Prologue

"Yet another BEAUTIFUL day at the convention centre!" I exclaimed as I walked through the bustling crowds with practiced ease, one hand clutching my red over-shirt and the other placed firmly upon the handle of a large black pull-along suitcase bearing eight of my favourite symbols of all gaming history. My eyes darted back and forth between the stalls, searching for my contact while still watching for anything interesting that I could snatch up while I was here.

I must have looked downright bonkers, from all the strange looks I was getting.

I had a routine, you see. Attend any and all conventions that sparked my interest whenever they came through my town and then wander aimlessly with a pocket full of cash until some collectable or poster signing caught my eye. It tended to work, as nine times out of ten I would go home with at least one new trinket.

This time, however, I was on a mission. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted, and there was no force on this planet that would keep me from my prize.

Finally, after what felt like hours of searching (though it was probably no more than ten minutes), I saw him. Just like I was told, he was running a stall of assorted brick-a-brack while dressed as The Merchant from a game that I forget the name of. Never played the game in question, as anything that fell into 'horror' games just didn't sit well with me, but I digress.

As I made my way over to his stall, I realised he had a pretty big selection of weaponry and gadgets from a multitude of games. He even had a replica of the key ring that hangs off of the Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts! Someone else got to it before me, though, so I let it go. The Merchant looked up at me, his mask shifting slightly as he (presumably) smiled. "Ah, my friend, I feel I know you! Have we met before?" He asked, extending a hand in greeting.
"Not in person, no." I replied, shaking his hand. Funny, his gloves felt as gritty as his character-costume had me believe they would be. "But we spoke over the phone. I'm Ace." His eyes lit up in recognition and he gave a throaty chuckle.
"Ah, yes, the Skylander enthusiast!" His voice was not particularly loud, but you could almost feel the power it suddenly held as he shifted to business.
"Yes. I believe you mentioned a Spyro figurine for sale?"
"Indeed I did, but I am curious as to why you require a character the company provides for free." It wasn't a question, but I felt compelled to give an answer for some reason.
"I got the game from a friend who had accidentally broken his Spyro. When I started collecting, for some reason, I just couldn't find that character at all. Now he's the last one I need, and I came prepared to pay any price you ask!" The Merchant seemed to consider this before nodding, seemingly satisfied with my answer.
"I'm a collector too, ya know." He said, pulling the Spyro toy from his large backpack under the desk and rolling the base around in his fingers.. "Though I prefer something with a little more… scare factor."
"Yeah," I laughed, "I can tell."

The Merchant placed the toy on the small table that lay between us, the light hitting it so that it looked just THAT much better. I hope I'm not drooling over this.
"So," I said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "How much do you want for it?"
Again, the mans mask creased in the way that made you think he was smiling, but you couldn't be sure. He placed his fingertips again one another and rested his elbow upon the table, one either side of the toy. After several minutes of him just staring at me (and me trying to look as stony-faced as possible(news flash: I'm not good at the stone-face)), he laughed again and reached into his bag again, this time fishing out a necklace with a large, oval stone the colour of a spring-time sky embedded into a casing of glimmering silver.

"This," he said, waving the necklace in my direction almost drunkenly, “is the amulet worn by Master Eon himself when the Core of Light was first forged."
"Sure." I replied, frowning. I then pointed at a small red and white sphere on a small stand in another corner of his stall. "And that's a real Pokéball."
"Don't blow things off just because you don't think they're real, kid. Listen, I'll give you the toy and the amulet for just a hundred bucks. The toy on its own is two hundred."
"WHAT!" I cried, slamming my hand down on his table. "That's extortion!"
The Merchant merely leaned back and shrugged, saying "You want the thing or not?"
Grumbling, I pulled the needed fund from my pocket and forked them over. I then snatched the toy and the amulet from the Merchant, walking over to the doors to the convention centre and making my way outside, ignoring his jeering.

Once outside, I sat at a small wooden picnic bench and lifted my carry case onto the table, opening it and placing the final occupant into his place. I sat there for a while, staring at the amulet that had halved the price and wondering why he wanted rid of it. I shrugged it off after a bit and lifted the long black string over my head. May as well get some use out of the thing, right?

With the amulet resting on my chest and my case once again in hand, I turned to make my way home.

And then everything went white.

{3rd Person POV - Castle of the Two Sisters, Everfree Forest}

Zecora, Zebra Shaman and personal friend to Princess Twilight Sparkle, had been trekking the Everfree Forest in search of certain plants and herbs in order to refill her larder when she had decided to check in on the Tree of Harmony. She wasn't expected to do it, but she had decided it best that somepony at least make sure once in a while.

On her normal visits she would wander down, just as she was now, and meditate under the Tree for a while. This allowed her to sense the ambient magic produced, as well as any other magic was attempting to tamper with it. So when Zecora walked into the cove in which the Tree of Harmony rested, she planted her long Everwood staff into the ground and removed her flowing brown cloak, hanging it off of a rock jutting from the wall. She then hopped up, balancing one-footed upon the tip off her staff.

Taking a deep breath, Zecora took a deep breath and entered into a meditative trance. For the longest time she remained motionless, naught but the breeze disturbing her. She was just about to finish up, already bending her leg slightly in order to hop down, when she felt… something flare to life. It's power spiked immediately, throwing her from the trance and onto the floor. The staff followed her, snapping off at the base and clattering to the floor. Zecora frowned.

Just what was that surge?

That was when she noticed the pulsing purple light shining from somewhere behind the Tree, where as it had previously been assumed that the cove ended at the Tree. When she went to investigate, though, Zecora noticed that the rear wall seemed less like a natural construct and more like somepony had stacked a multitude of rocks over a hole in the wall, then cast a spell to keep then steady for a long time. The shaman was amazed that she had never noticed this before, likely because the sheer power of the Tree's magic cloaked that of the barrier. Nevertheless, she took her broken staff and wedged it into one of the gaps in the rock wall, using it as leverage in order to pry the passage open.

On the fourth attempt, Zecora finally managed to pry loose a single, fist-sized stone. This in turn loosened the remainder of the wall, causing it to crumble away and reveal another small chamber further inside the cove.

As the zebra crept in, her eyes fell upon the source of the pulsing light. A cylindrical podium, tall enough to reach her waist and seemingly made from slabs of stone, was situated in the centre of the sanctum with a purple, viscous-looking fluid rippling within its Dias. Strange symbols were carved through the outer shell at eight regular intervals. As Zecora stared in awe, the glow from the fluid grew brighter and brighter to a near-blinding point. The shaman had to shield her eyes in order to observe the spectacle.

The substance began to churn, sloshing towards the sides and meeting back in the middle in an increasingly aggravated manner, seeming to be building up to something. The relating splashes reached higher and higher, yet never once did a single droplet of the stuff separate from the main source. Zecora afforded herself a moment to wonder just what the substance was.

And then, from seemingly nowhere, the mass of glowing purple something spat out an unconscious person.

The person was male, if his broad shoulders were anything to go by, and would probably reach around six feet tall when standing straight (a mere two inches above her own five foot ten). He was dressed in a seemingly simple white tee-shirt under a red flannel shirt, blue denim jeans, black faux-leather hiking boots and a matching set of fingerless batting gloves. His jet-black hair had three vertical white stripes running the length of the left side and reached roughly half-way down his neck. What intrigued the shaman the most, however, was the distinct lack of fur on his peachy skin.

Once her observation of the fur-less Earth Pony (He must be so, she had reasoned, as neither Wing nor Horn is shown!) was complete, Zecora wasted no time in hefting the boy onto her back and beginning the trek back to her hut. She grunted slightly as she adjusted his weight across herself.

'This shall be a long walk.'

Chapter 1

Ace awoke slowly, groaning with discomfort from his current position. He lay on his back upon what appeared to be a medical cot, and as he looked around the room, he grew more and more worrisome for his health. Hanging from the walls were creepy-looking masks whilst bottles and vials of every colour lined any and every surface. A huge, wrought-iron cauldron sat over a fire-pit in the middle of the room, a sickly green liquid bubbling away while a cloaked figure stood stirring, occasionally adding a plant or herb. Whoever it was appeared to be singing a little song to them self as they worked, too.

"Little dreamer leaving for your quest, you face a rugged pa~th you'll have to carve on your own…"

Ace noted that the figure had a definite feminine tone to it's - her - voice.
"Uh… is this a bad time?" he asked, slowly raising himself to sit on the edge of the cot. The cloaked figure whipped around so quickly that she almost seemed to have been facing him the whole time, her face shrouded in shadow, two glowing yellow orbs peering from the depths of the darkness. Ace swallowed down the fear that the figure instilled in him and stood up, realisisng that he was, in fact, taller than the woman by roughly two inches.

The woman reach towards her hood, gripping it's edge and throwing it back. This act revealed a mohawk of charcoal-grey and snow-white stripes. Her skin was covered in short, coars looking fur sporting the same colour scheme as her mohawk and her nose and mouth were elonated slightly into a short muzzle. Several gold rings adorned her neck.
"It would seem you have a knack for stealth," she said, eyes softening into a look Ace ascociated with concerned nurses. "Though the concern still lies with your health."
"Wha..." Ace never got to finish that thought as the girl lifted him up - surprisingly easily - before laying him on the cot again. When he tried to sit up, she merely pushed him back down. Eventually, Ace resigned himself to lay back and let the strange woman do her thing. And it was when he felt her soft, fur-covered hands run along the left side of his chest, stoping at each rib and applying the slightest pressure, that he realised she had removed his shirt.

"Who are you?" he asked, watching with trepidation as the woman moved from his left side to his right, repeating the process. ""What are you doing?"

The woman reached behind her, grabbing a bottle of yellow liquid, before replying. "My name, my friend, is Zecora." she said before pouring some of the liquid onto his upper arm, which he now noticed had a long (but thankfully shallow) cut running from his shoulder to his elbow. "And I am treating your wounds which, while minor, still come in a plethora."

Ace just nodded before looking around the room. He didn't comment on her strange look, or the strange ornaments, or the strange liquid in the strange cauldron. I don't want to be rude, he told himself, but in reality he was just scared she would put him in the brew. He jumped when Zecora hit a particularly sensitive spot on his wrist, turning to find her eyes studying him.
"You know," she said, looking back to her task. "when somepony gives you their name, it is quite impolite to not do the same."
"Sorry," Ace chuckled, scratching at a spot just behind his ear with his free hand. ""I was just sort of... intrigued by your choice in decorations. I'm Ace."

Zecora nodded in understanding. It wasn't the first time that somepony took an interest in the masks and potions lining her walls. At least he isn't calling me an Evil Enchantress! She couldn't resist a small chuckle at the memory, which caused Ace to smile a little subconciously.

"Well then, Ace, I am quite glad to say," Zecora said, standing and moving to what appeared to be a wooden coat rack. "That all of your wounds appear A-Okay!" She then grabbed Ace's tee-shirt off of a hook and tossed it to him, prompting him to pull it over his head. He frowned a little when he noticed the large tear in the front.
"Damn it…"
"I apologise for the clothing tear," Zecora began, her back to him as she placed her cloak on a hook. Underneath he saw that she was wearing an earth-brown suede jacket over a black vest top, a pair of earth-brown jeans and pink socks. She looked back at him as she pulled on a pair of black hiking boots. "But I know where you can get more clothes to wear. A friend of mine, quite a fashionable mare, cares about clothes almost as much as her hair!"

Zecora laughed openly at her own joke, handing Ace his own boots and his over shirt, which was shredded more so than his tee. Ace sighed, grabbed his gloves from a desk by the door, and followed Zecora out of her hut, muttering all the while.

"Rassa frassa… favourite shirt… stupid luck…"

Spike was a simple man, by dragon standards. He liked books, he only gathered enough gems and jewels to feed himself, and he did everything in his power to protect his friends.

So when he heard somepony screaming from the direction of the Everfree Forest, he dropped his basket of freshly dug rubies and dashed towards the source.

What he found was, quite frankly, disturbing. Zecora had walked into town which, by now, was perfectly normal. The creature - as that was all it could be described as from that distance - was not normal. It looked like something out of one of the dragon's particularly gruesome comics, where the bad guy had kidnapped and skinned a pony, somehow keeping them alive. I need to re-read that one, Spike thought idly as he prepared to leap at the creature.

He was stopped, however, by Zecora's hand, as she had apparently not stopped walking.

Ace had heard the scream and jumped, freezing in place. It was only now, as he willed himself to move, that he took notice of the seven foot tall dragon and instantly (and figuratively) crapped himself. Though, for some odd reason, he did feel an odd pull from the drake…

"Spike, Ace, I believe you have met," Zecora stated, breaking the silence between the three and beckoning both males to follow as she continued on her way. Ace immediately fell into line, offering his hand to Spike as the drake matched his pace. Spike took the offer and the two apprehensive men share a firm handshake. Zecora sighed. "Now grow up and realise there is no need to fret. Ace here simply need some new clothes, the reason for which he quite clearly shows."

"Hey!" Ace cried indignantly, pulling at what remained of his shirt. "…t'aint my fault…"
"So you're going to Rarity's" Spike asked, brow raised. He thanked a cream-furred girl with two-toned hair the colour of rose petals as she handed him his basket of rubies.
"Indeed we are, Spike my dear." She turned and gave the drake a look, cutting him off before he had fully opened his mouth. "And yes, you can come, to lift any fears."
"Cool."

Author's Notes:

So I'm trying out a new colour-coded speech system, to help make writing conversations and/or witty battle banter easier. This will only apply to main characters, so don't be confused by some people speaking in normal black colouring. I hope for your feedback, but I'm likely gonna stick with it either way, so sorry if it annoys you.

Also, yes, I am alive. Writers block hit, then exams rolled around, but now I've finally managed to force something out. And it's only just begun!

Chapter 2

Author's Notes:

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I've already stopped with the colours. To be honest, it was annoying me just having to put the damn things in all the time.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Rarity was a busy mare. Orders had stacked up out of nowhere: three dresses with ruby-encrusted hems, all a different design, for Fleur Di Lis; three matching suits with ruby-encrusted lapels, also different designs, for Fancy Pants; and five gem-encrusted stage dresses, each with a different gem for every day of the week, for Sapphire Shores.

Fortunately, Sapphire's dresses were already completed and on their way to the pop-star's most recent show. Unfortunately, those dresses had ran her gem supplies completely dry, so she'd had to send Spike out to collect the rubies for the remaining orders, which had all since been prepped for the long process in which the gems would be sewed into the fabric. The fashionista was just pouring a cup of tea when the small bell hanging above Carousel Boutique's door let out a small *ring*, announcing either the arrival of a customer or Spike's return.
"Rares! I'm back!"

Rarity smiled to herself, placing the teapot back on the stove before making her way into the foyer. "Spikey-Wikey!" The mare called, holding out her arms in a hugging manner. Spike, of course, complied instantly before placing his basket on a nearby table. "And Zecora, too! Oh, it's been much too long!"
"Indeed it has, my fashionable friend!" Zecora replied, smiling broadly. "Though I'm afraid this visit holds a small business end."
"Oh? And what would that be?"

"That would be me."

Rarity jumped slightly at the new voice, as she hadn't noticed the third member of the visiting party. Rarity took a moment to take in this new stallion's appearance - which of course means she took one look at his torn and ragged clothes and immediately teleported him onto the small stage in her show room, immediately taking measurements.
"Whatever happened to your clothes, dearie?" the fashionista asked, tape measure wrapping around Ace's waist.
"I'm still trying to figure that part out myself." Ace admitted, sighing. A sudden thought occurred to him. "Hey, where exactly am I? I never did ask."

The three others in the room shared a look, clearly surprised by his question.

Rarity spoke first, moving over to a desk covered in paper and drawing utensils. "Darling, surely you've heard of Ponyville, if not the Everfree Forest?"
"They sound familiar, yeah, but..." Ace began before trailing off. Slate-grey eyes widened in a mixture of realisation, amazement and despair. "No. Freakin'. Way. Am I in Equestria?"
Spike stepped forward, slight concern in his eyes. "Uh, dude? You okay there?"

Out of nowhere, Ace began to giggle. His giggling soon grew into a chuckle, before exploding into outright maniacal laughter, causing the others to step back in concern. Tears built in the man's eyes before cascading down his face, the laughter only growing in volume in this time. Ace slowly sank to his knees as he finally began to just sob pathetically, Zecora moving to his side, pulling the distraught man into a hug. Rarity, attempting not to focus on the awkward situation, busied herself with designing multiple outfits for Ace. She also made a quick note to replicate his current clothes.

