Cry Havoc

by Pen Brush

Rating: everyone
Tags: Alternate Universe, Adventure, Human
Length: 7793

And let slip the Dogs of War. A girl fights a battle she never wanted too

Penny Heart had just returned to her dorm after a long day’s work, when a dark and mysterious figure appears with an offer that will change her life forever. At first, the offer appears to be amazing, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but she will discover the true intentions of this shadowy individual are a lot more sinister than she first realised.

Part of Blackwing and Rust's Chess Game of the Gods universe.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-06-24 18:45:31 UTC

Doggy Day

Penny walked into her dorm with an exhausted sigh and closed her door. She set her backpack down next to the door and stumbled over to her couch. She flopped down with a gentle ‘pomf’ coming from her couch cushions. Letting the weight of the world sink her further into the couch, she let out another sigh as she closed her eyes.

She was on the verge of falling asleep when a crashing of pots from her kitchen startled her. She scrambled behind the couch as she saw a tall man standing in the middle of her kitchen.

His hair was slicked back and was topped by a crown featuring a solid, blood red horn sticking out. His eyes were an unnatural red and the sclera was lime green. His shoulders and most of his upper half was covered by a light red cape with a white trim.

He was staring directly at her with a stare that could only be described as disappointed and creepy. “ So this is the best they could give me? Some rundown stupid slip of a girl? Fine. Any clay can be molded.” he sneered with a deep voice while lifting a hand from his cape’s shadow.

His hand and forearm was covered by a simple metal gauntlet. He gently rubbed the bridge of his nose and stepped out of the kitchen.

The sound of metal on metal was apparent as he walked. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” He said stopping in front of Penny.

“Get away from me!” Penny exclaimed with a defensive tone. She stumbled back in fear from the strange, terrifying man.

“Oh shut up, whelp!” He shot back with an annoyed tone.

“What the hell does whelp mean?!”

He paused for a heartbeat, then rolled his eyes and snorted in an almost horse like way, “It means- Never mind. Just stand up and come with me.” He said holding out his metal covered hand. “I will explain everything on the way.”

“On the way to... I'm not going anywhere! Get out of my dorm room!” Penny ordered vehemently.

He just shook his head before he melted into the shadows and appeared next to her. She flinched by flailing her arms for a moment before seeing the man right next to her on the couch.

“You will come with with me. You have been chosen for this task and you have no say in the matter. You can come willingly, or... unwillingly." Penny jumped as the bookcase she was standing beside was crushed against the ceiling by a cluster of dark crystals, books and splinters of wood showering down.

“I would like nothing more than to call the cops, weirdo. You can’t take me anywhere.” She replied with a defiant tone she didn't feel.

The man stared before letting loose a deep, almost earth shaking, laugh. He continued for what seemed like forever before he snapped his fingers and massive black crystals shot from the ground and covered the windows and doors. Penny frantically looked around only to see every escape route blocked off by the massive crystals.

“I greatly beg to differ young lady. Now I ask again. Do you wish to come along like a good monkey, or must I... insist?” He said with a small smile.

“Damn you to hell.” She said glaring at the man.

“That’s not an answer,” he deadpanned.”You have five minutes to think this over.”

“Oh good five minutes to think over an abduction, by a crazy man, where is the phone?”

He points to a phone with a massive crystal sticking out if it. “You may call your family only. Don’t worry about the crystal. It’s just there to make sure you don’t interfere with my plans.”

“Or I could use my cell phone.” She takes her cell out of her pants pocket

“Well, that was rather foolish.” He said while grinning. He melted into a shadow again and appeared behind her holding her wrist in one hand and the phone in the other. “Quite a shame, really. You could have gotten away. I do so enjoy a chase. Sadly we don’t have the time for such amusements.”

He effortlessly snatched the phone from her hand and crushed it with obvious relish and released her hand before going back to the couch and sitting. “Now be a good girl and go say goodbye to your family before we leave. It is a kindness I offer only because the rules demand it.”

“They’re going to ask me what’s wrong and then call the cops themselves to find me. You can’t take a person’s daughter and expect to get away easily,” she said smirking while walking to the phone.

“I won’t need to. Besides if they did somehow find me I would wipe them out like I have done before. Now be thankful I am at least letting you call your family before we leave.” He said sighing and leaning back into the couch.

She walked over to the phone and picked it up but before she could dial, the phone began to ring. After about a minute the phone was picked up by someone.

“Hello?” asked a male voice. It was gruff, but not aged.

