Phoenix

Chapter 19

The first thing Dante realized as his brain finally rebooted, was the incredible amount of pain he was in. Not just from his missing organs, or rather the regrowing organs, but also the wound in his back. The shrapnel he had never gotten taken care of.

The second thing he realized was that he had just gotten beat by a reality warper fancying himself as the ‘god of chaos’.

The Human made a mental note to blame that on his missing organs, it is, after all, very hard to fight when you’re missing a heart to pump blood around your body. Contrary to what some people may claim otherwise.

His armor was forcing his body to rest in odd positions, some of the gear on it extending out further than other pieces, thus creating uneven lumps. His back was in contact with the ground, though being arched up due to some of the aforementioned uneven gear.

With a groan, he opened his eyes.

Quickly closing them once more with a hiss as his eyes were harshly greeted by the sun, despite the augmentations in his eyes dimming the light, they were designed to bring it down to safe levels, not comfortable. He could, of course, adjust the filter manually, though he saw no need to.

He rolled over from his back and onto his chest, now that he was no longer staring at the sky, he opened his eyes, to be greeted by green grass. He ran his hand through it as he finally paid attention to the information running across his vision.

‘Attempting to reconnect to satellites’ A line of text flashed in amber color to the upper right of his vision.

“Venus.” Dante spoke as he pushed himself from the ground, the pain ignored as the nanites began kicking in and doing their job.

The flashing text turned red.

“Unable to reconnect to satellites. I can not triangulate our current position.” Venus replied.

Dante examined his surroundings, an open field about two-hundred feet in diameter terminating at a tree line.

Seeing no help at eye level, he instead turned his eye to the sky, soon spotting a familiar sight… Canterlot. Suspended off the side of the Celeste.

But something was off.

“‘I certainly do hope you enjoy this universe, one with a Celestia who isn’t terrified of her own power…’” Dante mumbled, his mind processing all the information it was receiving and recalling.

Once more he looked around the empty field, devoid of all life except for the trees and grass. He sighed as he began taking count of the gear he had.

“I think I know why we can’t reconnect to the sats, V.” He sighed, making for the Imperial issued sidearm on his left thigh, only to find the holster empty, most likely having dropped it when he was thrown by the warper known as ‘Discord’. “But I’ll have to wait to confirm my theory.”

He grabbed the Glock 17 he had on his right thigh, dropping the mag he pulled the slide back far enough to confirm that there was a round chambered. He counted four seventeen round magazines and one thirty-three round mag. That gave him one hundred and one spare rounds of nine millimeter, in addition to the chambered round.

“The one fucking day not to carry a rifle and full kit, fuck. Fucking shit!” Dante returned the pistol to its rightful place following his lament.

He examined the view he had of Canterlot, working out its orientation. A few seconds later, with the help of Venus, the determination was made. Based on the orientation of Canterlot, Ponyville should be due North of him.

And as such, he began walking through the forest, due North. His eyes scanning the area for any threats as he walked, frequently checking behind his back to make sure he gave the entire area coverage.

He had a bad habit of being attacked in forests. Yet, despite the bad habit, all seemed to be quiet in this forest. The scanners in his suit picking up nothing out of the ordinary.

But it certainly didn’t help that he had no idea just how far he was from Ponyville.

So he continued walking. Unwelcome nostalgia back to his younger days flooded through his mind, as he attempted to keep his mind off it. His suit still scanning.

As he walked for hours, his suit’s scanners still continued to turn up nothing. Until, finally, Venus ticked two living creatures. The right size for ponies.

Less then two hundred feet from him, he pushed his way through bush, making no attempt to be quiet or stealthy.

He reappeared through the brush to two Equestrians. A brown coated, black maned earth stallion and a green coated, yellow maned unicorn mare.

Dante began speaking to the two, his Equestrian coming out perfectly. Though the two were frozen in fright, their eyes wide. Their previous activity, a picnic Dante deduced from the basket and the stereotypical checkered blanket laying on the ground.

Although he was not shocked at all by their paralysis, after all, it is not common for a tall bipedal alien whose making news all over your country to randomly walk up on you and ask you for directions to Ponyville, he was, however, surprised by how they responded.

“Human!” The mare shouted… in perfect English. The two bolted from the ground and galloped away as fast as they could as Dante stood there, not reacting.

A minute passed as he stood still, silent. The silence was broken as he shrugged his shoulders, sighing. “Fuck. That’s what I was worried about.” No longer was he speaking in Equestrian, now having switched back to English. He brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes.

“Jesus Fuckin’ H. Christ, of all the reality warpers I have to fight, and I get the one who can travel between dimensions at will.”

He continued his walk. “Well... I can’t change anything right now. We’ll have to find a way back home. It seems like the ponies here know what a Human is… and are terrified of them.”

He continued his trek, following the tracks left behind by the fleeing ponies. Surely, since they were a prey species, they’d be running for the safety of the herd instead of trying to turn around and fight.

Scuttle continued his walk around the hive, passing through the large and elaborate main chamber, thousands of changelings stopping and saluting him, a gesture he shook off with a mere wave.

Fools.

Two folders hovered in the air in his green magic.

He shook his head, he had somewhere he needed to be. He ducked into an off-shoot cavern., being greeted by an unarmored female changeling. The room was small, about eight feet by eight feet.

The changeling immediately snapped a salute, Scuttle returning it. “S-8567.” He greeted.

“Commander!”

“At ease.” The changeling dropped the salute, though still held the position.

Scuttle passed the first folder to the changeling, the insectoid taking the folder and pulling the papers out, reading them.

“In there, you’ll find your mission briefing and the last known locations of the infiltrators you need to contact.”

There was a pause, as 8567’s eyes continued to scan the papers. She looked up, hesitation in her voice.

“S-sir...”