Spike, having seen the signs in many of his comic books, finally concocted reasonable (in his eyes, at least) theory as to Ace's bizarre looks.

"You're... you're not from this planet, are you?" he asked.
"Spike!" Rarity scolded. "That's ridiculous! Of course he's-"
"You're right, Spike." Ace began, cutting Rarity off as he dried his eyes. Thanking Zecora, he continued. "Where I'm from, this world is just a cartoon, though you're not as... humanoid. Tell me, what was the last big thing to happen to you guys?"
"Well, that would be Tirek, surely." Rarity replied, already stitching the material together for a simple tee shirt. "But I still find this whole 'other world' thing utterly ridiculous. I mean, how would your sun and moon move without Celestia and Luna!" She gave a little laugh at that, thinking that she had won.

"The planet moves around the sun on it's own, as does the moon around the planet."

Rarity face palmed.

"Now, since Tirek was the last big thing to happen, that means you no longer have the Elements of Harmony, but you do have the power of the Rainbow Light thing. And Twilight has a castle."
"Ignoring how unsettling it is that a supposed alien knows all of that," Rarity stated, handing Ace a loose-fitting, plain white tee shirt with a motif of three diamonds on the right shoulder. "Here is a new shirt for you. I shall get right to work on some proper trousers to replace whatever those used to be." She finished with a brief gesture to Ace's jeans, which were surprisingly no more torn than when he had put them on the morning before.

It was when he changed his shirt hat he realised he was still wearing the necklace. It seemed to have a greater shine to it now, as though it held some untold power, but right now all Ace could see was the Merchant's smug face.
"He did this to me." he spat, voice dripping with venom. "He sold me this thing. He tore me from my sister!"
The necklace seemed to flash, and suddenly Ace's face paled. The others in the room merely looked on in confusion, none daring to say a word.
"Something's wrong."

As if on cue, a series of loud screams echoed through the air. Wasting little time, Ace rushed for the door, stopping only when Rarity screeched "You can't go out there! You'll get yourself killed!"
Ace looked back at her, eyes cold but determined. "I have a new shirt and my jeans aren't damaged any more than normal." He said, pulling open the boutique's door. "All I know is, as far as the timeline I know of is concerned, there isn't supposed to be anything attacking Ponyville today."

And with that, he shot off, Spike hot on his heels. The two of them quickly made their way to the market square, where they saw an orange Earth-Pony with a blonde mane and tail kicking at a timberwolf, a smaller, yellow Earth-Pony with a scarlet mane and tail, both of whom wore simple work jeans and tank tops.

"Applejack!" Spike shouted, charging the timberwolf and tackling it to the ground. Ace ran over to the mare, speaking quickly.
"Ma'am, take your sister and run. We'll handle this."
Applejack nodded before grabbing her sister and sprinting away. "C'mon, Apple Bloom." she said. "Let's get ya safe."

Ace turned to see Spike throwing the timberwolf off of himself, noticing the purple smoke billowing from the wolf's eye's.
"Spike!" he called, the drake rolling out of the way of the wolf lunging at his throat. "D'you see that in it's eyes?"
"Yeah, that's not good."

Ace rushed forward, hoping to get a decent kick at the timberwolf's jaw while it was distracted. However, it dodged at the last second before using incredibly surprising strength to buck him clear into the air, his body sailing towards the Everfree.

Chapter 3

(Ace's POV)

Ow! Dammit, that hurt! Though, considering the fact that I'm currently flying through the air instead of lying dead with my entire torso turned to mush, I guess I should be thankful. Wonder where I'm going to land?

Wait... was that a cottage at the edge of the Everfree Forest? That can only be Fluttershy, and given my angle in regards to the cottage...
...
......
...................

"Castle of the Sisters, here I come!"

"Gah! Ow! Dammit all!"
Needless to say, crashing through several layers of stone walls and floors, no matter how old they may be, is painful. Thankfully, I seemed to be slowing down, so I should stop soon.

smack

And of course as soon as I say that I land, spine first, on a rock. Ouch. Luckily, all of the previous pain seems to have numbed my body, so it wasn't too bad. I chose to ignore the fact that the force should have at least affected how I moved as I stood, taking in my surroundings. I seem to be in an area of the castle that hasn't been shown in the show yet, but that's to be expected, as they haven't actually shown a lot of it.

Wow. I almost forgot I was in Equestria. Granted, it's an anthropomorphic Equestria, but the Multiverse Theory dictates that in the Multiverse, any and all possibilities can and will happen, so that isn't too much of a shock. But Equestria! How? All I remember is putting on this stupid amulet that I bought from that guy at the Con. Could he be behind this? But how? And, more importantly, why?

Oh well, I'm not gonna dwell on that right now. First I need to find a way back to Ponyville so I can help Spike with that weird Timberwolf. Now, let's see... I seem to be in some kind of cell, what with the rusted bars across the doorway, so I'm probably down in the dungeons. I just hope that rust has weakened the bars enough, otherwise I'm gonna have to climb my way out.

I walk over to the bars in question, inspecting them at the edges. They seem pretty weak, but looks can be deceiving, as the Manticore in the first episodes proved. Now, let's see, the bars seem weakest at the edges, so if I just... and push right here... kick that out... and voila! Freedom! Now, let's see about getting out of the castle proper...

"...young Master..."

...what was that? I swear I just heard a voice. A quiet, raspy voice, almost like someone hasn't had a drink for over a thousand years.
"Who's there?" I ask aloud, despite the fact that it could be some kind of body-snatcher. What, I'm paranoid sometimes!

"...young Master...help me...please..."

Okay, now I have to know what it is.
"Where are you?" I say, hoping that they could hear me as I slowly walked down the hallway. Rusted bars to ancient cells lined the walls, shadows seeming to stretch on forever within. Perhaps some kind of light-hating creatures were inside, sealed away by great magics for their crimes against the populace. Or maybe they were just shadows.

"...I'm in...the armoury...hurry..."

As the voice replied, I rounded a corner that lead to the first actual door in the hallway, an almost completely faded plaque fixed upon it, no doubt once stating the purpose of the room beyond with great pride.

"A... Mo... Y? Amoy? Armoy? Armoury! Hold on, dude, I'm coming!"
I charged forwards, barging into the door and knocking it off it's hinges instead of just stopping to open it. No one was inside, just a short sword lying on a large chair.

Granted, considering everything else I had seen so far, the fact that both sword and chair were in pristine condition caught me off guard, but otherwise I was just confused. Who was calling me? I shrugged, turning to leave, when I heard the voice again.

"...so you're not...going to...help me?...I should...have known..."

I whipped back around, scanning the room. My eyes fell on the sword again. Was that who was talking to me? It wasn't so far off, I mean, Equestria, but still...

Screw it.

"You're the sword, aren't you." I deadpanned.
"...Yes..."
"And you want me to take you off of that chair?"
"...Yes..."
"The chair that you were probably left on for a good reason.
"...When did we...start playing...twenty questions?..."
"When I realised I was talking to a magic sword, that's when." I snapped. "Now tell me why you were left here!"
"...I was...forgotten..."
"And why should I take you? You belong to someone else."
"...my wielder...he is dead...killed by the Nightmare..."

Oh. Well then.

"...Fine." I said, moving to the chair. I reached out, stopping just above the hilt.
"You're not going to drain my life force, are you?"

The sword took a moment before answering.
"...no..."
"So why do you need my help? And why do sound so weak?"
"...I was forged...by ancient Changelings...to house...a spirit..."
"What kind of spirit?"
"...one...of Courage...I feed...on bravery..."
"Like a Changeling feeds on Love?"
"...yes..."
"Well okay then!"

And with that, I grabbed the hilt of the sword, raising it dramatically over my head. I felt the energy flowing from my heart, through my arm, out of my hand and into the sword, multiple different colours visible through my skin for the briefest of moments.

"That feels so much better!" the sword... said? Must be some kind of psychic communication. Cool. "It is so rare for every element to be present in one being!"

... okay, that threw me off.

"Whadd'ya mean, 'every element'?" I asked, brow arched sceptically.
"Why, the Ten Elements, of course. Don't tell me that ponies forgot about the Ten Elements in a mere thousand years!"
"You'd be surprised what these ponies forget in a thousand years, dude." I said, shaking my head. It truly was ridiculous. "They thought Nightmare Moon and Discord were just fairy tales until they broke free."
"How could Celestia allow such a thing to happen!?" He - he sounds like a he - asked, genuine anger present in his 'voice'.
"Dunno. But that's for another day, there's something that I need to do, and you can help me with it."
"Of course, young Master. How may I serve you?"
"I need to get back to Ponyville ASAP. There's a monster attacking. D'you know the fastest way there?"
"Why not fly?"
"I can't."
"Of course you can! The Air element is present in your veins! Merely focus on channelling the very Air itself through me, and I shall guide you from there."

Gotta admit, flight would be pretty cool, and the whole 'Air element' sounds familiar. For now, though, I'll just do as he says. Focusing on the feeling of the air on my skin, I pictured it feeding into the blade in my hands. A breeze picked up, visible lines of wind flowing outwards in front of me, curling around the room and back to travel up my arms and into the sword. Before my eyes, the sword erupted in a cyan glow, the blade becoming longer, thinner and lighter. It was like it weighed absolutely nothing! As the light faded, the blade was revealed to have transformed into what appeared to be a katana, though the handle was that of a lightsaber.

"Cool. Now what?" I asked, eager to get in the air.
"Now you must envision my blade slicing the air itself, and you stepping through the gaps."
"So it's not so much flight as it is I'm walking on air?"
"Precisely."
"Cool."

Quickly running back to the cell that I landed in, as I knew that one had a path leading outside, I ran through the steps in my mind.

Step 1: Envision the blade slicing the air.
A cyan energy enveloped the blade, allowing me to actually see the air. I quickly swiped sideways, creating a small 'step' of solid air for myself. I grinned, already loving this power.

Step 2: Will yourself to walk on the air.
A tentative step up proved that I was successful in this step, and I quickly repeated Step 1 before lifting myself up again. I was now roughly four metres above the ground, so I quickly faced the hole I had made my entry through and continued, eventually building up the courage to create steps as I ran. Eventually I found myself floating above the castle, attempting to find which direction Ponyville was.

"So what's you're name?" I asked, the sword in my left hand as my right shielded my eyes from the sun.
"Beg pardon, young Master, but you have not given me one." he replied.
"Well what did your old master call you?"
The sword was silent for a while before answering. by that time I had already started moving, having saw a rainbow blur shooting up then down in the distance.
"My old master... he could not access my alternate forms." he said, obviously deep in thought. I stayed quiet, allowing him time. "He knew of them, but he was unable to use any of the Ten Elements. However, he still thought of me as a useful ally, even in my Core form. Because of this, he named me Core Strike."
I thought that over for a moment. Clearly, the sword's old master had loved it, even without it's full power. Striking from it's very Core, defending it's master as much it could.
"I like it. Has a nice ring. But I feel like you should have a name for each form..." I looked down, seeing my feet running on the wind... "A-ha! I know!"
"What is it, young Master?"
"I shall name you using the most refined language I know! Your Air form shall bear the name Kaze no Ran'na, Wind Runner!"
"By your will, young Master."
"And please, dude, call me Ace."

(Third Person POV)

Ponyville Market was completely destroyed, all because of a single timberwolf. Spike was thankful for his draconic heritage, as that meant that despite the amount of time he had spent fighting this thing, he was still pretty far from getting tired. Rainbow Dash and Twilight had arrived not long after the beast had catapulted Ace away, working together to make sure it stayed in one place while Spike took care of the fighting himself. Applejack had returned shortly after ensuring her sister's safety, along with Rarity and Pinkie Pie, and all three had began helping Twilight and Rainbow with keeping the perimeter. Fluttershy was helping the citizens.

Spike growled, baring his fangs and claws as he charged the timberwolf again. The wolf also charged, fangs dripping with rancid saliva as it pounced at Spike's face. Spike dropped to his knees, sliding under the wolf and raking his claws against it's underside. When he was at a safe enough distance, he turned to see what damage he had done and winced. The deep gouges in the timberwolf's wooden body were quickly disappearing, leaving no sign of injury whatsoever. Even with a regular timberwolf's regular ability to heal dismemberment, they could never normally repair any damage to the wood itself. This was no ordinary Timberwolf.

"What the heck is that!" Rainbow screeched, pointing at the air above the Everfree Forest. All heads, even the Timberwolf's, turned to observe what Rainbow had seen - a furless Earth Pony running on nothing, twenty feet above the ground!
"Is that Ace?" Rarity asked, squinting slightly. Her eyes widened after a moment. "It is Ace! I didn't know he could fly!"
"Who's Ace?" Twilight asked.
"A human, like from the other side of the mirror." Spike replied. "I don't think he's from the same place though. He seemed to know about us."
"Is that what that guy was?" Applejack asked, scratching her head. "Ah thought he was some kinda bald Earth Pony."
"Guys! Twitchy tail!"

At Pinkie's outburst, the five mares and one drake promptly scattered, attempting to find any cover they could. The timberwolf just looked around, confused, before a long, thin blade plunged through the back of it's head, the tip emerging from it's lower jaw. The wolf's eyes widened before the purple smoke faded away. The wolf's body slowly began to fall apart, wooden chunks falling to the ground. Ace pulled the blade of Kaze no Ran'na from the wolf's wooden skull with a flourish, the blade emitting a cyan flash of light as it reverted to it's Core form.

A tense silence filled the air as Ace inspected the blade of Core Strike, wiping some sap off. Rainbow Dash broke the silence accordingly.
"So awesome!"

Chapter 4

(Ace's POV)

Interesting thing about timberwolves: they have tree sap for blood. I suppose that's to be expected, but still. Kaze no Ran'na glowed cyan again before shrinking, gaining weight once more as it returned to Core Strike. I don't know why this doesn't freak me out, but it doesn't. I was distracted from my thoughts by a rough, boyish-but-still-feminine voice squealing.

"So awesome!"

I whipped around, eyes falling on the five mares and the drake. I absently started twirling Core Strike in my right hand and put my left in my pocket, smiling at them. Rainbow and Applejack fell into fighting stances, Twilight's horn lighting up despite her neutral expression. Spike merely sighed, shoulders slumping, and Rarity pinched the bridge of her snout between her thumb and fore finger. Pinkie Pie was Pinkie Pie, by which I mean she was instantly smiling, stood by my left side (thankfully away from the sword) and greeting me.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I've never met you before! Spike says you're a human, but you look like a bald Earth Pony to Applejack - despite your mane, I mean. I don't care what you are, though, because now I can throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party and a 'Thanks for Saving our Lives' party!" she said, not a single breath being taken during. I just smiled, Core Strike still spinning.

"Ace, I do believe that the constant twirling of a deadly weapon in the immediate vicinity of the pink one is making the others nervous." Core Strike said. The others all jumped, looking around for the source of the voice. I guess he decided not to hide.
"Right, I should probably stop that." I replied, catching the sword in a reverse-hand grip and thrusting it into the ground. "You don't mind being in the dirt, right?" I asked.
"Not at all, Ace." he replied.

The incredulous looks I received told me that they were not expecting the sword to be talking. Neither was I, girls, neither was I. I just shrugged and waved before speaking.
"To anyone who hasn't met me yet," I began. "Hi. My name's Ace. The sword's name is Core Strike right now, but when it transforms it's name changes to Kaze no Ran'na."

Twilight's horn lost it's glow the minute I put the sword down, and Applejack came out of her stance. Rainbow Dash, however, still looked ready to charge me despite her previous declaration of my awesomeness. Twilight stepped forward and cleared her throat.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, most recent Princess of Equestria. These are my friends Rainbow Dash," The prismatic Pegasus grunted in response.
"Applejack,"
"Howdy." The orange mare replied, tipping her Stetson.
"Pinkie Pie."
"Hi!" The pink mare waved enthusiastically.
"And I believe you've already met Spike and Rarity."

"Now," Twilight began, smoothing down her lilac cardigan. "The matter at hand is: what do you intend to do now?"
I blinked once. I blinked again. "Say again?"
"What do you intend to do? If what Spike says is true, then it is clear that you are not from any world that I know of."
"Ah, right. Of course. Well, I suppose the first thing to do would be..." I paused, looking up to see the sun still high in the sky. "...contact Celestia, let her know who and what I am. Maybe ask for a licence of whatever if I'm gonna be keeping Core Strike."
"Excellent idea, Ace. We don't want the Princess' thinking you're a threat, do we?"
"No, we don't. "

When I looked up from our impromptu convo, Spike was already belching green flames on a rolled up parchment. Nobody else seemed phased by it, but I was honestly scared of the drake right now. For some reason, I could see thousands upon thousands of screaming souls in the flame. The sounds seemed to resonate within me, echoing around my head, getting louder and louDER AND LOUDER AS IT WENT!!!!!!!!!!!

