Chapter 3: The Berserker

Soahc rof siht od ew, uoy sdnib hcihw soahc eht s'ti...

Soahc rof siht od ew, uoy sdnib hcihw soahc eht s'ti…

Why do those words sound familiar…? Did I read about them somewhere?

And why is it daytime?

Twilight opened one bleary eye and slowly looked around. Through her blurry vision, she could see that she and five other ponies were lying in a room. The room was furnished with several beds, just enough for each of them to lie on, actually. There was a window to the outside at one end of the room and a door on the other. A suit of armor lay neatly in a pile toward one corner of the room. A pair of saddlebags could be seen by each bed; each bag was adorned with what was presumably each pony's Cutie Mark: A Sword and Shield, A Crescent Moon and a Star, A Lute, A Flame, and A Stone Axe with a Jawbone. Twilight looked down by the bed that she was lying on and saw that the Cutie Mark on the saddlebag next to her bed was a Sun surrounded by five smaller stars. "What's going on here?" She looked around the room and took note that the other ponies looked like her friends, but something also seemed…off…about them. Not to mention that in Rainbow Dash's place was a light blue unicorn. Twilight leapt out of her bed and shouted, "Girls! Wake up!"

The other ponies started, most of them snapping their heads up, eyes darting about the room. Except for "Rainbow Dash". She turned in her bed and muttered, "Five more minutes, 'kay?"

The earth pony with the Sword and Shield Cutie Mark spoke first. "What they hay? Where are we? Twilight, where are we?"

The purple unicorn stared at the orange earth pony. "How…how do you know my name? Have we met?"

The white unicorn with the Lute Cutie Mark flipped her mane. "I don't know how she knows you, but I'm certain we've met before-"

The orange earth pony gave Twilight a quizzical look. "Uh…really? It's Applejack, Twi. We've been friends for a while."

Twilight shook her head. "Applejack?" she repeated, as if she'd never heard the name before. "That can't be right… Applejack has an apple Cutie Mark, not a sword and shield."

The pastel yellow pegasus with the Moon and Star Cutie Mark spoke up next. "I don't know anyone here, except for Twilight, too. It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name's Fluttershy."

The white unicorn replied, "Fluttershy doesn't have a moon and stars as her Cutie Mark. Nice try…"

The light blue unicorn, who the others could see had a flame as her Cutie Mark suddenly sat up in bed. "Would you all just Shut! Up! I'm trying to sleep!" With a huff, she flopped back down on the bed and threw her pillow over her head.

Twilight's jaw suddenly dropped. "I…I think I realize what's going on…"

The others looked at her expectantly.

"I don't think you're going to like it. I sure don't…"

Applejack stamped her hoof. "Then what is it, Twi? What's goin' on?"

Twilight shook slightly as she looked at each pony and named them off. "Princess Bravely…Silent Night…Grim Jaw…Magic Fire…Sing Song…" She gulped. "Twilight Shine."

The realization hit Pinky Pie first. "Eight Star found a way to trap us in his game, but we're still our characters which is why we all recognize Twilight since she's not a very original character and why we didn't recognize each other because all of our Cutie Marks match our characters' Cutie Marks, except for mostly Twilight since her character isn't very original and we all recognized her right away. Oh. And Rainbow Dash is a unicorn."

Twilight blinked. "I…couldn't have said it better myself… Thanks, Pinkie."

"Not Pinkie," the pink pony replied. "Grim Jaw!" She contorted her face into a grim expression and jutted her lower jaw forward, then grunted for emphasis.

Ladies… I see you're awake. Good.

Fluttershy cowered at the sound of the new voice that sounded in her mind, as well as everypony else's. Each pony knew exactly who it was. Twilight confirmed it when she muttered, "Eight Star…"

Applejack cried out, "Waddaya want, ya dang varmint? Why'd ya do this?"

Dear Applejack…Or Should I say 'Princess Bravely.' Please do try to remain in character. Your drawl, while quaint and amusing, is…rather grating...

"What do you want from us, Eight Star," Twilight seethed.

Why do you always assume that I want something, Miss Twilight? You first assume that I need your help, and now you assume that I want something else from you. You do know what they say about when you assume something, eh? He chuckled. The only thing I want is for you all to have fun. Is that really too much to ask?

"I like having fun!" Pinkie replied.

That's the spirit, Miss Pinkie Pie. Please, why don't you all try to follow her example?

