Note: Guess who finally makes an appearance after such a long time?
Dimension: My Little Pony
Planet: Equestria Earth
Specific Location: Outskirts of Ponyville
Time: Four days after the arrival of Doxia
Sunset Shadow, Flaming Star, Starlight Amber, Fluttershy, and Twilight were sitting on a large picnic blanket in a field just outside of Ponyville.
"What a wonderful day," sighed Flaming Star as he watched the clouds roll by.
"Did you hear that, Twilight? He said, 'What a wonderful day!' That must be a good sign," chuckled Sunset.
Twilight nuzzled Flaming Star's cheek as she said, "Oh yes. It is wonderful."
Flaming Star winked at Sunset. "Just you wait. Give me a couple of years, and I'll be more of a pacifist than you!"
Sunset rolled his eyes good-humoredly as he said, "Sure. Good luck with that."
"Lunch anypony?" asked Fluttershy happily as she shifted a large basket to the center.
"Most certainly!" exclaimed Twilight with gusto.
Fluttershy unloaded the food, and they all began to dig in.
"So, do you think Doxia located those mysterious vials by now?" asked Twilight as she ate.
Sunset, who was helping Starlight eat, turned to Twilight and shrugged. "I am unsure. However, from what I understand of Doxia, if he had found it, there would probably be a banner the size of the Frozen North plastered across the sky declaring his victory by now."
Flaming Star chuckled. "I bet you are right. So I suppose the answer is no as of yet."
"I guess so," sighed Twilight, looking a little disappointed. "I really want to be doing something right now! Nothing exciting has happened in a while."
"And it's so nice…" sighed Fluttershy, completely misinterpreting the tone of discontent in Twilight's voice.
Sunset spread a wing lightly over Fluttershy's back as he said, "I like it this way. I could live my entire life out without any more adventures and be totally happy."
"I don't know," chuckled Flaming Star, "I have to agree with Twilight. I think my brain has gone to power-save with all this lack of excitement."
"To each their own," replied Sunset, "And that is why you two are perfect together, Twilight and Flaming Star."
"Thank you. Likewise," said Flaming Star.
There was a lapse in the conversation… Then Archangel Michael arrived in a blast of light.
Fluttershy immediately squeaked in horror and grabbed Starlight and leapt behind Sunset as Flaming Star and Twilight jumped up to face off with this stranger. There was yet another pause as Sunset, Flaming Star, and Twilight glared at Michael. Then Flaming Star realized who he was looking at.
"Oh man… You're Archangel Michael!"
Michael dipped his immaculate head in acknowledgement. "I am."
Flaming Star shook his head in wonderment as he continued, "I mean… Wow… I haven't seen an actual angel, let along one of you guys, in, like, FOREVER."
"Seven thousand years from this date, to be exact," replied Michael, "However, I am not here to celebrate the anniversary of not showing myself to mortals. I am here to explain a dire situation."
Twilight, who pretty much had not heard a single thing he had said due to wonderment, interjected, "Wow! I've never seen such amazing creatures as you before! You are beautiful! Amazing! Awe-inspiring! Can I take your picture? Could I draw some sketches?"
Michael simply gave Twilight a prolonged glance in reply, and Twilight backed down, blushing. "Sorry," she mumbled, "I just carried away sometimes."
Flaming Star smiled gently at her and spread a wing over her back. He then looked at Michael and said, "What is this dire situation that you speak of?"
"The Grand Devil has declared war on the Paradox and his Brotherhood," said Michael. "We are monitoring the war so that we can micromanage the events to our own ends, but this cannot ensure that innocent beings will not be hurt in the process. I have been forbidden to help you all directly in light of these new events, but I have chosen Samuel Dellor, or, as you call him, Caustic Rain, to act as my hands and feet. Or hooves, if you will. Another development has just been sent to me as well: The Paradox has stolen the vials that Dimensional Lord Doxia has been searching for during this time. In retaliation, Doxia has assembled a team so that he can raid the Amethyst dimension, the place that holds the vials now. I will leave now, but I urge you all to act with extreme caution: something will be happening soon, and you all will need to be ready, I am sure of it. I must go now: Heaven is recalling me momentarily."
