Harmony Through Chaos - Book One: Emberdawn

by -Polaris-

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Alternate Universe, Human, Princess Luna, Changelings, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Comedy, Gilda, Romance, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle
Length: 50777

When dealing with balance on a universal scale, third party intervention frequently consists of ripping something from one universe, and dumping it in another. When the intended result is to create chaos, that thing is usually a human.

Story Description:
Chaos.

Chaos exists everywhere, in all things. Despite most cultures' best efforts to prevent it, chaos always finds a way. This is the universe's way of maintaining balance; no order without chaos, no chaos without order.

Balance.

Unfortunately for the universe, things don't always end up working how they're supposed to. Sometimes the balance is thrown off, and a third party is required to intervene.

When dealing with this kind of thing on a universal scale, the intervention frequently consists of ripping something from one universe, and dumping it in another. When the intended result is to create chaos, that thing is usually a human. Little explanation is required as to why this is.

Chaos Mages. That's what these human enforcers of chaos have come to be called over the years. In a land where order is complete, and the mere presence of a human is not enough, these Chaos Mages will be granted certain abilities. These abilities can range anywhere from enough telekinesis to move a stone, to the ability to move an entire continent; it all depends on how off balance things are.

On a lovely world called Equus, lies the Kingdom of Equestria. Not long ago, this kingdom somehow found itself the target of a mad God. The duty of this God, known to the inhabitants of Equus as 'Discord', was once to ensure that the world didn't fall into a monotonous order. He went a bit overboard.

With Discord encased in stone, unable to influence the balance of the universe in which he had resided, things quickly calmed down. There were a few instances of the order being disturbed; the invasion of the capital of Equestria by a Changeling Swarm being prominent amongst them. After that, and a couple other outbursts of chaos, life quickly became disgustingly orderly for the citizens of Equus.

An intervention was deemed necessary. From across the dimensional void, a single human was plucked from his life, and dropped into the middle of Equestria. Of course, no one bothered to tell him what was going on.

Updates:
Yes, the human is turned into a pony in Chapter Three. I realize that this dissuades some people, so it should be noted that he's human again by the end of Chapter Five.
Keep up to date on writing progress with the 'Story Progress' module on my user page. It gets updated multiple times daily.
No, This isn't a self-insert... -_-
Please like if you're going to favorite. It's really hard to properly judge myself when people don't.
Yep, he's a pony again in seven. This is once again temporary. In fact, this will always be temporary, so stop asking.

Current Approval Rating:
93%

Credits:
Cover Art Background: Jonathan Kirtz
EIC: Mercury Hawk
RM: Rose Darkwind
CWA: Emerald Wind
OC 'Light Gear' By Deadinlight

Other Stories:
Moonlit Skies: The airship Australis and her captain, a pegasus scientist named Verdant Aurora, take off on a quest across Equestria. Along the way, they pick up a bat-pony mare, and fight their way through pirates and bounty hunters.
Song Of The Sunsparrow: When the Gods make war, nothing is unaffected. They rally their unwitting pawns, and choose one reality as their battleground. They are omnipotent and omnipresent, yet even they couldn't account for everything. Nothing could account for this.
[DEADLINE PARADOX] (Side-Story to Song Of The Sunsparrow): Not all wars present you with a clear opposition. Sometimes, there are no heroes and no villains. Sometimes, we are all just soldiers. The same is true of the Gods themselves, and when they go to war, things are not always black and white...
Redemption of the Sun: Celestia must find her place in a scarred world, a world she nearly ended twenty-one years prior. Meanwhile, dark forces gather in the southern wasteland, and there are no Elements of Harmony to fight them.

Future Books Of This Series:
Book Two - Emberblade (Cover Art)
Book Three - Emberfall (Cover Art)

Author's Note:
I'm starting another big project. Is this a bad idea? Probably. Will it reduce the time I have for other things? Most definitely. Do I look like I care? Nope! :pinkiehappy:

Writing started near the end of Season 3.

Published 2013-02-23 20:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2015-01-01 07:01:57 UTC

n°1.2 - Welcome To Canterlot

The human and his changeling companion walked through the streets of Canterlot. The ponies responded by creating complete and utter chaos. The human liked this. As such, he was having a hard time talking due to his laughter. “—And then—” He broke off to laugh some more before catching his breath and continuing. “—And then— Did you see Blueblood!? He was— He was—” He started laughing again, unable to finish the sentence.

The unamused changeling gave no response.

“Oh, you’re no fun...” They reached the castle gates after a few more blocks, where the human froze some angry guards in place with a snap of his fingers. “Now how do we get in...?” He suddenly grinned and turned to the changeling. “There’s an open balcony over there. Can you still use your wings while in human form?”

“Yes.” The changeling’s insectoid wings suddenly appeared on her human form in a flash of verdant flames.

After a few moments of silence, the human burst out laughing again. “Nice wings, Tinkerbell!”

“Ugh... I liked the other name better...” Without giving the human time to respond, she took off and flew in the direction of the aforementioned balcony.

With a shake of his head and a snap of his fingers, the human teleported up to meet her. Little did he expect at the time that he was about to teleport into the bedroom of the Lunar Princess. Somehow, it took seeing her looking at something through her telescope to realize that that was the reason for the star-themed room. Unfortunately for the Princess, she was too busy with her telescope to notice her guests.

The human put a finger to his lips as a signal for the changeling to be quiet. She nodded in confirmation. The human slowly made his way over to the Princess... where he promptly shoved his face in front of the telescope and yelled, “Hey Lulu!” The only reason he didn’t meet the same fate as the wall behind him was that the force of Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice had knocked him over.

The changeling giggled. “Heheh... You almost died.”

“Shaddap!”

“Got a name yet?”

“No...”

“Got a name yet?”

“No.”

“Got a name yet?”

“No!”

“Got a name yet?”

“NO! How about you come up with a name if you want me to have one so badly!?”

Jackson paused, stared at the drone for a few seconds, then made an angry cat noise and continued walking. “Fine, but if I come up with something stupid, you’re not getting out of it.”

“Deal.”

“...”

“Got a name yet?”

Jackson threw his arms into the air. “Quit pestering me, woman!”

“Got a name yet?”

“Felicia.”

“What?”

“I do hereby name you Felicia, because that’s a human name and you’re always so happy!” Jackson somehow managed to say this with an even tone while looking directly at his companion’s angry frown.

“No.”

“Come on everypony

Smile, smile, smile!”

“No.”

“Fill my heart up with sunshine,

Sunshine!

All I really need's a smile, smile, smile!

From these happy friends of mine!”

“No.”

“I can keep going if you want.”

Felicia instantly gave a massive smile and assured him, “No, no need. I’m smiling now, look.”

“I am looking, and if it weren’t for the fact that you look like a female version of me, I’d say you look really cute when you smile.” The changeling blushed and fell back a couple paces. ’Make journey awkward for companion: Check.’

And so it was that for the entire five day trip, Felicia refused to make eye contact with her companion. She began to behave normally again at around the time they reached Canterlot. Likely due to the fact that the entrance was crawling with guards, and that was more important that any prior awkward situations... For her anyway... Jackson on the other hand; he just walked right up to the guards like he expected to be let in.

“‘Ello! Fine weather today, innit?” It really was; the sun was high in the sky, and not a cloud was in sight. Though apparently the guard liked cloudy days better or something, because his immediate response was to use his magic to point a spear at the human’s face. “Uh-oh. Somepony’s grumpy.”

“Halt and state your intentions, creature!”

“I am going to waltz through the streets of Canterlot, creating mass panic along the way until I reach the castle, at which point I will prank the Princess into thinking I’m Discord.”

Felicia facepalmed. “You idiot.”

“Sh! The grownups are talking; and they have swords.”

“Actually, he has a spear.”

“Shut up. We’re not having this argument right now.”

“Yes we are.”

“Fine.” He turned back to the guard, who wasn’t certain if he should laugh or call for reinforcements. “Do you have a sword?”

The guard lowered his spear a bit. “Yes...”

“There. He does have a sword, even if he’s not using it. If we had money, you would have totally been down ten bits.” He then snapped his fingers, causing the guard’s magic to stop and the spear to drop. That might not have been the best idea.

The guard immediately began frantically tapping the side of his horn with one hoof. “Ah! What did you do to me!?” The rest of the guards, who up until now had been standing on the sidelines, immediately rushed forwards. *Snap!* Correction: They rushed forwards in slow motion.

Jackson grinned as he watched the guards’ faces very slowly became looks of confusion. He chuckled, then said, “Alright. Let’s go.” before walking off.

Felicia gave a nervous glance to the guards behind them as she jogged to catch up. “How long is that going to last?”

“What? The slomo? Heh, fuck if I know.” He quickly corrected, “Sorry, ‘buck’.”

“Aren’t you going to get worn out from using your powers on that many for an extended period of time?”

“Actually, It’s not using an opposite force to slow them, it’s literally absorbing their kinetic energy. If anything, it’ll make me stronger.”

“That seems... unfair.”

“Yeah, but it apparently requires a lot of concentration to hold. That’s why the guards are all running at us again.”

“What!?”

Jackson took off running. “Come on!”

Felicia followed in a panic. “Those guards are going to kill us if they catch us!”

“I know! Isn’t it exciting!?”

“You’re crazy!”

“What’s your point!?”

She looked at the crazed human, who seemed to be enjoying their situation a lot more than he should be. “I’m not sure anymore!”

“Look out!” She returned her gaze forward and saw that they were about to run into a white unicorn with a blonde mane. She adjusted her course to go around him, while Jackson simply vaulted over the confused unicorn, snapping his fingers as he did so. Once back on course, he placed his newly acquired bag of bits in his coat pocket. “Heh... dick.”

The castle gates were just visible at the end of the street, but there were still an entire city’s worth of guards chasing them. Felicia glanced back at them, and immediately tripped. “Woah!”

Jackson looked back, saw that she had made the same mistake as he had with the manticore, laughed at the irony, then froze all of the approaching guards in place. He walked over to the fallen changeling, then helped her up. “Wasn’t that fun?”

“... Maybe a little.” Jackson gave her a smug look, which she promptly ignored.  “Those guys are completely frozen this time. I take it that one cost energy?”

“Yeah, but I managed to swipe a bag of bits off of Prince Blueblood, so I can just go buy a coffee later.” He started laughing. “Speaking of which, THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!” He now broke down completely. “—And then—” He paused to laugh some more before catching his breath and continuing. “—And then— Did you see Blueblood!? He was— He was—” He started laughing again, unable to finish the sentence.

Felicia didn’t even bother responding.

“Oh, you’re no fun...” They reached the castle gates after a few more blocks, where Jackson froze some more angry guards in place with a snap of his fingers. “Now how do we get in...?” He suddenly grinned and turned to the changeling. “There’s an open balcony over there. Can you still use your wings while in human form?”

“Yes.” Her insectoid wings suddenly appeared on her human form in a flash of verdant flames.

After a few moments of silence, Jackson burst out laughing again. “Nice wings, Tinkerbell!”

“Ugh... I liked the other name better...” Without giving him time to respond, she took off and flew in the direction of the aforementioned balcony.

With a shake of his head and a snap of his fingers, Jackson teleported up to meet her. He had noted before that the inside of the room had a nighttime theme, but quickly realized the significance of that when he arrived to find Princess Luna looking at something through her telescope.

He put a finger to his lips as a signal for Felicia to be quiet. She nodded in confirmation. Jackson slowly made his way over to the Princess... where he promptly shoved his face in front of the telescope and yelled, “Hey Lulu!” The only reason he didn’t meet the same fate as the wall behind him was that the force of Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice had knocked him over.

Felicia giggled. “Heheh... You almost died.”

“Shaddap!” He glanced at the completely destroyed wall behind him, then addressed Luna. “That’s no way to treat guests!” Luna simply gawked at him. “Careful... Might catch some flies with your mouth open like that.”

The Princess quickly regained her composure, then asked, “Human, how did you get into my chambers?”

“My name’s Jackson, but please, call me Jackie. And as for how I got up here? I~ snapped my fingers, and poof! I was suddenly standing on your balcony!” He glanced behind him again before correcting, “Former balcony.”

“You snapped your— Show me.”

“Ugh... I’m a bit worn out from dealing with all those guards... I know! Throw something really heavy at me!”

Without hesitating, she immediately used her magic to chuck a portion of the wall at him. He snapped his fingers, and the stone slowed to a crawl. Luna was once again gawking. “You—”

“Whew, thanks. I really needed that.” He stretched, then headed for the door. “I’m bored. I’m gonna go prank your sister.”

This seemed to snap her out of her catatonic state. “You can’t! You’re a Chaos Mage! Tia will kill you on sight!”

Jackson froze. “Imma what?”

“You don’t know? Chaos Mages are always briefed on their jobs before being sent.”

“Meh?”

Back on earth...

An odd looking man in a cloak stood staring at room two-oh-eight on the second floor of a local law firm. He suddenly lunged forward and threw the door open. It revealed an office. Inside, there was a very confused man in a suit. The cloaked one slowly closed the door. He narrowed his eyes and stared at it for a bit more before lifting his arms up and screaming, “I AM AHRIMANES, AGENT OF CHAOS, AND I COMMAND THIS GATEWAY TO OPEN!”

Meanwhile in room two-ten, the man who was once Jackson’s potential employer looked at the floor and slowly shook his head. “I thought I told Lindsay to stop letting drunks into the office...”

Jackson scratched his chin in thought before coming to a conclusion. “Oh well.”

As he made another move for the door, Felicia said, “I am not coming with you to go get killed by an angry Sun Goddess.”

“Yes you are.”

“Alright, yes I am; but only because Queen Chrysalis ordered me to stay with you.”

“You’re worried about me getting us killed, then you go and tell a Princess of Equestria that you’re a changeling. Sometimes I wonder about you...”

Jackson and Felicia both looked to Luna for her reaction to the revelation. She simply shrugged and said, “You’re a Chaos Mage.” as though that explained everything.

Apparently to Jackson it did, because his only response was, “True.” He continued to the door, and opened it to find his way blocked by a white unicorn with a blue mane. “Nope.” He then slammed the door shut and ran back to the other end of the room. “Nope, nope, nope, nope, nop—” The door was blown off it’s hinges by a purple forcefield.

Shining Armor strode confidently into the room, sword levitated at his side, and immediately noticed the human peeking out from behind Princess Luna. “Are you alright, Princess?”

Luna looked at Jackson, then back at Shining. “I think I’ll live.” She then moved out of the unicorn’s way, exposing the human.

He stood up and glared at Luna. “Hey!”

The Princess giggled. “As an enemy of the state, I cannot legally assist you. Sorry Jackie.”

“Meh. Your fault when I beat the crap outta Shiny then.”

“I’m not hindering you either.” She mentioned with a grin.

Jackson grinned back. “You want something from me. I’m going to beat Shiny, then prank your sister. If I’m still alive, I’ll see what I can do for you.”

“Most generous.”

Shining was staring at the Princess, who had just basically said that she wanted him to lose. Jackson called, “Oi! Prettyboy!” returning Shining’s attention to the human. “Catch!” He pulled out his sword and threw it at the Guard-Captain.

Shining ducked under the blade. At the same moment, Jackson jumped at him and teleported. The human appeared directly behind him, and caught the sword. He swung it downwards, and Shining blocked the attack without moving a muscle. Oh right; magic...

Shining slowly turned around to face the human. The blades of the two adversaries remained locked until Jackson pulled back. 'I can't compete with this shit! Uh...' "Felicia, throw stuff at me!"

The changeling looked confused for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay." Multiple pieces of the destroyed wall were lifted into the air by a green aura. "Here ya' go!"

Jackson caught the pieces with his slowing power, then started running around and hitting them. Shining meanwhile, was just standing there looking confused. He remained so up until the point when he realized that the floating chunks of solid stone were surrounding him. He looked at Jackson, who was now leaning against a wall and grinning.

*Snap!*

The Guard-Captain didn't even have time to raise a barrier. Luna glanced at his unconscious form as she followed Jackson and Felicia out of the room. She winced. "Sorry..."

Celestia watched from her throne with an unreadable expression as numerous guards in golden armor took up positions around the room. There were a few moments of calm as they vigilantly waited for a threat to appear. It didn't take long before they heard the sound of laughter.

The giant double-doors at the end of the room swung open, and in walked two humans and an alicorn. The male human was saying something to Luna, though he appeared to be having a hard time stopping himself from laughing. "And then I said, 'Oatmeal!? Are you crazy!?'" All three of the newcomers began to laugh. Between breaths, the male human finished, "Anyways, that's how I lost my medical license."

Luna's smile dropped with incredible velocity. "Wait, what?"

Before he had a chance to explain—If he actually could explain in the first place—He was surrounded by royal guards. He didn't seem to mind. He snapped his fingers, then continued straight through the circle of guards. "Hello Tia! Long time no see! Say, did you gain weight?"

Despite his taunting, the Princess of The Sun remained calm. "Who are you?"

"Hello, I'm The Fourth Protocol."

Celestia looked confused. "That makes no sense."

Perfectly mimicking the voice of a certain God of Chaos, he responded, "Oh what fun is there in making sense?" He summoned a glass of chocolate milk, then drank the glass. "Ugh... that tastes like crap..." He threw the chocolate milk to the side, where it promptly exploded.

"Discord!" Celestia jumped to her hooves, and several more guards ran at the human.

With a grin, he snapped his fingers once more. "STOP!" the rest of the guards froze in place. With her guards immobilized, Celestia took it upon herself to fight, and began firing beams of burning sunlight from her horn.  "Hammertime!" The human started to do a strange dance, causing all of the oncoming attacks to miss. He stopped and looked around. "Wow... I didn't think that would actually work..."

Celestia noticed that he had suddenly stopped talking with Discord's voice. "Who are you really?" She asked, confused.

"You can call me Jackie, but ONLY IF YOU LIKE BEING DISEMBOWELED BY AN ANGRY GOD OF CHAOS AND HAVING HIM PLAY JUMP-ROPE WITH YOUR ENTRAILS! If not, you can call me Jackson, Interdimensional Mage of Chaos.

"Very well... Jackson." She said, looking slightly worried by his outburst.

"Wait... Aren't you going to kill me?"

"Chaos Mages have been considered inherently evil after... Well, let's just say that if I did have you killed, it would be justified. You however, are using non-lethal attacks, whereas every previous Chaos Mage had no problem with killing every pony in sight."

"So we're cool?"

"No. Despite your good behavior, you are still a Chaos Mage, and I will not have you anywhere near this city."

"Meh. That's okay. I have something I need to do for Chryssy anyway."

"Chryssy?"

"He means Queen Chrysalis, sister." Luna spoke up. "The female is actually a changeling.

Jackson ignored Celestia's inquiring look, choosing instead to glare at Luna. "I thought you were on our side."

Luna just giggled. "Sorry Jackie, but the only side I'm on is my own."

"Wow... You're almost as bad as Chrysalis. At least you didn't read my memories without my permission." Luna gave him a sheepish grin. "Nevermind..."

Celestia looked to her sister with a questioning expression, but didn't say anything to her. Instead, she continued to address Jackson. "In any case, you are not to stay anywhere near this city." Jackson grinned. "And stay away from Ponyville as well, or I will kill you."

Jackson continued grinning. "Okay." He walked back to the entrance and unfroze the guards. "Come on Felicia."

The changeling followed him, casting a nervous glance back at the Sun Goddess behind them. When she caught up, she whispered to him, "You're not thinking of going to Ponyville, are you?"

"Mmmaybe?"

"Celestia said she'd kill you."

"So? What's the worst that could happen?"

"Celestia said she'd kill you!"

"Oh it'll be fine. I've still gotta kidnap Princess Luna and help your Queen beforehand— Er, 'hoof'. Beforehoof. Shiiit this is hard. THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!"

"What's what who— Wait, you're trying to distract me! What was that about kidnapping the Princess?"

"What! I would never suggest such a thing!" He pretended to be deep in thought for a moment. "Then again, that does sound exciting... Thanks Felicia! You're always full of great ideas!"

One of the guards that had followed them out of the throne room as escort piped up, “You know that we can hear you, right?”

Jackson turned to look at the guard as they walked. “No. In fact, I didn’t even realize you were there. He looked at another guard, then back to the first. “You guys are like ninjas... Big. Shiny. Ninjas. Well, at least I don't have to tell Luna to expect me.”

Felicia shook her head. "Jackson, your logic is flawed."

"My logic is IMMORTAL!"

"Immortal?"

"Shut up. I know what I said, and I stand by it."

"This... Is going to be a long week..."

n°1.3 - To Steal A Princess

“Psst!”

“...”

“Psst!”

“Ugh...”

“Hey! Luna!”

“Wha— Jackie...?”

“Yeah. Wakey wakey, sleepy-head. I thought you were always up at night anyway.”

“I usually am, but thanks to you I had to stay awake for most of the day yesterday.”

“Eh, suck it up. Sleep is for the weak.”

The Princess sat up to find the human kneeling beside her bed, grinning like a madman; and hey, who’s to say he isn’t one? “You would say that.”

“What... was that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know...” She allowed herself to fall back into her pillows. “So tired...”

The human thought for a moment about how best to get the Princess out of bed. He went with one of the stupidest out of his many options. Without any hesitation, he reached over and flicked the tip of her horn. With a yelp, a flurry of motion, and a flash of indigo, the human was lying on his back on the other side of the room and The Princess was standing upright on her bed. “Ow...”

The Princess snorted indignantly. “Serves you right.”

“Well the goal was to get you up, so...” Still lying on his back, the human thrust both of his arms into the air and gave the universe a double thumbs-up. “Flawless victory!”

“I believe that your victory did in fact have a few flaws, but I am awake nonetheless.”

The human sat up and saw The Princess rubbing at her eyes with one hoof. The motion drew his attention to her mane, which looked like it could potentially have something living inside it. In fact... ’Holy shit! Did Scorpius just move!?’ The human had the courage—or stupidity—to walk up to the Goddess of the sun and intentionally anger her; he feared no God, but that thing— It scared him.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Luna, fix your mane.”

“What?”

“Fix it.”

“Why is this—”

“Fixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixit—”

“Okay!” With a flash of her horn, Scorpius’ nest was returned to it’s usual flowing state. “Would you mind telling me what that was about?”

“Scorpius was coming for me.”

The Princess raised an eyebrow at that. “You know that the stars in my mane aren’t real, right?”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, down to business. You’re probably wondering what I want.”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Well, I had an idea, but you gave me a better one.”

“How do you mean?”

“My guards warned me of something you said as you were leaving, and I came to a decision. I want you to kidnap me.”

The human bit his lip in thought and looked at the ceiling. After a few seconds, he crossed his arms and nodded. “M’kay. Why?”

The Princess walked over and sat down beside him. “Do you remember when my sister was going to tell you why she hates Chaos Mages, but she changed her mind mid-sentence?”

“Yeah...”

“What do you know about Lord Infernus of Gryphus?”

It had been hours since the moon had risen; Jackson and Felicia had decided to set up camp about halfway between Canterlot and Ponyville, where the two were currently huddled around a small fire. Felicia wasn't a happy changeling. "Jackson, you can't honestly be thinking of going through with this. The hive needs you!" She pleaded.

"It'll be fine." Jackson answered with a wave of his hand. "I'm invisible, see?"

Felicia facepalmed; a motion which she felt she would be repeating quite frequently in the coming days. "Yes, I do see. That would be because you aren't invisible."

"Well... I could turn invisible, but I have no idea how much energy it would take..." He looked thoughtful. "I should test these things some day..."

"My point is, Queen Chrysalis was right. Without you, the entire hive might starve to death. You are important!"

"Yes, yes, I know. I'm being careful, Felicia. I'm an engineer, and that means I solve problems... I can't believe I just used that line... But anyway, this is what I'm good at. I'll find a way into the castle and be out again just as easily. Celestia will be none the wiser."

"She's a Goddess. I'm pretty sure she'll be able to figure it out. Especially since they've been warned by those guards."

"Celestia won't think I'd actually try it. Only a madman would do something that stupid."

"So you're doing it why?"

"You probably should have figured it out by now, but I am most assuredly a madman."

Felicia chuckled before responding, "You're right. Don't know how I never noticed."

"It's cause my madness is invisible."

"Just like your logic is immortal?"

"Exactly!"

"So you're sure you want to go without me?"

"Yeah. I can move faster on my own. Just be ready if we need to keep moving once I get back."

As Jackson stood up, Felicia stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful, Jackie."

Jackson just gave her a reassuring smile; genuine, not his usual crazy grin he put on for show. "Like I said, I'm already being careful. By the way, that's the first time you've called me Jackie." With a snap of his fingers, the human was gone.

The faint light of the moon revealed a bipedal shape flitting between bushes. The eyes of a lone night-guard watched from the walls of Canterlot, uncertain as to whether or not he should raise an alarm.

There was a snap, and the night-guard was sent stumbling backwards from an elbow to the face. Another snap, and he was suddenly falling thirty-six hooves to the ground.

Jackson dragged the body of the guard closer to the base of the wall, where he proceeded to check for a pulse. He gave the unconscious bat-pony a pat on the back, then stood up and said, "You'll be fine."

Twenty minutes and five guards later, Jackson had made it to the castle entrance, where he found the same balcony from before. It had all been repaired, and— Why were the balcony doors open? 'This is quite obviously a trap.' He then proceeded to teleport up and through the doors taking care to avoid the blatantly obvious security runes on the doorframe.

He quietly moved to the bedside, where Luna was sleeping. “Psst!”

“...”

“Psst!”

“Ugh...”

“Hey! Luna!”

“Wha— Jackie...?”

“Yeah. Wakey wakey, sleepy-head. I thought you were always up at night anyway.”

“I usually am, but thanks to you I had to stay awake for most of the day yesterday.”

“Eh, suck it up. Sleep is for the weak.”

Luna sat up to find Jackson kneeling beside her bed, grinning like a madman; and hey, who’s to say he isn’t one? “You would say that.”

“What... was that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t know...” She allowed herself to fall back into her pillows. “So tired...”

Jackson thought for a moment about how best to get her out of bed. He went with one of the stupidest out of his many options. Without any hesitation, he reached over and flicked the tip of her horn. With a yelp, a flurry of motion, and a flash of indigo, he was lying on his back on the other side of the room and Luna was standing upright on her bed. “Ow...”

Luna snorted indignantly. “Serves you right.”

“Well the goal was to get you up, so...” Still lying on his back, Jackson thrust both of his arms into the air and gave the universe a double thumbs-up. “Flawless victory!”

“I believe that your victory did in fact have a few flaws, but I am awake nonetheless.”

Jackson sat up and saw Luna rubbing at her eyes with one hoof. The motion drew his attention to her mane, which looked like it could potentially have something living inside it. In fact... ’Holy shit! Did Scorpius just move!?’ Jackson had the courage—or stupidity—to walk up to the Goddess of the sun and intentionally anger her; he feared no God, but that thing— It scared him.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Luna, fix your mane.”

“What?”

“Fix it.”

“Why is this—”

“Fixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixitfixit—”

“Okay!” With a flash of her horn, Scorpius’ nest was returned to it’s usual flowing state. “Would you mind telling me what that was about?”

“Scorpius was coming for me.”

Luna raised an eyebrow at that. “You know that the stars in my mane aren’t real, right?”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, down to business. You’re probably wondering what I want.”

“Yeah, a little.”

“Well, I had an idea, but you gave me a better one.”

“How do you mean?”

“My guards warned me of something you said as you were leaving, and I came to a decision. I want you to kidnap me.”

Jackson bit his lip in thought and looked at the ceiling. After a few seconds, he crossed his arms and nodded. “M’kay. Why?”

Luna walked over and sat down beside him. “Do you remember when my sister was going to tell you why she hates Chaos Mages, but she changed her mind mid-sentence?”

“Yeah...”

“What do you know about Lord Infernus of Gryphus?”

"..."

"..."

"You're joking, right? I've only been in this universe for a few days; no, I don't know anything about some stupid gryphon."

"My point is, he wasn't a gryphon. He was a Chaos Mage. The first Chaos Mage."

"Okay?"

"He was sent here only a couple years after the fall of Discord. He—"

"I like how you just assume that I know who Discord is." Jackson interrupted. "I mean, I do, but still."

"Right. Sorry. Anyways, Lord Infernus was sent here only a few years after the fall of Discord as an experiment of sorts. Whatever forces regulate the universe didn't really know how much power Infernus would need to restore balance, so they just gave him infinite power. That... was a mistake."

"No shit."

"Shut up, Jackie."

"Uh-huh. Yep."

"Lord Infernus—as his name may suggest—was a pyromancer. Using all of his power, he created a sword out of solid flame; The Emberblade. With the power contained in the sword, he conquered all of Gryphus before my sister and I managed to defeat him."

"How'd you manage that if he was all-powerful?"

"We dropped the sun on him."

"Well shit, that'd probably do it."

"It also took out half the planet. That would be why—despite their violent nature—the gryphons have never attacked Equestria. It took thousands of years just for that side of the world to become habitable again, and thousands more before they could begin to rebuild. I was... gone for the last bit of that." Luna's ears drooped as she said the last part. Jackson immediately surprised her by walking over and giving her a hug. "What are you doing?"

"Hey! I may be an asshole, but no sane being could resist giving a sad pony a hug."

"Right..."

Jackson released her, then backed away again. "Well, confused pony is better than sad pony. Sad pony is bad pony."

"Let's... move on."

"Right, so what was the moral of the story? Don't anger the Goddesses?"

Luna flashed him a smirk. "That too. But what I'm trying to say is, I want you to kidnap me and take me to find the lost Emberblade."

"Once again, why?"

"Before my banishment, one of the duties of a Princess was to protect her ponies. When I got back, things were different."

"I still don't get it."

"Gah! How are you so dense!? I want to go on an adventure again, but Tia won't let me!"

"Well why didn't you say so!? Let's go!" Jackson ran out onto the balcony, where Luna followed. "Uh... You avoided the security runes on the doorframe, right?"

"Security... runes...?"

"Goddammit."

Celestia, flanked on either side by a squad of guards, burst through the door. "Jackson! What do you think you are doing!?"

"I'm kidnapping your sister at her request because she's tired of you refusing to let her go on adventures." In response to Luna's resulting glare, he explained to her, "Revenge for not noticing the blatantly obvious security runes."

Luna still looked angry. "I didn't see them, and on that note, how do you even know what a security rune looks like?"

"I don't, but what other kind of rune would be hanging around on the doorframe of your conveniently open balcony?"

"... Touché."

Jackson grabbed Luna and pulled her backwards. As he did so, he called out, "Avante!" Before disappearing off the edge of the balcony.

Celestia rushed forwards and prepared to dive off the balcony after her sister... except no one was there. In fact, there was no sign that the human or the alicorn had ever been there. Celestia sat down at the edge and shook her head in confusion. "Sister, what are you thinking...?"

Felicia sat in silence as the last wisps of flame died down. Still she waited, looking into the glowing embers in silence. Just as she stood up to go check Canterlot for Jackson, he appeared beside her with a snap, holding onto a terrified Princess Luna. The Princess shoved Jackson sideways and sat down with a quiet thud. "Never. Again."

Jackson lied down and yawned. "Eh... You get used to it."

"You've done that before then?"

"Uh... No?"

"I'm starting to think that this was a bad idea."

"Yeah, probably."

Felicia walked over and nudged him with her foot. "Jackson, the Princess is nocturnal."

He gave an unenthusiastic swat at the offending appendage and mumbled, "Long distance teleport made me tired. We can be nocturnal tomorrow..."

Luna sat down and looked at the sky. "It's alright," she told Felicia, "Let him rest."