“Hello, daddy?” Penny asked over the phone.

Her dad didn't give her a chance to speak at first, "Hey sweetie. How's college? Did you make new friends? Are you running short already?”

“Everything's fine. Um..Dad, I was just calling to say I am probably going to be gone for awhile.” She said, looking over to the man who was still residing on the couch.

“Penny what are you talking about?” Her father said over the phone. His voice was beginning to sound panicked. That was when the man from the couch walked over and gently took the phone.

"Greetings." He continued like a game host that has been at his job for a long time. “I know you must be worried about your shiny little Penny. I'm not sure why she's so important to you, she's such a poor example of your species. At any rate, I can assure you I will not let my little toy to come to any harm." He said into the phone. Penny looked over the man to see if he was planning anything. All she got was an emotionless face.

“Who is this!?” She heard her father yell over the phone.

“That's King Sombra to you mortal. Don’t worry. I will take care of your daughter and make sure nothing will happen. Now I suggest you say goodbye because we have only got one minute before we have to leave.” Sombra said and handed her the phone.

Penny took the phone and her father began to freak out. After she calmed him down she said her goodbyes and hesitantly hung up the phone. Then she turned to Sombra who was staring emotionlessly at her.

“Did...Did you mean all that stuff you said to my father?” She asked. He just smiled a smile that was either evil or understanding. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Most of it.” He said before rushing forward and encasing both of them in a cocoon of shadows.

                                                             ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Penny woke up feeling like she had just been thrown into the snow then tossed into a hot tub. She shook her head and slowly opened her eyes. Things looked differently. Not just the fact that it was now morning again, but everything looked more.... Cartoony. She looked around and everything had a distinct outline of color. She looked down at her....Paws?

"WHAT THE H-’ “BARK!!” She barked. Penny began to panic. She tried to stand up, but fell face first into the dirt. She stopped moving for a second before attempting to stand again.

She stood up shakily on four paws instead of just two. She tried to smile when she finally stood, only to find her face not moving the way she expected. She still felt the smile, it was just... completely different. Then she attempted to take a few steps forward. The first few were difficult, but she soon got the hang of it and was trotting around happily.

A familiar metal clanking behind her brought her attention to her hind end. She turned to see the tall man that had taken her before. He was smiling again and this time it was a somewhat happy smile.

His voice dripped with saccharine sarcasm, "Very good, you have figured out how to walk.”

Penny stared at him before turning around and the feeling of something laying firmly against her head plus her lips curling back made her question what exactly he did to her. A low throaty growl escaped her as she began to bark at Sombra.

“Now now. Come here and I will show you something.” Sombra said. Penny just continued to growl and Sombra rolled his eyes and melted into shadows again before appearing behind her and placed something around her neck.

Penny snarled angrily, "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST PUT ON M-”. She blinked and tried to look at what he put on her. Sombra just giggled before shadows formed around him and began to change his shape. When the shadows left his body, he was a horse. A very strange looking horse.

“Um...What?” Penny said as she looked over him. His coat was dark grey and his hair was still the same. Although his crown didn’t have the horn attached to it, rather it was attached to his forehead.

“Okay I know you have many questions, so I might as well answer them while I am here.” Sombra said while taking a seat on the grass.

“Yea! I want to know what you did to me!!” She yelled at him. Sombra smiled and formed a mirror out of his shadows showing her what he made her into.

“...I'm a husky? why would you need a husky for?” she asked as she observed herself. She was a solid snow white husky with simple light blue eyes.

He smirked at his superiority, “Oh that’s quite easy to explain.” He turns away from Penny, sure he was in no danger whatsoever, “You are in the realm of Equestria. In this world ponies, mere shadows of myself of course, inhabit this world as the dominant species. As well as ponies there are a variety of creatures such as griffins, minotaur, dragons...”

“Great, I'm in the land of make believe...” She whined her head hung in defeat.

He walked up and bopped her on the nose. “Manners, Miss Penny. Manners.” She sniffed at the sudden contact and rubbed her nose with her paw. “As I was saying. There are a variety of creatures, far more than I mentioned, but you will meet them all while on your journey. Now, anymore questions?”

“Yeah. Lots. Like, I want to know why you brought me here?”

“I suppose this is simple enough request. A powerful entity, a god if you will, known as Discord created a game where each player has their own champion. This champion’s duty is to further the personal agenda of the player throughout Equestria.”