With that, Michael vanished in a flash of light. Twilight shook her head. "Absolutely amazing. An angel! I cannot wait to write a letter to Princess Celestia about this!"
"He was so beautiful… and scary," breathed Fluttershy, who pressed her cheek against Sunset's.
"Yes, Archangel Michael tends to inspire awe… most angels do. However, we need to worry about this new situation with Doxia. I believe that he was last with Discord, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity in the Crystal Empire, so I suggest we get up there now so that we can see first-hood what is unfolding," said Flaming Star briskly.
Twilight nodded her head. "I agree! Let's go. Dear?"
Twilight glanced at Flaming Star, who nodded at her. He then opened a portal directly to the Crystal Empire castle. The group then trotted through. The second they entered, they were surrounded by crystal guard ponies. However, the moment they recognized the group, the leader of the brigade bowed deeply and said, "Commander Flaming Star, Princess Twilight, Princess Cadence and her friends are awaiting in the royal lounge."
"Why doesn't anypony acknowledge me anymore?" chuckled Sunset, more amused than annoyed, "I was the one who gave them cars and internet!"
"I acknowledge you," said Fluttershy sweetly, kissing him on the cheek.
"And that is really all I need," replied Sunset.
"Come on, this way!" called Twilight.
The group trotted after her. She led them through a series of hallways and up a grand staircase up to a large oaken door. With a hoof, she nudged it open and called, "Cadence? Are you there? It's me! Twilight!"
Suddenly the door banged open. Atraka had flung open the door, and he was looking straight at them.
"Intruders!" he exclaimed dramatically, "Apprehend them with full prejudice!"
Despite the fact that he had proclaimed it so loudly, neither him nor anyone else did a single thing related to apprehending them. Atraka then bowed and let them pass. Eyeing Atraka suspiciously, Flaming Star said, to Doxia, "Is this a friend of yours, Doxia?"
Doxia nodded his head. "He is! Can you see the resemblance? Of course you can't, we're not related. But we act related!"
"Thank God we're not related," muttered Vaporis, as Atraka attempted to get Twilight's phone number.
"Atraka, stop trying to get yourself attacked by Flaming Star and come over here," snapped Mattimeo.
Doxia chuckled as he said, "Yes, I think you should. Not that you getting attacked wouldn't be funny, it is just that we are on somewhat of a tight schedule."
"Fancy that, we can control space and time with ease and yet we still have schedules," muttered Atraka.
"That we do. The only reason we have them, though, is to keep wackos like you in check, old buddy," laughed Doxia. Doxia and Atraka then proceeded to perform a complex handshake.
"Oh my, do they all act like this? It makes me nervous," whispered Fluttershy to Sunset.
Mattimeo, who had overheard her whisper (he literally could hear a conversation between two guards a kilometer out), turned to look at her and said, "No. Only some of us. All of us had different ways with dealing with immortality. You see, unlike you, unlike the Princesses of this land, and unlike the Dimensional Travelers, we cannot die of old age, or get killed at all by mortals, so death is really out of our grasp. It's actually rather grim."
"Cheer up worry-face!" laughed Doxia, slapping Mattimeo heartily on the back. The slap sent out a shockwave, causing the walls to crack and the crystal windows to shatter. Despite this, Mattimeo didn't even budge. It was as if he had been struck by a gnat. Vaporis immediately began to fix the room as Doxia said, to Sunset, "We were just about to leave when you guys showed up. Wish to wish us luck?"
Sunset nodded. "I do. Good luck!"
Doxia threw up his hands dramatically. "You can't say good luck YET! We haven't even opened a portal yet! Give me a sec."
Doxia turned to Twilight and Flaming Star and said, "Mattimeo, Discord, and I are going to steal back the vials. However, I am leaving Atraka and Vaporis here to protect the place. Don't worry, Vaporis is experienced, he will keep Atraka in place. You guys will be safe for as long as we are gone."
