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Hooves of ice

by Fictional Fanatic

Chapter 13: 12) Detour (part 1)

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Author's Notes:

Hello and welcome to another crossover!

Yes, I know there are a lot of crossovers, but that's how it is right now.

Also, this crossover is done with bronyparasite. with his story "Shattered Souls: Sunny Town" so go check out both his story and the one crossover chapter. Since we both wrote them favoring our own characters.

Also, this was part 1 of 2. So it's not that long, but I enjoyed working with bronyparasite and I hope to do it again at a later date.

This chapter is unedited as of now, I just can't keep it here anymore. Feel free to point out anything you think I should fix.

Hooves of ice
Chapter 12
Detour (part 1)



Location: The Void.


Blood Cleaver's POV


I felt my left eye twitch as I questioned how much magic Black actually had. While chasing him through the void should have been easy, he had proved me wrong by freezing pieces of the void itself! Making if far harder to follow him as well as letting him leave traps that he could be certain would get in my way. Such a feat was probably unheard of until now, and for good reason. The void was violently trying to tear it's way through the magic keeping it at bay, making the whole ordeal even more dangerous for me. And to add insult to injury he had now laid the worst trap yet.

Before me was a collection of pure ice magic. One large enough to freeze me completely, even with me protecting myself with my own ki. There was no way I was getting through that one. Had it been like my own ki I could simply have blasted it away, but this was raw magic, something I didn't posses in the same way Black did and therefore had to try and avoid myself.

But what baffled me the most was the fact that I had yet to catch up to Black, even with him taking his time to plant traps like this, I had actually avoided most of them and should by now have caught up to him.

Sighing over my own misfortune I began finding myself a way around the large collection of ice magic, I eventually found a way between another universe and the collection of ice magic. It was a relatively small opening but I could probably squeeze through.

However, as I was squeezing through I accidentally grazed the nearby universe. And as soon as I did I heard a plea, “Help…” came the squeak of a female voice “Please…”, I immediately froze as I recognized the voice. It was the voice of Pinkie Pie!

Unable to ignore a call for help, especially one from my dear sister, no matter the universe, I dove right in. While I might already be on a hunt for Black, and had yet to catch up to him, I decided I small detour wouldn't be a bad thing if the void was on my side and I happened to save another one of my 'sisters'. Besides, time is a somewhat loose concept when traveling through the void.


3rd person's POV


Fourth wall was getting tired, thankfully she and Applebloom seemed safe for the moment, so Fourth Wall slowed down.

As she slowed however, she suddenly felt something ram into her, and Applebloom went flying off of her back. One of the monsters had snuck up on them. Fourth Wall tried getting up as fast she could, but another one came out of nowhere and pinned her down. It’s red eyes bore into hers, but Fourth looked away. She looked at Apple Bloom, and saw the one that rammed into was her holding the small filly.

It slammed its hoof into her right eye, and pulled. Apple Bloom screamed in pain. It continued to pull, until a ripping sound filled the air and Apple Bloom’s screaming turned into shrieking, and with one final tug, the eye was out, and blood poured out of the socket.

A tear formed on Fourth Wall’s face, “Help…” She squeaked, “Please…”

The monster on top of her prepared to bite her, but before it could it was suddenly hit by something from the side and it was sent flying.

“Get your filthy hooves off of her!” Shouted Blood Cleaver, one that to anyone who didn't know her could mistake for Pinkie Pie's. She quickly moved on the monster attacking Applebloom, kicking it upwards with enough force to shatter steel. Meanwhile Fourth Wall's hope was returning, thinking her friend Pinkie Pie had come to their rescue.

As she got up and saw her rescuer however, she saw that that wasn’t really the case. As Fourth wall inspected to her the unusual sight that was Blood Cleaver, Blood Cleaver crouched down by Applebloom.

“Oh, dear… What did they do?” She asked. “Applebloom, can you hear me?” She asked, not getting any response from the unconscious filly. She seemed to have passed out due to the pain.

Even though she was scared, Fourth Wall cleared her throat quietly to get the attention of their apparent savior.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get you fixed right up… I’ll just make sure you’ll sleep through it. Now this won’t hurt… for me.” Said said, not having heard Fourth Wall trying to get her attention. As she put her hand on Applebloom's head, a light shone from her fingers for a short amount of time before going out. Next she made a few gestures and a glowing 'rune circle' appeared above Applebloom. The bleeding stopped as the rune faded away. Next Blood Cleaver whispered something to herself and all the spilled blood in the area seemed to play back its recent actions in slow motion. The blood slowly crept back towards the still filly and started filling the eye socket, making Applebloom squirm in her sleep.