Scuttle raised an eyebrow. “Yes, 8567?”

The changeling bit her lower lip and then held the papers out. “I can’t read, sir.”

Scuttle sucked in a breath… and then breathed out. He could see the terror in the soldier’s eyes, though honestly it was uncalled for.

“My apologies 8567,” He took the folder in his magic. “I’m used to dealing with infiltrators.”

The soldier’s ears folded down, Scuttle quickly following up. “It’s nothing to worry about, you can’t help it, I’ve been a proponent of teaching every changeling how to read, however Her Majesty believes it to be a waste. Can you read any Equestrian?”

The soldier, despite her stiff position, shuffled a bit on her hooves. “I know one, maybe two, but for the most part, no. But I can match letters!” She smiled widely at the last bit, and indeed, Scuttle knew, it was a rare ability for any group other then infiltrators or the scholars to even be able to match letters with letters.

The soldier’s smile was infectious, Scuttle grinning himself. “That’s very good to hear, 8567. But due to the importance of this mission, would you be willing to do a quick test?”

The changeling nodded, as Scuttle took a piece of paper from the folder, pulling a pen from a strap on his armor, he scratched down some Equestrian letters.

A few inches below that line, he scratched the same Equestrian letters, but not in the same order.

He passed the paper back to 8567 and the pen. “Just match the letters with a line, 8567.”

The changeling mare nodded, examining the paper. Though she wasn’t fast, she wasn’t slow either. In two minutes, she matched the twelve Equestrian letters with their mates and then handed the paper back to Scuttle.

The changeling commander took the paper and examined it. Indeed, she had indeed matched all the letters correctly.

“Very good, now remember these addresses.”

He continued with the verbal briefing in replacement of the written one he had expected to give her, the mare nodding the entire time.

“These are the addresses of the infiltrators you need to deliver these orders to, understand? They’re listed on this paper.” He handed the folder to her, the addresses indeed listed on there. She would have to match the letters, however.

The changeling soldier saluted once more. “Yes sir!”

“And once you’ve delivered these, I need you to return immediately back to the hive, understood?”

The changeling nodded. “Yes sir!”

Scuttle nodded. “Dismissed.”

8567 broke the salute, quickly trotting out of the room to continue on with the mission she had been tasked with.

Scuttle could merely shake his head at the departing soldier. He would have used an infiltrator, but the risk of them being discovered and lost was far too great. It would not hurt the hive to lose a single soldier, though Scuttle prayed to whatever deity he professed faith to that 8567 would come back safe and sound. He would have normally sent an infiltrator, but he couldn’t risk the ones they had left being burned by paranoid Equestrians. As much as he hated to admit it, 8567 was absolutely expendable compared to a trained infiltrator.

Ever since he had come into the position of commander, he had been pushing to raise the education standards. Without being de-chitined by Chrysalis.

He was of the position it would benefit everyone if it wasn’t just infiltrators who could read, drones and soldiers could be far more useful if they could read as well.

Chrysalis believed it to be a waste of time when drones could be mining and soldiers could be training to fight for the hive.

And, though he could see her point, the likelihood of a soldier ever needing to read being far lower then an infiltrator, a drone even less then a soldier, he disagreed on principle.

Everyone should be able to read, language and text is what separated changelings from mere insects, after all.

But there wasn’t much he could do. Sure, he could pull a few strings, but the Queen had final say and if she found out about the strings he was pulling behind her back…

He’d rather not think about it.

Instead, he trotted out of the cave, muttering a number as he thought. “4292… Be safe out there.”

Fortnite was the first to react, lunging for the pistol dropped by Dante, though the device was torn away from her at the last second by Discord. Slamming into a wall, the disguised changeling herself falling to the floor with no alien weaponry to show for it.

However, she soon found her self treated just like the pistol was, being tossed into a wall.

She cried out in pain, as she felt her chitin cracking underneath her fleshy disguise.

She fell to the floor. She managed to shout through the pain. “Bulwark, the gun!”

Without a word, the unarmored guard shot forward, his magic lighting up in an attempt to get the device the two hoped might be able to slow the warper down so help could arrive, if not kill him with him.

However, his attempt to retrieve the gun was cut short, as he felt a slimy texture grip around his rear hoof, pulling him to the ground. He was able to see a sickly green, goeey tentacle grip his horn, ripping his head back. He was dragged back, feeling goo envelop his rear leg and slowly eep its way up his body.

“Fuck!” He shouted, borrowing a word from his alien commanding officer as his lower body was enveloped by the green goo, his head still being pulled back.

“I got a tad tired of fighting directly.” Fortnite looked up to the chimeric villain, his body doing odd undulations as he spoke.

He looked to the group of mares. “Now, I’ve stopped the two princesses, that angsty alien. That’s three threats to me stopped. The only ones left…” Discord’s eyes popped out, rolling into his claw as he blew on them, then rubbed them on his shoulder. He reinserted them and then counted the mares still standing. “Ah, yes, six. You six.”

Pinkie reared up. “Keith! Initiate Plan Delta Bravo Bravo Bravo Vector Zulu X-ray India Whiskey Hotel!”

She leapt into the air, being halted mid-air, and then somehow being levitated at high speed to the windows. Unknown to the mare, Discord had accounted for this, and erected a shield around the entire room.

However, unknown to Discord, neither Pinkie or Keith quite cared for this shield.

Twilight cringed as one of the stained glass windows depicting a momentous moment of Equestrian history, that also easily cost hundreds of thousands of bits, shattered, Pinkie falling out of the window.

Discord placed a claw over the general area of his heart, closing his eyes. An unnaturally large tear formed in the corner of his eye, the chimera utilizing a talon to wipe it off.

“A mare after my own heart… I’ll have to marry her once my conquest of Equestria is over… I’ll have to deal with that Keith, though.” He turned to the six… no, five mares, the slime enveloped guard struggling to get out and the injured changeling.

