The Shadow of a King
Life’s Twisting Fate
Author: Draconis187

The next morning, Fluttershy awoke to find Angel had run off already as he was not asleep on his bed nearby. She let out a small contented sigh as she rolled out of bed and onto her hooves. The sun was only just getting up as the top was just visible in the horizon.

“Angel?” Fluttershy called softly as she trotted down the stairway, “Where are you my little bunny?”

The house was dead quiet as Fluttershy reached the bottom of the staircase. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked around. The cottage she called home was completely devoid of life, no mice, birds or even Angel Bunny. Fluttershy walked up to the front door and opened it.

What greeted her could only be described as the maelstrom of cross-dimensional travel. A myriad of colours moving in directions never conceived possible greeted her face as the house seemed to be spinning on its axis.

Fluttershy’s reaction was two-fold: fear, which quickly gave way to her old battle instincts as she raced upstairs. She opened the cupboard and gave a sigh of relief as the wooden repository was untouched since the last time Fluttershy used it to put the weapons away.

She donned her coat and picked up every weapon she had: Pandora, Pity and Fool, Agni and Rudra and lastly Beowulf before placing the Amulet of Talos around her neck. She walked downstairs calmly as her confidence in her weapons made her feel ready for whatever was about to happen.

“Not this again,” She said softly as she looked out into the maelstrom of colour before her home literally tore itself apart and Fluttershy was pulled into the eye of the storm, vanishing from sight.

**** **** **** ****

Twilight got up from bed and gently woke up Nyx for breakfast. The little filly protested a little until the smell of Spike’s pancakes greeted her senses and fully overloaded them.

Twilight felt uneasy as she ate the fruit of her number one assistant’s labour. It wasn’t directed at Nyx and it never would as far as she was concerned but she had a chill running up her spine that she couldn’t quite place.

‘Maybe this is like Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense,’ Twilight thought with a small frown as she remembered all the hassle she had to go through trying to explain it.

“What’s wrong?” Nyx asked, noticing Twilight’s discomfort.

“Nothing, Nyx. Just finish your pancakes,” Twilight responded, forcing a smile.

“Uh-huh, what’s wrong?” Nyx asked again, leaning forward.

Twilight was taken slightly aback by Nyx’s reaction. In truth she should have expected it since Nyx is not her daughter but the Twilight from another universe. Still, it was disconcerting for Twilight to get a hard stare from a filly.

“Just a bad feeling, Nyx. Nothing more,” Twilight replied as she remembered Applejack always insisting on them being honest with one another.

“Okay,” Nyx said as she returned to her breakfast.

**** **** **** ****

Joystick walked across the second floor of Carousel Boutique after seeing Sweetie Belle off as the little filly ran off to find the rest of the Crusaders. As he walked past Rarity’s work room, he spotted her looking up at the ceiling whilst various fabrics lay strewn across the floor.

“Rarity?” He asked as he walked past the doorway and into the room, “Are you alright?”

Rarity shook her head vigorously and turned to Joystick, “Sorry there darling. I was a little ‘out of it’ as Twilight may put it.”

“Wha-” Joystick started but before he could say more, the room began to darken, “Uh, Rarity? Is this supposed to happen?”

Rarity looked around, scared as she saw the room around them darken as well, “No, it shouldn’t. Run!”

The two white unicorns ran out of the room and found the hallway was just fine but they continued to put distance between the room and themselves. The darkness began to spread at an increasing rate, covering the hallway in seconds.

The pair ran past Joystick’s room that Rarity set up for him during his stay and pulled out Blue Rose from under the pillow with his magic. The revolver opened fire on the encroaching darkness but to no avail. The darkness kept spreading faster with each second as Rarity found Lucifer.

The two unicorns kept attacking the darkness, not caring for the damage they may be doing to the shop. The pair made it to the stairs and ran down with the darkness hot on their hooves.

As they reached the ground floor the pair found the darkness was coming in from the door and windows as well, surrounding them. As it got closer, Rarity clung on to Joystick as they closed their eyes and prayed for their deaths to be swift.

