Author's Notes:

Wow, I can't believe it's been a year or so after I started this story. Though I may hate to admit it but I feel like this chapter will be the one that will make people say "This story and that character are too ridiculous. I can't accept this as a canon story. Unfave and unwatch." This is because of the huge infodump that you and the Spectrum characters will be subjected to since I've chosen not to skip it, I'm worried too much about how you'll react to my main character to this story, the world he came from, and what's he doing on his travels. Even though this story is supposed to be more about a preview of how the Spectrum characters will be using their abilities and weapons in the upcoming final battle, it's still more about my character going through this universe and the other characters reacting to him and his situation. With the help of the Spectrum Crew themselves, other characters' interactions with him should be more genuine and realistic (though more on the genuine side). And I hope their reactions to him will be enough to get you through to the story. So I guess this message is more of a warning of the large infodump incoming and an impromptu Phoenix Wright segment that my character and Discord will be engaging in this chapter and I wish for you to bear with them (or mostly my character) as everyone tries to make sense of this huge monster situation that they find themselves in. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and be pretty glad that the next one will be more of the fighting that most people are expecting. See you next chapter.

Chapter 2: Briefing Overload

"Hey, pay attention! What is your name?" Marcus voice was a far cry from before, almost voided of any warmth that he had before, it was enough to snap me out of my thoughts. I look around the room, nothing but two chairs and a table, your standard interrogation room you might see in the movies or tv shows. It was strange that this entire setup took only a few minutes to spread out. I think it was an office for someone before Discord and the others made it into this makeshift interrogation room. Doesn’t this place have a proper one?

"Sorry, sorry. Was just trying to catch up with everything that's happened so far." I answered as I looked down at my hands. I noticed that they weren’t handcuffed and I hadn’t lost any of my belongings, not even my sword. Either they were sympathetic to how down and out I was or they believe that Marcus would be enough if I tried something… Yeah, right. As if I wanted to tick off a whole army of heroes for no reason... Anyway, The last thing I remembered was being surrounded and then escorted into the building. I don’t think I was paying attention much to my surroundings afterwards as I was probably too busy thinking about the ones that are in surgery among other things. I could’ve probably help them with my magic and items if I was there. But I gotta remember that those two people are not dead and stop thinking about that. They're not dead, so it's alright... They're not dead. So it's alright...

As soon as I finished concentrating, I calmed down enough to look at him straight in the eye and tell him who I am. I somewhat flinch as he tapped his arm with impatient air around, right, my name. "My name is Jarél Saunders. I'm a dimensional traveler and a hero from another Earth, but due to unusual circumstances; I ended up becoming a dimensional drifter that now travels to different worlds using random portals in the hopes that one of them will send me back home." I finished with a serious look.

I expected him to roll his eyes, probably scoff and call me out on it, anything but what he did next. “Okay, so what is next? These monsters appeared when you did, anything you can tell us about them?”

Well that was... different. Usually it takes a while to get anyone to believe me, especially if they’re not a pony someone from Equestria. But maybe I shouldn’t be too surprise, look at who I am sitting with. A guy who leads a world union with a good version of an enemy he apparently hates. Then again, I did fought with his allies while using magic so that could’ve helped.

“Let’s see…” I scratched my head when I began, gathering my thoughts, “I don’t know much about them other than they seem to appear whenever I go. Most of the time they’re only in areas that are basically deserted or abandoned. I’d say they’re territorial because unless I approach them, they won’t try to attack me and if I get out of their ‘range’ so to say, they’ll stop, head back to their place and just meander around. I guess you could say they’re more like wild animals or something like that…” I paused as I try to see if there’s anything else that can help them. “Well, that’s the ones I used to fight against until now. Oh wait, there is a boss monster thing that tend to guard exits or something important that I have to get on my way to the portal. I think it’s rare or a bit uncommon but sometimes these guys actually guard the portal, but only in those deserted areas and dungeons like that, if the exit portal is near them.”

“We had at least two of them fighting out there.” Marcus point out, “Puppet man and the giant tiger thing, not only that but all those monsters began to attack us without pause. They even gathered and began to attack all the troops when they fired on the ones that were going to attack you. They ignored us like we weren’t even there until that point.”

I knew I forgot something. I sighed before I started again, “I should’ve start that they would attack anyone who intrudes on their so-called territory. But the fact that they were focusing on me first before engaging anyone else is new to me. I sometimes ended up getting some allies to fight with me, even if I don’t want them to. But I don’t think I’ve heard any one of them talk about the monsters coming after me first. Hmm, maybe they do but they may have just kept that fact mostly to themselves.” I put my hand on my head as I started thinking harder. “It’s new... this is all new… This is the first time I’ve encountered monsters that were actively hunting me that wasn’t in a monster’s nest.”

“Well that would be my fault.” I blink as I turn my head to the voice, only to see a black eye with a white iris staring back at me.

“Ah!” I fell out of my chair, Marcus losing the cold personality and giving a small chuckle. I look up to see the same white gown girl give a silent giggle, covering her mouth while doing so. An eagle claw melted out of the wall, gently patting the small girl’s head.

“Good girl, Erma.” Discord said as he pull the rest of himself through, chuckling as the girl float off the ground and zip through the table, but not before giving Marcus a quick hug before leaving. The sound of surprise shouts echoing behind the wall. “As I was saying, that would be my fault for the monsters.”

“What do you mean?” I got back up while brushing myself off and started walking back to my seat, “How is it your fault?” I tilt my head in curiosity and concern as I asked that question, despite the butterflies developing in my stomach. The way he glared at me earlier still haunts my mind. Nothing’s worse than earning the ire of someone you liked or want to be friends with. I was even surprised at first when it turned out that the last Discord I met was this one. He’s basically the only fanfic version of him that I liked before the whole travelling through Equestrias journey started. I think only two other Discords gained my respect and friendship in my trip. Anyway, he made it seem like that the whole monster thing is my fault. It probably still is, but what did he meant by it’s his fault?

“In a way, this is still all your fault, but when I was looking you over when I first met you,” Discord scratch his goatee with some thought, “I was studying your very being. Very interesting by the way, you very state of being affects the world you are in, allies, even your enemies. I quite surprise this hasn’t happen yet, but maybe it’s due to the location you are in.”

“The location I’m in…” I parroted as I crossed my arms in thought until a realization hits me, “Discord you made this city right? And no one else lived there until then right?”

“Ain’t it cutest question face you ever seen?” Discord spoke in a high pitched feminine tone. Don’t freeze up body, remember that he’s not Her. “But you are right, though in this case, it isn’t just the magic in the area affecting the monsters. You may have noticed the lack of upside down buildings, outdoor bathhouses, and running crane trains.”

Okay, I have to admit, in the rush to get to the Tower, I didn’t even think about the city, but it did lack anything insane, odd, new additions, or... people.

He must’ve seen me acknowledging this as he continue on. “That is because my magic is still in the area, suffused within the buildings and roads. The city is still ‘cooking’ so to speak, as some areas are still lacking support.”

“Like the Hoover Dam,” Marcus clarify for me, though I had no idea what he meant by that before he continued, “The Hoover Dam is still drying or the more technical term ‘curing’ even after all these years, it probably wouldn’t fully dry for another century or two.”

“Exactly, my magic tends to go wild, and I let it do so once I let release it. Making a city; every building, street, sewer line, electrical system, and subway tracks up to code is as orderly as one can get. So you can imagine the pain I went through to make sure that a building doesn’t grow legs and walk away.”

“Must’ve been quite the opposite from what you’re used to doing.” I commented while looking down in slight worry and sympathy.

“How would you feel like taking out your own lungs and squeezing them to get air, or your own heart?”

Ow… Owwwwwwww…. I can imagine pulling energy out of your body is hard, especially if you’re doing magic for the first time. It must’ve hurt as bad as he said to do magic that’s the opposite of him, especially with magic of this scale. “I-I’m sorry for that.” I have no idea how to respond to that. I don’t like it when things like that happen, I always worry that I might come off as insensitive if I said the wrong thing.

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I like to think of myself as an artist!” Discord held up a paintbrush, walking up to a wall and painting a window. Then proceed to open the window and threw the brush out the window, growing wings and flying away. “Besides, I am not even using the magic to do this. I just direct it now. Much easier to deal with the monsters now that they’re in a hole in the ground.”

“And the aerial monsters?” Marcus ask,

“I would suggest not going to swimming in the park any time soon.” Discord smile at this

-Extra Scene: Central Park-

“Uh…” The group of zebras watched as the flying bird tried to fly out of the water, only for a large watery hand engulf the monster and drag it back down into its depth. “Perhaps we should warn the others not to go near the water?”