Felicia snorted, then went and sat down beside Luna. "So did Jackson tell you the plan? Cause he didn't tell me."

"Actually, the plan is mine. We are going to hide out in Ponyville for a night and get some supplies, then we will return to your hive so that Jackie can finish his business with your Queen. From there, we will head to Baltimare and catch a boat to Gryphus."

"Do I even want to know why?"

Luna looked down at the false human beside her and shot her a wry grin. "We're hunting for the Emberblade."

"Oh. Joy."

"It'll be fun."

"Fun? Ugh. You're just like Jackson." Felicia stood up again and went to lay down beside the still-warm embers of the former fire. "Nocturnal or not, we're going to be up during the day tomorrow, so you should probably get some sleep. I don't want to listen to Jackson complaining about your slowness in the morning."

Luna stayed looking at her stars long after the others had fallen asleep. Eventually she looked at Jackson and giggled to herself. "Oh Jackie, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into..." After that, she lay down, resting her head on her forelegs, and fell asleep.

"UP!"

"Ah!" Luna jumped to her hooves, eyes flying open. She immediately regretted that second part.

While Luna waited for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight, Jackson was busy trying to wake up Felicia. The tired changeling was having none of it. "Lee'me alone..."

"No. Up."

"Go away..."

"Upupupupupupup!"

"Uuuuuugh... You enjoy waking people up far too much..."

"Fine. We'll go, and you can explain to Chrysalis why you aren't with us when we get to the hive."

It took six seconds of hectic scrambling for Felicia to get upright, at which point she immediately began walking towards Ponyville. "Alright! Let's get going, shall we!?"

"We're not Leaving yet.”

Felicia responded by repeatedly bashing her hand into her face. “Why was it so important that I get up then?”

“Seriously? I’m the only one who realizes this?”

Luna stretched, then got up and walked over to the two of them. “Exactly what is it that you’ve realized, Jackie?”

“Felicia and I—the only two humans on the planet—are now wanted by the Royal Guard, and we’re just going to walk in there?”

“...”

“Why are you both staring at me?”

“Um, wow.” Felicia said as she sat down on a nearby rock, looking as though she was about to pass out from shock. “I think that might be the first intelligent thing you’ve said all week...”

“Well I’m just going to have to do something extremely stupid later to make up for it. In the meantime; ideas?” With a flash of green fire, Felicia turned into a pegasus with a chocolate coat and a dark brown mane. Jackson was going to make a sexual joke about the chocolate thing, but instead settled for, “Fuck you. What am I supposed to do?”

Luna grinned and began to slowly walk towards him.

“Luna? What’cha doin’?”

Luna’s grin got wider, and she kept moving forwards.

Jackson began to back away. “Luna?”

Twilight Sparkle slipped out of her bed and made her way downstairs. Objective 1: Coffee. She took one step towards the kitchen, and was immediately blocked by Spike. He looked even more tired than she did. “Twilight, you got a letter from the Princess in the middle of the night, and I had to stay up so I could give it to you when you woke up. Here.” He held out the letter for Twilight to take.

In response, Twilight scrutinized the scroll and coherently stated, “Ugh.” Apparently Twilight’s a bit less of a morning pony than Jackson... She walked around the half-sleeping dragon, then grabbed herself a cup of coffee. She drank the entire cup in one go, shook her head violently, poured herself another cup, then levitated the letter over to her. She took a sip of her coffee as she unfurled the letter. Said coffee quickly found itself on the other side of the room. ”WHAT!?”

Despite his semi-conscious state, Spike knew well enough that the sort of reaction he just witnessed couldn’t mean anything good. “What is it this time?”

A suddenly coherent Twilight answered, “Princess Luna has been kidnapped by a changeling and an agent of chaos!”

“Oh... If that’s all, then I’m going to bed.”

“Spike! This is—” Spike was already gone. “Great.”

*Knock knock knock*

“Oh, what now?” Twilight walked to the front door and opened it, revealing none other than Princess Luna. To her left was a brown pegasus mare, and to her right was a unicorn stallion who appeared to be the mare’s twin. “Wha’?”

“Hello Twilight Sparkle, may we come in?”

“But... Princess Celestia said that you were kidnapped!”

The unicorn facehoofed. “See, Luna? I told you this would happen. I’m always right.”

Luna glared at the stallion and answered, “Jackie, be quiet. I have this covered.” She then turned back to Twilight, and gave a clearly fake smile. “Tia was just playing a prank on you, Twilight Sparkle. As you can see, I am perfectly fine. I Wouldn’t even bother telling her we’re here.”

Twilight skeptically raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

Jackson turned to the pegasus and said, “Felicia, go look for someplace to camp outside of town. If Luna keeps coming up with horrible cover stories like this, I highly doubt that we’re gonna be staying here.” Felicia chuckled, then nodded and flew off. Luna was still attempting to keep that fake smile going. Twilight was not convinced. “Epic fail.”

n°1.4 - It Was Twilight's Fault

"This is your fault."

"Shut up."

"I hate you."

"I know."

The brown unicorn stallion ignored the quarreling mares and looked up at the pool of lava above him. Wait... Uh, let's just flip the camera angle... There! The brown unicorn stallion ignored the quarreling mares and looked down at the pool of lava he was hanging over from a tangle of vines. "This sucks..."

His statement was completely ignored. The purple unicorn mare was struggling to use a spell to no avail. "How is this my fault exactly? This was your idea!"

The brown pegasus mare stopped trying to free her wings for a second in order to roll her eyes. "Yeah, but you were the one who actually cast the spell!"

"You told me to cast it!"

"Why did you listen!?"

"I thought you knew what you were doing!"

"Well I didn't!"

The unicorn stallion started flailing wildly in an attempt to cover his ears. "AAAAAH! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

A brief awkward silence followed, but before anyone could say anything else, they were interrupted by the appearance of a midnight blue alicorn from the bushes on one side of the lava pool. "Will you three keep it down?"

"Ohhh... Heeey Luna! When'd you get here?"

"Just now. Hold on while I get you down."

As the three ponies were untangled and levitated to safety, the unicorn stallion commented, "Huh... Usually it's the handsome hero rescuing the Princess." *thud* "Ow."

"Oops. My bad."

As the stallion picked himself up off the ground, the two mares were gently placed beside him. "So where are we?"

The Princess, the pegasus, and the stallion all looked at the lavender unicorn. "Um... east?"

"Shit..."

Jackson looked back and forth between Luna and Twilight before saying, "This isn't working. I vote that we tell Twilight the truth."

Luna glared at him. "I vote we don't!"

"That rhymed. Twilight, looks like you're the tie-breaker."

Luna continued to glare as she said, "That's not fair!"

"Sure it is. Twilight?"

Twilight looked a bit lost, but obviously ended up answering, "Um... I vote yes?"

"So basically, Luna asked me to kidnap her so that we could go on an adventure."

"... Really?"

"Yep."

"Oh... Well in that case, I don't see any reason to tell Princess Celestia..."

"Oh good."

"...As long as I can come with you."

"What— Seriously?"

"Yes."

"You just suddenly feel like going on an adventure? You been reading too much Daring Do?"

"Maybe a little..."

Luna looked as confused as Twilight had been mere minutes ago. "What has brought this on?"

"I used to think that I wouldn't enjoy the excitement of being one of the Elements of Harmony. It turned out that I was wrong; I really like all the stuff that goes on! Up until recently, I was content just reading about the grand adventures that ponies would go on, but eventually I decided that I wanted to try it out for myself, and now's my chance!"

Jackson raised an eyebrow. "Huh... guess the adventure fever must be going around. I vote yes!"

Now Luna looked terrified. "No! There's no telling what my sister will do if anything were to happen to her student!"

"Can't be worse than what I've already got coming..."

"Have you ever been to the sun?"

"No, but it sounds like a pleasant vacation destination. Maybe I'll stop by on our way back."

“Why—”

“One week all-inclusive vacations to the sun starting at nine trillion bits or one angry Sun Goddess and all the organs in your body. Call now!”

"Gaah! Fine! She can come!"

Twilight started hopping circles around the two of them, yelling "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" When she finally calmed down, she caught her breath and said, "I'll go get my adventure pack!"

Jackson gave her a skeptical look and asked, "You actually have an adventure pack?"

"Well...” She looked a bit sheepish as she clarified,  “It's a friend's. She keeps one in my house—"

"In case of adventure emergency, right?" At the questioning look he received, his only answer was, "What? I know stuff, okay? Anyway, can we come in until Felicia gets back? Alicorns tend to draw attention, and we don’t need any more of that right now.”

Twilight glanced around and noticed that there were in fact quite a few ponies looking in their general direction. “Right, right.” She stepped away from the door to allow them through, then followed them in and closed it behind them.

While they sat down and waited for Felicia to return, Twilight for some reason found it necessary to further awkward-ify the ensuing awkward silence by spending the entire time staring at Jackson. Showing an incredible amount of self-control, it took him an entire fifteen seconds to get tired of it. “What?”

“You’re so... normal. I thought you were supposed to be an agent of Chaos.”

“Luna’s fault. I’m actually a highly evolved one-point-eight meter tall hairless ape that wears clothes all the time.”

“Uh...”

“Yeah, I assume you’ve heard of this ‘Lord Infernus’ guy? Same species.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought, staring off into space before concluding, “That... actually makes a lot of sense.” Then her eyes bugged out of her head and she slowly turned to face him. “This adventure... You’re not...?”

“Hunting for the Emberblade? Yep.”

Before Twilight had a chance to come up with a response, a female voice could be heard from outside the library. ”EVERYPONY GET!” A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash walked through the door—Hope you’re taking your heart medication; Rainbow Dash just used a fucking door—followed by the rest of the Elements and Spike... and then Rainbow Dash again. Oh dear...

Jackson noted that Rainbow Dash was glaring at Rainbow Dash while Rainbow Dash glared back at Rainbow Dash. (…) (???) (!!!) Wait, what? Rainbow Dash completely ignored the fact that Princess Luna and a strange stallion were in the room and yelled, “Twilight! There’s a changeling in town!”

At the exact same time, Rainbow Dash completely ignored the fact that Princess Luna and a strange stallion were in the room and yelled, “Twilight! There’s a changeling in town!” Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash then proceeded to start mimicking each other’s movements in an attempt to get the other to mess up.

As Twilight started to get up—likely to cast Twilight Sparkle’s Magical Changeling Detection Spell™—Jackson stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder. “I’ll handle this.” He walked over to Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash, who were both looking at him, confused.

Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Dash simultaneously asked, “Who are you?”

As he looked back and forth between them, he answered, “My name is Jackson Florence...” His eyes settled on the Rainbow Dash to the left. “But you already knew that. Quit fucking around, Felicia.”

With a flare of emerald fire, Felicia turned back into her brown pegasus disguise. “Aww... How’d you figure it out?”

“Changelings don’t sweat, and Dash friggin’ stinks. You must’ve caught her in the middle of a practice session or something.”

He ignored Rainbow’s indignant response and directed his attention to Twilight’s cry of, ”YOU DID WHAT!?” on the other side of the room.

“Yep, it’s around that time when everything usually goes horribly wrong... What’s the problem?”

“Apparently Spike found the letter and thought that I was stalling for time, so he replied to say that you’re all here.”

“Ugh... Hey Pinkie, could’ya grab an emergency adventure pack for Twilight?”

With an affirmation of, “Okie Dokie!” Pinkie bounced to another room, then immediately returned with a full saddlebag draped over her back.

As she passed it off to Twilight, Jackson commented, “I tried keeping emergency stashes of stuff around my city once...”

With her usual curiosity, Pinkie asked, “What happened?”

“People kept stealing my shit. Twilight, you ready?”

Twilight looked up from adjusting the straps on her new saddlebag. “What? I need to say goodbye to everyone first!”

“Nope. Less blow diss joint!”

Finally one of the other Elements spoke up. Took ‘em long enough. “Say goodbye!? Why is there a changeling!? Why is Princess Luna on yer couch!? Who is this!? WHAT THE HAY IS GOIN’ ON HERE!?”

Everyone stared at Applejack for a few minutes before Jackson answered for Twilight, “She’s going on an adventure, she’s my unwilling bodyguard, I kidnapped the Princess, I’m pretty sure I already told you my name, SPIKE JUST FUCKED SHIT UP!”

Amongst the shocked silence that followed, Fluttershy quietly stated, “Oh, okay.”

“Anyways, we need to go, cause there’s likely an orangutang fucking dick-million Royal Guards headed our way.”

Felicia shoved a hoof over her mount to stop herself from laughing. “Wh— What did you just say?”

“Shut up, and let’s go.”

“Where exactly are we going?” Felicia asked, managing to pull herself together.

“Baltimare!”

“And how are we getting there without getting spotted by the guards?”

“Er...”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

“...”

“Wait, I know! Luna, you’re like some sort of Goddess. Why don’t you just teleport us there!?”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “More like, ‘why didn’t she just teleport us there in the first place...’”

Luna ignored his comment to explain, "If we just teleported, any unicorn guards would be able to track and follow it, and it would take too long to dissipate if we tried that now.”

The three of them began to think in silence while Twilight and the other Elements just stared at each other from opposite sides of the room. Eventually Felicia came up with another idea. “Okay, purple mare,” She ignored as Twilight mouthed ‘purple mare?’, and continued, “You’re really good at magic, right? How about you teleport us while Luna distracts the guards, then she follows our teleport right before it dissipates?”

Luna stood up and glanced at Twilight. “That could work, but can Twilight even teleport such a distance? And what happens if I don’t follow in time?”

Jackson looked to the aforementioned unicorn for an answer to the first question. She noticed his expectant gaze and answered, “I... should be able to do it... In theory.”

“That’s that then.” Jackson said, turning to Luna. “And if you end up stranded, I can just come back and we can try this again some other time.”

“Tia’s going to increase patrols if she manages to get me back...”

“That’s okay. Things’ll settle down eventually, and we’ve got plenty of time.”

Luna frowned. “That’s... not entirely true.”

Jackson gave an exasperated groan before replying, “Of course it isn’t... Once we’re done with all this crap, you and I are having a talk.”

“Very well... In the meantime, I vote that we use Felicia’s plan.”

“Oh. Now you’re fine with calling a vote. Whatever, I vote yes. I also vote that if anyone votes no, they say so with ‘nay’ instead.”

“... Why?”

“You guys wouldn’t get the joke, but I assure you that it would be friggin’ hilarious.”

“I’ll take your word for it. Votes?”

Felicia answered yes—It was her idea after all—then after a second of hesitation, Twilight also answered yes. “I’ll try my best.” She said. “Spike, you’re in charge of the library while I’m away.”

Spike just stared at her in shock. "What? But I can't—"

"Spike, you are my number one assistant, and I trust you completely."

Jackson couldn't help but add, "Even if he totally just fucked shit up."

"Be nice! He didn't know any better!"

"Oh yeah? Well now when they realize that you're helping us, you'll be wanted for harboring a changeling and being an accomplice in the kidnapping of a Princess. Still so happy with him?"

"Um..." She glanced at Spike, who responded with a sheepish smile. "I might be a little unhappy, now that you mention it..."

"Great. Let's get going."

"I was serious when I said that I wanted to say goodbye first!"

There was a knock at the door. "Miss Sparkle, this is the Royal Guard. Please open the door."

Felicia hopped into the air, then flew over to stand beside Twilight. "Guess you should have thought of that while you were all just standing here and awkwardly staring at each other. Too late now! Let's go!"

Not knowing what else to do, Twilight called out, "Bye girls!" and teleported the three of them away.

Jackson saw a flash of violet, then nothing.

"Jaaackiiie~"

"Uhhh..."

"Time to wake up, Jackie..."

Jackson opened his eyes and sat up, only now realizing that he had been lying on the ground. He looked around and determined that he was in the middle of a field that seemed to stretch beyond the horizon in every direction. Of course, all of the grass was dead and the sky was the color of blood, so that was nice. "What the fuck is this shit?"

"Jaaaackiiiie~"

He stood up fully and looked behind him to find a vaguely human-shaped mass of black smoke. "Let me guess; feed you their hearts?"

"Wat?"

Yeah, so smoke people really aren't that threatening after you have heard the most unintelligent response possible come from their... uh... mouths? "It's from— No, you know what? Nevermind. This is bullshit. Fix it."

"Wat?"

"You are the only sentient being that I see in an everything mile radius, which means that this is somehow your fault. Fix it."

"Um, okay..." The shadow snapped it's incorporeal fingers, sending Jackson back to his own plane of existance. "Well... that little reunion didn't really go as planned..."

"Uuuuugh..." Jackson slowly woke, rubbing his head. He was upside-down, but his brain decided to give one less than one fucks at the given time. "That was messed up..." He looked up— er, down. "Nevermind. This is messed up."

A groan to his left alerted him to the fact that he was not alone in his plight. He checked in that direction and saw Felicia starting to wake up.

He noticed that she seemed to be stuck in some sort of vines just like himself— albeit far more tangled. She looked up—Down?—and screamed. "Woah! What the actual buck is going on here!?" She noticed Jackson and looked at him.

His chosen answer to his question was of course, "Pele demands a sacrifice."

Felicia looked back up/down, then back to Jackson. "Buck you." She may not have known who Pele was, but she was apparently well aware of the meaning behind the word 'sacrifice'. She also apparently thought that Jackson would make a better sacrifice than her. Silly changeling; didn't she know that Pele likes mercury?

...

Get it? Cause there's that one fic with the changelings and the mercury, and like, Pele and Mercury are both Gods/Goddesses, so they— Um... Nevermind, I'm not sure where I'm trying to go with this...

Anyways, Jackson just responded, "Blame Twilight."

"I think I will." She twisted herself to look at Twilight, who had apparently been hanging to Felicia's left—Still unconscious—the entire time. "Hey! Purple Mare!"

Jackson took this opportunity to better examine their surroundings. They appeared to be in some sort of jungle; a jungle with a random lava pool in the middle of it. Minecraft much? He was broken out of his thoughts by the intruding sound of two arguing mares.

"This is your fault." Felicia was saying.

"Shut up." Was Twilight's witty response.

"I hate you."

"I know."

Jackson ignored the quarreling mares and looked up at the pool of lava above him. Wait... Uh, let's just flip the camera angle... There! Jackson ignored the quarreling mares and looked down at the pool of lava he was hanging over from a tangle of vines. "This sucks..."

His statement was completely ignored. Twilight was struggling to use a spell to no avail. "How is this my fault exactly? This was your idea!"

Felicia stopped trying to free her wings for a second in order to roll her eyes. "Yeah, but you were the one who actually cast the spell!"

"You told me to cast it!"

"Why did you listen!?"

"I thought you knew what you were doing!"

"Well I didn't!"

Jackson started flailing wildly in an attempt to cover his ears. "AAAAAH! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"

A brief awkward silence followed, but before anyone could say anything else, they were interrupted by the appearance of a midnight blue alicorn from the bushes on one side of the lava pool. "Will you three keep it down?"

"Ohhh... Heeey Luna! When'd you get here?"

"Just now. Hold on while I get you down."

As the three ponies were untangled and levitated to safety, Jackson commented, "Huh... Usually it's the handsome hero rescuing the Princess." *thud* "Ow."

"Oops. My bad."

As Jackson picked himself up off the ground, the two mares were gently placed beside him in the middle of a clearing. "So where are we?"

Jackson, Felicia, and Luna all looked at Twilight. "Um... east?"

"Shit... Luna? Can't you use your fancy Goddess powers to help here?"

"I will try." Luna answered before closing her eyes. About a minute later she opened her eyes again and said, "Judging from the position of the moon, I'd say we overshot a bit."

"How much is 'a bit'?"

"A bit is one unit of Equestrian currency."

Jackson narrowed his eyes. "You know what I meant."

"Yes, yes. We appear to have arrived in Gryphus. Congratulations, Twilight Sparkle; you just teleported us to the other side of the planet."

"Uh-oh... Felicia, how long could the hive last with what I gave them?"

She thought for a second before answering, "Seeing as were starving to death before, I'd say a little under a decade."

"Oh good. So as long as I don't die at some point, I can pretty much take as much time as I want."

"I wouldn't wait any longer than necessary if I were you. Queen Chrysalis has a bit of a temper."

"Meh."

"No, not 'meh'."

"Meh."

"Fine. Meh. I give up."

Twilight raised her hoof and looked at Jackson expectantly. Jackson just stared at her for a second before asking, "Yes, Twilight?"

"What was that part about starving to death?"

"Wow. You ponies really are dense. You remember at the invasion of Canterlot when Chryssie said that she had to find food for her subjects?"

"Yes. Were you—"

"Well when your brother owned them with his love-shield of doom, he came this close to committing genocide. They were already running out before he sent them all flying away from their only source of food and into the middle of a volcanic wasteland."

"Oh..."

Jackson noticed that her and Luna were both now looking at Felicia with no small amount of pity. Meanwhile, Felicia was just examining the forest canopy on the other side of the clearing and pretending not to hear them. "Speaking of which, am I feeding you enough, Felicia?"

Felicia continued to pretend that she hadn't been listening and answered, "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm good."

Twilight looked back and forth between them and said, "If you feed her, doesn't that mean—"

Jackson quickly started waving his front hooves at her to cut her off. "Ew, no! She's like, a friggin' bug! Ew! No, it's simple enough to just trick yourself into feeling affection for someone. I suppose you could also just imagine the target changeling in an arousing situation..."

From across the clearing, Felicia called, "Not that I'm complaining, but why am I suddenly receiving a lot more love from you?"

Jackson snapped himself out of his daydream, then blushed and awkwardly cleared his throat before calling back, "No reason!"

"I'm a lesbian."

Jackson mumbled, "That explains why it was so awkward on the way to Canterlot..." He turned back to Twilight before continuing, "Anyways, a pony is one thing, but changelings are just creepy."

Twilight pulled a notepad out of her saddlebags, which had somehow remained closed while they were upside-down. "So you would initiate a relationship with a pony?"

Jackson responded with a predatory grin and answered, "If it's consenting, of age, and speaks your language, you can fuck it."

Felicia suddenly let out a scream of rage anand yelled, "CAN WE TALK ABOUT WHAT WE CAN AND CANNOT FUCK WHEN WE'RE NOT STRANDED IN THE MIDDLE OF A RANDOM FOREST!?"

"Okay. Twilight's a shitty relationship counselor anyway." He started to walk in a random direction—Though obviously not the direction of the lava pool—and motioned for Luna to go with him. "Twilight can continue making everything awkward and Felicia can continue bitching while we have that talk."

Once they were out of earshot, Jackson turned to Luna and plainly stated, "Explain."

"You seem to know just about everything that has happened over the last few years, and I'm just going to assume that your knowledge is also very in-depth from the way you quoted Chrysalis at the wedding you weren't around for."

"'Kay?"

"When Twilight Sparkle first found out about my return, she told Celestia. Celestia pretended not to believe her so that she would meet the other Element Bearers in Ponyville. When I first found out about Infernus' return, I told Celestia. Celestia did not believe me, and she was not pretending."

"So, the big bad pyromancer's getting his shit together and your sister’s too dense to figure it out? I blame all the cake. Anyways, we'll just have to be careful and keep to a time-frame. Oh, and our time-frame would be what exactly?"

"I... don't exactly know that at the current time. The prophecy only said that your arrival would be the first sign of his return."

"Uh... Sorry?"

"You're not to blame. It was beyond your control."

"Actually, I decided to hop into a random portal I wandered across, so this is all my fault."

"Oh..."

"Well now that that's all cleared up, let's get back to the others." They both headed back and found Felicia still staring at the trees... and absolutely nothing else. "Uh... Hey, where's Twilight?"

n°1.5 - First Blood, Part One

"We must let go of the life we have planned...”

A midnight blue unicorn mare stood atop a ridge, looking down at the camp below. Multiple indiscernible shapes moved in the shadows around the small fires that were scattered amongst the tents.

Metal blades glinted orange in the firelight, attached to their wielders by leather straps. A sharp cry of pain rang out from the center of the camp, causing the mare's ears to swivel in an attempt to locate the source.

There! A brown pegasus mare lay motionless, green blood starting to pool around her. A lavender unicorn mare was crying on the ground about twenty-seven hooves from the pegasus, and a brown unicorn stallion was standing defiantly in front of the two in an attempt to protect them from an unseen aggressor.

The observing unicorn pulled a glowing sphere out of her saddlebags and examined it for a second before turning her gaze back to the camp below. "I hope you can forgive me, but I will not abandon you."

"Felicia! Where'd Twilight go?"

"Uh... Ah'unno."

"Joy." He noticed something out of the corner of his eye.  "Hey wait, her saddlebags are over here." He ran over and examined them. Nothing was missing, but there was a small splash of blood on one corner of the left bag. "That doesn't look good..."

Felicia wandered over and tilted her head to one side as she examined the blood. "Huh. Well, she's probably dead by now. Let's keep going."

"Quit being a bitch, Felicia. I may be a dick, but— Huh... that's the second time I've started a sentence like that... Anyways, I was the one who let her come, so it's my responsibility to keep her safe. That goes for all of you."

"That's nice."

"Whatever." He put the saddlebags on, then turned to Luna and said, "You got any way to track her?"

Luna was busy with her eyes closed again. Hopefully she was doing some magical Goddess thing and not just sleeping. It was well past her bedtime. She opened her eyes and galloped in a seemingly random direction. "This way!"

"Felicia! Let's go!" Jackson took off after Luna, not checking if Felicia was following. He followed the wisp of starlight that was the tip of Luna's tail as it bobbed and weaved through the lush foliage.

He lost track of it for a second and picked up his speed... Only to run right into Luna from behind. Awwwkwaaard... Luckily, she was too preoccupied with something else to notice. Jackson removed himself from her tail and moved to stand beside her. "Woah."

Apparently lava wasn't exactly an unusual occurrence in Gryphus. Before them was a series of long gashes in the ground, as though some giant creature had scored it's claws through the earth. In the depths of each crevasse was a bubbling pool of lava. Luna looked at Jackson, her eyes starting to water. "I said that Gryphus was recovered enough for them to rebuild, not that the landscape had healed completely. So many innocents lost their lives on that day..."

In a completely out of character show of compassion, Jackson placed a hoof on her shoulder and quietly said, "You did what had to be done. Now, we need to find a way around this mess to make sure that you never have to do it again."

Luna shook her head and brushed Jackson’s hoof off. "Right. You're right. Here, I can just teleport us across... Wait, where'd Felicia go?"

"She's... Uh... Oh... Well this is some horror movie shit we've got right here..."

Luna's eyes were erratically scanning the treeline. "I don't know what that means, but something tells me that you're correct."

Two dark shapes flitted in and out of sight just inside the treeline, followed by a scream that sounded uncomfortably close to Felicia’s voice. The scream cut off abruptly, then everything was silent once more.

The two remaining ponies took up defensive stances and waited for their enemy to reveal itself. Five minutes passed... Ten minutes passed... Fifteen minutes passed. Jackson relaxed and then sat down. "I'm bored."

Luna relaxed as well, though she continued to eye the trees suspiciously. "Yes... It would appear that whatever it was has left for the time being."

"What now?"

"We can probably assume that Felicia will be taken to the same place as Twilight, so we should just continue tracking her magical signature."

Jackson looked at the destroyed landscape before them. "Across... this?"

"I could just fly across, but..."

"You could always change me into a pegasus, but it's not like I know how to fly..."

"No. We'll have to find another way..." She looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked down at Jackson with a curious expression. "How did you already know how to walk as a quadruped anyways?"

"Uh... Let's just say that it involved a lot of alcohol, fifty-three pancakes, ten police cars, and a squirrel."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

"Good idea. Speaking of good ideas, why don't you just teleport us across like you said earlier?”

“Pony teleportation is both bright and loud. Whatever’s out there would be on us within seconds.”

“Pony teleportation? I get what you’re hinting at, but I don’t exactly have any fingers to snap at the moment, now do I?” He waved a hoof for emphasis.

“You have a horn, don’t you?” Luna replied, gesturing at the aforementioned protrusion.

Jackson went cross eyed in an attempt to spot his horn, then gave up and said, “Well I’m pretty sure there’s something up there, but uh... what do I do with it?”

Luna sighed, and did something with her hoof and her face that gave Jackson the impression of a human pinching the bridge of her nose. She put her hoof back down and shot Jackson an ‘I’m only going to say this once’ look. “Imagine the sensation of snapping your fingers...”

“Uh-huh...”

“Now imagine that sensation on your forehead.”

“Uhhh... Uh-huh...”

“Now at the same time, imagine the two of us at our destination.”

“...”

“Jackie? Wha—” With not a single trace of light or sound, Jackson and Luna were suddenly across the entire stretch of damaged terrain, and standing on the other side. “... Oh. Very good.”

“You say that as though you didn’t think I could do it.”

“Well you see... I had absolutely no idea if my instructions would actually do anything.”

“...”

“...”

“Okay. Which way now?”

“You’re not angry?”

“Not since it ended up working. If I had ended up exploding or something, then I might be a bit upset... Or dead... Or heck, why not both? I’d make a pretty badass ghost if I do say so myself.”

Luna released an exasperated sigh before starting to head east. “This way...”

They walked for hours, but eventually they managed to catch up with whatever took Twilight and Felicia. That was when the metaphorical shit hit the proverbial fan. The shit being a metaphor for gryphons.

There was a screech from somewhere in the jungle. Another screech answered from the other side. They were surrounded. Luna dropped into a fighting stance, then whispered, "Gryphons. As a Princess of Equestria, I can't fight back without risking an international incident."

Jackson turned to her and quietly said, "Make yourself a smaller target. We're the last two, so they're going to go for the biggest threat first.

"What about you?"

"I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"No. We stick together."

"Luna, you're a Goddess. You've got a better chance at stopping Infernus than I do."

"That's just propaganda, we're not real Goddesses; I need your help."

"I can't even light a fire without getting worn out, and you already said that there's nothing you can do here. The longer we sit here whispering, the closer they get."

"I—"

Jackson cut her off by placing a hoof over her mouth. "Just stop." He removed his hoof, then waited for Luna's response.

"... Very well." She lowered her head and reverted back to the form she had not long after her return from the moon. Then, her wings receded until she was just a regular unicorn.

"Good." Jackson closed his eyes and concentrated. A glowing orb suddenly appeared hovering in the air between them. Jackson opened his eyes again, then placed it in his saddlebags. He proceeded to slide the bags off and give them to Luna. "I want you to make sure that thing gets to Chrysalis. Oh, and promise me you won't come back. Promise me you won't risk yourself to save me."

"You mean like you're doing for me!?"

"Yeah. But I'm a ninja, so I'll be fine."

Luna gave a sad smile, then chuckled and shook her head in defeat. "Okay Jackie... I promise."

"Good. Now get out of here." Luna took a step backwards, then hesitated. Dark shapes were visible moving through the trees behind them. "Go! Now!"

Luna took off in a run, and Jackson turned to face the oncoming Gryphons. He remembered Luna's earlier instructions and made a show of arcing lightning along his horn. He noted that it didn't seem to use nearly as much energy as anything else he had done previously. Fascinating.

Five feathered felines burst from the trees, wings like non-metaphorical blades... meaning they had sharp things on them. "Woah!" Jackson yelled as he ducked under an improvised wingblade of jagged steel.

He released the pent up charge on his horn, singeing the gryphon's feathers and producing a satisfying strangled squawk. "Gah! Someone grab that stupid horse!"

Jackson suddenly had a thought. 'If I make it out of this, Luna's gone. I'm gonna be stuck as a pony forever. Shit.' He was broken out of his thoughts as a gryphon grabbed him from behind. Another one swiftly ran forward and swung a taloned fist at Jackson's face.

