Dimension Travelers x: The Pony Gambit
OK, three things to get out of the way; first, I am doing this solely to spite Pokelegend. Second, no matter what it may look like, this isn't, I repeat, IS NOT a Trollestia fic. You'll just have to exercise some faith. Finally, this fic takes place an unspecified amount of time after my story Dimension Travelers 1. When the timeline catches up to this story, I'll give it a number, but for now it is simply known as Dimension Travelers x. I don't think I need to say this, but SPOILERS.
David's POV
I had only been home for a few months when duty called once again. I felt the now familiar tug of being dragged across the dimensions to whatever adventure I would end up in next. Naturally, I didn't know what to expect, but as I became aware of my surroundings, I knew two things. First, this was going to be a solo mission. Second, there were talking horses with pictures on their rear ends. And here I thought it couldn't get any worse after Sailor Moon. Given the circumstances, there was only one thing I could do. I took out my handheld and played the Darth Vader 'NOOOOOOO!'
After I got tired of listening to Vader's anguish, I decided I needed something to soothe my own anguish until I figured out why in the name off all that was good and pure I was needed in the world of My Little Pony. Therefore, I found a doughnut shop and sauntered in.
"An order of your finest chocolate glaze, my good sir!" I said, mustering up a false cheerfulness. Thankfully, the place was empty and the stallion didn't question me until he had placed three chocolate glazed doughnuts in front of me.
"Never seen anypony like you before…what are you?" The stallion asked
"I am a Pokémorph, and if you're lucky, you'll never see another of my kind as long as you live." That stopped him right in his tracks and he said nothing else.
After the doughnuts, which had gone a long way towards making me feel better, I went outside and earned a multitude of strange looks. But none of them were brave enough to actually say anything, so I continued on my merry way. Right until I was nearly run over by a pink blur. She stopped, gasped, and said
"A really for real Pokémorph!" Then she bolted off again. I was gobsmacked. How had she known what I am? But I didn't get much time to think about that, because a purple pony (try saying that five times fast) heard the commotion the pink one had made and then she gasped.
"A Human?!" She cried
"And just who do you think you're calling a human?" I asked mildly, "I am a Pokémorph."
"A what?" But before I could answer, the purple pony was waylaid by a young, purple and green dragon, who reminded her that she had to get things ready for a 'Summer Sun Celebration' and dragged her off.
"Maybe I should invest in a name tag…" I mused to myself. But I decided it probably wouldn't help unless it was some kind of psychic name tag that downloaded information direction into people's heads. That would be a lot of work and most people don't like having their minds violated by strangers. So I started meandering around aimlessly so the populace could get used to my presence. I also noticed that there seemed to be three different types of horses; unicorns, pegasi, and regular horses. As it turned out, I should have been paying closer attention to my surrounds, because I suddenly found myself in a mud puddle along with the purple pony and a blue pony with a rainbow colored mane. Mewtwo would never let me live it down if he found out about this.
"Sorry 'bout that. Let me help you," The blue pony offered and then flew off and brought back a black cloud, which she then unloaded her watery payload on us. She muttered sheepishly about 'overdoing it' and before I could make any motions to dry either the purple pony, or myself we were caught up in a tornado of the blue pony's making. It did dry us, and my clothes and hair were only slightly ruffled, but the purple pony wasn't so lucky. Her mane was poofed like a cat's fur after getting too much static from a towel drying. I tried to be diplomatic by subtly putting my hand over my mouth to hide the grin that was threatening to break out. The blue pony just started laughing. And the young dragon followed suit…with friends like that, who need enemies?
"Let me guess, you're Rainbow Dash," The purple pony said in a tone that conveyed her displeasure.