Flaming Star nodded his head. Doxia nodded back and then opened up a portal. "Wish me well!" he called with gusto.
Everypony waved and called out as Doxia, Mattimeo, and Discord stepped through the portal. It closed with a "pop" and the room fell silent. After a long pause, Cadence finally spoke. "Hey… Where's Rarity?"
Dimension: Transformers
Planet: Earth
Specific Location: Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., United Sates of America
Time: Two years after the events of the Dark of the Moon, four days after the arrival of Doxia in the My Little Pony dimension
Funsch glanced at Daniel and Wild as they all prepared to storm the Smithsonian. It was midnight, and there were guards posted all over the place. Unfortunately, there had been some form of Decepticon (the mortal enemies of the Autobots, the good guys) activity in the area, so the policing forces of the area had ordered double the security.
"Stupid guards, this is going to make things so much more difficult," muttered Wild as he used his excellent night-vision to pick out the locations of all the police people guarding the front.
"Well, how would you approach this, Daniel?" asked Funsch as he used night-vision goggles to look for the locations of the guards as well.
Daniel cocked his head to one side as he thought. "I suppose… I suppose a distraction would not be a good idea in this situation," he mused, "We cannot afford to have Transformers on our tails, because they are a whole lot harder to kill or incapacitate."
"I agree," replied Funsch, "I suppose we are going to need to go stealth mode."
"Great, I hate stealth mode… though I have to admit that I am quite good at it," commented Wild.
"That you are, Wild," said Funsch, "That is why we need you to take out the guards around the back for us while we work on jamming their communication signals and replace them with false ones."
"Why do I have to do it?" asked Wild, "Though I will say that I am not really complaining."
"You're damn right that you're not complaining," snorted Funsch, "Anyway, the reason you are doing it is because your best powers involve shadows, the essence of stealth."
"Point taken," replied Wild, "I will do it now. I will drop you a note when I'm good."
Funsch nodded, "Excellent. We will wait on your word."
Wild, now ready to perform his part of storming the Smithsonian, turned around and shattered himself into shards of shadows. His essence floated into the air as he scoped out a place for him to draw himself back into being. He saw a prime opportunity as he saw a guard pass by a shadowed doorway that led to the electrical systems. Wild quickly pulled himself together again in the shadows of the doorway and leapt at his target. He killed him silently and pulled him into the darkness so that it would hide his corpse. Breathing lightly, Wild glanced around. He then noticed the large doors that led to the hangar where Funsch had said he had been kept. Approaching it silently, he passed by two guards without even being spotted. Lightly flicking his tail, Wild deftly commanded the shadows nearby to reach forward with tendrils to strangle the two guards. The two guards fell without a sound, and the tendrils dragged their bodies off into the darkness. Suddenly several guards came around a corner of the hangar building with flashlights. Wild hissed low with anger as the light beams scoured the area, and he dissolved into the shadows. As the guards passed him by, Wild lashed out with the shadows tendrils. They wrapped around the whole lot and dragged them into the darkness where Wild finished them off with ease. The area was finally clear.
"Maybe I was never a good guy," sighed Wild as he viewed his handiwork: nine dead guards. He shook off the creeping feeling of guilt and turned to the task at hand. He quickly opened a link up with Funsch and said, "I took out the guards holding the hangar that has Jetfire in it. How goes your task?"
"Fairly well," replied Funsch over the link, "We set the system up. If we accidentally create a mess now, no one outside of this area will know, and the people who see us will be unable to contact anyone."
"Understood. Teleport here now," replied Wild.
In seconds both Evan Funsch and Daniel Dragoon were with Wild.
Daniel shook his head as he watched the living shadows, commanded by Wild, dissolve the dead guards into nothing. "You may have cleaned up the gore here, but this won't mean question will be asked when dawn comes," said Daniel gravely.
"When dawn comes, we will be gone," said Wild.
"You killed five innocent men and four innocent women," said Daniel gravely.