“A wise decision.” Shaman Quagga chuckle as he walk by, “Monsters may inhabit the waters, but to leave would be such a falter. Discord is quite the catcher, monster are sure to shatter.”

-Aquired TCB: Spectrum Extra Scenes Tape 1-

Huh? I think got something new in my pocket, is it a new extra scene tape? I should check that out later. Anyway, “So, your chaos magic is the reason why the monsters are actively hunting me down instead of just waiting around… in a city that you created that hardly anyone except for few handful of armies. Basically… this city is one huge dungeon.” I gulped and wondered about the number of the monsters that we fought and worried about the ones that I didn’t see were… attacking others.

“Alright alright alright!” Marcus groan as he held up his hands, “Tell me about your powers first before you start talking about dungeons and what not. What can they do, what are their limits and such. You pretty badly wanted to help during the whole invasion of monsters, but we didn’t want an unknown running around and get shot by accident.”

Is it something I should share with others? I thought about how I really don’t want to explain it again, but maybe I should confirm something first, “Well, I don’t want to explain it again multiple times so is there a way I can tell this to everyone or would you be able to relay this others?” I asked while twiddling my index fingers.

Marcus raised an eyebrow, looking to ceiling, I turn around to see a camera pointed down at us.

“Oh… well that works.” I said before composing myself. Where should I start first…? Marcus seemed concerned with how I fight, so maybe I should start with that. “Hmm, well let’s see. I’m mostly a melee fighter, I like to use my sword to fight which is part of where most of my magic come. I’m basically a magic knight, excellent at close quarters combat, pretty good at a few types of magic but not only able to get so far on the rest of the other types of magic. The magic I’m good at is mostly lighting, fire, and light magic. I’m pretty good with the main elemental magic, water, fire, wind, and earth. But I mostly use those for attacks and maneuverability from my sword. I also take great pride in healing myself and others with my light magic with a bit of water. I can also use traditional magic, which like I said, I’m not exactly that good at or capable of learning ‘expert spells” so I can fight from far away if you need me to. But don’t depend on me to use it forever despite the huge amount of items I have. Hmm, is this a little too much and I should talk about my other abilities or do you want me to continue listing my fighting abilities?” I asked in the end realizing that I’m about to get started going overboard about my abilities. I should probably go into support abilities and items next, but I better wait for his answer.

“Hmm…” Marcus cross his arms, his eye closed as he listen to me. “Can you teach others?”

“Uhhhh, I don’t think I can, not without some help from my friends and maybe a Twilight Sparkle. Like I said I’m not an expert at magic and I did say that most of it comes from my sword. Not like I’m saying that I depend solely on my sword, I do have innate magic, which I’m pretty sure everyone has. I can probably inspire a few ideas, but that’s it.”

“Eh, sounds like it would take too long for just one person to learn a skill.” Marcus shrug as he pop his neck, strange writings erupt from his neck, glowing brightly. “How long do you have?”

“Huh?”

“How long do you have until you have to leave?” Marcus clarify, giving me a long look. “Celestia told me you have the ability to disrupt the Barrier. Cause it sounds like we are not the only ones with this type of problem. We have plan to take it down ourselves, but if we can do it from the outside, all the better.”

“How does she know that?” That’s really strange, this is the first time I met this Celestia. And the only one that was interested in that ability of mine was the last one I’ve met in a the other Conversion Bureau world.

“Ask her.” Marcus gave a single nod to the wall behind me, and the door open to allow the Princess inside. She walked inside with a calm smile on her face, which is the usual expression that most Celestias seem to sport. Though for some reason, as she laid her eyes on me from her walk, I feel like she’s excited to talk to me .

“Hey Sunny.” Discord greet her with a bright smile. The girl, Erma, happily munch on a chocolate bar while she sat on his head. She gave the Solar Princess a small wave, which Celestia gave her a small smile in return.

“Hello Jarél, it’s nice to finally meet you after hearing so much about you. I wish it could be under better circumstances.” Celestia greeted as she took her place next to Marcus.

“Uh hi Princess Celestia, nice to finally meet you too?” I nervously greeted back. This is a little different meeting someone who knows about me before I enter a world that isn’t an enemy. “So, um… I heard you said you heard about me and know about what I did about the barrier, sort of?” I uneasily asked.

Celestia nodded, “It is true. I heard about you from another Celestia that you helped in a world that is much similar to Marcus’. Do you remember the item she gave you before you left her world?” She asked before I could ask her to clarify.

There’s only one Celestia who has given me a thank you item as a way to get back to her, should I be able to get back to my dimensional ship up and running again once I made it home since this trip started. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a pendant, carrying a yellow and red orb-like marble. I noticed that Celestia mouthed a phrase in astonishment, probably someone’s name, before I answered, “Uh yeah. She gave this to me as thank you for giving her a foothold in a way to get rid of the barrier on her world.”

“If you don’t mind, will you please tell me, I mean us, about how you met this Celestia and what you did in that world?” She politely asked.

“Um, okay it may take a while to explains things but I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible.” I said while scratching my head in nervousness.

“Don’t spare any expense.” Marcus said as he stood up, “But I got things to do. Ponies to talk to, training to catch up on and all that jazz. We are recording so it’s no problem, we will look over it later. Even if you can’t stay, it would be nice if you can go to other worlds and warn them.”

“Warn them?”

Marcus stop at the door, looking back at me with a serious expression on his face. “In case we don’t live through our fight. We need to give all the worlds a chance to resist, to survive.”

I frown as Marcus left, the mood of the room at an all time low. I was expecting him to ask me questions in the middle of my story. Celestia lower her head, sadness filling her very being.

“It’s true. While we are doing all we can to stop the Tyrant, the chances of us losing is still very high. She has billions of broken souls to fall on, magic beyond anything we have ever seen, and is corrupted by a darkness only see twice in our entire history.”

She gave me a haunted look, causing my insides to freeze as she spoke of it. “Tirek. A monster beyond anything we could ever hope to understand. He destroyed our past, broken the ponies to what you see now, and wields darkness as an extension of himself.”

“All the evil you ever seen, he could overshadow it.” Discord comment quietly, gently tugging at Erma’s feet. “I barely survived, my mother was killed by it, trying to stop him. Pray that you never meet him in your travels.”

I nodded my head, “I understand, I’ll… try to warn as many worlds about it as I can. I guess telling someone who might be able to prepare for it might better understand it rather than just stating it as I pass through the world.” He sounds a lot tougher than I realized, why does he sound like a secret one that I could fight if I’m able but it won’t be the one they described? I shook my head of those thoughts, no I don’t need to do that. “Right so let’s get started.”

I closed my eyes, trying to focus all my thoughts into one, trying to find a way to tell this story of mine without stammering or messing up too much. I only have one shot at this and if I couldn’t get them to believe the truth, I know I would have to try to fight my way through an entire army, again. But this time they’ll be equipped to deal with special cases like me. No wait, I need to stop thinking like that, they’re not the army stereotypes I thought they were. Sure I know that these guys are a lot more colorful than the average characters, they’re all heroes in their own right, but they’re still soldiers in the end and I have to be careful not to say the wrong thing. Though I’m actually talking to Princess Celestia, hopefully she’ll at least listen to the truth. She’s the safest person I can talk to now, not to insult Marcus or Stephan, I think she’ll at least take some time to listen to what I have to say. I need to calm down, I need to stop being afraid and tell the truth. I’m amongst friends. Well distrustful friends, but still friends in the end. I just need to calm down…. and tell it like it is.

While I closed my eyes and breathed in and out to calm myself, I could’ve sworn I heard a familiar colliding and wooshing sounds before I opened them and began my story, “It started when the guy who was messing with me during my travels from dimension to dimension decided that I was threat to his plans and he sent me-”

“HOLD IT!”

Wait, what? “Was this the unusual circumstances that you spoke about earlier?” Discord asked after he shouted.

… Is he doing a Phoenix Wright thing on me?! Something that I did before? This is… this is strange. It’s certainly the first time I’m on the receiving end of these things. “N-no, he, wasn’t…” I started to say, clearly shaken up by this sudden development, but I managed to regain myself. “That guy started messing with me, when I was forced to go through world after world.”

“So he wasn’t the reason you’re going through this?” Discord asked again as if nothing happened.

“I don’t know but I have an inkling that he may be the reason why I’m going through all of this. But he wasn’t the unusual circumstance that separated me from my world, it was actually another Celestia.” I heard the current Princess gasped, but I continued, “She needed help in stopping a… Trollestia that has taken her place and sealed her in a crystal. But by the time I arri-”

“Stop.” He interrupted me with a raised paw. “That sounds like a story for another time. So what made you think that ‘guy’ was the reason for your journey? It sounds like to me that you should’ve been sent home immediately once your job there was done.” Discord said while imitating Edgeworth perfectly, from crossing his arms when he made his question to the casual finger pointing when he made his comment.

