When Bronze woke up, it had been to a group of worried friends and marefriend who all hovered around him and behaved like mother hens. Seriously. You'd think he was a basket of eggs the way they treated him. He had to explain that Bulk was genuinely helping him, and that he was going to see him every other day for exercise until he either felt better or didn't want to get any more buff. Because awesome or not; Bronze didn't want to get as buff as Bulk, his friends and especially AJ agreed as much. Sure Bulk was attractive to them, but they also felt it was just excessive to get that ripped.

So after a day of rest, Bronze went to see Bulk to get in more leg exercises and protein shakes. It was after this session that Bulk surprised and impressed him with his massage skills, since he works at Aloe and Lotus' day spa as a masseur. It would speed his recovery as well as improve his health overall. For a stallion with such big muscles, his oddly tiny hooves were incredibly gentle when a firmer touch wasn't necessary. So thanks to that, he felt he could move around a bit more today and actually do something with his friends and/or marefriends.

But that wasn't the end of today's training apparently.

“Dash, for the last time! I'm MORTALLY TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS!” Bronze screamed with his eyes closed, holding on to the cloud that Rainbow had abducted him to with all four legs, and wings. The fact he wasn't outright having a paralyzing panic attack said great things of his new-found courage. He wasn't scared so much of the heights alone now, he was scared of falling off his unusual perch.

“Dude, you have wings, you have, like, NO excuse to be scared of heights.” Dash shot back at him as she hovered in front of him. “You ARE going to learn how to use those wings of yours. It's bad enough you're as weak as a limp noodle, but your wings seem to have most of their muscle intact.” Dash might be a jock, but she's a jock who knew how bodies worked.

“The physical therapist focused on them a lot. It was way easier to get them up to shape than the rest of me since I didn't have to support my own weight to work them out.” Bronze admitted, and, remembering something he rationalized to himself long ago about his fear, he crushed it down and figured Dash was right. He had wings now. He could NOT die from this height unless it was truly his own fault. He could live with that. “Okay...okay...I can do this....”

“Yeah! There we go, just get comfortable.” Dash cheered as she watched her...only guy friend? Wow, she had to go clubbing.... She watched as Bronze managed to sit up, take deep breaths, and look over the cloud to the ground. “So...you okay?”

“I'm...not scared....” Bronze said in amazement, before his wings flared as he began beaming at her. “I'm not scared! Heights were my greatest fear for as long as I could remember, but now, I don't even care!” 'It's so liberating! Wow! To not be afraid...it's amazing. If only I could do the same with large crowds next.'

“Okay, good. Now, the first lesson is-WAIT!” Dash shouted too late as the excited Bronze jumped off the cloud, and she bolted under him as he began a shaky glide down. “Y-you're doing good! Keep your wing's like that and-AH!” Dash was thankfully under him with a sudden downdraft hit Bronze, and they fell about twenty or so feet to the ground in a tumble with her ending up on top of him, straddling him. “Uh...look out for downdrafts?”

“...Why didn't that fall hurt like it should've?” Bronze asked from his position under her and on his back, as sure, he felt sore, but he was expecting broken bones...and he wanted to try free-falling again! That was exhilarating!

“Pegasi and I guess alicorns have magic that makes us more impact resistant. It's so we don't always die from a bad landing. I don't know why, ask an egghead.” Dash replied, and just realized she hadn't gotten off of him. “Oh, sorry, here.” Dash stood up and moved aside to help him up as he was still a little shaky with his own legs. “Now, instead of gliding being your first exercise, it looks like I'll have to get you started on hovering-.”

“Hey Rainbow Dash, Bronze Brave!” Pinkie's voice shouted from right next to them, and the two winged ponies gasped and jumped away, hooves to their chests. “*GASP* Yourselves! But that's not why I'm here sillies, he, he.” The bouncy pink party pony giggled to herself as the two both calmed down and leered at her.

“What is it Pinkie Pie? I'm trying to teach Bronze how to fly so he's not a cripple and can hang out with us.” Dash said irritably, getting Bronze to growl.

“I'm not crippled! Just...really weak.” Bronze defended weakly, getting a pat on the back from his prismatic friend's wing.

“Well~ I have plans for us to hang out, and it won't be too hard on Bronze either. Want to hear it?” Pinkie egged them on, getting them both to raise an eyebrow and look at each other.

“We're listening....”

[(X)]

Bronze was flying! Actually flying! Well, he was hovering technically. Barely several feet off the ground actually. In fact, he was irritably moving around a cloud at Pinkie's instruction, while Dash kept an eye on him to tell him if he was flapping right or not. They were both being very, VERY nitpicky! “GIRLS! I only have so much patience!” Bronze shouted after for the hundredth time to move the cloud the 'itty bitty little tiny incomprehensible smidge to the left'.

“Right there’s fine! Get ready!” Pinkie dove into the nearby bush in front of the town hall, and Bronze looked at Dash in confusion, and she pantomimed bucking while flying and pointed at the cloud with a hoof. He didn’t really get it, but he turned around, and bucked the cloud the way Dash showed him to earlier, and he almost jolted at the flash and sound of thunder that occurred.

“BWAH~! …*hic*!” Pinkie and Dash started laughing, and Bronze looked around the cloud to see Spike hiccupping on the steps.

“That’s what this was about? Pranking somepony? Why didn’t you just say so and save me the time and I could’ve practiced flying instead.” Bronze was raised by parents with Southern values, and that included being polite to everyone you met unless they spurned your custom.

“Aw, don’t-*hic*-be like that Bronze! It’s all in-*hic*-good fun! You got me *hic* good!” Spike’s such a sport, but still, inconveniencing someone for your own amusement wasn’t-.

“Yeah! Don’t be such a downer dude!” Dash chastised playfully as she swiftly flew up and pat his back, getting him to cross his forelegs and huff.

“I was raised to be-.”