"How do we get out," Twilight asked through gritted teeth.

Eight Star cleared his throat, which was likely only for emphasis, as he was merely projecting his words into each pony's mind. He then "spoke":

Heed my words, for it is best

So you can succeed in your Quest

The Elements of Chaos

They must be purified

If you wish to leave…

Uh…Hold on. Drat, he muttered, the zebra makes it sound so easy... Look, here's the gist: Purify the corrupted Elements of Harmony, then bring them to the Princess. Then, and only then, will you be allowed to leave. Before anypony could interject, he added. However, if after you complete your quest and you wish to stay, you may do that as well. He mentally projected a grin into each of the mares' minds.

Rarity replied, "And what makes you think that any of us would want to stay?"

Because it's fun. You could meet your Prince Charming here, Miss Rarity. Live in a beautifully furnished castle that rivals the Princess's for all of eternity. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Rarity huffed.

And Miss Twilight. You'll never become more powerful in the magical arts in your world than you could be here. Why, here you could-

"Shut up," Twilight stated. "We'll play your stupid game. For the time being."

"Yay!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Excellent. Now, allow me to set up the scene: You all find yourselves in a room after a hard night of drinking. Sing Song, roll Perception. Oh, do forgive me. I forgot that you no longer have to make dice rolls. Simply look into your bags.

Pinkie Pie glanced quizzically. "Why would you make rolls out of dice? They'd taste terrible."

Rarity opened her bag and peered inside.

Now tell the rest what you see.

"Nothing unusual. Torches, tinder, flint, steel…" She suddenly gasped and jerked her head out of the bag. "The Elements! They're gone!"

Eight Star snickered. Yeah… there's that. I've made some revisions to your quest line, Miss Twilight. I hope you don't mind. You see, you must recover each of the six Elements, then purify them, then bring them to the Princess.

Twilight grimaced. "Where can we find them?"

Now, that'd be spoiling the surprise. However, since I basically dropped you in here with naught but the clothing on your backs, I'll give you a hint. Within the walls of the castle, there lives a scribe. He is aptly named 'Quill Inkwell'. He might know where the Elements are hiding. He chuckled again. Those pesky Elements… They do like to run off, don't they? Happy Hunting… With that final word, the ponies all felt as if a weight had been lifted as Eight Star's presence left the room.

The ponies stood in their room in a circle. "So, whadda we do, Twilight," Applejack asked.

Twilight cast her glance downward. "I…I don't know…"

Rainbow Dash tripped as she tried to rush forward. After recovering, she cried, "We have to get out of here! Won't one of your books help us?"

"I don't have access to my books here, Dash…"

"That might not be true." Rarity had left the circle to look out the room's solitary window. "Remember when you explained to us the concept of alternate universes? This might be one of these universes…" She moved aside to allow the others to see out the window.

As Twilight stepped forward, she could see that the town appeared to look just like Ponyville, right down to the citizens who went about their daily tasks. Her expression brightened a bit. "You might be right! If Eight Star is using my campaign notes, which I based off of Equestria itself, then everything should be the same!"

Applejack replied, "But…don't we have ta worry 'bout meetin' our alternate selves?"

Twilight recalled their last trip through the Aether. While she looked back on the whole experience fondly, she knew that Applejack still had a point. "I'm…I'm not sure. I didn't make any of 'us' NPCs…" She smiled. "Besides, if we did meet ourselves, and we explained what happened, I'm sure that they'd be more than happy to help!"

"So? Let's go the library then!" Rainbow headed for the door before Pinkie Pie intercepted her. In a deep voice, she commanded, "No. We go to castle first. Find Quill Inkwell."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Pinkie…we don't have to-"

"No! Me Grim Jaw!"

Rarity, understanding what was happening, intervened. "Grim Jaw, dearie," she said, "The castle is pretty far off from here. We have to arrange transportation. But before that, we should check around town for any rumors or information regarding the Elements."

"Grim Jaw" stared long and hard at her friend before replying, "Okie dokie lokie!" Then, in a friendly manner, she slapped Rarity with her hoof, sending the hapless unicorn stumbling toward Applejack, who proceeded to prop her up.

"Ow, Pinkie! That hurt!" Rarity rubbed her shoulder. "You didn't have to hit me so hard."

Pinkie seemed almost hurt herself. "I didn't mean to, Ra- Sing Song. I guess I don't know my own strength…"

Twilight seemed to ponder for a moment, before a spark seemed to go off in her mind. "Pinkie…I mean, Grim Jaw. Thanks! I was just wondering about how to go about this, but it seems that I don't have to!"