“A group of other gods, including myself, decided to join in on this. They didn’t see me as an equal, at first, but after showing them a little force, they were happy to have me among their brethren.They did impose a few limitations on my gameplay, no doubt and they got to pick who my champion was and what I turned them to. In other words, you and a dog. So, each god had to pick a human and then change them. This game has certain rules, but I can’t tell you exactly what the rules are because that is a limitation over me. Does that explains some things?” He finished in a rather bored tone.

Penny seemed to consider this for a moment. “I guess so, but why did they get to pick who you got and what they get turned into?”

He sighed, and his expression became annoyed, “Because some of the other players complained that I had forced my way into the game. Thus, I had to follow their suggestions or I couldn't play the game.”

Penny snorted derisively, “Are You really that desperate to play a game?” A second thought occurred to her, “So, what, exactly, do you get if you win?”

His smile was cold and calculating, “Oh nothing. Simply... whatever I wish.” He said in a nonchalant tone.

“ So... what do you want to get?”

He snarled at her angrily, “What do you think, you insolent whelp? I want my physical body! I want my Crystal Empire again!”

Penny was determined to not be intimidated by her abductor and tried to sound cool and sarcastic. “So now theres a Crystal Empire? What else is there that makes no sense, besides everything so far?”

“Well.... there’s the Griffon colony, The borders to the Minotaur territories, and the land Zebrica.” He said tapping his hoof as he counted off the names.

“Where are we right now?” Penny asked.

        “Well, right now you’re in the town of Appleloosa.” Sombra said getting even more bored.

“I take it by your bored expression that we’re in a country town, most people I know look bored when talking about the country, but I like it enough. Now a good question I have is, how am I talking? Because before, I just barked.”

“Actually, I’m bored because nothing interesting has happened yet. And about your speech? The collar I put on you allows you to speak because of the crystal on it.” He said tapping said object on her neck. “The collar will also be your way of spreading my influence, so I can gain more power, and you have the power to use shadows, much like the dream god’s champion is able to use dreams to his advantage, you can use shadows and darkness as your advantage, along with fear, always fun to use fear out of darkness.” He said with a small sadistic grin.

“OK...guess I’ll have to get used to darkness then.” Penny said with a bit of unease at the manic grin on the evil sub-deity’s face.

“Yes, I suggest you do. The other pieces have been here nine months already. Now, I have to go. Have fun!” Sombra said with a grin before turning into shadows and disappearing, leaving Penny alone in the dry field of Appleloosa.

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Another New Day

Penny began to walk along the dirt road. After a few minutes of walking she comes to a field of apple trees. She stopped and took a short look at the field. She took a short walk along the edge of the field until she saw a small town with...

“Ponies...” Penny mumbled to herself as she began walking toward the small looking town.

Everywhere she looked, there seemed to be colorful equines going about their day.

“Wait, is that...” She trailed off as a dark blue pony soared right over her.

‘Was that a real pegasus?’ She thought as she continued to stare at the colorful flying ponies playing cloud tag.

Pegasi weren't the only oddity that she had encountered. There were several ponies that had horns like Sombra but lacked his more strange characteristics. More specifically, the glowing eyes and razor sharp teeth. The malevolent looking horn also fell into that category.

“This is just... I don’t know what this is.” Everywhere Penny looked it seemed as though ponies had taken over the world.

Shopping, cooking, talking, truly anything. And they were doing it all. Well... most of it. They didn’t seem to have any type of technology other than stoves and other meager appliances. Penny gingerly walked into the crowd of ponies.

She yelped as she pulled her tail out from under a pony's hoof, so she could see it.

“Oh! Whoops, sorry girl,” a tall orange pony with a leather vest and stetson apologized immediately.

The pony’s rump had a red apple tattooed onto it. He didn’t have any wings or a horn like many of the others.

“You okay?” he asked as he leaned down to take a look at her tail. “Well. The good news is your tail is fine. The bad news is I got no idea who you belong to.” He looked her over some more before he spots her collar. “Here we go. Let’s see who ya belong to....”

He picked up the small crystal on her neck and gave it a quick glance before frowning. He let it go and then scratched his head under his hat before sitting on his haunches. He looked to her collar again and snorted.

“Well ain’t that fine and dandy... your collar ain’t got no tags on it,” he said rather obviously.

“Well no duh, I’m no one’s pet,” Penny said, staring at the odd pony. The pony’s jaw dropped as he stared openly at her. “Uhh...Woof?” Her attempt to rectify the situation did nothing in the least.