“A stick-in-the-mud?” Pinkie asked challengingly down below, grinning and leering up at him as he sneered down at her. ‘Got him~!’

“I know how to have fun!” Bronze defended, and looked between them before blushing. “I’m just not-.”

“Outgoing?” Dash challenged, and he growled at her as she got in his face. “C’mon. Be a stallion and buck-up colt! Come on, Pinkie’s cool, we’ll show you how to really let loose.” She got in closer, and he backed awa, only to get tugged to the ground with a yelp by his long shaggy silver tail by Pinkie.

“We’ll be three peas in a pod!” Pinkie pressed against his side, getting him to blush as Dash landed on the other side, and sandwiched him, getting his black fur to turn red up to his ears.

“Three heroes out to save the day from boredom!” She put a foreleg around his neck, the other hoof pointing outward as if to gesture to all the fun they could have.

“FINE! Just get off me! I have marefriends already!” Bronze shouted as he struggled to try and get from between them. Note, the word was try. He wasn’t nearly strong enough to get out from between an athletic pegasus or a strong and bouncy earth pony.

“You didn’t say please~!” They both teased, and bro-hoofed, getting him to sigh in defeat.

‘Damn mares...they control my life….’

[(X)]

Bronze was breathless. No, seriously, he had no air in his lungs and was trying to recover after that pranking spree the two mares had dragged him on led him to getting in more cardio than he was comfortable with considering his current physical condition. But...they were right, it was fun. And harmless. Everypony was such a good sport about their pranks he felt almost none of the guilt such things would’ve normally caused him.

“See? Told ya it would be awesome.” Dash bragged as she sat on her personal recliner in her cloud home. She’d dragged him up here when he was too tired to either summon his Doorway or make it to Twilight’s. Actually, now that he thought about it, Bronze realized he hadn’t stayed a single night at the library even though it was his designated residence as of currently.

“I didn’t exactly have a choice.” I playfully sniped back from my spot on her couch, too tired to really move myself.

“Ya could’ve asserted yourself more. Not our fault you’re such a doormat when it comes to pleasing others.” Dash shot back. Touche. He was raised to give everyone else first pick. However, any more conversation was interrupted by a knock on her door. How that worked, Bronze wasn’t going to bother questioning.

However, when Dash went and answered it, he wasn’t expecting an actual, completely genuine GIRLY SQUEAL to come from her as she pounced on whoever was at the door. “GILDA! Ohmigosh! Why didn’t you mention you were coming by?!”

“Heh, and miss you totally squeal like a filly? Yeah right.” A scratchy and deeper voice than Dash’s higher-pitched crack answered and Dash rushed in, past him, and upstairs for something as a griffin like what his mom turned into upon crossing over came in, only instead of being ridiculously petite and shapely, she was slightly bigger than the average pony, and had a strong build like his dad instead. She blinked when she saw him, and blushed a bit. “Oh! Um...sorry if I’m interrupting something.”

“What? Oh, no! No-no-no, of course not! Me and Dash?! Pfft, please. I hate jocks. I like muscleheads, but I hate jocks. I hate sports too. She dragged me up here because she and our friend Pinkie tired me out from pranking the town today.” Bronze sat up with a grunt of immense effort, and Gilda blinked at seeing him struggle to even lift himself.

“Need help there?” Gilda asked in some confusion, before he lifted himself enough for her to see just how little muscle he had, and quickly moved to get him upright with a talon. “Plop dude! If you’re weak you should’ve said something!”

“Hey, I only take help when I need it. Thanks though. So, old friend of Dash’s?” Bronze asked conversationally as Gilda seemed to be eyeing him up with a thoughtful look. “What?”

“It shouldn’t be too hard...a little more protein, some griffin calisthenics, you’d be right as rain in a month or so.” She then blinked and blushed. “Uh, don’t mention that egghead moment to Dash or I’ll pound you.”

“Meh, fine. Nothing wrong with being smart though, it’d be easier if you just accepted it. I’m Bronze Brave. Once a human, then a minotaur, then a balrog, now a wimpy alicorn. And...ugh...Prince of Space.” Bronze felt his irritation spike at the title. Damn it. Just because he’s now genetically related to Luna….

“Yeah, noticed the horn, but you don’t feel all tingly to be around like the more brainy unicorns.” Gilda sat next to him, and they started shooting the breeze.

Apparently she was here to visit her old friend Dash, maybe move here if the town was ‘cool’ enough. As they chatted, he even ended up talking about Pinkie and how good her baking was, and Gilda got an oddly fierce edge to her eyes. He wasn’t sure what that was about, but when Dash came down near sundown and said she was done cleaning the guest room, they said goodnight and went to sleep.

[(X)]

“Rainbow Dash~!” Bronze woke up to the sound of Pinkie’s high-pitched voice calling, and he groaned as she called repeatedly, starting to sound disappointed.

“Wait! Pinkie!” Bronze called as he managed to drag himself out the front door and look over the edge down at the small pink speck down below. “Pinks! What’s up?!” Pinkie blushed at the nickname again, but shook herself out of it.

“Is Rainbow Dash up yet? I know she sleeps in on her days off, but I was hoping we could all go pranking again!” Pinkie’s plans made Bronze visibly cringe, he didn’t want to do that again too soon, and he had a training session with Bulk to get to anyway.

“I’m afraid-!”

“He’s hanging with us!” Bronze jolted at suddenly having Gilda next to him, a talon on the back of his ne-oh~...why was she rub-ah~...yeah...oh he needs that, his neck’s all stiff...she has magic talons….

“Huh? Who are you?” Pinkie asked as Dash zipped out of her bedroom window, not seeing Gilda massaging her only guy friend’s neck, said stallion was almost mush in the grinning griffin’s talon by then.

“She’s my old friend from flight school! Pinkie Pie, I want you to meet Gilda Le Grand.” Dash introduced, and the griffin puffed out her chest as she swooped down and landed in front of the baker.