"The one and only! Why, you've heard of me?" The now named Rainbow Dash asked
"I heard you're supposed to be keeping the skies clear," The purple pony then sighed, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather." Check on the weather? Well, I've seen worse than horses with powers over the weather. Rainbow Dash dismissed Twilight Sparkle's concerns and stated that she was too busy practicing to join the 'Wonderbolts', which, from the convenient poster, told me were an elite flying team. Kinda like the Blue Angles from back home, only pegasi. Twilight Sparkle then goaded Rainbow Dash into clearing the sky by citing that the Wonderbolts wouldn't take a pegasi who couldn't keep the sky clear for a single day. Rainbow Dash took this as a direct challenge and cleared the sky in 10 seconds flat.
"That is straight up impressive," I remarked and after soaking up the praise, Rainbow Dash was off like a shot, after saying she would see Twilight Sparkle later. Once again, I had become mysteriously invisible for the sake of the universe's plot.
Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to tag along with Twilight Sparkle and see the preparations for this celebration and it had the added bonus of letting Twilight Sparkle slake her curiosity. Eventually, we came to what appeared to be city hall and where the event itself would take place. Twilight Sparkle was tasked with checking on the decorations. Personally, I thought they were a bit much, but to each their own.
"Beautiful," The young dragon, Spike, muttered
"It is nice," Twilight agreed
"Not the décor, her," Spike said and then pointed to a white unicorn with a dark purple mane. Sounded like someone had a crush. Anyway, it we had found the one in charge of decorations.
"Good afternoon," Twilight greeted
"Just a moment, please. I'm in the zone, as it were," The white pony then began muttering to herself about sparkles and how they made everything better. I think that role is already filled by bacon. During her mutterings, we caught the name Rarity. When she finished what she was working on, she turned around and the sight of Twilight's still mussed up mane caused her to scream. She then managed to drag both Twilight and myself to her fashion boutique, where she first tackled Twilight's mane problem before dressing her up in a number of different outfits. Spike was too smitten to save Twilight and I was disinclined incase Rarity decided to use me next. I happen to like my Keyblader outfit just fine.
Eventually, Twilight got Rarity to stop when she mentioned she was from Canterlot, which I gathered was a cultural hub and possibly the royal city. Rarity spouted about how she had always dreamed of living there. Rarity then spotted an emerald on Twilight's latest outfit and decided that a ruby should be there instead. Twilight took this chance to flee while her coat was still the same color. I had to drag the still smitten Spike along.
"Wasn't she wonderful?" Spike sighed ten minutes later.
"Focus Casanova, what's the next thing on the list?" Twilight asked
"Music; it's also the last thing on the list." Spike replied and just then, we heard a chorus of birds singing in harmony. Naturally, we investigated and found a butter yellow pegasus pony with a pink mane acting as the conductor.
"Hello!" Twilight called out, scaring the birds and the pony conductor. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm just here to check up on the music and it sounded wonderful." The pegasus landed and scrapped at the ground, a universal sign of embarrassment. We introduced ourselves and her gaze lingered on me for a moment before turning away and whispering her name so softy I wasn't sure if I had heard properly. I had met shy animal lovers before, but this one really took the cake, never mind that to her, I'm also a new animal. That'll be fun, and please, feel free to ignore the sarcasm.
Anyway, Twilight didn't take the hint until the third try. Then, just as we were about to leave, Spike walked into the pegasus' view.
"A baby dragon!" She squealed and literally ran over Twilight, while of course taking great care not to run into me. "I've never seen a baby dragon before! He's so cute!" Spike just soaked it all up like a sponge. Twilight was slightly miffed at all this and so decided it was time to leave. She then picked up Spike with some kind of magic and deposited him on her back. This didn't stop the pegasus, who, after Spike told her his name, introduced herself as Flutter Shy. A more appropriate name, I couldn't imagine.
"What do dragons talk about?" Flutter Shy asked
"What do you want to know about?" Spike replied
"Absolutely everything." This answer evoked a long suffering sigh from Twilight, who I was starting to think was a touch anti-social. In any event, we were all treated to Spike's entire life story up to and including that day. I was just along for the ride, as per usual for the first couple of days or so. Finally, we ended up at the library. Apparently, Twilight would be staying there and I decided I might as well brush up on history and whatnot. So, after Twilight somewhat rudely expelled Flutter Shy, we went in.