I suddenly find my hands on the table like Phoenix Wright, must’ve been out of habit from emulating him so much on some of the other worlds, “W-well, he was able to send me to dimensions of his choosing for the various tests he had for me for whenever he found me. Like he sent me to a dimension where for some reason I was already friends with Twilight Sparkle and I had to help her prove that Cadence was Chrysalis at the wedding for one of them.”

“And those tests were meant for…?” This time the question came from Celestia who was suddenly in the Judge’s clothes for some reason.

“To prove that humans involvement with ponies were bad. If you let me continue, I would’ve tell you what he was up to.”

“Very well.” Celestia nodded. I wonder if she noticed if she was wearing the judge’s clothes.

Anyway, I can’t be believe I’m being cross examined like this. I used to do these things in a few other worlds. So this is what it’s like being on the receiving end of these things. Well, two can play it that way Discord. There’s something that I’ve read about a Scootaloo did once on a fanfic where they were mimicking one of the Phoenix Wright games that I could probably try here, which was something do when cross examining multiple people at once. When someone starts thinking deeply in the middle of questioning or in a testimony, I can stop mid sentence to question that person on what they were thinking instead of the current testimony, which leads to new things. I’ve seen Celestia started to think about something when I mentioned the other Celestia earlier. I could’ve asked her right there. But wait, I really don’t want to spoil myself too much about what’s been happening in this world. So really if anyone of them starts thinking deeply about something I should probably make sure it’s general knowledge of the world rather than what they were doing after the leader meeting and their training.

“Jarél, do you remember where you stopped at?” Celestia asked curiously.

“Oh! Uh yeah. I’m just trying to figure out how to word things.” Dang it I can’t stop myself from imitating Phoenix, I just did his hand behind the head thing. Well I better continue and start looking for any thoughtful expressions during my story.

“Where was I? Oh yeah the guy found out that I was a threat to his plans so he sent me to a Conversion Bureau world and somehow separated me from my stuff and put them on the other side of the barrier. It’s just so I wouldn’t interfere with his plans to eliminate every human in every Equestria. He somehow thought that by putting my stuff on the other side of the barrier, I wouldn’t be able to travel to other worlds and find a way to stop him. However what he didn’t count on that I was able to pass through the barrier anyway without my magical stuff and it was mostly thanks to the bonds I have with my friends and family back in my world, which I found out later.

“Of course when I passed through the barrier it wasn’t an isolated event. I was so focused on my goal of getting back to my friends that I didn’t noticed I was being watched on the news. Because of that, the Celestia of that world sent some teleporting royal guards to meet with me and offer me a choice, to help her out with the barrier or keep going.” It was then I noticed that Celestia was in deep thought.

“HANG ON!”

“Princess Celestia, was there anything odd about what I said?” I asked her.

She slowly got out of her trance, “Yes, you said that the other Celestia found out about you through the news watching you. But how was she able to do that if human technology can’t get through the barrier?”

“Oh that’s because in this world, the ponies were able to start replicating human technology through the use of their magic and other stuff. The Princess Celestia of that world saw me through a crystal that is meant to act as a TV and it was apparently magic that connects the channels to her crystal.” I explained.

“Adapting human technology. The ponies of Marcus’ world have been doing the same thing. It’s a shame that they have to do it in secret.” I nodded in agreement, “I still have to wonder, why the princess would send in escorts and ask for you permission first instead of taking you?”

“I don’t know, but I kinda wish more governments were polite like this.”

“And they were okay with you declining?”

“Yeah and they even said they’ll wait for me if I changed my mind but...”

“I debated whether I wanted to do it or not due to the urgency of the situation. But I realized that my friends wouldn’t exactly be happy that I abandoned people that wanted my help so I obliged. There I met with the other Princess Celestia who told me of her plans to use the magic of the portal to dispel the barrier. She offered me a choice again to continue on my journey or help her out. I guess she realized how serious I was about continuing or how I needed to keep going. Anyway, once I agreed she teleported me to where her Twilight was at so I can bring her to the portal and let her examine it. Except for one problem, that Celestia was doing conversion dreams at the same time with Luna when she was talking to me, so she forgot to give me some proof that I spoke with her so that Twilight can believe me. And that led to a shaky relationship between her and the other people at the Conversion Bureau.” Celestia had a concerned look on her face again.

[==========]
“HANG ON! Celestia is something the matter?” I asked hoping for something new to talk about. Wait, why is there a green bar above the both of them in the corner of my eye?

“... Actually, I would prefer it if you just left me to my thoughts.” Celestia answered with an annoyed look on her face.

[==========]
I was taken aback. “But, I thought you had something important to ask me about.”

“Jarél, remember your position. We’re not the ones being interrogated.” Celestia said sternly.

“We don’t have the luxury for you to ask about every single little thing about ourselves.” Discord added.

[==========]
“It’s just that-”

“-Maybe a nice penalty will keep you on topic. Good idea.” Discord quickly said in a sarcastic joyful tone as he cut me off and then he snap his fingers.

[========**]
“But that’s not what I-” I tried to say before part the green bar above the interrogators explode; surprising Celestia as she looked at it, finally noticing it.

[======== ]
I slumped in my seat, “Okay… I’ll stay on topic” I said sadly. Maybe it’ll be a good idea to ask Celestia, and maybe even Discord, questions when they’re not paying attention to me otherwise I’ll get a penalty. While I have no idea what would happen if that bar disappears, but I don’t intend to find out...

“I ended up getting lucky with the Applejack of that world, for the fact that she occasionally brings in people who are stubborn about meeting Twilight so she could tell them no to their solutions and ideas in person. After a rough greeting, I made sure that Twilight could come see me in a park where part of the barrier resides so I can prove to her that I can cross it just fine. I’m lucky Twilight and AJ came themselves with the cops and other authorities instead of sending them after me by themselves. Once that was done it was a road trip to the portal. We had some problems with the PER and the HLF coming after me during the trip for their own reasons. Ironically it was thanks to both of the civilian PER and HLF, that we made it to the portal together. Even though both Twilight and AJ hated both groups respectively.”

“Civilian PER and HLF, what does that mean?” Celestia asked

“It means that they’re normal people who support the groups, but don’t really participate with the extreme parts of their group. They’re more like the people you’ll find doing volunteer work or handing out flyers and stuff like that.” I answered.

“Ah so they’re supporters,” Celestia said in understanding, “You should’ve just refer to them as that. But, please continue.”

“Okay,” I nodded before complying with her request,“Anyway, Twilight eventually scan the portal and found a way to replicate it.”

“HOLD IT!” Discord narrow his eyes at me, causing me to somewhat flinch at the call. Celestia was also startled by the shout and had flatten her ears because of it. He must’ve been louder than I thought. “What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“Replicate it.” Discord clarify, frowning as he walk up to me. “From what you said, this… Portal of yours, is from a vastly different source of magic, or even technology. How long did it take her to figure it out?”

“I think it was three days once she got other ponies and people who also specialized in researching the barrier to help her.”

“Hmm…” Discord stroke his chin, muttering under his breath. I was able to catch snippets of it though. “Twilight Sparkles… always a mystery in each world…” Does he know he’s being very clear about his thoughts? “... mumble whisper whisper mumble.” Did... Did he that because he heard my thoughts?

“Discord,” I started while slowly straightening myself out. “If there’s something important that you need to say it’ll be nice to hear it.”

“It’s nothing you need to concern yourself with my little intruder.” He teased with a couple of pats on my head. “You can move on now”

“But-”

“Proceed!” He happily shouted.

“Ngh…” Darn it, he went by too quickly that I wasn’t able to get anything out of him. What was he thinking about just now?

I sighed, “Okay… After making a prototype portal, Twilight manages to find out that the barrier itself has a world inside it and I ended up learning from Celestia that it was thanks to the bond I had with my friends and family on the other side that I was allowed to go inside the barrier.”

“If the barrier in Marcus’ world wasn’t so destructive, we could’ve used that solution.” Celestia commented.

“Well maybe you can-”

“Ahem.” Discord loudly cleared his throat, “... objection.” He said while lazily pointing at me.

What? “... That was the quietest objection, I’ve ever heard.” I stated as I feel the need move away from his claw finger.

“I think he’s saying we can’t.” Celestia clarified.

“The tyrant’s barrier destroys everything Jarél, including humans. I doubt even your ability will keep you safe from its power.” Discord explained further.