He blinked and pointed a hoof towards her. “Y-You just talked!!”

Penny just tilted her head as if confused, letting one ear stay up while the other go down. The pony just continued to stare before rubbing his head and looking back to her after shaking it a few times.

“I think I might need to go lay down for a bit. I might have just eaten some... bad apples, or something,” he said trying to concentrate, he stole a look up at the sky and saw that it was getting dark fast.

He looked back at Penny and sighed before speaking. “Why don’t you come back home with me, you can sleep there tonight.”

He turned away and walked toward a single house. Penny thought to herself for a slight moment before  following him. The pony opened the door and motioned her inside. She walked in as he closed the door behind her.

“This is mah’ humble abode,” he said as he put his hat on a rack beside the door. “I hope ya like it.”

After relieving himself of his headwear he walked around to an area that looked a lot like a living room and sat on a couch. To Penny, this seemed like a strange action for a pony. She decided to shrug it off and act like a dog, no sense in spoiling the illusion of the situation. She drew her gaze around for a spot to lie down before settling on a spot near the center of the room, in front of the couch. After laying down and getting settled in her spot, she stared back toward the pony.

The pony noticed her stare and returned it openly.

“What's wrong girl? Are ya hungry er’ somein’?” he asked as he got up off the couch and walked to the kitchen, opening the fridge and taking out two and a half apples before walking back towards her.

“Ah’ don’t have any dog food with me, but ah’ know y’all can eat apples. Ah’ think since ya don't have any tags n’ all but ya have a collar, I’ma take a guess that ya been a stray for some time. Why don’t ya eat on up?”  he said, placing an apple next to Penny before turning around and walking back to the couch to sit down.

She looked back and forth between the apple and the sitting pony.

’Wow... these ponies are really nice. Feels a little like my world. I wonder if there are mean ponies too...’ Penny thought as she began eating the apple. She was trying to ignore the pony that was smiling at her when she suddenly had an idea.

Since she didn’t know anything about the layout of this place she would need someone to help her.

‘I bet this pony will help me.’ Penny thought as she looked at the stallion.

It was only then that Penny noticed the pony had fallen asleep. She walked over to him and began whispering into his ear.

“You will help the dog, you won't freak out when you wake up and when you hear me talk. I need someone to help me.” Penny kept repeating this to the sleeping pony, hoping that the power of suggestion actually worked on a sleeping person, or pony.

Penny decided not to take any chances and decided to wake the slumbering pony back up. It only took a moment to think of what she could use to wake him up.

Penny began to bark as loud as she could.

The pony shot up and fell off the couch onto the floor, making Penny jump back. The pony shook his head and stood up to look at her.

Still half asleep, he glared at her and spoke a bit more curtly that he normally would. “What d’ya want? Ya want some more food er’ somthin’?”

At first Penny thought he was mad, but after looking at his face she noticed that he wasn't angry at all.

Penny then began to speak. “No... I just wanted to ask you a question” As she finished that sentence the pony began to freak out. Penny sighed, 'So much for the power of suggestion'

After about five minutes of the pony yelling things about a dog being able to talk and what not, he began to calm down. When he had fully calmed down, he looked back at her. They both just stared at each other. Neither were able to come up with any ideas of what to say. This went on for what seemed like hours before the unnamed pony finally spoke up.

“I wasn’ crazy after all. You were talking back there on the road then...”

Penny spoke firmly, but not aggressively, “Yes. That was me. Honestly, with talking ponies, I thought talking dogs wouldn’t be much of a stretch...”

“What do you mean? Everypony talks, but I ain’t never heard of no talking dog.”

“What are you talking about. Until I got kidnaped by that Sombra freak, and changed into a dog, animals didn’t talk. Only people.”

“Ponies are people, buffalo are too, even griffin folks and diamond dogs too, even if they can be a might uncivil.”

“Oh, so let me get this straight. Ponies, buffalo, griffin, and diamond dogs all talk, but regular dogs don’t? That’s crazy.”

“Ma’am, we’re not getting anywhere like this. Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Braeburn Apple, but you can call me Braeburn.”

“I’m Penny Heart, but you can call me Penny.” She looked shyly at him, “Look, I’m lost, I’m a little scared, and you seem like a good person. Can... would... will you help me?”

Braeburn looks away for a moment, deep in thought, then turns back to her. “Well, ma’am, it would go against my family’s hospitality ta’ refuse to help somepony in need.”

“Thank you so much! I’ll pay you back, somehow.”