**** **** **** ****

Applejack was in the west orchard applebucking with Volendrung not far away, just in case. Clunker was helping Big Macintosh by pulling the wagon to town to sell some apple based products. Trixie had small bags under her eyes as the Apple Family decided to wake her up when they did so she wouldn’t miss breakfast… Trixie complained.

“Ya mind lending a hoof?” Applejack asked with a snide grin, “Or are ya gonna just sit there gawking?”

Trixie smiled and adjusted her hat, “Fine.”

Trixie looked up at a nearby tree and picked the apples off with her magic, all the while looking at Applejack with a smug look on her face, “Show off.”

Trixie gave a small burst of laughter, “That is what I do for a living Applejack.”

“Ah hear ya,” Applejack replied as she walked over to the next tree.

After a large number of apples were liberated from the trees, Applejack heard something off in the distance. She grabbed Volendrung and hefted it over her shoulder.

“If it’s them Changelings, Ah’ll give ‘em a good ol’ fashioned flank kicking,” She muttered to herself.

Trixie cocked her head and looked off into the distance, “I know my hearing isn’t that good but I don’t think that sounds like any Changeling I’ve heard.”

“Whatever i-” Applejack was cut off as the source revealed itself as a swarm of fruit bats flying towards them.

The two mares readied themselves as the swarm engulfed them. Small brightly coloured bodies flew out of the cloud of bats as the mares attacked them with no mercy. Several became engulfed in ice as Trixie used Ice Age to protect herself but the bats were still coming as if there were an inexhaustible number of them.

The mares were shouting incoherently as they felt their bodies being torn apart. The ripping sensations yielded no true pain nor any blood as their shouts quickly died out.

**** **** **** ****

Pinkie Pie was happily baking in Sugarcube Corner’s kitchen, bouncing along with her usual cheerful attitude. She was happily humming a small tune to herself as the fourth batch of chocolate chip muffins left the stove. She was multitasking between the five stoves and entertaining the Cake Twins while Mr. Cake went out to get more baking supplies and Mrs. Cake stood behind the counter.

“My name is hm hm hm and I am here to say,” She sang softly as the twins giggled at her antics, “Oh!”

Pinkie Pie shot out of the kitchen, past Mrs. Cake and somehow placed the twins on the counter, the muffins and other baked goods found their way to the display window and the counter and Pinkie was in her room in less than five seconds. What the regular pony saw was a pink blur.

Pinkie was itching all over her body and her ears were drooped, refusing to straighten up. The pink mare dove under her bed and pulled out a piece of paper and some coloured pencils. She began to write at a furious pace, the paper literally teetered on combusting as smoke came from the tip Pinkie’s pencil.

When the note was done, she beamed and folded it into a paper aeroplane before throwing it down the stairs to the counter. Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled Kalina Ann. She looked at it and smiled as she hopped onto her bed and placed the rocket launcher back into her mane.

“I’m ready!” She exclaimed happily as she comically burst into a cloud of confetti, streamers and a few small balloons, leaving no trace of her.

**** **** **** ****

Twilight and Nyx were busy reading in the library. The day was rather slow so Spike went off to Carousel Boutique to see if Rarity needed any help. Twilight’s chilling feeling hadn’t dissipated, in fact she felt colder all over even resorting to draping a thick blanket over herself in the attempt to stave off the cold.

Nyx was huddled next to Twilight, reading a book on advanced physics. She wanted to impress her Twilight when she returned by reading a book decades ahead of her. There were some parts she felt she could not grasp for the life of her but Twilight was more than happy to explain it better.

Soon Twilight began to resort to a small heating spell to keep her body warm. This worried Nyx, “Are you sure you’re alright? Should I get you another blanket?”

Twilight smiled, “That would be nice thank you.”