"They're going to be dead anyway if we don't stop the Paradox," snapped Wild.
"Stop it you two. There is no time to argue ethics, we're all monsters now anyway," interjected Funsch evenly.
Daniel sighed deep and long, but then nodded, "Very well. Let's get moving."
Funsch nodded and turned to the large hangar doors. With a single motion, he commanded the doors to silently open. The moment they did, the three strode purposefully inside. Funsch turned on the lights with a snap of a finger. He then said, "Look for the Blackbird Spy Plane. Send the rest of us a telepathic shout when you do."
Wild and Daniel nodded to him in return and the three spilt up, scouring the whole of the hangar, which was full with airplanes, jetfighters, blimps, and satellites. After a good ten minutes of searching, Daniel found the spy plane. It was off in a corner, overshadowed by a large cross-section of a Boeing 787. Jumping on the telepathic link, Daniel said, "I've found him… I think. Come over."
In less than a second, Wild and Funsch joined Daniel.
"Figures he found the most obvious place to be inconspicuous," chuckled Funsch as he looked over Jetfire in the form of the Blackbird Spy Plane, "He doesn't look half bad."
"I agree," said Wild sarcastically, "Now, can we wake him up and get the hell on with this?"
Funsch rolled his eyes. He then strolled up and lightly tapped the cockpit of the plane. Suddenly electricity leapt from his finger tip. The bolt began to travel over the length of the plane, crackling and sizzling. Suddenly the Blackbird Spy Plane reared up… and began to transform. With a screeching and buzzing noise, the plane rippled and warped as the thing became Jetfire. The next thing Funsch, Daniel, and Wild knew, Jetfire was before them.
"What… Who? What kind of Mausoleum is this? Back, little fleshlings! Back! Behold the eternal glory of Jetfire! Commanding system override! Get me out!" exclaimed Jetfire as he got up, on his feet, and promptly fell over.
"Jetfire! It's me! Evan Funsch!" yelled Funsch as Jetfire got up again, waving and gesticulating with his walking stick wildly.
Jetfire stopped waving his stick and paused. He then slowly leaned over so that he was eye-level with Funsch.
"Funsch? Well I'll be smelted and cooked into bolts! Funsch! You old whippersnapper! You came back! Wait… you came back? What is going on?" exclaimed Jetfire.
"We're here to ask you about the location of Finnain Jones," answered Wild.
Jetfire just ignored him and continued on his ramble. "Funsch! It's so good to see you! Why, I remember when you were just recruited. All 'hardcore' and 'green-nosed' you were! Remember that one meeting?"
"Yes, but we're here to ask about Finnian Jones," said Funsch, trying to sound patient.
"Stop interrupting, you young whippersnapper! By the Primes, you were just as young, impatient, and ignorant then as you were now. By the Primes… where was I…?"
"You were going to talk about Finnian Jones?" offered Daniel helpfully.
Jetfire scratched his metallic head as he thought. "I was? I suppose so… Wait… why would you lot want to know about old Jones?"
"We need to know where he is." Explained Funsch.
"What, you're not going to go on some ramshackle rant about how he doesn't exist first?" asked Jetfire, still scratching his head.
"No, we know for a fact that he's real. We met they guy who gave him his powers: Dimensional Lord Doxia," said Daniel.
"Doxia! That young rascal! Or should I say old? VERY old rascal?" mused Jetfire, "I will have to think about it. That's right! Finnain! Well, I am rather glad you young'uns didn't go on that rant about Finnain, most other whippersnappers will. So… what do you want to know about him? His quirky nature? His affinity for old books? What? Spit it out!"
"We want to know where he is," said Daniel, folding in his wings.
Jetfire leaned in close and said, "You're a dragon. Don't see dragon 'round here. Watcha doin' here mister?"
Funsch facepalmed. Jetfire was very easily distracted sometimes. "Jetfire, we want to know about where we can find Finnain Jones!"