Fluttershy, at that moment, seemed to appear from nowhere and spoke up. "What is it, Twilight?"

"Girls… Pinkie Pie hit you so hard, Rarity, because she's a Berserker… Not because she meant to. We retain all of our characters' abilities! That would also explain why Dash is a unicorn!"

Dash cocked an eyebrow. "Does that mean…I can throw fireballs?"

Twilight nodded. "It would seem so."

The light blue unicorn grinned wickedly. "That…is…AWESOME! Here we go…" Her horn suddenly lit with an orange glow, causing Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy to simultaneously pony pile on top of her.

"Dash! Are ya stupid? Y'all can't throw a fireball in here! You'll kill us all!"

Dash tried to shake the others off. "Pff. If it's just a game, then we can't really die. We'll just be ~Knocked Out~…"

Rarity winced. "Tell my shoulder that. It really hurts," she whined.

Twilight nodded. "She's right, Dash. We shouldn't try to do anything that's too dangerous before we know what our limitations are. Besides, if you start throwing fireballs in here, who knows what'll happen. We could be attacked by the townsponies for all we know."

Dash, finally having crawled out from under her friends, huffed and brushed herself off. "Fine. But the second we find an enemy, FOOM! I'll burn 'em like Pinkie burns muffins!"

Pinkie grunted. "Who is this Pinkie? Me only know yous guys."

Rarity rolled her eyes.

You make your way to Ponyville Public Library, although for the life of me, I'm not sure why.

"Shut up, Eight Star," Twilight replied.

Oh, Miss Twilight. I'm merely providing some atmosphere. Go along with it, my dear.

"Fine." The purple unicorn thought for a moment. "My friends and I are going inside. What do we find?"

You find several ponies staring at you because you're narrating your actions. Really, Miss Twilight, I thought you'd be smart enough to step inside and find out for yourself.

Twilight exasperatedly sighed and opened the door to the library. It looked very much like her home in Ponyville. She even recognized several of the volumes that she owned. She also noted that there was no librarian in sight. Hmm… Twilight wondered, What information could I get here? "Say, Pinkie. Do you remember where I kept the book about the Elements of Harmony?"

Pinkie Pie stared blankly at her friend.

"Pinkie Pie. The book?"

The earth pony narrowed her eyes.

"Really?" Twilight asked flatly.

Pinkie nodded without saying a word.

"Oh for cripes sake… Grim Jaw. Do you remember where the book about the Elements of Harmony is?"

The "berserker" sprung into action, leaping at a nearby bookshelf and knocking several books from their places.

"PINKIE!" Twilight cried out, forgetting that these weren't actually her books. "What are you doing?"

The pink pony poked her head up from a pile of books and chirped, "I'm staying in character!" She immediately resumed knocking several books onto the floor.

The purple unicorn facehoofed. "The…the books," she whimpered, "Aren't the enemy…"

Fluttershy, who once again seemed to appear out of nowhere, clutched a book in her mouth. Dropping it on the floor next to Twilight, she said, "Found it. It was under 'E'."

Twilight sighed. "Thank you, Fluttershy." She opened the book and began reading as Pinkie Pie continued to decimate the library, "The Elements of Harmony are magical artifacts that were created by a pair of rebels in the land of Discordia to seal away the power of their ruler, Discord the God of Chaos. Decades later, they were used by the jealous and maniacal Princess Celestia, to seal away the power of her younger sister, Luna, whom she called "Nightmare Moon" and convinced her subjects to turn against. A thousand years after that, the Elements of Harmony were given to six ordinary ponies who embodied each of the individual elements: Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, and Magic. The ponies used the power of the Elements of Harmony to strip Luna, who had finally been able to return to Equestria to claim her rightful place, of her power and forever cement the wicked Celestia's place as the most powerful being in all of Equestria and ensuring that all ponies beneath her succumb to her iron hoof…" Twilight wrenched her face in disgust. "That's…that's not what the actual book says…"

Eight Star's voice rang in the pony's minds, Oh, I am so sorry. As I do not actually own the book in question, I had to make it up as I went. But, Miss Twilight, as you seem to have the utmost knowledge of Equestrian Lore, perhaps I'll let you tell the story… With this statement, the ink on the page disappeared, causing those gathered around to gasp. Let's stay on track, shall we?