Nyx ran up the staircase and pulled off the thick duvet that lay on Twilight’s bed. As the cover flew off, Nyx noticed a glint in the corner of her eye. She looked over to the wall and say a small opening it, barely noticeable unless you are an inquisitive and sharp filly. Nyx opened the hole further and found Alastor laying there, glinting in the light.

“Hello there,” Nyx said cheerfully.

Do you not sense it? The voice of Alastor asked as the Devil Arm spoke in Nyx’s mind.

“Sense what?” Nyx asked, tilting her head to the side.

There is a foul magic about and it seems to have the ones you care about in it’s grasp. Alastor replied flatly, You need me.

“Is this some trick to get me to take you out of there?” Nyx asked.

You dare accuse me of an action so far beneath me it would be in the deepest pits of the Demon World?! Alastor’s voice bellowed in Nyx’s head worse than an Iron Will seminar.

“S-sorry!” Nyx cried out, “Please don’t shout. I didn’t mean to accuse you.”

Alastor remained silent, the odd arc of lightning firing from the dragon mouth guard to a random spot on the blade. Nyx gingerly lifted the Devil Arm out and placed it on her back. The blade stopped arcing lightning and settled down as Nyx picked up the duvet and went downstairs.

“Twilight, please don’t be mad but I acci-” Nyx dropped the duvet as she saw the scene before her.

The room was slowly covering in snow that seemed to come from Twilight’s body. Twilight’s body had become transparent, similar to an ice sculpture wrapped under the blanket she had. Nyx ran up to Twilight’s body and prodded it with her hoof.

“T-Twilight?” Nyx asked, trying to get the sculpture to respond but no such luck, “Hey! What the?!”

Nyx found her hoof was stuck to Twilight’s cold form. As she struggled to remove her hoof, it began to turn as blue and transparent as Twilight’s body. The filly’s eyes widened in shock horror as she witnessed this and tried to double her efforts in an effort to escape. The ice was crawling across her body, spreading to her tail, head and other body parts. It even encased Alastor.

For a few short seconds the two pony sculptures stood silent and still but in an instant they spontaneously shattered into thousands of pieces into a cloud of cold dust. The particles faded from existence as Spike returned home.

“Rar-. Why does she always leave such a mess?” He complained as he saw the mess the ground floor was in.

**** **** **** ****

In the skies above Ponyville, the resident weather mare Rainbow Dash was busy clearing clouds for the mid-morning. She flew from cloud to cloud, either using her hooves to break them or tearing through them with pure speed.

As she worked, Gilda the Griffon landed on a nearby cloud. She crossed her arms and gazed at her friend’s speedy work ethic.

“Yo, Dash,” Gilda called out to her friend.

Rainbow turned her head and noticed her friend sitting on the cloud.

“Sup, G,” Rainbow replied with a smirk, “What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Left politics and decided to come here for a break,” Gilda replied with a smile, “Unc’s been retro-fitting the Arbiter before heading out again.”

“Okay,” Rainbow replied, “I just have some more clouds to get rid of and we can go grab a bite to eat.”

Gilda spread her wins and gave Dash one of her signature cocky grins, “How about we race to see who can do it the fastest?”

Rainbow returned Gilda’s grin with her own, “You’re on!”

The two raced from cloud to cloud, punching them, kicking them or just colliding with them. They were neck and neck for the most part until they spotted a single lonely cloud in the distance: a category one storm cloud. Storm cloud categorisation is ranked from one to eight with eight being a borderline disaster.

The two competitive friends looked to each other for a second before charging at the cloud for all they were worth. The second they collided with it, the cloud was set off but it did not send a bolt of lightning. The cloud emitted a bright white light that engulfed the two before they and the cloud vanished from sight.

**** **** **** ****

The human colony of Eden Prime was a symbol of humanity’s ability to establish functional self-sustaining colonies in the galactic community. Its close proximity to the Terminus Systems worried many but others were willing to take the chance for a new life, a clean slate. The planet was a near utopia of life.