I quietly sighed “You’re right, your world is different after all. But maybe-”

“Stop.” Discord tried to force my mouth shut with his magic. I think he was trying to literally zip my mouth shut, but thanks to the item meant to combat his abilities and my weakness to transformation magic, I just felt sharp pain around my lips as if he used his very talons to shut them instead. So that’s why I was left rubbing my mouth while he explained his reasoning. “This isn’t some strange coincidence of a world neatly popping into an ocean without any sort of negative backlash. It’s impossible, for me, not so much. But its impossible by any other means. Its also impossible for some magic barrier to spring up and protect the island while at the same time vanishing items coming from the outside. But it has happen, for you at least. You deal with impossibles, things that have trillions, if not quadrillions, chances of ever happening without some outside influence or just plain luck.”

Discord lean in close, a small smile on his face, enjoying my confusion about where’s he’s getting at. “That is the wondrous thing about the multiverse. Chances are that it will happen. But you are still thinking on a level that the barrier is something that you can influence, you can not. This barrier breaks down everything that doesn’t have a magical beginning or simply exist due to human influence and break it down to an atomic level. I checked, for every city that ever existed, there is nothing more than a swamp with scores of stone and metals deposits where every road, sign, and building once stood.”

“Do you want to know what a human body is made of?” Discord pull away.

“Water, flesh, blood, and maybe a bit of iron if they have any to live for medical reasons.” I answered in a pose similar to the thinker statue. I’m not exactly that much of a scientist, so I’m sure I’m not exactly right.

Discord pulled out a piece of paper, pulling out a pair of reading glasses and began to read.

In Alphabetical order.

“Aluminum, Antimony, Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Bismuth, Boron, Bromine, Cadmium, Caesium, Calcium, Carbon, Cerium, Chlorine, Chromium, Cobalt, Copper, Fluorine, Gallium, Germanium, Gold, Hydrogen, Indium, Iodine, Iron, Lanthanum, Lead, Lithium, Magnesium, Manganese, Mercury, Molybdenum, Nickel, Niobium, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, Polonium, Potassium, Radium, Rubidium, Samarium, Scandium, Selenium, Silicon, Silver, Sodium, Strontium, Sulfur, Tantalum, Tellurium, Thallium, Thorium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Uranium, Vanadium, Yttrium, Zinc, aaaaaaaaaaaand.....Zirconium.”

Okay, so we’re made up of a lot more stuff than I thought and I’m kinda surprised that we have gold as part of our bodies. “But, don’t some ponies have a couple of this stuff as well?” I nervously asked with my raised hand barely twitching.

“I said this list for a reason.” Discord said as he put a map of the Earth before me, whatever magic he was using for the map allowed him to ‘zoom’ in on a city, or what was suppose to be a city. It was nothing more than a field now. The only reason I know it was that a city once laid here was because the name was flashing on the paper. “Now let’s get rid of a certain amount of elements that make up some concrete, stone, and metals.”

I recoil back at the sight.

Bodies.

List of the elements that Discord mention, aside from a few that were crossed off due to their wide uses in everything else was listed to the side. Each one form a body of human being, laid out on the ground, or some were just spots on the ground as if a person was just standing there and allowing the barrier to take them.

“This is what happens to a persons when the barrier rolls over them. They are denied any chance of peace as their bodies are ripped apart. That is the difference between the ‘nice’ barrier you deal with, and the ones that these people have such fun having.” Discord pull away

“Oh... I understand.” I said depressingly. Is there really nothing that this world can use based off the last Conversion Bureau world I’ve been to? I slumped over with my hands on my head and my elbows on the table as I tried to think of a way they could use what I learn. But no matter how much I think about it, this barrier is far different from the ones I’ve encounter and Discord will do well in reminding of that no matter what kind of refute and objections that I can come up with at the moment. I just now remembered that this world is meant to be a deconstruction fic, so of course the barrier would be more deadly than the others. I can’t think of a solution, not with what I have now… It’s hopeless.

“Jarél.” Celestia called out to me snapping me out of my thoughts. “Can you tell us what your Celestia did with the information she discovered from you being able to pass the barrier?”

I can tell she tried to change the subject, or get the subject back on track, for my sake. I appreciate that. I just realized that the story never explained what really happened to the buildings and humans when the barrier pass through them in their human world. Which is why I assumed their world is the same as the others. But now I do and I hope there’s something they can use from what I can tell them about the other world that can help them anyway. Even if I couldn’t in the end, at least I know that I tried, “Alright,” I answered Celestia before I continue the story.

“Celestia and Twilight used that discovery to bring over their human friends to work on a way the barrier along with many other people who are able to form bonds of friendships with the other ponies of Equestria. Even though they told me that they were practically done with my help and I should continue on with my journey, I went inside the world within the barrier to make sure there was nothing dangerous in there, but there was.”

“There’s a world inside the barrier?” Celestia asked with a surprised look on her face.

“Yeah there is.” I answered.

“What is it like?”

“Well, it’s basically... I don’t know how to best describe it, but it was like some sort of energy background land thingy that had islands which was made up of all sorts of things from the human world.”

“I see… interesting.” Celestia commented thoughtfully. “So what was the dangerous thing you found?”

“I fought a tough monster inside there and it was made easier thanks to the rest of the Mane 6 and those two civilian PER and HLF members fighting with me. After it was defeated and I was berated by Twilight for jumping in that world so suddenly, the other Celestia gave me that pendant as a gift and a way to return to her world once I leave it. And then I did that after saying goodbye to everyone.”

“..........
“Looks like she was right about you.” Celestia said after a short pause.

“Right about what?” I asked while wondering who she meant by she.

“That you’re a little odd.” She answered with a short quiet giggle. “You didn’t really need to go along with Discord and his recent of hobby of… ‘courtroom antics.'”

I chuckled, “It’s alright. It was a pretty fun way to explain things that we didn’t know about each other already and,” I cringed as I leaned forward on to the table, “It was first time I was on the receiving end of these things.”

I noticed a flash of suspicion crossed Celestia’s eyes before she looked at me calmly, “Speaking of explanations… I do owe you one for how I knew about you and your arrival.”

“Yeah, how did you know what I did in that world anyway?”

“The pendant you have allowed the Celestia you met to communicate with me since it’s meant to communicate with someone equal to her power or greater.”And then she smiled, “She told me what you did for her world and how grateful she is for you to accept her plea for help. Thanks to your assistance they found a way to push back the barrier in her world.”

“Wow, that’s great news.” I beamed, glad that their situation is improving now since I left without finding out if things were truly resolved by then.

Celestia nodded, “It is indeed, that’s why I wanted to see if their solution could’ve helped us. Sadly it doesn’t seem like it’s possible.”

Because their barriers are too different... “Yeah... I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. I think we can manage without your solution, hopefully…” She finished sadly. I guess she still doesn’t believe that they can win. Before I can comment about that she looked back up with me a small kind of hopeful smile; the kind that says ‘she believes she’ll make it but it’ll be very hard to do so’ kind of smile and continue speaking. “By the way, she left me a message for you that she would gladly welcome your help if you ever do somehow return to her world with your friends as well as asking me to help you in anyway I can.”

“You better count yourself lucky that our Sunbutt here got the message instead of the Tyrant, boy.” Discord said grimly, “She would’ve tricked you and then kill you.”

“Wouldn’t she tried to ponify me instead?” I asked while grimacing about the fact that being transformations are my number one weakness and WILL result in my death regardless on whether the transformation is magical or scientifically.

“No. A game breaker like you would definitely be on the top of her priority list in trying to use your abilities to her advantage and she wouldn’t want to give the humans a chance if they got their hands on you, not even from a bloody newfoal corpse.” Discord explained. Though I doubt that anybody can learn about my abilities from just my body or something but I decided to keep my mouth shut about that.

“Putting the worse case scenario aside,” Celestia started, “there is a more pressing matter that I need you to solve before we move on Jarel. I need to know why my counterpart believes that I run the Conversion Bureaus. From your responses, this the first time you’ve heard of this about her world. You have been to other Equestrias before coming to our world, correct?” I nodded. “Am I right in assuming that this is the first world you’ve been to that has something to do Conversion Bureaus after you met her?” I nodded again while wondering where she was getting at as I was getting more worried. “We’ve discussed possibilities about how could this have happened with the others and we discovered it can’t be because of Discord’s replica of the bureau.”

“Can’t make it too authentic.” Discord commented, “Since we don’t want any of those things running around.”

Celestia nodded at him in confirmation and then looked back at me. “So do you have an idea of how could she do that, Jarél?”

“Hmm... As I am a bit of an energy manipulator myself, I can probably guess that due to the fact that there are ponies from the PHL here in this Equestria, their exposure from the going through the portal and its energies back on the other Earth with the other Equestria must’ve allowed the message spell to work.” I guessed as best I can.

“I suppose that’s the best answer we can come up with now.” Celestia said before getting up, “Jarél, as much as I would like to help you now at this point, you’ve made things complicated after our first meeting.”