“Why miss, that’s just plain old silly. Friends don’t have to pay anything back, they just do. Now, I am a might tired, so I’m going to bed. Seeing as you’re person, I suppose it would only be right if I offer you the couch for tonight.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate this. All of it.” Penny, now feeling she was in a safe place, crawled up onto the couch, and drifted to sleep.

                                                                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Light filtered slowly into the room as the husky, motionless on the couch, slowly began to stir from her slumber. Her mind was clouded with images alien to her. Nothing could quite fit into place as her eyelids fluttered rhythmically open and shut while her breathing steadied out. The air stung her nose as she began to take deeper breaths; each suck a desperate attempt by her brain to restore motor-functions to her body. The feeling in her limbs was something uncanny, like she was more than she should be.

Penny’s eyes finally opened and she yawned loudly, mouth forming a wide space giving a perfect view into a tunnel-like throat. She slowly managed to work herself into enough of a mood so that her eyes would begin to register the world that she was in.

It was like home.

Everything around her felt normal. Sights sounds and smells, even the light gently kissing her face felt more real than it ever had.

Penny worked her way to her feet so she could begin her day. The alien images still bounced around in her brain as if they were demented pinballs. Fur, fangs and talking equines were all flashes that roamed her slightly frazzled mental landscape.

It mattered little to her because now she had a new day to sink into, all she needed to do was get to class......

THUD!

As far as rude awakenings go Penny couldn’t have asked for more than rolling off the couch in a daze and imprinting the floor with her face. She yowled in shock at the sudden sensation punching her in the face at the speed of a falling idiot. She bounced onto her back and latched her paws onto her muzzle with a slight tear in her eye. The pain faded so that reality could take its unwanted place in the foreground of her life.

She was still a dog.

Her life was still as twisted as the day before.

Great she thought.

Penny walked into the kitchen to see Braeburn eating from a plate that seemed to have a sandwich consisting of bread and some form of plant matter sitting upon it. Her eyes travelled around idly as she probed into each small detail of the homestead she found herself within. She took a step forwards and her paw nudged against something propped against the wall. It fell to the ground with a crash that seemed all the more powerful to her practically virgin ears, causing her to wince in slight pain.

It also had the other effect of causing the pony, who had been idly eating away at his breakfast, to look over to Penny and grin widely.

The husky girl took a nervous step away. Despite her clear revelation that this was the world

she was now residing in; it was hardly any less unsettling to find an equine living how any regular human being would.

Muttering something about having to find a bathroom, Penny made her escape from the kitchen despite the pony’s minor protests following her like countryside laced butterflies of the vocal cords.

Truth be told Penny had no intention of searching for a restroom of any sort, her true goal was simply to prolong the space of time she had to spend with the odd talking equines, it still creeped her out to no end how they lived with such ease despite their clear drawbacks.

Like how the hell do you operate things with hooves?!

Penny ambled her way around the room she had just come from in her improvised attempt to find solid mental ground to rest upon. It wasn’t that she was losing her finite measuring of sanity as a result of being here; it was that Penny couldn’t quite grasp the concept of the world around her.

It was just so boggling to the mind for so much new information to stampede its way inside her brain without so much as knocking first.

Penny slumped to the carpet with a groan of utter defeat as the gears of her mind ground together painfully in its newest vain effort to process the incomprehensible information that her newly canine mind had been pumped full of. It kind of hurt to try.

A gentle trotting sound approached her from the direction of the kitchen. Penny cast a weary eye towards the source of the gentle sound of hoof-fall on floorboards. It was Braeburn in all his partially clothed pony glory.

“Y’all feelin’ alright there?” He asked sweetly, voice laden with good intentions.

Penny mustered some sort of response that was hardly worthy of being called forward into the realm of audible speech.

“I’m gonna take that as a no.”

Penny continued to maintain her silence despite the clear concern of the pony beside her.

Braeburn nudged her gently with his nose, yet another attempt by the stallion to earn a legitimate response from his lethargic canine visitor.

It was proving more difficult than he had previously thought.

“What is it that’s bustin’ yer bonnet their girl? Y’all feeling sick?”

Penny groaned a response. “I don’t understand any of this!”

“What is there not to understand?”

“How the heck are ponies doing all this? You’re a horse, a horse! Yet you talk and act like... Like...”

“Like a what? C’mon girl spit it out, I’m dying to know now!”