Inside, it was pitch black, but it wasn't hard to tell we were surrounded by horses. Twilight, thinking we were alone, began muttering something about a 'Nightmare Moon' and needing to warn the princess…please tell me I didn't wind up in a crossover between MLP and Sailor Moon. Anyway, the surprise party was sprung and Twilight didn't look happy. Then the pink one from before showed up and told us she had planned this party because we were new in town. She also told us that her name was Pinky Pie. She was very energetic.
"So how did you know I'm a Pokémorph?" I asked
"That's a silly question; of course you're a Pokémorph!" She answered, as if I had asked what color the sky is. Twilight decided to get something to drink at this point, but ended up drinking hot sauce. Why there was hot sauce at a party, only God and Pinky Pie knew, but just as Pinky Pie brought forward the ponies we had met throughout the day, her mane burst into flames and she bolted up the stairs.
After that, we discovered why there was hot sauce at the party; it turns out that Pinky Pie likes hot sauce on her cupcakes…that's almost as bad as my youngest brother dipping his pizza in milk is.
As it turned out, the party went on all night long because it was something of a tradition to watch the Sun rise on the Summer Solstice. It was also an excellent PR opportunity. Eventually, we all went to town hall to watch the Sun rise and see the Princess. Because naturally the title of Queen was a bad PR move. The Mayor made a grand introduction, only to have it usurped by a no show Princess. Pinky Pie seemed to think this was some sort of game of hide-and-go-seek.
Just before everyone went into full panic mode, a pitch black mare suddenly appeared. But judging from everyone's reactions, this wasn't the Princess Celestia they had been going on about. Going off of Twilight's mumblings, this was in fact, Nightmare Moon. But instead of being either a unicorn, pegasi, or regular pony, she had the attributes off all three. I'll have to remember to ask about that.
"Oh, my beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your precious little, sun-loving faces," Nightmare Moon said
"What have you done with our Princess?!" Rainbow Dash demanded to know. Well, at least she has a spine. Rainbow Dash then made to attack Nightmare Moon, but an orange pony with a yellow mane and cowboy hat stopped her. Nightmare Moon then chuckled an evil chuckle.
"Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" Nightmare Moon asked, but from the response she got, I'd have to say that was a big negative. This served to tick off Nightmare Moon. "Does my crown no longer count, now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years? Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"
"I did!" Twilight declared, "And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon; Nightmare Moon!" This evoked a gasp from the crowd.
"Well, well, well, some remembers me…then you also know why I'm here." Nightmare Moon said
"You're here to…to…" Twilight lost her nerve at that point and Nightmare Moon chuckled again.
"Remember this day, little ponies, for it has been your last. From this moment forth, the night shall forever!" Nightmare Moon then created lightning while laughing manically. To the average person, or pony in this case, it was intimidating. Naturally, I was unimpressed.
The Mayor did what most elected officials do and ordered someone else to do the dirty work. In this case, ordering the guards to seize Nightmare Moon. The poor guys got their butts kicked. With that, Nightmare Moon took her leave.
Since I didn't have all the details, I decided to follow Twilight to the library. When we got there, Twilight kept saying something about 'The Elements of Harmony' but wouldn't elaborate beyond that they could defeat Nightmare Moon. A nuclear bomb could probably produce the same effects, but I doubt the ponies want their homes irradiated. We didn't get too far in our search when Rainbow Dash burst in and started making wild accusations.
"Simmer down, these two ain't no spies. But I reckon they know what's goin' on, don't cha?" The orange pony asked
"Don't look at me; I'm just along for the ride. I only have the faintest idea about what's going on," I answered, but Twilight did know something. She told the five ponies she had met throughout the day about the Elements of Harmony and how only they could stop Nightmare Moon. Unfortunately, she didn't know much more than that. Under other circumstances, I probably would've made a crack about how a good decapitation would probably work too, but I held my tongue.