I flinched a bit, “Is it because of the monsters?”

“No.” Discord said, “It’s about how you know about the Blue Spy’s identity and both of our worlds.”

“I’m going to get someone more appropriate for this line of questioning and then we will decide if we should help you or not.” Celestia started to head towards the door, “Please wait here until then.”

“Okay.” I answered as I tried to relax myself in the chair as I watched Discord and Celestia leave. I can’t believe I’m still in hot water after all this, I may have to think up an escape plan if things don’t pan out. Though I doubt they would’ve let me leave so easily in the first place.

-Extra Scene PHL Replica Hallway-

“So you’re not going to tell him the other reason we can’t use his solution?” Discord asked as he idly floated next to Celestia.

“No, not yet.” Celestia answered before stopping and turned to face him, “You saw how he kept pushing for it when he thought the barrier was similar to her’s back in the interrogation. It only took you showing him exactly how different and deadly it was for him to stop trying.”

Discord chuckled a bit, “I have to admit that it was a little fun debating with him like that. But when are you going to tell him about the true nature of the monsters?”

Celestia looked down sadly, “When I examine the portal and see if my counterpart’s theory is true or not. Until then, he would not take what I say to heart unless I can prove it somehow.”

“You’re really hoping that we can use this aren’t you?”

Celestia didn’t answer.

“Such a tough choice to make. On one hand the wrong one would put the world in more danger than ever while on the other hand we’re no worse off than before.”

“That’s why we have to wait and hope he’s telling the truth.” As well as hoping that her theory is wrong. Despite how much stronger we’ve become I don’t think we can win… and if we do, what should I do on Equus?

-End: Extra Scene-

Huh? I got another tape, but I better not look at them until I leave this world. I don’t want to look any more suspicious than I already am. But I don’t know they’ll believe me about the truth of my world. However they do seem to have a much better understanding mood than I thought they would. I mean, they didn’t even chain me up, I thought they would be more strict with me considering they saw how I fight now. I guess all I can do now is wait and expect the worse and hope for the best. That’s how the saying goes right?

I didn’t have to wait long as the door magically opened followed by Trixie and her Blue Spy costume and Stephan in his armor, with his helmet off and under his arm. They gave a look to each other before Trixie leans toward me, “Alright you, this is how it’s going to play out: You will tell us how you got that information about us, who gave it to you, and where did you come from.”

I gave her a confused look as I thought I told them already.

“Just do it.” Trixie muttered, giving me a small glare. “It will be easier for all of us if you do.”

“And we’re not going to do that nonsense questioning thing you did with Discord.” Stephan stated, “We’ll question you after you finish telling us everything. So don’t beat around the bush.”

“If we found out that you’re lying. Then we’re going to make due on that promise we made.” Trixie threatened.

I slumped in my seat a bit, “Um, how you’re supposed to know that? My world is far different from yours.”

“Hmm… I suppose I can give you the benefit of a doubt, since you did save my life earlier.” She answered while looking at her hoof with a disinterested look which makes me unable to tell if she’s lying or not. “But it won’t mean anything if you actually work for Her.”

But I don’t work for her.

“I would say it’s all in the presentation, but it’s a moot point at this time.” Stephan commented before leaning forward, “It’s actually the moment of truth now and it’s time for you to show us who you really are. Friend or foe? Ally or enemy? Whatever you say next will determine what we’re going to do with you, so choose your ‘truth’ carefully.”

Okay… no pressure or anything. I’m still afraid of how they’ll react to the truth, but I don’t want to tell them everything about my world if what’s happening is happening the way I think it is. Hopefully if I tell them enough of the truth of my world but not go into extensive detail about it, it should be okay. And if they really are a lot kinder than I think they are from before I met them, then that’ll probably be just enough.

“Okay,” I started after making a breath, “I understand.”

“One more thing,” Trixie interrupted me before I started, “You are to refer to me as Blue Spy during this transition. Am I clear?”

“Um, no, wait… how should I refer to you in my.... truth?” I nervously asked. But the only response I got is her narrowing her eyes as if telling me to figure it out myself. “Okay, I think I get it. I’ll start now.”

“I think it’s kind of obvious by now that I’m not from your world, thanks to my abilities. Otherwise you would have known about me by now and I’ll probably would’ve been helping you.” I started while scratching the back of my head before resting my arms on the table and got serious. “Anyway, I’m from an alternate Earth that is connected to three other worlds, which I won’t elaborate for reasons I’ll explain in a few minutes. I’ll just say that my Earth is a pretty interesting place now that I managed to connect the three other worlds with it and all kinds of different people are interacting with each other now thanks my adventures. But despite the wonders of four different worlds being together, there was still something that captivated many of them: a TV show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”

I chuckled a bit before continuing, it’s still weird on how popular it is despite the... ‘diversity’ of my universe. “Surprisingly a TV show meant for little girls ended up getting quite popular with whole lot of people much older than them. Anyway, the TV show focus on the adventures and misadventures of Twilight Sparkle and her friends as they learn about friendship and, almost rarely, sadly, defeat their enemies with its power and their own abilities. Like all TV shows and fictional media it doesn’t show ‘EVERYTHING’ a character does in the show, it only focuses on certain key events that has something to do with friendship or learning about each other. Events like Twilight’s dilemma over the Gala tickets, the one about the dragon sleeping, Pinkie’s... ‘crisis’ over her friends not paying attention to her when in fact they were preparing for her party, the buffalo event, Celestia’s test for Twilight with the Crystal Empire and even…”

I trailed off as I waited for Trixie and Stephan to give me permission to say her name. But their faces were unreadable so I took this as a sign that they’re okay with it.

“Trixie’s visit to Ponyville, which was an episode about friendship for the target audience and her episode in particular was that there was a time and place to show off and that true friends won’t leave you if you’re better at them at something, I think. Anyway, I wasn’t that big of a fan of the show like my brother and girlfriend was until I saw the episode where Spike tried to save Rarity and I was reminded of the Powerpuff Girls for a bit and since then, I mostly watch the show for Spike.

“The show was so popular that the fans started to create so many fanfictions about the show’s interesting world that they ended up having a couple websites dedicated to them. One of the fans wanted to write about why many of the ponies have a lot of tools that are meant for humans like hammers and round doorknobs. Though with many of the creatu-er, species -is that the right term?- of Equestria, I mean Equus, having hand-like limbs, I guess part of that mystery is solved but he didn’t know much about the other species’ existence when he wrote his story. And that story was called: the Conversion Bureau.

“The Conversion Bureau story was this author’s answer for why the ponies have a bunch of human like things in their world. However he wasn’t able to finish it because it ended up being hijacked by another writer, or rather, his story’s attention ended up being hijacked by another writer and that writer ended up changing a lot of things from his original setting to what most of the stories about the Conversion Bureau is today. One of the main changes was that there was no barrier that threatened to swallow up Earth, the barrier was just simply there. It didn’t move or destroy anything it was just simply there that just somehow kept the humans and their technology out. Another one was that the ponification serum didn’t greatly alter the person’s personality, I’ve read how the other author ended up changing that part of the ponification and treat the personality change like it was a good thing despite the fact at how depressing it was for the nonconverted friend. Supposedly the ponified person was supposed to show how “innocent” and “nice” the pony race is supposed to be, bleh. I don’t know about you guys but I’m pretty sure the pony “race” is just as diverse and friendly and antagonistic as the rest of us humans. I mean how do you describe bullies like Diamond Tiara if ponies are all “nice and innocent.” Anyway, I’m pretty sure that’s not how the ponification potion change things, granted that I only read the first chapter and just skimmed the rest of the real story, but I’m confident that’s not how the potion works. Anyway, the last main change that the other author made from the original was the problem the main characters faced. Basically both worlds were suffering from overpopulation and with Earth dying out it seems like humans were about to find a way to get through the barrier without changing since the ponification was a human and pony invention and it wasn’t that far off a theory to create another serum that doesn’t transform people and it seem like the plot was about to explain how Equestria got back to their world or something before they could do that. However the story was cancelled before it could continue and I bet it was because the other author turned the overpopulation problem to be about the humans themselves and somehow that got a much better appeal and it became the staple of this setting rather than the original…”

I was doing all I can to keep my anger in control by clenching my fists and closing my eyes, until I can calm myself down. It just wasn’t fair that a lot of stories are following the other setting rather than the original. That a lot of people think that The Conversion Bureau is all about ponies being better than humans when in reality it is much more different than that. It’s almost similar to the misunderstanding people about a certain group of people before bronies showed up.