Penny failed to bring the words past her lips. The equine male in front of her clearly didn’t understand what she was trying to say. Did Penny even understand what she was trying to say?

Truth be told she didn’t.

Every word that came to her mouth made little to no sense when it arrived in the context of the new universe she was living within. Nothing made sense here without the relevant information, information that Penny sorely lacked. She didn’t even know if this was a world-wide occurrence, for all she knew this could just be an isolated case.

An isolated case of creepy, talking and functioning in a human-like manner equine disorder.

“I just want to know what’s going on in this place.” Penny whined.

“That’s all?” Braeburn asked. “Y’all jus’ wanna know what’s going on?”

Penny gave a saddened nod.

“Well that might take some time, and I would normally question something like this. But judging by the look in yer eyes you are pretty confused. So then, where should I begin?”

Penny shook her head.  “Just tell me about this place. This world around me.”

“That’s all? Well then buckle up cause it may take a while. You see, it all started a long long time ago......”

                                                                   * * *

“..... So that is just about everything that I think I can teach you on the matter.” Braeburn said triumphantly, pleased that he had managed to recite a large portion of knowledge on Equestria from memory.”

“Thats helpful I guess, lets get going.”

“A’hm sorry, but ah can’t go with ya, I have to stay here and take care of the town, but I told you everything about Equestria, so you should be just fine, if y’all ever need me, ya can always come back.”

“Oh, well I hope the it stays safe, goodbye” Penny said a little disappointed as she walked to the open door and outside.

I wish I had listened to half of that, I would've known what he was talking about Penny thought somberly as she began her journey away, she walked through the streets with little to no goals in mind. As Penny was walking, she heard a lot of fast hoofsteps, and looked behind her, seeing a herd of buffalo running at her. Her eyes shrunk into miniature dots on the front of her face. It would appear that while the rest of the town had taken small steps to simply be out of the way when the herd had arrived, Penny had been idling around in the centre of town totally oblivious to the impending danger.

Penny ran with the bright sunlight in her eyes and tried to use her power to go further away, but all it did was make her form shift from dog to shadow, then back into dog form, she was confused, she didn't know why she couldn't use the powers Sombra gave her. The buffalo were getting closer.

She kept running and ran down a dirt path, seeing a sign, but unable to read the writing, she decided to walk down that way, and see where it led.

Training and Fights

After walking for four days without rest, Penny came upon a destroyed town. Braeburn didn't tell her any towns were destroyed, and since she couldn't read the sign, she didn't know which town it was. She looked around with a confused frown on her face, when suddenly a black shadow bursted from the surroundings. It settled it’s sudden movements to land in front of Penny. Sombra rose out of the shadow, looking at Penny with disdain.

“I should have known a pitiful human like you wouldn't know how to use the powers I gave her. Well, this place is as good as any to learn how to use them. Welcome to Tailton Springs!” Sombra said with a sarcastically happy smile, his own disdain for what had happened to Penny practically dripping from his tone.

Penny looked around, never having seen this kind of destruction in real life. She recalled a documentary about some Russian city in World War II that had pictures that looked just like this. All around her was evidence of lives disrupted. The smashed homes and ruined community. She walked slowly toward the center of town. She looked up and saw, in the distance, a murder of crows, circling. Her ears perked and she could hear the crowing.

She sniffed deeply and immediately covered her snout. She knew the stink was subtle and faint, but it hit her like a water balloon in the face. It smelled like garbage left in the hot sun for a week with a hint of pig. That was a smell that was hard to forget. She didn’t visit her uncle Dave’s farm very often, but that pig smell was unforgettable.

Penny stopped in mid step, about to tread on a child’s doll, torn, stuffing spilling out. It looked like her old stuffie, the one she’s had since, ‘Since as long as I can remember...’

Her voice was quite shocked, “What... what happened?” She turned to Sombra, her expression begging an answer

The dark unicorn in front of her laughed, “A couple of the other god’s pieces decided to fight here, and destroyed it in the process.”

Penny’s tail went between her legs at the thought of what the other players bodies must have been to cause a whole towns destruction. She simply stood there, too frozen by the sheer terror of what could be prowling about Equestria to talk. After a small while, she regained her nerve, and asked,  “So I’m supposed to learn how to use my powers here? Seems oddly convenient that I walked down that road to get away from the buffalo.”

