars.
'Ok, I'm in trouble, and a sword ain't gonna get me out of it... I don't think I can even outrun this monster, not unless this watch wants to decide to throw me a bone this time,' Leon thought, looking back and forth from the monster and the watch on his wrist. Eventually, the red glow was replaced by a cyan color, indicating that things were back in working order. 'Yes! Just what I needed, now to just--'
There was a shrill scream out of nowhere, one that attracted the attention of the monster, causing it to run down the path. At first, Leon was fine with the beast being distracted, but he didn't feel good knowing that someone else could end up in some serious trouble if the beast finds them.
"Out of one dangerous fight, and into the next..." Leon sighed, running down the path as he heard the screams echo out more. Leon called out as loud as he could, hoping to get the screaming person's attention, "Hang on, help's on the way!!"
Author's Note
Figured I'd make this Equestria more expansive, wild, untamed, brimming with life other than the lifeforms that have been seen within the canonicity of the show, and its comics.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
             The Dangers of the Common Beasts              
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Dangers of the Common Beasts
After a bit of running, Leon eventually caught up to the monstrous goat creature, catching the rampaging monster in his sights, but the situation couldn't have been simple.
Leon saw the rampaging monster, but it was fighting some kind of floating ghoulish pony girl. Their eyes were wide, glowing white lifeless voids, her fur was patchy, scratched, and she seemed to be missing a leg, and a portion of her bottom jaw. She had some kind of mark on her flank, but it was too messed up and mangled to tell what it was supposed to be.
Beneath the goat creature, was another creature, something that looked like a ghost, only less human. It had numerous black lines along its body, and a singular bright pink eye, and it was cowering as the two monsters lashed out at one another.
"This is getting more and more confusing by the second," Leon twisted the dial on the device as he popped the core up. He twisted the dial and noticed one of the other icons. It looked to be some kind of insect, almost like a mix between a kid, a Bumblebee, and a bunch of mashed up sticks. "Well, this one ought to have some kind of use."
Against his better judgement, Leon made his choice and pushed the core down, enveloping himself in another cyan light. The light caught the ghoulish pony, the goat creature and the ghostly woman's attention.
Leon's body began to fall apart. His body crumpled and withered into dead sticks and soon reformed into a smaller humanoid body. His forearms and forelegs bulked up incredibly, forming and shaping into a shape vaguely resembling a honeycomb, as a hand with three fingers protruded from the openings in the center. The creature's body was becoming incredibly fuzzy, sprouting black and red hairs in a striped pattern along its body, other than its chest, which was covered by a black and white bodysuit. The face was covered up substantially by a helmet made out of twigs, sticks, leaves and brush, all while two big bee antennae burst from the top of the helmet itself. The only semblance of a face that could be seen were two big glowing white orbs that seemed to be its eyes. It sprouted a relatively human-sized set of bee wings as the watch's emblem formed on the top of the helmet.
The flash of light soon died down, revealing the strange insect-like humanoid that Leon transformed into.
"Alright, miss too ghoul for school, time for you to get a taste of nature," The creature looked at itself and seemed very unsure of what exactly it had become. "So call me, Bramblebeet!"
The goat creature continued to lash out at the ghoulish pony, but the insect, dubbing itself 'Bramblebeet' was flying in close, and slammed its head into the ghoulish pony's back, making it scream out in the same manner as he heard before. One of the flowing locks of the mare's mane grabbed the insect and slung it away as it attempted to use the rest of its locks to choke out the goat creature.
Bramblebeet went flying a good bit of a ways, but was still determined to put the fight to an end. He moved his wings as much as he could and managed to recover, flying back towards the fight. In an attempt to try using what other powers this alien had, it maneuvered its body upwards as its antennae began to vibrate and glow with a mystical yellow shine. The ghoulish pony was about to turn the tides in its favor, but was then immediately snagged and squeezed in these super strong, and sickly sweet scented roots, causing the ghoul to be caught off guard and struggle to free themselves, allowing for the rampaging goat creature to smack the ghoulish pony to the ground.
"Booyah! Now that's how you get to the root of the problem! Score one for Bramblebeet, the bumblebee you just can't beat!" The insect remarked, its voice was incredibly high pitched, and oozed confidence. The goat creature grabbed the ghoulish pony, and without warning, just swallowed it whole. The bee suddenly stopped celebrating and grimaced. "Ok, maybe there's still a problem."