I sighed, “Sorry for getting a little too worked up about it, it just isn’t fair to butcher someone else’s world or somehow ignore what the original world was supposed to be for a much more bleak one. Luckily there are stories that combat this type of setting, though most of the ones were boring ‘kill all ponies’ stories, however there are Anti-Conversion Bureau stories that go beyond that but there was one that really got my attention. Your story. Oops, I mean the story about your world, I mean the story about your situation, I mean…. Look, I just mean that your story was a fanfic that I’ve read on the internet back in my world that was about Marcus and the Mane 6 at first before it showed everyone else, however, I only read up to the part where Discord did something to Celestia’s mind because she couldn’t handle the pressure that came from having Marcus’ memories. Which should be before her meeting with the rest of the world leaders about what to do to help Earth’s situation and... way before you guys show up in Equestria apparently.

“But just because I read about you guys doesn’t mean that you guys are fictional or fake, it just means in some worlds out there, whatever stuff you’re going through is just a story in another world. I mean even right now, while I’m trying to explain everything to you, that this entire thing could be just another story, a fanfic, a TV show, a movie or even a video game. It’s just mean that in each and every world out there has its own reality and dimensions and in some of them whatever events you’re going through is considered fictional in another dimension. Basically, there’s no such thing as a fake world other than virtual realities or places where some bad guy is messing with your mind. But don’t have an existential crisis over this knowledge guy-who-is-watching-this-because-I-just remember-now-that-this-whole-thing-is-being-recorded, you shouldn’t think that the life you’re living is fake. You should worry about living the life you’re in right now, the world you’re in is definitely the real deal. So you shouldn’t worry about what ifs and the what nots and focus on making the world, actually your life, the reality you want to be proud to live in. Because in the end you are the master of your own destiny and the life you’re living in right now.

“That being said, I want you guys to do me a favor and just don’t tell me exactly what you guys have been doing here. Though I don’t think you can stop me from figuring things out from simple observation, like I now know for sure that you guys are training the natural born ponies and other species on how to use guns, but how you’re doing that without damaging the buildings is something that I want to read later back in my world, in my own dimension, especially since it was pretty hard to make something like that. Also, I really don’t want to describe the worlds that are connected to my Earth now. As it stands, if for some reason this event we’re going through ends up as part of the story in my world, I don’t… want the event to become even more… ridiculous beyond Discord and I, or more specifically, me and my current problems in my current journey. Especially since this story is supposed to be before I connected my world with the other ones or in an alternate universe where the other 3 worlds didn’t show up as I just remember that you guys are a couple more years ahead of mine. So, that’s basically it: I don’t want you guys to avoid telling me what you guys after Celestia had help from Discord and I don’t want to describe the other 3 worlds are like back in my world. I think the only hint you’ll get at what one of them is like is probably based on Dex’s design…. Which I think Button Mash might recognize, considering if he plays those type of games. But that’s it, that’s all of it, I’m done now for real. That’s pretty much how I knew about Blue Spy’s identity and you now know a little bit where I came from.”

I sighed as I finally finished explaining everything to them about what’s going on with me and where I came from. All I can do now, besides awkwardly shifting seat, is to wait for their response. Stephan was the first to respond after a few more awkward minutes, “Wow… that’s what you’re like when you’re holding back? I’d hate to see what happens when you’re no longer limiting yourself like this.” I can’t help but blush and twiddle my thumbs in embarrassment at that comment as he turned to look at Trixie, perhaps I did go a little too long in explaining things, but as long as they know most of the truth it should be fine. “What do you think about all this Spy?”

“… BULL-shit. . ” Trixie replied while giving me a cold glare, making me gulp in nervousness. “That’s what I think of your story, kid. Because that’s all it is. just a story. Do you want to know what I think?” She leaned closer, “I think you’re a spy. A sleeper agent sent by the Tyrant with this stupid cover story and this whole portal fiasco is just way to get us to show you our abilities. Discord may have described that she would’ve killed you earlier, but if you met her first and she knows what you know, she could’ve sent you here after erasing your memory of meeting her to find out more about us. Once we help you get back to your, ‘portal,’ you’ll spill every little thing you found out about us to her and her minions when you returned on the other side.”

I flinched, “You serious? Not only will that be weird for her to do that, I think her personally meeting me will probably discredit her lies about humans being non magical for the fact that I can use magic.”

“She could still meet you outside the barrier and put a Geas on you before you came here.” She retorted. I only grunted in response before she continues, “You know alot of things about us. Things that are virtually impossible to know through normal means. We can’t take any chances with you leaving that information, until it’s secured.”

“Can’t take any chances…” I quietly repeated to myself before I get an idea while Trixie narrowed her eyes at my response. I look back at her with serious determination, “Look… Spy.” I struggled to say her name the right way, “I know you’re worried about the fact that I know your identity and most of the PHL so you can’t trust me. But I’ll propose a deal, I’ll give you the item that’s been protecting me from Discord’s magic… sort of.” I added while caressing my lips. How was he able to do that when I had my sphere?

“What good will that do?” She simply asked from her cool gaze.

“It will allow Discord to kill me instantly.” Trixie and Stephen almost reached for their weapons as I reached into my pocket and pull out the sphere with intricate shapes onto the table. “This sphere is what’s been protecting me from his crazy magic and any other body modification spells. You see, I have an immunity against transformations of all kinds, at the cost of having it as my ultimate weakness. My body literally fight against these things when it happens at one part of my body or all of it and it hurts ALOT to keep them from changing. So, you can imagine what my body will do if I was hit with Discord’s instantaneous magic.” I sighed as I finally get to my point, “Since he can travel dimensions as well, he’ll follow me through the portal and if you’re right about me being some sort of sleeper agent, he can kill me there.”

“Oh goody. I get to be judge, jury, and executioner.” I was filled with dread as soon as I heard the familiar voice behind me, “But I’ll be using my own method of travel, thank you very much. I’d hate to be the one to rush things, but our friends are getting very impatient waiting for their meal ticket. I take it that these are acceptable conditions for our little assassin?” Discord asked leaning close to Trixie.

She looked at me and then Discord, before sighing and grabbed my sphere and beginning heading to the door, “Alright. Just because I trust you more than I trust him.”

“You sure?” Stephan cautioned, as he got up from his seat.

“It’ll have to do.” She answered before following Stephan’s lead, “Besides we kept them waiting long enough. You’ll be escorted to where Colonel Renee is so you can help us in finding your... ‘exit portal.’”

“Alright.” I answered as I got up from my seat and just as soon as I took a couple steps I immediately froze as I felt a familiar intense pressure coming from my loins. Darn it, I completely forgot about that and it’s the absolute worse time to be reminded of it.

Trixie stopped before opening the door with her magic and looked back at me probably because I whimpered at the moment. “What is it?” She simply asked.

“I…” Might as well get this over with. “Gotta use the bathroom.” I finished with a groan.

Man, if looks could kill, I would be a burning stick by now, since Trixie focused on me with her eyes like a laser beam. “What?”

Stephan’s hand twitched as he refused to give in the reflex to facepalm, but his annoyance in what I just admitted was on his face as clear as day.

“I really gotta go. That last world I went to was really bad that I had to hold it in until I leave. You could have someone watch me while I went.” I quickly suggested to the tranquil furious unicorn.

“What was so bad in there that you had to hold it in?” Stephan asked.

I wasn’t sure if he was just commenting or not, but I answered anyway while sighing and squeezing the bridge of my nose. “It was a world where ponies turn people into ponies by actually raping them and they know they’re cartoon characters so they can appear from anywhere. And I mean anywhere.” I would never risk the chance of them popping out of a toilet when I have to go pee in a world like that.

“Seriously?” Stephan deadpanned.

“We just decided to try to trust you and the first thing you want us to do is to let you go somewhere alone with someone else?” Trixie asked while her anger is slipping through. “That sounds like the perfect opportunity to-”

“To spend some quality time with me.” Discord proudly interrupts her, “I’ve been meaning to have a few words with the boy alone and I have a feeling that this might be my only chance with him before things get really busy.” He explained after patting me on the head like a child, making me very uncomfortable. “Besides, it might take a few minutes for you to translate that massive infodump he gave us for the Colonel.”

Trixie grunts after a few moments, “Fine you have five minutes.”

“I’m pretty sure it’ll take a couple more minutes than-”

“Five. Minutes.” She repeated, cutting off my warning and with that she left the room with Stephan following behind her

“Alright, you little troublemaker, it’s time for our chaos-human bonding montage.” He declared while he uncomfortably had one talon on my shoulder and one paw sweeping the air.

“Oh boy…. I can’t wait….” I nervously said wondering what would happen in the next five minutes.