"The Elements of Harmony: A reference guide." I guess Pinky found a plot convenience, I mean helpful book. In the book, it stated that there were six Elements of Harmony: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The sixth Element was unknown. Supposedly, all six Elements were in a place called 'The Palace of the Pony Sisters', which was over a thousand years old and most likely just a ruin. It was located in a place called the Everfree Forest. Apparently, the forest was something of a superstition melting pot for the residents of Ponyville and as a result, no one dared go into it. Except Pinky Pie; but she seems to be a special case.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I'd really rather do this on my own," Twilight said
"No can do, sugar cube, we sure ain't letting any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple," The orange one, Apple Jack, informed her.
"It's just a forest filled to the brim with heffalumps and woozles. It's just another day in the office for me, so don't think for a second you're going to be going in alone," I added and I noticed that Twilight seemed to gain a nervous twitch whenever someone mentioned being her friend. If that isn't anti-social behavior, I don't know what is. But Twilight gave into the inevitable and we all ventured into the forest. Eventually, the ghost stories started up and it wasn't long before Rainbow Dash had Rarity, Flutter Shy, and Pinky Pie shivering in fear.
This all came to a very abrupt halt when the cliff we were standing on caved out from under us, sending us hurtling into the canyon below. As per usual, I was the only one to actually fall off the edge. All the other ponies managed to make it down safely, despite a close call with Twilight.
"How did you survive that fall? It was sixty feet up!" Rarity exclaimed
"You'll find I'm a rather tough old bird. It comes with the territory," I remarked and we continued on our epic quest. Only to be interrupted not five minutes later by a very angry manticore. The ponies tried to tag team him, but with no success until Flutter Shy spoke up and removed a thorn from the manticore's paw. Of course, the manticore was eternally grateful to Flutter Shy for removing the thorn and after showing his affection, let us continues without a problem.
A little while later, all light suddenly vanished. We continued as best we could, when suddenly just enough light filtered back in to show us a rather gnarled old tree that looked like some kind of monstrous face. Next thing we knew, all the trees were thrown into a sharp relief and all of them had scary faces on them. I was tempted to light a fire, just for the sake of trying to calm down the others, but then Pinky Pie started laughing…and singing.
"Tell me she's not…" Twilight almost begged
"I believe she is," I groaned, but contrary to my fears, the song turned out to be pretty good; even with the mysterious back ground music that wasn't coming from my radio for once. The song was about how Pinky's grandmother had taught her to laugh at her fears to make them go away. Usually, that's a metaphor, but to my amazement, when Pinky laughed at one of the trees, the scary face suddenly vanished and there was an unreadable glimmer in Pinky's eyes. By the end of the song, all the ponies were laughing hard and even I was chortling.
The next challenge we faced came in the form of a water dragon throwing a hissy fit because his moustache had been cut. Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack, and I were all of one mind on the matter: It was absolutely ridiculous to get so worked up over something so trivial. Rarity, on the other hand, seemed to think the water dragon wasn't making a big enough deal over it.
"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected!" Rarity declared and that caused me to let out an unintentional snort. For some reason, I found the word 'fabulosity' very amusing. In any event, Rarity took one of the dragon's scales and then cut off her own tail. She then magicked it onto what remained of the dragon's moustache. He was overjoyed.
"But what about your tail, Rarity?" Twilight asked, but Rarity just said it'd grow back. The moustache would have grown back too, but what do I know about overly temperamental water dragons. Rainbow Dash spoke my thoughts moments later. Anyway, with that dealt with, we managed to cross the stream.
A little while later and our destination was in sight. Unfortunately, the bridge was out. I decided to see how the ponies would deal with this obstacle before I interfered. The solution was simplicity itself, Rainbow Dash flew down, grabbed the other end of the bridge, and tied it to the other side, but not before she was tempted by an illusion of an alter ego of the Wonderbolts: The Shadowbolts. But the illusion made the mistake of giving Rainbow Dash and ultimatum of them or us. Rainbow Dash chose to her friends, Twilight, and me.