“Yep! Daughter of master baker Gustav Le Grand!” She boasted, grinning superiorly at Pinkie, who also grinned and leered back, sparks flying between their eyes. “So...I hear you bake?”

“Yeah? What you bake? Shortbreads?” Pinkie asked, and Gilda leered a bit fiercer.

“Crepes.” Gilda stated as if it was incredibly important, and they started leaning into their competitive glares.

“Whoa-whoa! G, Pinkie’s cool! She can bake almost anything!” Dash realized too late her folly, as Gilda’s feathers all puffed up. Bronze watched from overhead, still completely lost.

“Anything huh?” Gilda and Pinkie were now pressed face-to-face, their leers in full power. “I challenge you to a Bake Off!”

“*GASP* But we just met! I don’t know if I’m ready for such a commitment!” Pinkie protested as she backed off, Gilda grinning at the suddenly nervous mare.

“What’s the matter pony? Can’t take the heat?” Gilda asked, rubbing her knuckles against her chest as Pinkie mulled over the idea.

“Not right now. What you want is something serious.” Pinkie sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs over her chest with a wise nod. “Sorry, but I’m not comfortable with such a challenge from someone I don’t even know. It’s customary that Bake Off competitors be willing to share recipes, and I don’t want to lose some of my unique treats yet.”

“Hmph, fine. But I get to bake in your kitchen for Dash and Brave then.” Gilda compromised, understanding Pinkie’s position. She didn’t have any really special recipes herself, so she didn’t mind sharing her personal favorite of Griffin Claw doughnuts if Pinkie had accepted.

“What’s happening?” Bronze asked as he managed to hover down shakily next to Dash, who seemed just as confused as him as she shrugged. “Look, Pinkie, as cool as it would be to hang out or whatever’s going on; Gilda’s an old friend of Dash’s from school. Wouldn’t a friend give them some time alone?”

“What about you though Bronze?” Pinkie asked with some hope, only for the griffin to hover up with the other fliers and nudge Bronze a bit, making him wobble uncertainly.

“I’m hanging with him too. Dash is a bit TOO hardcore sometimes, and I probably remember more of flight school than her anyway. So sorry Pink, but I don’t see wings on your back.” Gilda pointed out, and Pinkie beamed up at her. “What?”

“Be right back!” Pinkie took off so fast she left a ‘her’ shaped cloud of dust, and they within seconds heard squeaking and turned to see Pinkie approaching from a whole other direction entirely in a quad-pedal sort of helicopter, making Dash and Gilda gawk while Bronze almost had a nerdgasm at the sight of it.

“No way! A manual-powered gyrocopter! Pinkie that’s awesome! Where’d you get it?” Bronze asked as in his excitement he managed to forget to focus on flying, and just let his new body’s instincts take over as he hovered around his unusual friend while Gilda growled to herself and Dash was just scratching her head.

“I made it silly! It’s easy! You just have to take in account the force needed to get upward propulsion, the needed span of the blades, and also putting some latent pegasus magic in the blade using feathers during the forging process helps too!” Pinkie explained as she finished approach and easily maintained altitude next to the winged group. “So I can watch! You three all do your thing. I needed to take this baby out for a spin anyway. Tee hee~! Spin!”

“Uh...I don’t see a problem with that...do you?” Dash asked Bronze and Gilda. Bronze clearly had no issue, but Gilda, while looking rather miffed, still agreed. “Okay! This way!”

[(X)]

“How is it standing on the cloud?” Bronze pondered as he was laying on his belly, crawling around the skids of the gyrocopter as he tried to understand how a metal contraption was standing on a cloud. He had accepted living beings like himself, pegasi, and even birds apparently being able to just touch clouds like nobody’s business, but a machine?

“I infused shed pegasus feathers in the skids too. If I can’t land and take a rest, I’d just fall.” Pinkie explained while Dash and Gilda talked what sort of curriculum to run Bronze through.

“I said no, we can’t just throw him into an advanced lesson Dash. Do you want him to go splat?” Gilda hissed at her friend, who just couldn’t understand what the problem was.

“If he falls, we catch him, simple. Why are you so bent out of shape over this? You used to be all gung-ho about flying like me.” Dash wondered and Gilda raised an eyebrow at her.

“Dash, I love you-.” Gilda didn’t notice her friend’s face explode in a blush as she was looking away. “-but you need to realize not everyone with wings is a natural. I found that out the hard way.” Dash, realizing it wasn’t a confession, quickly planted her face in the cloud to hide her blush before Gilda turned her head back to face her. “Dash?”

“Yeah G?”

“Why are you playing ostrich? We haven’t played that since we were kids.” Gilda asked, and Dash pulled her no-longer-flushed face out to grin nervously.

“Nostalgia? Okay, fine, we give him the basics of the basics. I was starting him off with hovering so he wouldn’t tire himself out from walking since he’s still so weak, but I guess maybe an acrobatics lesson is too much.” Dash decided, and Gilda was about to turn around when something hit her on the head.

“Ow! The flock?” Gilda took the hard item that really hurt her head out of her plumage and saw what seemed to be a purple six-sided die containing a spiral galaxy. “Where the...flock it. It hurt me, so chuck it.” Gilda tossed the offending item with an angry pitch towards town, having no clue what she’d just done.

[? PoV]

The die landed in the center of the town square’s fountain, being juggled by the spray until a burst of water sent it flying out of the square, bouncing off an awning, and skittering across a roof, where it was accidentally kicked by a free-running caramel stallion running from a persistent wall-eyed mare with a package he didn’t want to accept. With that last strike, it finally flew across the next street, and through the window of a living tree-turned-library, where it ricocheted off a couple of bookshelves, knocking over some poorly-placed books, and finally came to a stop in the center of the floor, landing on six.

After a few seconds of nothing, suddenly the die shot into the air on it’s own, and spawned a purple portal that launched something out with ridiculous force. Said something crashed right through the wooden statue in the middle of the large main chamber, and through the door to the basement, leaving a horrible mess and creating an enormous noise.