Right before it hit, he released as much power as he could in the form of a giant shockwave of electrical force. Then he saw black.

Then he saw dead grass and crimson sky. "Oh good. This again." He grunted as he stood up and brushed some dirt off his coat. As in, coat coat. As in, human. "What the hell..."

“Back again, are we?”

Jackson turned around and realized that the smoke figure was standing behind him just like last time. The figure was slightly more solid this time around. “Oh. You again. Am I going to have to deal with your bullshit every time I get knocked out?”

“Looks that way!”

Jackson responded with a deadpan look. “Yippee.”

“Oh, it's not that bad. I can teach you how to use your new power better!”

“New power?”

“Yep. ‘parently you’re an electromancer. Probably runs in your family...”

“Right... I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in my family who can do magic. Plus, my dad left, mom died, brother went missing; usual sob story.”

“Hm... Kicked too many puppies in a previous life or something I guess.”

“Yeah. ‘Or something’.”

“So!” The smoke figure clapped his hands together. “You accept my training?”

“I’m probably gonna regret it later, but sure, what the hell.”

“Fantastic! Want to get started right away, or wait ‘till you get knocked out again?”

“Now would be preferable, I think. What’s your name anyway?”

“I have many names, but please, call me Adelphus.” He answered with a sarcastic bow.

“Great.”

“Yes, I’m quite amazing. Now let’s test your basic knowledge. What kind of element do you think I control?”

“I’m going to say fire. The whole smoke thing you’ve got going on kind of gives it away.”

“Exactly that! Pyromancers like Infernus and I are the most common. Electromancers like you are extremely rare, though not quite so much as chronomancers and aeromancers.”

“Yeah, I’m awesome, I get it. Not really testing my knowledge much here.”

“Ooh. Bit cocky are we? Fine then. Explain to me why you were able to create an electrical force like that which you used on the gryphons.”

“Magic?”

“Sort of. The amount of energy that it should have taken for you to do that is massive. Generating that much energy should have completely drained your reserves, right?”

“It did. I lost consciousness.”

“Wrong. If you were to drain all your magic, you would have died.”

“Well that’s nice to think about. You gonna tell me why I’m still kicking then?”

“Kicking puppies that is...” *snerk* “Anyways, I will tell you why only if you can answer the following question.”

“Okay...”

“What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

“Fuck you.”

“Close enough. Every Chaos Mage specializes in an element. This is unfortunate if they never figure out their element, since about eighty-five percent of their magic is solely for use with that element.”

“So I don’t actually suck at magic, I’m just running at around fifteen percent.”

“Exactly. Of course, your pony form decreases that even further, so you probably only had about five percent for the last day.”

“Lovely. Speaking of which, Luna mentioned that she and her sister weren’t real Goddesses. You wouldn’t by any chance know anything more specific about that, would you?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious as to exactly how strong Celestia is. She wants to kill me right now after all.”

“Honestly? If the ponies decided to revolt, the Princesses would be screwed. Think of it this way, about five unicorns are an army, and Celestia is an army of the same size. The only difference is that Celestia has nukes—Almost literally—In the form of that lovely ball of fire in the sky.”

“Twilight Sparkle?”

“She’s probably closer to a Goddess than Celestia and Luna will ever be; she just doesn’t know it.”

“Fascinating.”

“Quite. Now, enough chit-chat. Let’s get back to business.”

Branches whipped past her face as she ran through the jungle. She could hear the sounds of metal striking something, followed by the sound of an electrical discharge and a cry of pain. Seconds later another discharge, followed by a gust of wind which caused her hair to stand on end, and small arcs of static charge to jump across the leaves around her.

She paused and looked back. There was silence. She continued onwards at a slower, almost melancholy pace. She chuckled sarcastically at some thought as she went. “What would Tia say if she knew that I abandoned my friends? How I ever held the elements alongside her, I have no idea...”

Friends...

They were her friends, weren’t they? Definitely Jackie at the least. The human had been eager to help her with almost no persuasion; he had sacrificed himself for her. Shouldn’t she be willing to do the same?

She kept walking.

Twilight. Twilight had helped her on that first Nightmare Night. Without her, she would still be in her tower; alone. Now Twilight was gone, and she was alone again. “Would I abandon her, just because of some stupid rule that says I can’t attack a gryphon?”

She paused.

Felicia wasn’t really a friend, but Rainbow Dash was the only pony she knew who was more loyal than that changeling. No matter how much the drone said that she was only there on Chrysalis’ orders, Luna could tell that she would give her life in an instant to save her friends.

She looked at the darkening sky.

“I may not be a good friend, but I am not a monster; not anymore.”

She turned around.

Princess Celestia stood atop the tallest tower of Canterlot Tower, looking out at the sunset. She spread her wings and gracefully floated into the sky, the moon ascending with her for the first time since her sister had returned. She landed, then released a sad sigh. She never imagined that she would ever have to take up that duty again.

The sound of hooves jerked her out of her silent reverie, and a gruff voice called out, “Your Highness? We’ve... returned from Ponyville.”

Without turning around, she more stated than asked, “You lost her.”

He confirmed, “The human and the changeling managed to teleport her away...” He hesitated before adding, “With the assistance of Twilight Sparkle.”

“No... Not her too...” Celestia finally faced the stallion. “Did you manage to track the teleport?”

“It was only open for a second after we arrived, but we did manage to discern...” The stallion sighed at having to relay this much bad news. “Miss Sparkle put too much power into the teleport, causing it to fail. They never arrived at their intended destination. They... could be anywhere.”

“Or nowhere... Thank you for trying, Lieutenant. You are dismissed.”

Night fell without Luna’s help for the first time since her return. She didn’t care; she had more important things to do. She had spent the last few hours tracking the gryphons that had taken her friends, and now she had found them. She stood atop a ridge, looking down at the camp below. Multiple indiscernible shapes moved in the shadows around the small fires that were scattered amongst the tents.

Metal blades glinted orange in the firelight, attached to their wielders by leather straps. A sharp cry of pain rang out from the center of the camp, causing the her ears to swivel in an attempt to locate the source.

There! Felicia lay motionless, green blood starting to pool around her. Twilight was crying on the ground about twenty-seven hooves from her, and Jackie was standing defiantly in front of the two in an attempt to protect them from an unseen aggressor.

Luna pulled a glowing sphere out of her saddlebags and examined it for a second before turning her gaze back to the camp below. "I hope you can forgive me, but I will not abandon you."

n°1.5 - First Blood, Part Two

...so as to accept the one that is waiting for us."

                                                                                                        -Joseph Campbell

The room was dark, but two figures were visible sitting at a small metal table. “Fascinating. What more can you tell me about this ‘Adelphus’ character?” A male voice asked.

“That was everything I know about him. Now when will we be released?” A female voice responded.

“All in good time, Diana.”

“You know that’s not my name.” Diana answered bitterly.

“It is while you’re here.”

“And how long are we going to be here!? She’ll figure it out eventually, and when she does, your world will burn!”

“We’ve taken precautions to ensure that doesn’t happen, and you will remain here until Seth has given us what we want. Speaking of which,” He turned to face a large two-way mirror. “Get him down here. He’ll know more.” He turned back to Diana. “Before you go, I'm curious; what did Luna mean when she said that she was not a good friend? Everything I've heard so far suggests that she was quite an upstanding one."

"That's... a bit hard to explain... and actually quite an understatement. You'll understand eventually."

"If you say so..." The figure briefly looked through a small stack of notes, then back up at Diana. "Thank you for your contributions today. You will now return to your cell."

Two more shadowed figures—Presumably guards—emerged from one corner of the room and escorted Diana through a metal door that was so smooth it was nearly invisible until it opened. Moments later, the guards returned with Seth. He was seated at the chair that Diana had previously occupied. “My turn again, Doctor Faraday?”

“Yes it is.” Faraday answered. “Diana just finished telling us about Mister Florence’s second encounter with Adelphus, and the accompanying incident in Gryphus.”

“‘Diana’? Wait, do you have names for all of us?”

“Diana, Hesper, Sirena, Waneta, etcetera.”

“Clever. Since you’re so good with name references, I assume you caught what Adelphus did?”

“Yes. That was why I sent for you, rather than any of the others.”

“Ah.”

“So he’s—”

“Yes. Now where did she leave off exactly?”

“She had just finished with Princess Luna’s arrival. I would like you to tell me what happened in the camp afterwards.”

“Of course you do. Well, might as well get this over with...”

Jackson woke with a start, displeased to discover that he was a unicorn once again. Ignoring that, he sat up and examined his surroundings, vaguely realizing that this kind of thing was becoming a regular occurrence.

He could tell that night had just fallen, since there was a distinct purplish tinge to the sky along the western horizon. He brought his gaze down and tried to determine his location. Said location turned out to be a cage at the edge of a camp filled with gryphons. In the cage with him was Twilight and Felicia.

Twilight was apparently having some sort of panic attack, which Felicia attempted to remedy by slapping her in the face. Twilight... slapped her back, and then fell over and started to cry. Between her sobs she mumbled, "I just wanted to do something exciting... I don't want to die!"

"Shut up, purple mare." Felicia responded, rubbing her cheek. "We wouldn't even be here if you hadn't gotten captured in the first place."

Jackson stood up and gave gave Felicia a reprimanding swat. "Seriously. Quit being a bitch." He walked over to Twilight... and then slapped her. "STFU!"

Twilight looked up at him in shock and responded, "STF— What?"

"No, 'up'."

"What?"

"Up!"

Twilight stood up, confused. At least she stopped bawling like a foal.

Jackson facehoofed, then mumbled, "Nevermind..." He turned his attention to the door of the cage and said, "I used evil gypsy magic to learn some cool shit while I was out. I'll have this thing opened in no time." He concentrated on forming an orb of lightning on his horn and took aim. Except nothing was happening. "Um..."

When he looked at the others for a response, Twilight simply pointed at her horn, where a small iron band was visible. Jackson reached a hoof up to his own horn to discover a similar one on himself. He immediately started pulling at it. "I don't know how they did it, but they won't budge." Twilight said. "We tried taking them off while you were unconscious."

"What about you, Felicia?" Jackson asked.

The disguised changeling chuckled. "You might be feeding me, but I'm pretty sure me and purple mare would have to make love for me to get enough power to do anything more than keep up my disguise. You aren't exactly a buffet."

Jackson's ears perked up of their own accord, and he looked to Twilight with just the tiniest amount of hope. Twilight was awkwardly examining the ground. This was apparently not the desired response, since it caused Jackson's ears to droop slightly. "I guess that's a no-go on that idea then..."

From the left side of the cage, a new voice yelled, "Will you guys shut up over there!? I'm trying to sleep..."

Jackson leaned backwards slightly to look around Felicia with a raised eyebrow, and saw a vermilion pegasus stallion lying in another cage beside theirs, apparently attempting to sleep. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"Phoenix." The pegasus answered without moving.

"Nope, you are most assuredly a pegasus. Sorry."

"And you are most assuredly annoying. Phoenix is my name, dumbass." Phoenix lifted his head to address a nearby donkey. "No offense."

"None taken." The donkey responded before continuing on his way.

...

Wait a minute. Why was there a donkey in the— You know what, nevermind.

"Wait, professor Phoenix? As in, from Canterlot University?" Twilight asked, her troubles forgotten at the appearance of a 'fellow intellectual'.

'Professor?' Jackson thought to himself, 'That dude can't be much older than twenty!'

"Oh great," Phoenix responded to Twilight as he got up, "another Celestia-damned fanfilly... Listen mare, I'm—" He froze when he saw her. "Buck."

"Pardon?"

"You're Twilight Sparkle. This is... not good. Who are these other two ponies?"

Jackson answered for her, "We're not ponies. I'm under a transformation spell, and Felicia's a changeling."

Phoenix blinked at that. "Alllright?"

"Actually, I just got an idea. It'll either get us out of here, or get us killed. Likely the latter, but who gives a fuck?" He walked over to the door and rattled it. "Hey! Guard-gryphon-dude! I gotta talk to ya!"

A gryphon that had been silently standing a ways away from their cage walked over. "Whaddaya want, horn-head?"

Jackson muttered, "Racist prick." under his breath before answering, "I just thought you guys should know that we three probably deserve some special treatment here. I'm a human under the effects of a transformation spell, the brown pegasus is a changeling, and the purple unicorn is the personal student of Princess Celestia." He looked back to see everyone wearing horrified expressions. Oh ye of little faith...

The gryphon looked at the two mares, then looked back at Jackson. "What's a human?"

"You've likely heard of Lord Infernus?"

The gryphon nodded rapidly and visibly paled at the mention of the pyromancer.

...

Wait... Paled? How did— Feathers don't— How the fuck?

"That guy was a human."

The gryphon's eyes widened, and he quickly ran off to alert someone more important than himself. Jackson turned around to find the two mares and Phoenix all continuing to stare at him. Felicia was the first to speak. "You're insane."

Jackson scowled. "How many times to I have to tell you!? I completely agree!"

"How am I supposed to protect you if you keep doing shit like this!"

"You used a human swear."

"A: ponies are basically the only ones who refuse to swear properly, and B: I DON'T FUCKING CARE!" The angry changeling then proceeded to punch Jackson in the face.

In response, Jackson replied, "I'm hungry."

" ... What?"

"Grilled cheese. Grill me a cheese." He then fell over sideways, a small trickle of blood leaking from his nose.

Felicia leaned over his unconscious form and muttered, "Oops..."

"Back so soon?"

"Fuck you. You know I have to get knocked out every time I come here, right?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, you suck."

"Shall we continue where we left off?"

"Sure."

"Great. For your next lesson, electrokinesis. Sure you can create electricity, but that'll use energy; and if you're at all like I believe, you're lazy as fuck."

Jackson glared at Adelphus. "I am not— Okay, yes I am. Shut up."

Adelphus grinned. Kind of... Gimme a break, the dude's made of smoke. "Creating a charge is also rather noticeable, especially in the dark. As long as there's something electrical nearby, you should be able to move the electricity wherever you want."

"Shiny."

"Quite."

Jackson thought for a moment before asking, "How will that be useful here though? A gryphon camp isn't exactly the kind of place that's overflowing with appliances."

"That's... not entirely accurate. The gryphons are actually quite advanced. Much like humans, they used technology to make up for a lack of magic. While they might be using campfires outside, the lighting in their tents is likely electrical."

"Uh... exactly how advanced are they?" Jackson asked worriedly.

"The ones you were captured by are just a small group of slavers, but you'll probably be able to find yourself a gun on a few of them."

"Neat."

"Anyways, let's get started." Adelphus snapped his fingers, and a small electrical lamp  appeared on a wooden table between them. "Take the electricity from this lamp, and form it into a ball."

"'Kay." He looked at the lamp and made a motion with one hand.

"Use the force, Luke." Adelphus said in response.

"Shut up, dickhead. I'm trying to concentrate." He made another motion, causing the lamp to flicker, and a number of sparks to jump into the air above it.

After twenty minutes, "I am your father..."

"Gah! Fuck this bullshit!" Jackson angrily made a grabbing motion, causing the energy to be ripped from the lamp to form a ball of lightning around his fist, which he then used to punch Adelphus in the face.

Jackson blearily opened his eyes. "My face hurts."

Felicia's head suddenly entered his field of vision. "Heheh... Sorry."

"Bitch." He pushed her away and stood up before violently shaking his head. "How long was I out?"

It was Twilight who answered, "Just a few minutes."

"Damn... Adelphus is good."

"Who?"

"Not important. That gryphon back yet?"

"Yeah. he said that we would be brought to their leader in about five minutes."

"How long ago was this?"

"About four minutes."

"Well that's convenient."

About a minute later, the gryphon returned for a second time and opened the cage. "Oh good, he woke up... Alright, follow me. Best not leave Eckard waiting."

The gryphon led them across the camp, where they entered what was by far the largest tent. Just as they were about to enter, a gryphon exited the tent. He was so large that it was clear to everyone that the tent wasn't so big just because he was important. The gryphon had blood red crest feathers, a color apparently stereotypical of evil gryphons. "Oh." He said, "These must be our special guests."

"Yes, Lord Eckard." The guard answered the rhetorical question like an idiot.

"Hmm..." Eckard examined the 'ponies' for a moment before deciding, "Keep the human for studying, leave the purple mare for now. We can have some fun with that one before selling her. Kill the bug."

Before anyone could react, the guard drew a rusted sword and stabbed Felicia in the chest with it, drawing a sharp cry of pain from her. He then twisted the sword before pulling it back out. Jackson and Twilight stared in shock as the changeling stumbled backwards a few steps before falling on her side.

Twilight promptly returned to her new favorite hobby of curling into fetal position and crying. Jackson took a step forward, the sparks jumping along the length of his horn producing a high pitched whine from the inhibitor ring. Then, he calmly and quietly stated, "I am going to kill you."

Jackson had never killed anything in his life, but both gryphons could tell that he was dead serious. Something about him put them on edge, and Eckard took a step backwards at his tone. "G— Get rid of the body, then return the others to their cage. Go ahead and stick them in with the pegasus."

As the guard went to obey the first command, Jackson moved to take up a defensive stance in front of Felicia's body, bringing him far closer to the gryphons than they would have liked. "Don't you dare touch her." He ordered.

The guard nervously looked to Eckard, who said, "Fine. Take it with you then." He was eager to get jackson back in a cage.

The guard waited for Jackson to get Felicia onto his back before escorting them back. When they arrived, Phoenix seemed just as surprised that they were being placed in the same cage as him as he was to see Jackson carrying a dead changeling.

Jackson placed Felicia's body on the ground and stared at it. Twilight waked in a daze to the farthest corner of the cage and continued to cry, and Phoenix held back and gave them both some room. 'This is my fault.' Jackson thought to himself. "I should have just kept my damn mouth shut...'

Two minutes passed with only the sound of Twilight's mourning. Then Jackson realized that he was an idiot. At some point during their walk to Ponyville, Felicia had mentioned in passing that a changeling's disguise would drop when they died. Felicia was still a pegasus. "Twilight..."

Twilight didn't acknowledge him.

"Twilight."

"Just leave me alone."

"Twilight, get over here! Felicia's not dead!"

"What...?"

"GODDAMMIT TWILIGHT, HELP!"

Twilight scrambled to her hooves and ran over, wiping tears from her eyes. "What do I need to do!?"

"Put pressure on the wound!"

As she did so, she asked, "What are you going to be doing!?"

"I am going to love her!"

"Was that a reference to Fluttershy!? How did you—"

"Not now!"

While Twilight continued to do her best to stop the bleeding, Jackson closed his eyes and... thought about things that Felicia probably wouldn't appreciate seeing. At least any future awkwardness would be made worth it if she survived.

Twilight removed her hooves from Felicia's chest for a second to check on the injury, and found that it had started to close around the edges. "Keep doing... whatever you're doing." She said, starting to calm down.

Felicia groaned and moved slightly. Eventually she managed to build up enough strength to speak. "Jackie... just give up. Even if you close that gaping hole in me, I won't... survive the blood loss."

A few tears leaked out from Jackson's closed eyelids. "This is my fault. I won't let you die just because I did something stupid again."

"Oh, don't beat yourself up about it... Heh... We all knew this was going to happen eventually if we stayed around you..."

"Not helping."

Twilight stood up and placed a green-stained hoof on Jackson's shoulder. "Jackson, there's nothing we can do."

"..."

"..."

"I know."

A new voice joined the conversation from outside the cage, one that Jackson was fairly certain shouldn't have been there. "I think I can help."

"Luna? What the actual fuck?"

At the back of the cage, Phoenix went from looking confused at the new arrival, to bowing like it actually mattered that she was a Princess. Luna gave him an incredulous look, then turned her attention to her saddlebags and pulled out the glowing ball that Jackson had given her.

Felicia immediately sat upright and used her invisible horn to pull the ball to her. While Felicia was relishing in her newfound strength, Luna answered Jackson, "I couldn't just leave you."

Jackson did his best to be angry, but it was hard given the fact that Luna had just saved Felicia's life. "You can't be here. If the gryphons find out that there's a Princess here, it could start a war. You said so yourself."

With a wry grin, Luna answered, "The last time I checked, all of the Princesses were alicorns." She then turned sideways to show that her wings were still hidden.

"Clever, but you promised me that you wouldn't do this."

Still grinning, Luna shot back, "Guess you should have made it a Pinkie promise."

"Uuugh... Whatever. Just get the cage open." Luna's magical aura wrapped around the door, shimmering like stars in the darkness... and then caused it to implode into nothingness without a sound. "Damn... Overkill much?"

Luna leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Have to keep up the Goddess act for the peasants."

"Right, of course. Well now that we're out of there, you can just turn me human again and I can go kill Eckard."

"Who?"

"Their leader."

Twilight spoke up, "Jackson, don't do this. Let's just go while we have the chance."

"No. I'm not done here."

Twilight looked to Luna for backup, but the Princess just shrugged and said, "I owe him a favor." Her horn lit up, and within seconds, there was a human standing in Jackson's place.

He caught the inhibitor ring as it fell from his now nonexistent horn, and placed it in his coat pocket. At the curious glances he received, he responded, "What? You never know when you might need to go up against a unicorn."

Twilight spoke up again, addressing Luna. "Speaking of which, can you get this one off me?"

Luna grabbed the ring in her magic and pulled, succeeding only in lifting Twilight off the ground. She gave a sheepish smile, then placed Twilight down again. "I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle. It would appear that this particular ring has something keeping it on."

Twilight sighed. "Oh well, I suppose we might be able to find someone who can take it off when we reach an actual city."

All further conversation was ended when there was a short squawk of pain from around the corner of the nearest tent. All four of them quickly realized that Jackson was missing. Twilight, Luna, and Felicia ran in the direction of the sound. Phoenix ran after them, uncertain of what else to do.

When they arrived, they found Jackson searching through the belongings of their former guard, who was now a smoking corpse. He pulled out the exact sword that the guard had used on Felicia. Upon closer inspection, the sword was—like the wingblades—made of sharpened pieces of jagged metal that had been bolted together. Surprisingly, it was nearly as light as the sword Chrysalis had given him.

He held the sword out with one hand and ran a high-voltage current through it, causing the rust and trace amounts of partially-dried changeling blood to burst off of it. The resulting blade could only be described as, 'inexplicably shiny'.

Twilight was staring at the dead gryphon, but none of the others seemed very bothered. Jackson pulled his hand out of another pocket, holding a rather large flintlock pistol. "Damn... that's like the desert eagle of flintlocks..." He proceeded to make a rather pleased face and placed the pistol in his pocket, hoping that it wouldn't accidentally fire and— You know what, let's not finish that sentence.

"Jackson," Luna said quietly, "If you do this, it isn't something you can take back. The faces of those you've killed will haunt you for the rest of your life. I would know..."

"I don't care. They almost killed Felicia. You don’t want to know what they had planned for Twilight."

"Why is this so important to you? They—"

"It's important because you guys are the first friends I've ever had, and I will not tolerate anyone who tries to hurt you. Now wait here. I've got a gryphon to kill."

"Jackie—" She began, but the human was already gone.

Jackson sprinted to the entrance of one of the many beige canvas tents. Inside, a couple gryphons were sleeping on a series of cots. He silently made his way over to them, then plunged his sword into the neck of the first one, severing the spinal cord so the gryphon wouldn't scream. He turned and did the same to the second.

After scavenging some spare ammo from his victims, Jackson found his eyes drawn to the wire that was coming from the unlit lightbulb hanging from the roof on the tent. He followed the wire out of the tent and across the camp, careful not to leave the shadows.

Eventually he came to a primitive steam-powered generator that was in a small clearing, walled off on all sides by tents. With his newfound powers, he could almost see the energy being stored within it. "Alright. Let’s get this party started." Jackson threw his sword to the ground, then stepped closer and made a motion with his hands as though he were trying to crush a round object between them, seeming to fight against an unseen force.

When his hands were nearly touching, he threw his arms wide... and every single light in the camp exploded violently from the sheer amount of electrical current that was suddenly running through them, in some cases setting the fabric of their respective tents aflame.

The sounds of numerous gryphons yelling in shock as they were unpleasantly roused from their sleep rang sharply through the previous quiet. Among these voices, Jackson picked out one in particular. “Someone go check the damn generator!” Eckard ordered.

Jackson smiled. “Yeah... Come check the generator...” The moment the sounds of an approaching gryphon were within earshot, he ran towards them. He dive rolled mid-sprint and grabbed his sword from the ground, holding it reverse-grip in his right hand.

He came upright just as the gryphon walked around the corner of a tent... and immediately stabbed the gryphon through the top of it’s head, killing it instantly. He then proceeded to electrocute the corpse for good measure before twisting the sword—just as the guard had done to Felicia—and pulling it out before kicking the dead gryphon away. He tried not to think about the fact that he had just taken a fourth life. Not like it really mattered; he was about to do a lot worse.

Eckard paced restlessly back and forth in front of his tent. ’First the prisoners escape, now this? How could this night get any worse!?’ He was of course answered by a crack of lightning and the distinct smell of fried chicken. “Someone go check on that trottel!”

“No need!” A voice called from somewhere. Eckard froze at the sound of that voice. He slowly turned and saw a human walking towards the square in front of his tent. The human held a sword in his right hand—it’s metallic surface marred with splotches of blood—and a crackling ball of lightning in his left. “He’s dead. I can vouch for him.” At the horrified expressions of the gryphons before him, he clarified, “He died quickly, I swear.”

Eckard had no response. Every single gryphon in the square was frozen in fear of the being that so closely resembled the monster from history, whose actions had led to the destruction of their entire nation. He came to a sudden realization: Jackson Florence was going to kill him. ’Not if I kill him first.’ “What are you all sitting there for!? Get him!”

There were five gryphons in the square, excluding Eckard. All of them moved to attack. Jackson just grinned. “Bad move.” He spotted one of the gryphons pull a pistol to his right, and instantly sent a stream of electricity at him. It impacted the tip of the gun and arced to the gryphon’s talons, causing its muscles to constrict and grip the pistol tighter. This in turn caused the gryphon to fire the pistol, killing one of its own allies.

Jackson somehow used the electrical tether to pull the gryphon to him, where its throat met the waiting point of his reverse-gripped sword. Why did that actually work? Because magic, bitch. He shoved the gryphon off his sword, and turned around just in time to see a wingblade headed for his face. He ducked out of reflex, then reached up and grabbed the gryphon’s head, using his own strength and what was essentially a powerful magical taser to pull it to the ground. With his other hand, he flipped the sword to a normal grip and plunged it into the side of the gryphon’s neck.

He removed the sword through the gryphon’s throat, then gripped it in two hands as he blocked a sword from his right. He used the momentum of the gryphon’s attack to parry the blow down and to the left, causing it to drop the sword before he used both hands to run the gryphon through its chest. Releasing the sword with his right hand and using his left to pull it free, he spun around, moving the sword to a reverse-grip in his left hand to stab a gryphon who was trying to sneak up behind him.

With his right hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the pistol before pointing to his right where Eckard was standing with a shocked expression. "No one hurts my friends." He pulled the trigger. Eckard lost the back of his head, and had a new hole in his face. Jackson ripped the sword from the gryphon behind him and placed the gun back in his pocket. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about that this time. Shitty flintlocks only had one shot. He bent over slightly and placed both hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He spared a glance at Eckard’s body and smiled. “Heh... Dick.”

n°1.6 - Aftermath

A few stray gryphons flew through the moonlight, most with watering eyes, and not just from the smoke. One of the gryphons, a female with amber eyes and fuchsia crest feathers, paused to look back at what had once been her home.

Amid the drifting plumes of smoke from their burning homes, tinged orange by the flames, there stood a single being. His bipedal form was surrounded by the dead bodies of the gryphons she had known for so long.

Those damn ponies had taken everything from her, and now they had brought him here. He called himself Jackson Florence, but the gryphons that survived this day would forever know him by another name.

One of the gryphons ahead called her name, breaking her from her thoughts. "Gilda! Let's go! We can't let him catch us or we're dead, just like them!"

"Yeah, yeah! Jeez Rorik... It's not like the dude's gonna sprout wings and fly up here!"

"He's a Chaos Mage, he can do anything he wants! Now come on, maybe we can find some other survivors in Kleindorf!"

"Yeah, sure!" Her eyes drifted back to her burning home. "Maybe..."

The sky was just beginning to lighten as Luna walked through the ruined gryphon camp, examining the smoldering remains of the families who were unable to escape as their homes burnt down around them. She wasn't really disconcerted by this though; she had seen her fair share of wars.

Likewise, Felicia didn't have any problem with seeing dead things. Changelings were, after all, militaristic by nature. The only effect the scenery had on her was a new respect for her human companion. Phoenix seemed mildly disturbed, but managed to keep his composure because of his scientific view of the world. He rationalized the scenario so that, in his mind, the gryphons were just organisms that hadn't survived the process of natural selection.

Twilight seemed to be handling things the worst. She had faced multiple life-threatening situations in her life, but up until now, she hadn't truly realized that death was something real. Sure she had seen or heard of ponies dying of old age or—in rare cases—in accidents, and she read enough books to understand how things worked, but never before had she been exposed to such violence; it was always just words on a page to her.

Eventually they reached the middle of the camp where Jackson was waiting for them, having apparently finished looting anything valuable from Eckard's tent. This had apparently included weapons, because the human now had a knife-belt around his waist, and twin pistol holsters, which created an 'X' across his chest. He had also picked up a new sword, which—if its quality was anything to go by—must have belonged to Eckard himself.

His new sword was similar to the others, but the steel plates that made up the blade were arranged more symmetrically, giving the impression of overlapping dragon scales. There was also a ruby embedded in the hilt, adding to it's sense of majesty. He held the sword reverse-grip in his left hand. Contrasting this was the sword he held normally in his right hand; the one given to him by Chrysalis, that had been confiscated upon his capture.

Jackson must have just recently acquired his new weapons, because he was still busy practicing with them and hadn’t noticed the others approaching. He stopped what he was doing to examine his two swords. He electrified the sword in his left hand, then looked at the changeling blade in confusion.

“Changeling chitin is an insulator!” Felicia called to him.

He jumped slightly at the sound of her voice, then turned to look at them and said, “Oh, so that’s what it’s made of. Good to know."

While Felicia examined the corpses to admire the kills and Phoenix examined the corpses to check out their pistols, Twilight continued trying not the throw up and Luna went to talk to Jackson. "Jackie? Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Those dipshits couldn't even get near me!"

Luna glanced at the others before whispering, "You know what I meant."

Jackson lowered his voice as well and avoided looking directly into her eyes. "Later."

"Very well, but don't think you'll be able to get out of this."

"Fine, mom."

Luna rolled her eyes. "If I don't take care of you, who will? Certainly not yourself, that's obvious."

"Yeesh. Grumpy. I think maybe it's bed time, eh?"

As though the reminder had flipped some metaphorical switch, Luna suddenly became very aware of the fact that she hadn't slept for nearly thirty-six hours. With a yawn, she reluctantly agreed, "I am rather tired. I'll take Twilight Sparkle away from this and try to find an intact tent."

"You wanna sleep in the camp?" Jackson responded with a skeptical expression. "With all the crispy gryphons?"

"I'll admit, it's not exactly pleasant, but we don't have any supplies to make a camp. We were supposed to take a boat from Baltimare, not go trekking through the wilderness in a foreign nation."

"Yeah, I get it. Convenient tents are convenient. Just make sure whichever one you pick isn't occupied. There were a couple gryphons I killed in their sleep as I snuck through earlier."

"I'll be careful. I'm sure Twilight Sparkle wouldn't want to walk in on that."

As she turned to tell Twilight what the plan was, Jackson stopped her with a question. "Why do you call Twilight by her full name, but not me?"