The goat creature began to walk away, all while the ghostly woman seemed to be dusting herself off. Bramblebeet flew down to see if they were truly okay, and it helped to have someone to talk to, even if they weren't human.
"Hey there, saw those two colossal monsters fightin' each other, you doin' alright?" The insectoid asked.
"I'm quite fine... Just wish going out at night wasn't so difficult nowadays, not since the collapse of the Age of Eclipse." the ghostly girl stated.
'Well, guess I got some time to kill, may as well spare a moment. It's not every day that someone can actually have a conversation with a ghost girl.' The insectoid thought to himself. "If I may ask, what is the 'Age of Eclipse' you're referring to?" The insect asked.
"You don't know? Surely a shapeshifter like you would know so much." The ghostly woman said with surprise.
"This whole changing forms thing is kind of a... recent development," The insectoid said with uncertainty. "Plus, I'm new in town, so I know practically about nothing."
"Ahh... I see, well, all I really know is what supposedly happened one-thousand years ago, that was when the Age of Eclipse came to its end, and it has hurt a great number of us since then." the ghostly woman stated. She suddenly looked like she remembered something, and a purple glow appeared onto her face. "Oh! Where are my manners tonight... I am Gh'Aloe, thank you for assisting me in my time of need."
"I'm Leon, but I guess in this form, call me Bramblebeet!" The insectoid tried to do a pose, which only seemed to entertain the ghostly lady before him. "Anywho, you're welcome for the save, it's the least I could do since you were in trouble, and all. I don't mean to be a nosy bug, but what did happen a thousand years ago, if it's still a problem today?"
Gh'Aloe seemed a bit silent for a short time. She seemed to be debating something within the recesses of her mind. The ghostly girl took a deep breath and sighed, curling their ethereal tail into a type of seat for them to sit upon, as Bramblebeet sat across from her.
"It was supposedly known to a rare few individuals as 'The Breaking of Daylight'. Long ago in an Equestria far from the one we know of now, There were two sisters, both of them being incredibly strong Alicorns. One could control the sun, and the other the Moon," Gh'Aloe used what looked to be a very pointy and clawed finger to draw some kind of illustration into the dirt path, showing a visual representation of two thin, but very tall winged unicorn-like creatures. One had a sun on her flank, the other a crescent moon. "These sisters were known as Celestia and Luna. They essentially controlled the expansive cycle of day and night, ensuring that Equestria would prosper, as would their loyal subjects..."
Gh'Aloe seemed to have stopped for a moment, wiping away a bright purple teardrop that had formed in her eye.
"I remember when the rebellion first sprang up, dividing the sisters and putting Equestria in peril. Celestia believed that she should keep the daytime at a constant state of being, but Luna, her younger sister, believed that she was going to set Equestria up in flames if such a thing happened. She constantly reminded Celestia that it was her duty to lower the sun, but Celestia wouldn't listen," Gh'Aloe continued to tell the story, though it did seem as if something was clearly upsetting her. "In turn, Celestia let her own greed consume her, believing that because she was the eldest sibling, she knew what was best. She then became the bringer of the scorching sun... Nightmare Star."
Before the insectoid alien could utter a word, the badge began to flash red, reverting Leon back into his normal human form. Leon sat on the ground, letting the cool nighttime air brush past him. He was truly out of his element if there were beings that could control the sun and the moon.
"Luna couldn't bare the thought of having to put her own flesh and blood in the ground, so she had to do the one thing she never thought she'd ever do... She'd have to banish her sister, and there was only one thing strong enough to combat an Alicorn's magic," Gh'Aloe began to draw something else into the dirt, something that looked like a strange assortment of crystals arranged in a circular formation. "The two sisters each had to have a type of cross to bear. These crosses, were the Elements of Harmony, and due to one of the sisters falling to evil's temptation, this left Luna, the princess of the night, to be the one to banish her sister into the core of Equestria's sun, and there she has remained these past thousand years."
Leon watched as Gh'Aloe made another illustration, depicting what was probably Nightmare Star being held within the center of the sun itself. Leon couldn't fathom as to why, but he just suddenly felt disheartened.
"It was once foretold that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the sky will be bathed in a darkness so pitch black, it's blinding evil will summon Nightmare Star back to Equestria, just so she can finish what she started," Gh'Aloe wiped her eye, trying her best to keep herself composed. "To bring about eternal day... forever."