Thankfully nobody was home right now, the proprietress and her assistant having gone out for lunch.

“Oh~...why? WHY~?!” A whiny raspy voice called out from the basement, which was also horribly mangled by the now-identified-as-living projectile that shifted under a pile of scrapped metal from what might have been a very expensive and sophisticated magical examination device, but we may never know now. “Why am I thinking in Narrative?” I asked myself as I crawled out from under the pile of scrap, shaking it off as I stood up, and promptly fell over backwards, hitting my head. “Ow! What the hell-?!”

‘Why are my hands gone?’ I asked myself as I stared at the metal right hoof and hole-riddled black chitinous left hoof that had replaced my hands, and the arms attached to them as well. “No! NO!” I wriggled around, the hard-shelled covers for what was obviously my new wings making it hard to roll over since I’d flared them open in panic. “Okay Dox, calm down. It isn’t your first time as a quadruped. Remember how you moved as Solaris...before the anthropomorphization of the planet happened.”

I, now a black-shelled bug-pony rolled himself over smoothly, and stood up to properly examine myself to ensure I wasn’t injured. I was as big as I’d been as Solaris, which is a bit bigger than Celestia, meaning I must be a King changeling. My legs had the tell-tale holes save my mechanical one, but my mane and tail were a shock of spiky white that was long and shaggy. I idly lifted my right foreleg up and the hoof morphed into a disk that became chrome and allowed me to see my reflection. My biological right eye was still green, and my left Echo Eye was still intact too from the odd forced change.

“Okay, I’m all in one piece, if a bit ragged. But no, not dealing with this.” I tried to reach into my dimensional storage pocket...and hoofed air. “What?” I began swiping at the air, starting to hyperventilate as I began panicking. “My stuff! All my stuff! And all I’m wearing is-.”

“MY LIBRARY!” I heard a terrifying shriek of fury that I had hoped I would never encounter. “WHO BROKE INTO MY-?!” Twilight’s infuriated voice stopped suddenly as the source had ended at the top of the stairs, and I blushed. I know why she froze.

“Um...I can explain?” I tried as I turned my head, seeing the flush-faced ‘Feral’ Unicorn Twilight gawking at my thong-squeezed chitinous flanks.

“Twilight, what is it? Do I need to get help?!”

“S-stay outside Spike!” Twilight urged, trotting into the basement as she cast a spell that restored everything to proper order, even the broken thingamajig I’d crashed through. “Who are you, what are you doing here, WHAT are you, and why are you wearing...that?” Twilight demanded, getting flustered at mentioning what to normal ponies is sexy-sextime clothes only.

“Okay, if I’m here, then that means one thing; a Displaced is here. Does that term ring any bells?”

“Uh...we have maybe hundreds of thousands of poor souls that were evacuated here from a dying world, but we don’t call them Displaced, they’re refugees.” Twilight replied, scanning me with her eyes as her horn brought forth a scroll and pen...a pen? An actual, honest-to-goodness ballpoint pen? “Well, I need to file a report if you’re a dimensional anomaly, name?”

This...could take a while….

This Twilight. I swear, my Twilight was easier to handle than this one! My Twilight just hit on me for a bit, this Twilight won’t stop asking questions! I hate it!

“Do you ever stop asking questions?!” I said, interrupting her long stream of questions. “No offense to you, but if you don’t stop, I might just kill myself.” To prove my point, I willed forth the Changeling Blade onto my hand-now-hoof and then held it up to my neck.

“Ah! I’m sorry, so sorry! Please don’t!” Twilight pleaded as she tossed the scroll and pen across the room. “No need to be extreme! I had to cross-reference your info with what I’ve gathered from the Internet!” Twilight insisted, levitating up a tablet she’d been using at the same time without my knowing.

“The internet?” I asked, pulling the sword away for a mere second, only to put it back to my neck. “Well, now I know I should kill myself.”

“No don’t-!”

“Too late.” And with that, I slit my throat and fell to the floor with a thud. Man, she didn’t react like I was hoping. Instead of running off in a panic, she summoned an emergency first-aid kid and started ranting off all kinds of medical jargon as she scanned me, and I rolled my eyes as I got up, making her scream, shouting zombie. “Braaaaaainnnnns~!”

“AH~! IT’S TRUE! THEY DO EXIST! BRONZE~!” Twilight screamed as she threw a table at me, running up the stairs and slamming the door behind her, barricading it from the other side.

“Bronze?” I said from under the table, pondering the name she screamed. “Huh, odd. Sounds like a normal pony name. Then again, it could be the Displaced. I mean, there was David and then Gabe who ended up going native, and this world so far is clearly a Feral or ‘Normal’ one. And then there’s me...maybe this Equestria has a limitation on the species here.” I jolted out from under the table as I heard Twilight frantically rambling to whoever she was leading into the library. “And Vanilla Equestrias, thus far from my own experience and other’s experiences, tells me I should run. But the question is, can I teleport out of this building?” My answer came in the form of me melting into shadows, and whisking away to find myself now standing in the familiar ruin of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, or as I prefer to call it lately; Castle Everfree.

“Whew! Thank gog I can still do that. Whatever’s blocking my storage here hasn’t blocked my other abilities. DM. What’s going on?” I didn’t get an answer, and I started pacing in worry. “DM, c’mon, I know you can answer.”

Signal. Poor. Local. God. Barrier.

“The fuck does that mean?!” I screamed.

Find. Displaced.

So that’s what it boils down to. Ugh...and I made things harder on myself by scaring Twilight like that. For all I know, I might have a witch-hunt out for me already.

[(X)]

“BURN THE ZOMBIE!” Spike shouted to a group of foals, who all raised little toy tools in mimicry of a lynch mob as Twilight growled about his mockery from the basement, surrounded by her friends save Dash.