----

Surprisingly enough, we didn’t go through a montage or random series of events that I thought would happen when he said that. He quietly led me to the bathroom and let me use it. The only thing worth mentioning was that I probably saw a dragoness - I think she was a dragoness, judging from her feminine human-like shape- peeking in the hallway and slipping away when I looked at her. Anyway I think it could be a funny joke if he said we’re going to do a montage but it immediately cut to just me leaving the bathroom right now instead.

“Thanks for letting me use the bathroom Discord and not... leading me to one that was never cleaned in three years.” I said as I walked out.

I heard Discord quietly cursed that he just missed an opportunity before I continue. “Um Discord can you do me a favor?” I nervously asked while twiddling my fingers.

“Hm?” Discord hummed with a raised eyebrow toward me.

“Could you, uh, take all these dimensional treasure chests and throw them into the exit portal when we find it? I… don’t want to be distracted in trying to look for them all.” I explained while trying not to sound demanding. It’s pretty nerve wrecking to ask an omnipotent being who could kill you with a snap of his fingers.

“I’m not that omnipotent,” Discord commented as if he heard my thoughts, though I’m pretty sure he’s just breaking the fourth wall of… whatever medium I’m on while I’m in this world right now, “You don’t need to explain everything,” He said making his annoyance clear before making his proper reply, “But you do have a habit of dragging things out. I almost fell asleep watching you open all those doors.”

“You were watching me?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Of course. You don’t honestly expect that it was just a coincidence that you ran into Knightman and his deadly sidekick, and my adorable little daughter don’t you?” I wonder if Trixie would be pissed off if she heard that, but that explains why I ran into him like that. “Well… I suppose I’ll grant your little request... only if you let me keep some of the goods for myself.” He said with a smirk.

“B-but why?...” I felt my heart freeze up at such a suggestion, since treasure hunting is one of my favorite hobbies and I might miss some good stuff because of it.

“Let’s just call it compensation for wasting some of our time earlier.” He answered while clearly enjoying my misery of losing such items. I wonder if that’s what the penalty from earlier meant.

I sighed and scratched the back of my head, “Very well. I suppose I deserved it for getting too excited back there.”

“Speaking of deserving,” Discord mentioned while scratching his chin, before staring at me seriously, “Are you SURE you don’t know why the monsters are attacking you?”

“Yeah I’m sure. I don’t know why they’re in almost every world I’ve been to or why they’re targeting me in this one. Especially since in some worlds monsters are a natural thing there.” I argued.

“We have monsters in our world but none of them are like the ones that attacking us now.” He explained, “It’ll be quite terrible if we have to deal with them along with your monsters.”

I started getting real tired of him referring to the monsters as if they belonged me. I scoffed, “Ergh, can you at least accept some part of the blame here?”

“Can you stop shifting it?” Discord remarked with a smirk.

Just when I was about to keep arguing, it finally hit me. Not once did I try to accept any of the blame for the monsters’ appearance, only the result of their attack on critically injuring people. Perhaps there is something more to the monsters’ appearances in other worlds, especially if every now and then, there’s an upgraded version of some of the monsters. But still…

“Alright, you have a point. But you still haven’t told me how… is it… my fault…?” I just finished looking up to see that Discord has vanished, leaving me all alone in the hallway. I can’t believe he left me like that, in the middle of their base of all times. I don’t know where I’m supposed to be meeting everyone and if I don’t find it, I’ll be accused of more things that I didn’t do.

“Discord why are you are wearing that?” I heard Princess Celestia’s voice from a slightly opened door and head towards the room immediately.

“Because he pulled a Batman on me. I’m sure if we weren’t in front of the door at the time I probably would’ve been walking around this place looking for this room.” I answered her as soon as I entered I noticed Discord wearing the familiar famous black costume while Celestia was giving him an odd look. I wonder how long it will really take for her to get used to his antics.

I finally took a look at the meeting room we were in just as everyone else in there resumed their business. In the center of the room was a large table with Marcus looking over the map and to the next of him was Stephan and Trixie who are aware my presence but kept talking to him, presumably to finish telling him about what happened during the interrogation. On the other side of it, and a bit closer to me entrance-wise, were Celestia and Discord standing on the other side of the table while the chaos god took off his Batman costume. Around the rest of us several soldiers walking around and quietly talking to others with their communication devices and with each other. I feel a little happy about the diversity of the other soldiers being made of humans, ponies, griffons, minotaurs, and even changeling commanders surprisingly. I wonder I feel at home in this diverse environment because most of my friends are non-humans as well, despite at least couple of soldiers giving me a suspicious look before returning to their business.

“That was fast. I was expecting you to be cutting it close.” Trixie commented as she turned to look at me.

I was confused about how she thought it was fast considering the long walk to the bathroom until I glance at Discord and realized he must’ve done something to alter time around us while we were talking. I couldn’t stop myself from giving him a knowing smile before I ask Trixie, “You managed to explain everything to him? In that short amount of time?”

“Just what I needed know.” Marcus simply answered, “What you said about the monsters were true: they won’t attack unless provoked, but they still seem to be looking for you.” I was about to ask another question but he cut me off, “Unfortunately they don't give us much of a choice either. They are prowling around and it’s only thanks to the pegasi that we even managed to send out teams in the first place. Everyone else is too busy playing defense because for every monster we kill, another takes it place somewhere in the city.”

I couldn't help but wince at his words, they were straight to the point, but held no accusations towards me. He must of figured out that this wasn’t something I wanted. I mean, who would? Dealing with monsters for fun is okay for a while but not when the number of them near infinite... Marcus crossed his arms, looking to Spy with some concern before turning back to me. “What scouts we had sent out came back with nothing, haven’t found what you’re looking for nor any indications of where it could be. Do you have any clues or hints that will help us find it?”

I dug into my pocket, “Just my usual method of finding portals if they’re fall away or not close enough. I just need a map.”

“I would’ve thought the giant monster would clue us in?” Discord said plainly, placing a medieval helmet on his head. “Hark! That foul beast is far too large to be normal! Surely a Guardian of sorts?”

“No, Spykoran managed to slay such a beast on Worth street, near the mock Bureau.” Celestia answered, an amused smile on her face as she took the helmet and took it off Discord’s head. Fluffy Spike plushies falling out of it to the floor, Stephan raised an eyebrow but said nothing. “Few of our soldiers reported nothing in the area, and Spykoran has not moved from that area since the initial battle.”

“I wonder what the other dragons are doing?” I asked out of curiosity.

“Currently grabbing the flying enemies that pop up and throwing them into the lake.” Discord gave a serene smile at this. “Good to know those flying lizards are good for something.”

“Don’t let Spykoran hear you say that, Discord.” Celestia gave him a small smirk. “His eldest daughter is up there too.” Which Discord only blew a raspberry at her…

Literally blowing said fruit at her, which she promptly ate without question... I really have to wonder how long Celestia is used to his antics.

“Alright, - I’ll hurry and use this.” I brought out my tracker that’s shaped like a DS, “Can I see the map please?” Celestia moved to the side to give me a little more room as she allowed me to get closer to the map, on it were various figures meant to represent the soldiers out on the field right now. Luckily, I don’t need to remove them in order for it to get an accurate scan. After flipping it open the portal tracker scanned the map shining small grid-like lights over it as the top screen shows a loading screen. Once it was finished, it made a faint chiming sound and then the screen turned into a hud of statistics while the bottom showed the map with a chibi version of my head like a Secret of Mana character or Link. As soon as I zoom out the map screen, I couldn’t help but gasp.

“What is it?” Marcus simply asked.

“It’s… the map.” I said with a worried tone, “It’s…. a little different than normal.” No, it’s not just a little it’s WAY different than normal. “It’s normally been able to pinpoint the exit portal exactly on the map. Depending on how accurate they are it usually means the general area of where it is.”

“Let me guess, it doesn’t exist.” Stephan said.

I slowly shook my head, “No, it exists alright…. It’s… Just...” I flipped the device around to show them. “Bigger than usual…” What they should be seeing now is the map with my mini-me face on it, but what’s marked on a map is a large circled area of where the portal should be over several blocks or so, or something like that.

I let out a big frustrated hissing groan as put my hands over my face and leaned back before walking away from the table, “This is just great. What might’ve been a simple hour or so trip, turns into an annoying detour that might last the whole day. I was really hoping to make some good headway to the bad guys before I have to rest and-”

“Jarél.” I heard Celestia called for me when I was halfway back to the table.

I sighed, “Yes?”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed as it seems like she didn’t like that I directed my frustrated tone at her but she still calmly made her request, “Will you move further away from the table before coming back to it?”

“Um okay… why?” I raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Just humor me.” She simply stated with a small smile.

“Uh alright…” I reluctantly complied before walking towards the end of the wall of the room. I noticed Celestia signaled the others to come look closer at the map and by the time I returned to the table everyone was staring intently at my radar.