"OH DEAR GOD MAKE IT STOP!!" I screamed, clutching at my ears in pain. The others looked at me in shock, but I didn't care at this point. The sound was still deafening, but I could tell it was beginning to die down. Core Strike's voice cut through, - I know that's a terrible pun, shut up - silencing the screams as he spoke.
"Ace, it's okay. I can hear them too."
"What is that!?"
"That is Spike showing us his Element." the sword explained, extending his psychic range to once again include the mares and drake.
"Element?" Twilight asked, head tilting to the side in curiosity. "What element? We gave the Elements of Harmony back to the Tree, and Spike wasn't even a bearer!"
"Not the Elements of Harmony, the Ten Elements."
"The whosit?" Applejack asked.
Core Strike sighed. "The Ten Elements are the ethereal powers upon which this world is based. There are ten of them, each of which can be channelled by the creatures of this world. Some creatures can control certain Elements easier than others. For example, all Pegasi can channel the Air Element, which grants them their abilities to fly and manipulate weather, even if they don't realise it."
"So which of these 'Elements' did I show you, Ace?" Spike asked. "What made you freak out so much?"
"I-I don't know! It was like... in your fire! There were voices! Screaming voices!"

Everyone present, even a few other ponies who had come out of their homes, looked at me as though I had grown a second head. A young, orange Pegasus filly with a messy purple mane - who I remembered to be Scootaloo - leaned over to a white Unicorn filly with a two-tone pink and purple mane, stage-whispering to her: "Someone has issues!"

Spike looked somewhere between intrigued and disgusted by my description.
"So what Element does that fall into?" the drake asked.
"Undead."

Wait a minute... if two of the Elements are Undead and Air... that's it! I knew something was familiar!
"Say, Twilight. Does the term 'Skylands' mean anything to you?" I asked, looking to the sky. I have a feeling the Princesses will be here soon...
"It sounds familiar, but... ah! I might have a book about it in the castle library!"
"Then that's where we'll go. Where'd you tell the Princesses we'd be?"
"In the castle."
"All the more reason to go then! Onwards!"

And with that, and a quick flourish of Core Strike, I left for Twilight's castle with Twilight and Spike. The other girls all excused themselves for one reason or another, though I think Rarity said something about adding a scabbard to my 'shopping list'.

Wow. Gotta say, I didn't expect the castle to be so... shiny! I mean, I know it's crystal and all, but still...

Twilight walked ahead, pausing in the foyer before turning left. Spike cleared his throat, coming to a stop beside me and pointing to the right. Twilight smiled sheepishly and turned, walking down a hallway to the right. Spike rolled his eyes at me.
"Three weeks." he said, leading the way to what I assume is the library. "She had Canterlot Castle memorised in an hour, but it's taken her this long just to remember where her bedroom is."
"Well, it's a big adjustment, I'd imagine." I replied, letting out a small chuckle.

We walked in silence for a time, Spike occasionally having to redirect Twilight. Eventually we reached the library, the only room so far that had wooden floors. Twilight walked in and lit her horn again, causing dozens of books to start floating around her. Spike spread his wings and flew to the second floor, searching through those shelves. I examined the signs labelling each section.
Magical Theory. Might look at that later, but I doubt it's in there.
Equestrian History. Promising, but considering the track record of the show, I'll leave that for later.
Fiction. Bingo.

I strolled down the Fiction aisles, organised into alphabetical order - thank you Twilight - until I found the "S"es. Fingers tracing the spines, I perused the shelves until Twilight walked around the corner.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, eyeing the book that my hand had stopped on. "I thought you were looking for a book on 'Skylands'."

I merely pulled the book out and showed her the cover. She promptly facepalmed.

"'The Skylanders - Protectors of Skylands'" I read, smiling smugly. Twilight turned and walked back into the centre, sitting at a table that I hadn't noticed before, and I followed her. Spike hopped down to sit with us, a comic book under his arm. He sat in a seat opposite me and began reading his comic, which I noticed was a bit more gruesome than the one in the Power Ponies episode. Oh well. Twilight levitated a book on long-range teleportation in front of her. Shrugging, I leaned back and began reading.

Long before Celestia and Luna's reign, before the foundation of Equestria, before ponies even lived, the world was much different to what we see today. The land was not connected - rather, it was a series of floating islands across a vast ocean of clouds. Many a fantastic creature lived in these lands in the sky, from Snarglebums to Gustoquicks.

I burst out laughing, falling off of my chair as I did so. Twilight looked up, rolled her eyes and leaned over, scanning the book until she reached my slayer.
"'Snarglebums'?" she asked, giggling slightly. "'Gustoquicks'? What in the name of Celestia are those?" She looked to Spike for an answer.

Spike had joined me on the floor, howling with laughter.

Twilight shook her head, still smiling. "Boys."

Pulling myself together, I picked up the book again and resumed reading.

The most common sentient race of this land were the Mabu, who closely resembled the modern-day Ferret in appearance. One day, the various Mabu royal families realised something at a council - they had yet to name the land! And so, King Rizzo the First put forth the suggestion of 'Skylands'!

Why am I not surprised that one of the annoying Mabu characters was royalty. I skipped ahead a bit, reaching a chapter titled The Skylanders.

Skylands, despite it's peaceful appearance, was constantly plagued by evil forces hoping to take over. To combat this, the lone tribe of Portal Masters that called Skylands home decided to put together elite groups of heroes. They called these groups the Skylanders!

Out of these groups, the best of the best were lead by Master Eon. This force was lead by the ancestors of all Dragonkin: the drake of Darkness, Tenebris, and the dragoness of Light, Lux. These Dragons lead the first elite team of Skylanders - the Giants!

Over the years, forces of evil continued to threaten Skylands, and the Skylanders were always there to uphold the peace.

I stopped reading there, flipping through until I found more on the Elements.

There are ten Elements from which a Skylander's power comes from. Legend has it that, when the last Skylanders sacrificed their very existence to combine the islands of Skylands, effectively creating Equus as we know it, the Elements - that previously only the Skylanders could wield - were imbued into the world itself. From that day onward, all creatures born had a minute connection to the Ten Elements - some races having a higher connection to a certain Element than others.

The Elements have always had a direct connection with the survival of the world, and are as follows: Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Life, Undead, Magic, Tech, Light, and Dark.

Contrary to popular belief, not all creatures are direct iterations of their Element. For example, you don't have to be undead to bear the Undead Element. An example of this would be Cynder, one of the last noble Purple Dragons alongside her lover Spyro. Rumour has it that they had an egg before giving their lives to form Skylands, though it is unknown what happened to the egg if it did exist.

I looked up at Spike. You know, his colours did seem to be darker than in the show. His spines were longer too, curled and sharp rather than domed and blunt. Is it possible that he's a descendant of Spyro and Cynder?

"So what'd you find?" Twilight asked, making me jump. Spike looked up too, placing a bookmark in his comic.
"Well, apparently Equus wasn't always whole." I proceeded to tell them everything I'd learned from the book, as well as my suspicions about Spike. The drake in question looked surprised at this, as though he had never expected to have come from such a heroic lineage.
"Wow." Spike said, scratching the back of his neck. "Guess the whole Element thing isn't so weird after all."

At that moment, Twilight's horn flashed purple. Twilight shot up, rushing out of the room. I looked to Spike for answers.
"Magic doorbell." he said.
"Ah."

And that was when shit went down.

Chapter 5

Author's Notes:

Crossover with Misunderstood and Mutated by TheGoldenDragon.

Twilight returned a few minutes later with two Alicorns right behind her, both taller than herself. The first was a deep, midnight blue, an ethereal mane that shone like the night sky atop her head, unmistakably Princess Luna. She wore a simple, light blue button down shirt underneath a black bomber jacket, with black jeans covering her long, slender legs that ended in a pair of dark grey combat boots. She rocked the rebel look, if I do say so myself.

The taller of the two, a stark white sporting a tri-coloured pastel mane that flowed in a nonexistent breeze whom none could mistake for any other than the illustrious Princess Celestia, walked just behind and to the left of her younger sister. She wore a simple, red spaghetti-strapped top coupled with a yellow knee-length skirt and matching sandals. A hair clip of her Cutie Mark sat just above her right ear.

I got out of my chair, grabbing Core Strike as I did, before dropping into a ‘Swordsman’s Bow’, as I liked to call it. Of course, I mean I dropped to one knee and presented Core Strike’s handle to the diarchs, eyes to the ground. I heard Twilight gasp a little and Spike sigh, but nothing from the Princesses until Luna took the sword from my hands. I risked a glance up to see her staring at the blade in awe.

“Could…” Luna began, one hand flying to cover her mouth. “Could it truly be?” she asked. Celestia also seemed to recognise the sword, and I was sure I saw tears in her eyes before she turned to me so fast I swear there was a mini sonic boom. With eyes full of anger, she levelled an accusatory finger at me.
“Where did you get that sword?” she asked with the kind of anger that was invisible to anyone but her target. Which, unfortunately, was me.
“In your old castle, your highness.” I replied, suppressing my fear for now. I could soil myself later. “It called to me when I crash landed in the old dungeons, and I found it in the armoury.”
“It’s true, Celestia.” Core Strike said, causing the mare in question to turn back to him. “I was dying, and called to him in my desperation. Whilst cautious at first, Ace gladly accepted me and allowed me to feed upon his courage.”
“Is this true, creature?” Luna asked.
“Yes, Princess Luna. Core Strike has since helped me to defend both Ponyville and my own psyche.” I replied.
“What do you mean?”

I proceeded to explain what had happened when I witnessed Spike’s flame, as well as the connections I had made from the book. At some point we had all decided to once more sit around the library’s central table, and Luna had returned Core Strike to me, much to Celestia’s chagrin.
“So,” Luna began. “If what you say is true, then Spike is a descendant of two of the creator's of Equus? And he possesses one of their powers?”
“I believe so, yes.” I replied. “Considering how powerful it resonated with me, I’d say he may even have the potential to follow in their footsteps.”
“Whatever do you mean?”

I stood up, leaving the sword on the table, and began pacing. Pacing always helps me think about things, and I’d need to think to be able to come up with a way to explain it. During my pacing, something small and hard impacted with my head with enough force to knock me over, but not enough to hurt me. Looking around, I saw a fist-sized cat’s-eye marble looking stone, the ‘eye’ being composed of a deep purple and blue. It seemed familiar, though I couldn’t quite place it. I reached over and picked it up, preparing to glare at whoever it was that threw it, but as soon as my hand made contact a voice rang out in my head - not unlike when Core Strike was talking, but it did block out all other sound.

”Let those who value the freedom of all sapient life and the beauty of nature call upon the name of Medulla in your hour of need and I will lend aid… Or if you want to hang out or whatever that’s cool too.”

I wouldn’t mind meeting this Medulla guy, I thought.

The moment that thought ended, the stone seemed to glow for a second before a portal opened in the air.
A pink and purple form fell slowly through the portal, as the same voice from the orb said, ”So we got another newb here.”
“Oh. My. God,” I said, awestruck by the bipedal feline in front of me. “A freakin’ Mewtwo.”
“What’s a Mewtwo?” Spike asked, eyeing the visitor. He cracked a smirk before adding, “And where’s Mew One?”
The Mewtwo looked directly at Spike and said flatly, “Yes, but his name is just Mew. That cagy ass has been in hiding for quite some time.”

“Spike,” I growled, gritting my teeth in a nervous smile. “Have some respect. He’s got the power to turn your brain into a pile of mush if he wanted to.”
“And he has no affiliation to the Elements,” Core Strike added from his position on the table, rattling slightly. I walked over and picked him up, and the blade jolted forwards, forcing me to point it at the Mewtwo. “I do not like him.” the blade stated, and the mental image of furrowed brows filled my head, brought on by his tone.
”Slow down Mister Pointy, I’m not going to hurt anyone unless they attack me first. By the way, my name is Medulla.” He said holding out his paw. I forced Core Strike down, keeping him pointed at the floor as I shook Medulla’s hand.
“I’m Ace, nice to meet you,” I said, smiling. “The sword is Core Strike, and these are Spike and Princesses Celestia, Luna and Twilight.” I paused, running back over the encounter for a moment. “What’d you mean by ‘another newb’?”

He smiled at that, ”Let’s see, you called me here on accident and said nothing about who you were or why you needed me. And I’ll ask you one question to prove my point, What does the word Displaced mean to you?”
“Displaced? Sounds like Misplaced, gonna assume the ‘D’ is from ‘Dimension’ or something.” I paused for a moment, frowning. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with that jerk-off that sold me this damn thing, would it?” I asked, pulling the amulet from the inside of my shirt and holding it up for Medulla to see.
”I don’t know about the Misplaced thing, Displacement is a physics term for a change in physical location. And yes the guy who sold you that sent you here. There are many of us scattered throughout the multiverse, mostly from earths to Equestrias.”
“Oh, wow,” I said, baffled. “That’s… that’s… actually a huge relief. At least I’m not alone in this. So what other Displaced do you know?”

Medulla scratched his chin, ”Well I’ve met Jason Hughes, he uses an Omnitrix; Max, she’s a time manipulator; and Ryuko, from Kill la Kill. They’re nice people. I know of a few others, Gilgamesh is very helpful from what I’ve heard; Typhon's another great person apparently, a few others too. I can’t really name any to stay away from, but you’ll find out about them on your own more than likely.”
“I’ll have to keep my eye out for those guys, and I’ll be sure to be careful around any new guys.”
”You’ll also want to make sure that Core Strike doesn’t offend anyone. Some people can be very sensitive, I knew that he was just being protective so I didn’t mind it too much.” Medulla said giving Core Strike a grave look.
“... I shall abstain from insulting any other visitors …” Core Strike ‘grunted’, and I chuckled at him.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t,” I promised. “If he does, I’ll let his blade go dull.”
“You will do no such thing!”
“Try me.”

”So do you need anything, I’d hate to leave without helping you first. You do still need a token so others can summon you if needed.”

“Hold on,” I said, closing my eyes in concentration. “I’ve got an idea. Core Strike, I’ll need your help with this.”
“What do you need?”
“I need to focus my Elements into an object,” I explained, pulling off the amulet. “How do I do that?”
“Just focus on the power and envision it being pushed into the amulet.”

I strained for a minute, pushing a small part of each of my Elements into the trinket. After a moment, I felt the final Element - Dark - slide into place, and let out the breath that I never realised I was holding.
“D-done…” I stammered, holding it out. “Someone… Someone get me a chisel.” A chisel appeared in my hand with a flash of purple light, and I carefully carved my message onto the back of the amulet. When I finished, I held it out to Medulla, who took it and read the message on the back. I smiled at my creativity.

‘I raise my blade in honour of you, the Displaced of the Multiverse. Place this amulet around your neck and call for Ace, and my blade will pierce the hearts of your foes!”

After a second Medulla tipped his hand dropping the amulet, but before it could reach the ground it disappeared. I smiled, nodding in appreciation before stumbling backwards. Apparently forcing fragments of your power into an object takes a lot out of you. Who knew? I was just getting my breath back and was about to ask if there was anything else we had to do when a massive explosion shook the building, sending anyone not already on the floor - or floating - tumbling down.

“What was that!” I shouted, scrambling to my feet and grabbing Core Strike before I raced out the door, Medulla hot on my heels. We shot through the halls and out the main door, coming across a tiny green gremlin with razor sharp teeth that immediately tried to eat my foot alive.
“The hell!?”” I shouted, kicking the thing off. “What’s a Chompy doing here!?”
”Guess I should have told you most Displaced have to deal with the baddies from what they're based off of.”, Medulla said swatting away a group of Chompies with a blast of psychic energy.
“Well isn’t that just awesome!” I shouted, slashing through a forest green elven spearman that tried to sneak up on Medulla. “I have to deal with Skylanders villains!” I shifted Core Strike into Kaze no Ran’na, the katana blade ripping cleanly through a line of large crow-like creatures in leather armour. I looked back to see Medulla throwing a huge tank armed with an oversized chainsaw with his Psychic, frowning at the sheer number of enemies around us. “Who’s behind this, anyway?” I muttered, blocking a charge from a dog-like creature that seemed to be made of rocks and plants. That was when a huge shadow flew over, casting the battlefield in darkness. I looked up, seeing a huge airship flying over the town. I frowned, looking around and spotting Medulla slamming two large tanks that looked like faces together.