Luna turned back to him and answered, "While she may be a friend, she is still my subject, so I still need to act like a Princess around her. You on the other hoof... You’re just a friend."

"Yeah. You wouldn't wanna rule over me anyways. I’d cause too much trouble. But still, you always have her just call you Luna."

"Yes, and that's already enough to get the nobles riled up. I try not to be as formal when I'm alone with friends, but... It’s hard."

"Must be nice to unwind sometimes after all the politics, or should I say, 'politicians'."

Luna shuddered at the word. "Quite."

"Well, you go ahead and find us someplace to sleep. I need to go explain pistols to the Professor so he'll stop pointing loaded ones at his face." He gestured to where Phoenix seemed determined to commit accidental suicide. "Curiosity killed the colorful flying pony..." He mumbled as he walked off.

Twilight and Luna walked silently through the devastated camp, looking for a tent that would at least provide protection from wind and rain. "Luna?"

"Yes?"

"How are you so calm about this?"

"Elaborate."

"All the... killing. It's not right."

"Twilight Sparkle, you forget yourself. Tell me, what do you think happened to Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight looked puzzled. She probably thought it was some sort of test... "You are Nightmare Moon." She quickly realized what she had just said and panicked. "Wait! I mean— I didn't—"

"It's fine. Just a slip of the tongue. Even if you had said 'were' instead of 'are', you would still be incorrect. Perhaps at some point Nightmare Moon and I were one, but through some means she managed to become a separate entity within my body. So where is she now?"

"I... have no idea."

"She's dead. The Elements Of Harmony killed her."

"What!? But the Elements can't have done that! Killing isn't harmonious, it's evil! Killing is the way of chaos!"

Luna chuckled. "Ironic, isn't it? Harmony through chaos? That's the original motto of the Chaos Mages, you know? Speaking of chaos, what about Discord?"

"We turned him to stone?"

"Yes. And how do you think he feels about that?"

"He's stone. He can't feel anything."

"Once again incorrect. Discord is completely conscious inside there. He probably wishes he were dead."

Twilight stopped walking, looking horrified. "Why are you telling me this?"

After a few more steps, Luna stopped as well and looked back at her. "I don't know what my sister had intended, but she sheltered you for far too long. It's time you learned that this world is not the perfect place you were raised to believe it was. We do our best to keep our little ponies safe now, but things weren't always that way and we can't always control the goings-on of other nations."

"Ponies used to kill each other?"

Luna blinked. "Well I had meant invasions by other countries, but there were a few civil wars as well, yes. I'm sorry I'm being so blunt, but I am simply upset that you're having to learn these things firsthoof."

"I think I understand..."

"Good." Luna closed the distance between them and nuzzled her. "I truly am sorry... Twilight."

Twilight responded with a sad smile. "Thank you, Luna. I think I'll be okay now."

Luna nodded. "Alright. Let Us continue then."

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Did you just—"

"Maybe." Luna answered with a grin before walking away. Twilight shook her head and chuckled before running to catch up.

It was nearly afternoon by the time everyone had finally gotten sleeping arrangements completed. The result was Twilight and Phoenix sleeping in the tent's two cots, and Felicia using a hammock that she had made from the fabric of another tent. Luna and Jackson were sleeping on scavenged mattresses on the floor, though Twilight had spent quite a while insisting that a Princess shouldn't have to sleep on the ground. Luna had apparently won that argument.

Everyone was already asleep except for Jackson, who was still slightly hyped up from his earlier adrenaline rush. He was lying there, staring at the nearest wall of the tent, when he heard a quiet scraping noise behind him. He turned over and saw that Luna had moved her mattress to directly beside his, and was now glaring at him. "Damn."

"You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?"

"Yeah, kind of."

"An alicorn never forgets."

"I thought that was elephants."

"Shut up."

"Well excuuuse me, Princess."

Luna's glare softened. "You are forgiven. Now how do you really feel?"

"'Tell me how you feel.' Well, sure thing, doc'."

Aaand she was glaring again. "Please at least try to take this seriously."

Jackson grinned. "C'mon Luna. You should know by now that I'm anything but serious."

"Yes, I know everything about your little act." Luna answered, rolling her eyes. "Now drop it."

Jackson looked a little bit worried. "What are you talking about?"

"You may have made fun of how I was acting like a psychologist, but I've been around for a few thousand years. This leaves me with the unique position of having taken every university course in existence, including psychology. Jackie, I am a psychologist, and I know very well that you're playing the comedian more for your own benefit than ours."

Jackson dropped his perpetual playful grin. "Fine. I'm serious. What do you want to know?"

"I won't ask why you act like you do. I understand that it's something personal. What I want to know is how you're holding up after your first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth kill."

Jackson gulped. "Nine?"

"Yes."

"I killed nine people..."

"Jackie...?"

Jackson started to shake as he fought to hold back tears. When he failed, Luna quickly wrapped him in a hug, which he did his best to return given he was also trying to bawl his eyes out without waking anyone else. It was embarrassing enough without Felicia finding out.

When he finally calmed down, Luna released him and he said, "Well. I guess that's how I'm holding up. I'd ask if it ever gets any easier, but I've seen that line in enough movies and books to know the answer's 'no'."

Luna frowned. "You're right about that... I can still remember the face of the first pony I killed. He was a blue pegasus. I say blue, but he was grey at the time— One of Discord's. I cut off one of his wings mid-air, and as he fell to the ground I saw his color return as Discord released him. The last thing he saw after being freed was the Goddess of the Moon looking down at him as she sent him to his grave. No, it never gets easier," She allowed herself a sad smile. "but you're already loaded with coping mechanisms, so I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Ha. That I am... so is that all?"

"Yes. We should probably try to get some sleep."

"Uh..." He hesitated. "Thank you." He finally said, reaching over to give Luna another hug. "Good... day?"

Luna shot him a half-cocked smile and slowly nodded. "Yes. ‘Good-day’, Jackie."

"G'day, Lu." Jackson responded before rolling over again to continue staring at his favorite wall. 'Maybe you'll be able to sleep, 'cause I'm not gonna be any time soon...' For some reason I get the feeling that he had trouble stopping himself from saying good-day with an Australian accent...

Despite his prediction, it was only about another hour before sleep took him.

After a fairly awkward moment where Twilight discovered that her Princess had moved to sleep beside Jackson at some point during the day, the group left behind the smell of crispy gryphons at a little after sundown, and continued onwards to... actually, where are they going?

Apparently Jackson was also thinking the same thing, and decided to voice his opinion on the matter. "Am I the only one who's concerned that we're walking aimlessly through a dense jungle!? Where the fuck are we going!?"

Luna sighed before answering, "We're going to Kleindorf."

"Wait... You know where we are?"

"No, but there are quite a few small gryphon villages named Kleindorf, so we're most likely going to run into one of them eventually."

"Why do they name all of them— Wait, Klein— Oh I get it." Jackson's eyes widened in realization, and the expression quickly changed to confusion. "High German? At least Equestria makes a little bit of sense, but why the hell do the Germans live in a jungle?"

"I assume you are trying to relate your own world to ours. You're forgetting that being in direct contact with a star can sometimes affect the environment. The geographical location is likely the same as what you're thinking of." Luna explained.

"So, like, in a few thousand more years the place is gonna cool off?"

"Exactly. In fact, the climate here has been steadily changing for a long time, mostly due to a series of spells that my sister and I placed on the land to help fix things."

Twilight was shocked to say the least. "What!? Most scientists attribute the rapid changes to global warming!" Mind = Blown.

For some reason unbeknownst to the others, this statement caused Jackson to laugh so hard that he tripped. The unanimous reaction was an impressively simultaneous eyebrow raise.

He eventually calmed down, at which point Luna asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Shiny, Cap'n." Came Jackson's response, muffled by the ground. Luna rolled her eyes and they continued, leaving Jackson to get up and follow on his own time. "Heeey! Wait for me!"

Meanwhile, some distance away, Gilda and Rorik had made it to Kleindorf. Which one? The one just past the place where the jungle suddenly gave way to normal European environment. How does that work? Magic. I'm pretty sure we went over this already, but for future reference, any unexplained phenomena is magic. Gryphic topography? Magic. Sun smaller than planet? Magic. Pegasi flying on those tiny little chicken wings? Magic.

Okay, we're getting a little off-topic here. Gilda and Rorik, blah blah blah. Made it to Kleindorf, blah blah blah. Don't let the Emperor find out because he's a cultist, blah blah— Wait, what?

"If anyone asks, we know nothing. We can't let the Emperor find out that there's a new Chaos Mage or his little cult will be out in full force." Rorik whispered to his companion.

"You don't say." Came Gilda's bemused reply. "Do I look like an idiot to you? 'Cause sometimes I wonder."

Rorik ignored her question. "Take this," He passed her a bag of coins. "and rent us a room at the inn. I'll look around and see if I can find any other survivors who might've made it here."

"Who died and put you in charge?"

"My dad. Do you have a better plan?"

"No..." As Rorik turned to leave, Gilda called him back. "Hey! Listen, sorry 'bout that 'who died' thing. That uh... wasn't really cool of me." She rubbed the back of her head with one talon and avoided looking him in the eye, embarrassed at having to apologize for something in public.

Rorik gave a curt nod in acceptance of her apology. "It's fine. No one's really going to miss him anyway."

"..."

"..."

"You're still a dweeb."

"I'm just gonna go." With that final, eloquent exchange, the two gryphons parted ways. Gilda had a rather uneventful five-block journey to the inn, garnering only a suspicious glance from a couple guards. Rorik on the other hand, had only a couple minutes of flight time before the gryphon equivalent of Pinkie Pie arrived to make his nightmares real.

"Hey! Hey Rorik! Over here!"

"Oh Gods... Not her..."

"Hey! Listen!"

Rorik slowly turned around, and found his face uncomfortably close to that of another gryphon. He quickly backpedalled before taking a moment to compose himself. "Hello Elisabeth."

"Hi! You smell like fried chicken!"

"That's nice. Hey I've got an idea, why don't you go find Gilda at the inn."

"Gilda's with you!? Yay!" She emphasized her joy by doing a backflip.

"Yeah, 'yay'. You go ahead and I'll be there soon. I've just got something to take care of first."

"Okie doke!"

Rorik watched as the hyperactive gryphon flew off in a perpetual corkscrew with an unamused expression. He sighed and wearily shook his head once she was out of earshot. "This had better be worth it, Wilhelm..."

Jackson was a happy human. The reason? He was finally gonna get to lay his lazy ass down after what in his opinion was far too much walking. They had left the jungle just a few minutes prior, and a small village was slowly coming into view. "Hey look! There's a town up ahead!" He exclaimed.

"Yes Jackie, we see it." Luna responded calmly. Killjoy...

"Oh. Okay." There were a few more minutes, during which the town remained painfully far away, and no one spoke. Except Jackson that is, but that's not really all that surprising to be honest. "Whoo boy! This is some pretty heavy awkward silence we've got going on here. Quick, someone start a conversation!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Or you could do that instead I suppose... Guess it's up to me then... So, Phoenix mah bro, what in the flying fuck were you doing all the way out there?"

The vermilion pegasus looked surprised that he was being addressed, having thought that no one had noticed he was tagging along. Apparently he had yet to spot Twilight at the back of the group, stalking the everliving shit out of his backside. Don't think we didn't notice, you naughty mare, you... "Well, long story short, I came to Gryphus in search of artifacts from the time before what the gryphons call 'The Great Cataclysm'. I spend a lot of time on expeditions because I don’t like the way all of the fillies and colts back home treat me like some sort of celebrity. They treat me like I'm Daring Do." He answered.

Twilight was apparently coherent enough to catch what she thought was a minor error on Phoenix's part, and evidently had no qualms correcting someone she looked up to. "Jackson's not from around here. He doesn't know who Daring Do is." She said, quickening her pace to walk with the rest of them.

Now it was Jackson's turn to do some correcting. "Actually Twilight, I know exactly who Daring Do is. Pegasus adventurer, has cat problems."

Dammit Jackie! You set off Twilight's Bullshit Detector™! "How can you possibly know that? You're from the same species as Lord Infernus, and he was from another universe. Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?"

"No, but I don't know why you're so surprised that I know who Daring Do is. Hell, I even mentioned her when we first met, remember?"

"Vaguely..." She grumbled. "Still, you shouldn't know most of the things you do!"

Jackson Shrugged. "So?"

"So how do you know so much about this universe!?"

"Gypsy magic."

"I— What? You can't just explain everything as magic!"

"It's either magic, or science. Then again, magic is just what we call science we don't understand yet, sooo... Gypsy science?"

"Gypsy science?" Twilight responded incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Yep. I know things because gypsy science."

Twilight's right front hoof violently said hello to her face. Somehow she continued walking with just three legs because science. "You are INTOLERABLE!" She screamed before running ahead.

Phoenix was totally watching her with poorly hidden interest as she did so. Jackson noticed this, and gave the pegasus a nudge to get his attention. "If you two can't keep your eyes off of each other's rear ends, there's gonna be an accident. I can see it now. Running from some bad guys, one of you passes the other; 'ooh! Flanks!' Lol, ded."

"I was not— wait, she was watching my flanks?" His eyes widened when he realized how eager he had sounded when he asked that. "I— I mean, of course she was. I have very well toned flanks."

"I really don't need you to describe your flanks in detail, thank you. I don't want that picture in my head. Alright Jackie... just think about female flanks and it'll go away."

He stared off into space for a few seconds as they walked. Suddenly Felicia spoke up, "Jackie? You're doing it again. I know you like my flanks, but we've already established that I don't swing that way."

"NOPE! That's it. I'm done. No more talking about flanks for anyone! I don't even want to hear the word 'flank' again for a very long time!" They continued in silence for a ways before Luna pulled ahead, swaying her hips suggestively and looking over her shoulder to gauge Jackson's response. Said response was to suddenly freeze. His left eyelid twitched a bit. "I hate you."

n°1.8 - It's A Trap!

“We don’t have time for this,” a blonde woman in a desert MARPAT utility uniform quietly stated.

“If we rush things, there’s a good chance he’ll figure out what it is we’re looking for. Seth is a lot brighter than you give him credit for, Sam,” an older man in a labcoat answered, looking annoyed.

“I don’t doubt that, but we’re running out of time. I’ve been sitting in on every single one of your little ‘sessions’, and I’ve yet to hear any of them drop so much as a hint as to—”

“Settle down. Things aren’t quite that desperate yet. If they were, they'd all be in torture rooms, rather than interrogation rooms.”

“Are you sure things aren’t that desperate? You spend all your time down here, Doctor. When was the last time you’ve checked the news?”

“I—”

“No, don’t answer that, I know you haven’t been keeping up to date like you’re supposed to. I’ll tell you now, though; the UN is getting antsy. I think they know something’s up, and they’re actively looking for the source. And you’d better hope they don’t find it before we do, or we’ll be in no better shape than we were a few decades ago.”

“I know! I— I know... It’s us or them. And we’re going to make damn sure it’s not us. But that’s why we need to go about this carefully; If Seth catches on— if any of them catch on, we’re done. Trust me on this one... please.”

“Fine. But if you fuck this up, it’s on your head. ... Actually, if you fuck this up, we’re all dead anyway, so I guess you have nothing to worry about.”

The woman left the room, and another man entered immediately after. The man in the labcoat looked up at him from his seat with no small amount of worry. “Mr. Florence.”

“Please,” the second man responded with an almost predatory grin, “call me Derrick.”

Hurry it up, eh? Jeez you guys are pushy... Fine then.

Jackson Florence watched through the bars of the window on the east wall of his cell in the Canterlot Castle dungeons as a large portion of the city slipped from its perch upon the mountain and crumbled into flaming ruin down the cliff-face—

What? Too far? ‘Kay, lemme just go back a bit.

One grey and dreary day, some poor sod named Jackson Florence was not a happy—

Huh? Too far back!? Make up your mind, you damn egghead!

...

Yeah, yeah...

...

I am calm!

...

Just skip the tour? Why didn’t you just say so!?

“Please, call me Jackie!”

The gryphon punched him in the face. “Silence, Flamebringer!”

“I tink you ‘ave me confoosed wit’ summon ewse,” Jackson mumbled in response as he clutched at his bleeding muzzle, trying to stop the blood from flowing into his eyes since he was—no big surprise here—once again hanging upside down.

Another gryphon entered the room, causing the others to immediately stand at attention. “Are you not the one named Jackson Florence?”

“Pwease, caw me— Ah! Fuck! My face! Why!?”

“Does he actually think that’ll work?”

“He knows we can see him, right?”

“The— The net’s just hanging right there!”

“I... have no response.”

Those were just a few of the comments made by Jackson’s companions as they looked at the blatantly obvious trap that had been set up in the middle of the narrow road in front of them. Jackson turned to Gilda, who had been ushering them along ahead of her. “I’m not touching that shit.”

“What do you mean?” Gilda asked, despite knowing full well what he meant.

“That,” Jackson answered, pointing ahead of them.

“I don’t see anything,” Gilda lied horribly.

“...”

“...”

“You go first.” And with those three words, Gilda’s fate was sealed; she could either admit to trying to walk them into a trap, or walk into the trap herself. With a sigh of resignation, she stepped forward until she was standing just before the hanging net’s drop-zone. She looked back for a second with a strange smile that somehow simultaneously said, ‘It’s perfectly fine, see?’ and ‘I AM GOING TO MURDER YOU ONCE I GET OUT OF THIS!’, and then took another step, allowing the weighted net to fall and pin her to the ground.

Jackson laughed his ass off.

No one else did.

“Come on! You can’t seriously tell me that wasn’t funny!” It was then he realized that the others were all too busy watching something behind him. He slowly turned around and saw that the release of the net had triggered a secondary mechanism. He followed the movements of said secondary mechanism’s rope as it tightened until his gaze ended directly beneath his hooves. “Well, shit.”

Next thing he knew, the back of his head was saying hi to a brick wall, and the blurry outline of a few dozen armored gryphons swiftly converged on his position.

“Pwease, caw me— Ah! Fuck! My face! Why!?”

“Why? BECAUSE YOU MURDERED MY FATHER, THAT’S WHY!”

After a moment of confusion and blood-wiping, Jackson responded, “Oh, you mean—? Oh right, him. He was kind of a dick, though...”

“Yeeaaah, he was, wasn’t he?”

“...”

“...”

“So. What now? You gonna kill me?”

“No. I have plans for you—”

“Before you finish that sentence; I’m not American.”

“...”

“...”

“AH! WHY IS IT ALWAYS MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!?”

A few hours, and a lot of face punching later, Rorik had calmed down enough to talk like a civilized being. I guess he didn’t like being interrupted or something. By this point, Jackson’s face was so swollen from the beating he had taken that it was completely impossible for him to speak. That’s a bonus, I guess...

As it was, Rorik was the one who did all the talking from then on. Not sure if that’s any better though. “I apologize for my outburst,” he said, wiping his claws off on a nearby towel that one of the guards had brought for him. Apparently they were used to that kind of thing. “I tend to... lose my temper at times.”

Jackson didn’t say anything.

“Ah, not so talkative now, are you?”

Jackson had a few choice words he would have liked to use in response, but he settled for simply trying his hardest to mentally project them into the room. It didn’t work.

“Now that you’ve... ‘given me the floor’ so to speak, I feel it’s about time I fill you in on what’s going to happen next. You see, I have a friend named Wilhelm who’s very interested in meeting you, as it seems you have some... abilities that he is in need of. I assume you’ve heard of him?”

Jackson shook his head ‘no’.

“Perfect,” Rorik responded with a grin, “that makes things much easier, as I intend to leave the big reveal for the end.”

At that moment, Gilda peeked her head through the door and encountered the sight of Rorik with his head suspiciously close to that of our self-proclaimed protagonist. “Woah. Did you guys need some privacy? ‘Cause I can lock the door if you want.”

Rorik quickly backed away from Jackson and gave her a blank stare. “What?”

“You weren’t about to make out?”

That question earned a quiet snerk from one of the guards, and a horrified look from Rorik. “Oh... Oh fucking Tartarus no! I was just explaining the situation to our esteemed guest here,” he informed her, gesturing to Jackson with one wing.

This brought Gilda’s gaze to the human-turned-pony. “Oh, damn, you totally owned his face.” She turned her attention back to Rorik before returning to the previous subject. “So you’re not gay then? Sucks for you I guess, because I am, so you’re still not getting any of this once we’re married.”

“How... unfortunate.”

Meanwhile, Jackson promptly shipped Gilda and Felicia, and that was that.

Gilda pulled her head back out the door, having finished the discussion. During the few moments of awkward silence afterwards, she peeked her head in again and added, “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention; there’s a platoon of Imperial Guards on their way. Guess one of your dudes must’ve squawked or somethin’.”

Rorik’s eyes widened in response. “Now? They’re coming now?”

“Yep, sure looks that way. We can take ‘em though, right?”

Rorik took a moment to collect himself before completely ignoring the question to address the guards. “All of you, get out there and find the rest of the ponies! If they’re not dead or captured before the Imperials get here, we’re fucked!” He then shoved his way past Gilda and out of the room, pausing only to yell, “Lebewohl, kamerad!” back at Jackson.

Gilda looked back and forth between the mostly empty room, and Rorik as he led the guards down to the bottom floor. She blinked a few times. “ ... ‘Kay.”

The Emperor of Gryphus was not known for his kindness. He had been in charge of the nation for a long time, but none knew how immensely long it had actually been. To everyone else, it seemed that the past Emperor’s son became the new Emperor, and the old one would just disappear. There was a lot of speculation around the whole thing—a lot of which could get a gryphon beheaded—but that was the best guess anyone could make.

The truth was actually a lot simpler, and also a lot more terrifying. The Emperor had been The Emperor forever. He was the first, and he would be the last. That second part might be foreshadowing, or it might not. Just sayin’. In any case, it was easy enough for him to dye his feathers a different color and then pass the rest off a family resemblance. That still didn’t explain how the ‘new Emperor’ was always younger than he predecessor. What explains that part is the fact that The Emperor had a fondness for Chaos Artifacts, and he also made good use of the ones he acquired.

Eternal youth. How exciting.

With that bit of exposition out of the way, it’s fairly obvious that his reaction to a lone guard showing up and telling him that a human had been sighted would be... spectacular. That was probably the reason why he had ordered an entire platoon of soldiers to the town. Oh, and it was probably also the reason why he was leading that platoon himself too.

Dozens of gryphons flew about, packing supplies as quickly as possible. High above them all, The Emperor watched from his tower with no small amount of glee. Finally, after all these years, another human had arrived. The prophecy was already coming true. Now, it was only a matter of time before the human joined him in his conquest.

He sacrificed us all for her. I should have seen it coming.

Without even thinking, Luna teleported herself and her remaining companions to safety, backtracking to a memorable section of the town; the back alley that Light Gear and Rorik had their... altercation... in. She quickly cast an enchantment to hide them from prying eyes.

Meanwhile, it took a few seconds for the others to realize what happened. Due to her heritage, Felicia was the first to recover, but she did nothing but stare at Luna. Phoenix recovered next. “Good idea,” he said, “we can think of a way to rescue him from here.” Twilight remained silent, keeping her thoughts to herself. Said thoughts included a certain white unicorn.

Luna didn’t acknowledge Phoenix’s statement, and entered a similar state of deep thought to that of Twilight’s. Felicia continued to watch the alicorn with interest before responding to Phoenix, “We’re not going back.”

The pegasus looked up in surprise. “What? Why not?”

Felicia ignored his question, instead speaking to Luna. “Do you really think this is going to work?” she asked, surprising everyone with her unusually serious tone.

The surprise was enough to gain Luna’s attention, though it took a few seconds for her to process the question. “What do you mean?”

“Please, that was barely more believable than when the gryphon said it. I’m a changeling, remember? I can feel your emotions right now.”

“I have no choice! The gryphons have him now, so we should just keep moving before they come for us next!”

Twilight and Phoenix had been looking back and forth between them the entire time, not entirely following the argument. When Luna said those words, they both appeared at least a small bit displeased with the alicorn. Neither of them though, looked nearly as angry as Felicia herself. “Just like when the slavers had us!?” she demanded.

Luna looked ready to start yelling at the changeling, but she did her best to keep her voice down. “That was different! It wasn’t just him in danger then!”

Felicia’s glare softened into a look of pity. “Why are you lying to yourself?”

“W— What?”

“Do you think you can change it just by getting rid of him? If anything, that’ll only make matters worse!”

“I have no choice!” Luna yelled again, momentarily losing her self-control.

“You always have a choice!” Felicia responded in kind, her anger returning. Phoenix and Twilight were both once again lost, but neither of the arguing mares took any notice, as they were too busy staring each other down to notice. Eventually, Felicia gave up. “Fine, Go. I’m not going to leave him though. If you recall, it was him who I was travelling with, not you.”

“Very well then,” Luna responded, “The rest of us shall move on without you.”

“No we won’t,” Phoenix spoke up suddenly, surprising all of them, “There’s not a whole lot a single changeling can do, even if she can blend in. Now I know I haven’t been part of your little group for very long, but I’m not about to let a potential friend get killed if I can help it.”

Unsurprisingly, Twilight immediately spoke after him. “I might not have my magic, but that doesn’t mean I’m useless. Felicia and I might have our differences, but I’m with Phoenix on this one. I’m sorry Princess, but I won’t abandon my friends.”

Luna’s expression shifted rapidly through several different moods before she finally settled on confusion.

“Very well then,” she said after a few moments, “We shall stay.”

“Oh, good! I was worried I’d be left here all by myself!” said Light Gear.

...

Wait a minute...

With a burst of cobalt, the white unicorn was suddenly—and quite forcefully—pinned to a nearby wall. “You!” Luna yelled in recognition.

Light Gear waved gleefully at her. “Hi!”

Paying no mind to his antics, she lowered the unicorn and floated him closer. He made swimming motions the entire way. She stopped him, inches from her face, and gave him the most deadliest death glare ever glared. “Where did you take him!?”

“...”

“...”

“Beep.”

LUNA.EXE HAS STOPPED WORKING

RESTART, Y/N?

y_

PLEASE WAIT.

CALCULATING...

CALCULATING...

CALCULATING...

WRONG!

“HOW DARE THEE TOUCH OUR ROYAL MUZZLE!”

“Like this. Beep.”

Realizing that she wouldn’t be gaining any information from the unicorn, she briefly considered snapping his neck, but remembered that Twilight was watching. Despite her wishes to acclimate the mare to the true nature of the world, that might be taking it a little far. While she was thinking, it was only the concerned cries of her companions that made her realize she had just used the Royal Caps-Lock and likely alerted every gryphon in the vicinity to their presence.

While maintaining her magical grip on the suspiciously happy unicorn, she turned around to find that a gryphon had walked into the alley. The gryphon stared the travellers down for a moment before grinning. “Omigosh! New people! I love meeting new people! I’m Elisabeth! What’re your names!? I heard yelling and I was like, ‘yelling isn’t a very happy thing to do’ and then I was like, ‘I know, I’ll go make whoever’s yelling happy! Which one of you was yelling!?” Elisabeth was suddenly in front of Twilight. “You have an inhibitor ring on! That’d probably make a unicorn pretty unhappy. Does that mean you were the one yelling!?”

Twilight grimaced at the gryphon in pained recognition, and the others simply stared in shock. It was Pinkie Pie... but as a gryphon... “Dear Celestia,” said Twilight, “three of them. All my worst nightmares at once...”

There was a short moment where Luna was a little irked at having heard her sister’s name used as though she were a Goddess. Then she remembered that they had spent thousands of years indoctrinating ponies to believe that to be true. Then she remembered that there was now a gryphon standing directly in front of one of her friends. With another cobalt flash—which would be a good name for a blue pegasus—she added Elisabeth to her collection of hovering lifeforms.

Light Gear and Elisabeth immediately took to their new companionship like a fish to a scantily-clad lady-fish. “Hi, I’m Light Gear, and you’re Elisabeth! I know that because you said so! Why is your name spelt with an ‘S’ instead of a ‘Z’!?”

“Hi, I’m not Light Gear, and you’re not Elisabeth! I know that because I’m Elisabeth! My name is spelt with an ‘S’ instead of a ‘Z’ because it’s actually German!” Elisabeth responded.

“German!?” Light gear questioned. “How’s that possible!? Germany doesn’t exist in this universe!”

“Oh yeah! Haha, silly me!”

Noticing the pained expressions on the faces of her companions, Luna gave both of her prisoners a violent shake. She would at a much later date grudgingly admit to finding the way their eyes rolled around as though independent from their optic nerves slightly amusing. As it was, she was unwilling to risk her intimidation factor by giggling like a little filly. “Enough!” she shouted at them, “what have thee done with Our companion!?”

Light Gear made a puzzled expression and examined the sky. Elisabeth grinned and raised a talon. “Ooh! Ooh! Me! Pick me!”

Luna facehoofed and then nodded to her. “Aye?”

“Didn’t you read the last chapter!? Rorik has him tied up on the second floor of an unidentified structure—most likely the tavern—while he’s out looking for all of you with a group of guards! Meanwhile, the rest of the guards are getting ready for The Emperor’s biiig welcoming party! Yay!”

“The Emperor?” Luna asked with more fear than any pony had heard come from her for a very long time, “he’s coming here?”

“Yeppers!”

Luna turned to address her companions. “We need to be quick about this. Twilight, I know you’re far from useless, but we need everypony at their best. You’re going to have to wait here.”

“Wait,” answered Twilight, a contemplative expression on her face, “Elisabeth mentioned the ring earlier. I’m most likely going to regret asking, but...” She looked to the aforementioned gryphon. “Elisabeth—”

“Hi!” the gryphon yelled, causing Twilight to flinch slightly.

“Hi. Do you know how to get the ring off of me?”

“I sure do!”

“...”

“...”

“Can you tell us?” Twilight asked with a sigh.

“Oh, sure! It’s super-duper easy! All you have to do is heat it up until it starts glowing, then it’ll slide right off!” She squinted and rubbed her chin with a talon, then added, “Of course, it’ll also be really hot, so you might get an ouchie...”

“Of course!” Twilight smacked her forehead with a hoof. “Metal expands when heated! They must have forged the ring too small to fit, then heated it before placing it on my horn!”

Luna nodded at her hypothesis, then stated, “Be that as it may, We do not have any way of removing the ring with harming yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

Luna shook her head, slightly disappointed that the unicorn hadn’t realized the answer herself. “I can heat the ring with a simple fire spell, but there is no way to knock you unconscious aside from blunt force trauma to the head.”

“Can’t you just cast a sleeping spell? That shouldn’t be very hard for a—”

“Twilight!” Luna interrupted before the mare could say the next word, “please remember that we aren’t alone here.” She gestured to Light Gear and Elisabeth to emphasize her point.

“Right. Sorry. But as I was saying, shouldn’t you be able to cast a sleeping spell?”

Luna’s anxiety spiked sharply as she realized that Twilight was coming uncomfortably close to discovering the truth about her ‘Goddesses’. “I apologize, but I’m unfamiliar with the spell itself. Proficiency is not the problem here. If I could cast a sleeping spell, do you really think there would even be a single gryphon awake in the village?”

Twilight slowly nodded her head in understanding. “I suppose that makes sense. You were...” She glanced at the two outsiders and paused to choose her words carefully. “Away... when quite a few breakthroughs were made in the field of magic.

Luna released a barely noticeable breath of relief. “Then as you can see, there is no way for you to go about this unharmed.”

There was nearly a full minute of silence while everyone considered their options before Twilight spoke again. “Then do it with me awake.”

“No!” yelled Phoenix, placing a hoof on her shoulder, “don’t get yourself hurt over something so trivial. I’m sure you could help, but you’re not needed for this.”