“In any case, I still need to deal with you lot… oh, don’t look at me like that! I’m not Dante, I’m not planning on killing any of you...”

For most people being greeted by the sight of one of the most powerful unicorns Equestria has ever seen with her horn lit up, pointed at you and wearing an angry frown would be enough to make them turn around and high tail it out of the immediate area.

In fact, any normal or sane person would do that.

Dante was neither sane or normal. Instead he passed by the angry unicorn, giving her horn a small flick with his finger as he passed. “Calm your fucking tits, dork. The fuck are you on, your period?”

The crowd of ponies who had gathered to watch the unicorn take care of the encroaching Human quickly fled once they realized the Human had bypassed one of their most effective forms of defense with not so much as even a hesitation in his step.

“Human!” Twilight roared once more as Dante approached an abandoned market, variously sized carrots present on it.
“The name’s Dante, nerd.” He replied, paying no mind as he grabbed a carrot and began munching on it. He leaned back on the wooden stall, using his right hand to support him. “You should be nice to me, I just jumped dimensions, do you know how taxing that is? In any case, I nee-” Dante was cut off as Twilight released the magic in her horn, sending a ball of energy to him.

Dante responded by raising his left arm, the shield generator present in his suit being activated by the near lightspeed reactions of Venus.

A billow of smoke erupted as the energy met energy. Dante coughed, using his hand to wave away as much smoke as he could.

“Jesus Tap-dancin’ Christ, egghead.” He coughed out, the smoke having gotten in his lungs. “I realize I like to smoke but not that kind of smoke.”

Twilight charged her horn once more. “Why are you here? How are you here?” She beared her teeth, the biped merely glaring at her.

“I was getting to that, dumbass, before you tried to kill me.” He rolled his eyes, muttering. “Jesus fuckin’ christ, I don’t touch a single one of you all and then you go and try to blast me away.”

“Answer. The. Question.” Twilight growled through gritted teeth.

“Discord.” Twilight’s horn died at the mention of the being’s name.

“What?” She cocked her head.

“Discord. He’s the reason I’m here. He tossed me through dimensions, I landed here. I’m not here of my own volition and I would like to get home as soon as possible.” He finished the carrot, tossing the end away and grabbing another one. “Though I would like to know just how you all know about Humanity, and why the fuck you guys speak English. The Equestria back home speaks… well… Equestrian and has never met Humanity… before me, of course.”

“We are speaking Equestrian.” Twilight corrected him, Dante raising an eyebrow.

“Are you fucking retarded, nerd?” Dante stated, using his arms to gesture around. “You’re speaking goddamned English!”

“This is Equestrian.”

Dante waved his hands. “No, fuck off alt-universe Twilight. Listen, I’ve been speaking English since it was first created. Nearly a thousand years ago… er, rather, I suppose in this case it’s closer to six thousand years.”

Twilight glared at the biped, who was still munching on a carrot. “Humans don’t live that long.”

Dante tossed the rest of the carrot away. “Yes, and we also don’t survive magical blasts like that. Unfortunately, I’ve never been a normal Human… in any case, we’re speaking English.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Equestrian.”

“English.”

“Equestrian.”

“English.”

“Equestrian!”

“English.”

“Equestrian!”

“English.”

“Equest-” Twilight shook her head, Dante still looking at her bored. “Stop! I know what you’re trying to do!”

Dante shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not trying to do anything. I’m just sayin’… we’re not speaking Equestrian, this is English.”

“It’s Equestri-” Twilight shook her head once more, pointing her hoof at the biped. “See, there you go again!”

By now, a crowd has slowly started to reform, to look at the odd sight of a Human and Twilight arguing.

Dante grabbed another carrot, taking a bit out of the end. “Eh… nope, doc.” He said, intentionally spitting out pieces of carrot as he spoke. “This is English. This is Equestrian.” He proceeded his last sentence by speaking in an odd alien tongue that resembled a mixture of Human languages, clicks and horse neighs and whinnies.

Twilight stared at him as though he had gone insane. “That’s not Equestrian.” She answered, incredulous.

“Yes it is.”

“No it is-” Twilight gritted her teeth, growling and then raising her head into the air and screaming.

“Stop doing that!” She shouted at the biped, the frustration evident on her face.

“Doing what?” He asked, scratching the top of his unarmored head. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Yes, you are!”

“No, Twilight, I’m not.”

“You a-” Twilight caught herself, stomping the ground with her hooves. “Everytime I speak to you, it’s like speaking to a petulant child!”

“I’m not the one starting roundabout arguments.” He argued.

“Yes you are.”

“All you have to do is agree or just not say anything and then there’s no argument.”

Twilight charged her horn. “Enough!” She released the built up energy, the biped merely responding once more by raising his arm, the shield energizing to deflect and nullify the blast. ‘What are you doing here!”

“I told you,” Dante began a frown forming on his face. “I’m here because the Discord in my Equestria tossed me across dimensions. I want to get home, but I need help to do so. All three alicorns would be preferable, but either Celestia or Luna should do.”

Twilight, though still seething, seemed to think deeply when he mentioned the three alicorns, a frown coming to her face.

There was silence amongst the crowd, the ponies waiting for Twilight to make her move.

Finally, she took Dante’s arm in her purple hued magic, tugging him towards her, he didn’t resist. “Follow me.” She stated, letting go of the Human’s arm. A piece of parchment and a pen popped up out of thin air as she began scratching out a letter.

Dante, meanwhile, began taking in his surroundings. It certainly did look like the Ponyville he had seen. The crowd seemed mostly right, though they were a few ponies he didn’t recognize from the last time he had been here, in the other universe. And the ones he didn’t recognize seemed wrong.