“I’m TELLING you all the truth! There was a Changeling King in here, named Dox, from another universe, saying that there are countless others like him called The Displaced, who were tossed out of their original universe often by a malignant being called the Merchant, and it matches up with a series of something called FanFiction on the internet when I cross-referenced his claims.” Twilight stated, holding a ream of printer paper with pages upon pages of titles and intro summaries, and yanks out one titled The Dungeon Master of Equestria. “I gave it a quick speed-read, but it ends just as he disappears after a hang-gliding accident.”

“Twilight, calm your teats.” Bronze deadpanned. He was still tired from Gilda and Dash putting him through the ringer they called ‘warm-ups’. “I believe you. Just tell me; am I dealing with something that needs muscle? Because I don’t have that anymore.”

“Don’t y’all even think it colt! Yer stayin’ with me if ya think Ah’ll let ya take such stupid risks like ya did with that hydra again.” Applejack declared as she moved next to him and forced him to sit down. “Rest hun, yer exhausted.”

“Damn it AJ, I’m not a child….” Bronze protested weakly as he leaned into her.

“Well, no, if we don’t approach him with violent intent, he’d be more than fine talking to us if what I read in this is accurate.” Twilight mused, and blushed. “Or...other things, even if he’s not the one to initiate.”

“Oh...my….” Fluttershy blushed, hiding in her mane at the very thought of intimacy.

“He sounds fun!” Pinkie cheered, she was admittedly tired herself from the gyrocopter, but she was better off than Bronze.

“He waits for the lady to initiate? He sounds like quite the gentlecolt. Let’s go find him, I wish to ask of his world’s fashion.” Rarity commented, getting agreements from everypony.

“Well, when I walked in on him, he was wearing...a thong.” Twilight whisper-talked even though it was just them, and all the mares gasped as Bronze looked at them in confusion.

“What? I get thongs are perverted, I wore one when I was a little kid to the beach since my mom had a sense of humor back then, but what is it that has you all so flustered?” Bronze asked, and AJ leaned up to his ear and whispered, making his face turn red up to said ear. “Uh...wow...talk about reversals. Back on Earth, er, Terra, taking OFF clothes was considered sexy.”

“So you really had no idea why mares were ogling you when you constantly wore pants when you first came here? How awkward….” Rarity commented, blushing as she thought he was simply extremely confident and showing off by using the pants to emphasize his torso back then.

“Well, whatever, Twilight. Can you track him?” Twilight blushed and sheepishly laughed as she summoned forth a plastic baggy holding a tuft of shock-white hair.

“I may have discretely collected a sample of his tail while I was questioning him. I can use this to track him down.” They all looked at her with leers, even Fluttershy looked at her disapprovingly, and she wilted. “Yeah...I need to learn about barriers.”

I was exploring the castle as I pondered where the Displaced could be. For all I know, Bronze is just another pony here. However, for all I know, he could be the Displaced and I’m wasting time. But also, I kinda pulled a dick move with Twilight back there. Man, I’m becoming way too much like my father. Why did my vacation have to be interrupted again? While HANG-GLIDING at that! And for that matter, where the hell did my glider go?!

Upon thinking that, I regretted it, because somehow the damn thing popped out of the air like a token would and slammed full-speed into me. “Fuck. This version of Equestria is completely ruled by cartoon logic isn’t it?”

In response, a bowling ball fell from the sky and smashed my noggin open, spilling brains everywhere, yet I didn’t die instantly and could regenerate without a Saving Throw. “Yep...don’t question it Dox. Accept it.” In response an anvil smashed through the floor a foot away from my face, followed by a safe a bit further than that, and then a piano landed daintily on it’s stands without any damage. “...Ah...a reward?” The piano then suddenly collapsed into itself. “Damn it!”

“This way girls! My Pinkie Sense is tingling!” Crap. Not her. I don’t care what universe I’m in, please, just don’t throw her at me again-! “HI!” She popped out of a window that opened in the air.

“AH! AH~!” I screamed, jumping backwards and willing forth the Changeling Blade again. I swear, I was shaking from her little jumpscare. “DON’T. DO. THAT.”

“He’s up here girls! And the thong is hawt~!” She called behind her into the window, closing it, revealing herself and the others sans Rainbow and instead a black and silver alicorn stallion that was...extremely scrawny in muscle and almost shorter than most of them. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and-!”

“I KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Stay back!” I shouted, waving my bladed hoof at them as I backed away from the Pink Menace.

“Dude, lower the weapon, or I show you how much having a horn shoved up your ass hurts.” The scrawny alicorn spoke with a deep, loud, tenor baritone that, had he been bigger, might have made me shiver at how radio-worth it was, or how angry he clearly was about me being so defensive.

I slowly brought my bladed hoof down to the floor, watching as they all visibly calmed down, only to freak out again as I brought the blade to my throat again. “We know who you are Dox. You’d have to be completely obliterated to die. I’m not falling for it this time.” Twilight declared, and I blinked at her. “I read your FanFiction.”

“Nope.” I said, bringing the blade away from my throat and abruptly slamming my hoof into the ground. “Nope. Not again, nope. Nope nope nope nope nope, SO MUCH NOPE!”

“Well unlike Mistress Change, I actually have a paper copy of it up to the point where you mysteriously disappear in a hang-gliding accident while on vacation.” Twilight added, making it only slightly less nope worthy.

“Twilight, please stop wasting paper. Not much survived the holocaust as it is, and it’s tiring getting Jeeves to hunt for the stuff for you, AND the manufacturers to use as templates.” The alicorn stallion scolded the purple mare, who whined and he rolled his eyes. “You can get the stuff the paper companies start selling soon over their less sophisticated stuff. Anyway, I’m Bronze Brave, and if you’re here, then you’re stuck here, aren’t you?”

“To my knowledge, yes.” I said. “Now, it’s my turn to ask a question. How the hell did you track me?"