There was a long silence, and Leon just barely had enough info be understood by his own brain. Leon pulled out the black-paged book, and began to write down the information he had heard thus far below his latest log entry.
"Unfortunately, no one knows if this is just an old pony's tale, or a cryptic prophecy of the end that has yet to show. I know that most of my kind, the Ectonurites, they dread the day Nightmare Star returns," Gh'Aloe picked herself up and dusted herself off as Leon met her gaze. "I'm deeply sorry for taking your time, I suppose if my race is fated to be burned to ash, I must pass the legends of old to someone who can continue to spread the word. But, in any case, thank you for listening to my woes, and thanks again for coming to my aide. If there's anything I can do, please let me know so I can repay you in kind."
"Well, if you know of a shorter route to Appleloosa, that'd be pretty handy." Leon suggested.
"Sorry, but the only route I'm aware of is the one on most maps, I'm afraid," Leon looked disappointed, but then something else came to mind. He showed Gh'Aloe the watch on his wrist, and her interest seemed to be piqued. "Wait... that emblem, the craftsmanship, this technology-- I didn't think technology like this was still around, let alone functioning!"
"You know what this thing is?" Leon asked, intrigued to finally figure something out about his new acquisition of power.
"Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the device itself, but I probably do know of what race it originated from, and who could've made such a thing," Gh'Aloe floated over to a dead tree, reaching through its hallowed insides as she pulled out some kind of strange tablet, colored in greens, whites and blacks as it shined in the moon's light. "This tablet was something that could recognize creatures that haven't been properly catalogued within its database. I've never had much of a use for it, especially since we Ectonurites can't go out in the day anyhow, but maybe this'll be of use to you."
'Like I'm gonna ever find a use for some kind of odd space-age iPad.' Leon thought, seeming underwhelmed by the device itself. He took it anyways, and placed it in his bag.
"Maybe it's a good thing you're going to Appleloosa, I've actually been meaning to bail one of my friends out of their local jail--"
"I don't do jailbreaks, end of story." Leon stated, cutting the ghostly girl off.
"No no, I'm not asking you to break him out, I just want you to figure out what's keeping him out there, especially since it means he could die at any given moment," Leon looked at her, seeming intrigued, but also curious. "Our elder, Za'Fryyt, he's worried about if he's gone astray. Usually, Ectonurites who go astray will end up either falling to the temptations of a greater evil, or become some kind of Nomad, which for us Ectonurites, it's a fate worse than death."
Leon felt pretty bad for Gh'Aloe, especially since she was too scared to move or run from the two creatures fighting each other. Then, Leon got an idea as he fished out the empty glass bottle he had.
"Here's an idea. You ghost people can't survive in the sun, you need to head to Appleloosa anyhow to get your buddy back, and I'm heading there anyway to find a way home, or to learn more about the watch on my wrist. Here's what I propose," He points the entryway of the bottle towards Gh'Aloe, earning a confused expression from the ghost lady. "What if you fit yourself into this bottle, and I can keep you shrouded in my rucksack? I can let you out whenever you feel like you need to stretch, and in return, we can both figure out a solution to both of our problems once we get to Appleloosa, that's a fair trade, isn't it?"
"Well, I don't know..." Gh'Aloe seemed very uncertain about the idea. "Are you sure you wouldn't try to trap me, or sell me for a quick bit?"
"No, god no! What do I look like, a slaver?" Leon sighed as he set the bottle down. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you, trap you, or sell you for money. As far as I'm concerned, we're both going the same route to the same place, only you've got the repercussion of not being able to move any further once the sun comes out. This was the only idea I had."
"Well... technically, there is another option, but I don't think you'd like it," Leon raised his brow and seemed curious, but also cautious. "As an Ectonurite, I can possess many living things... I was thinking that, maybe, if you were okay with it, I could hide inside your body."
"That's a definite nope from me," Leon stated without hesitation. "Transforming into some crazy monsters with crazier powers is already a bit much for me as it is." Leon shuddered at the idea of letting some living thing inside his body. He never watched a lot of horror movies, or stuff with fictional creatures like ghosts and such, but he understood the basic gist of possession, and wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea of sharing his body with another entity.
"I suppose that's fair, though you do seem to move like you have experience with changing shape," Gh'Aloe remarked, examining the glass bottle. "I thought you'd be more comfortable with sharing your body."