“Medulla,” I shouted, catching the Mewtwo’s attention. “I’m going for the ship. You gonna be okay?”
”That depends, is it okay if I outright kill these things?”
“Go ahead, they’ll just sort of poof into smoke.” I demonstrated this by decapitating a bomb-throwing turtle, watching as it turned into a cloud of purple smoke and dissipated.
”Okay, so no need to hold back then.” Medulla said enthusiastically as jets of fire sprang from his hands. I smirked before slicing at the air, creating a staircase for me to to climb up to the airship with.

When I came level with the deck atop the airship, I saw something that made my blood run cold. The Doom Raiders themselves, with two extra members.

Chef Pepper Jack, a huge, walking red pepper in a chef’s outfit, one hand covered with a massive oven mitt and an oversized egg beater strapped to his back. Fire Element.

The Gulper, a massive blue slug monster that grew exponentially whenever he drank ‘soda’. He clutched a large golden trident in his barnacle-encrusted hand, a tiny golden crown atop his head. Water Element.

The Chompy Mage, an old, white-bearded man with an unhealthy obsession with the tiny biting monsters that were his namesake. A chompy hood, a chompy staff and a tiny chompy puppet were just a few things that made this guy a wacko. Life Element.

Dreamcatcher, a massive, blue-skinned, disembodied head with the power to enter people’s dreams and hurt them from within. She almost looked like a small child, with the massive pink bow and the braces. Air Element.

Doctor Krankcase, a troll mechanic that replaced his own legs with four wooden spiderlegs. A red leather duster and top hat, as well as a pair of emerald green goggles, further labelled this guy as the ‘mad scientist’ type of villain. Tech Element.

Wolfgang, a punk-rock werewolf that wielded a harp made of bone. He had discovered the musical note for pain, and exploited it as a way to get what he wanted. Undead Element.

Night Shade, the best thief in Skylands, dressed entirely in purple leather with a mask covering the top half of his face. One of the new guys, he stood to the side, clearly not a part of the ‘true squad’ yet. Dark Element.

Luminous, the ultimate sufferer of Scotophobia who wished to rid the world of all darkness - in the literal term. His bright yellow face was framed by stark white headgear, robes of the same colour adorning his body. It was almost ironic that he was in a team with a Dark elemental. Light Element

And last, but not in the slightest least, was the Golden Queen, a woman made of pure gold, dressed in a golden dress with golden regalia. She saw all of the world's gems and trinkets as hers, even going so far as to use her powers to turn people and subjects into gold. Earth Element.

"Oh, no..." I whispered, sweating in fear. "I-I can't… I can't believe it!"

Golden Queen looked to me, and her pure crimson eyes locked onto mine.
"Ah, child. Have you come to kneel before the one true Queen?" the golden woman asked, smirking sinisterly. "Or perhaps you wish to put up some form of futile resistance?"
"I-I…" I stuttered, before slapping myself and dismissing the solid air below me, causing me to fall towards the ground. The cackling of the Doom Raiders rang in my ears, haunting me as I fell.

[Medulla’s POV]

After cutting through the third swarm of Bob-omb looking things with shark faces, I realised something. These individual monsters were basically so weak that any attack was a waste on them, groups were a bit harder simply because they would all make a beeline for me or any civilian. I was still rather exhausted from earlier and couldn’t continue fighting this battle of attrition. So I decided to go the top of town hall and break one of my rules and take direct control of some of the beasts and stir up some chaos. Their minds were so weak I knew I would feel no guilt about taking over these things. They had a level of intelligence even a poodle would mock, and the survival instincts of lemmings. They followed orders of the more powerful blindly even if the saw dozens of their own die, so I saw no difference between what I was doing and whoever commanded them.

My plan worked better than expected, there was infighting even among minions I didn’t control. Just as the invading force had been drastically reduced I heard the noise of something falling very fast, I looked up and saw Ace plummeting back to earth. He was falling completely out of control. I didn’t even think about what to do next, I rocketed up to catch him, cushioning the force with my telekinesis.
“What’s happening?” I asked, as he woke out of his stupor. The boy stared at me for a moment before replying.
"D-d-doom Raiders…" he muttered, still not completely with it.

I knew it would still be a bit before he could respond clearly, so I searched his mind for relevant information. What I found was not good news, individually they could be a decent challenge - all of them together and me not at one hundred percent meant this was going to end horribly if we didn’t help the evacuation.

”Wake up!” I yelled in his mind. I began to descend back into the town as Ace became more aware of the situation.
"W-wha…" he stammered, quickly pulling himself together. "Oh, dammit! Medulla, quick! We have to get the civilians out of here, we're nowhere near ready to face something like the Doom Raiders!"
”They’re already working on that, the best we can do right now is speed things up. Twilight seems to be leading the evacuation, she really is the most organised out of the bunch.” I said, letting some pride into my voice.
"Well if the show holds any merit here then yeah, she is." Ace paused, glancing around before pointing to a large group of mummies with stone hands, feet and heads that looked almost Mayan. “Grave Clobbers at eight o’clock!” he shouted, quickly diving out of my grip and running across the air towards the hulking beasts.

I wanted to go after him, but I knew my energy would be best used by getting as many ponies out of town as quickly as I could. I teleported over to where I sensed Twilight, of course my sudden appearance startled her, but I quickly asked, ”Where are you evacuating the ponies to? I can teleport small groups almost immediately.”
“There’s an old castle in the Everfree Forest that we’ve been fixing up, they should be safe there.” the Alicorn replied, gesturing in the vague direction of the forest.
I nodded, and replied, ”I know the place.” I then teleported away to gather as many of the towns ponies as I could.

[Ace’s POV]

I dropped to the ground, sprinting towards the gargantuan golems as Kaze no Ran’na shifted back into Core Strike. To my horror, I spotted a white mare with spiky, electric blue hair through a gap between the beasts, backed into a corner as they closed in. Narrowing my eyes, I put on an extra burst of speed and dropped to my knees, raking my blade across one of their legs.

I slid to a stop beside the mare, spinning around and slashing out at the remaining Grave Clobbers. To my dismay, the strikes only seemed to annoy them, and I now found myself trapped with the mare. I merely stood between them, holding Core Strike in a defensive manner.
“Are you okay?” I asked, glancing back at the mare. A small trickle of blood ran down her forehead, slipping behind a pair of purple shades, and a few bruises adorned her bare arms, but otherwise she seemed fine.

Before she could answer, a Grave Clobber attempted to smash us into the ground, and I raised Core Strike in an attempt to deflect the blow. The massive force behind it’s fist cracked the ground below me, and despite having held it back the rebound of the force sent Core Strike flying from my hands. I grunted in annoyance, putting my fists up and preparing to go out swinging.
“Well,” I sighed, ducking under a high - to me, at least - swing from a Grave Clobber. “For what it’s worth, it was nice coming to Equestria.”
“You ain’t leaving yet, muchacho,” a scratchy, feminine voice sounded from behind me. I turned back and immediately felt my jaw drop.
The mare was stood there, a massive, black and blue rifle in her hands that ended in a large speaker framed by a golden gear. She swung the rifle around, aiming it at the nearest Grave Clobber and squeezing the trigger. A soft, thumping beat sounded for roughly two seconds before gaining more energy, pulses of energy erupting from the rifle's speaker to the beat of the song and causing the creature to explode into a pile of glowing purple, green and yellow orbs.

I stared, slack-jawed, as the mare turned her song of destruction to each of the other Grave Clobbers, laughing madly as her hair whipped around. Time seemed to slow down as I watched, the light reflecting off her glasses.
I snapped out of it when I heard Medulla say, “You’re welcome”, before another voice cut in singing before a chorus burst in. I felt my face heat up, spinning around and glaring when I saw the Mewtwo smirking at me from afar before he teleported away.

I sighed, turning back to see the mare leaning casually on the rifle and grinning at me.
“So,” she said, adjusting her shades and paying no mind to the blood still trickling down her face. “What’s up with the freaky sword? Turned into a… thing… when I grabbed it.”
“Yeah, he does that.” I replied, coughing awkwardly. “I’m Ace, by the way.”
“Vinyl Scratch. Now, what’s going on around here?”
“See that ship?” I pointed at the airship, waiting for Vinyl to nod before continuing. “That belongs to the Doom Raiders, the worst villains imaginable from a time before Equestria even existed.”
“So it’s just like a normal day in Equestria, then?”
“Eh, pretty much. But these guys might actually be tougher than Tirek.”
She paled at that - if you can believe a stark white anthropomorphic Unicorn can pale, that is. She wordlessly handed me the rifle - which converted back into Core Strike as soon as she let go - and sprinted off, heading towards a large house on the outskirts of town.

“Wait!” I cried, chasing after her. “What was that?” I asked Core Strike, knocking away a Drow Elf Spearman as I ran.
“She possesses an abnormally high affiliation with the Tech Element, Ace” he replied, amazement in his voice. “As much as the Skylanders did, if not more!”
“Uh, where’s an Animus when you need one?” I groaned, sliding to a stop in front of the house I had seen Vinyl run into. The sight of a destroyed door greeted me. I crept forward, shifting Core Strike into Kaze no Ran’na as I passed though the doorway. The inside had fared no better, as the entire room - which appeared to have been split into two in the first place - had been ransacked. A piano, smashed to bits. A sound system, sliced in half. And on the back wall, a massive whole, the debris have fallen inwards.

I found Vinyl rummaging through a pile of rubble. When I walked up to her, I saw her pulling a small pink bow-tie out, tattered and torn. She held it as though it were the most precious thing in the world.
“Uh… Vinyl?” I asked, placing my hand on her shoulder. “You okay?”
“O-Octavia…” the white mare muttered, shuddering as tears ran down her face. “Sh-she can’t be…”
“I’m sure Octavia’s fine, Vinyl.” I said, trying to reassure her. “She’s probably been evacuated with the others. We can ask Medulla when we see him.”

Just then Medulla appeared in front of us, ”Time to go, kids, you’re the last and that Airship will be landing a few seconds.” he said just before teleporting us to the Everfree Castle. Vinyl didn’t waste any time, dashing off with the bow still in her grip, calling out for Octavia. I turned to Medulla, wiping some sweat from my brow.
“You wouldn’t have happened to see a grey mare with a charcoal mane, would you?” I asked.
Medulla pulled a glass bottle full of water from nowhere and drank deeply from it while saying, ”Not that I remember, Octavia might be working her way through the forest right now. I could only grab those that were still in town.”
“Right,” I sighed, looking around. “Thanks for the help, Medulla. I should be able to handle things from here.”
”All you have to do is say, ‘Medulla, our contract is complete’ to send me home.” Medulla said clearly exhausted.
“Medulla, our contract is complete. Keep youself safe, buddy.”
”You too, call anytime you might need some help.” He declared as a black portal swallowed him.

I stood there for a moment before sighing, turning and making my way through the throngs of ponies in an attempt to find Twilight. Maybe she could help me get a search party together, just to make sure nopony was lost in the forest.

Purely for their safety.

No other reason.

Certainly not for Vinyl.

She probably doesn’t even remember my name.

“Ace!” a scratchy, feminine voice called out. I turned and saw Vinyl being held down on what looked like a small cot, struggling against the nurses. “Ace, c’mon! Get these guys offa me!”

“Why me?” I groaned. “Why, by Luna’s moon, did the universe decide to pick on me.”

Chapter 6

[ 3rd Person POV ]

Ace strode purposefully through the corridors of the ancient castle deep in the Everfree, Spike at his side. Shadows danced across their forms as they moved through the patchy lavender light cast by small balls of magical energy along the walls, though neither of them paid them much mind.

“So what’s the situation?” Ace asked, one hand gripping the handle of the sword strapped to his hip.
“You heard about the explosion at Zecora’s place?” Spike retorted. He waited for Ace to nod before continuing. “Well, we caught the guy who did it sneaking around the gorge below the castle.”
“How close was he to the refugee’s?”
“Not very.”
“Good.”

The man and the dragon turned a corner, nodding briefly to a random pony before descending a flight of stairs, eventually ending up in the castle’s dungeons.
“I thought the dungeons weren’t in working order?” Ace asked, looking to his draconic companion sceptically.
“They’re not,” the drake huffed. “We’re improvising.”

They turned another corner, finding Twilight sat on a small stool, book in hand and horn alight. Further inspection revealed that a large, purple wall had been constructed out of raw magic, fully blocking one of the many dilapidated cells.

“Twilight,” Ace spoke, gaining the mare’s attention. “How’s the prisoner?”
“Quiet,” the lavender alicorn replied, motioning to a large, black-bladed, double-bearded axe with a scarlet handle. “We confiscated that from him, but we couldn’t get him to give up his mask. He’s made no attempt to escape so far.”
“Thanks. I’ll be seeing him now.” Twilight nodded, creating a small opening in the wall, which Ace quickly stepped through. It sealed behind him, locking the man in with the mysterious prisoner.

He wore a simple pair of ash-grey sweats over his charcoal fur, bandages covering his entire upper half and his feet. Ace couldn’t see his face, as the way he sat, cross-legged with his head down, caused his long, shaggy, charcoal-coloured hair to fall forward, the scarlet tips blocking any view.
“So,” Ace began, staring down at the prisoner. “Let’s talk.”

With it’s whirring, cough of an engine going full, the TARDIS slowly manifested itself at the edge of a thick forest. Once it had fully arrived, the Guardian poked her head out with a smile.

“Ah, here we are!” she said in her lightly accented voice. “Universe EN101. Should be quite a nice one here.”
Her companion, Screwball, followed the Time Mare out into the new world, looking around. To her disappointment, it seemed to be just like the world she knew. “This one doesn’t seem very different,” Screwy sulked.
The Guardian couldn’t help but giggle a little at the filly’s reaction. “You must remember, Screwball, not every universe is going to be drastically different from your own. Now come along, we have much to see.”

Screwball sighed, following the elder mare in the direction of a nearby village. The two trotted along, though the Guardian certainly had a cheerful spring in her step, making the filly smile and giggle. Seeing the strange alien so peppy always had a way of making her smile. Once the pair reached the edge of the village of Ponyville, though, the Guardian forced the filly to a stop by putting her hoof in the way.
“Huh? Why aren’t we going in?” Screwball asked, a little annoyed her curiosity was left unfulfilled.
“I may have made a small miscalculation in coming here,” the Guardian said, looking wide-eyed into the town.

Screwball’s head tilted in confusion before looking as well. What she say was mind boggling to say the least. The citizens of the town, which appeared to be made entirely of solid gold, certainly were not ponies by any means. One would easily say that they were monsters. And they were everywhere, not a single pony in sight.

“Uh, Guardian, are there supposed to be monsters in Ponyville? ...an is it supposed to be covered in gold?” Screwball asked, a mixture of fear and confusion running through her veins.
“No, no there are not,” the Guardian said plainly, watching as a bomb-shaped robot with razor sharp teeth walked by not twenty feet from them. “Just back away slowly, sweetie. Let’s get back to the TARDIS before any incidents arise.” Screwball nodded, walking backwards with the Guardian until there was no chance of being seen. Together they raced back to the alien ship, locking the door to prevent any from entering by chance.

“What the heck were those things?!” Screwball panicked, rushing to the Guardian’s side as she flipped switches and pressed a variety of commands into the central console. “There were monsters! In a GOLDEN Ponyville! What is going on?!”
“We’ve arrived later in the timeline than I had originally aimed for,” the Guardian said as she read over a constant stream of data and code on the screen. “Much farther.”
“But if the monsters have Ponyville… then where are the ponies?”
“That’s a good question,” the Guardian nodded. “Let’s try and find out, shall we?” The mare quickly sped around the console, switching switches, dialing doodads, and wheeling wheels. “Increase the scanner’s range a little, search for any equine-ish life, and… voila!” The screen lit up, showing their position with a brown dot and many series of coloured dots further into the forest. “See? Look at that! Looks like all the ponies fled to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Convenient for us! Don’t bother strapping in, Screwy! This is gonna be a quick trip!” The Guardian pulled the lever, causing the TARDIS to lurch and send Screwball screaming into a pile of junk.