Every pony he had seen had large so far had large, vibrantly colored eyes. Even the changelings, though theirs were solid blue orbs. They still seemed to almost naturally glow. And while these unknown ponies also had colorful and large eyes, the color seemed dull and flat.

Dante examined them as he passed them quickly, noting that even their coats and manes seemed dull. And many of them were lacking the flank marks he had grown accustomed to seeing.

‘Twilight’s acting very odd.’ The thought came to him, from Venus.

‘Yeah… I wonder what this universe’s shtick is… by the sound of things, it sounds like there may be some racial tensions between Humans and ponies. That being said...’

He glanced around, keeping an eye out for any other Humans who may be present, Venus herself giving out a short pulse from the suit, looking for any returns that would indicate Human life.

There was nothing but ponies, ponies and more ponies.

‘There’s a not a single Human in sight… They know what Humans are, but there’s no Humans for any racial tensions to evolve. Even in the Jim Crow South, blacks were a common sight… so I’m a bit weirded out by the lack of Humans.’

They approached the building Dante had found out in his other dimension was named Golden Oaks Library from a detailed map of Ponyville.

Twilight finished the letter just just as she opened the door. “Spike!”

She gestured with her hoof to a small couch. “Please… uh… make yourself at home.”

She looked around for the little drake, though Dante hadn’t held any personal conversations with Spike, he had assumed he was either an adopted brother or a secretary for the unicorn. He wasn’t sure which one it was, but he did know the two were close.

However, the little dragon was no where to be seen. “Spike, please come down here. I need your help.”

There was a silence as Dante plopped down on the couch and scanning the room. He took a sniff of the room, smelling for anything off and then listened.

His eyebrow raised as he heard slow hoof steps. He glanced over to the purple unicorn, the mare unmoving.

“He’ll be here in just a moment and then we’ll get this figured out.” She stated, Dante scanning the room once more.

He heard hooves clopping down the stairs as a pony appeared.

The pony, appearing to be a juvenile male, unicorn, a light purple coat and a green mane. Though oddly enough, unlike every other pony he had seen, the tail was purple, not the same color as his mane. Dante struggled to recall any pony he had seen with a different colored mane and tail, but his mind brought up none.

The mane was spiky, and the mark present on the rear of most ponies was also on this pony. This one a tied scroll engulfed in green flame.

The eyes were an emerald green, though the pupils were far more like a snake’s then a pony’s.

“Hey there, Twi.” The pony spoke, the voice sounding bored. “How’d the Human go?”

Dante narrowed his eyes, focusing on the eyes. They were emerald green, but just like some of the ponies he had seen in the town, the eyes were… dull.

Twilight gestured with her head to the relaxing Human on the couch, Dante raising his trigger finger and middle finger in a ‘V’ gesture. “Yo.”

Spike stared, and then slowly blinked. “Oh. That’s good, I suppose. Did you need something Twilight?”

The mare nodded her head, passing the sealed scroll over to Spike, the young colt unicorn catching it in his magic. “Could you please send this to Princess Celestia?”

Spike numbly nodded, the scroll being engulfed in green flames, so disappearing in a pile of ash.

Twilight allowed her self to rest on her rump.

“And now we wait.” And so they did. Silence reigned for a few minutes, as the biped and unicorn sat in silence.

Spike continued to stand there, staring into the distance.

After a minute or two, Twilight coughed into her hoof. “Uh… Spike, you can go back to bed.”

“Oh.” He responded, stiffly turning around and heading back up the stairs.

Poet was hurtling down the Iraqi highway. His eyes scanning for threats. He was nearing the town he needed to be at to get the girl.

And he needed to do it fast. The First was getting pounded at Mosul and the stubborn Liwaa Harb was refusing to remove the Division from Mosul until he got his little girl back.

And that was how the Legionairre found himself here, throttling into a town just a little ways from Erbil. Evidently Harb had believed Daesh would not be so bold so as to risk a two front attack on Iraqi federal forces and Kurdish militias.

He was wrong.

Poet hit the throttle once more, the motorcycle opening up on the roads. Despite the bloodshed going not far behind him in Mosul, and whatever awaited him in the town he was heading for, the night was peaceful, quiet.

He supposed all the death was too concentrated at the moment.

It didn’t take him long, twenty more minutes, for him to see the first signs. Technicals and up-armored Toyotas.

And men with guns who knew the man driving a motorcycle at full speed at them wasn’t supposed to be there.

Well… they didn’t think he was supposed to be there, Poet couldn’t care any less about what they thought, he was going to be here even if God himself came down and told him personally not to be here.

And as such, he was in the town. Currently being burned by fanatical religious extremists.

Poet raised the AR-15 he had, the rifle having been manufactured by Colt, bought by the Imperium and then modified to fire automatically in order to allow Imperial agents to blend in better with Human forces.

In total, there were seven men bunched up around the technical, one of them already on the Browning M2 mounted in the bed of the truck. The Imperial agent focused his attention on that man, bringing the rifle to his shoulder, the bike seemingly steering itself as he placed one shot on the machine gunner, the round flying true, and severing the spinal cord.

The machine gunner limply fell over his M2, dead, as Poet focused on the remaining militia men.

Dozens of 7.62 rounds were fired at him, the ones that hit, were met by a shield of pure energy, as Poet focused on the remaining men.

Although hundreds of 7.62 rounds were shot in the short encounter, only seven 5.56 rounds were used.

Dante brought the bike to a halt as he neared the technical. He dismounted, bring the bike to some burned out rubble and ensured it was hidden.

He went back to the technical, quickly collecting the bodies of the men he had killed and piling them into the back of the technical, along with any rifles or equipment they may have dropped.

He pulled a small cylinder hanging from a holster on his webbing. Disengaging the safety, he removed the pin and set it in the bed of the truck.

“Venus, define the parameters.”