“You could say that I scared them enough to stampede by appearing in front of them, so that you would get here. Now, its time for me to train you to use your powers I’ve given you. First things first, you can't go into shadow if you're in sunlight, you need to be in some type of shade. I do not have that limitation because they are my powers, but seeing that you don’t get to have all of my powers, you’ve got a few limitations that I, thankfully, don’t.” Sombra said plainly as he paced in a circle around Penny.

“You could have told me about my limitations before you almost got me killed by some buffalo.” Penny retorted as she followed the dark stallion’s movements with her eyes.

Sombra rolled his eyes, and came back with an air of carelessness. “It didn't matter, I knew that you would find the road to here. Now stop talking so I can train you on how to use your powers. Go to that rubble pile.” He pointed toward a pile of debris that still had some bits of wall intact.

“There is enough shade to work with there.”

Penny walked over to it and went into the pitiful amount of protection from the sun that the ruined building could provide. After she did, she turned to look at Sombra as he talked, Sombra was explaining her abilities, and how to use them.

“You can only travel from one shady place to another, and to do that you have to think about moving there. Now think about moving from the shade of the building to the shade of my shadow.”

Penny looked at Sombra’s shadow and thought about moving there, she closed her eyes when she started to go into shadow, when she started moving an ear piercing noise made her open her eyes and yell, her ears going little deaf in the process. She stopped thinking about moving and she went back to the normal world, she hadn't moved at all from where she was before.

“You didn't tell me about loud noises!” Penny yelled at Sombra as her hearing came back.

Sombra snorted with derision. “You get used to it, now try again!” He yelled with authority, prompting Penny to start anew.

Penny sighed and tried again, and, miraculously,  this time the noise was quieter and she moved toward Sombra’s shadow, very slowly.

This is so slow... Penny thought.

When she got to her patron god and came out of shadow she looked at Sombra. He looked extremely bored, looking at his hoof with great interest. With a heavy, theatrical sigh, Penny asked, “Oh, what now?”

Sombra looked at her, sniffing and placing his hoof to the ground yet again. “Seeing as that it took you an hour to get here, I guess I forgot to tell you about the time difference. There is a different dimension called the shadow dimension. While you are traveling within the shadows you are in that dimension, while you are in there, time will begin to distort. The shadow dimension’s own time is either faster or slower than the living world’s. Sometimes, when you think it has taken a couple seconds to get there, in the real world, it could have been longer. This also works the other way around, depending on just how the time distortion works itself out.”

Penny looked surprised. Lifting one of her eyebrows, she slightly turns her head to the side, before half heartedly responding, “That seems complicated, but if it makes sense to you...”

Sombra put up his hoof. “You seem to be more competent than I thought you would be, and you have learned shadowing rather fast. For the spreading of my influence part, thats easy. Stare into somepony’s eyes for a couple seconds, and you’ve done it.” Sombra said, absentmindedly.

Penny thought about that, then remembered something else. “You’ve said before that I could use fear as well, how do I do that?”  Penny asked as she tilted her head to the side.

Sombra sighed. “You go into shadow but you don't think about going anywhere, making you have a sort of outline because you're not completely in the shadow dimension. So you can talk and whisper in the dark to scare other ponies. A dark room or at night is a good time to do that around others, but you can learn and experiment on your own. Don't lose your collar, thats very important. If you lose it, you will have to get it back, you can't do anything without your collar.”

Penny sighed, bored with all of the talking that Sombra had been doing. “Fine, where should I go when I’m done here?”

“Anywhere.” Sombra said and he disappeared with a malicious grin.

He seems to like the disappearing act. Penny thought as she sighed and looked around, observing her barren surroundings.

                                                 ^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Penny had decided to walk around the town, but there was nothing there but rubble and dirt around the whole area. She had gone to a rubble pile and sniffed it, unable to identify the smell that came off it. She looked for another path to take that would lead her to somewhere else. After walking around the town for a few minutes, she found a path and started walking.

                                                          *****

Penny continued to walk down the path before her, the passage of time all but a blur. She heard growling and looked into the trees, suspecting some type of predator to jump out at her. When she saw nothing, she returned her attention to the road, until she heard it again. When she heard it that time, she could feel the ache in her abdomen, telling her that the growling was her stomach.

Deciding that food would be very good right about now, she walked into the forest and off the path to look for something edible. The forest was light and the sky was a light blue, the sunlight passed through the branches casting shadows and brightness, all while the branches sway gently in the breeze. The clouds in the sky where light and fluffy, unmoving before she noticed some chittering from a tree. When she looked to her left and saw a squirrel on the ground. She growled at it and chased it up the tree. Suddenly, she came to her senses and came to a full-stop.