The ship rumbled and shook for a good long moment before settling back down again. “Well, that went better than expected,” the Guardian said with a bright smile.
“Pleh!” Screwball exclaimed as she spat out a very large screw. “Yeah, it went swimmingly.”
“Oh… sorry ‘bout that. Maybe I should have had you strap in.”
“Ya think?!”
“Ah ah ah, no lip, missy. Now come on, adelante!” the Guardian proclaimed as she cantered to the door. Screwball sighed, using her propeller hat to fly out of the junk and follow the Time Mare. Guardian opened the door, only to have the sight of several, anthropomorphic ponies pointing spears at her and Screwball while the others watched from the sides with a mixture of fear and disbelief.

“Well… this is going to be fun.”

[A Few Minutes Prior…]

Ace sighed, rubbing his temples in exasperation.
“So you refuse to give us anything?” he asked, receiving a low grunt from the prisoner. “Ugh, fine. Stay in here for a few days, see if that loosens your lips a little. Twilight!”

On cue, the wall opened up again, resealing once more once Ace had stepped out. The man opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted when a stallion in shoddy leather armour sprinted round the corner.
“Princess Twilight! Ace!” the stallion shouted, pausing to catch his breath. Ace raised his brow at the stallion.
“Yes, Private? What is it?” Twilight asked.
“W-we have a situation in the old throne room,” the guard wheezed. “Two strange creatures that look like quadrupedal ponies just appeared.”
“What!?” Twilight shot to her feet, moving to sprint out of the room before Ace stopped her.
“Twilight, stay here. You know full well that the barrier gets weaker the further you are from it.” He paused, looking to Spike. The drake nodded, moving to leave. “Me and Spike’ll check this out.”
“...Fine,” the princess huffed, sitting back down and re-opening her book.

Ace turned, sprinting out of the dungeons and heading for the throne room as fast as he could. They had set up a medical bay in there, so if someone was attacking, they would have the easiest time in there.

The man shot around a doorway, skidding to a stop in the centre of the room with Core Strike drawn. He faltered when he saw a small, wooden shed sat where the thrones would have once been, a mare and a filly stood in front of it with at least seven different spears pointed at their throats.
“...You’ve got to be kidding me…” the man groaned, striding forwards. “Are you really some kind of Time Lord Displaced?” he asked, dismissing the guards with a wave.
The mare giggled with a bright smile. “Well, you’re partially right. A Time Lord I am, but a Displaced I am not. I’m the Guardian and this is Screwball. It is nice to meet you, Ace.”
“Not going to ask why you know who I am,” Ace groaned, rubbing his temples. “What are you doing here, if you don’t mind my asking.”
“To see you, actually,” the Guardian replied, never losing her cheery disposition. “You see, I’ve travelled the multiverses for a long time and after so long, I’ve decided to share my knowledge about you lovely little Displaced.” As she spoke, the Guardian cantered around the room, even grabbing a piece of fruit from a guard with her magic, taking a bite without stopping her speech. “So, I have little Screwball here- oh this is delicious, Sweet Apple Acres? Ah, doesn’t matter- Anyway! Screwball has always been curious about your people, so! Here we are, ready to learn about your exciting… monster filled world. You know, I had that planned out better in my head; odd how things always sound so much better in there, quite remarkable isn’t it?”

Ace stared at the mare for a moment before sheathing Core Strike with a sigh.
“And what exactly is it you want to know?” he asked. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re not exactly in the best of places right now. The Doom Raiders are active after I have no idea how long - honestly, they should actually be dead right now, they’re that old - and we’ve been forced out of Ponyville. Ponies here are either hurt or traumatised, some died in the attack, and some even went missing entirely.”
Hearing all that quickly made Screwball shudder and hide behind the Guardian, who sneered at the Displaced. “I can understand you’re going through a rough time at the moment, but that is no way an excuse to make a little filly upset. If need be, I can help you. But you’ll have to allow me to do so. Is that acceptable?”
“Sure,” Ace sighed, running a hand through his hair. “We could use all the help we can get. I’m not even sure where Celestia and Luna are.” He paused, looking to the Time Lord with tired eyes. “And I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset her. I haven’t slept since the attack, and now we have some… guy that blew up Zecora’s hut, but he won’t talk!” The man slumped down on an empty cot with a groan. “I didn’t sign up for this…”
“Won’t talk you say?” the Guardian said, a hint of intrigue shining in her eyes. “Now that sounds like something I can help with. Show me the way, good sir!”

Ace stood, wordlessly leading the two visitors towards the dungeons. He motioned for them to wait for a moment when they reach the final bend, turning it himself to find Twilight still buried in her book.
"You know," he said, stopping beside the mare. "I never did ask what you were reading."
"I thought I'd go through the book you found on Skylands," Twilight replied, not looking up. "Who did you say the attackers were? The 'Doom Raiders'?"
"Yeah, that's them." He paused, scratching his chin. "Hey, I think I have a way to make Mister Silent talk."
"Really? How?"
“That would be me,” the Guardian spoke up, spooking Twilight.
“Uh…” Twilight stared at her for a moment before leaning in towards Ace, whispering in his ear. “Why is she a quadruped?”
“Multiverse,” he said simply. “Now, we need to see the prisoner again.”
“Oh, right, sure.”

With that, Twilight opened a small hole in the magical wall, allowing the man and the mare through. The Guardian stopped though, telling her little companion to wait with Twilight.
“Aw, but I wanna help!” Screwball whined.
“Not with a criminal, Screwy. I’m not putting your life in danger on purpose, after all. Just wait with the funny looking Twilight.”
“Hey!”
“Fine,” she huffed, sitting on her rear end with her forehooves crossed.
The Guardian quickly followed Ace into the cell, stopping a couple feet from the crook. “So, this is who we’re dealing with? Has quite the criminal look, if I do say.”
“Yep,” Ace grunted, poking the prisoner with his toe. “Blew up Zecora’s hut. We found him skulking around in the gorge below the castle, thankfully not too close to the refugee camp we had set up down there.”

The charcoal-coated man below them looked up for the first time, revealing a silver-grey coloured metal mask covered in crimson flame decals, cut so that it wrapped around his long snout, following his jawline. His amber-coloured eyes shone like flashlights out of the dark holes of his mask, shock and disbelief evident to any who looked into them. After a moment, the shine faded, and he lowered his head once more with a huff.
“Well that’s new,” the Guardian said with a slight smile. “But certainly not the talkative sort. Hmm, perhaps a little magic will change his mind.” Her horn lit up with a golden aura, the same aura appearing around the criminal. “Oh, OH, oh mhmm, oh that makes sense.” Her horn powered down. “Well, the spell I was trying to use isn’t going to work. There’s no way to get him to talk. Because, well, he can’t. We have a mute on our hooves here.”
“Mute?” Ace asked, kneeling down. The prisoner glared up at him. “Huh. So how do we question him? Pen and paper?” The mentioned objects appeared in a lavender flash. “Thanks Twi!” He handed them to the prisoner, cutting his hands free. “Now you behave and write down your answers, okay?” He stood back up, straightening out.

“First off - what is your name?”
The prisoner wrote down his answer before showing the paper. Don’t have one.
“How is that possible?”
I denounced it.
“Why?”
Wouldn’t you like to know?
“This isn’t getting me anywhere…” Ace turned to the Guardian. “Help me out?”
The Guardian smiled and moved a little closer to the prisoner. “Well, you’re not being very friendly and helpful, now are you? But, I suppose we could always skip the interrogation. After all,” her horn lit with magic again, “There are… alternatives to extracting the information we need. I’ve been told breaking down the walls of one’s psyche is quite painful, most are never even the same again. But if you want to do it the hard way…”
The prisoner quickly scribbled something down, taking a little more time than before. The Guardian smiled a little smugly as he held up the pad.
I have witnessed my entire species be burned to ashes by my own hand. I have little to no control over the powers I hold if I don’t remain perfectly stable in mentality. I am constantly terrified of harming anyone that I get close to just by sneezing. So if you want to unleash an unstable, raging inferno on all of the ponies in a twenty mile radius, then by all means do your worst.

Ace read over the words with a frown, staring into the prisoner’s cold, stony gaze when he was done.
“Who are you…” he whispered before turning to the Guardian. “I don’t think he’s bluffing. What do you want to do?”
The Guardian never lost her smile. “Well, that’s easy.” She turned to the prisoner. “You see, I have a vehicle that can take me any where and any when I want to go. It would be quite simple to shove you in and just take you to the most horrifying of places. There’s an entire planet filled with bugs that like to latch on to living organics and burrow into their skin to make homes. Or how about a cluster of asteroids where the inhabitants dismember each other as a way of saying hello?” She pushed her muzzle right into his face. “I have seen and done things that would make you go white with fear and I know how to make you experience the greatest pains that even Void Dwellers avoid. Do not toy with me mister, now tell us what we want to know.”
The prisoner gave a sigh as he began writing again, holding the pad out once he was done.
To be honest, I have no idea what it is I’m being accused of. I’ve done nothing wrong. I was walking through the gorge trying to find a place to sleep. I started sneaking when I noticed there were ponies because I didn’t want to risk their safety, so I was going to leave as fast as I could before some blue mare with a rainbow-coloured mane barrelled into me shouting about Zecora - who, by the way, is a dear friend of mine that I would never even think of harming.

Ace stared into the prisoner’s eyes for a moment before nodding, turning to the wall.
“Twilight, drop the barrier,” he called, banging his fist on the purple structure. “He’s not our guy.” The barrier dropped, revealing Twilight with her face still in her book and Screwball still sat pouting.
“About time,” the lavender mare stated, not even looking up. “I was beginning to get a migraine.” She turned a page. “So what ha-”

She was cut off as an explosion shook the ground, throwing her off of her chair. Ace grabbed the wall, managing to keep his balance.
“What was that!” the Alicorn yelped from her new location on the ground. Ace blushed hard when he looked to see Twilight in a very compromising position, rear end raised and skirt hiked up.
“You might want to fix yourself, Twilight,” the Guardian said, covering Screwball’s eyes. “There are children around.”
“Hey! What’s going on? Why can’t I see?”

Twilight blushed, flipping over and pulling the hem of her skirt down as low as it could go in an attempt to save her dignity. She glared at Ace, who merely stared at the wall with a dazed expression.
“Well?!” she demanded. “Aren’t you gonna go see what that was?!”
“...white…” Ace replied, barely above a whisper. He snapped out of it just in time to dodge a bolt of lavender magic, scrambling out of the room with Screwball and the Guardian, dodging magic bolts the whole time.
“You might want to consider switching to pants, honey!” the Guardian called out to Twilight.

Ace spied a small platoon of guards sprinting past the turn-in for the corridor, eyes narrowing as one of them slowed to a stop before creeping into a side door, seeming not to notice them.

“What’s he doing…” he muttered, moving to the door with the two visitors in tow. He crept forward, slowly reaching out for the door handle, his fingers curling around the cold metal. He motioned for the mares to keep quiet, carefully pulling the door open and slipping through. They were shocked to find themselves in an empty utility room - no guard in sight.
“Oh, this is what I love about this old place,” the Guardian said in a chipper tone. “There’s a hidden passage in here, well they’re everywhere really. Hmm, but where’s the switch? Whatever those guards are up to, I don’t think it’s for the betterment of their own kind.”
“It better be,” Ace growled, running his hand over the walls. “I seriously hate it when someone betrays their home. It just feels like the worst thing you could do.” He sighed in annoyance, leaning closer to the wall. “Where is that…”
“Found the switch!”

Ace whirled around just in time to see Screwball push on a brick in the back wall, causing a trap door to swing open below her hooves, dropping her into the dark space below. “Woohoo!” I heard her scream out in joy.
The Guardian walked over to the hole and looked down. “Those sisters and their fun.” She shook her head with a chuckle. “Well come on then, Acey! Adelante!” She jumped in after her companion. Ace shook his head with a sigh and followed.

The man was surprised to find himself landing quite quickly, the feeling of cold metal appearing beneath him as he began to slide downwards. He could just make out the faint shape of the Guardian ahead of him, eyes widening when she began to rise. As he followed, however, he realised that the slide curved upwards, so he reasoned that there was some kind of enchantment altering the gravitational pull of the slide.

Before long, Ace saw a small square of light ahead of him, tumbling out not long after the Guardian and landed on top of the mare, eyes shut from the surprising brightness of the room.
“Well now, Ace, I never expected you to be so forward,” the Guardian chuckled.
“Wha…” Ace muttered, eyes inching open as he adjusted to the light. As soon as he looked down, however, his eyes seemed to work just fine, snapping open as his face turned a dark crimson.

Below him, with her hind legs open and him between them, was the Guardian, a cheeky, half-lidded gaze directed right at him. He scrambled back, apologising profusely as he did so.

The Guardian laughed heartily. “Oh calm down, child. There is no worries. I wouldn’t expect you to do anything so crude.”
Screwball tilted her head. "I don't get it."
“L-let’s keep it that way,” Ace stuttered, pausing when he realised where they were. “Wait… is this a bedroom?”
The Guardian looked around the rather spacious room, noting there were several symbols of a certain celestial body. “Well I’ll be, we’ve landed smack dab in Celestia’s bedroom!” She laughed a little. “Oh old Celly, you never cease to amaze.”
“No kidding…” Ace breathed. “Hey, is it hot in here?” he added, before clutching at his head, groaning in pain.
Screwball sniffed the air, sticking out her tongue, then put her hoof up. “There is fire nearby,” she said in a spy voice. “I can feel it!”
“Well, this is Celestia’s bedroom,” the Guardian pointed out. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the little minx played with fire on her downtime.”

“Oh, god!” Ace suddenly shouted, causing the mares to jump slightly. “That’s not just a fire, that’s a freakin’ inferno!” He looked around the room frantically, before his eyes locked on the old, four-poster bed pushed against one of the walls. He rushed forwards, gripping the corner and pulling with all his might, but to no avail.
“Here!” he shouted, grunting with strain. “It’s here! I know it is!”
“What’s here?” Screwball asked, watching Ace as if he were stranger than her own father.
“Just be quiet and learn,” the Guardian smiled, allowing Ace to do his thing.

The man eventually grew frustrated with his lack of progress, standing back and glaring at the bed.
“Move!” he shouted, drawing his sword and slashing at the posts. “Move, dammit!” The blade glowed sky-blue for a moment, morphing into a longer, lighter weapon: a katana. He took a few steps back, breathing heavily as he pulled the sword level with his eyes. The blade glowed sky-blue once more, and Ace let out a wordless roar as he slashed at the air, sending himself flying forwards and cutting the bed perfectly in half, straight down the middle. He staggered back again as the two halves fell away from each other, revealing a hidden metal box covered in strange runes that glowed red with power.
“Oh wow! Hidden treasure!” Screwball zipped over to the box, hugging it tightly. “I call dibs!” A sizzling noise came out, causing the filly to sniff the air again. “Something’s cooking!” She looked down to see her belly turning red and smoke coming off. “Oh, it’s me!” A couple moments ticked by before… “YEOWCH!” Screwball shot off and started bouncing between the floor and ceiling.
The Guardian couldn’t help, but laugh uproariously. “Oh Screwball, you nutty filly you.”

Ace crept closer to the box, sweat dripping from his brow.
“Is…” he murmured, narrowing his eyes at the box. “Is that…”

“Yes, Portal Master.” The three turned to see the guard - an Earth Pony with a red coat and white mane - they had been tailing stood in front of a wardrobe, sneering at them. “Golden Queen knew Celestia would have hidden it here, and now you’ve lead me right to it!”
“So not only are you traitors, you’re flat out rude,” the Guardian sighed. “Typical henchmen syndrome. Honestly, you’d think guards would have more class.”
“This is a Skylanders universe,” Ace sighed, raising his katana and falling into a battle-ready stance. “All of the villains are assholes, no matter how minor. Just look at Kaos.” He glanced to the Guardian, then to Screwball. “Either of you ladies know how to fight? Or do you like to run like that other guy?”
“Violence is so uncivilized,” the Guardian chastised. She smirked and put herself in front of Screwball. “Good thing I don’t care about being civilized.”
“Actually, the Samurai were pretty civil.” Ace twirled his sword. “They believed in the honour of a fair fight, and would take their own lives if they dishonoured their opponents.”
“Are you really giving a history lesson to the time traveler?” she asked with a deadpan.