It was a pyrotechnical grenade, though not anti-personnel, rather anti-materiel. Designed to destroy useful equipment or intelligence to insurgents, it had also found use in firefighting on less well off planets. Due to the fire-retardant nanites it utilized to control the flames. An operator could set the parameters for the nanites, which would kill the flames at a certain distance, making it useful in small scale and large scale destruction, as well as back burning to stop wildfires.

Of course, Poet wasn’t using it to fight fires, he just didn’t want this technical to be turned on him. And the flames produced by the grenade were far more then enough to turn the corpses in the truck to mere ash and the more durable items, such as the M2, AKs, ammunition and the truck itself to nothing more then smoldering piles of twisted metal.

Quickly moving away from the burning technical, Poet utilized the scanners. He would have much preferred his armor, the lack of it instead requiring a comparatively bulky and far less versatile scanner suite to be carried with the rest of his gear on his plate carrier.

That being said, the scanner wasn’t that large. About the size of an MRE and a similar thickness.

But still, it took up precious space. Though, its strengths far outweighed its weaknesses, as Poet was quickly able to find out how many people were in the town.

About twenty adults, all with salvaged rifles and pistols of varying make… and one child sized return.

He pulled the charging handle on the rifle back, ensuring there was a round in the chamber, then released it.

He began his walk to the child’s location. The twenty men had already began to make their way to his position.

Poet grinned. Firefights could always get interesting.

There was a flash of light in the main room of the Golden Oaks Library, the purple unicorn covering her eyes. As the light died down, a regal Celestia, clad in her gold regalia, flanked by two armored guards. The armor far more significant then the armor Dante had seen on them before.

The elder alicorn saw the young unicorn mare and smiled warmly at her. “Twilight.”

The young unicorn quickly bowed. “Your Majesty.” She replied somberly, causing Celestia to smile and laugh.

“Come now, Twilight,” She rested a foreleg on the unicorn’s withers. “There is no need for such formalities with me, my dear student.”

Twilight nodded her head. “Of course, Qu-, er, Celestia.”

Celestia brought a hoof to her mouth, giggling. “Very good, in any case. You called me about a…” She lowered her voice, bringing her head closer to the now standing Twilight. “Human?” She whispered, Twilight nodding, gesturing to the couch behind her with her head.

“Yes, he’s right th-” She turned her head, and stopped talking, the couch empty.

“Uh...” Her mouth hung open, when had he moved! She hadn’t heard anything and Humans weren’t exactly the stealthiest of creatures. “He was right there!”

A crunch sounded from the other side of the room, Twilight and Celestia swiveling their heads. There, standing in the doorway was the Human that Twilight had contacted Celestia about, munching on a carrot.

“Eh… what’s up, Doc?” He asked, his voice sounding far more nasally then Twilight remembered it, as he spat small bits of carrot out of his mouth.

In his hand sat a plate, piled with bread and various other food, stolen from Twilight’s kitchen.

“This place sucks, y’all don’t even have any bacon. How am I supposed to have a BLT when I only have the L and the T?”

Celestia once more lowered her head to Twilight’s, whispering. “He’s quite rude, isn’t he?”

Before Twilight could respond, the Human responded. “Indeed I am, Celly.” He made to walk towards her and give her his hand, though realized he currently had both hands indisposed of at the moment. He glanced to the plate in his left hand, containing the pile of food, then to the carrot. He shrugged his shoulders, tossing the plate behind him, the food and plate hitting a wall and clattering to the floor in a mess.

“No one eats a BLT without the B.” He stuck his hand out, Celestia giving it a wary glance. “General Dante T. Jaeger.”

Celestia warily stuck her hoof out, the biped gripping it and giving it a shake. “I am Queen Celestia, Sovereign of the Heavens and Earth.”

“Queen?” Dante asked, an eyebrow raised, whistling at the same time. “That’s a step up from ‘princess’… is Luna also a queen?”

To anyone else observing, the alicorn’s face was entirely neutral, her voice containing no trace of hesitation.

However, Dante had been through far too much to miss the quick eye glance and the very short hesitation before she began her sentence.

“Yes… she is. But more importantly, may I ask you a question.”

Dante nodded.

“How are you here?”

“Discord.” He answered, raising his trigger finger to point in the air. “Specifically, it would appear as though he managed to escape from his last imprisonment, petrified my Lulu and Celly and then came after us in the streets. I managed to teleport us back to the throne room, but the jump spell was simply far too much of a distance and there were simply far too many people in my party, I ended up sacrificing a couple of my organs to keep everyone together and… well, you know, not giant, mushy piles of flesh, blood, cells and destroyed DNA. Discord hit me and tossed me through a portal while my innards were still regenerating and, well… here I am!”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed, here you are. ‘Your Lulu and Celly’? And sacrificing your organs?”

Dante nodded. “Yep, did the dork not explain? Alternate universe? I’m not… actually supposed to be here. And I’m immortal, losing organs isn’t that big of a deal, just a bitch to regenerate.”

“And a teleportation spell? Humans can perform magic from your universe?”

Dante raised his trigger finger in the air once more, a dead language rolling from his tongue, a small flame burst to life on the tip of his finger. “Some Humans can perform magic. But even for those extremely proficient in it, it takes an absurd amount of energy and stamina. That being said, though, it’s not as difficult to perform here or back in my Equestria. I assume it’s because magic operates differently on these planets then it does on Earth.”

He shook his head. “Speaking of Earth, it seems as though you all know about my people already, which seems to be another difference between my world and your world. Such as the ponies in this world speaking Engl-”

“We’re speaking Equestrian!” Twilight protested.