Jetfire slammed his walking stick into the ground, creating a small crater in the concrete. "The hell you do! What's better is that I can tell you! He is in the Adventure in Odyssey dimension, in Abbington Falls! Iowa! United States of America! On Planet Dirt! Er… I mean Earth!"
"Abbington what?" said Wild, who opened up his database to check it, "I don't see anything on Abbington falls here… or anywhere! It's almost like it doesn't exist…"
Suddenly three portals opened up and three armed Dimensional Travelers leapt out. Wild inadvertently opening his database had triggered the tracking device.
Now Jetfire, Wild, Daniel, and Funsch were surrounded.
"Oops... My bad," muttered Wild
Funsch, however, just cast an unappreciative eye over his new enemies. "You guys are screwed, you know that right?"
The travelers didn't say anything. They just opened fire with a hail of explosive energy bolts. Jetfire leapt into the air as the bolts passed by him, obliterating the wall behind him. Alarms went off, and suddenly a group of twelve security guards rushed to apprehend the intruders. Unfortunately, the second they saw a transformer fighting with and against a group of power-slinging humans, a wolf/pony, and a dragon, they simply stopped in their tracks and watched.
Jetfire immediately extended the hand with his walking stick and flicked his wrist. Suddenly the walking stick transformed into a superheated battle axe. He proceeded to swing it in a massive curving ark at one of the enemy travelers. The unfortunate soul was unable to dodge in time, and it cut him, as well as five vintage airplanes, in half.
The other two (brother and sister) continued to fire rapidly as they backed up. They both were obviously tier 1s in power because they warded off Wild and Funsch with ease while successfully dodging fire bolts from Daniel.
Wild gave out a yell as a lacerating bolt of power skimmed across his right shoulder. He went down as a second bolt cut a gash in his back left limb. Funsch expertly fired off a hail of laser bolts using his blaster pistol at an overhanging satellite display. It fell with a crash, and shards of sharp glass spewed everywhere, forcing the two last enemies to dive for cover. Thanks to this distraction, Funsch was able to successfully drag Wild out of the line of fire. One of the enemy travelers then leapt from cover and fired a stream of dark matter. Funsch ducked under the bolt and fired off several laser bolts from his blaster. The traveler let out a yell as one bolt cut through his left hand. He dove for cover behind a Blackbird Spy Plane... Just as the traveler thought that he had gotten a breather, the plane transformed into a very angry Jetfire.
"You insolent fleshling! I will teach you to mess with the eternal Jetfire!" roared Jetfire as he picked the enemy traveler up and hurled him against a wall with all his might. The traveler struck the wall with a crash. He slid to the ground, dead. The other traveler turned to fire at Jetfire, who simply warded of her attacks with ease. Jetfire hurled his battle axe, and she dove out of the way. Unfortunately for her, her maneuver put her out in the open… It was the last thing she ever did. A hail of laser bullets ended her life in seconds.
Jetfire turned to the security guards who were still watching and yelled, "Begone!"
The guards scrambled away and fled into the night. Opening a portal to the black void of the negative zone, Funsch picked up the three dead travelers and tossed them into it. He then turned and began to heal Wild with his powers.
"I'm too old for this," muttered Jetfire as he plopped himself down next to Funsch. "So… what is our next move?"
"We go to Abbington Falls. We need to find Finnian Jones. We have one more teammate, Frankling Montgomery, waiting for us, so we will gather him up, and then take off," replied Funsch.
"Right," said Jetfire, "That sounds like a good plan! If there ever was a good one…"
Note: Jetfire is such a fun character to write about. Okay, just to let all of you out there who follow "Days Gone By" know, I will be unable to load another chapter until at least Thursday. The case being that I have a lot of work that has to be done in school. I foresaw this issue to an extent, and stocked up my Doc Manager with "A Mending Soul" chapters; however, I forgot to stock up "Days Gone By" chapters. Thus, I will be unable to post anything until I have written a substantially good amount. As for "A Mending Soul," day-to-day chapter posting should go undisturbed. Anyway... give me some feedback! You give me feedback, I give you cookies! A fair deal, is it not?