What am I doing?

She looked up at a tree with purplish leaves and saw some small round red apples, excited, she walked over to it and jumped to try and get the apples. Her teeth closed just below the apple, and she fell back to the ground. She tried a few more times to just to get the apples, getting a little frustrated. Penny growled and decided to shadow, thinking about the branch but overshooting it by a couple of inches, and ended up being in the air and not on the branch. Gravity took effect and made her fall to the ground making apples fall on her head. Ow... Penny thought as she looked at the apples on the ground.

Penny wanted to just taste one, but her hunger was almost overpowering. She chewed and half swallowed one before she realized what a bitter flavor they had. She shook her head from side to side, trying to spit out the horrible taste. She started running, desperately looking for water, or even a dirty mud puddle. Anything to get that taste out. She was so consumed in disgust, she couldn't think logically and ran, not knowing where or which way she went. 'Yuck! Ugh! Ick! Blark!!' As she used some long grass to get the last of the taste out. She smelled something that hadn't  been there, until a moment ago, hidden by the aroma of bitter apple

Penny looked down the way she had come and saw a unicorn pony running towards her. When the pony got to her, he stopped and his blue eyes looked her up and down

“Hello, sweetie. Are you lost?” His voice was smooth. The kind of voice you knew you could trust. Still, there was something just the tiniest bit... off.

Penny started backing away nervously. There was something about this pony she didn’t like. She noticed his black swirl mark on his flank, and she had to it admit it was very beautiful, very deep, almost hypnotic. Hadn’t that cowboy pony said something about those pictures reflecting the individual?

The pony started to walk towards her “I’m Unique Star, mutt. I won't hurt you.” Star pets her neck and looked at her collar. He saw the black crystal and his eyes glowed greedily.

“You’re a stray, aren't you?” He laughed  “Ha ha! Good! This will be even easier.” Star laughed as he hit Penny and made her fall to the ground.

“Nopony will care if I steal from some mutt. And even if they do, I’ll just say you attacked me first. I can sell that crystal for a good few bits. Anyway, it’s always fun to steal.”

This pony is crazy. Penny thinks as she gets up and jumps on him, I’m not going to let him take what’s mine!. While on his back, she saw that the picture on his flank isn't a perfect swirl, it was jagged and went every which way.

Penny looked away from the picture and bit the unicorn, making him yell and throw her off. Star's horn glowed light gray, and a small cloud of sharp, jagged rocks lifted from the ground. As one they shot towards Penny, making painful little cuts all over her side. Before he could get another cloud of rocks ready, Penny got up and ran at Star, biting him in the leg.

Too frustrated with the dog to concentrate on manipulating all those small stones, he picked up Penny, throwing her against a tree and making her cry out in pain. Penny had felt a sharp spike of pain in her leg. Pen growled and decided not to speak in case it would make Star want to steal the crystal more, and attacked him, staying too close for him to throw stuff and moving too wildly for him to grab her. Sadly, her bites were doing nothing more than aggravating Star, and after a particularly lucky kick, Penny was slammed into yet another tree. Star walked over as she lay dazed and picked her up staring her in the eyes. “You little.. you’re going to pay for that.”

“You’re not dealing with some ordinary dog.” Penny growled

Star backed up for a second, not knowing what to make of this new development, but then a smile spread over his face as he realized the possibilities. “I’m gonna make some big money off you, you little mutt, but first it’s time to pay you back for all those nips.” An evil grin spread over his face as he glared right into Penny’s eyes. Penny had a mental smile, and remembered what Sombra said about his influence, she stared back and her eyes felt funny as the power went through them...

                                                               ***

Star was about to hit Penny when he suddenly stopped, unnerved by her stare. Her eyes suddenly changed and had black fire swirling around her eyes

                                                               ***

...Suddenly, Star dropped her and looked at the ground in despair. “Wait, what’s going on?” he said as he tried to shake the strange emotion. Anger flashed through his eyes as he realized she’d done something to him, then fear, then confusion. “I’ll make you pay for this.” He said as he stepped towards her. Their eyes met again and he dropped to his knees, suddenly fearing this strange creature. Well, discretion is the better part of valor. Star thought as he turned and half stumbled, half ran back the way he had come.

Worked better than I imagined but not what I thought would happen though, Penny thought as she got back up and started to walk, discovering that her back leg hurt with every step she took. She favored her back right leg and kept walking, hoping it would get better before she got to the next town.