Twilight knocked his hoof away with annoyance, turning to glare at him. “‘Not needed’, am I? My friend is in danger, and I can help. That’s ‘needed’ enough for me.”

“Twilight, that’s not what I meant!”

“...”

“...”

She sighed and her gaze softened. “I know. I’m sorry. I just... I am who I am today because of my friends. Just because Jackie’s a new friend doesn’t mean I care for him any less. I want to do this.”

“ ... Okay.”

Luna stepped forward. “Prepare yourself, Twilight Sparkle.” With those words, the screaming started.

Jackson stumbled as he was shoved by a guard, falling to side in front of an empty field and wishing he didn’t have a cloth shoved into his mouth so that she could shout some form of expletive. Storm clouds circled overhead in unnatural patterns. It looked as though they were standing under the eye of a hurricane, but there wasn’t even the slightest breeze. The air was too still.

Jackson felt his hairs begin to raise, and the grass in the field began to bend away from the center, arcs of electricity jumping between the blades. Jackson’s power began to increase exponentially in the presence of such raw energy, but he waited to see what would happen. He didn’t need to wait long.

With a clap of thunder and a flash brighter than any lightning strike, over sixty gryphons, clad in gold plating, appeared in the field. The Emperor was at the head of the platoon, larger than any of the other gryphons, and possibly rivaling Celestia herself. His ash grey feathers transitioned smoothly into a dark sorrel coat. In contrast to the rest of him, each individual feather on his wings looked almost as though they were made of solid gold.

Rorik moved towards him from where he had been waiting to Jackson’s right. “Hello, Emperor. I’m pleased to say that we’ve caught the Chaos Mage, but we were unable to find his companions. I apologize profusely for this, and—”

His words were cut off as The Emperor decapitated him cleanly with a single swift strike of his wing, flicking the blood off his feathers afterwards. He continued towards Jackson without batting an eye. Seconds later, the Chaos Mage was looking up into the emotionless gaze of The Immortal Emperor of Gryphus. The Emperor suddenly gave him a warm, genuine smile. “Hello, Jackson Florence. It’s an honor to finally meet you. My name is Emperor Wilhelm.”

n°1.9 - Turning Point

“We never realized at the time how heartless We had been. Perhaps if We hadn’t been so... oblivious, none of it would have happened. We both lost everything because of Our actions...”

“I notice that you tend to fall back into the pluralis maiestatis when you’re distraught. We can have Seth relate this next part if it’s too much for you.”

“No! No, he is... blinded to all but his own perceived reality. We— I want to make sure that you understand why I did it. I want to make sure you know the real story of how I destroyed Equestria.”

“ ... Very well, Diana. You may continue.”

Twilight Sparkle lay shaking on the ground, tears streaming down her face. The smell of burnt hair and flesh was rancid in the air. Despite the overwhelming urge to do so, she couldn’t quite manage a sob. It hurt too much.

His previous awkwardness around the mare forgotten, Phoenix was doing his best to comfort her. Felicia was still glaring at Luna, who was looking at the entire scene with a detached indifference. Even Light Gear and Elisabeth had lost their smiles.

“We need to get moving.”

It was with that simple sentence that Luna managed to completely restart her initial argument with Felica. “What is wrong with you!?” the changeling asked, “Your emotions are going completely haywire! One second you’re pissed off because we’re not leaving Jackie behind, and the next you’re pissed off because we’re taking too long rescuing him! Make up your fucking mind!”

“Don’t you go lecturing Us! Were you not the one who claimed to be following Jackson based solely on your Queen’s orders!?”

“That was then! We’d only known each other for a little under a week! I had just suddenly been stuck with a mythical being who seemed completely unrelatable!”

“And in the short number of days since, he’s suddenly become thy best friend?”

“He’s become my only friend! Back in the hive, you don’t get friends... He showed me friendship when not a single living being on the planet would even consider the thought!” Felicia’s voice suddenly dropped to a much quieter tone as she asked, “Was it really so different for you?”

“Of course! Unlike thou, We already had a friend in that poor mare lying on the ground over there.”

“We have spies everywhere. Do you really think we don’t know that story? You were friends for one night, and you hadn’t even bothered to speak with her since! But Jackie, oh he showed up out of nowhere and literally swept you off your hooves, taking you away on an adventure! It was only inevitable that this would happen, right?”

Luna was suddenly feeling very exposed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Is it just me, or is this conversation just going in circles? Stop. Lying. To. Yourself.”

“Fine!” Luna suddenly yelled, throwing her front hooves into the air in a motion of resignation, “So We have a little crush on the human!? Big deal!”

“It is a big deal, or you wouldn’t be making this much of an issue about it! You wanna go save your coltfriend, I get it. Just give us a few minutes, and we can go do just that.”

For the first time since she had come to that one terrible realization not too long ago, Luna allowed her façade to slip, and for what was only the latest time in the young alicorn’s long life of constant sadness, a tear rolled down her cheek. “I had no intention of saving him.”

Silence.

Even Twilight was freed from her state of shock, only to be thrust immediately into another. “Not once thus far has one of the prophecies failed to pass. Should we rescue him, Equestria as we know it shall cease,” Luna continued. As many of the others opened their mouths to reproach her, she quickly added, “However, I now realize that option is out of the question.”

It really was amazing how Felicia could so quickly switch tones. It most likely came from the changelings’ natural ability to adapt, but it was surprising nonetheless. “Willing to throw aside your entire country to save him?” she asked, “that sounds like more than a little crush to me.”

“Cease thine aggravations, parasite,” responded Luna, refusing to even look in the changeling’s direction.

“Oh, so we’re resorting to calling each other names now, is that it?”

“Dost you want us to save him or not!?”

“Yes, we dost.

Before their argument could escalate — again — Phoenix grabbed their attention. “Um, Ladies?” They all turned to look at him. Twilight was still in his forelegs, slightly calmer than previously, but it was the sky that currently held his attention. “I get the feeling he doesn’t need our help.”

A storm was brewing. Both literally and metaphorically.

~Five Minutes Earlier~

“Uh... Hi. Jackson. Florence. I’m... Jackson Florence. You already knew that. Heheh... You can call me... Jackson.”

Emperor Wilhelm didn’t stop smiling. “Of course I know who you are!”

“Yeah. Of course. Well, that’s not creepy or anything...”

Emperor Wilhelm continued to smile.

“So... Thanks for killing that douchebag, I guess?”

Emperor Wilhelm continued to smile.

“Well. Uh... You may have noticed,” Jackson started, adopting a conversational tone, “I am currently lying on the ground. I would be... ever so greatful if His Majesty would help me up.” He then flashed the gryphon a nervous, exceptionally fake smile.

“Of course, of course,” came Wilhelm’s response, his eyes widening in false surprise at the realization, “we can’t have such an honored guest lying on the dirty ground, now can we?” He moved to assist his ‘honored guest’, but suddenly paused and frowned. “Except... Moving you to an upright position would enable you to aim your horn in my direction and allow you to attack me with all that energy you’ve been absorbing over the last couple minutes.”

“I— What? Nope, no energy here!” was Jackson’s ever so well-thought-out response.

Wilhelm’s frown deepened. “Jackson, you wound me.” He placed a paw over his heart and tried feigned a hurt expression. He held the pose for a moment before returning his paw to the ground and throwing Jackson a bemused glare. “Really?” he asked, sighing and rubbing his brow, “you are a truly terrible liar.”

“Can I try again?” asked Jackson hopefully.

“No. No, you may not. I am truly sorry that it came to this, but I am going to have to knock you unconscious now.”

“Oh, okay.” A moment later, realization dawned on the human’s face.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Wait— No— I mean— Not the face!”

Jackson awoke in his human body, faceplanting. “Fuck.”

“Hello again! Long time, no see!” Came a sudden exceptionally friendly voice from outside his view.

Jackson raised his head slightly off the ashen ground. “Adelphus.”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out.”

Jackson faceplanted once more. “Fuck.”

“Hey! Watch your fucking language, boy!”

Jackson violently and repeatedly faceplanted. It didn’t do a whole lot.

“What’s the matter? Feeling a little down?”

“I just had the crap beaten out of me by a sociopathic gryphon, was rescued from him by the Gryphon Emperor, and then immediately knocked unconscious again. Yeah, Just a little bit,” Jackson explained, rolling onto his back to look at the perpetual eclipse in the burning sky.

“Well that sounds like fun,” Adelphus commented, his smoky form lying down beside Jackson.

“Please get up. You have no idea how creepy it is having a smoke-person lying beside you.”

“Don’t I? My ‘smoke-person’ wife lays beside me in bed all the time. We’ve made tons of little smoky ones.”

“Aww... That’s absolutely horrifying.”

“I was joking. I’m the only one here.”

“Oh that’s good.”

“Not for me, it isn’t. I’ve been stuck here for nearly six thousand years.”

Jackson felt sorry for the... ‘man’. He really did. “Wow... I almost feel sorry for you. Almost.” He did, however, also need to keep up appearances.

“Jee, thanks,” Adelphus responded with an eye-roll. Jackson still wondered how he could relay the impression.

“So anyway, where were you the last time I was unconscious?” Jackson asked, changing the subject.

“I was busy,” came the simple reply.

“Care to elaborate?”

“No.”

“You know I’m going to take your reluctance to mean that you were jerking off to imaginary smoke-women, right?”

“I honestly don’t care.”

“Your own imaginary smoke-woman wouldn’t like the idea of you boning other imaginary smoke-women.”

“Why are you even still here?”

“Ha! The tables have turned, my friend!”

That caused Adelphus to think for a moment before simply spouting another witty comeback as he usually would. “Are we friends?”

This caused Jackson to look at him in confusion. “Of course. I mean, what’s a bit of banter between bros, right?”

For some reason unknown to Jackson, this comment caused Adelphus to laugh. “Jackie, there is so much more going on here than you know, and I’m really starting to wish I could tell you.”

“Well... If you really want to help me out, you could always give me a bit more training, right?” Jackson responded with a thoughtful expression.

Adelphus smiled. It was not a ‘sure, I’ll help you out’ smile, it was more of a ‘All according to plan’ kind of smile. “Anything for a friend.”

“...”

“...”

“Okay, what do you want?”

“I want you to help me get out of here,” Adelphus answered. He thought for a moment before adding, “when you have time, of course.”

“Of course,” Jackson agreed. “That ought to be simple enough.”

“Ha. Funny. Now, let’s begin. The first thing you’ll need to learn is how to access the fullest extent of your abilities. Every word that is about to leave my mouth will sound like complete and utter bullshit, but I need you to bear with me here.”

“You don’t have a mouth,” Jackson answered with a grin.

“I’ll give you that one.” Despite lacking said mouth, Adelphus was quite obviously smiling. “As I was about to say, the first step is to feel for your power inside yourself. It’s a rather abstract concept, but I’m sure it’ll be easy for one such as yourself.”

“Hey, what that supposed to mean?”

“I didn’t mean anything by it. I was merely... insinuating.”

“That’s just as bad. Were you insinuating what I’m insinuating you were insinuating?”

“I’m insinuating that I was insinuating what you were insinuating I was insinuating.”

“...”

“...”

Jackson raised a finger and prepared a comeback, only to realize that he had absolutely no idea what the outcome of that conversation was. “Dammit,” he mumbled, dropping his hand back down to his side.

“I win again. Now get started.”

“Right... ‘Inside myself’... Yep, complete bullshit.”

Wilhelm glanced up at the sky, managing not to betray his nervousness to his soldiers. They had already began setting up camp by the time Jackson was out, and were still going about their duties diligently. Wilhelm chuckled at how oblivious they were to the fact that the most powerful being in existence was unconscious on the ground only mere meters away.

That was what Wilhelm was worried about. His artifact allowed him to teleport at will, but it seemed that activating it in the presence of a Chaos Mage was a mistake. The rift through which they had traveled remained partially opened, leaking void energy into the surrounding landscape and whipping up the beginnings of one heck of a storm.

With storms came lightning, and it was blatantly obvious to Wilhelm what sort of power his new prisoner wielded from the sheer number of times his makeshift lightning rod had been struck thus far. To pass the time, he had begun to look through the sack of Jackson’s belongings. Simply due to its size, Eckard’s sword was the first thing he pulled from the bag. “Well, well... What have we here?” he glanced at Jackson’s prone form. “So you killed Eckard, did you? Unfortunate. You served me well, Eckard, but a warrior you were not. To face a Chaos Mage was suicide.” He held the sword up, examining the way the few sun rays making it through the clouds reflected and refracted off the ruby in the hilt. “Just where I left you.”

He was broken rather suddenly from his reverie as Jackson twitched and mumbled a single word. “Adelphus.”

Wilhelm was once again smiling. “Oh good. That makes things much easier.”

“Holy shit, did I do that!?”

“Well it sure as hell wasn’t me... Ow.”

As Adelphus picked himself up off the ground, Jackson was looking at his hand as though gazing upon a god. Which he had done in the past and taunted, so it’s curious that he would give his own hand such reverence. “That. Was. Awesome!”

“Quite.”

“How did I do that!?” Jackson asked as he started looking at his hand with a constipated expression, presumably concentrating on replicating the effect of firing a gigantic explosive lightning bolt from his hand. Of course lightning bolts can explode, don’t be silly.

“I have no idea what you did, but I would recommend being a bit more careful where you’re aiming in the future. I don’t very much enjoy exploding.”

“Should’ve trained me better then.”

“Fuck you.”

“Right back at’cha,” Jackson responded, holding up his middle finger in Adelphus’ general direction. “And you don’t have fingers.” Adelphus held up one of the amorphous lumps at the end of his arms, formed a ball of smoke on it, then added a single rod at the very top. Jackson frowned. “That doesn’t count.”

Adelphus shook his head and dispelled the smoke. “In any case, you need to be careful. You’ve got more power than you know what to do with now. Due to your... ‘unique’ entrance to Equestria, you were never provided a set amount of magic in the first place, so you just absorb it from your surroundings infinitely. Just like Infernus.”

Jackson perked up again, his latest defeat forgotten. “Does that mean I can do the cool thing with the sword too?”

Adelphus shook his head. “No. It took Infernus a very long time to manage that. When I said that you have more power than you know what to do with, I meant it literally. You have the power, but you lack the knowledge to use it.”

“Oh. Well that sucks,” Jackson said, kicking a small rock.

“If you really want a cool sword, you could always apply your powers to a physical one that you already own.”

Jackson shot Adelphus a confused look and responded, “I was already practicing with that. Shouldn’t you know that?”

“Not so,” Adelphus answered with yet another shake of his head. “I might be badass, but I am neither omniscient, nor omnipresent. I know what I remember and what I see from your eyes when I’m paying attention.”

“Wait... How often do you watch what I’m doing?”

“I don’t appreciate what you’re insinuating.”

“Okay, I’m not starting with that again, but... No creepin’.

“Right. Anyway, what about your guns? I know you’ve taken a liking to them.”

“What about them?”

“Have you ever thought of applying your power to those as well?”

“No...” Jackson mumbled as he scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“You should try it out. The effect would make absolutely no sense, given the laws of physics, but magic.”

Taking Adelphus’ lack of a demonstration as a hint that it was time to go, Jackson asked, “So how do I get out of here?”

“Just will yourself to wake up.”

“Right,” said Jackson with a smile, “shouldn’t be too hard after ‘looking within myself’ for so long.”

“If I may ask, what exactly did you want to know all that for anyway?”

Jackson had been just about ready to try leaving when he realized that he had yet to explain his waking situation. “Well, long story short, the Gryphon Emperor and a bunch of his soldiers captured me and knocked me out, so I’m gonna get myself some payback!”

Adelphus wasn’t impressed. “I know you’re nicer than that. What’s your real reason?”

Now looking slightly embarrassed, Jackson answered, “My friends are still somewhere in the town, and I need the extra firepower to escape so I can help them.”

“That’s just like you,” Adelphus said with a chuckle, “always doing what’s right. I get the feeling that you’re going to learn the hard way that there’s not always a right choice.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. I’m probably just a pessimist.”

Jackson gave him a skeptical look but decided to let it drop. “‘Kay, well I’m gonna get going now. Seeya’.”

“Before you go, I need to warn you; no matter what, do not—” Jackson disappeared. “ ... Attack... Wilhelm. Shit.”

The opening of Jackson’s eyes coincided with a flash of lightning and a gust of wind. He saw a small cluster of leaves outlined by solid white light as they were blown through the air above him. Seconds later, a low rumble of thunder echoed across the skies. He blinked once, and found himself looking into the face of a certain Emperor. A certain Emperor who was far to close to a certain Chaos Mage’s horn. Emperor Wilhelm was smiling. Then, he was flying. The funny part was, he couldn’t recall having ever flapped his wings.

Jackson stood up and found that his cloth bindings had been replaced by steel. That worked just fine for him. With a bit of concentration, Jackson forced an electrical current to move as if within an artificial solenoid, creating a weak electromagnetic field. He then increased the current and compressed his solenoid to adjust the force of the magnetic field. He repeated the process numerous times until the metal of his shackles was being pushed away from itself in every direction.

Basically, he made his shackles explode.

A couple of gryphons squawked as they were hit by shards of metal, drawing the attention of most others towards them. Jackson made use of this distraction by getting struck by lightning. Naturally, when the flash has cleared, he was human again. How did he do that? I have no idea. Though his little magic trick had returned some of the attention to him, he still had enough time to grab his things.

Fully outfitted once again, Jackson was ready to go looking for his friends. Or at least, he would have been if there weren’t a large quantity of gryphons blocking his way. “Guys, I’m leaving. If you wanna try and stop me, you’d better make peace with your dear and fluffy lord.”

Not a single gryphon moved. Jackson was feeling pretty confident until Wilhelm himself returned from his flight. “And here I thought we were friends... If you intend to get out of here, you’d better run fast.”

“No more running. I aim to misbehave.” With a roar of thunder, they began. Jackson launched a bolt of lightning at Wilhelm, who knocked it aside with one of his wings, causing it to flash-fry one of his subordinates. He then took to the air, hiding above the cloud cover. Meanwhile, Jackson was still left to fight an entire platoon of gryphon soldiers.

Lightning struck the earth in droves, felling gryphons left and right. Each flash reflected off Jackson’s sword as it danced through the air. The gryphons had numbers, but the human had sheer power. And he used it. Blocking an attack with the sword in his right hand, he drew a flintlock with his left and fired it into the chest of his attacker. The shot crackled with electricity and pierced through another three gryphons.

He dropped the pistol and simultaneously pulled another from its holster as he spun around to fire into the face of a gryphon who was attacking from behind. He sidestepped the body as it fell towards him, grabbing that gryphon’s pistol as his body flew past. With another pirouette, the human reverse-gripped his sword into the face of another gryphon and fired his new pistol at another.

He replaced the sword in its sheath as he rolled under another attack, coming upright with a pistol in each hand. He fired a shot from each before dropping them and unsheathing both of his swords. Anticipating an attack from his rear, he turned around just in time to get a face-full of gold feathers.

Jackson’s companions ran through the town at full speed, becoming more worried with each lightning strike. With most of the population in hiding or elsewhere, they met no resistance. They did, however, find a lone female gryphon crying in an alley. While most of the travellers wanted to ignore her and get to Jackson, Elisabeth apparently knew this gryphon. It wasn’t until she started talking that the others recognized her too.

“Gilda?” Elisabeth asked as she cautiously approached, “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” came Gilda’s angry reply, “what’s wrong!? What isn’t wrong!? All this time, Rorik’s been playing me! He said we’d take down The Empire together, when he’d actually been working with Wilhelm the entire time!” Her yelling gave way to sobs, and her next words were barely audible over the wind and thunder. “Now the bastard’s dead, and I’m wanted for treason.”

The majority of the group was either conflicted on what to do, or attempting to comfort Gilda. That left only Luna. Luna was young by alicorn standards, but she had been around for more than enough time to see a potential ally when she found one. “Miss Graustein,” she began, “as it just so happens, we too are wanted by Wilhelm. And, like yourself, we would very much like to see him removed from power.”

“So?” asked Gilda with a glare.

“So, I suggest an alliance.”

“Why? I was the one who got you guys into this mess in the first place.”

Luna looked to the others for confirmation that they agreed with her plan. Receiving nothing but nods, she turned her attention back to Gilda. “I believe that if you assist us in retrieving our missing member, we could find it in our hearts to forgive you.”

Gilda thought for a minute, her tears starting to dry. “Deal. But Wilhelm is mine.”

Luna nodded her head in acquiescence. “Agreed.” She knew that the young gryphon had no chance whatsoever of defeating her Emperor, but she chose to keep that information to herself. With that little detour out of the way, they continued onwards to their objective, one more ally in tow.

When they reached the field where the main event was going down, they noticed a distinct lack of gryphons. Further ahead, Jackson was alone against Wilhelm in the middle of the field. Both of them held aggressive postures, but they seemed to be talking at the time. They rushed forwards to save their friend, only Luna holding back. Something wasn’t right, and she could feel it. Sure enough, every single one of her companions simply vanished upon setting hoof on the grass.

Though she knew the danger, Luna had no choice but to follow. With an offensive spell charged at the tip of her horn, she rushed in after the others. She had considered nearly every possibility. There might be dozens of gryphons directly before her, or they could be waiting on either side to ambush her. There might even be a couple hovering above, waiting to divebomb her the moment she stepped inside. The one thing she hadn’t been expecting was all three.

Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as her friends were set upon by gryphons from every side. She barely had time to fire a single stunning spell — which was utterly ineffective — before she too was grabbed and pinned in place. If anything, they had been expecting the poorly trained and outfitted town guard. They weren’t prepared for an entire platoon of The Emperor’s royal guard. That’s assuming, of course, that it even was possible to prepare for that.

She was forced to watch as Luna burst through the invisibility bubble to save them, only to be assaulted on earth and sky by The Empire’s finest. Like Twilight, she had just enough time to launch a single attack. With a flash of cobalt, one of the gryphons had his flesh blasted into nothingness, leaving behind only a bloodied skeleton. Twilight looked away upon seeing this, unable to stomach the violence. She heard the sound of metal hitting flesh, and then nothing.

Jackson shook his head to clear it as he stumbled around, looking for at least one of his swords. Failing at that, he stood and faced Wilhelm with a ball of lightning in each hand. He shook his head once more and blinked a few times, a trickle of blood running from his nose.

Likewise, Wilhelm held no weapon but his own wings, which were now laced with fire. “I told you, Jackson; I’m not your enemy.”

“Tell that to my fucking nose!” The honor of his damaged sniffer restored, he unleashed both hands of lightning at Wilhelm, finally managing to replicate his earlier attack when he was training.

Wilhelm raised both wings to shield his face, allowing the lightning to strike him. When the smoke had cleared, he lowered his wings and smiled. The fire on his feathers had turned cyan, and was laced with small arcs of electricity. “Thank you.” He then flapped his wings forward, unleashing a torrent of wind, fire, and lightning.

Jackson’s eyes widened at the oncoming attack, and he quickly turned around, using his coat to shield himself as best as possible. Obviously, it did very little, as he was sent flying, spasming and engulfed in blue flames. Upon hitting the ground, he shakily rolled to try and put the fire out. Failing at that, he pulled his coat off and threw it aside. When he returned his attention to Wilhelm, the gryphon was once again standing in front of him, smiling.

“How about this,” Wilhelm started, “I believe that I can say a single word, and you will — at least temporarily — refrain from attacking me.”

“Sure, try me,” Jackson answered, spitting a wad of bloodied spit at his feet.

“Adelphus.”

“I’m listening.”

Luna’s eyes widened as she saw where she was being dragged. Before her, Jackson and Wilhelm were... talking over a bit of tea under a gazebo, completely ignoring the storm around them. “Okay,” Jackson was saying, “I refuse to believe that.”

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Wilhelm responded, waving a wing at Luna and the rest of them.

Jackson’s eyes widened and he ran over to them. “Oh my God, are you all okay?”

“We’re fine, Jackie,” Luna answered. “You look like you’ve been better yourself. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I was just having a talk with Wilhelm here.” He opened his mouth to say something else, and then paused. He moved closer to her and lowered her voice, trying not the let the others hear, though it was nearly impossible with how he had to speak over the wind. “Luna,” he continued, “I need to ask you something.”

“Of course, anything.”

“Were you intending to leave me here to die? All because of some prophecy?”

Luna nearly choked as she struggled to think of an answer. “Wh— What? We— How did you know about that?”

Jackson looked at the ground, on the verge of tears. “You just told me.”

“You see now?” Wilhelm asked him, “She doesn’t care about you. Adelphus and I are your real friends here.”

“Yeah,” Jackson said without turning around, “I’m starting to get that now.”

“Jackie,” Luna pleaded, “don’t listen to him. You have no idea how much I care about you.”

Jackson wetted his lips before responding, “I would have believed that once.” He crouched placed a hand on her cheek. “When we had that talk, I thought you might— Well... it doesn’t matter now.” With a sad smile, he let his hand drop and stood up again. “I’ve convinced Wilhelm to let you all go, but I’ll be staying here.” He looked at the others and said, “Goodbye, guys. He started to turn around, but stopped and looked at Felicia. “And don’t you worry. I’ll keep my end of the deal before it’s too late.”

Jackson turned around completely and began to walk back towards Wilhelm. He heard a ruffling of feathers and a muffled yell from behind him, then felt a sudden dull ache in his chest. He looked down, and saw the tip of a dark blue horn piercing the front of his shirt. The storm finally broke, and rain began to fall gently as the sun slowly set once more.

Then there was darkness.

~Twelve Years Later~

The sky was filled with smoke, and only a few rays of sunshine filtered in through a small opening. Lightning flashed overhead, temporarily turning the smoke from reddish to a light cyan. Below, a hill stood overlooking a volcanic wasteland. At the base of the hill, all manner of equines had gathered their armies, supported in small numbers by the dragons who had formerly called the wasteland their home.

Atop the hill, two figures stood. Two humans. Each wore a matching black duster with a sword imprinted on the back; one red, and one cyan. The one with the red sword turned to the other. “Would you do the honors?”

“Gladly,” the one with the cyan sword answered as he stepped forward. He crested the hill in exactly the right place that the sunlight silhouetted him to the armies below. The one with the red sword followed a little ways behind him, just enough that the armies could see him as well. Without raising his voice, the one with the cyan sword somehow projected it across the land as he calmly stated, “I am The Stormbringer.” A flash of lightning and a blast of thunder punctuated his words before he continued, equally as calm, “Fucking. Run.”

n°2.1 - Downfall, Part One

"Every person is like a well-tuned instrument...

“Doctor Faraday! Doctor Faraday, wait!”

“What is it, Samantha!? Can’t you see I’m busy?” the older doctor responded with an impatient tone as he turned around, looking up from the papers in his hands to see the blonde woman running to catch up with him.

She paused for a moment to catch her breath before asking rather vaguely, “Did you catch it?”

“Yes, Samantha,” Faraday responded with a sigh, “I caught it.”

“Isn’t this exciting? This is our first real lead!”

“Yes, but that’s all it is; a lead. I was cross-referencing the information from the others, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense unless we look at it chronologically.”

Samantha seemed to deflate. “So, we’re back to square one then?”

“Oh, not at all. We’ll still need to go through all the recordings, but at least we know what we’re looking for now.” Doctor Faraday had intended to leave the conversation with that, continuing down the hall and resuming his study of the papers he held in his hands.

Samantha hurried along after him, evidently having more to discuss. “So,” she started, “what are we doing with Seth and the others?”

Faraday stopped again and gave her a harsh look. “We’re not killing them, if that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“What?” Samantha responded indignantly, “what makes you think I was going to suggest that?”

Before Faraday had a chance to respond, they were interrupted by a soldier running up to them, nearly knocking a few others over in his haste. As soon as he had collected himself, he stood at attention and threw Samantha a salute. “Ma’am.”

“At ease.”

The soldier relaxed and nodded to Faraday. “Ay-up, Al.”

Faraday just sighed before responding, “Hello, Oliver.” At Samantha's questioning look, he explained, “I spent a while as a civilian contractor with British R&D. Oliver and I were... ‘friends’.”

Before Samantha could comment, Oliver cut in, “Yeah. I’d love to catch up, but we’ve got a bit of a problem. He turned back to Samantha. “Spooks are saying we’ve got some guys mucking about on the perimeter.”

“Shit,” Samantha spat under her breath, “you ran all the way here?”

“Aye, Ma’am. I tried calling, but you never answered.”

“We were in the middle of a session. I had my radio off.” She thought for a moment before asking, “Alright, were they armed?”

“Unknown Ma’am.”

“Okay. We should put the facility on full lockdown immediately. They might not know we’re here, and we don’t want to run the risk. They could have tracked us from the power drain, so we should turn off any unessential systems and—” The lights went out. “Well that was fast.”

“I don’t believe that was us, Ma’am.”

“Yes, I know.” She pulled her revolver from its holster and turned to Faraday, barely able to make out his silhouette in the dark. “You’d best be getting out of here, Doc. Find a safe room with a computer and get to work on tracking down the artifact.”

Faraday didn’t hesitate to obey, and took off down the hall as fast as his aging legs would carry him, trying not to trip on anything in the dark.

A couple of minutes later, the dim red emergency lights lining the hallway had come on, and Samantha had gathered any other armed personnel in the area to her, scavenging assorted objects for use as cover. “Alright, ladies; this is the only way to get to the lower sections of the facility. We hold the line here.”

With an acknowledgement of the order from each of her allies, they set up and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Many of the soldiers were starting to shift around or get distracted, but Samantha ignored them and kept her aim centered on the end of the hall. Something moved; a glint of light off a rifle scope. She fired once, and the man who stepped around the corner was immediately sent flying to the ground, minus one head.

The retort of the large gun being fired immediately drew the attention of both sides, and the hallway was quickly filled by a hail of bullets. Just before she was forced to duck behind cover, Samantha was able to spot the distinctive outline of an AK-9. “Great,” she mumbled to herself as she sat down, “it just had to be Spetsnaz.”

She peeked out and fired three more times, hitting one of the men in the chest and knocking him flat on his back from the impact force alone. She was immediately forced back into cover as the rest switched targets to her.

“By gum,” said Oliver beside her, “this shite went pearshaped fast.”

“Yeah,” was Samantha’s breathless response, “that’s definitely one way to put it.”

Things weren’t looking good. All of the soldiers in the facility were well-trained, but they weren’t prepared to go up against the best their enemies had to offer. One of the men fighting alongside her was originally Spetsnaz. She wondered what he was feeling, being forced to fight those who were once his friends. Curious, she glanced over to him.

Oh.

He was lying in a pool of blood with a jagged hole in his helmet.

Samantha attempted a few more potshots, but was forced back before she could even get a single shot off. The rest of them were in the same position since there weren’t enough of them left to counter the fire coming at them, leaving them to wait for their enemies to run out of ammo.

Unfortunately, the attackers were staggering their reloads so that there were a few of them firing at all times. Now the defenders could only wait for the end. Or maybe they only had to wait until their employer’s ‘benefactor’ arrived. “Hey, bottlecap.” Samantha looked up and saw a man in a black duster standing in the middle of the hall as though oblivious to the bullets that were whizzing past all around him. “Need some help?”

Those monitoring the Spetsnaz radio transmissions were surprised when their words suddenly switched from calmly calling out targets to screams of pure terror. “O Bozhe! Chto on, chto on!? Ahhhhhh! On gorit! O Bozhe, eto ostano—”

Then there was only silence. Silence, and darkness.