As the blood filled the eye socket it began moving faster and change color slightly, seemingly doing something to Applebloom as she seemed to be getting very uncomfortable. Before Fourth Wall could ask Blood Cleaver what she was doing she saw it, from the swirling mass of blood that filled the eye socket a new eye began to emerge. Her words caught in her throat, Fourth Wall kept silent.

As soon as the eye began to emerge, Blood Cleaver frowned, she knew that now came the most horrid part, to connect the nerves.

As the eye began to fill most of the socket Blood Cleaver began to quickly attach the nerves prompting Applebloom to suddenly scream. The scream was louder than anything Fourth Wall had ever heard and forced her to put her hooves over her ears. Blood Cleaver however had heard worse and was able to simply shrug it off. As the screaming ended, Fourth Wall looked back towards Applebloom. The filly now seemed to be having a peaceful rest, no traces of blood left as it had all been used as part of the spell recreating Applebloom's eye.

“Well, now that that’s over, I think introductions are in order.” Blood Cleaver spoke, acknowledging Fourth Wall's presence.

“Hello. My name is Blood Cleaver. May I know yours?” She asked with a careful smile.

“I- I’m Fourth Wall… Thank you for saving us.” Fourth said and took a deep breath. She shuddered from the cold air, and checked her backpack for something and pulled a small blanket out. She draped it over Applebloom who was still asleep, and sighed.

“No problem. I’m always one for helping. May I ask what that was about? That was not a pleasant welcome committee.” Blood cleaver said, pulling out a cloak of her own and handed it to Fourth Wall for her to use in the cold weather.

“Thank you…” She took it, and pulled it over herself. “Those were the residence of Sunny Town. A horrible town of murderers that kill anyone who enters, or has a cutie mark.” Fourth rubbed her wrists absentmindedly, and coughed.

“That’s horrible! How can the Princesses allow such a town to even exist?!” Blood Cleaver shouted in disbelief. Already wondering in what other ways this world differed from other Equestrias.

Fourth Wall tilted her head, then it hit her, “They most likely don't know. I didn’t know until today. We are in the Everfree Forest, so she probably never even heard of it. But I was just born a couple day’s ago, so I don’t know...”

“I see. But when you say born, don’t you mean transported? You’re a Displaced after all. Or don’t you remember?” Blood Cleaver asked, worry apparent on her face. If Fourth Wall was only recently Displaced, then it was no wonder she probably knew so little. Some Displaced didn't even last the first day. Blood Cleaver was now thankful she had accidentally picked up on Fourth's plea for help.

Fourth tilted her head, “Displaced? I thought I was a clone. I did wonder why I had the knife when I came out… Is Displaced your race? I think I recognize your looks, but I don’t think I am one…” Fourth said. That would explain it. Unable to remember her life before being Displaced. And Blood Cleaver knew that she was a Displaced, purely from feeling her presence as it had the slight taint of void to it that all Displaced had. Thankfully memory loss such as this one could more often than not be easily fixed.

“No, my race is Human. It appears your memories really are cluttered, do you mind if I take a look? I might be able to restore them for you. And then I’ll explain the Displaced. Sounds good?” Blood Cleaver asked, as she looked at Fourth Wall with a smile.

“I don’t know what you’ll find, but alright.” Fourth stepped closer. As she did, Blood Cleaver closed her eyes and put her hand on top of Fourth’s head. Memories suddenly started flooding through her mind at break neck speed, to fast to really experience any of them, but still enough to see pictures of different objects and colors. As soon as the surge began it stopped. Blood Cleaver taking her hand away from Fourth’s head.

“Okay. I took a quick look, I’ll be able to give you some of your memories back, but not all of them. It seems they are bound with your mind in some way, I don’t want to risk them damaging anything so I’ll leave them be, but I’ll help you get all the safe ones back. What do you say?” Blood Cleaver asked Fourth Wall.

“If I had a life before this, I want to see as much as I can. Yes.” Fourth rubbed her wrist, Blood Cleaver noticing the scars.

“Dear Celestia, what happened to you? Did those monsters do this to you?” She asked with worry in her voice. Forgetting about her own offer as her hatred for those creatures grew. If those things had actually hurt Fourth, and the damage had already healed, then that could mean she had been poisoned, or worse. Seeing how those things looked like living piles of dead flesh, there could very well be a disease somewhere in there.