Sadly that novelty had worn off as it was currently under attack by a large number of networked AI robots known as the Geth. Commander John Sheppard, a spacer who had grown up around the Earth Alliance and its military all his life and the sole survivor of the thresher maw attack on Akuze had touched down a few clicks from the site where a Prothean Beacon was uncovered.

Sheppard was a typical human of average build and height. He had very little hair to speak of on his head. He wore the signature armour of the N7 training program, the harshest training program the Earth Alliance had. He - alongside Lt. Kaiden Alenko - was investigating the attack on Eden Prime and his main missions was to retrieve the beacon before the Geth could take it or destroy it. They lost Jenkins a short while ago to a few Geth drones and were making their way to the dig site.

Along the way they met Ashley Williams, the sole survivor of her unit as they were ambushed by Geth. As they made their way through the greenery they heard the sounds of heavy fighting. Signalling them to stop and circle around, the trio soon discovered the source and just could not believe it.

In front of them, destroying several Geth with Kalina Ann was Pinkie Pie. The Geth were attacking in waves but the small pink mare stayed behind a large boulder, waiting for the chance to strike back.

“Uh, sir,” Alenko asked, “Should we help or…?”

Sheppard nodded his head and opened fire with his sniper rifle. Alenko attacked the Geth using his biotics while Ashley Williams fired her assault rifle to provide cover as they made their way to Pinkie.

Noticing the diversion, Pinkie stretched her arms beyond their normal limits as she reached behind a nearby tree and pulled out her signature Party Cannon.

With a smile Pinkie fired the Cannon, sending confetti and streamers across the battlefield. Somehow Pinkie also managed to put in cake batter into the cannon. The batter got into the Geth’s circuitry, shorting them out while the shockwave was enough to knock then back, breaking their motors and other mechanised parts. The three humans walked over to Pinkie, utterly bewildered at the sight they just witnessed.

“How did you do that?” Williams asked.

Pinkie turned to them and smirked, “I make physics my bitch.”

**** **** **** ****

The building known as Sarif Industries was under attack. Head of security Adam Jenson was running through the hallways with a combat rifle in his trained hands. He took down anyone that threatened the safety of the building. Meanwhile two creatures were just waking up in a room.

“Uh, G. I don’t think we’re in Equestria anymore,” Dash commented as she came to.

“Yeah, I gathered that ten seconds ago when I woke up,” Gilda snapped, “Let’s just find a way out of here before somet-”

Gilda was cut off as Jenson flew through the thick window behind them, smashing into the wall.

“Horseapples!” Dash shrieked as she dove for cover.

“Shards!” Gilda shouted as she followed Dash.

In the hole Jenson made, a man comprised mostly of augmentations walked in and was about to finish Jenson off. Whether through a sense of stupidity or honour, Dash flew up to him with incredible speed to stop him.

“That’s far enough!” She shouted as she readied her Devil Arm, Nevan.

The scythe missed the assailant and he brought his arm down on Dash’s neck. Her bones were shattered in an instant and as she fell, the assailant picked up the Devil Arm and impaled her in the side, cutting off her right wing. The attacker then broke the Devil Arm on his knee, causing Rainbow’s ears to flatten as Nevan screamed in her mind.

This made Gilda incredibly furious and in a blind rage, she charged Dash’s attacker as well. Gilda felt a tug on her tail as she was thrown into the ground and her claws were crushed by a larger, burlier man. The last thing any of them saw was three assailants leaving with a woman and the leaner man shooting Jenson and them in the head.

**** **** **** ****

Fluttershy awoke on the top of a high rise building in the middle of Jersey. She looked from left to right, looking for anything that may help her know where she was. As she looked behind her, a large blue metal beast came crashing down on the building. She barely escaped as the building was reduced to rubble.

The behemoth got up and Fluttershy got a better look at it. It was vaguely bipedal in design. It had a pair of arms with a flaming black eight ball on each of them while a red convertible was perched on the monster’s head.