“Right, of course…” He paused, looking up to see the guard stood there fuming. Literally. “Woah! You okay there, hotshot?”
“Don’t patronise me, you disgusting creature!” He paused, steam blasting from his ears and nose. “You and those abominations need to leave our world alone! You foreigners are the problem with Equestria, and the Golden Queen is going to purge you all from our land!”
“And yet,” the Guardian said, strutting in between Ace and the guard, “It’s not Ace the ponies are hiding from. It’s your Queen that they fear. Fear never leads to a proper leadership. It always fails in the end because there is always gonna be those that won’t give in to the fear, they won’t be frightened by you and your queen. They’ll tear you down and throw you out. You are the problem with this and any country. Ponies who are afraid of the unknown and would rather have it destroyed and forgotten than embrace the change and make something better of yourselves. How despicable!”
“And he’s racist, too.” Ace spat. “Never could stand a racist. True dirt of any economy.”
“Rrraaaaaaaarrgghhh!!!!!” The guard burst into flames, shocking all three of his opponents as he roared to the heavens. “Enough! I've had enough talk!" He narrowed his eyes, flames flickering across his hands. "Let's dance."

With that he punched at the air, sending a fireball at the Guardian. “Oh dear!” she shouted, ducking underneath the ball of fire, causing it to hit the far wall… and completely melt the stone. “Well… that’s a thing.” The Guardian looked to Ace. “I suggest tactical retreat.”
"We can't." Ace replied, slashing vertically in front of himself and blocking another fireball with the solid air created. “We can’t let whatever’s in that box fall into the Golden Queen’s hands. Especially if it’s what I think it is.”
“Oh blast,” the Guardian groaned. “I am really not meant for this. Robots and drones, I can fight. A living fire creature… I don’t think I have anything that could help with that.”

“I AM NOT LIVING FIRE!” the guard cried, erupting into flames once more. “I HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE POWER OF A VOLCANO! AND I WILL HAVE THE ETERNAL FLAME!”
“Aaaand there’s the conformation I was looking for.” Ace said, "We need to move the box.”
“Well if it’s the box we need to move…” The box was covered in the Guardian’s golden magic, lifting into the air. “Ha ha! The box isn’t magic proof! Do you know what that means?”
“We get the heck out of dodge?” Screwball asked innocently.
“Eeyep! To the window!”

Ace took the lead, smashing whatever glass remained as he leapt, swiping his blade across the sky. Screwball was the first to follow, and Ace breathed a sigh of relief when she landed safely on the invisible platform he had created.

The Guardian, however, did not.

“Oh dear!” she shouted, falling further down. Thankfully, she landed safely on a cloud that had been passing by. “Hoo! Good thing I remembered that old cloudwalking spell, eh?” She looked up and saw Ace and Screwball up above. “Mind giving a lady a lift, dear boy?”
“Uuh…”
“Ace, use your Life Element.” Kaze no Ran’na spoke up, causing both Screwball and the Guardian to jump.
“Finally decided to wake up, huh?” Ace joked, shaking the blade a little. “Okay, how does Life work then?”
“Picture yourself as a greenhouse. Allow nature itself into your being.”

Ace did as instructed, watching with a grin as the katana glowed a vivid green colour, becoming much more flexible and taking on a longer appearance. The grip molded around his hand, vines entangling his fingers and wrist, improving his grip immensely. When the light faded, a long green whip laced with blood-red thorns sat in his grip.

“Nice!” Ace shouted, snapping the whip at a nearby flagpole and grabbing Screwball. “A thorn vine!” He jumped, swinging downwards towards the Guardian with a grin. “Togetsuru!” He landed on the cloud without a problem, flicking his wrist to call the whip back to himself. “Hop on, milady,” he added, a cocky grin gracing his lips.
“Well aren’t you so coy now,” the Guardian smirked, jumping into Ace’s arms. “Be careful, I’ve got a hot box.” She floated the box into view just to make the point. “And if memory serves, I know just what to do with this little trinket.”
“All I care about is getting it and that guard away from the refugees,” Ace said, using his new whip to swing off the cloud and towards the ground. “This’ll definitely be handy, though.”

At that moment, an explosion of fire erupted from the bedroom they had just escaped from, a flaming form rocketing out and hovering in the air above the castle.
“Oh, come on!” Ace cried, throwing his free hand up. “He’s the Pony Torch?! So not fair!”
“Stop whining and get us back to the dungeon!” the Guardian reprimanded. “We have to get back there on the double!”

Ace immediately began sprinting towards the castle’s main doors, using the whip to pull one open before they reached it. He looked back to the Guardian as a thought crossed his mind.
“Wait,” he said, frowning. “Why are we going back to the dungeon when I just said we needed to get him away from the castle?”
“How else do you fight fire?” Screwball piped up as she flew by his head, using her propeller hat to float. “With fire, of course!”
“Very good, Screwball,” the Guardian praised. “Do try to keep up, Ace. Your adventure has only just begun, can’t have you getting behind already.”
“Wait, what kind of fire is in the-” He stopped, eyes going wide in realisation. “The prisoner!” he cried, speeding up and using Togetsuru to swing around the corner into the stairwell leading to the dungeons. When he landed at the bottom, however, he found the room empty. “Dammit! I forgot we released him!”
“He’s still in his cell, silly,” Screwball pointed out.
“Oh…” Ace turned to see that the prisoner was, in fact, sitting in his cell, simply polishing the blades of his axe. He ran over to the mysterious man, kneeling down in front of him.

“You have to help us,” he said, panting heavily. The man just looked at him. “I know we put you in here against your will, but you said it yourself. You try to keep ponies from getting hurt.” He paused to point at the box still floating in the Guardian’s magic. “Well ponies are going to be hurt because of that box. There’s a madpony out there, and we can’t let him get what’s in the box. We need your help in getting rid of him.”

The man just sat there silently for a moment before lunging forward, tackling Ace to the ground just as the stone above where he had been previously melted completely, the blazing guard floating down through the hole.
“Well isn’t this nice,” he sneered, launching a fireball at the door, causing it to melt in on itself, sealing the four of them in. “You’ve gone and trapped yourselves for me.” He sneered at them, holding out his hand. “Now give me the box.”

The Guardian pulled out her sonic screwdriver and activated a high pitch scream that slammed into the fire elemental’s ears. He spasmed, covering his ears as they bled. “That won’t stop him for long,” she cautioned, looking at the prisoner. “Please sir, these ponies need your help. If you don’t, then they, and countless others, will die. Your power will save them. Fulfill your destiny!”

The man stared at her, snapping to the guard when he let out another roar of pure rage, his flames bursting outwards as he did. Ace, Screwball and the Guardian braced for what would surely be an extremely hot end, but nothing came. When they opened their eyes, they saw the prisoner stood before them, arms wide as a wall of flames sprung from wall to ceiling, absorbing the guard’s flames. When the onslaught ended, the prisoner brought his arms together, clapping as the wall folded in, slamming together and sandwiching the guard between them. He raised his axe, the blades bursting into flames that doubled their size as he sprinted forward, performing an upwards sweep that sent the guard flying though his own hole and through many others like it, eventually rocketing off into the distance.

He turned back to them, resting the now-extinguished axe on his shoulder.
“Awesome!” Screwball cheered, pumping her hoof in the air.
The Guardian wore a simple smile, presenting the box to the stranger. “What’s inside is meant only for you now. Take it and become the stallion you were meant to be, Inferno.” A ghost of a smile danced on Inferno’s lips as he reached out, only for Ace to stop him.
“Woah, woah, woah! Slow down!” he cried, waving his arms in between the two. He turned to the Guardian. “I don’t disagree that we need to do something with this thing, but I don’t think anyone should have that kind of power in their body. It’d tear them apart!”
“His own power isn’t enough, Ace,” the Guardian argued back, determination in her eyes. “He simply needs to acquire some of its power to give him the boost he needs. You must have faith in your new ally. Inferno is only the first of many.”
“I know,” Ace sighed, shocking the mare. “That’s why I don’t want to risk it.” He turned to Inferno, staring into his piercing yellow eyes. “If you join my cause, you have to promise me that this power is last resort only. I don’t want to risk it unless it’s absolutely necessary, okay?” Inferno gave a soft smile before nodding. Ace replied in kind before sighing, running a hand down his face.

“That still begs the question of what we’re gonna do with it, though,” he said.
The Guardian stopped to think on that too. Only it was Screwball who had the idea. “The Elements!” the little filly shouted to near screech levels.
Ace stared at the filly as though she was crazy… er. “What?” he asked.
“The Elements of Harmony! Keep them together! No one would dare attack those ponies if they were holding these elements!”
“Uh…” Ace sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “It’s a good idea, Screwball, but they’re gonna be attacked on a daily basis along with the rest of us. Maybe even more so. They’re a threat to the Doom Raiders.” He paused, staring off into the distance for a moment before snapping his fingers in an ‘aha!’ fashion. “But we can still use it! And the rest of it’s kind!”
“How?” the Guardian asked. “You just said they were last resort. Did you change your mind?”
“No! We can build a Core of Light!” Ace began hopping excitedly around the room, eliciting a giggle from Screwball, who quickly joined him. “But this one will be better! We can connect it to the Tree of Harmony! Then it won’t just have the Eternal Sources, it’ll use the Elements of Harmony too! It’ll be a… a….”
“A Core of Harmony!” Screwball cheered.
“Yeah!”

“Yes, yes all very exciting, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves here!” the Guardian reminded them. “We still have a flaming madpony to deal with do we not?”
“I get the feeling he’ll go running back to his masters with his tail between his legs,” Ace said. “And they don’t take well to failure. We won’t be seeing the Pony Torch anymore.”
The Guardian groaned and sighed at the same time. “Alright, alright. But I have a gut feeling you’re gonna regret letting him get away.”
“Eh, even if they do keep him around, we’ll be ready for him next time.” He clapped his hands, moving to the sealed doorway. “Question now is: how do we get out of here?”

Inferno placed his hand on Ace’s shoulder, pulling him out of the way. He then took up a batter’s stance, axe bursting into flames once more before he swung, the heat cutting clean through the slag. He wrestled the axe out, repeating the action a few more times before a decently-sized hole had been cut out. The four climbed out, dusting themselves off before making their way back to the throne room.
“Well,” Ace called, gaining the attention of the ponies that had gathered there for safety. “The threat has been dealt with!” He paused as a massive cheer rang out. “And we have a new weapon idea to drive back the Doom Raiders!” Another cheer. “And finally, Inferno has decided to help defend us from further attack!”

Silence.

Inferno just grunted, turning and heading back to the dungeons. Ace watched him go sadly before turning to the Guardian and Screwball.
“So what now?” he asked.
“Well, I think Screwball and I have done enough here. It has been wonderful meeting you properly, Ace. Your entry doesn’t do you justice, especially in the looks department,” she added with a wink.
“Th-thanks,” Ace said, blushing madly. “Feel free to visit whenever, I’d love to have you.” He paused. “Your notes! On the Core!”
“Nice save there,” she giggled. “But I suppose a little bit more help from the distant future couldn’t hurt. Step inside, shall we?” The Guardian strode into the small box that was her TARDIS.

Ace followed her without a word, taking in the vast differences as soon as her passed through the doorway. The room he had emerged in was domed, with orange-brown metal walls and struts. A large glass pillar ran through the centre, pulsing green light and surrounded by a large console.
“Huh,” he said simply, striding over to the control panel. “Smaller than I expected.”
“As an old friend taught me, it’s not the size that matters, honey,” the Guardian smirked as she ran through a few of her bookshelves nearby. “Now let’s see if I can find those old files. It’s been a long time in dealing with this form of world. Down here maybe?”
“What are you looking for?” Ace asked, blushing as her tail shifted just enough for him to peek at what was underneath, but only for a fraction of a second. He almost didn’t think it had happened. “You know what?” he added, turning and leaning on a rail facing away from the mare. “I don’t care. Just hurry up.”
“Aha! There they are, the little buggers!” The Guardian stood back to her normal height and held out a manilla folder to Ace. “This should be everything you need.”
“Cool, thanks.” Ace took the folder, rifling through it quickly. He paused, pulling out a folded piece of blue paper with white gridlines all over it. “Is this…”
“Prototype sketches only,” the Guardian assured, having moved over the console. “Can’t make it too easy, honey. Should be enough for Twilight to get to work on something, though. Or yourself, whoever it is that will be making the core. I honestly haven’t read that part just yet.”
Ace hugged the Guardian from behind, causing her to chuckle. “Down boy, alright? I’m happy you’re grateful, but I do need to get back to work.”

“Well like I said, feel free to drop by any time,” Ace said, waving as he moved to the door. “And knowing this thing’s track record, you will!” he added, laughing as he patted the TARDIS’ wall. “Wait… Where’s Screwball?”
“Oops! Almost forgot!” The Guardian trotted over to the door and looked out. “Aw, isn’t that cute? She’s making friends.” When Ace looked out, all he happened to see was Screwball screwing some of the guards out of their paychecks in poker.
“Full house, baby!” Screwball cheered.
“Please, never let me play against her.” He shuddered as she pulled her winnings - THE ENTIRE TABLE - towards her. “Ever.”
The Guardian couldn’t help but laugh uproariously. “Duly noted. Oh Screwball~! It’s time to get going! We have to get you back for school.”
“Coming!” Screwball replied, stashing all of her winnings inside her cap before flying into the TARDIS.
The Guardian giggled once more as Ace climbed out of the machine. “Oh, and Ace? There’s one more thing before I go.”
“What’s that?” the man asked, turning back as he stepped out the door. Before Ace could even react, the mare placed a quick kiss upon his lips before stepping into her machine.
“Until next time, Acey!” The door closed and the engines echoed through the throne room. Within moments, the shed, and the Guardian, was gone.

“Well…” Ace managed before falling backwards, staring at the ceiling of the throne room. “That wasn’t too bad for a first kiss…”

Chapter 7

Author's Notes:

A double crossover - yeah, you heard me right! - with both WezzaHD's story Gems of Power, and my own, Delta Guardian.

“Seriously?” Ace asked, staring at the mannequin in front of him and the crimson chestplate it bore. “After a whole month of this whole thing, which you assured me was worthwhile, you give me a single piece of armour!?”

“You must understand, Darling,” Rarity said from behind him. “It was a long, difficult process to make this alone. It doesn’t exactly help that Ponyville’s only blacksmith was,” she paused, scowling slightly. “He was lost in the attack. Poor Twilight had to scour the Princess’ old library for anything she could find on the art, as well as jury rig a forge and an enchanting station.”

Ace looked behind him, seeing the lavender alicorn in question lay across a small bench, out cold. She really had worked herself to exhaustion for him, the least he could do was be grateful.

“You’re right Rarity,” the man sighed, before beginning to strap the armour over his tee shirt, the metal fitting his form perfectly. “I gotta say, the fit is amazing!” He moved over to where he had left Core Strike, strapping the crimson scabbard to his belt once more, the golden designs complimenting it perfectly. He then slid the blade into its holder before admiring himself in a nearby mirror. “And the designs! What do you thing, Core Strike?”

“You look ravishing, Ace.” the sword replied. “Your new Light Buff Gloves will accent it greatly, as well.”

A moment later, Ace felt a strange pulling sensation, a woman’s voice sounding in his head.

“Help us… please…” the voice said, a small black portal opening on the ground in front of Ace.

“What in Celestia’s name is that!?” Rarity shrieked, backing away from the portal.

“That,” Ace replied, turning back to Rarity with a grin. “Is me being summoned. I’ll be back later.”

“Wait!” Ace paused, inches away from jumping into the portal, and turned back to Rarity. He found her holding out a golden visor with a sheepish grin. “I-I made you this, too. To protect your eyes.”

“Thanks,” Ace said with a smile, taking the visor from the mare. He folded the arms in, slipping the durable-feeling metal into his pocket. With a final wave goodbye, Ace hopped into the portal, and Rarity watched in trepidation as it closed up behind him.

Peridot was waiting at the top of the stairs; she looked around to see if anyone was coming when she heard footsteps. She turned and saw Pearl standing at the door. She readied her blaster while Pearl just stood there. Her opponent's gem lit up as Peridot was blinded by the light.

When it died down, the green gem was completely surrounded by dozens upon dozens of hologram Pearls. They all immediately charged at her as she fired smaller shots. However, many dodged and she was forced on the defensive as she tried to dodge many of their attacks. She was cut numerous times as well as bruised and bumped. Her attacks only got a few as they all kept dodging and then relentlessly slashing at her with their spears. This went on for ages as began to get sluggish. She was backed up against a window she panted, one of the hologram Pearls shot a blast from their spear blowing her out of the window where she fell to the ground.