“Well Mr. Hero, looks like you won’t be spending the whole day with us after all.” Discord smirked as he lean his elbow on my head.

“What?” Was all I managed to say in confusion before I was swiftly answered by Marcus.

“Your target area shrinks when you get closer to it.”

“It looks all we have to do is just go to the center of it, but...” Stephen commented.

“There’s something strange about it…. Jarel, do it again.” Trixie ordered.

Annoyed, I did as she ordered and walked back to the end of the room and to the table again. But for clarity’s sake I did it twice and everyone’s reaction to this was mixed and hard to tell before someone else say something.

“You didn’t need to do it twice.” Marcus said.

“But it did help in seeing how this works.” Trixie said, “Not only does the area shrink as he gets closer to it, it moves as well.”

“It’s better than looking into every building around that area blindly. Even with our numbers, the hostile monsters will keep us busy and we can’t afford to be spread too thin.”

“So it looks like we have to escort this kid while tracking the monsters. This will be fun.” Stephan said while clearly not looking forward to what’s going to happen later. However...

“You made it sound like that I can’t fight. We can fight the monsters if they get in our way, but I guess we have to do it Resident Evil style and just fight the ones that we can’t exactly maneuver around.” I explained my short term idea to this escorting plan with a twirl of my hand.

“Do you not understand the seriousness of your situation?!” Trixie snapped at me harshly and as quietly as she could.

“Like if I die, you guys may have to deal with monsters before dying out yourself along with the newfoals, since my own enemy’s plan will go on unhindered.” I simply answered while trying to look as serious as possible while keeping my annoyance at bay.

“Look, I don’t care how good you think your are, but you’re up against an army. I highly doubt you’ll be able to survive that once you step one foot out of that building.” Marcus sternly reprimanded me.

He has a point though, I’ve never faced an entire army before, at least not an army as good as these monsters are. If they were lower levels they might not be much of a problem but it seems like this group is particular was made for someone who’s always fighting them almost all the time. However, the number of them is now smaller than when they first showed up, this might be the perfect chance to go through them while they still have no idea where I am. Just when I was about to say something like that.

“Might I, suggest a solution that will benefit everyone here.” Discord chimed in as he’s suddenly dressed like a noble with a mustache and holding a teacup, “One that will satisfies the boy’s murderous urges,” Murderous?! “One that will end with the least minimum damage to our facilities, and one that will put a great burden off of me.”

“What is it?” Stephan simply asked with his arms crossed.

“As you know, I’m keeping the monsters at bay, not the ones that are appearing, but the ones that are going to appear in this city very soon. It’s taking all I have to keep the large raid that appeared earlier from doubling, which is why my powers have been pretty limited.” All that stuff he’s been doing before was him being ‘limited?’ “Why yes. You should really learn to stop being so expressive with your face. You’ll never win a poker game if you keep that up.” But I don’t like that game and I don’t plan on playing it ever…. Well, I did play the Mario version of i- ow! “Pay attention, this is a very important part of the lecture and I don’t plan on repeating myself.” Discord said after throwing a piece of chalk at me and is now dressed like a science professor.

I rubbed my head at the injury and contemplate at how hard he threw it at me which I now realized it was smoking. How hard did he threw it at me? Did he take into account of how strong I am? “Anyway, my plan is this: I’m going to let loose a burst of monsters like you would if you let go of a hose before closing them off again if you can kill enough monsters before I do that, then we’ll have less monsters to deal with roaming the streets.”

“But what about the fact that the monsters regenerate?” Marcus asked.

I quickly turned to him “How fast do they ‘regenerate?’ They normally take a few minutes before coming back. If they take just as long here then that should give Discord enough to do the whole burst of monsters thing. In fact killing them off while he releases the others should be enough to lower the monster population.” But why does that make sense?

“HOWEVER.” Discord cut in, “The amount of monsters I’ll be releasing will still be that of an army. While they’ll be much smaller than the ones attacked us in front of a tower, it will still be an army monsters gunning for you and your exact location. Pray to your God or whoever you worship if the ones that come out just happened to be flying ones.”

“We may need to add in a few more aerial patrols before this happens.” Marcus mumbled to himself before looking at Discord, “How much longer before it gets to be too much for you?”

“I’d say about an hour or two Colonel.” The chaos spirit answers with a bow.

Marcus nodded his head, turning to Stephan with a calm look. “Major, get the troops ready for a fight. We need to keep those freaks in check once they come knocking. Keep our boys and girls alive as long as possible.”

“Don’t worry, Amerikaner. This Tower will not fall.”

“Good man!” Marcus smile was affectious, causing a smile to grow on my face as he laid a hand on the German’s shoulder, a look only brothers and sisters of war could only share with one another. He turned to Celestia and gave her a questioning look. “Princess?”

“Yes, Colonel?”

“I need you by Stephan’s side.” Stephan’s eye twitched a little.

“Are you sure?” Celestia frown a little at this request, as I was wondering the same thing. Since I also have a few more questions about how she got to know the other Celestia.

“Right now Princess, your people are wondering where you have gone for the past months.” Marcus explain….

Wait. Celestia went away for while, why? Nevermind, I’ll probably find that out later. I may have to expect a few chapters to go on without her when I get back maybe.

Celestia nodded with an understanding smile. “Oh, I suppose revealing myself by my allies side and a show of support is the best thing at the moment.”

“Good, Princess Luna, do you mind coming and keeping an eye on Mr. Saunders with me?” Marcus asked the Lunar alicorn, who seem to brighten considerably at the offer.

“Of course, Colonel. I wish to see the endeavors of this quest to the end! Jarél here is most…. interesting.” Luna said as her sly smile unnerves me somewhat. I’m not sure if she’s still angry at the whole ordering her bit from the last fight or just interested in my abilities. I’m hoping the latter.

“Trixie?”

“I will stay with Stephan.” Trixie answered immediately, Stephan look like he gave a quiet sigh of relief at her answer.

“Good. Princess, Jarél, I will have my men escort you down to the lobby. I need to make a few calls and gather some men. We are taking convoy so it might be a little cramp, depending on what we get on hand quickly.”

“So, I’ll be waiting here while everyone gets ready? How long will that take?” I kinda regret using the restroom earlier but I had to go.

Marcus blinked several times before answering. “Ever heard of ‘Hurry up and wait’?”

“A little, I think it’s been a long time ago since I’ve heard that.” I answered while scratching my head.

“So anywhere between the moment you get to lobby to a couple of days from now.” Marcus gave me a cheeky smile as he walked out, a hearty laugh echoing out behind him.

Um okay… what now? “What now?” I repeated my thoughts. “How do I get to the lobby?”

“Yo, sword boy!” a familiar voice called out from the door.

“Hey…. you’re…. that guy from the truck…. I think… I’m sorry.” I apologized as I slouched down, his voice was familiar but I didn’t remember what he looked like. Kind of sad that I can’t recognize my fellow human beings without “significant looks,” but I can remember non-humans pretty easily, almost...

The man next to him snicker a bit while the large African-American seem to shake his head in amusement.

“Oi, This bloke’s name is Anderson, I'm Thomas.” The thick British accent was loud, and the man grin as he tapped his nametag. “In case you forget, it’s written right here.” He made me gave out a nervous chuckle. Yeah, those are kind of convenient, but I’m pretty sure people want to be recognized before they’re standing three feet in front of them.

“Leave the little man alone, Thomas. He’ll probably kick your ass anyways, so don’t go antagonizing him or anything.” Anderson sighed. Huah, kind of nice to know that someone other than Celestia and the other people important people to like me. Here I was thinking everyone would be overly suspicious in this world.

“Ah, just a fancy sword is all. What you need is a good gun. Can’t be that guy in a tank, waving a bloody sword around your head demanding the tank get closer to the enemy so you can hit them with it!” Anderson only shook his head, turning his head to Princess Luna, who was giggling madly at the byplay before, and bow to her.

“Princess Luna. We are here to escort you down to the lobby.”

“And be your bodyguards as well on this...? What did the Colonel say this was?” Thomas turn to to Anderson, who seem to slump somewhat at his friend's behavior.

“Quest.”

“Right! Quest! We going to be fighting monsters and the like so it might as well be. I wonder if we get money from these things. They fall apart like those videogame ones, perhap-oomph!” I blinked as I watched as Anderson roughly elbow Thomas in the gut, causing the man to shakily nod his head as he got the message.

“If you will follow us?” Anderson said in a respectful tone, with a giggling alicorn beginning to move towards the door.

“Might as well, it’s not like I have much of a choice.” I shrugged before I leave the room. Hmm, if those two are actually my bodyguards on my way to the portal along with Luna. Does that mean they’re my temporary party members in this world?

-Princess Luna, Anderson, and Thomas have joined your party as guests.-