“Twilight went all stalker and snipped some of your tail hair while you weren’t looking!” Pinkie answered, getting Twilight to blush and glare at her friend while I just shuddered. You can’t be telling me every Twilight across existence is so...ugh.

“Thank you.” I said. “Now, to quote a doctor and a friend: Allons-y!” And with that, I tried to teleport away. Emphasis on tried…. As in I failed, somehow. It wasn’t Null, I was just...denied.

“Going somewhere?” Bronze asked all business, his blank face as he approached told me he was to blame. “Sorry, you’re not just going to run off. I don’t have that kind of patience.”

“What about this, then?” I said, remembering something I had found out about ponies lately. I lifted up a hoof…. and poked his nose. “Boop.” He didn’t move...why didn’t that work?! He did grin though, and moved a hoof up to my face.

“Boop.” He only tapped me, and the next thing I knew, for some reason, Gravity had turned off on me!

“The frig?!” I said as I started floating upwards. I used my own gravity powers to stop my crazy flight, but I couldn’t bring myself in any direction! I tried to get gravity to listen to me like Kat taught me, but nothing was happening besides me being allowed to stabilize myself. “You have Gravity Powers?!”

“No. Now we’re going to have a chat and-.”

“OMIGOSH! Was that use of Star Swirl’s third law of relativity in action?! Bronze! When did you learn magic?!” Twilight started geeking out, and both Bronze and I groaned. Apparently we both had a similar distaste for Purple-Smart’s enthusiasm for these sorts of things.

“NO!” We both shouted as she was about to start running scans, and she cowered away behind her friends, who all both agreed with us, yet consoled her regardless.

“So, before we get going with the trivia, any idea how to get me down?” I asked. “I would get myself down, but it appears my powers are on the fritz because of you.”

“Not on the fritz, simply denied.” Wha? “Gravity is a tangible thing, a force that itself is the center of all-.”

“I’m a Gravity Shifter, I know this, could you skip to the part about getting me down?” I demanded irritably, only to find myself smashed face-first into the floor of the castle roof. “Ow….”

“Pay attention smartass. I’m not Gravity, not even one specific thing. Luna has the moon, Tia the sun. I am the Force that they obey. That ALL things in EXISTENCE obey!” I decided to stop his grandstanding there.

“Blabity blabity blah.” I said. “Listen, if you know who I am, my story, then you know I’m not impressed.”

“Don’t know, don’t care. What? Want a lollipop? I didn’t even have a fucking CHOICE in this! I’m sure you didn’t either from how I understand things now though. Fate’s a bitch. You smack it enough, it smack’s back, and keeps smacking.” Bronze growled, looking at his horn in disgust.

“Yeah, I know the feeling.” I said. “Hell, I never had a chance. Doubt you did, but hey, ya never know. Just reminds me of my friend Avarice.”

“Nice name...seems Shirish to me.” Bronze commented as he sat down in front of me as I sat up, dwarfing him. “So, are you going to listen? Tell me what’s what with this whole Displaced business? Because I found myself walking through my front door into this place a couple months ago, and if that isn’t being Displaced, I don’t know what is.”

“A couple of months ago?” I said. “Wow, you’ve had it easy, not taking into account your experiences. I’ve been like this for, well, a year or so now. I’ve known Displaced who’ve been like this for thousands of years.”

“Your world been nuked? You get to watch it happen?” Bronze demanded, and it triggered a memory of someone saying something similar. “You get to feel your very essence be ripped out of you as you desperately try to save as many as you can? Even if it destroys you?” He demanded, Applejack suddenly approaching him and nuzzling him as tears tried to come from his eyes. “Sorry...still getting over it.”

“Hold up, did you say your world was nuked?” I asked.

“Yeah. About a month ago. I brought Luna to my world, just as a stop-over for convenience to take her to Zecora’s so they could meet and we could have a time together butchering the hydra I killed. She thoughtlessly moved my world’s moon closer and...well...the ensuing Chaos just unraveled what little decorum was left and...it fell apart.” Bronze ended with a choked sob, AJ whispering sweet nothings in his ear as she pet his mane.

“Ya know, that story reminds me of someone else.” I said, putting a hoof to my chin and rubbing it. “In fact, it sounds identical to Avarice’s story about his world. The thing is, he kept mentioning a friend of his while he told me. You wouldn’t happen to know an Anthon, would you?” The stunned silence and gawking from all of them was answer enough.

“...Where’s Konrad?” Bronze demanded, he looked like he’d just been given a purpose when he’d lost hope, and considering who Avarice used to be, well, it was obvious I had no reason not to say.

“Avarice, or Konrad as you knew him, is fine.” I said. “He’s back in his own universe. If you wanted, I could probably tell him I saw you, or tell you what his token is so you can look out for it.”

“Jeeves has been scanning the Multiverse a whole month with no leads, that damned Merchant left no trail of where it sent him. I’ll look out for his...Token?” Bronze asked in interest.

“Yeah….” I said. “About that. He… He’s kind of…. How do I say this?...” I rolled my hooves around in the air, gesturing towards Bronze, who quickly grasped the concept.

“Damn, that Ascended has already gotten him that far along? Shit, I was hoping in vain I could stop it. Oh well. So long as he’s okay. Now what’s this about tokens?” Bronze asked as it started to get dark out, and he sighed. “Hold on, let me move this someplace more comfortable.”

“Okay, so where-?” Where’d that door come from? There was literally, a mahogany door standing in the middle of the floor. It’s presence was oddly intimidating, especially considering it was big enough for an 18-foot tall F.A.U.S.T. to walk through, and had several knobs along the left side, each one a different size according to the user. “What...the…?”

“Huh...Jeeves has been a little liberal in the remodeling. I just wanted it to not be so familiar, not entirely different. Now a hydra could squeeze through if it wanted.” Bronze shook his head, and moved to the giant door that the others were similarly in awe of. I’m guessing it isn’t normally like this? “Jeeves! Open up! What have you done with my house?!” He knocked on the giant door firmly three times, no more, no less.