She landed on her back so as to not crack her gem but it still took everything she had to keep her physical form intact. She rolled onto her front just in time to see Malachite disappear back into Lapis and Jasper while Sugilite released a monstrous cackle. She was surrounded by crystal debris and cracks in the path. She saw two small items in front of her that the found herself drawn to. She dragged herself towards them with her arms to get a closer look. One was a corkscrew-shaped draconic trinket made of a blue metal, an odd gemstone embedded in the dragon’s head, and the other was a small, sky blue pendant shaped like a small oval, wrapped in a silver band. The pendant seemed to have an inscribing on the back, and Peridot took a moment to scan the words.

“I raise my blade in honour of you, the Displaced of the Multiverse. Place this amulet around your neck and call for Ace, and my blade will pierce the hearts of your foes!”

She held it in her hand, she would’ve dismissed it as some family heirloom that some crystal pony had lost while they were running away but she could feel a certain energy radiating off of it. The other trinket seemed to somehow speak directly into her mind when she grabbed it, the voice sounding distinctly female.

“For those of you in need, whether it’s in a fight or you just need some advice, I am here. Merely hold this trinket and call my name and I will be there. I am Zinnia. I am a Draconid. I am the Delta Guardian!”

She was still struggling to keep her form together; she didn’t have time to question what was going on.

“Help us… please…”

Two portals opened in the air in front of the wounded Gem, completely black save for the small stars she could see within. From these portals, two people appeared - a man and a woman.

The man fell from his portal as though hopping off a ledge, dropping to one knee when he landed with a short sword strapped to his belt. Snow clung to his simple crimson chestpiece, the only armour he wore, as well as his simple, dark blue jeans and black hiking boots. He glanced up for a moment before pulling out a golden visor, placing it on his face to protect his slate-grey eyes from the powerful winds that caused his shoulder-length black hair to whip about chaotically, three vertical white streaks still clear.

The woman, on the other hand, fell out of the portal as though she had just pulled herself out of bed, shown by the fact that she wore nothing but a silken purple bra with dark blue lace and matching panties. She flopped to the snow-covered floor, not even bothering to stand up as she began to pull the rest of her clothes on - a pair of black hot pants and a red sleeveless shirt with black markings forming a large, hollow triangle, with a smaller, solid triangle splitting the larger one’s base, both pointing upwards. A pair of red sneakers was pulled on after simple white socks, and a beige-coloured cloak covered everything else once pinned around her neck. She too had black hair, though hers had no highlights and was cut shorter, reaching just past her ears. Crimson eyes found Peridot’s prone form, their owner quickly rushing over with the aid of her purple wings to check on the Gem.

“Oh my God, are you okay!?” the woman cried, gaining the man’s attention. He promptly rushed to Peridot’s other side, searching the surrounding area for her attacker.

“I’m fi- argh!” She found that her right leg didn’t seem to be working properly. “I have.. to get… back up there.” She looked up at the window she had fallen from high up from the castle. She also noticed Sombra-Sugilite getting closer to said castle.

“Oh, no,” the man snapped, glaring down at Peridot. “You’re not going back into a fight when you've been hurt this bad. Hold on.” He closed his eyes for a moment, one hand on his sword, before a golden light encompassed the blade, transforming it into a pair of fingerless white gloves with golden lines running over them, meeting in a small circle on each palm.

“There’s no time, dammit!” She protested. “The condition of my physical form is irrelevant right now. He’s already getting closer to the tower!”

“Hold still,” the man ordered, placing his palms on either side of Peridot’s head. The golden light appeared in both of his hands before seeming to flow over the Gem, her eyes going wide as she felt her injuries healing themselves, if only a little bit.

“Whoa,” the woman breathed, staring wide-eyed at the man. “That was pretty cool.” She paused, squinting at him slightly. “Y’know, you look familiar…” She was interrupted from her thoughts as the huge footsteps got closer. Looking up, her face paled as she caught first sight of the mace-wielding behemoth moving towards them. “What the hell is that!?”

“It’s Sugilite!” Peridot glared at the giant. “And if either of you have anything that can defeat her that’d be great since our last defence just split back into two!”

“I need weaknesses, now!” the man barked, eyes fixed on Sugilite. “What’s she from, how did they stop her before, that sort of thing!”

“Well I’d say try to get both of her halves out of sync, but they’re currently both being controlled.”

“Wait, controlled?” the woman asked, gritting her teeth as Peridot nodded. “Damnit, more mind control! I’ll tear the bastard out myself!” she added, flaring her wings and rocketing off towards Sugilite.

“Damn,” the man muttered, looking up and seeing a hologram Pearl stood in the opening she had blasted Peridot through. “Friend of yours?” he asked, helping the green gem to her feet.

“She’s just one of them.” Peridot sighed. She activated her helicopter fingers and flew up. The man held his hands together, a sky blue light covering his gloves, pulling them together and lengthening them to form a katana, following after her by simply walking up what appeared to be an invisible staircase, sweeping the air in front of him as he went.

“I’m Ace by the way.”

“My name is Peridot.”

“What can we expect from her?” He pointed at the holo-Pearl.

“You can expect more of her; lots more.” As they reached the top of the window, they saw fifty or so more with their spears pointed out the shattered window.

“Unregistered combatant detected.” The one in front of the window said.

“Looks like fun,” the man said with a grin, lifting his sword. “Right buddy?”

“Right, Ace. We shall bring them a swift end!” a voice cried, echoing in Peridot’s ears.

“Who said that?” Peridot looked around.

“Oh, right. Peridot, meet my sword of multiple names. Right now, he’s Kaze no Ran’na. There’s a spirit bound to it.”

“... Not even gonna ask.” She rubbed her temple with her floating fingers. “You wanted weaknesses? Fine, these holograms are fragile as hell but very agile and expert sword fighters.” They jumped through the window and hit the Pearl in front, knocking her down. She nearly faded away, and was about to get up when Ace impaled her with his sword, quickly spinning around and flinging her into the remaining holograms, sending a small cyclone after her. The rest rushed the two. One jumped off of the wall and tried to get Ace from above, but he merely ducked, swinging his sword up and behind and slicing the hologram’s head off, causing it to disappear.

“That’s just creepy,” he said, turning to the remaining copies. “How many did you say there were?”

“Around fifty.”

“Fantastic.”

Zinnia slowed to a stop as she approached the massive, red and grey fusion above.She glared at it for a moment before closing her eyes, taking a deep breath.

“Okay,” she muttered. “Need to be careful. She’s probably a Displaced of some kind, so I can’t hurt her too much.” Zinnia sighed, bringing her hands together. “Focus Energy.”

“And who might you be? I’ve never seen anything quite like you before.” She could hear a deep male voice, but also hints of a female one that sounded oddly like Nicki Minaj. Zinnia looked up, recoiling when she saw the massive grey face of the possessed Sugilite.

“Oh, I’m just a visitor,” she replied calmly, going so far as to yawn. “Gotta say, it’s been pretty boring so far.”

“Well, if you don’t move out of my way I can make things… exciting. Although, I don’t think you want the type of exciting that I possess.”

“Well that depends,” Zinnia flew a little closer, looking the Sombra-Gem in the eye with a lidded gaze. “Are you talking about the type of exciting that happens in the bedroom? ‘Cuz I wouldn’t mind exploring all of you.” She paused, flying back a bit. “Then again, you’ve been destroying this pretty little place, and I don’t think that’s very nice.” She smirked at the monolith, crossing her arms. “So no, I won’t move. Instead, I’ll do this. Dragon Wall!!!!”

With that, Zinnia created hundreds of clones using Double Team before having them all use Dragon Breath at once, the wall of draconic flames engulfing Sugilite in a cloud of purple fury. The fusion didn’t even have time to block as she was bombarded with nothing but pure destructive energy. She stumbled back a considerable distance before regaining her composure.

“Do you really think that will stop me?!” She roared, with the female voice sounding slightly louder than before. “Nothing can! Not Lapis or Jasper and certainly not you!” She gestured towards the two gems lying on the ground behind her. Her one visible eye lit up, causing Zinnia to become trapped in a levitation spell. She was thrown into a building, which Sugilite then brought her fist down on.

“Ha! Nopony can stand against me now!” the Gem bellowed, beginning to walk away while laughing.

Zinnia crouched down, having brought up a Protect just before Sugilite had collapsed the building on her.

“Okay, gotta stay positive…” she muttered, even as she ground her teeth together. “He thinks I’m out now, so I’ve got some surprise.... dammit!” She cried, punching the nearest piece of debris, which shattered instantly. “Well, may as well get back out there.” Zinnia shot out of what remained of the building’s ceiling before calling out to Sugilite.

“Hey ugly!” she cried, reaching into her pocket with one hand. When Sugilite turned around, staring at her in shock, she smirked and pulled out her iPod. “Get a load ‘a my Swagger!” With a tap of the screen, electronic music started playing, with a man simply stating how frequently he shuffled. Zinnia began to walk in place to the music, sometimes moonwalking, sometimes full-on breakdancing.

“... What are you doing?” Sombra- Sugilite asked as the music continued while Zinnia kept dancing. “... Stop it.” She ignored the giant and kept dancing. “Is that music? It annoys me, stop that infernal device!” Once again, the gem was ignored. “I said STOP IT!” The Nicki Minaj voice roared, while the male voice went quieter. She stomped on the ground in anger and annoyance before aimlessly walking around with no clear intent of where she was going. “Where the hell am I?! Where’s that piece of shit Sombra?! What’s all this junk?!”

“Sugilite!” Zinnia cried, gaining the gem’s attention. “I don’t know how long we’ve got, but Sombra’s in your head! You need to fight him!” She flew closer to Sugilite’s face, her hand glowing orange. “I’m sorry about this!” she yelled before swinging her fist round, punching Sugilite in the nose and knocking her over.

“What, you want some? Sombra can wait, I’ll destroy you, ya little brat!” She bellowed as she got up.

Lapis and Jasper woke up, clenching their heads as they tried to remember what had just happened.

“Sombra… Sugilite… The Heart!!” Jasper’s eyes widened. They saw Sugilite in the distance, she appeared to be yelling at someone. They quickly rushed towards the scene and got a full view of what was happening. Sugilite was advancing over what appeared to be… a human! They went faster and Lapis grabbed her, saving her from the impending fist that slammed into the ground where she once stood.

“Y- You’re a human!” Lapis gasped.

“How are you here? How is this even possible?” Jasper was just a confused as Lapis.

“Not now!” Zinnia cried, quickly erecting a Protect as Sugilite threw another punch at them. “Peridot said something about splitting Sugilite up, How do we do that!?”

“We need to get Her two halves to disagree about something, and it needs to be something big enough to make Sugilite come undone.” They looked back at her, she was about to swing her mace but she threw her head back and cringed, Sombra’s voice was becoming more present once again.

“Whatever you did, it’s wearing off!” Jasper warned.

“Look, I can get Sombra to back down for a bit,” Zinnia said, flaring her wings. “But you two need to figure out how to get her split! And don’t watch!” With that, Zinnia shot into the air, gaining Sugilite’s attention as she played another song, dancing erratically along to it. Sombra-Sugilite stared at her for a moment before roaring in confused rage.

“Stop playing those dumb songs before I smash you into pieces!” She ran towards Zinnia.

“... So, you got anything?” Jasper asked.

“Absolutely nothing.” Lapis tapped her chin.

“... Wait.” Jasper got an idea. “What was strong enough to poof Sugilite in the show?”

“What?”

“Her own mace!” Jasper pointed to the object the burgundy gem was pulling towards Zinnia. Lapis grabbed the mace while Jasper ran in front of Sugilite below Zinnia.

“Sugilite!” The gem looked down.

“What?”

“Uuh, let’s think.” Jasper tapped her chin like Lapis did before getting an idea. “I’ve got it! What’s your favourite hobby?”

“Seriously!?” Zinnia cried. “This is your plan!? You’re hitting on her!?”

“That’s a dumb question, it’s obviously relaxing/ fighting monsters.” Two more voices spoke. “I mean, uh, it’s…” Sugilite began to shudder. Soon, a giant water hand made from the snow emerged from the snow behind her holding the mace and slammed it on her head. She erupted into smoke and disappeared, two other gems in her place were falling to the ground.

Ace grunted, pushing back against a strike from a holo-Pearl with his katana. He quickly dropped to his knees, slashing through the hologram’s abdomen and watching it dissolve. The final three ran towards them, but Peridot let out a large blast catching one while Ace slashed the other two. There were no more holograms left. They panted as they were alone in the room.

“... Twilight!” Peridot gasped. “The original has to be with Twilight! She’s down those stairs!” She pointed at the stairs in the centre of the room.

“Right!” Ace replied, racing for the stairs as his sword glowed green, morphing into a forest green whip with red thorns. He flicked his wrist, causing the whip to wrap around a rail in the lowering stairwell, which he then used to swing all the way down.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike were at the top of the castle. They backed away from the real Pearl who was towering over them. There were also four lasers pointed at her while Pearl advanced. Twilight backed away, her hooves touching the area around the Heart which she tried to grab. Pearl stopped for a moment as she gasped. Her colour scheme changed like Sugilite’s had done so her skin was now shades of grey with black hair along with red clothes. Sombra had lost Sugilite, he couldn’t lose Pearl. He had to grab the Crystal Heart and go.

“The Heart, now!” Sombra- Pearl snapped.

When Twilight failed to comply, Sombra-Pearl growled in annoyance, raising her spear to strike the mare down. When she tried to do so, however, she found her spear torn from her grip, turning to find it clatter to the ground at Ace’s feet.

“I don’t think so, missy,” the man said, placing his foot on the blade of the spear. With a powerful yank, the spear’s handle split in two.

“There’s plenty more where that came from.” She pulled out another spear from her gem as she dashed towards Twilight, but was smacked away quickly by Ace. She growled as Ace stood between her and the Heart.

“The other one already did enough, I’m not going to let you ruin all of my hard work!” She yelled as she ran up to Ace, attempting to slash at him. Ace grabbed further down his whip with the other hand, raising it and pulling it tight to block the attack before wrapping what he could around Sombra-Pearl’s wrist and leaping away. The gem just stared at her wrist for a moment before crying out, Ace having swung her into the nearest pillar. She emerged with a jump attack, throwing Ace on the defensive as he dodged a flurry of strikes. However, one of them got him as the spear made its mark on his stomach. He jumped back and didn’t notice the shadow engulf him before it was too late. Sombra- Pearl went to deliver the final blow but found herself immobilized.

“I got you!” Peridot grinned as she held the gem in her tractor beam.

“Keep her there!” Ace cried, abandoning the whip for the gloves, using their golden light to free himself from the shadows ensnaring him. When he saw the shadows retreat as though afraid of the light, a hopeful smile rose on his face. “I have an idea!”

“Well do it quick!” Peridot grunted, straining against Sombra-Pearl’s attempts to free herself.

Ace moved towards the trapped gem, golden light shining from his gloves, growing brighter and brighter as he approached before, eventually, he reached out, placing a hand on the back of Pearl’s head and the other over her gem, keeping her still. The light seemed to spread through her body as she let out an agonised scream, shining from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, and causing her skin to brighten once more, her clothes returning to their normal colours.

Sombra emerged, but Spike had the heart and he was escaping. Peridot was frozen in fear as she was in the presence of the king once again. He glared back at her as he summoned a bunch of black crystals to follow. Shining Armour and Cadence noticed Spike and Shining through Cadence to catch him. Spike landed safely on the floor while Cadence guided the Crystal Heart back to its original place.

“It’s over, Sombra!” Ace shouted, taking the shadow king’s attention away from Peridot. “The Heart is in place, and soon enough you’ll be ejected from the empire, probably destroyed by the goodness within.” It was true, the Crystal Ponies were getting happier at the return of the true Crystal Heart.

“I won’t go, not now, not ever!” He growled. He tried to lash out at the two, but found cracks on his body.

“I told you. The Heart’s powering up, and you’re right in the epicentre of the blast.”

"Grrr." He turned his attention back to Peridot.

"I'll you soon, Peri." His body finally broke into pieces, leaving only a mist that dissolved in the air. The crystal ponies down below were happier than they had been in years. They didn't care about the broken buildings right now, they were just happy that they no longer had to deal with Sombra. Peridot sank to her knees as she took a deep breath and laughed. She was free, Lapis was free, Jasper was free, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl were free. Speaking of which, Pearl was currently groaning on the floor. Peridot and Ace picked her up.

"We should probably regroup with our friends."

"Yeah." Ace replied. “Say, who was that other girl you summoned?”

“I don’t know.” Peridot shrugged. “She looked like Zinnia from the Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire remakes. Why do you ask?”