"Looks can be very deceiving, my spooky friend," Leon walked over to the tree and sat down beside it, taking a deep breath as he yawned. "Besides, we have until tomorrow morning to make a decision, so we can just relax and sleep through the night, for now."
Gh'Aloe watched as the human reclined and closed his eyes, trying to gain a bit of sleep before moving on tomorrow. She looked back at the empty glass bottle and decided to lay it next to the human as she phased into the tree itself, in an attempt to shield herself from the sun's rays tomorrow morning.
Everything seemed so quiet. Leon sat up, noticing that he wasn't in the location he was just in last, but also noticed trace amounts of things floating around him. Looking at them made his eyes hurt, so he just tried to not fixate on them, thought he recognized what they were.
Papers, huge stacks of them, each stack being bigger and thicker than the last. He genuinely felt ill for a time, and eventually ran through a thick wooden door, fumbling forwards as he was now looking up at a robed figure.
"Uh... hi?" Leon introduced, uncertain of what was happening.
"Sit down, Derrickson," The figure snapped a couple fingers and summoned a barstool with a cushiony pillow on top. The figure lounged in a big brown recliner, holding a glass filled with ice, and some kind of orange-violet swirled fluid inside. "We need to have a chat."
Leon got up and recognized the room. It was his boss's office, decked out in numerous cases of war memorabilia, old weapons from wars long in the distant past, and an Urn sitting in the window behind his chair, only it was decorated in a plethora of colors, such as yellows, golds, bronze, oranges and reds, with a pitch black sun smack dab in the center.
Leon sat down and looked at the robed figure. "What's the word, boss?" Leon asked, seeming nervous as he rubbed the back of his head.
"You're late. The storm was terrible, I know, but you made a commitment to the company, declaring that you'd be in every day of your life, and where were you then?" Leon was about to say something, until the robed figure spoke over him. "Galivanting through the damn woods like a smoked-out hippy, fighting monsters and utilizing power that isn't yours to use! Not even to mention, I get a call from Jameson that you were found mangled beyond compare and fried to a crisp!" Leon had no idea what the hell was happening, but he just shrugged his shoulders. "If there's something you're trying to say, then communicate with me here, boy! Everyone's late and everyone has their reasons, and I've let numerous people keep their jobs because of that, but this is... well, it's nonsensical, I can't take this as the truth!"
"S-Sir, if you'll just let me explain--"
The robed figure removed the robe, showing a man with dark hair in a short buzzcut, a curly moustache and fairly pale skin, dressed in a deep red business suit with a black dress shirt and white tie underneath it. He looked displeased, but also very concerned. He held a hand up, and Leon stopped talking, his words falling short.
"I'm sorry, son, but that storm must've fried your memory something fierce, and while I'd like for you to come back to work, I can't. I'm afraid to say this, but it's with a heavy heart, I'll have to let you go." The man said, sounding choked up.
Leon was in disbelief. He felt as if the world around him was shattering, fracturing as large white cracks formed all over the walls. The boss pressed something underneath his desk, and he soon vanished, like dust in the wind. Leon reached out, but something kept him glued to his seat. Leon saw that the stool he was on, had grown out some weird wooden tendrils, grasping onto his thighs as he tried to wiggle free, but to no avail.
The room began to break off, showing a pale white void waiting for him as it pulled him in, Leon could only hear his own screams echo out, unable to do anything to save himself, only for a huge yellow eye to open in front of him, looking down at the screaming man as his senses became numb.
[Barren Crossroads Stop; XXXX; 09:25 AM]
Leon's body shook as he snapped awake, his face drenched in sweat as he noticed the morning sun slowly creeping out, the cool air sending some cold comfort to his face as he tried to get air back in his lungs. Upon getting up, and cracking a few limbs as he did so, he noticed Gh'Aloe, resting beside the empty bottle as both of them rested within the shade provided by the tree.
Leon reached into his bag and fished out another apple, munching into it as he looked around. Leon decided to really take a bit of time to think about his situation. He was an average worker who gave it his best at work, even on horrible days. A storm rolls through and it's supposedly very dangerous. He goes through with some stupid prayer thing, sounding like an idiot who goes to church for the first time. The storm begins to rip his home asunder, forcing him to retreat into his storm shelter. Just sounds like a regular month for those who work in an office, only more depressing.