Alistair Faraday sat in a dark room, with only the muffled sounds of gunfire to keep him company. He opened a laptop and navigated to a folder marked ‘Project Emberdawn Session Recordings’ and clicked on one of the files inside. A video popped up of a man sitting at a metal table, his head lowered in remembrance. “Silence,” the man began, “silence, darkness, and above all else, an unimaginable pain. It started as a dull ache, but quickly became overwhelming; a burning sensation beyond anything I had ever felt. Pain was good. Pain meant that I was still alive...”

“Your Highness, he’s waking up!”

“Excellent. Complete whatever tests are most urgent, then leave us.”

“As you command, Your Highness.” Jackson blinked open his eyes, wincing at the sudden light. All he could see was light. Probably because some jackwad was shining a magical flashlight in his eyes. “Pupil response appears good.”

“Of course it is,” Jackson commented hoarsely, “I didn’t hit my head, I got stabbed. Learn the difference and then take that light and shove it up your ass.”

Wilhelm smiled. “Good to see you’re still your same colorful self.” He waited for the doctor to complete a few more routine tests, then excused him. “So Jackson,” he started once the doctor was gone, “my friend, how are you feeling? We very nearly lost you a few times.”

“Like shit. I was just literally stabbed in the back, how do you think I’m feeling.”

“I—”

“That was rhetorical. What happened to... Her?”

“We let her go. We let them all go. I would normally have had them all killed, but I felt that you had lost enough for one day.”

“Thanks.”

For once, Wilhelm wasn’t smiling as he sat in a chair beside Jackson’s bed, talons steepled in front of him. “I honestly thought that you would be more upset that I just allowed her to leave after what she did to you.”

“Right,” said Jackson, his face contorting as he tried to settle on a singular emotion, “she did try to kill me.” He frowned. “She actually tried to kill me.” His eyes began to dampen. “Luna betrayed me.” Tears fell freely from his eyes. “She was my friend, and she betrayed me in the worst possible way.” Though his tears continued to fall, Jackson grinned. It was not the good kind of grin. “I’m glad you let her go. Now she’ll get to watch while Equestria burns around her.” He finished with a light giggle.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm had tensed up slightly, a worried expression on his face. “Jackson?”

“Tempest.”

“Pardon?”

Jackson looked up at Wilhelm, still grinning, and still crying. “I am The Stormbringer, and my name is Tempest.” He then proceeded to burst out laughing.

Wilhelm watched on in both fascination and horror. “Perhaps even a bit more colorful...”

It was rare that Twilight Sparkle would even consider speaking out against one of the Princesses, but she had no qualms about voicing her opinion this time. “I cannot believe that you actually did that. He was your friend!”

Celestia silenced her student with a stern look, then turned her attention to her sister. “I for one believe you made the right choice. I know it must have been hard for you, but allowing the prophecy to unfold could only have ended in one way. As it stands, I cannot help but accept some of the responsibility for this tragedy. If I had believed you when you first came to me, this could have been avoided.”

Luna sniffled quietly, looking up at her sister with a small smile. “Please, do not blame yourself. I made the decision on my own, and I am going to have to live with it, one way or another. What I did was wrong,” she said, looking at Twilight, “and it still hurts. I’m not going to pretend that I handled the situation correctly, and I understand if you no langer wish to be my friend now that you have seen how I treat them.”

“Of course I'm still your friend,” Twilight responded, shocked, “None of us are happy with what you did, but we’re not going to abandon you because of it. If anything, you probably need us now more than ever.”

Luna struggled with her emotions for a moment before giving in and lunging forward, wrapping the unicorn in a tight hug. Celestia smiled slightly at the sight and quietly whispered to herself, “You’ve grown up so much, my student. I am so proud of you.”

The situation remained as such for a good few minutes before Luna pulled away and attempted to compose herself. “I apologize for my behaviour just now,” she said as the ruffled her wings and looked at the floor.

“It’s alright,” Twilight answered with a smile, “Everypony needs a hug sometimes.”

There was silence for a few moments as every pony present considered how best to proceed. Luna was the first to break the silence. “Is there any word about what happened to Felicia?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. She’s disappeared without a trace.”

Celestia frowned. “A pity. I would have liked to meet this changeling. It would have been a perfect opportunity to open peace talks with The Hive.”

Luna gave an unprincesslike snort of self-deprecation. “As though they would willingly talk with a nation led in part by the one who murdered their only renewable source of food.”

Twilight and Celestia both looked unhappy about her statement, but before either of them could comment, a harsh beeping noise filled the room. Twilight’s ears perked at the unfamiliar noise. “What is that?”

Luna’s ears flattened, and Celestia furrowed her brow before answering, “That is the sound of a recovered Chaos Artifact that allows Emperor Wilhelm to broadcast an image nationwide. We... acquired one of the receivers for... security reasons.”  With a flash of her horn, Celestia summoned the device to them. The square of golden metal ceased its sound as it lit up, showing an image of Wilhelm himself standing on a balcony of a castle. He appeared to be preparing for a speech.

“People of Gryphus,” he began in a serious tone, “three weeks ago, a small group of Equestrians made an incursion into our borders, which led to the deaths of twenty-seven brave gryphons. The Equestrians were defeated, and sent back to their own land. This will happen again. For too long have we sat quietly while they hoarded their wealth! For too long have we allowed them to tell us what to do! They create treaties, but do not honor them! They threaten us with war if we do not bow before their Godesses!” He spat the last word as though it disgusted him.

He continued, “Now they have taken the lives of our people — one of whom was a good friend of mine — and then returned home without consequence. This ends today! If it’s war they want, then it’s war they’ll get! Down with Equestria!”

The three ponies who were viewing the broadcast could only gape in shock as the crowds cheered in joy. Equestria was now at war for the first time in over one thousand years.

Jackson watched from the shadows as Wilhelm made his speech, a smile slowly growing on his face with each word that came from the gryphon’s beak. When Wilhelm returned to the room, they were both grinning. “And that,” said Jackson, “is how it begins.”

n°2.1 - Downfall, Part Two

...Each one is created solely for the purpose of being played."

                                                                                                        -Troika Plotnik

It takes something significant to move on after something as life-changing as the person you trust most literally stabbing you in the back. Some people might brood, some people might go completely bonkers, and others might simply try to end it all. Lucky for one Jackson Florence, he just so happened to have that something; that something being potential mental health problems... In any case, he alternated rapidly between the first two for a while, loved himself too much to even contemplate the third, and then decided to go on vacation.

Sure, he was supposed to be a General in Wilhelm’s armies, but that could wait. At least, that’s what he thought after a bit of convincing from a certain friend who may or may not have been manipulating him into fulfilling a promise he may or may not have made in return for some training a few weeks prior...

“I think you need to do something fun for once,” Adelphus said to the human that was lying in the grassy field in front of him.

“And I think that you need to get out of my dream before I do something you’re going to regret,” Jackson replied. “how are you even here anyway?”

“Isn’t it supposed to go ‘before I do something I’ll regret’?” Adelphus responded in an obvious attempt to avoid the question.

Jackson decided to just let it slide and play along. “Nope. I most definitely would not be regretting anything.”

“Oh. I get it. Champagne. Cheers. High-five. Slow clap.”

“Why can’t you just leave me to wallow in self pity until I’m just a shell of my former self alone?”

“It worries me how aware you are of your mental state...”

“Oh yeah? Well it worries me that go fuck yourself.”

“Well that was mature,” Adelphus commented as he sat down beside his companion, “Is maturity something that’s affected by depression?”

“Don’t know. Pretty sure I was always like this though. The maturity, I mean. I was actually pretty happy for a while there.”

Feeling as though he was finally getting through to the man, Adelphus gave a simple “Mhm,” and allowed him to continue.

“I mean, after I killed those gryphons, I was a total mess. I obviously wasn’t happy then, but when she forced me to talk to her... It seemed as though she genuinely cared. I would say that I’m starting to lose faith in humanity, but given the circumstances, it might be more accurate to say that I’m starting to lose faith in sapient beings.”

“Loyalty is an instinct,” Adelphus began, “but sapience grants beings to ability to move beyond instinct. In the wild, a pack of wolves will always look out for their packmates. Give them sapience, and they begin to realize that they could become the alpha without ever raising a paw, simply by manipulating the other members of the pack.” Adelphus’ smokey features gave the impression of a frown. “I learned the hard way that just because you are loyal to someone, doesn’t mean they’ll be loyal to you in return.”

“Yeah.” Jackson smiled sadly. “I’m starting to get that. Being generous is not necessarily indicative of loyalty. She gave me something I needed only to win me over so that I would help her on her little ‘adventure’.”

Adelphus decided for his own benefit not to point out that Luna hadn’t actually needed to do anything in order to enlist the human’s help. ‘It’s best if he continues to think the way he is. No need to risk him attempting to go back, not when I’m so close.’

“It’s strange,” Jackson continued, “even after what she’s done, I still don’t want to hurt her. I said a lot of messed up stuff earlier, but I was just so angry!” A few sparks of electricity arced through the blades of grass that were clutched in his hands. He raised his hands and released what was now a couple piles of ashes into the wind before sitting upright with a sigh. “I was so happy. I’m not happy anymore.”

It only took a few moments of reminiscing about the mare for a translucent image of her to begin forming before them. Adelphus promptly shot a fireball from his right hand and into her face. The image disappeared with a flash, and he grinned. “Heh. I still got it.”

At the same moment the fireball was launched, Jackson jumped to his feet with a cry of, “What the hell!?” and readied a ball of lightning, not entirely certain what was going on.

“You were thinking too hard,” Adelphus calmly explained, “Luna has a habit of prioritizing the dreams of those who are dreaming about her to check on first. Couldn’t risk the chance of that one being the real one. I mean, you are still trying to keep it a secret that you survived, right?”

“Yeah,” Jackson answered, looking slightly relieved and dispelling his lightning. His expression suddenly turned concerned again. “That fireball wouldn’t have hurt her, seeing as it’s a dream, right?”

“Not too badly at least.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow.

“Well she’s definitely been through worse, let’s put it that way.”

“...”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Luna woke with a scream and ungracefully threw herself out of her bed. In the short amount of time it took the two Night Guards stationed at her door to burst in, she had already made it across the darkened room and to the dream journal on her dresser. She threw the book open and began to draw something into it, barely visible in the dim shaft of moonlight that fell onto the page.

Luna’s dream journal wasn’t like most ponies’. Unlike most, her dream journal recounted the things she had seen in the dreams of others, rather than her own. Tonight though, that book had a different purpose. One downside of being the Guardian of Dreams; Luna never got to experience any dreams of her own. Some might pity a life without dreams, but it was all Luna ever knew. Until now.

It had been the first time the Princess of The Night had found herself ejected so forcefully from another’s dream that her mind didn’t quite know how to respond. In consequence, for a single brief moment, Luna dreamt. The dream played off of the last image she had seen, and burned the result into her mind.

Some time — and the arrival of another Princess of Equestria — later, Luna’s drawing was completed. With wide and tear-filled eyes, she turned to her sister. In the book that she held before her in her hooves, there was a rough sketch of two humanoid silhouettes mirroring each other in their stances, side-by-side and wreathed in fire and lightning.  “I had a dream, Tia.”

Twilight Sparkle was not asleep, nor did she want to be. While she had pulled plenty an all-nighter in her quest for knowledge, that in no way signified a distaste for sleep. To be perfectly honest, Twilight loved sleep. Had she not so many chores to get through each day, she would gladly have slept in as long as possible each morning. Why, then, was Twilight Sparkle awake when there was nothing she had to be doing?

Simply put, Princess Luna wasn’t the only one having bad dreams that night.

Nearly every night since her sudden return to Equestria, Twilight had been haunted by the faces of the dead gryphons she had seen on her ‘adventure’. Haunted by the faces of her newest friends as they watched one of their own strike down another. After that, the gryphons had simply allowed them to leave. With Luna unable to think clearly, it fell to Twilight to return them home. One quick teleport later and — if it weren’t for the fact that she remembered it all — it would seem as though she had never left home.

The strange white unicorn with the broken horn had stayed behind, seeing as he was still technically in the employ of the gryphons, and Gilda had done the same. Felicia had simply vanished upon their arrival, and Phoenix had returned to Canterlot soon after, though he and Twilight had at least made a short-lived attempt to stay in contact via letters.

None of that mattered though. She may have lost some friends, and the nightmares certainly weren’t pleasant. Sure, there was a war looming on the horizon, but none of that mattered, because Twilight was home.

“Well, Jackie, I think it’s time for you to wake up now. Wake up and... smell the ashes.”

With an exasperated shake of his head, Jackson answered, “I’m not even going to question how you know that reference. I’m pretty sure you were sent here a long time before that game came out.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh come on,” Jackson replied with a smirk, “did you really think that I wouldn’t be able to figure out who you were?”

“What? I really have no idea— Okay, fine.” Adelphus raised his hands in defeat. “I knew I should’ve picked something other than Greek...”

It took a few seconds for Jackson to process that sentence before responding, “Wait... What?”

“What what?”

“What were you just talking about?”

“I don’t know, what were you talking about?”

“I was talking about the fact that I figured out you’re Lord Infernus. What did you think I was talking about?”

“...”

“...”

“Oh. Oh.” The newly-revealed ‘Infernus’ gave a nervous chuckle. “Whew... Nothing you need to worry about, my friend,” he said, looking both relieved and saddened.

“I don’t even know where I’d find a book on Greek in this world anyway,” Jackson said with an apathetic shrug.

“Canterlot. Good luck.”

“Yeah, no. I think I’ll just let my curiosity slide this time, thanks.”

After a few moments of silence, Infernus spoke with a more serious tone. “This changes nothing, though. Remember, you agreed to help me.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I getcha’. A deal’s a deal. Some people still understand the meaning of honesty. I just don’t have any idea where to start.

Infernus remained silent.

“You already have everything set up, don’t you?”

“When you wake up, ask to be shown Emperor Wilhelm’s personal archive. You’ll be allowed in because he will be interested in finding out if there’s anything you can activate that he couldn’t. Your funny little unicorn friend will show you the way to the correct artifact. From there...” Infernus laughed darkly. “Enjoy your vacation.”

“Yes. And that was not creepy in the slightest.”

“Oh, shut up. Can’t I get to have fun once in a while?” A sudden plume of smoke blasted forward, engulfing Jackson in darkness.

“What news do you bring, my child?”

“Good, for once,” the changeling answered her Queen, who was looking down at her from a massive throne with a strange mixture of adoration and disgust.

Felicia’s return to her hive had not gone well in the wake of recent events. The fact that she had returned alone was enough for Chrysalis to figure out that something was off. Unfortunately, The Queen employed a rather strict ‘always shoot the messenger’ policy. The only thing that saved the drone’s life after she had relayed her story was Chrysalis’ fascination with her increasingly independent personality. While she was also a bit worried — imagine the chaos it would cause if very drone gained independent thought — Chrysalis’ fascination won out, and she chose to spare her daughter.

“Do you recall my story of Emperor Wilhelm?” Felicia asked in response.

Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed at the recollection of that day. “Of course.”

“I had mentioned that his care for Jackie seemed genuine.”

“Yes, get to the point,” Chrysalis spat, the last of her patience evaporating at the name of her hive’s last hope.

Without flinching, Felicia nodded and answered, “Gryphus has just declared war on Equestria.”

This came as no surprise to Chrysalis. To be honest, she had been expecting Wilhelm to launch a preemptive attack centuries prior. If she had been a bit less of a bitch, she probably would have realised that he had waited in order to gain a political advantage instead of mindlessly throwing his soldiers at an enemy that was backed by almost every other nation in the world.

Wait a minute...

In any case, Chrysalis was pleased that Equestria was finally getting what it deserved, but otherwise apathetic towards the topic. “Is that all?”

Felicia blinked in surprise. “What do you mean, ‘is that all’? We need to send an envoy to the gryphons immediately and form an alliance!”

“One,” Chrysalis began with an icy glare, “you will not speak that way to me. Two, we changelings have always worked alone, and that is not about to change just because you think you know better than your Queen.”

Unable to contain her anger, Felicia ignored the veiled threat and screamed her response back at her Queen. “We’ve been given a perfect chance to avenge him, so why won’t you take it!?”

Chrysalis’ anger quickly turned to surprise, then to sympathy. “You miss him,” she stated more than asked, her voice becoming soft. “I understand now.”

With hesitant movements, The Queen stepped down from her throne until she stood just before Felicia, who was looking up at her with a tear-filled gaze. “He was my friend,” the drone stated simply.

Giving in to her lighter emotions, Chrysalis bent down and wrapped Felicia in a gentle embrace. “I miss him too,” she admitted. “I may not have had a decent chance to get to know him, but he showed me kindness in a way that no sentient creature has in recent history.”

“Then why don’t you care?”

With a sigh, Chrysalis gave in. “You may leave for Gryphus as soon as you wish. I know you’ll want to do it yourself.”

“Thanks... Mom.”

Chrysalis smiled.

Phoenix sat at his desk and stared blankly at the papers before him, just like he had done every day for the last week. He knew that there was work to be done, but for some unknown reason, he couldn’t seem to find the motivation.

That was a lie; he knew the reason with complete certainty.

Even now, he could see that one of the papers on his desk was completely blank, save for a single line of writing at the top. ‘Dear Twilight Sparkle’. It wouldn’t mean much if it weren’t for the dozen or so similar ones that were currently lying crumpled in a nearby trashcan.

The red pegasus suddenly yelled and swiped all of the papers onto the floor with his forelegs before resting his head on the smooth surface of the varnished wood. What was the point? It wasn’t like any of his work would ever be seen by another pony. Returning from your scheduled vacation to find yourself blamed for starting a war with a foreign nation would do that to you.

Sitting upright once more, Phoenix opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. He paused for a moment, holding the bottle in front of him by its neck, and glared at it. When the bottle gave no response, he popped the lid off and made to take a chug of his ‘medicine’. At the same moment, a hateful pony outside threw a rock through the second-floor window of his office, shattering the base of the bottle and causing its contents to spill out onto the carpeted floor.

With an apathetic expression, the pegasus tossed the remains of the bottle to the side, acquired a blank sheet of paper and an inkwell, then plucked out one of his own feathers and started to write.

‘Dear Twilight Sparkle’.

“—too many more line breaks,” Light Gear was saying to the increasingly suicidal gryphon that was accompanying him through the dungeons of the gryphon capital of Kronheim.

Though he knew he would regret it, the gryphon chose to question the statement. “What ‘line breaks’ are you talking about?”

“Seriously?” the unicorn responded with a skeptical expression, “there’s been, like, seven or eight of them. I mean, I know there's a lot of characters to go through, but come on.”

The giggling of a female could be heard from one of the cells as the guard repeatedly bashed his fists into his face. “You’ll give yourself a concussion if you keep that up.”

The guard glared in the direction of the voice.

“By all means, keep going.”

With a growl, the guard picked a stone up from the ground and wound back to throw it into the cell. Just as he was about to release it on his arm’s forward stroke, a hand grabbed his wrist. Everyone froze.

“You weren’t thinking of throwing that rock at the nice lady, now were you?”

Now trembling in terror, the guard looked up and saw the world’s favorite human looking down at him. With a shake of his head to the negative, he stuttered, “N— No, My Lord.”

“That’s good, because it certainly looked like you were about to.” When the guard dropped the stone, Jackson smiled and released his wrist. “You probably gave her quite the scare. Maybe you should punch yourself in the face one more time, just for good measure.” To his surprise, the guard complied, taking a fist to the side of his own head so violently that he knocked himself to the floor.

“Ow!”

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Jackson began to laugh hysterically, hands clutching at his stomach. “Oh— Oh God, I didn’t think you would actually do it!” After taking a minute to calm down, he continued, “Aw jeez... I could get used to this. Anyway, get outta here.” At that, the guard took off as fast as his stupid little chicken wings could carry him.

“I could’ve handled myself,” said the female voice, moving out of the shadows at the back of her cell.

“Gilda?” Jackson asked, confused, “what’re you in there for?”

“Plotting to overthrow The Emperor,” she answered nonchalantly, “how do you know my name?”

“It’s magic, I ain’t gotta explain shit,” was Jacksons equally nonchalant response. He then turned to Light Gear, who had somehow managed to stay quiet up until that point. “What about you? I assume that guy was escorting you to your cell?”

“Yep,” Light Gear answered, joyful as ever, “I’m a pony.”

“Yeah, I know. What were they throwing you in jail for though? Last I saw, you were helping ‘em out.”

Light Gear cocked his head to one side in confusion. “I’m a pony,” he repeated, “that’s why I’m here.”

Jackson waved his arms in front of himself to halt any further explanation. “Wait wait wait, they were going to put you in the dungeons just for being a pony!? I’m going to have to have a word with Wilhelm about that. Friggin’ Nazi...”

“After we get back from your vacation though, right?”

Jackson was about to answer when his brain finally processed the words. “How do you even know about that?”

“Your smoke friend told me,” Light Gear answered with a bounce.

“Right... He shouldn’t be able to do that, but I won’t question it simply based on the fact that you remind me of Pinkie Pie. Anyway, we should probably get going.”

As he turned to lead Light Gear out of the dungeons, Gilda yelled out, “What about me!?”

Jackson paused and gave her an amused smirk. “I’m pretty sure that ‘plotting to overthrow The Emperor’ is a legitimate reason for being thrown in a dungeon.”

Gilda just... looked at him.

“Sorry about leaving you here, but I know that if you look deep into your heart, you’ll find a way to forgive me.”

Gilda continued to look at him.

“Aw, jeez, you look like a puppy.”

A single tear fell from Gilda’s left eye.

“Christ! Fine, I’ll help you!” He reached into his shiny new coat that had been provided by his new friends — coincidentally the same pocket that would have held his resumé in his old coat — and pulled out a sheet of paper. “With this here document, I can pardon you of essentially any crime! They got me a signet ring too,” he added as an afterthought, “I always thought those were cool, but everything was digital back in my world and wax-sealing an email doesn’t work so great. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

Gilda looked at the paper she was handed, then looked back up, only to see that Jackson was once again walking away, Light Gear bouncing along beside him. “Wait! Aren’t you going to let me out!?”

“I would,” Jackson answered over his shoulder, “but I have no idea how to open the door.”

“They’re half-pin barrel hinges—” Gilda had time to shout out before the human was out of earshot.

“—and that makes ten if you count both the ones around the title as well,” Light Gear was telling Jackson.

“Huh,” was the human’s fascinated response.

After leaving the dungeons, Jackson had gotten another guard to show them the way to Wilhelm’s personal archive, which was apparently comprised entirely of various Chaos Artifacts. Upon their arrival, the curator allowed them in with a worried glance at the unicorn and a brief instruction of ‘don’t touch anything’.

“Ooh. Pretty,” said Light Gear, the previous conversation forgotten by both participants.

Jackson looked around in awe. He had only one response to what he saw before him. “Oh, I am going to touch everything.”

He then proceeded to do just that. One artifact appeared to be some sort of steampunk tablet that was showing a repeating recording of Wilhelm’s declaration of war. Another artifact came to life at the touch of Jackson’s chaos magic and promptly ate another one, which responded by imploding into a miniature singularity, erasing both of them from existence.

Light Gear even managed to find an artifact that... did things that shouldn’t be spoken of in public. After that of course, he proceeded to fulfil Infernus’ prediction and find the one they were looking for. He and Jackson both spent a great deal of time looking blankly at the underwhelming golden orb.

“Looks like someone played too much Assassin’s Creed,” Jackson commented as he picked up the orb. “Arrrrgh. Bow before me, for I wield an apple of OH SHIT!”

The orb emitted a terrifying screech, and a series of glowing red lights appeared along its circumference. The sound cut off just as suddenly as it had begun, and the lights blinked four times before going out.

Then everything turned white.

The light faded, and Jackson and Light Gear found themselves standing in a small room. While the decor immediately made Jackson think, ‘Fallout much?’ his company made him think, ‘Who the hell are these guys?’ Directly across from him was a midnight blue alicorn stallion and a light grey unicorn stallion with a royal blue mane. To the left was a bright green pegasus stallion and a bat-pony mare. To the right was a pastel amber unicorn with a bright orange mane, who was... wearing a chocolate brown trilby? Then beside him was...

“Oh Celestia, no!” the amber unicorn screamed when he saw Light Gear, “there’s two of them! Someone kill me now!”

Beside the amber unicorn was... Light Gear.

Jackson gave a genuine smile for the first time in quite a while. “Oh hell yes. This is going to be the best. vacation. ever.”

n°2.2 - Welcome To The Multiverse?

A small white lizard-like creature flicked its five long tongues at the air, each microscopic pore lining the appendages absorbing some of what little moisture was in the desert air. At the same time, the bright green fan on its back unfolded, catching the sunlight on its corrugated surface. The lizard closed its twin sets of eyelids in pleasure.

Meanwhile, another creature watched the lizard with hunger in its eyes. At least, it would have if it had eyes, or had existed at all. As it was, the creature that didn’t exist had no choice but to watch and wait. It was almost midnight by the time the lizard finished feeding from the giant red sun that was still high in the sky, finally drawing in its tongues and re-folding its fan. As its eyes opened, the second creature existed where it formerly did not.

Wasting not a second of time, the new creature darted forwards, its prey frozen in terror. At the last second, the lizard closed its eyes out of reflex as a mote of dust was blown into its face. The second creature no longer existed, so the lizard took the chance to flee.

Soundlessly, the second creature gave a scream of rage, losing yet another meal to the drifting sands. Just as it was about to give up its hunt for the night, a sound reached the ears it didn’t have. There was a new arrival. Maybe more than one. Within seconds, it had taken off in the direction of the sounds, its two-legged strides propelling it quickly across the sand-covered concrete. It needed to get there first, or the others would get all of the food again.

The sounds clarified as the distance shrunk, resolving themselves into voices. One voice in particular stood out amid the squabbling.

“Oh my God, this is fucking hilarious!”

“Oh Celestia, no!” the amber unicorn screamed when he saw Light Gear, “there’s two of ‘em! Someone kill me now!”

While Jackson contemplated how much he was going enjoy messing with so many odd ponies, said ponies were already in the process of creating more entertainment for him. The light grey unicorn stepped forward aggressively, an array of sharpened metal appearing in the air before him. “Say the tyrant’s name again, Suncat!”

The amber unicorn jumped backwards, igniting his own horn aggressively. “Dude, the buck’s yer problem!?”

The green pegasus flung himself between the two with his wings flared. “Let’s not be hasty now!”

“Out of my way!” the grey unicorn yelled in response, “I am the highest authority here, and what I do with traitors is none of your business!” When the pegasus remained in place, the unicorn gave a yell of anger and punched him in the face.

The bat-pony responded to that by dashing forwards and giving the unicorn a punch of her own. “Hooves off the goods, mate!”

The amber unicorn launched a firebolt at him while he was down, which was swiftly deflected by a spherical shield. Finding himself outnumbered in a confined space, the grey unicorn resorted to other means. With a brief flash of teleportation, Light Gear was now standing beside the grey unicorn with a blade to his neck. He promptly began laughing.

“And what’s so funny?” the grey unicorn asked.

“You got the wrong me,” Light Gear answered.

The other Light Gear, unable to keep a straight face, began laughing as well. “We switched when no one was looking! Oh Celestia, this is great! We can’t believe it worked!”

“I’m surrounded by traitors!” the grey unicorn yelled as he attempted to swap Light Gears. Jackson snapped his fingers at the same time, coming to the defence of his companion. At least, he thought that one was his...

The grey unicorn, realizing that something had happened when his teleport failed, turned to Jackson. The human gave an innocent shrug. The bat-pony flashed the human a smile, thinking him to be on their side. The grey unicorn noticed this and faced her in a defensive stance. “Don’t even think about it. I’m not above striking a mare.”

“Good,” the bat-pony answered with a smirk, “me neither.”

And that was when all hell broke loose.

“You’ll never take me alive, Imperials!”

“I don’t intend to!”

“Don’t you dare!”

“I thought you were on our side!”

“Beep!”

“You’re next!”

“Oh my God, this is fucking hilarious!”

The alicorn gave Jackson a disapproving look. Jackson grinned. The alicorn rolled his eyes and looked at the floor, giving an exasperated sigh. He looked up again and spoke.

“Cease.”

An invisible wave of power seemed to sweep the room, rendering everyone present silent and still. The sensation increased to the point where it seemed as though the air itself was weighing down on them, and Jackson felt his ears pop. A few of the ponies slowly began to retreat to their original positions.

“Now, are we ready to try that again like civilized beings?”

The grey unicorn stepped away from the group, speaking with reluctance through gritted teeth, “Yes, Lord Marshal.”

“Why don’t we start with some introductions?”

Silence.

“You know, telling each other our names and such?”

The green pegasus boldly stepped forward. “Verdant Aurora of Equestria, head of the ERCWS.”

“That’s a fake acronym!” Jackson butted in.

“It’s real!”

Jackson stood there with his arms crossed for a few moments before he realized that everyone was now looking at him expectantly. “Okay, I get it, everyone wants to know what the big two-legged thing is!”

“Not really,” answered the alicorn.

“Been to Earth. Got shot a few times,” his unicorn companion added.

The amber unicorn chuckled. “Dude, everypony knows what humans are.”

Jackson threw his arms up. “Well fine, fuck you guys then!”

The bat-pony raised a hoof, as though attempting to ask a question in a classroom.

“What!?”

“I don’t know what a human is.”

Verdant looked at her. “You’re from the moon.”

Not missing a beat, Jackson pointed at the mare and stated, “That pony came from the moon.”

“Yes,” answered Verdant, “I think I already established that.”

The alicorn raised a hoof. “I understood that reference.”

Jackson responded by pointing at the alicorn. “You are my new favorite pony.”

The alicorn just shrugged.

There were a few moments of silence in which everypony stared at the human expectantly.

“What?”

‘I think,” the alicorn began, “that it might be wise to lay a few requirements. Let’s say... each of us must give at least a name, who you represent, and a random fact about yourself.”

“Jesus Christ, it’s like being in elementary school all over again! Fine, Mister Alicorn, please don’t tell my mommy I was bad!” The human waved his hands in the air in mock despair. After settling down, he began again, “My name’s Jackson Florence, but please, call me Jackie.” He accentuated this with a small bow. “I represent the country of Me. It’s the best one, because I live there. Oh, and I’m apparently the living embodiment of Chaos.”

The amber unicorn didn’t look very pleased. “An’ what about Discord? What happened teh him?”

“Him? I guess he’s still a statue. I honestly never really thought about it. Anyway, it’s someone else’s turn now. You don’t want to be given detention, do you?”

With a roll of her eyes, Verdant’s companion stepped forward. “My name’s Violet. I represent the Ponies of Masconia, and yes, I am from the moon.”

Jackson snickered, but managed remain in control. Mostly.

Next up was the amber unicorn. “My name’s Ignis Mars. Can’t really say ah represent anything, but ah live in Ponyville. I spend most’a my time writing. Also, yuh might wanna cover yer ears for this next part.”

While almost everyone else was looking at him with confused expressions, he and Jackson did exactly that. Just in time too, as Light Gear was next. “Hello everypony! My name’s Light Gear!” began Light Gear.

“And my name’s Light Gear too!” said Light Gear. “That’s ‘too’ as in ‘as well’, not ‘two’ as in ‘more than one’, though I guess both kind of apply!”

“You should be able to tell the difference because of how it was spelled just there!” Light Gear added helpfully.

“We’re from Ponyville too!” Light Gear and Light Gear said together.

“Though I was on a year-long vacation in Gryphus,” Light Gear clarified.

When everyone had recovered from whatever the hell that was, they looked to the last two ponies who had yet to give their identities. “Well,” said Jackson, “don’t leave us in suspense.”