And then the door cracked open, revealing a bipedal humanoid stone golem wearing a tuxedo, his rocky face somehow in a bland and dry expression as his equally bland and dry British accent answered. “I have taken the liberty of refurbishing your home sir. Please, do come in.” The fact the golem was full-size as the door was rather scary, but what was even more so was how when Bronze entered it, he was suddenly of a size on the other side where everything was at a scale he could comfortably interact with from what I saw through the door. “If you are quite finished dawdling, please, enter. I do not condone pests flying through the door.”

“Watch it snob. Or I’ll bring others in with me.” I said, walking inside. I found myself actually eye-level with Bronze now. It wasn’t disorienting at all though, which was what was most disconcerting. However, my pause got me a certain Pink Party Pony to put her hooves on my flanks, and click her tongue.

“Hey, giddy-up! The door’s only made for one silly!” She then punctuated it by squeezing my plot, and lidding her eyes. “Or do you want me to show you how to properly wear this thing?”

“GET OFF!” I screamed, running inside. I paused quickly, as the Pink Menace had quickly dismounted upon me leaving the small entry hall, and we were in a lavish marble mansion with a wall of bay windows showing views from multiple different locations, some in space, others other worlds that weren’t Equestrias, one however kept viewed on the dead, orange and brown rock Avarice showed me, another showing what my lessons with Kat have taught me was Equus. The fact Bronze was gawking right next to me told me this was new to him too. “Your house?”

“I thought it WAS!” Bronze exclaimed...huh, I just noticed he’s wearing a bronze nose ring. With Celtic Boars on it running Widdershins...that is all Chaos right there.

‘Right, Avarice said Vaga told him that his friend Anthon is a balancing Chaotic Presence for this world.’ I looked around as the girls came in behind us and the golem named Jeeves approached.

“Drinks anyone?” Suddenly, a mug of some drink was hovering before me. I sniffed it, and promptly grabbed it with my gravity powers and chugged the huge mug down in one go. Cactus Cooler, chilled to just the right temperature! Amazing. “Please, do wander. I wish to know everyone’s opinions of the home’s recent update. Since it was moved to the Void, fixing it up was as easy as-.” Jeeves pointed to Pinkie.

“Cupcakes!” Suddenly Jeeves was holding a whole tray of cherry-chimichanga cupcakes, fully cooked, moist, and frosted. “Oh~ I’m in heaven!”

“How did you… Know what, not questioning it.” I said. “Already seen enough weird shit today as is. So, who’s guiding the tour?"

“Nobody. I said you are free to wander, and that is enough. There is nothing here valuable and worth protecting from damage, nor is there enough space as of yet to get lost. The bedrooms are that way, and the facilities and kitchen is that way. Do avoid the stairs however, they lead to the other Doorways. Now then, I do ask that you keep your Chu behaved and in the pet palace over yonder with Bronze’s other pets.” The golem pointed towards a wall which suddenly had an entranceway, and inside was a veritable pet paradise that already had three dogs and three cats all lounging about contently as the red Chu pony was shifting about a shallow pool of water, and even waved to me.

“Ya know, I was kinda wondering where she went.” I said. “How’d she even get in there? I thought she was in a bottle that was connected to my thong.”

“Time and Place are irrelevant things. I had assumed you knew this much. If that is all, I have my duties on Terra to see to about continuing the transfer of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault’s contents to the Herbology department of the Star Swirl Academy.” Then he was gone. Simply, gone. Not there. Vanished.

“Where… How… Know what, still not caring.” I said. I turned towards Bronze. “So, boss, where to? I still need to tell you some things about the Displaced.”

“I was hoping we could just sit around on my ridiculously comfortable couches, but-.” Suddenly. Couches. “Nevermind, good to see that still works in the Void. Let’s chat.”

[(X)]

To say it was enlightening was an understatement. Bronze had thought his situation was unique. Sure, he wasn’t Displaced by the normal means according to Dox, but he was still Displaced for sure, considering he met all the criteria aside from the fact he wasn’t cosplaying when it happened, and he wasn’t turned into a character from fiction. Or...well...if what Twilight says is true; actually they all were. Damn My Little Pony! Making cool universes!

“So now I have to watch out for others like us, along with trying to get ripped again and accustomed to my powers, AND the canon storyline?” Bronze asked Dox in annoyance, getting nods out of the changeling.

“Yep.” Dox said. “Among things. You should also watch out for anything weird that leaks through the multiverse. I’d say try staying away from anyone that is under the shadow of the Architect. Corruption is a scary thing.”

“Not to mention unexpected factors.” Twilight butted in. “After all, according to the script….” Twilight summoned another ream of paper, this one titled MLP:FiM, and skimmed over near the beginning. “It would seem you were Displaced here at about the start of our own story, and your involvement was sorta conveniently dovetailed in if I compare what happened with what’s here. Also, the hydra attack and you killing it aren’t mentioned at all, so this thing can only be a precautionary tool.” Twilight waved the small book of paper at them, getting Bronze to roll his eyes and Dox to want to burst it into flame.

“Twilight. Foreknowledge is as much a curse as none. The anticipation leads to both foolish certainty, as well as being unprepared for extreme disappointment should it not happen.” Bronze stated wisely, getting Dox to nod along with him.

“Hell, you might not even see some events.” Dox said. “You said something about a Starlight Glimmer, or something like that earlier. While I’m sure she might exist here, I never saw her. But that whole tale for her sounds like what the mane 6 had to do on my world. Honestly, I don’t know. Too much shit’s been going on for me to even consider ‘canon’.”

“But this is an important resource! In fact, I figured out that yesterday and today were supposed to be the events of a section called Griffon the Brush-Off, where Gilda shows up, acts like a total jerk, and leaves in a huff, where she isn’t mentioned for a long, long time after.” Twilight informed as she looked over the book-sized bound printing paper.