“Fuck off you absolute cunt, we’re speaking English right now, retard. Anyways,” Dante waved a hand in front of his face, a frown forming on Celestia’s face at his insults. “Before I was rudely interrupted by Miss ‘I was bullied in fucking pre-k because I was that actually un-fucking-likeable that retarded three to four year olds could tell how much of a little bitch I was’,” Twilight snout scrunched up at the long winded insult, though she held her tongue. “Why is it that you all seem to know what I am but… I see absolutely no Humans in the area.”

Celestia nodded sagely, her eyes closed. “Yes, and there’s a good reason for that. You see, General Jaeger, you were entirely correct in your statement of magic operating differently. As it is, in this universe at least, magic is extremely… toxic to Humans.”

“Toxic.” Dante repeated, the incredulity obvious in his voice. She nodded.

“Yes, unfortunately, as a result, Equus is separated from Earth by a portal. And Humans are incapable of crossing over, otherwise… well, the air in Equus is quite toxic to them.”

Dante thought about it for a second, before he began speaking. “If Humanity is there… they might have the tech… necessary… maybe.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Twilight questioned, confused by the muttering, Celestia nodding in agreement.

“If they’re at the same tech level my Humanity was at, I may be able to jury rig a quantum teleporter… not ideal, but going home with it, the Imperium should be able to trace the atom and photon transmissions back to the planet I’m stranded on so long as I put a pattern in them. It’ll take longer then a larcom, but it exponentially increases my chances of getting picked up… “

Dante looked to the two mares. “By any chance, are we near the portal?”

Celestia nodded. “It’s right inside the Everfree.”

Dante gestured out the door with his hands. “Queen, if you would be so kind so as to lead me back to my people.”

Celesia raised a hoof to cover Twilight’s mouth before she could protest.

“Absolutely, please, follow me.”

As she turned around, she used her wing to cover Twilight, passing her a purple vial, concealed from Dante’s view.

The mare silently took it and hid it on herself.

Fornite dodged another attack, her horn lit up once more. Though it was quickly cut off by a goeey tentacle smashing another wall.

Discord was merely floating in the air as his creation made a mess of Castle Canterlot.

Bulwark was currently doing his best to keep himself tethered outside of the goo monster, his horn latched onto something solid with his magic and pulling it towards him, thus pulling himself away from the goo monster, though it still had a solid hold on him.

The five elements, sans Pinkie Pie, were not having much more luck, all of them being forced to dodge and unable to do anything.

Really, all they could do was hope Pinkie had gone and gotten help.

Fortnite made for the gun once more, but once more, Discord ripped it from her at the last second, tossing it to the other side of the room.

She rolled as she hit the ground, growling. She couldn’t move fast enough in this form. If she had her wings. she’d be able to move far faster.

She gritted her teeth, it was either reveal herself to royalty and the national heroes, the ponies that her Queen had tried to overthrow just a little over a week ago, or continue on this route and risk Discord winning.

It would be even worse if Princess Cadance were to show up. Still, she had no choice.

“Bulwark! I’m dropping it!”

Bulwark protested while struggling against the goo. “No, do not drop it!”

Her horn glowed.

“So… this is the portal?” Dante asked, gesturing to the swirling portal.

Celestia nodded. “Yes.”

He used his index finger to point the ponies with him. “Will y’all be okay going over there?”

Once more, Celestia nodded. “Yes. We are fine over there, it is just Humanity who has the issue over here.”

“Great!” Dante responded, pulling his Glock from the thigh holster, dropping the mag and pulling the slide back to ensure there was a round chambered. He double checked the mag in his hand to ensure it was loaded and replaced it in the handgun.

He replaced the sidearm in its holster and removed his helmet from his head, slipping it on.

“Concerned?” Celestia questioned, looking at the now fully covered biped.

“Oh, well, you know. I’m in an alternate universe so I have no idea how that world’s like.” The voice filtered through his helmet, sounding a tad distorted. “For all I know, they could be ‘50’s era racist but with the roles shifted. Blacks in control and whites are the ones getting fucked. If that’s the case, I’d rather not catch a round to the head by an overzealous black cop who saw a cracker with a gun.”

Before anyone could react, Dante slipped through the portal.

*Reconnecting to satellites...*

*Reconnecting…*

*Reconnecting*

*Connected*

*Incoming audio transmission*

“To anyone listening to this, I am broadcasting this to NASA’s satellites. They won’t stay up there forever, but maybe we can get help. We already know aliens exist, the ponies were the only proof we needed. But please, if you’re watching this, listening to this, if you can understand this. My name is James Donovan, I’m a specialist in the United States Army and, as far as I’m aware, one of the last Humans alive. Listen, do not trust the ponies. They… fucking fucked us! The sphere, it can’t reach space, but the ISS won’t last forever up there without the logistical support from NASA and the other space agencies, which is fucking gone! The sphere… magic kills us. And the sphere just fucking seems to disintegrate everything it touches. Celestia claims her ponification potions will save Humanity, but… I’ve seen them! I’ve seen those goddamned new-foals! They’re abominations. They’re walking corpses of Humans who have been mind raped! By Celestia! She claims she has no control over the sphere, and by the time anyone realized that was a load of goddamned fucking horseshit, it was too late! We lost contact with Luna, the only pony who seemed to support us who was in any sort of position of power, and at the time of her disappearance, Celestia changed her title to ‘Queen’ and we started getting attacked by terrorist ponies trying to forcefully ponify Humans with chemical attacks! Listen, I’m rambling and I’ve not got much time left. Do not trust a single thing that comes out of her fucking cunt mouth. If you are receiving this transmission, that means one of two things. You are an alien with the ability to travel the stars and you somehow stumbled across this rock while our sats were still in orbit. In which case, I beg of you, destroy Celestia, find Luna. Luna’s sane, she wants to help people, Celestia doesn’t. She can not be allowed to live. Or you’re a Human who somehow, in some way, was able to survive the sphere with technology that could also decrypt this transmission. In which case… god help you… There’s one other thing I need to tell. Four days ago, the remaining government of the US initiated Operation N… wait, shit! No, it’s not supposed to be moving that fast. Operation Noah! I don’t know if it succeeded or not. But look to the moon! I need to finish what I’m doing. The sphere’s going to be right on top of me in less then five minutes. This is Specialist Donovan signing off, to whoever’s listening to this… god speed… avenge Humanity. Please.”