The grey unicorn deigned to go first. “I am Prince Noctus of the Lunar Republic, the highest skilled bladecaster in West Equus.”

Now everyone turned to the alicorn, eager to learn his identity. Why? probably because he’s a fucking alicorn!

“Lord Marshal Dusk Star of the Lunar Republic, highest skilled battlemage in West Equus.”

Silence.

“You sound like a bad OC.” This of course, came from everyone’s favorite human.

With a scoff, Noctus answered for Dusk, “Like ‘Ignis’ over there is any better.”

This drew an indignant “Hey!” from the aforementioned.

The arguing began once again. Dusk looked at Jackson. “You did this on purpose, didn’t you?”

Jackson instantly put on his best ‘Liarjack’ face. “Nooooo...”

Dusk facehoofed.

Meanwhile, in another part of the infinite desert that most cultures called ‘The Dumping Grounds’, a small team of humans in advanced EVA suits exited a circular portal that was ringed by twelve floating spheres. The lead human held a device in her left hand, examining it closely. “Alright boys,” she said to the others as the last of them arrived, “scanner says the air’s breathable. Suits off, combat gear on. No telling what we’ll find out here.”

The scanner gave a loud crackle before a voice came out of it. “Good, you finally got the right one.”

The woman jumped, nearly dropping the device. “The fuck!? I thought this thing was just for reading the environment, not for communication!”

“Yes, that is what you thought. But then, you’re just a soldier, so how would you know?”

“Well I’ll just defer your your oh so intellectual judgement and assume it makes sense,” the woman responded sarcastically.

“What on earth are you talking about? That makes no sense whatsoever! This thing doesn’t even have a speaker in it!”

“Wait, what—”

“But you don’t need to worry your pretty little head about that. What you need to worry about is finding your objective.”

The woman gave the device an exasperated look. It probably had a camera in it too for all she knew. Although, he’d probably still see her even if it didn’t. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that? In case you hadn’t noticed, this desert goes on for miles!”

“Oh yes, miles and miles. In fact, it goes on forever. Literally. Like, it is actually infinite.”

By this point, the woman probably would have been pulling at her hair if she were capable of doing so. Instead, she had to settle for violently bashing the scanner into the faceplate of her suit exactly five times. “Holy shit, why — and actually — how are you such a dick!?”

The voice chuckled happily. “How? Maybe it’s just my special talent. Why? Because you’re cute when you’re mad.”

Accompanied by a scream of frustration, the voice found his means of communication quite suddenly thrown far into the desert sands. The woman’s earpiece crackled. She froze. “Nice throw.”

“No! No no no!”

“Yes. And you’re lucky you didn’t need that.”

“Okay, ignoring the fact that you just hijacked a private comms frequency from across realities, what do you want?”

“Me? I want a lot of things; a new car, a big house, a million dollars! Yeah, I want a lot of things. But most of all? I WANT MY FUCKING SWORD!”

“Yeah. I got that, NO NEED TO FUCKING YELL!”

“You know,” the voice began with barely contained anger, “It’s stuff like this that’s the reason you didn’t last very long in the Marines.”

“Rule number one,” the woman held up a finger as though her partner in the conversation were standing directly in front of her, “we don’t discuss that. ‘Kay?”

“Rule number one of what?” the voice asked.

The voice waited patiently for a response as the woman threw her arms into the air and trudged back to the others, removing the suit and donning a more reasonable Coyote MARPAT IBA. Because that’s totally reasonable in any situation. “Alright, you bipolar maniac, what next?”

“Would you believe me if I told you that the device you just chucked away had an arrow on it that pointed straight to your objective?”

The woman froze, then ran in the direction she had thrown the scanner. Most of the other humans raised their weapons, expecting her to be reacting to some unseen threat. Nope. She scrambled around in the sand for a bit before recovering the scanner. Giving it a quick dusting, she took a long look at the screen before throwing it again. “That’s a compass, you moron!”

“Would you believe me if I told you that your objective is directly north of you?” The woman wordlessly began in the direction of the scanner. Again. Nearly halfway there, a strange feeling came over her. She stopped briefly before spinning around to check behind her. The rest of the humans were in the process of setting up camp some distance away. She turned around again to keep going, but froze when a bit of sand to her left moved. “Major?” He wouldn’t use her rank unless it was important.

“Yes?” the woman hesitantly asked in response.

“You’re too far from the others. Turn back.”

“What about—”

The sand was moving.

“Go back now!” He was panicking.

The sand opened its eyes.

“Run!”

She ran. The sand followed. Years of training paid off, and soon saw the woman making keeping a good distance. The creature that had given chase jumped out of the sand, revealing itself to be a matte black wolf with a row of spines down either side of its body. The spines flared to throw off the last bit of sand before laying flat to decrease drag. Now the wolf had a speed advantage once again, and was quickly closing the distance.

“Gun!” Was all the woman yelled as she neared the camp. Upon seeing the wolf chasing her, one of the men grabbed an M39 off the team’s BigDog and ran a little ways before tossing it in her direction. It was a shitty throw, but a great catch.

Just as the wolf lunged, the woman spun around mid-stride, flipped the safety, and kicked backwards. Combined with her prior momentum, the action sent the woman sliding backwards through the sand. As the wolf passed over her, she raised the rifle’s sights and proceeded to feed it sixty rounds-per-minute of hot lead. An important part of any balanced meal.

Both the woman and the now-deceased wolf slid another few feet before coming to a stop. The woman glanced to her side, saw the the black and red of the wolf contrasting the yellow color of the sand. She looked straight up at the sky, and gave a breath of relief.

“I think I’m still alive,” she said breathlessly.

The voice in her earpiece took a while before responding, “Be more careful in the future, ‘kay Sam?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“And what have we learned?”

“Alicorns are OP?”

“That too.” Dusk was giving the entire room a smug grin, while the rest of the group — Jackson in particular — were sporting shiny new bruises. “Now if we’re all quite finished, perhaps we might attempt to figure out what we’re all doing here?”

The assorted ponied shot nervous glances at each other, displaying their unease at the thought of revealing that kind of ‘privileged’ information. Jackson picked up a small piece of something up off the floor and began fiddling with it as he leaned against the nearest wall. “You know, my last experience with friendship ended with me being impaled. What exactly makes you think I’d want to be all buddy-buddy with you and give away all my secrets?”

Dusk gave him an odd look at the sudden change, but simply shook his head. “I won’t pry.” He then addressed the entire room. “But, I should clarify. I’m not asking for friendship; I’ve been betrayed myself one too many times for that. I am however, suggesting an alliance. It’s too much of a coincidence that we all arrived in the same place at the same time, so someone must have intended for us to be here.”

“Like tha’ Gods ‘emselves brought us ‘ere,” Ignis piped up sarcastically.

“Exactly, but they’re not usually this direct,” Dusk responded, earning a few skeptical looks. Could this guy seriously be suggesting that Gods actually exist? What a joke...

A new speaker cut in, his voice sounding like it were both within inches and a hundred miles away, the pitches distorting at random intervals. “Indeed not.” A grey alicorn was standing in the doorway with a neutral expression, causing Ignis and Light Gear — previously with their backs to the door — to jump away. And with good reason, too. The alicorn had the appearance of a colt for a moment, and then that of an elderly stallion. In fact, he was constantly shifting ages in no apparent order. “This was not our doing.”

Surprise, he’s a God!

While most of the room’s lovely residents were either mesmerized or utterly horrified by the strangely fluid transformation that was going on before them, Dusk only took a step forwards with a conflicted look on his face. “Tempus? What’s going on?”

Tempus gave a rather ungodlike roll of his eyes — which unfortunately chose that moment to shift to those of a blind stallion, providing the disturbing impression of a possessed pony — before stating, “You disappeared quite suddenly from literally all of existence. Your mother was worried.”

“Wait a minute!” Light Gear, either oblivious to the fact that he was addressing a God or simply not caring, asked in his usual tone, “If this place isn’t in existence, then where are we!?”

Ignis raised an eyebrow. “That was a surprisingly... coherent question.”

“I have a better question!” Yelled Jackson, prompting all eyes to turn to him. He pointed a finger at Tempus. “What the fuck have I been smoking?” Tempus disappeared and everyone else was suddenly standing in slightly different locations in the room, all staring at the lone human, who was now pointed confusedly at a wall. He slowly lowered his arm. “What just happened?”

Dusk answered with a smirk, “It seems my father would rather freeze you in time than have to deal with you.”

“That guy’s your dad?”

“Long story, which I’m not going to be telling. We’ve got more important things to do.”

“Like what?” Jackson asked him in response, gesturing around the room they were in, “This place is deserted.”

“Different desert!” Ignis preemptively said to both Light Gears on the other side of the room. He got a double nose-beep in return.

After watching their antics for a brief moment with a slight smile, Dusk turned back to Jackson. “You were having a time-out when we had that discussion. Everyone in this room is here in search of something to help them in their home realities. We believe that whatever forces brought us together will also lead us to what we need.”

Jackson chuckled. “I don’t believe in fate.”

“Well that’s unfortunate, because fate obviously believes in you. So why would it have chosen you to come here?”

All eyes were on Jackson, wondering if they would get an answer as the why the human was there when the rest of them were ponies. “Me?” Jackson asked nervously, glancing at all the others watching him, “I’m just on vacation.”

Dusk wasn’t buying it.

“Well I was told that there might have been something to do while I’m on vacation.”

Still not impressed.

“Fine, I’m attempting to free an evil Chaos Lord from his six thousand year imprisonment in a pocket dimension after his failed, but nearly successful attempt to conquer the planet.”

“You what!?” Dusk yelled in a panicked voice.

Jackson chose that moment to bolt out the door, giving the alicorn his middle finger in gratitude for his attentiveness. At the same moment he rapidly blurted out, “Welcome to the multiverse, bitch!”

n°2.3 - Don't Feed The Wildlife

A human with his arms and legs bound by rope floated beside an alicorn, suspended in a field of dark blue magic. “It’s not that I’m not thankful I don’t have to do any walking, but this is becoming slightly boring. Can I come down now?”

...

“Helloooo!”

...

“C’mon, are you still mad about the thing with the sword? You gotta learn to let things go, man.”

...

“Okay, seriously, I can’t handle this anymore. Either let me down or just kill me now.”

“As much as I’d like to,” the alicorn responded with an annoyed expression, “we can’t kill you. We need you for something.”

“But you don’t know what?”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“What if it’s — you know — something I need to be untied for!?”

“Hm... Nah.”

The human looked to the female bat-pony who was next in their little caravan. “What about you? You don’t know anything about humans, right? Get him to let me down and I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Get this, since we can’t fly, we built machines to do it for us!”

The bat-pony looked unintrested. “I’ve seen an airship before. You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Airships? Hah! That’s so last century.” The bat-pony’s ears perked up. “Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that our flying machines can go almost seven times the speed of sound!”

Wide eyed, the bat-pony sped up to walk beside the alicorn. “Oi, Nighttime, you’ve gotta let me have him!”

The alicorn flicked his left ear, but didn’t look at her. “It’s Dusk, actually, and I can tell you just as much about jets as he can.”

“Oh I doubt that! You might’ve been to his world, but he lives there! I bet there’s tons of stuff he knows that you don’t!” The alicorn looked like he wanted to give a retort, but forced himself to remain silent. The bat-pony turned her attention back to the human. “Hey, I tried, right? Do I at least get something for effort?”

The human was staring off into the distance. “Actually,” he slowly began, “I have something that’ll convince everyone that I shouldn’t be tied up.”

“Huh?”

“In twenty seconds, I’m going to explode into lightning, you’re going to duck, and then a sword is going to go flying through the air where you’re currently standing.”

“Huh?”

Exactly twenty seconds later, the human unleashed a barrage of lightning from his hands, simultaneously disintegrating the ropes that were holding him, as well as shorting out the unprepared alicorn’s magic. The bat-pony ducked, and an electrified sword flew out of a saddlebag further down the line, impaling the wolf-creature through the head.

Oh yeah, might’ve forgotten to mention that there was a wolf-creature. Oh well. In any case, it’s dead now. Go team.

The alicorn recovered quickly from the feedback and quickly readied himself for battle with the nefarious human.

...

Who was at that point gently helping the bat-pony mare off the ground. “You alright?” he asked as he brushed the coating of sand off her side, “Sorry I couldn’t give you more warning, but...” He let the sentence trail as he gestured to the wolf.

“I’m fine,” the mare answered shakily, “You... saved my life.”

“Aw, don’t mention—” He was interrupted by a kiss on his cheek.

A voice shouted from further down the line, “Hey! I’ve saved your life too!”

The mare quickly gave her response. “Shut up!”

Doing his best to ignore what just transpired, the human looked to the alicorn. “So, still think you need to have me tied up?”

After a couple moments of looking the human over with a calculating gaze, the alicorn shook his head. “Fine, but you’d better not make me regret this. Now let’s get moving, there may be more of those... things... around.”

“Seriously?” The human raised his arms in a wide gesture around them. “I bet I scared any others off with that show. If there’s more of them around here, I’ll eat my hat.” It took a moment for him to realize that everyone had froze and were all now staring at something behind him. He facepalmed and sighed. “Good thing I’m not wearing a hat...”

For a brief moment, Jackson wondered what he had been thinking when he’d told the ponies his goal. Then he remembered, it was something along the lines of, ‘I’m sure they won’t mind.’. On second thought, “Maybe I should have thought this through a little bit better...”

“Yeah, that might have been a good idea.” Jackson nearly tripped as he turned to see Infernus’ smoke form floating along beside him. “But, as they say, hindsight is twenty-twenty.”

Jackson continued to run, bursts of sand flying into the air behind him as it was kicked up by his feet. “How the hell are you here!?”

“Oh, you were knocked out ages ago, I’ve just been keeping your dreamscape like this for kicks.”

With some effort, given the sand, Jackson slowed to a stop and checked behind him. Sure enough, there wasn’t a single pursuer to be found, and the surroundings slowly faded into the now-familiar field. “You’re a dick.”

“Well, I’d like to think that’s because I’m simply a personification of my best trait.”

With a groan, Jackson brought his hands together and slowly dragged them down his face before looking at the sky. “No.”

“Oh come on! You probably would’ve laughed at that the last time we met in person.”

This caused an eyebrow raise of epic proportions. “We’ve met before?”

“Oh, yes. Many times, actually. In fact, we knew each other quite well.”

“Wait...” Jackson’s eyes widened, and Infernus seemed to be grinning as it sank in. “Josh?”

Infernus stared at him for a few moments, dumbstruck. Then, “Who the fuck is Josh!?”

Jackson blinked. “Oh. Well that’s awkward.”

“Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe it, and I’m honestly a little insulted.” He paused for a brief moment in consideration. “Though now that I think about it, I’m not all that surprised.”

“Hey!”

“Is for ponies. In any case, I guess I’ll just keep holding out for the big reveal.”

“Yeah, you do that.” The two continued to stand in place for a minute or so, uncertain as to what to do next.

“So...” Infernus awkwardly started.

“So?”

“You’re taking this pretty well.”

“Taking what pretty well?”

“I mean, you were just knocked unconscious by a group of ponies who probably have every reason to hate your guts.”

“What did I do?” Jackson asked, raising his hands in a half-shrug.

“Well, nothing really, but they don’t know that.”

“They’re ponies— not exactly the ‘murdering a guy in his sleep’ type.”

For some reason, this comment made Infernus a bit mad. “How can you say that after what they did to you!? The ponies are just as bad as the humans you left behind!”

Jackson took a step back, as one generally does when The Flamebringer raises his voice. “Okay, I’m still mad about that, but these guys aren’t even from the same universe!”

“You think it matters what universe they’re from!? They’re all the same. I grew up with everyone looking down at me like they were so much better, and I see the ponies doing the exact same thing to entire species at a time! I helped unite the gryphons under Wilhelm’s banner, and came so close to uniting the entire world before that white bitch threw a star at me!”

“That’s racist.”

Infernus froze, then chuckled as his mind processed the joke. “I’m sorry,” he said with a tired sigh, “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that.”

Jackson gave him a small smile. “No, you’ve spent a few thousand years on your own, I think you deserve to be allowed to vent a little.”

“Right.”

“You know, if you hate everyone so much, there’s an entire planet back home without any Sun Goddesses to screw things up.”

Wink wink, nudge nudge.

“Ohhhh yeah, I’m completely aware of that. Once I’m out of here, you’ll lead the gryphons against Equestria while I quickly hop on over and conquer Earth so I can grab us some high-tech reinforcements. As you’re leading the final charge against Canterlot, I’ll swoop in on wings of steel and rain fire!”

“That sounds incredibly dramatic.”

“Yes.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“There’s only one problem.”

“There always is.”

“I’m going to need my sword.”

“Ah,” Jackson answered lamely, pointing a finger at his fellow Chaos Mage, “you see, there might be a slight problem with that...”

“There always is.”

“So long story short, a certain member of Equestrian royalty seemed to think that it was somewhere in Gryphus, but saw fit to murder me before we could find it.”

“Strange... if it were literally anywhere in Gryphus, Wilhelm’s spies would know about it. If that were the case, he would have already handed it over to you.”

“Yeah, he didn’t mention a thing.”

“Guess it’s in the hands of destiny then. You’ll wander across it eventually.”

“Destiny? Wouldn’t have pegged you for the superstitious type.”

“Back on Earth? No way. I’d just rely on my magic to make sure shit got done. In Equestria though? The place practically runs on destiny. And since we’re the good guys, that means we’re destined to win, because that’s just how Equestria works.”

“I wish I shared your faith.”

“Well at least have faith in yourself. And speaking of which, I think it’s time you woke up and face those ponies, who — I admit — haven’t actually done anything wrong.”

“What if they knocked me out by hitting me with something and they do it again? If I just keep waking up every time, I might end up with brain damage.”

“Well it’s not as if it could make you any worse.”

“You bitch!” The group of ponies all jumped backwards as their captive human suddenly jolted to a sitting position with a yell. He slowly turned his head to look at them in that creepy fashion that you might expect from a doll in a horror movie. “Oh,” he calmly exclaimed, “I don’t mean any of you. I was talking to the guy in my head.” He attempted to gesture to the aforementioned portion of his body, only to find his arms bound to his body by rope.

Ignis leaned closer to Dusk and whispered to him, “The heck kinda spell did’ya hit ‘im with?”

Somehow overhearing, Jackson interrupted the conversation before the alicorn could give an answer. “Spells. Good. I don’t like getting hit by rocks. It’s painful, and I’ll have you know that I’m highly allergic to pain. Makes me puff up like a blowfish, the whole deal.”

“That sound exciting,” Noctus responded with a grin, “I, for one, vote we go with the rocks next time.”

“And I, for one, welcome my new alicorn overlord. Please, dispense with the spells, and we’ll pretend that the rock option isn’t on the board.”

Dusk just rolled his eyes at the ongoing conflict between his friend and the human. “The rock option isn’t on the board. I’ve got enough problems with my conscience without having stoning a man to death added on. And for the record, I won’t need to knock you out again as long as you behave. Besides, you’re all tied up at the moment. What choice do you even have?”

“Heh,” Jackson chuckled, “nice play on words.” None of the others seemed amused. “So, I guess I’m officially in detention now, eh? Alright, I’ll be good.”

“Thank you.”

“I do have a question though. Where’d you get the rope?”

“We found all our saddlebags just outside door of that building we appeared in,” he answered, gesturing to a nearby pile, “you took off so fast you probably didn’t even have time to spot them.”

“Nope. That brings up another question though. You seen my sword anywhere?”

“This one?” Dusk asked, levitating said sword out of the pile.

“Yep, that’s the one. Mine mind sticking it back in its sheath here?” Jackson asked before rolling over slightly so that the sheath strapped to his side would be easily accessible.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“You realize that I wouldn’t even be able to reach it there with my arms tied up like this, right?”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s enchanted, and I’m not about to risk letting you go free when we have no idea what you’re capable of.”

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t know what I’m capable of either. Also, it’s not enchanted.”

“Yes, it really is.”

“Well then I haven’t got a clue what it does, because I haven’t seen that thing do anything special other than look cool.”

“And I’m supposed to just take your word for it why?”

“Because I am a standup individual?” This drew a quiet snort from one of the others who were watching the conversation unfold, but was otherwise denied any form of response.

“I think I’ll be hanging onto it for the time being,” Dusk said, starting to turn away.

“No you won’t.”

Dusk paused. “Yes, I will.”

Jackson narrowed his eyes. “No. You won’t.”

“Whatever,” Dusk answered with a shake of his head.

“Not ‘whatever’, that’s my FUCKING *SWORD*!”

Said sword reacted by releasing a massive blast of electrical energy, sending everyone running for cover, or what little of it there was. Dusk, however, was both standing close beside the sword and holding it in his magic. Taking the path of least resistance, most of the arcane lightning arced straight for him. He unwillingly solidified his magical grip on the sword as one’s muscles might clench upon being tazed. Unable to let go, the alicorn had no choice but to wait for the sword’s charge to deplete. His pegasus side helped for a while, but he eventually let loose a scream of agony and fell to his side, feathers and fur starting to burn.

After a full minute, the impromptu lightning rod that was Dusk Star was finally given a break. The rest of the ponies stared in shock, fear, worry, or some combination thereof. Jackson was of the ‘shock’ category, sitting there wide-eyed. Dusk slowly began to get up, little trails of smoke still drifting up from his extremities. Jackson’s eyes widened further as the enraged stallion began to stumble towards him. “That wasn’t me!”

“That seems unlikely,” Dusk responded, not slowing down, and in the kind of voice one might expect from a guy who'd just been electrocuted. Only with more intense hatred.

“No, I’m serious. I had nothing to do with that! Maybe it was just a really, really bad static shock!” He finished that sentence just as the alicorn arrived in front of him, and also just before getting a violent hoof to the head.

The human fell to the ground on his side with a cry of pain, and a trickle of blood ran down his face from the side of his head. Dusk turned and started walking in a random direction, grabbing Jackson in his magic and dragging him through the sand for a moment before lifting him fully off the ground. He stopped long enough to direct his glare at Verdant, whom he was just passing. “You! Grab that sword and stick it in one of the bags! The rest of you, grab a bag and let’s go!”

Jackson passed Verdant next, and heard the pegasus mumble, “Jeez, ‘alicorn overlord’ is right...”

The others did as ordered and eventually fell into a line behind Dusk, who continued walking in the random direction he had initially started off in. It took a whole two hours of complete silence before Jackson finally recovered. Recovered his humor, that is. He’d been through worse, physically.“It’s not that I’m not thankful I don’t have to do any walking, but this is becoming slightly boring. Can I come down now?”

...

“Helloooo!”

...

“C’mon, are you still mad about the thing with the sword? You gotta learn to let things go, man.”

...

“Okay, seriously, I can’t handle this anymore. Either let me down or just kill me now.”

“As much as I’d like to,” Dusk responded with an annoyed expression, “we can’t kill you. We need you for something.”

“But you don’t know what?”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually.”

“What if it’s — you know — something I need to be untied for!?”

“Hm... Nah.”

Jackson looked to Violet, who was next in their little caravan. “What about you? You don’t know anything about humans, right? Get him to let me down and I’ll tell you anything you want to know! Get this, since we can’t fly, we built machines to do it for us!”

The bat-pony looked unintrested. “I’ve seen an airship before. You’ll have to do better than that.”

“Airships? Hah! That’s so last century.” The bat-pony’s ears perked up. “Oh, sorry. Did I forget to mention that our flying machines can go almost seven times the speed of sound!”

Wide eyed, Violet sped up to walk beside Dusk. “Oi, Nighttime, you’ve gotta let me have him!”

The alicorn flicked his left ear, but didn’t look at her. “It’s Dusk, actually, and I can tell you just as much about jets as he can.”

“Oh I doubt that! You might’ve been to his world, but he lives there! I bet there’s tons of stuff he knows that you don’t!” Dusk looked like he wanted to give a retort, but forced himself to remain silent. Violet turned her attention back to Jackson. “Hey, I tried, right? Do I at least get something for effort?”

The human was staring off into the distance. “Actually,” he slowly began, “I have something that’ll convince everyone that I shouldn’t be tied up.”

“Huh?”

“In twenty seconds, I’m going to explode into lightning, you’re going to duck, and then a sword is going to go flying through the air where you’re currently standing.”

“Huh?”

Exactly twenty seconds later, he unleashed a barrage of lightning from his hands, simultaneously disintegrating the ropes that were holding him, as well as shorting out the unprepared alicorn’s magic. Violet ducked, and an electrified sword flew out of a saddlebag further down the line, impaling the wolf-creature through the head.

Oh yeah, might’ve forgotten to mention that there was a wolf-creature. Oh well. In any case, it’s dead now. Go team.

Dusk recovered quickly from the feedback and quickly readied himself for battle with the nefarious human.

...

Who was at that point gently helping Violet off the ground. “You alright?” he asked as he brushed the coating of sand off her side, “Sorry I couldn’t give you more warning, but...” He let the sentence trail as he gestured to the wolf.

“I’m fine,” Violet answered shakily, “You... saved my life.”

“Aw, don’t mention—” He was interrupted by a kiss on his cheek.

Verdant shouted from further down the line, “Hey! I’ve saved your life too!”

Violet quickly gave her response. “Shut up!”

Doing his best to ignore what just transpired, Jackson looked to Dusk. “So, still think you need to have me tied up?”

After a couple moments of looking the human over with a calculating gaze, he shook his head. “Fine, but you’d better not make me regret this. Now let’s get moving, there may be more of those... things... around.”

“Seriously?” Jackson raised his arms in a wide gesture around them. “I bet I scared any others off with that show. If there’s more of them around here, I’ll eat my hat.” It took a moment for him to realize that everyone had froze and were all now staring at something behind him. He facepalmed and sighed. “Good thing I’m not wearing a hat...”

The two Light Gears looked at each other for a second and — I don’t know, played a telepathic game of rock, paper, scissors — before one of them spoke. “Maybe they’re fellow sapient beings that are capable of complex speech and reasoning?”

One of the wolves calmly seconded that opinion in a posh british accent.

...

No it didn’t. It’s a rabid wolf-creature from another plane of reality.

Unfortunately, whatever the ‘rabid wolf-creature’ actually said came out as a series of low growls with undertones of two pieces of metal scraping against each other. It was not a pleasant noise. It must have taken offense to the ponies’ distaste, and proceeded to rush forward in an attempt to murder them. Throughout this, Jackson was for some reason still standing with his back to the pack. Dusk and Noctus summoned their weapons, reminding him that he was, in fact, in mortal peril. He turned around just as the wolf was lunging at him, and tried to raise his sword, wincing as it suddenly dawned on him that he dun goofed.

An invisible force flew past, mere inches from his head, the only sign of its existence being a slight breeze as it passed. The wolf turned into dust, and it was really gross. “Oh God!” he yelled, rubbing at his face with the sleeve of his coat, “It got in my mouth!”

The rest of the pack began their approach, seeking revenge for their two fallen brethren. Dusk rolled his eyes, horn still alight from his previous spell.

n°1.1 - I Sell Chaos And Chaos Accessories

Chaos.

Chaos exists everywhere, in all things. Despite most culture's best efforts to prevent it, chaos always finds a way. This is the universe's way of maintaining balance; no order without chaos, no chaos without order.

Balance.

Unfortunately for the universe, things don't always end up working how they're supposed to. Sometimes the balance is thrown off, and a third party is required to intervene.

When dealing with this kind of thing on a universal scale, the intervention frequently consists of ripping something from one universe, and dumping it in another. When the intended result is to create chaos, that thing is usually a human. Little explanation is required as to why this is.

Chaos Mages. That's what these human enforcers of chaos have come to be called over the years. In a land where order is complete, and the mere presence of a human is not enough, these Chaos Mages will be granted certain abilities. These abilities can range anywhere from enough telekinesis to move a stone, to the ability to move an entire continent; it all depends on how off balance things are.

On a lovely world called Equus, lies the Kingdom of Equestria. Not long ago, this kingdom somehow found itself the target of a mad God. The duty of this God, known to the inhabitants of Equus as 'Discord', was once to ensure that the world didn't fall into a monotonous order. He went a bit overboard.

With Discord encased in stone, unable to influence the balance of the universe in which he had resided, things quickly calmed down. There were a few instances of the order being disturbed; the invasion of the capital of Equestria by a Changeling Swarm being prominent amongst them. After that, and a couple other outbursts of chaos, life quickly became disgustingly orderly for the citizens of Equus.

An intervention was deemed necessary. From across the dimensional void, a single human was plucked from his life, and dropped into the middle of Equestria. Of course, no one bothered to tell him what was going on.

A few woodland creatures were enjoying the sun in a nearby forest. Suddenly humans. "WHOAAAAHHHHH!" *THUD!* “Ow...” Multiple fuzzy creatures watched in curiosity as a random human appeared in the sky, then quickly became acquainted with the ground. The human shakily stood up and brushed himself off before examining his surroundings.

One prominent landmark quickly caught his attention; a city built onto the side of a mountain. "Waaaaat?" He looked to either side of himself, then said to no one in particular, "Canterlot... I call bullshit."

Once upon a time—Naw... that’s stupid—One fine day—Okay, that’s a lie. It was freaking pouring out—One grey and dreary day, some poor sod named Jackson Florence was not a happy human. You see, Jackson Florence was out of a job. Now you might think, let’s find him a job, what’s he good at? Apparently, Jackson Florence was an expert swordsman and engineer. Because those two things totally go together... right?

Somehow, despite his... varied... skillset, old Jackie couldn’t manage to get a job interview until this lovely day. As such, he found himself trudging through the rain on his way to an office building twelve blocks from his spacious house—Okay, I lied again. He lived in a shitty apartment complex. Seriously, cut the guy a break, will ya’?

Anyways, on his way, Jackson rapidly became soaked. Did he have a coat at least? Of course! He had a badass looking brown duster, that just so happened to not be waterproof. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any form of headwear to be badass along with it, so his shoulder-length dark brown hair was dripping onto his face. Lovely.

Did Jackson’s hair sometimes make him look a bit like a girl from behind? Nooo—okay, maybe a little. The fact that he had a ‘My Little Pony’ cutie mark sewn into the right shoulder of his coat didn’t help either. Luckily, it was of his own design; a combination of Celestia’s, Luna’s, and what most bronies assumed Discord’s would be if he was a pony. Since it wasn’t directly from the show, he felt that it was obscure enough to wear in public, but obvious enough that fellow bronies would recognize him as ‘one of the herd’.

Jackson’s an engineer, that means he’s completed university right? Isn’t he a little old for ‘My Little Pony’? The answer: You’re never too old for ‘My Little Pony’! But yes, he was a bit older than the intended audience of the show. In fact, Jackson was right at that perfect age where he was old enough to take control of his own life, but still young enough that he came up with painfully stupid ideas and couldn’t take something seriously if his life depended on it.

Enough exposition! What’s Jackson doing now!? Well it looks like he’s still walking, little Billy. Oh wait, he just reached his destination. With a disgusted grunt, Jackson shook himself like a dog and thoroughly watered the front foyer of the office building. As she wiped the water from her glasses, the receptionist said, “The job interview is in room two-ten.”

“Thank ye kindly, ma’am!” Jackson responded with a mock salute before skipping to the elevator and taking it up to the second floor. Why let a little water get you down?

The receptionist just shook her head and went back to her newspaper... which had apparently shielded her from the oncoming tide of wet Jackson. “Great...”

Up on floor two, Jackson was happily strolling down the hallway, counting off room numbers as he went. ’Two-oh-five, two-oh-six, two-oh-seven, endless rift through time and space, two-oh-nine—HOLY SHIT! That vending machine says three dollars for a bottle of water! The fuck’s up with that? Ah, room two-ten. Here we are.’