“She just…” he paused, running a hand through his hair. “She seemed… familiar.”

“Well we can get back and ask them.”

Lapis, Jasper and Zinnia were resting under a crashed building while the rest of the crystal ponies were admiring the heart. Ruby, Sapphire and Amethyst were placed carefully on the ground while the three displaced waited for either the remaining gems to wake up or for Ace and Peridot to return.

“So…” Lapis began. “Uuh, how did you get here?”

Zinnia looked up from the slice of Crystal Berry Pie she had somehow gotten her hands on, the juices staining her mouth blue. “Green dorito head summoned me. She was dying, or something, and asked for help.”

“You mean Peridot?” Jasper asked. “Wait, dying? Was her gem cracked?!”

“Gem?” She paused, shoving what remained of her pie in her mouth before swallowing. “What gem?”

“Like this.” Jasper pointed to her crystalline nose while Lapis turned around and showed her back. “Gems are the core of our beings, they allow us to shape our physical form, which is our bodies. They’re like holograms… with mass.”

“And what a mass it is…” the woman muttered, her eyes roaming over both Jasper and Lapis before she realised something. “Wait, was hers in her forehead?”

“Yeah, it was.” Lapis piped up. “If our gems are broken, then we’ll die. It’s pretty much the only thing that can kill us, though I think we can still be poisoned, I can’t remember the details. If our physical forms are damaged, they revert back into our gems and it can take weeks to properly reform. We’re completely vulnerable when that happens. If we wanted to keep our form together when it was damaged, it’d take a huge effort.”

“That’d explain why she seemed so tired…” Zinnia frowned, staring at the cave wall in thought. “I’m… pretty sure her gem was okay. Seemed smooth enough.”

“That’s a huge relief.” Jasper sighed. “Considering we don’t exactly have any healing tears or spit with us.”

“I’m… not going to ask… but she did summon another guy. He had some kind of shape-changing sword that he used to heal her, so… yeah.”

“He sounds like a nice guy, I’d love to meet him.” Lapis commented as she looked up into the sky. The blizzards were no more and were instead replaced with lush grass as well as a shining sun. “This’ll take a lot of effort to rebuild.” She sighed. “Which means we’ll probably be here longer, which is annoying since the crystal ponies can’t stand us… not that I blame them.”

“Hey, far as I can tell you guys are sorry for whatever you did. And with how scared you seemed to be of that Sombra guy - yeah, I noticed that,” she added, eyeing Jasper as she fidgeted. “I’d wager he used his mind control on you at one point or another. Just apologise and take it slow, I’m sure they’ll warm up to you.”

“He had seemed so kind when we first met him.” Lapis let out another sigh. “He took us in when no one else would, he even gave us jobs. We were ‘protecting’ the Empire. Soon, we began to see through it. That’s when he used full- on manipulation. I don’t know what we did at that time, but we’re grateful for these guys saving us from it.” She looked down at the three gems.

“Yeah, about that…” Zinnia glanced at each of the gemstones that had been placed around the area. “This whole thing seems familiar, so I need to ask. Does the name ‘Steven’ mean anything to you?”

“Yeah, it’s the name of the show our forms are based off of; ‘Steven Universe’.” Jasper explained.

“Well, where I came from, I was in a mental asylum - don’t ask,” she said quickly, holding up a hand to stop any questions. “One of the others was this tubby guy who was thrown in because… well, he thought his mom and sisters were sentient gemstones from space.” She gave the two gems a pointed look, leaning forward.

“I bet his name was Ronaldo.” Jasper snickered under her breath before clearing her throat. “Well, ‘sentient gemstones from space’ does sum up the main cast of that show. It was about a little kid who was a half- human and half ‘sentient gemstone’. We somehow got turned into the villains from that show. And then there are these guys.” She gestured to the gems on the ground “They became the heroes from the show. I’m pretty sure they all used to be human like us as well.”

“Well, long story short, you’re Displaced.” All three turned to see Peridot and Ace walking up to them. “You probably bought something from some shady guy, or were gifted something bought from a shady guy, or something like that, and were sent to Equestria.”

“Well, Jasper got her gem as a present from her parents, Peri got hers for her mum’s birthday and I bought mine on a bad day.” Lapis gave a brief description of how they got their items. “Something just made us drawn to the items he was selling.”

“Yeah… Mine was different.” Everyone turned to see Zinnia staring into space with a dopey grin on her face.

“Not… going to ask,” Ace sighed. “Look, I know this’ll seem weird, but you seem really familiar.” He held out a hand, and Zinnia took it hers, shaking. “I’m Ace, have we met before?”

Zinnia stared at him for a moment, awestruck. “...Ace?” she asked, tears forming in her eyes. “Ace… it’s me… Zoey…”

They stood there, staring at each other for a time, before Ace pulled Zinnia in a tight hug, knocking his visor off as tears streamed down his face.

“Quick question…” Peridot walked up in front of them. “What’s going on? Do you two know each other, or something?”

Ace looked up at the green gem, a massive smile on his face. “Peridot,” he said before turning to the other two. “Other… people, this,” he grasped Zinnia’s shoulder, giving it a little shake, making her giggle. “This is my sister.”

“And he,” Zinnia added, giving Ace a playful punch. “Is the reason I was in the asylum I told you about.”

“Wait, you two are siblings?” Lapis asked and the two nodded happily. “Oh my god, I’m so happy for you two! Get closer together right now!” She pushed them closer together with her wings.

“You might want to let go of them, Lapis.” Peridot said with concern in her voice.

“Right, sorry.” She smiled it off as she let the two go, allowing them to catch their breath.

“Not…” Zinnia wheezed, a hand on her chest. “Not a problem.”

“Wait,” Ace shouted suddenly, causing the others to jump. “We live in different universes now!” He added, starting to panic. “And what are the chances that we get each other’s tokens! Oh, sweet Luna! I can’t lose you again!”

“I can actually fix that,” the woman said with a smirk, turning to the Gems. “Who has our tokens? The anklet and… what was yours?”

“An amulet.”

“You mean these?” Peridot asked, holding the two trinkets up. Zinnia thanked the gem, taking them and standing in the centre of their little camp.

“Now, don’t freak out,” she said before closing her eyes, a white glow enveloping her. “Double Team!”

At her words, Zinnia created a single copy of herself, the copy walking calmly walking over to Ace and handing him the two token copies before fading away. The original Zinnia then swapped then took the copy of Ace’s token, handing the originals back to Peridot.

“...Well,” Ace breathed, a small smile on his face. “That’s certainly something for the reunions.”

“Tokens?” Peridot cocked her head at the man holding the ankle bracelet.

“Oh, right!” Zinnia gasped, placing Ace’s token around her neck. “A token is something that other Displaced can use to call you if they need help.”

“It’s something that’s unique to you,” Ace added, holding Zinnia’s anklet up. “A lot of them have a message of some kind. I carved mine into the back, and Zinnia recorded a voice message.”

Zinnia picked it up once more. “You send it out into the Void, and some special energy makes an infinite number of copies and throws them randomly across the Displaced section of the Multiverse.”

“Okay.” Peridot, Lapis and Jasper gathered around. They each poured their energy into one spot and created their token. It resembled the triforce, but the triangles were light green, tangerine and indigo. There was also a yellow triangle placed in the middle of the other three. It was the same size as Peridot’s wrist (if she had one, that is).

“To those who fight for power!

For knowledge!

For freedom!

The Homeworld Gems will come to your aid! Call upon us so we can fight or we can chat, it’s up to you.”

The symbol shot off into the multiverse, two of them landing in the hands of Zinnia and Ace.

“Wow, so… What now?” Peridot asked, before the gems behind them began to glow, Pearl groaning from her position on the floor.

“Wha… where are we?” She looked around, seeing Zinnia, Ace and the Homeworld gems. Behind her, there were two gasps as Ruby and Sapphire saw that they were exactly that; Ruby and Sapphire. They calmed down when they saw each other on opposite ends of the room. Jasper snickered once again as they ran towards each other. Sapphire running reminded them about a song about another small blue character going fast.

“Huh,” Zinnia stated, watching as the tiny red and blue gems smashed into each other, performing a rushed dance before turning into a white light and merging together, becoming a single, much taller gem with deep burgundy skin and a large, boxed afro wearing a red-and-black jumpsuit. “Neat.”

“Yeah.” The box- head replied. “Get up, Amethyst.”

“Ugh, do we have to? She’s probably listening to that dumb music again.”

“Would you have preferred Nicki Minaj?”

“If we were fused, I might say yes.”

“Uh, sorry about all that back there,” Zinnia said, slightly ashamed. “I was trying to use a Pokemon move, Swagger, and that’s just how my instincts told me to.” She paused, fishing the iPod out of her pocket. “I can access anything that’s on YouTube, though. I could give you something else to say sorry.”

“Wait, how can you get YouTube?” Ace asked.

“Interdimensional Wi-Fi, a gift from... “ Zinnia paused, blushing furiously. “A friend…”

Meanwhile, Peridot was letting the word ‘Wi-Fi’ sink in as she stood completely still for a few moments. “...Wi-Fi.” At that moment, she could only think of three words to describe how she currently felt. “Gimme, gimme, gimme!” She lunged for the device.

“Whoa there!” Zinnia cried, leaping away. “What’s up with her?” she asked, looking to Jasper and Lapis for answer as she took to the air.

“Peri used to love going on the internet…” Lapis paused for a moment. “And she hasn’t been near it for over 1,000 years.”

“To be honest,” Ace said with a sigh. “I’d probably be the same way.”

“You’re not helping, y’know!” Zinnia shrieked as she dodged Peridot’s now-airborne attempts to grab the device in her hand. “How do I get her to stop!?”

“We’ll tell you once we have an answer.” Jasper rubbed the back of her head sheepishly while Lapis averted her eyes snickering.

“You won’t escape me, floating iPod!”

Zinnia growled in frustration, narrowing her eyes at the green gem. “Enough!” she Roared, throwing the gem back with her voice. “Look! Do you have any kind of computer, and I will give you the God damn password!!!”

“Yeah, couldn’t you do that one thing with your fingers?” Jasper questioned, having had her fun watching Peridot’s struggle, but decided to elaborate when Zinnia eyed her curiously. “Yeah, you could make a screen with your fingers or something. There were lots of things that Peridot could do with her fingers.” She inwardly slapped herself at the wording of the last part of the sentence.

“Amazingly,” Zinnia deadpanned. “I’m too upset to make a dirty joke. Hodgepodge is probably slapping himself stupid right now.” She sighed, bringing the iPod up and swiping the screen repeatedly. “Just do the finger thing and I’ll find the password for you. It should work for you.”

While Jasper sighed in relief, Peridot, having composed herself, made a screen with four of the fingers on her left hand while the remaining finger was used to operate the screen. She looked up as Zinnia snorted, seeing the Draconid with a hand over her mouth, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Okay,” she wheezed, hunching over. “Okay, that cheered me up.” At the confused looks she received, she chuckled again, putting the device in her pocket. “The person who gave me the iPod set the password herself,” she giggled before leaning closer to Peridot, whispering in her ear. After a moment, Peridot’s mint-green cheeks turned a bright crimson, and she quickly tapped the password into her screen.

“Well I guess it doesn’t matter.” Peridot cleared her throat and tried to clear her mind. “She’s getting one hell of an internet bill. Even more so now for that password.”

“She told me I could share if I wanted,” Zinnia said with a smile. “So it shouldn’t be too big of a deal. I mean, she’s an inter-dimensional being with God-like powers, so she probably has, like, unlimited free Wi-Fi or something.”

“Well, let it be known that I tried,” the gem declared before opening a bunch of tabs, “How does this work anyway? What’s the internet like 1,000 years into the future? I wonder what YouTube’s design is like… Oh God no.” She closed the tab quickly.

“What’s up?” Ace asked, raising a brow at the gem’s reaction.

“What has been seen cannot be unseen.” Peridot whispered.

“The hell did you open?” Zinnia muttered, leaning round to try and see the screen. “Some kind of super kinky porn?”

“She probably just saw YouTube with a new design or some crap like that.” Jasper rolled her eyes. “Whatever it is, I bet it’s not that…” Moments later, Jasper was repeatedly banging her head on a wall nearby.

“Dammit, you’re gonna have to get used to it sooner or later!” Zinnia shouted, Ace just stood shaking his head at the gems.

“I know YouTube changed a lot,” Ace said. “And it was annoying for a while, but it’s not that bad.”

“You don’t understand!” Peridot grabbed him by the shirt and shook him with her one free hand. “Right now, I’m just glad that gems don’t need to sleep!”

“I agree with Ace; it can’t be that bad.” Pearl spoke behind them. She had been up for a while and was just watching them bicker. “I’ll even take a look myself, I’m sure you two are just…” She stood there, her eyes were locked on the screen for a while, with no movement.

She poofed.

Her gem fell to the ground before Lapis picked it up and stared at the screen.

“Wait no!” Jasper warned. “Don’t look at it dire-”

“Neat.” Lapis shrugged and sat down.

“Finally! “ Zinnia sighed. “Someone who’s not afraid of a new design!” She pointed at the pearl in Lapis’ hands. “And she is a wuss.”

“Who’s in charge of YouTube now?” Jasper stopped banging her head to ask a question.

“Google, I think,” Ace said, placing a hand on his chin in thought. “They ripped off Facebook, too.”

“Whatever you do,” Zinnia chimed in, looking Jasper directly in the eye. “Don’t let Peridot go on Google Plus.”

“You will all submit to your new God!” A voice from the screen roared.

“Uuh, who’s in charge of Google at his point?”

“I never really cared enough to find out,” Ace said.

“Me neither,” Zinnia agreed, nodding sagely. “But now to the matter at hand, WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?!?!”

“I’m guessing that’s who’s in charge of Google now.” Lapis speculated. “If not, I have no idea.”

Zinnia stared at the floating, green-tinted screen. “That’s never happened to mine...”

“You will all rue the day you defied Goo-” The voice was cut off as Peridot fooled around with the coding.

“Well I shouldn’t be hearing that voice anymore.” Peridot sighed happily.

“And with that,” Ace said, stretching. “Is there anything else you guys need any help with? I wouldn’t mind a little more time away from home. I’m dealing with both Rarity and Twilight trying to make me some armour.” He paused, knocking on the breastplate he wore. “It took three days to design this thing, then another week to make it. Not to mention the enchantments!”

“I’d be okay with staying too, but not for too long,” Zinnia agreed. “I was in the middle of something when you summoned me and I’d very much like to get back to it.”

“Uuh, I don’t think so. Unless you want to help clear everything up.” Peridot reasoned.

“Although.” Garnet appeared behind them. “Perhaps you could tell us a bit about ‘displaced’.”

20 minutes later, Garnet, Amethyst and the forcibly reformed Pearl were in the process of making their token. They made a white star with gems on all points except the top.

“We are the Crystal Gems. We’ll always save the day, so call upon us to fight beside you!” With that, their token shot off into the multiverse.

“I think that’s about it.” Lapis shrugged, as she finished moving the piece of debris out of the street. “So how do we make you two go back to your own universes?”

“You just need to say ‘our contract is complete’,” Zinnia said, bending down and grabbing the copies of the Crystal Gem’s that had fallen in front of her and handing one to Ace. “That’s what’s worked for me so far.”

“Me too,” Ace added. “We’ll have to keep in touch, I’d love to get to know you guys more.”

“Yeah,” Zinnia sighed, “These weren't exactly the best conditions to meet. And I’d love to find out what else Peri’s fingers can do…” She looked to the green gem with half-lidded eyes, waggling her eyebrows at her and causing her to blush.

“Theeere it is.” Jasper commented.

“Well, I do hope that we meet again.” Lapis added. “And… I’m glad that you found your brother.” She smiled sadly.

“Yeah…” Zinnia replied as Ace wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Me too.”

“Okay, here we go…” Peridot took a deep breath. ”Thank you so much for everything you two have done and our contract is complete.”

Ace and Zinnia turned to each other, smiling sadly. Below Zinnia, a black dragon head rose, stars dotting it’s scales as it closed its jaws around her before bursting into a pile of pink stardust. Ace, however, seemed to collapse in on himself, the air around him distorting as he condensed into a multi-hued light that then shot skywards, disappearing into the atmosphere.

Now, it was just the Crystal Gems and the Homeworld Gems. They stood together in the still very wrecked city. They had won, Sombra had lost, and they had a lot of catching up to do… After they met up with Princess Cadence and helped clean up, of course. With that, they left for the castle.