With that trial over, we finally entered the ruins and found what appeared to be the Elements of Harmony, just sitting out in the open. They were round rocks with impressions of gemstones on them. Unfortunately, there were only five of them there.
"The book said that when the five are present, then the sixth will be revealed," Twilight said
"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Apple Jack wondered and Twilight decided to try pouring magic into the rocks. We left so we wouldn't distract her, but Nightmare Moon ambushed her and carried her away. But they were still in the ruins, so I merely teleported to their new location. Twilight then did what was an equal part stupid and brave; she lowered her head and charged at Nightmare Moon.
"You're kidding? You're kidding, right?" Nightmare Moon asked, but when she realized that Twilight was serious, she charged too. Unfortunately, for Nightmare Moon, it was a fake out. Twilight used some sort of winking ability to transfer herself to the Elements of Harmony. Twilight poured her magic into the stones, and it looked like it was going to work for a moment, but then it fizzled out. Nightmare Moon then laughed triumphantly and shattered the Elements.
"You little foal, thinking you could defeat me?! You will never see your Princess, nor your Sun! The night shall last forever!" Nightmare Moon cackled
"Excuse me, but why are you doing this again? I'm afraid I missed any expositing about your motives," I commented
"You fool! What can you possibly hope to understand?!" Nightmare Moon bellowed
"I understand more than you think." I replied
"Oh? Then please, tell me what you understand," Nightmare Moon said, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"I understand the rage, and the pain; the sorrow that is all encompassing. The regret that makes you feel so hollow. I understand the feeling, that no matter how hard you try, or how bright you shine, it's never good enough. I understand the despair, as everything tumbles so far out of control. I understand the feeling of being betrayed by those you love more than any others, whether it was their fault or not. I understand the Darkness in which you find your only comfort, for the Light burns too bright. I understand the loneliness that eats away at your very soul, because no matter how close other might profess to be to you, you have only ever known that you are all alone in your head, and your Heart. I understand that the only thing you have ever wanted was approval, but you found it so rarely that it is like sweet ambrosia, when it should be as common as water. I understand all this and more, because when I look into your eyes, I see what I see every time I look in a mirror." Twilight Sparkle was gaping at me in utter confusion, but Nightmare Moon's eyes were wide with terror. Neither of them noticed the tears that were spilling over, despite my best attempts to stop them
"Who-who are you?! WHAT ARE YOU?!" Nightmare Moon screamed in fear
"My name is David William Thomas. I have two hearts, am over 3,000 years old, and I am a Pokémorph," I answered, fighting hard to keep my voice from wavering. I still don't fully understand what happened that day, but I do know that in that moment, I empathized completely with both Nightmare Moon and the pony behind the mask. Nightmare Moon, like a cornered animal, then attacked me wildly. There was no time for fancy speeches and none who had any capacity to appreciate one at that moment. But the Elements of Harmony responded to the ponies that embodied their attributes. Apple Jack was Honesty, Flutter Shy was Kindness, Pinky Pie was Laughter, Rarity was Generosity, Rainbow Dash was Loyalty, and finally, Twilight Sparkle was Magic. In those moments, Twilight had an epiphany and realized that these five had become her friends. There was no Rhyme or Reason to it, it just happened on the course of the trek here. I was still somewhat on the outside, but after the bomb I had dropped moments before, it was to be expected. That epiphany caused the spark that was needed and made the Elements of Harmony resume their true forms, necklaces for the five and a crown/tiara thing for Twilight.
"NOOO!" Nightmare Moon screamed as a Carebear Stare…I mean a rainbow colored beam of very potent magic crashed down upon her. But something was off; something…impure…was tainting the magic. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to stop the magic from expelling the demon that had resided in the pony. I was busy trying to keep track of it, so I didn't notice anything else until the room suddenly got a lot brighter. I lost track of it, but it didn't really matter. At that moment, a white pony with a Technicolor mane that was billowing in a nonexistent wind showed up. She had 'princess' written all over her and the fact that the ponies bowed to her confirmed it. She then told Twilight Sparkle how she had known this was going to happen and had decided that Twilight was the best one to take down Nightmare Moon. Needless to say, I was overjoyed that I was going to have to deal with another Dumbledore-like manipulator.