As Jackson stepped through the door, the man inside examined the soaked brony with a raised eyebrow. “Mister Florence, I presume?”

“Please, Call me Jackie.”

“...”

“...”

“May I see your resumé, Mister Florence?”

“Oh, right.” Having been reminded that he did in fact a resumé, Jackson reached into his coat’s inner pocket and pulled out a dripping folder. “Here ya’ go.”

Without moving his head, Jackson’s potential future employer looked down at the folder, which was slowly creating a small puddle in the middle of his desk. The man inhaled deeply through his nose, then slowly released the breath and looked back to Jackson. “So, What makes you think you’re qualified for this position?”

“Well Sir,” Jackson answered with a cocky grin. “I have a university degree in engineering.”

The man facepalmed, and rather violently if I might add. “Mister Florence, this is a law firm.”

“So?”

With a sigh, the man who was most likely not Jackson’s future employer patiently asked, “Could you please take this seriously?”

Jackson chuckled before answering, “But being serious is so boring!”

“...”

“...”

The man who was most definitely not Jackson’s future employer slowly slid the resumé back across the desk, creating a loud squelching noise along the way. “We’ll be in touch, Mister Florence.”

“Cool!” With that exclamation, Jackson stood up and left the room, completely forgetting his resumé to continue seeping its juices onto the desk, utterly alone. As he happily strolled back down the hallway, he noticed something a bit odd. He stopped and turned to face the infinite void to his right. “Huh.”

In all of ten seconds, Jackson made up his mind about how to respond. He walked up to the void, turned around, and fell backwards into it. “Fuck you, universe!” he yelled, double-fingering the empty hall as he fell.

Falling over doesn’t usually hurt that much. Of course, most people don’t usually fall backwards out of dimensional portals that are linked to the second floor of an office building. "WHOAAAAHHHHH!" *THUD!* “Ow...” He removed his face from the ground, and shakily stood up, brushing some imaginary dirt from himself as he did so.

Having just arrived in a new universe, he quickly scanned his surroundings. Left: Grass. Right: Grass. Forwards: Mountain. Up: Canterlot. Back down: Mountain. Back up: Still Canterlot. "Waaaaat?" Left: Grass. Right: Grass. Up: Yep, that’s still Canterlot. “Canterlot... I call bullshit.” He slapped himself. “Nope, nevermind, that hurt.”

Seeing as he was likely the only human ever seen in Equestria, his path was clear. He would need to wander into Canterlot and scare the crap out of everyone present. Then again, this was Equestria; he was out in the middle of nowhere in a land filled with mythical creatures, the majority of which would try to eat him.

He took a cautious step forward. Nothing happened. He took another step. Still nothing. Confident that nothing bad was hiding nearby, he began to walk forwards in earnest. A bird chirped loudly in his ear. He screamed, the bird chirped, and they both bolted in opposite directions. Alerted by his scream, a manticore jumped out of the forest and gave chase. To Jackson that is... he’s not nearly as lucky as that stupid bird.

”NICE KITTY!” The manticore responded by slamming it’s stinger into the ground to Jackson’s immediate right. The human was clearly worried about nothing. Obviously, the manticore was such a ‘nice kitty’ that it intentionally missed right then. It was just trying to get the human to trip so that it could play with him... right?

Well, it was the manticore’s lucky day, because Jackson was smart enough to ignore the first rule of getting chased by a man-eating beast; don’t look behind you. He tripped. Rather than immediately pounce on him, the manticore stayed back and examined it’s prey. See, he was a nice kitty after all!

Jackson stood up and stared down the beast in front of him. It did absolutely nothing. However, during his staring, a glint of gold caught his eye. Apparently some hapless royal guard had encountered this particular manticore and had managed to get his sword stuck in its right side. An incredible plan of pure epicness formed in Jackson’s mind. With a grin, he ran directly at the confused manticore.

With his left hand, he grabbed the hilt of the sword, and used the momentum to swing himself up and onto the manticore’s back. “Yeehaaaw!” He pulled the sword free and stabbed the manticore in the head, felling it with one swift blow.

Alright, I lied again. He ran at it and it pretty much bitch-slapped him into the ground. He noticed Deus Ex Machina Tree sitting in the middle of an empty field a little ways away, and quickly rolled to his feet. He took off for the tree, climbing it just in time. The manticore reached the tree seconds later, and sat down at the bottom of it, glaring up at him. Silly manticore, you have wings! Shhh, don’t tell it!

Jackson caught his breath, then looked down at the manticore. “You know, It would be totally awesome if I could just snap my fingers—” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “—and light you on fire or something cool like that.” Smoke started trailing up from behind the manticore, causing Jackson to lean slightly to his right in order to see behind it. Its ass was on fire. “Well, shit.”

The manticore noticed this strange occurrence as well, and swiftly started swatting at the flames. Jackson gave a manic smile, then snapped his fingers again. The fire blazed up again in sync, covering part of the manticore’s back and tail. ”FIIIIIRE! HAHAA!” He jumped out of the tree and started snapping his fingers like a madman. “BURN, BITCH! AAAHAHAHAHAHAA!”

After a few minutes, nothing was left of the manticore but ash and a glowing hot sword. Another snap of Jackson’s fingers, and the sword was cool enough to pick up; something which Jackson happily did. “Woah... This sword weighs a ton... And it’s spinning...” The confused human stumbled to his left, tilting his head in the same direction. “No! … Dun’ go upside down!” With one more step, he fell over sideways and cried out, “Sunuvabi—” before passing out on the ground.

Meanwhile, a lone changeling watched with wide eyes as this scene took place. It had absolutely no idea how to proceed. It awkwardly scratched the back of its head before flying off to report to the hive.

Jackson woke with a throbbing headache. “Woah... little too much to drink last night eh? Guess I must have gotten that job.” He sat up on his bed and looked around. He was in a small stone room that was lit with a single bioluminescent lamp. “Wait... No I didn’t, I screwed the universe over and high-tailed it to a new one.”

A changeling opened a wooden door at one end of the room, and stepped inside, carrying with it a sword and sheath. It immediately froze and engaged the human in an impromptu staring contest. After a minute, it threw the sword at him, then scrambled backwards out of the room, slamming the door behind it. It didn’t throw the sword in a ‘Imma throw this thing and hope the pointy end stabs your eye out’ kind of way; It was more, ‘take this and leave me alone!’

Once again, Jackson happily obliged the universe’s request that he take up arms, and attached the sheath to his belt. He swung the sword a couple of times before examining it. It was extremely light, but also extremely sharp. The entire thing seemed to be made out of some form of changeling chitin, which vaguely reminded Jackson of the Falmer swords from Skyrim.

He snapped his fingers, creating a mirror in the air in front of him. He immediately noted that he felt weaker after doing so. ’Maybe the fire-spam yesterday wasn’t such a hot idea.’ He chuckled to himself. ’Get it? Hot? Cause... fire’s... hot? Anyone? No? Okay...’ He struck a pose, and decided that he looked sufficiently badass. ’I just realized that I’m dressed like Malcolm Reynolds...’ With another two snaps of his fingers, he cleaned himself off and dispelled the mirror. He didn’t feel so hot afterwards... Shaddap.

He placed the sword in its sheath, then walked over to the door and opened it. He quite suddenly found himself with his face awkwardly close to that of Queen Chrysalis. “Uh... Hi?”

The Queen blinked twice before rapidly backing up. “Ah. I see you are awake.”

“Yep.”

“...”

“So... Nice weather toda— Weee’re underground...”

“...”

Jackson awkwardly clapped his hand together in front of him. “Uh-huh... Well, this is fun.”

“What are you?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Beg pardon?”

“What is the name of your species?”

“Imma human. At least, I was. Humans can’t do magic, so... the hell if I know.”

“I see.”

“...”

“...”

“Sooo... What’d ya’ bring me here for?”

“One of my drones saw you take down that manticore, and I saw fit to bring you here after you passed out. Something with your... talents... could be a valuable asset.”

“You want me to help you out with something. Are you attacking Canterlot again, cause that idea was bullshit the first time, and it still is.” Chrysalis looked taken aback by the way he was speaking to her. Ignoring that fact, he continued, “you’re damn lucky Luna was asleep for the entire friggin’ thing the first time.”

“Actually... we were intending to attack the town of Dodge City.”

“If it’s a town, how is it a city?”

“... I don’t—”

“I was actually planning to waltz into canterlot and act like Discord, using my snappy powers to fuck their shit up.”

“What?”

“Use my magic to— You know, your language is really hard to swear with. Buck your language! Wait a minute...”

“I think we may be getting off track here...” Chrysalis shifted nervously, clearly unsure how to respond to something that seemed to regard her as an equal; and could in fact potentially be her equal.

“Right, so! That’d be a pretty good distraction while you go and own Dodge City. I don’t really feel comfortable directly harming the ponies.”

“Who would you feel comfortable ‘directly harming’?”

“Uhh... Diamond Dogs, Gryphons, Dragons, Changelings...” He counted off on his fingers as he listed each race.

Chrysalis took a step backwards. “You would harm my hive?” She asked, becoming more nervous by the minute.

“You know you guys don’t really have the best track record, dontcha?” Jackson elaborated with a smirk..

“We had no choice! We were running out of food! We still are!”

“Speaking of food...”

“Yes, yes. We have something for you to eat. But as I was saying—”

“If a food shortage is your only problem, I can solve that easily. Course, doing so might knock me out again, but what the hay! Might as well.” He snapped his fingers, and a glowing baseball-sized orb appeared in mid-air. He snatched it up, then held it out to Chrysalis. ”THIS IS A GLOWY BALL THAT’LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!” With that final expenditure of energy, Jackson once again passed out and fell over; leaving an extremely confused changeling Queen behind.

Jackson woke to another throbbing headache, and opened his eyes to find Chrysalis once again uncomfortably close to his face. “Is this gonna become thing for us?” Chrysalis immediately moved a few meters away as he continued, “there’s this thing called personal space. You’re kind of supposed to stay out of someone else’s. And when you encroach on someone’s personal space while they’re sleeping, it’s generally considered damn creepy.”

“I— I was checking your pulse!”

“Sure ya’ were.” Jackson answered with a wink. ’Flirt with Changeling Queen: Check.’

“What does—NO. That wasn’t— I didn’t— Passing out multiple times from lack of energy isn’t healthy! I was checking if you were alright!”

“I know. I just like screwing with everyone I meet.” He sat up and swung his legs off the bed. “So when’s lunch? I’d say I’m starving but that’d be inconsiderate of your plight. First world problems!”

“What— Oh, nevermind. What does your species eat?” Jackson simply grinned, exposing his canines. “Oh my...” Chrysalis’ eyelids drooped seductively.

“So you like meat-eaters eh? Quite a bit too, if the bedroom eyes are anything to go by.”

Chrysalis’ ‘bedroom eyes’ widened, and she began to blush violently. ”NO!”

Jackson snorted with suppressed laughter, then stood up and walked out of the room. “You’re blushiiing~” After a few seconds, he reentered the room. “I just left so I could tease you on my way out. I actually have no idea where I am, so you’re gonna have to get out here and help me out.”

After taking some time to recover, Chrysalis led Jackson to a large room, where she ordered a drone to get some food. While they waited, Chrysalis began to question the human about himself. “How did you arrive in Equestria? I’ve never seen your kind before.”

With a completely straight face, Jackson answered, “I intentionally fell over backwards through a dimensional rift on the second floor of an office building.”

“You’re... not joking, are you?”

“Nope.”

“So how is it that you seem to know who I am if you’re from another universe?”

“Uh... Pass. That one’s too hard to explain with your current level of technology. You’d have absolutely no idea what I’d be talking about.”

“Do you think you could make more of those orbs? It would only take about fifty of them to permanently sustain my hive.”

“I’ll get’cha some more when I get back.”

“Get back from where?” Chrysalis asked, confused.

“Even though I don’t have to help you with attacking anywhere anymore, I’m still going to waltz into Canterlot and fuck their shit up. I’ll wait till’ tomorrow morning though.”

“But what if they kill you!?”

“Meh. I’ll be fine.”

“Just be careful. The hive cannot afford to lose you.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, mom.”

The drone that Chrysalis had sent to get food returned with a plate full of bacon balanced between it’s wings. Jackson was beaming. Chrysalis couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiastic reaction. “Before you get started, what do I call you?”

“My name is Jackson Florence. But please, call me Jackie.”

They spent the rest of the day touring the hive before heading to bed with a final warning of, “No creepin’ tonight, Chryssy.”

The next morning—after a significant lack of creepin’—Jackson stood alongside Chrysalis at the entrance of the hive. “Is there any way I could contact you if I need help?” Jackson asked as he was about to leave.

“Yes, actually.” She motioned for a nearby drone. “This drone is one of few with an actual personality, as well as the ability to mimic a biped. She can accompany you and take the appearance of another human.”

The drone promptly turned into a fully clothed human female with a similar appearance to Jackson, who looked confused. “How does she know what a human female looks like?”

“I lied about checking your pulse,” Chrysalis explained with a grin, “I was actually reading your memories.”

“Ha! Sneaky. What was with the questions at lunch then?”

“You woke up before I could get everything.”

“Well I’ll just have to tell you the rest when I get back.” He turned to leave and said, “Come on, what’s-your-name.”

The drone-in-human-form didn’t look amused. “I don’t have a name.”

“That’s bullshit. Come up with one by the time we reach Canterlot or I’m naming you.” With a final wave, he called out, “Seeya Chryssy! And don’t worry; I’ll be back soon!”

Jackson and his unnamed changeling companion then took their first steps towards canterlot, not realizing the significance of their upcoming journey.

n°1.7 - A Peaceful Little Town Called Kleindorf

Three gryphons walked into a bar. No, they didn’t say ‘ouch’, they sat down and ordered some drinks, you asshat. One of the gryphons was male, and the other two were female. Normally I’d say the guy was lucky, but one of the females was refusing to look at him, and the other wouldn’t shut up about magical ponycorns.

Meanwhile, on the outer edge of the town, a guard was circling the town from the air, and spotted three ponies, a changeling, and a human walking in the distance. The human matched the description given to him by his informant—plus there was only one human in existence in the universe at that moment—so he began a swift descent in the direction of the local tavern.

The guard landed on the cobblestone road with practiced ease, and proceeded to enter the tavern, seeking out his superior... Who just so happened to be the son of an infamous slaver, but the other guards didn’t need to know that as long as he kept getting paid. He spotted said superior at a table with two other gryphons. Yes, those are the same ones from earlier, very observant of you.

He gave a salute before speaking. “Sir! I’ve just spotted the human approaching from the jungle.”

The gryphon he was addressing looked up from his drink and broke into a grin. “Sehr good!” He then proceeded to grab the guard’s head and smash it onto the table, then held it there while he plunged an excessively large knife through his neck and into the wood beneath it.

One of the female gryphons fell over backwards in her chair with a shriek before scrambling out the door, while the other yelled, “Oh scheiße! What the fuck, Rorik!?”

The gryphon named Rorik shrugged. “He was still a guard. Just because I was bribing him doesn’t mean he wasn’t going to relay a message to the capitol. Better safe than sorry.”

“What about all these witnesses!?”

“What witnesses?”

The female looked around, and found to her confusion not a single one of the other patrons had so much as batted an eyelash at the display. “Er... Okay...?”

Rorik unpinned the dead guard from the table and began to wipe his knife on a napkin, then waved a claw in the air to catch the attention of one of the waiters. He gestured at the body, prompting the waiter to drag it off to an unknown destination. “I have a... reputation.”

“Yeah, a fucked up one... Whatever, I shouldn’t be surprised. So what are we gonna do with the human?”

“Well, my dear Gilda, we are going to go catch him.” Rorik answered with a grin.

Gilda blinked. “What?”

“Think of what we could do if we had the power of a Chaos Mage at our disposal. The Imperials won’t stand a chance!”

“Wait... You’re planning a coup!? You couldn’t have had time to— Wait. You knew he was coming. All of my friends are dead because of your retarded ambitions!?”

“Yes, Gilda. And I’m very sorry that happened, but I intend to make it up to you.”

“How!? What could you possibly do to make up for this!?”

“Well when I have my new kingdom, I’m going to need a Queen, if you’re picking up what I’m laying down...” ‘Ew. Just saying it out loud leaves a bad taste in my mouth...’

Gilda’s glare slowly transformed into a grin. “Oh yeah, I’m most definitely picking up what you’re laying down.”

“I’m glad we’re all on the same page now.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“There’s a travelling unicorn in town named ‘Light Gear’. I hear he’s fairly capable at making traps. I believe he may be willing to lend us a... helping hoof, as it were.”

“Let’s get to it then.”

A group of four ponies and a gryphon gleefully approached the small town of Kleindorf, happy to be out of the humid heat of the nearby jungle, as well as the opportunity to rest. They were all so happy in fact, they somehow didn’t notice that it was now cold enough for small patches of snow to remain on the ground from the area’s last spring snowfall. I suppose there would be some benefit from having a fur coat...

The village itself was a relatively new community, sitting smack-dab in the center of a flat grassland, with some steeper hills further to the east. Oh, I guess I should mention that those ponies I was talking about were approaching from the west... Not that they knew that; they were friggin’ lost. Thus their joy at finding civilization.

Little did they know the horrors that awaited them within the quaint little town... Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I assure you that there were really bad people in there. Then again, you probably already knew that from when you read the intro section of the chapter. Fourth wall be damned.

One member of this group of previously lost ponies was a unicorn named Jackson Florence. He was once again complaining about the need for a disguise. Because apparently there would be absolutely nothing wrong with walking into a town inhabited by people that view your entire species as malevolent gods with no disguise whatsoever.

"Didn't you hear the part where I said that my power level would drop below nine-thousand if you turned me into a pony again!?"

"There's no reason that you'd need that much power unless you're intending to start something. And you aren't trying to start something, are you?" Luna replied with a glare. She still had her wings hidden and her mane in its basic form, but had taken to wearing a coat to cover her cutie mark, the one thing magic couldn’t disguise.

"Well no, but—"

"And stop making references to things we won't understand. Yes, I can tell when you do it."

Jackson grumbled something inaudible, but didn't argue further. Closer to the back of the group, the level of awkward was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Actually, you'd more realistically need an industrial strength chemical laser. The reason: Twilight and Phoenix had somehow ended up walking beside each other.

"So..." Twilight started, "You're a Professor of Archaeology at the Royal Canterlot University?"

"Mhm..."

"Oh... that's good."

Throughout the entire conversation—if it could even be called that—neither one of them moved looked anywhere but straight ahead. After another bout of silence, Phoenix began, "So... You're Princess Celestia's student?"

"Mhm..."

"Well... that's good."

They glanced at each other and inadvertently made eye contact. They both blushed and quickly looked forward again. Felicia—disguised as a gryphon—was trailing behind them, slowly shaking her head in amusement.

Back at the front, the topic had shifted to the history of Jackson's precursor. "So who came up with the name 'Lord Infernus' anyway?"

Luna looked thoughtful. "You know, I'm not certain. What does 'Infernus' even mean?"

"Ooh! I know that one! It's Latin. Means 'Hellfire'. Actually, how don't you know what that means? I saw some inscriptions in the castle written in Latin. Though I doubt you call it Latin."

"I'm not familiar with the term 'hellfire' either, so I expect it's a word exclusive to humans."

"Yeah. You guys have Tartarus, not Hell. I guess that answers my question. He must have come up with it himself."

"Well from what I'm able to infer, the name is definitely appropriate."

"Yeah, it is that. Can you imagine if he had done something stupid like decided, 'I'm the first chaos mage to exist here, so I'll take the name Lord First!'"

They both had a good laugh at that. "Yes, even if you were given the name by someone else, one would have to have some sort of mental condition to accept something as unimaginative as that."

They laughed again, and in a distant universe, one author gave this humble narrator a smoldering death glare.

"Beep beep! Comin' through!" A white unicorn with a broken horn and a missing ear-tip weaved his way down Main Street, his grey-striped black mane blowing slightly from the speed at which he dodged around the numerous gryphons that were going about their business.

He glanced behind him, as though checking for a pursuer. Naturally, this caused him to run headfirst into a gryphon. Said gryphon just so happened to be his pursuer. After a moment’s thought, he came to the conclusion that taking three right turns in a row might not have been the best idea. “Whoops.”

The gryphon grabbed him by the throat with one claw. “You’re coming with me.” The unicorn made a split-second decision that he would not let himself be captured so easily. Concentrating, he cast a fireball at the gryphon from almost point-blank.

It immediately exploded backwards in his face, leaving a thick layer of soot over his features. He coughed once, producing a small puff of smoke. The gryphon laughed hysterically at his plight before knocking him unconscious with a swift punch to the side of the head.

Another gryphon landed beside the first, having been tracking their prey from the air. “Wow. He just ran right into you.”

The first gryphon laughed again. “I know. And did you see when his spell backfired? Priceless!”

“What the blazes does Rorik want this guy for anyway?”

A new voice answered him, its cold tone enough to send shivers down his spine. “That’s none of your concern.”

Both gryphons quickly bowed to the newcomer. “Verzeih mir, My Lord.”

The newcomer of course turned out to be none other than Rorik himself. “Get him back to the tavern. There’s already a room prepared.”

With two simultaneous shots of, “Yes Sir!” both gryphons took to the air, unicorn in tow.

As they departed, Gilda glided down to join Rorik. “So that’s what you’re going to be doing. What about me?” He opened his mouth to answer, but Gilda preemptively interrupted, “And it’d better not be something retarded.”

Rorik held back a glare and answered, “You’re going to go and welcome them to town and lead them into our trap.”

“Yay. Dunno if you noticed, but we don’t exactly have a trap yet.”

“I’ll get it done. You just have to keep them occupied until then, and I’ll get a message to you.”

“If you say so. You’re the egghead, so I’ll leave the planning up to you.”

“Egghead. Right. Just do your job.”

“Fine, jeez, no need to be a dick about it.” As she left, Rorik paused to consider if it was really worth keeping her around. He decided he’d think about it more later and went to go see if a certain unicorn was feeling any more cooperative. It was a short flight back to his temporary residence, and he arrived just in time for his newest asset to awaken.

He approached the unicorn, who was now sitting on a chair with a guard on either side and looking very confused.  “You.” Rorik said, trying to be as intimidating as possible. The unicorn pointed to himself with a hoof and gave a questioning expression. Rorik gave him a deadpan look. “No, the other unicorn.”

The unicorn sighed in relief. “Oh, that’s good. You guys had me worried there. I’ll just be going then...” He started to get up, but one of the two guards held him down by putting a claw on his shoulder. He very slowly reached up with one hoof, and pressed it to the tip of the gryphon’s beak. “Beep.”

The guard raised an eyebrow, but didn’t react aside from that. Rorik facetalon’d—Yes, that’s a thing. Shut up—and mumbled, “This may take a while...” He pulled out his knife and pressed it to the unicorn’s throat. “Let’s make this simple. You answer my questions, or I kill you.” The unicorn’s ears splayed back and he nodded very slightly, careful not run into the knife. “Good. Now are you, or are you not the pony known as Light Gear?”

“I... Am?”

“Good. Now, will you, or will you not assist myself in capturing something?”

Light Gear’s ears perked up. “You mean like, building a trap?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean.”

“Well why didn’t you just ask!” He shouted, shoving the knife away from himself with a burst of telekinesis. He jumped up and gave Rorik a wide grin. “What are we catching?”

“A chaos mage.”

“Oh. ... Oh! Uh... I think I might need to gather some info on this one...” He gave a nervous grin.

“That’s fine. As long as you can have something set up before he leaves, you get to live.”

“And... If I leave?”

Rorik leaned in so that his beak was nearly touching Light Gear’s muzzle. He then very calmly stated, “Then I will hunt you down and slice your head from your shoulders.”

“...”

“...”

*poke* “Beep.”

Jackson and company finally made their way to the gated entrance to Kleindorf. They were let in immediately, the gate being mostly for keeping predators out. Ponies were fairly common in gryphon border towns, due to the allure of the ancient treasures in the nearby jungles. Of course, only one of the group had actually been there for that purpose, but they weren’t about to go telling everyone that.

While the majority of them were looking around at the gryphon architecture, Jackson and Luna had both become occupied with something else. “See that gryphon walking towards us?” Jackson asked in a whisper, “The one with the obviously faked grin? That’s Gilda. She’s got a history with Twilight. This could be a problem.”

“More than you know.” Luna answered, equally quiet. “I know all about that incident. We keep track of anyone who ever caused problems for The Elements. After returning to Gryphus, she got desperate for money and joined up with a group of slavers. Probably the ones we...” She paused to choose her phrasing carefully. “... ‘Dealt with’ earlier.”

“Some of them must have gotten away. We’re gonna be on thin ice for a while then... What do we do about Twilight? She still doesn’t have magic.”

“We let her reaction to Gilda play out on its own, and only intervene if one of them gets aggressive. We are going to need to find a way to remove the inhibitor as quickly as possible if they know we’re here though.”

Gilda finally navigated through the crowded street and greeted them. “Hello travellers! My name’s Gilda Graustein, the—”

“YOU!” Twilight interrupted, rushing forward to confront her. “I remember you.”

Gilda somehow managed to keep the grin going, though it looked extremely strained now. “Oh yeah, hello there, uh... Sparky?”

“It’s ‘Sparkle’. Twilight. Sparkle.”

“Heheh, right. Sparkle. Got it.” She backed away slightly. “Anyways... As I was saying, I’m the town greeter, And I—”

“Town greeters still exist here?”

Gilda’s eyelid twitched. “Ohhh just in little towns like wonderful Kleindorf here!”

“Hm... I didn’t read about that in any of my books...”

“Well it’s true! And I’m pleased to have the privilege to give you a tour of our wonderful town!”

“Oh. Okay then.”

As Gilda led them further into town, Jackson and Luna were once again conversing in hushed tones. “None of the guards reacted when she started flaunting a position that doesn’t even exist.”

“You think they’re paid off? All of them?” Luna asked in reply.

“Yep. I’ve spent enough time around Riften to know what bribed guards look like.”

“Right. ... Where’s Riften?”

“Not important. What is important is that if things go downhill, we’re on our own.”

Gilda led the group to the middle of town, pointing out locations along the way. She honestly made a pretty convincing greeter and tour guide. She stopped in front of the town hall. “I’ve got to go talk to someone,” she explained, “but I’ll be back to continue the tour in  a couple minutes.” With that, she flew off, leaving her charges to examine the town square in the meantime.

Casually looking around, Jackson spotted a unicorn farther down the road. The only reason it drew his attention was because it was the first non-gryphon he had seen in so far. The unicorn noticed him looking, and quickly ducked into an alleyway. ‘Well... That’s not suspicious at all.’

“I said, He’s not with them.” Gilda explained to Rorik in an exasperated tone.

“How can he not be— How many ponies are there?”

“What do I look like, an encyclopedia!?”

Rorik facetalon’d. Again. He had the distinct feeling that he would be doing a lot of that in the coming days. In the meantime... “I meant, how many ponies are there in their group?”

“Oh... I totally knew that. There’s four.”

“And is one of them a brown unicorn stallion?”

“Yep.”

“That’s him. He was still human when the scout saw him, but he must be able to change at will, because he was also a pony when we captured him the first time.”

“Ohhh... Well why didn’t you say so?”

She turned and left the room. Rorik decided that he was definitely getting rid of her as soon as possible.

“That was really brave of you when we first arrived.” Phoenix told Twilight nervously. “Not many ponies would be willing to yell at a gryphon like that. Especially a unicorn with no magic.”

“Oh... Well, I don’t like it when ponies are mean to my friends.”

“That’s very admirable. ... Uh, am I your friend?”

“Did you... want to be?”

“Um... Yeah, I would.”

”OH MY GOD!” Screamed a voice nearby. Both of them looked around and found Jackson glaring at them. “Just stop with the Fluttershy impersonations and fuck already!”

The two ponies both quickly found the ground extremely fascinating to look at. While that was going on, none of them had noticed Gilda’s return. “Uh...” She said, giving the three of them an odd look, “Am I... interrupting something?”

Jackson quickly turned to face her. “Nope. We’re good.”

Felicia sidled up beside Gilda, giving her a seductive grin. “Speaking of fucking though... We’ll bang, okay?”

Gilda quickly shoved her away with a slightly disturbed expression. “No. No, I don’t think we will. She backed away so that she could take in the group as a whole. “Whaaat is wrong with you guys?”

Jackson approached her and gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder. “You know, I ask myself that very question every day. I have never once come anywhere close to figuring out the answer.”

Gilda shook her head to clear it. “Alright. Well, let’s get on with the tour then, shall we?” She was doing the fake grin again.

Everyone followed her as she lead them down another street. As they went, Jackson noticed the unicorn from earlier watching them from around a corner. ‘On second thought, that’s so suspicious, I can’t even be sarcastic about it.’ The unicorn hid once more.

Light Gear watched his target move down the street towards him with incredible stealth, never once giving away his— ‘Oh buck he’s looking at me!’ He scrambled madly in an attempt to get out of sight as fast as possible. Once he had done so, he allowed himself to breathe again. ‘Phew! Aw well, that’s still only three times he’s seen me so far. If I keep this up, I might break my previous record!’

He was shaken from his thoughts—literally—by a gryphon’s claw grabbing him and giving him a shake. No, not a milkshake. ‘Though...’ he mused, ‘I really could go for a milkshake right now...’ He was shaken again, this time causing him to look for whoever was doing it. Not doing it like sex, by the way. ‘But seriously, when was the last time I got laid?’ He was hit with a slap hard enough to send him to the ground. He looked up and saw Rorik standing over him. “You know, this wasn’t what I had in mind at all.”

Rorik slapped Light Gear again before forcing the unicorn to look at him. “Pay. Attention.”

“Mmhm?”

“Gilda just came to me with a rather important question. Turns out the chaos mage is actually the brown unicorn.”

Light Gear rolled his eyes. “Well duh.” Rorik looked confused, so proceeded to explain, “They’re all female except for him and the pegasus, and the pegasus is a well-known equestrian professor, so it couldn’t be him. That just left the unicorn!”

Rorik blinked. “How can someone so incredibly stupid be so smart?”

“Talent.” He beeped Rorik’s beak once more before sliding out from under him. He turned to go check on his target’s progress again, only to find that the entire group had stopped to browse the wares at a street vendor that was positioned at the entrance to the alley. He quickly turned around and hid behind Rorik. “Don’t let him see me!” He whispered.

Understanding, Rorik repositioned himself so that there wasn’t any parts of Light Gear visible from the street. He waited for the group to move on. He growled. “They’re not moving.”

Deciding that it would be necessary to find a way to pass the time, Light Gear began to do his favorite pastime. “Beep.”

“...”

“Beep.”

“Stop that.”

“Beep.”

“Stop.”

“Beep.”

“Stop it!”

“...”

“...”

“Beep.”

With a roar of pure anger, Rorik grabbed the annoying unicorn, and threw him straight through the vendor’s stand. He froze in that position, taking a moment to realize what he had done. Everyone in the street was staring at him. He very slowly lowered his forelegs to the ground again. Gilda gave him an awkward wave, which he briefly returned before jumping into the air and flying away.

Jackson’s group moved on, their source of entertainment having been destroyed by a flying unicorn. Speaking of which, Jackson had finally decided that it would be smart to mention the unicorn to Luna. “You know that unicorn back there?”

“You mean the one that came flying through that stall? Yes, he was fairly hard to miss.”

“Well aside from that, I’ve noticed him following us around, and he’s been staring at me the entire time.”

“You think he might know who you are?”

“Either that or he’s checking me out. ... Friggin’ stalker.”