A War on Two Fronts

Many thoughts ran through my mind, most of them focusing on how absurd a situation I found myself in. Ganondorf. I looked like actual, fucking Ganondorf from Twilight Princess. In vain, I tried rubbing my face with a massive hand, hoping the camo paint would peel back, revealing my tanned skin. No such luck.

Shit.

In a desperate attempt for answers, I turned my frame to the only other living things in the room.

"Where the hell am I?"

The soldier ponies looked at each other, and upon closer inspection, I noticed for the first time some spotted little wings while a fair few possessed a horn atop their heads.

"Your honored. If I may?"

For the first time did I notice a third party in the room. From around a corner that led to another room stepped out yet another horned pony... unicorn, I guess. But unlike the rest of the ponies, this one wore a lab coat atop a fairly professional looking shirt, tie and sweater vest. His coat white, mane black with flecks of gray and a pair of square-rimmed spectacles on his face.

Flanking him were six other ponies in lab attire, younger than him, most likely his subordinates and unlike this guy, fear, anxiety and wariness marked their features. The lead lab pony continued on.

"You are standing in the Palindrome, a research outpost built on the outskirts of Vanhoover. These barbarians," he spat out the word, pointing at the ponies clad in black armor. "Broke in and tried to slaughter everypony, trying to take our research and use it for their master's fiendish purpose." My eyes flicked to said ponies. "For years, a fell king named Sombra took up arms against the princess. He wrested control of the Crystal Empire and started a campaign to depose Celestia and claim fair Equestria as his own."

I didn’t much understand what this all meant, but it basically boiled down to 'we're the good guys, them ponies in black are bad and they should feel bad'. This professor pony continued on, listing any number of crimes and atrocities that Sombra and his cronies performed during the war, and overall did his best to paint the attackers in the worst possible light.

"Here at the Palindrome, our purpose was to research the finding of new magics and technology... anything that would help our nation beat back the threat of Sombra."

"P-professor!" A brave pony, a unicorn mare, spoke up. Clearly a subordinate to this guy. The lab coat covered the lavender color of her fur while her purple mane—with what looked like a straight pink highlight running through it—was tied in a neat, tight bun. She whispered cautionary words, too low for me to hear, eyeing me warily.

"Be silent, Twilight!" The professor pony hissed, conking the little mare upside the head and harshly reprimanded her. She retreated meekly, head hung low and didn't speak again.

Despite all this, my mind still remained oddly blank, my state only interrupted by a slight flicker of annoyance. Hell, I was still trying to process the bloody fact I was now Ganondorf! While the older pony unleashed a hushed tongue lashing against this Twilight, I lightly rapped my armor with my knuckles. Genuine metal, not plastic.

But then, if I really am Ganondorf...

I brought my right hand up for inspection and in its back, a triangle, glowing in a yellow hue. The Triforce of Power.

"So it is real," I whispered.

"Hey, freak!"

My head snapped up. A pony, a pegasus, one that according to the professor served this Sombra dick. He hovered in the air, the flapping of his wings keeping him steady even as he aimed a loaded crossbow at me, tipped with a very deadly looking steelhead bolt.

"I don't know what you are, but if you don't hug the floor in three seconds, I'll put a bolt through your head."

I always considered myself a pretty laid back person. It took a lot to get a rise out of me. Except my parents. They had an uncanny ability to get under my skin, bless them. Still, I'm pretty sure that even in a situation such as this, I'd be a very compliant little hostage. And yet, in spite of the very lethal weapon trained on me, my lip curled into a half sneer, not impressed in the least, annoyed and slightly amused that the little pony would even dare to try and threaten me.

Three seconds passed.

"Move!"

"Silence, worm! Know your betters," the words left my mouth before I could stop them.

The pony fired. Some of the lab mares gasped, the prof guy hissed and through it all, my composure remained.

"What?" My pony assailant barked in incredulity, for in my grip, inches from my face, was the bolt. A squeeze from my part turned into a number of harmless splinters.

"Is that all you got?" I taunted.

The pony snarled. Commandeering a weapon—a mace—from one of his comrades, he launched himself at me. I suppose he intended the impact would take me down. Rather, he crashed into my armor, bouncing off like a tennis ball. I didn't move an inch.

The egghead ponies looked on, intrigued.

"Stay your hoof, peon. My quarrel is not with you." I didn't usually engage in flowery, articulate speech, but seeing how I now occupied the body of freaking Ganondorf, I don’t think a 'Hey, dude. Chill.' Would cut it.

He recovered, scowling, and hefted the mace in his mouth. Must have some strong neck muscles...

He came again and this time I felt... something. A whisper from the darkest corner of my mind. It told me to destroy, to kill this insolent creature for rebuffing my mercy so callously. Memories not my own flashed before me. A desert, an isolated tribe of people. Me, under the tutelage of witches. Many nights - years - under their care, the hot desert wind chafing my skin, rituals undergone under the light of the full moon, numerous trials and lessons spent mastering the art of magic, a skill further enhanced by the blessing of the Triforce of Power. Centuries of life, knowledge and experience were recalled in an instant.

As if guided my instinct, my palm met the pony's incoming charge. Magic flowed within me, a movement as practiced and natural as breathing at this point.

"What the...? Let me down. Let me down, you freak!" The pony struggled, thrashing, wings flapping furiously as he fought to squirm from my magical grasp.

His struggles seemed to rouse both armed parties. Finally overcoming the sheer surprise and bafflement of my entrance all armored ponies rallied. Whether to pounce on me or beat the hell out of each other, I did not know. Nevertheless, I acted in response.

The Triforce of Power granted Ganondorf with near limitless mystical power and I used this to my advantage. Stone rubble lay everywhere. At my command, the pieces took on a life of their own. They converged around the startled ponies, encasing them and with yet another practiced motion, the shattered stones melded together trapping the unsuspecting equines in a stone prison.

My eyes then found the lab ponies. They seemed harmless but even so, there was much I did not know and I wasn't about to take chances. With a grasping motion of my hand they found themselves rudely jerked from their semi-hidden position. Yelps and screams of surprise and fear resonated as they flew through the air, roughly dropped before me.

Good.

With Ganondorf's mastery of magic at my whim, the stone floor beneath the ponies rippled and they panicked as the hard surface they stood on took on the consistency of quicksand. Luckily for them, their deaths were not what I sought and so I returned the floor to normalcy after their legs were properly sunk, trapping them in place.

The armored ponies had not been idle. The sound of metal against stone returned my attention to them. The unicorn ponies' horns emitted auras of different colors and this very same aura enveloped weapons which futilely struck the stone in hopes of freeing them.

Magic. The little ponies could cast magic or at least, only the unicorns seemed to be able to. Not acceptable.

Imposing my own dark power on them, the aura on the ponies' horns was overcome by a dark miasma, effectively blocking the flow of magic from their horns. Weapons dropped unceremoniously. The lot of them eyed me with renewed wariness and astonishment. The prof guy's eyes shone in greed while the little lavender mare looked defeated as can be, seemingly accepting her fate.

I resisted the urge to run a hand through my face. Really didn't want to deal with this shit.

Alright, let's get this over with.

Putting extra weight under my armored feet, I stepped forward. The ponies ceased their struggles, all sets of eyes on me.

"Now, what do I do with you all?"