He woke up in a forest, in a very huge part of a world he has no recollection of. He was kidnapped by a tall orc-goblin-like princess, and discovered that he could transform into a bunch of crazy ass monsters. He's seen and praised as a hero for liberating a village, and is now practically on his own, waiting for the ghost girl to awaken so they can get to the same location, which is apparently very far away. Leon instinctually pinched himself hard, numerous times, just to figure out if he was in a dream. An hour of waiting later, his arm was sore from the various pinchings he inflicted upon himself, which spoke the unbelievable truth to him.
This wasn't a dream, and if he messes up, it could cost him his very life before he can ever find a way back home.
Realizing the gravity of his situation, Leon's current amount of supplies wasn't gonna last him on such a long trip, and knew that he had to find another way, to Appleloosa, and then find a way back home.
'First off, I have a food situation,' Leon looked into his bag, noting the few apples he already had left. 'I need to manage my stuff closely, and maybe not tuck everything into one section. Water situation seems fine, and--'
A loud snapping sound echoed throughout the area. Leon snapped out of his train of thought and looked up, unsure of where the sound originated from. The snapping rang out again, and Leon still couldn't discern where it was coming from, as if it was echoing around him. Before Leon could come up with a plan, he was suddenly struck in the back by something. It felt hot, blistering hot, but it also felt cold, freezing even. A shiver was sent up his spine as his body stung from the blow, and he crashed into the nearby rocky wall.
"Well, this is a surprise. You definitely ain't one of those mini Arimaspi look-alikes I've heard about," A male voice echoed out, walking towards Leon's injured body. "But, one strange creature is just as good as another."
Leon looked up and could only feel a burning sense of confusion as he looked up at the thing that stood over him. It was on all fours, very equine-like in its body type, thin, but also seemed to pack some form of muscle behind the lean appearance. It had dark red-orange fur, almost like a caramelized Scarlet shade. Their ears were very round, but seemed to also be quite pointy, much like the horn that jutted out from its forehead. Their eyes were a very washed out purple color, though their pupils seemed to be slit. They wore a dusty fedora upon their heads, a dirty and ragged jet-black mane washes down over their necks, all while their tail is braided into numerous bulbs, each one held together by a set of golden rings.
Leon didn't waste any time with messing around, because he had something to do, and he wasn't gonna let some talking horse with a fancy horn just stop him here. He quickly moved his right arm a certain way, and managed to smack the pony hard enough to stagger them, though his fist did hurt a fair bit after that. Leon got the watch's core to go up and pressed it down, hoping for a transformation to even the odds. He was enveloped in another flash of light, blinding and confusing the pony that had attacked.
Leon couldn't breathe. Leon opened his mouth, only for a viscous blackened fluid to gush out of him, raining down onto his body as it began to spread, hardening as it bonded onto and seeped through his skin. His nails grew out with this fluid, feeling it harden and shape itself, molding into block-like layers around his fingers, even on his toes. Leon's face began to shape itself into a squarer proportion, feeling the fluid spread over, spread within and harden, toughening up his body as his body was rounded out in most places. The blackened substance cracked and revealed three glowing green eyes as the blackened material was now glossy, shining like glass. The watch's emblem was neatly placed over the navel area of the creature's mid-section, where a bright pair of white pants had grown over.
The flash of light died down, revealing a thin, yet towering creature made of a glossy black rock. The creature had very huge forearms, but it was so incredibly slim. The pony was definitely confused, but didn't back down. It began to make its horn spark and glow, all while staring down the towering beast.
"Now ah know you shouldn't've done that, but it's gonna be a real celebration when I wrangle you in and harvest some of that rock on you," The pony spat on the ground as a smirk formed on their face. "Them fancy rocks are bound to be worth thousands ah bits per piece, I reckon."
The strange rocky beast let out a series of groans and almost mechanical whirs and beeps, swinging its arms up, forming them into cannons. Before the pony could do anything, several blistering hot balls of light erupted from the monster's cannons, only for the pony to duck out of the way, letting the attack blow out a good chunk of the rocky wall behind it, letting many small bits of dirt, rock and sediment fly out in every direction.
The pony looked back at the creature, sneering at the monster's lack thereof any kind of expression, and shot out a blast of magic, thinking the same trick could work twice and catch it off guard. However, what the pony and the monster didn't expect was for the attack to do the opposite. The monster felt the attack connect and seemed to be bracing itself for the end, until it suddenly felt itself becoming stronger. Its body shined and glowed in an array of purple lights, and without warning, it fired another ball of light, this one much bigger than the last.