“Celestia.” Dante breathed deeply, slipping off his helmet. His eyes scanning the field he found himself in, surrounded by trees and grass. A few ponies were grazing lazily on the grass. He replaced his helmet to its position on his belt

Celestia finished slipping through the portal, assisting Twilight through. Her guards came through unassisted.

“Yes, General?” She smiled sweetly, her voice cutting through the air as sweet as honey.

Dante turned to face her. “Where are we?” He asked, his voice the polar opposite, voice as cold as space, eyes piercing into Celestia’s soul and frown on his face.

Though the mare seemed unaffected by it. “General, we are on Ear-” Though she couldn’t finish her sentence. The biped taking a large step towards her, his right hand resting on his sidearm.

“Fuck off with that shit! Celestia! I’ve got a goddamned GPS reading say I’m right in the fucking goddamn middle of fucking LA! This!” He gestured around him, doing a small spin, turning three-hundred-sixty degrees to face back to Celestia. “This is not LA! And then not only that! I’ve got a Specialist named James Donovan telling me you’re not to be trusted. So what is it, Celestia? Because everything I’m seeing is making Specialist Donovan sound more and more trustworthy. So enough with the bullshit.” His eyes narrowed, the different colors striking. “Where. Are. We?”

Celestia sighed. “General Jaeger, please. Allow me to explain.”

Dante raised his arms out from his side. “I’m giving you the goddamned chance to explain. So explain!”

“Our contact with Humanity was unplanned.” She stated, sighing. “Within hours of first contact, the sphere formed and began slowly encompassing the planet. We found quickly enough that Humans were unable to survive in it. I put all of my scientists into finding some way to… prevent the reaction Humans had to magic.”

Dante glanced around the field, eyeing the ponies lazily gnawing on the grass, despite the shouting. “And the result was some sort of transmogrification potion?”

Celestia nodded. Dante shook his head. “Why didn’t you just stop the sphere?”

“We had no idea, I had no control over it.”

“Bullshit.” Celestia took a small step back, not expecting the response, the bipeds eyes locking with her’s.

“Maybe what you say is true, maybe initially you didn’t have control of it. But at some point before it encompassed the entire planet, you gained control of it.”

Dante removed his sidearm from his holster. “But you didn’t stop it.” His eyes narrowed. “How many Humans are dead by your hand?”

“None! I helped them!” Celestia protested, though Dante merely waved his sidearm at her.

“Helped them? Look around you Celestia, I may not be entirely aware of the full history of where I am, but these ponies! In this fucking field!” Dante gestured to various ponies lazily walking around the field, not paying attention to the shouting.

Celestia’s guards were visibly shocked, though hesitated in making any moves to restrain the biped, unsure of the plan their sovereign had.

“Look at them! They’re acting like… goddamn horses! No, worse then that! Horses can fucking think for themselves! These fucking things are barely function corpses! And what about Spike, back home he’s a baby dragon! Here he’s a barely functioning pony! He stood there like a retard for a good minute before Twilight told him he could go back to bed. Like a fucking zombie!”

Celestia stepped closer to the biped, puffing out her chest and spreading her wings. “I had no choice, by the time I gained control of the field, most of the planet had been covered already. If I had revealed that fact, then the Humans who had not accepted the potion would have been left on a half-dead, half revitalized Earth. Look around you, Dante! Can you deny that this is better! Look, the planet is no longer polluted, and the air is no longer choked with smog! You should see Beijing! It’s absolutely beaut-”

Dante paid no mind to the rambling mare, something else catching his eye. A mare, a pony that would have been described as an Earth pony back home. He turned on his feet.

She had ended grazing the closest to the tense group. Her coat a dark brown, mane and tail a jet black. She was missing the mark present on most of the pony’s rears.

“No.” He stated, surely, he was just mistaken.
Celestia had stopped talking, walking slowly behind the man, who was headed towards one of the ponies in the group, Twilight following behind the royal and tailed by the two, nervous guards.

The unmarked pony, surprised by the sound of the group moving towards her, slowly lifted her head.

Two of the most beautiful blue eyes Dante had ever seen locked with his.

“No.” Though her eyes were dull with the curse of whatever potion had been used on her, Dante could deny it no longer. He stopped walking, mere inches from the pony, who did not seemed to be spooked by the towering biped.

“Hello.” The pony spoke, though dull and uninterested, the voice only cut through his heart, as the his brain finally cut through its denial.

The voice was back, screaming in the back of his head.

He collapsed to his knees, his arms falling limply to his side and his hand loosing its grip on the Glock. His mouth hung open, his eyes locked in place as his brain tried to process what he was seeing. Slowly, his hands reached out, wrapping around the pony’s neck. Contrary to what should be the natural instincts of any animal or creature to react when something is around or near its neck, this pony gave no resistance as she was pulled close to Dante. Tears forming in the biped’s face.

“No, no. Lak… Lak… Lak...”
The pony didn’t respond, her blue eyes still dull.

Dante spoke, though what he said was once more lost to the winds, the tongue dead and forgotten to all but one person.

A pulse traveled through his right hand.

He rested his hand on the pony’s head, the mare’s face gently resting against his shoulder.

Her body went limp… then, violent convulsions began.

Her body was held securely, as her legs began involuntarily kicking, scuffing, though otherwise not damaging the armor on the biped.

“Twilight.” Celestia leaned closer to her student, whispering to her. “When he turns around… do it.”