“Alright you evil, backwards, planet-destroying tyrant!” A voice cried out from the monster, “You break my city, try to ruin the water supply and threaten my planet! And you made me miss a monster truck demolition derby! Now, it’s go time!”

The voice cried out a battlecry as it charged a creature Fluttershy thought could only exist in the Demon World. The red multi armed beast and the blue monster clashed in a bout that spread across the city, destroying it block by block.

“Why here?” Fluttershy wailed as she facehoofed as the pair tore the city apart anyway.

**** **** **** ****

Rarity and Joystick awoke in the middle of a dense, dark forest. The sound of water nearby rang through their ears but also a different more metallic sound was heard. The sound moved in rhythm as if it were footsteps.

“I think we should hide,” Joystick said. Rarity nodded her head and the pair hid behind a bush.

The source made itself known as it passed by. It was a being clad in silver armour with an intricate golden design on it. The figure’s pauldrons had a single row of feathers on them. Underneath the armour, the pair could make out black clothing. His hair was blonde and shoulder length. They could also make out a scar over the right side of his face. The figure carried a blade almost as long as he was tall.

The blade was silver as well and had a long black strip from the hilt and nearly reached the tip and the blade was almost as wide as his body. He also had a large object wrapped in bandages on his back as well, resting under his sword.

The figure passed the pair and came to a sudden halt. He swung around and in one movement he effortlessly drew his giant blade.

“Reveal yourself!” Siegfried shouted, Requiem in hand and ready.

The two unicorns looked to each other and left their hiding spot.

“Uh… hi?” Joystick said as Rarity’s eyes sparkled at the man’s armour.

**** **** **** ****

A man in a white suit and a young girl had come to a stop at a gas station to refuel the man’s old blue car.

The man wore a black eye patch over his right eye and kept a white hat over his green spiked hair. He carried a metal briefcase with him and held onto it rather tightly. His left eye was orange but the eye under the eye patch was yellow.

The young girl with him wore a black skirt, black shoes and a black formal shirt with a red tie. Her eyes were magenta while her blonde hair was insanely long, reaching the bottom of her shirt.

“Eve, keep an eye on the car for me while I get us something to eat for the trip,” Sven Vollfied asked the young girl.

Eve merely nodded once and Sven walked into the gas station’s 24/7 shop. As Eve waited, she heard something in the nearby bushes. As Eve went to investigate, she spotted two creatures, one she only knew from books while the other was a combination of two.

Eve picked up an unconscious Twilight and Nyx, placing them on the back seat of Sven’s car. She gazed at them with an expressionless face, wondering how creatures like them could exist.

Sven came out of the shop with a few small items meant for long road trips and spotted the three sat in the back of his car.

“Uh, Eve. Where did these things come from?” Sven asked, trying hard not to freak out.

“Over there,” Eve replied flatly, pointing in the direction of the bushes she found them in.

“Well, we can’t keep them. We can’t pick up every stray we find, Eve,” Sven stated, trying not to upset her.

“We let Train stay whenever he shows up,” Eve retorted flatly.

“That’s totally different!” Sven shot back, “He at least pulls his weight when there’s a job to do.”

“We’re keeping them,” Eve said forcibly. Sven knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with the conversation.

Sven gave a small sigh, “Fine. But you are looking after them, understood?”

Eve nodded her head once as Sven started the car up.

**** **** **** ****

Applejack and Trixie came to in the middle of a campsite, surrounded by humans. Many of them carried weapons of various size and description. Bows, swords, axes were among the most common but the designs differed greatly.

An old man walked up to the pair, “Ah, I see you have awakened. Time to load you two up for Lut Gholein.”

“Trixie is not some beast of burden!” Trixie spat at the old man, making him reel backwards from shock.

“By what pit of Hell did you two come from?!” He shouted.

Trixie and Applejack looked to each other and replied, “Equestria.”

Author's Notes:

New chapter YAY! Now let's play: Guess That Crossover! There are six of them and most of them are pretty well known. Sorry for Pinkie's swearing, I couldn't resist it.