The pony quickly moved out of the way, letting the huge ball of light fly past him as it crashed into a huge grassy field full of hills, exploding in a vibrant display of light. Before the pony could even look away from the display, he felt a rocky set of knuckles crash into his face, knocking the pony out almost instantaneously. The rocky monster stood over the unconscious pony, lifting it up as it placed it right next to the sleeping Gh'Aloe, who was slowly waking up due to all of the commotion.
"Hmn... I haven't rested that well since the last Blood Moon," Gh'Aloe remarked, still seeming very tired and sleepy. She looked around, noticing the newly amounted carnage that had just occurred during her slumber. She noticed the rocky monster standing over her, looking down at the new pony that was pretty roughed up. "Dare I ask what happened?"
"Nothing you needn't worry about." The rocky monster's voice was very tough, gritty, unwelcoming, but it also seemed very delicate, it also seemed as if some kind of accent was trying to bleed through. "But, on related note," The rocky monster pointed towards the empty glass bottle. "You make decision yet?"
"Uh, yeah. I think it'll be good to move at a faster pace if someone were to carry me and keep the sun off me, so long as it's fine with you." Gh'Aloe stated.
"Tá." The monster stated, nodding its head yes. "Although, not sure what to call this one. Very heavy creature, made of heavy stuff."
"Why not wait a little while, see if anything comes to you in the meantime," Gh'Aloe got up and put the bottle in the creature's hands. "For now, we can just call it Golem. After all, it is a sentient compilation of rocks, materials and such. It must be able to do something."
The creature thought about it for a small time, an ultimately decided to roll with it. "Golem... It shall suffice, for now." The golem stated.
Gh'Aloe maneuvered her ghostly body through the bottle, filling it with an ethereal mist, comprised of one glowing bright pink eye. In a flash of red light, Leon was returned to his normal form as he put the cork on the bottle and carefully placed it into his bag. He slung it over his shoulder as he looked at the pony one last time, seeing that they were still unconscious. Leon pulled a couple bottles of water out and set them by the pony's side, as well as a couple apples and a pear.
'Not sure what he wanted, but he was looking for something else... an Arimaspi, I think he called it?' Leon wondered about that, because this world had some very strange creatures already, at least from what he's seen. The human just sighed and pushed the thought to the side, deeming it not important at this time. 'Whatever, not like I plan to find out what he was talking about. I can only hope that I didn't kill him, I hit him pretty hard.'
Leon walked down the road, rucksack slung over his back as he pulled out the black-paged book and pencil, beginning to write.
"Leon's Log; No. #1:
'Where in god's name am I' I once asked myself. I'll continue to keep asking this question for a while, because while I have a name of where I am, some place called 'Equestria', I don't how I got here, why I'm here, or what's going on. I had work in a couple hours yesterday, but I don't think I'm gonna make it... I just wish this weird watch on my wrist had some kind of way to explain everything to me right now, but I guess transforming into a bunch of strange creatures is a fair consolation prize, I suppose. I'm worried, but I now have a traveling companion, a ghostly girl by the name of Gh'Aloe. I truly believe it will be a testament of my luck if I actually make it home unscathed, but I'll have to make it to Appleloosa first.
…I'm going to die out here, aren't I? Oh well, not like things could get any worse, I think I already lost my job and my home is probably in shambles, it can't possibly get worse than this."
Leon closed the book as he tucked it back into the bag, taking in the morning sun as he walked along a nice paved dirt path, following the map's charted course to Appleloosa. This was going to be a long walk.
Author's Note
I'm legit loving these new alien concepts I'm coming up with.
Bramblebeet would probably be the only alien that takes direct inspiration from another character, mainly Charmy the Bee from the Sonic series, in terms of design and proportions, though I do love experimenting with more unique super power combinations.
This rocky alien is essentially one with its own mysteries, such as its origins, its powers, how it actually functions as a living being compared to most others. Golem is it's temporary name, for now.
Plus, gotta love dropping pieces of lore about this world, re-thinking and re-structuring everything. Almost makes me wish I rebooted this story sooner, but I still find a lot of joy in looking back at my older stuff. It shows how much I've improved, to some extent.