Twilight nodded, standing close to her teacher, she levitated the vial of potion.

The convulsions stopped, as Dante continued holding the mare.

“… You killed her.” He gently laid the mare down, though it was obvious she was still breathing.

He stood up, arms held limply at his sides. “You killed her.”

They could hear a deep breath, Twilight fully prepared to throw the vial.

Dante pivoted on his feet, screaming. “You killed her!”

Twilight put force behind her telekinetic throw, hurtling the vial at Dante at several hundred miles an hour.

It soared through the air, true. It was going to hit where Twilight was aiming. But, suddenly, it stopped. In mid-air.

It gently fell at significantly less then the previous several hundred miles an hour it had been traveling at into Dante’s gloved palm.

He gripped it.

“You think you can kill me!” He lifted the vial above his head, tilting his head back. “You can’t kill me, you fucks!”

He crushed the vial, purple liquid quickly making its way through the cracks in his palms, as he began laughing maniacally.

“You can kill everyone else!” She couldn’t see his face, the body part being covered in the potion used, but the cackling cut through the soul of every pony present, even the ponies who otherwise hadn’t been bothered before. A primal switch being thrown in their brains.

He slowly lowered his head, the liquid dripping from his exposed face.

Twilight gagged, watching sheets of skin slough off from his face.

“The potion you made is trying to change me into one of those abominations.” He spoke, blood and potion spittling from his mouth, his eyes dulling then brightening and dulling and brightening. “The bones in my body are breaking as this parasitic alchemy attempts to take over, but you didn’t account for one thing.”

His eyes stopped, dulling, though his face was mostly just muscle and sinew, small splotches of skin beginning to regenerate from where the potion and his body had fought for dominance.

Celestia had no time to react, the biped disappearing from his spot, a large weight slammed into her side, tossing her a few hundred feet from where she had previously stood. She slid along the ground, gouging out a hole in the earth, dirt being thrown indiscriminately.

She flipped, rolling over onto her back. Once more, before she could struggle onto her side to stand up, a hand wrapped around her throat, her eyes darting open despite the pain.

Staring back into hers, were two eyes. The right eye, blue. The left eye, green. But in both, roared the rage of death itself, glowing with ferocity. They seemed almost lit up.

“It didn’t take into account the Me!”

His arm was cocked back, preparing to deliver a blow that would have surely killed the alicorn.

Though it would not be so simple, her horn charged, then discharging, releasing a monstrous amount of energy, throwing his arm back.

Another blast discharged, meeting his chest and throwing him from the mare.

Celestia teleported back to the group that she had been thrown from, her two guards brandishing their spear as they flanked her side.

Dante picked himself up. “Do you know how much I wanted that potion to work!” He shouted.

He began slowly walking towards them. “But once more, I’m still alive, still breathing. Celestia, you would be doing me a great favor. By snuffing my breath out of existence.”

Celestia was preparing a spell, one to open a portal back to the castle. Those three spells had taken a lot out of her, and teleporting the distance from Earth back to Equestria was far too dangerous, she reckoned. A portal far safer.

Dante patted his chest, his face covered in dirt from the throw. “But there in lies the problem. As much as I would like for you to be able to kill me, and indeed if you did kill me you’d be free of any consequences I may bring down on you, but that’s the problem. I can’t let you kill me, Celly, because I have to kill you! As revenge for her!” He gestured to the resting pony, the one who had been convulsing just a minute before.

The power glowed bright on the tip of Celestia’s horn, fully prepared to cast it, but she needed just a little longer before the portal was strong enough.

“Jaeger, I can not stop you here at this moment, but I will be back to do so.” Celestia stated resolutely, as she let go of the spell, the portal forming, giving off a warm orange glow.

She kept her eyes trained on the slowly advancing biped, herself slowly backing into the portal with Twilight in tow.

Her crown flew from her head, propelled by an unseen force, forwards, landing between her and Dante, Twilight still in front of her.

“Your crown!” She shouted, galloping forward without waiting for an answer.

“Twilight, no!” Though it was too late, purple unicorn having charged forward and covered several dozen meters already.

Unconcerned for her crown, Celestia ripped her student up in her grasp and quickly began backpedalling to the portal, hoping to get away from the now charging biped.

Though she continued to backpedal when her view changed from the grassy field she had been in to the stone throne room, she allowed a breath she had been holding to escape as she gazed at her student now facing her and still in her grasp. The portal slowly closing behind them.

She was not expecting, however, a hand to burst through the small portal, being able to reach far enough to grasp Twilight’s tail and pull her back, her rear entering the portal.

Celestia quickly stopped the portal closing as she was pulled closer thanks to Twilight, the hand and her fighting for control of the mare.

The hand pulled even harder, pulling Twilight further back, Celestia grunting as she poured more power into her telekinetic grip. She pulled herself closer to Twilight, wrapping her forelegs around her neck and trying to pull the mare back without killing her, as Dante’s arm and she fought for control.

She began to successfully pull Twilight back to the castle, intending to cut the portal off as soon as the mare was clear of it, regardless of whether or not Dante was still in it.

However, her success was short lived, another arm pushing into the portal from the other side, up to its shoulder, as a black object was shoved into the left side of Celestia’s face.

The alicorn had no time to react as Dante mag-dumped all eighteen rounds of the Glock into the left side of her face.

Her grip on her student failed, as she fell back in pain, screaming from the eighteen nine millimeter rounds in her head.

Twilight found herself being pulled back to the violent biped.

Author's Notes:

Hello. What's this? Another chapter?

Enjoy!

As always, if you liked and favorited this story, please tell me why. If you disliked this story, please tell me why you disliked it. Thank you very much. I also enjoy criticism as it helps me to improve. So if you do downvote, please leave a comment letting me know why. Be it grammar, spelling, pacing, or you just fucking hate the character!