"Now there is another here who needs to let friendship into their Heart," Celestia said, "Princess Luna, it has been a thousand years since I have last seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us; we were meant to rule together, litter sister."
"I'm just going to call a timeout right here," Everyone turned to look at me, "Are you really trying to tell me that you are her sister and you believe that Nightmare Moon bit was all her? Either you are the worst sister I have ever come across, or you really need to visit a shrink and take care of that self-delusion complex you created for the sake of justifying your actions."
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! SHE'S THE PRINCESS!" Twilight hissed in my ear as loudly as it is possible to hiss.
"Doesn't matter, because right now I need you all to be extremely still," I said and then whipped out my sonic screwdriver, "Because I need to track down that demon that was possessing Luna here." Everyone except Luna gasped while I fiddled with my screwdriver. "Come on, I know you're still here, I can smell you!" I muttered and then finally I got a lock on the demon. Faster than most eyes can see, I whipped out my wand. "CONTINEO!" I roared and the spell captured the demon. I won't describe its appearance, but suffice to say that more than one pony lost their last meal.
"So you are the thing that possessed me…" Luna muttered to herself while glaring at the demon. It attempted to say something, but a quick, nonverbal silencing charm kept it from trying to tempt anyone else.
"And you never have to worry about it again. As soon as I get a proper place to stay set up, I'll destroy it," I promised, "Can't do it now, unfortunately, because it's a level 5 at least and when those die, it tends to get…messy.
"Might I…watch?" Luna asked and I mulled it over a bit. I also knew how important it would be for a sense of closure. I gave the OK.
"So this whole Nightmare Moon fiasco was all the fault of a demon?" Celestia asked and I snorted
"Not hardly. The actions of Nightmare Moon were all on the demon, but for a demon to possess anyone in such a manner, there first needs to be a great deal of pain, sorrow, anguish, and anger in the Heart of the one possessed. So when you stop to think about it, a great deal of the guilt for Nightmare Moon is squarely placed on your shoulders, Celestia, for neglecting each and every one of your duties as an older sibling." This got another round of gasps from the six ponies and one from Luna.
"I beg your pardon?" Celestia asked, a steely note creeping into her voice. I was suddenly angry and the faces of several manipulators flew through my mind: Dumbledore, Marluxia, Xehanort, The Master, and many more. But I didn't let my anger show, even if I would have like nothing better than to destroy something just to vent.
"I am the eldest of seven children. It's part of the older sibling handbook that you're supposed to know whatever's troubling your younger sibling! Got it memorized?" I asked in classic Axel while pointing to my temple. We had a stare-down for a few moments, before Pinky Pie suddenly obliterated the tension by energetically suggesting we throw a party to celebrate Luna's return.
It was during that time that you do not get between Pinky Pie and partying. Somehow, she managed to set the whole thing up and got the building mutual animosity Celestia and I had to cool off. During the party, Celestia told Twilight that she would be allowed to stay in Ponyville with her new friends, under the guise of 'taking on a new mission' and some BS about 'studying the magic of friendship'. If you could study it, then it would already be available to everyone and thus its specialness would vanish; but I digress.
So, it was a happy ending for the moment. Twilight got to stay with her friends; Luna was freed of the demon and allowed to come home, and I wasn't (by some miracle) clawing my eyes out from sheer girliness. However, I had a nagging feeling that things weren't even close to what they seemed and I intended to get to the bottom of it.
Thus, we come to the close of the epic first two-parter. I must admit, when I first went into this, I expected to be dragging through this is sheer pain, just for the sake of spiting Pokelegend. To my surprise, the gag worthy moments were kept to a bare minimum and if nothing else, this series is an interesting character study. Don't expect regular updates, I still have other things to be working on, but I hopefully won't take too long. Oh, and for future readers for after I've numbered this Dimension Travelers, expect an old friend to show up. *wink wink*