“Hey!” Dox yelled. “Be careful with your information. Spoilers ruin things. Trust me, they do.”

“But already things have happened differently, a divergence. Bronze was there at Dash’s house when Gilda showed up. Gilda instead of being an outright jerk, instead revealed she was a baker and-.”

“Tried to steal my recipes!” Pinkie injected angrily, her mane and tail going flat for a split second. “A Bake Off challenge requires all parties share at least one personal recipe, unless it’s a friendly challenge. But her challenge was not friendly at all.” Pinkie ground out, her hair flattening a bit.

“Yes, well, anyway.” Twilight added, scooting away from the pink mare on their shared couch as the others had decided to explore. It would seem her foreknowledge of Party of One was already coloring her friend in a bad light. “As I was saying, Bronze; you are the main Divergence in our lives. You never existed in our base timeline or instance. Anything you’re involved in will by extension change accordingly. We’ll see the fallout of your interactions with Gilda when we get back, but otherwise I’ll have to see to somehow arranging your absences from certain events so they don’t take unnecessary turns.”

“For that, I have an answer.” Dox stated. “Bronze, you just need to make a token, and cast it out into the Void.”

“To help others right? I can’t help myself right now. That trick I did with turning off your gravity is pretty much the biggest thing I can do right now besides deny teleports and move vast distances quickly.”

“Well, yeah.” Dox said. “Hell, if I get a copy of your token, I could give one to Avarice. I’m pretty sure he’d love to see you.”

“I know I’d love to see him too. I need to see at least one of my old friends soon. I have no clue where they could be in this world, considering my power latched onto those close to me first since it was easier. Okay, so from what you explained earlier….” Bronze reached a hoof up to his nose ring, twitching his nose and removing it. “Can I copy this? I don’t want to lose the original. It’s kinda important to my personal identity.”

“Oh yeah, when you were a minotaur and had your Defining Trait revealed right? Well, here, it should be easy for me to do that. I just need access to my dimensional storage pocket.” Dox offered and Bronze sighed as his horn shined, and suddenly Dox opened a hole in the air and reached in, taking out a bronze ornament that was just loot. “This will be easy to do.” Dox boasted, before using his gravity powers, since magnetism would just electrify bronze, to literally mash the small ornament into a ring, which he then did the same to create the engraved Celtic Boars that were on Bronze’s actual nose ring.

“Gravity powers FTW.” Bronze joked as he put his nose ring back in, visibly becoming more relaxed when he did so. “Alright, give it here. I don’t really have much to offer, but I’ll see what I can say.”

“Just remember to be true about yourself. That’s the most important thing.” Dox insisted, giving the dense duplicate nose ring to Bronze, who held up the ring in his hoof, his deep blue eyes shining a bit.

“If you need Asylum, someone to talk to, or if I can; direct assistance, then feel free to call upon me. Bronze Brave of Space, master of spacial distortion.” Bronze then looked at a window, which flung open into the murky nothingness of the Void, and the ring launched out into the emptiness like a bullet, before the small hatch in the giant bay window closed, and resumed its previous viewpoint. “There. I’m another step closer to finding my best friend. I hope you or him find a copy and summon me soon. I need to hear from him how he’s doing.”

“Ya know, it would have been easier for me to do that if you just handed it back to me?” Dox said.

“Hey, I don’t control my powers as much as they control me sometimes, it just happened. This place IS in the Void mind you. For all I know-.” A copy of his token suddenly shot in through a window, breaking it and it fixed itself instantly before it struck Dox in the neck. “-That might happen!”

“OW!” Dox yelped. “The hell! Well, at least I can take this to Avarice now. I’ll tell him who it’s from.”

“Be sure to tell him ‘From the fat douche to the beanpole douche’, he’ll know for sure then.” Bronze grinned before he yawned. “Oh...yeah...it’s late, wow. Just go on through any Doorway, it’ll return you home if you have it in mind when opening it. It was nice to meet you Dox.”

“Nice to meet you too Bronze. Now then, if I am permitted to leave as you say, I have six sexy fiances to get back to. I hope they aren’t worried too much about this happening again.” Dox mentioned as he got up and approached the Pet Palace. “Cherry~, time to go!” His pet goo pony made popping sounds in elation before quickly slithering along and flowing into the bottle tied by the neck to his thong’s waistband. “See you later Bronze!” Dox approached a door, and opened it, only to see the Pet Pantry. “Oh, heh, heh. Sorry.” He then tried the front door, revealing a high-end penthouse, and exited, the door closed on it’s own after him.

Bronze and Twilight both sat in their seats a bit awkwardly now that the subject of conversation was over. “Uh...I guess we all just go home now? It is really late.” Twilight asked, looking over at a window that suddenly showed her library interior, with Spike conked out on the floor, having apparently dozed off trying to do his chores without the guidance of a list. “Oh, such a good dragon. I’d best be off.”

“Night Twi, I’ll just sleep here.” Bronze called to her as she opened the front door, now leading into her library, before closing it. The others had all trickled out by now, save Pinkie. He shuddered at the tyranny she was wreaking upon his poor kitchen again, as last time ended up with her naked, covered in syrup, sitting on the floor, legs spread...damn it, stupid sexy Pinkie Pie! Bronze groaned into the couch cushion, trying not to think arousing thoughts. Hearing Pinkie moan over something delicious in his kitchen though, those efforts were in vain, and he sighed. “Jeeves-.”

“Tea Sir?”

“Thank you.”

Author's Notes:

YES! Doorways has had it's Displaced Cherry popped! I even asked the group admins if it would fly and they said it was fine. Just as well, this was a long time coming, considering Doorways set the setting of the Con where Avarice was Displaced, and the two characters have a good history with each other.

So once again, another of my stories had it's Displaced Cherry Popped by Dox XD. DJ A String is such a cool guy.