“N- no… I did them… I… have problems… It's nothing, I’m over them anyway…” Fourth hid her hooves in shame. She didn’t want Cleaver to know about her nightmares for fear of getting scolded like Nurse Redheart did.

“Oh, I see. I’m not going to ask then, it is your own business, just… it concerns me, and probably your friends as well. But enough about that. Come over here and I’ll get to reawakening a few of your memories.” Blood Cleaver said and gestured for Fourth Wall to get a little bit closer. It hurt to see that Fourth had done such a thing to herself, and after just becoming Displaced as well. But if she didn't want to tell, then Cleaver wouldn't push it. It wasn't her world after all, and as another Displaced had once put it "Not your world, not your business!".

Fourth did as she was told, and got as close a she could. With no regard for awkwardness, she was right against the human’s legs. She looked up, awaiting what was next.

“Don’t worry, I won’t see any of your memories. And it won’t hurt.” she said as she put her hand against Fourth Wall’s forehead and unleashed the memory block in her mind. Releasing a dam of memories.

“I- I- I- I- … Displaced?” Fourth Wall asked, wanting to learn more. Apparently having regained at least some part of her memories. Meanwhile, true to her words, Blood Cleaver stayed out of Fourth's mind. She respected her privacy after all.

“Ah, so you remembered something. Alright, let me try and explain the Displaced. The Displaced, also known as “dimensionally misplaced” are beings like you” she pointed At Fourth, “and me.” she pointed to herself “who have been placed in a world not their own, usually by having bought some form of trinket or item from a shady figure. My circumstances are somewhat different from the norm, but most Displaced were transported the same way. Most times the newly Displaced individual will gain powers or memories afflicted with the object they bought. It’s different for all Displaced, but some lose their own memories, like you. Others become a blend between themselves and the new individual and some are nearly unaffected. But all the Displaced have one thing in common, no matter how they became a Displaced. They all find themselves in Equestria. Not the same one of course, they are all spread out in the multiverse in their own versions. Does that explain the Displaced good enough?” Blood Cleaver asked as she ended her explanation.

Fourth Wall nodded, “Wow! So there are others out there! I have two questions. One, how is yours different? And two, how did you get here?” Fourth Wall questioned.

“Two very excellent questions. For starters, I didn’t become a Displaced by buying anything, I was already living in Equestria. However, I was out one day in the Everfree and got caught in a fight between two Displaced, one fighting to protect our universe, the other one only wanted to destroy the planet and everyone on it. I got so mad that I got involved in the fight. Thanks to my magic I eventually defeated the Displaced, but I won by using some very powerful magic that killed him, and his powers were absorbed by me. And that’s how I achieved my Displaced status. The other Displaced became my teacher and close friend, she explained the Displaced to me and a few years later, here I am.”

“But how I got here is also an excellent question. Normally travel between worlds isn’t easy, or in some cases even impossible. But that is something that doesn't apply to the Displaced. As the Displaced are tainted with void particles from being Displaced, they have their essence already exposed. By creating something called a token, or a totem, whatever you prefer to call them, the Displaced can traverse the void and enter other worlds. The tokens appear in other universes by themselves, usually guided by the creators wishes. Whenever you come across a token, that means you’ll be able to call upon them. However, sometimes tokens don’t work properly and malfunktion, and instead of summoning a Displaced to your own world, you get dragged into theirs. Some even do it by choice.”

“I myself however have chosen to travel directly through the void and happened to come across your universe as I heard your plea for help. I just simply couldn’t ignore and decided to help out. Did you get all that?” Blood Cleaver asked having ranted through her explanation, seemingly in one single breath. Now of course having to take a deep one to make up for the lack of oxygen.

Fourth Wall didn’t reply for a second, then she nodded rapidly. She looked up at Blood Cleaver, “Thank you so much. Two more. Is your real name Blood Cleaver? And could I make a totem?”

“Alright. My name is officially Blood Cleaver, it’s not my original name, but I had to change it because of circumstances. And yes, every Displaced can make their own totem. All they have to do is choose an object and pour some of their own energy into it, recite a short message for other Displaced to hear once they find the totem and then send it off into the void. The more afflicted the object is to yourself, the easier the creation of the token becomes.” Blood Cleaver explained.

Fourth Wall remembered something she wanted to get rid of, and it seemed unique. She took her backpack off and searched through it, and found it. She pulled out a cyan piece of flesh with Rainbow Dash’s Cutie Mark on it.

“It isn’t the real thing! I swear! I bought it and got sent here with it!” Fourth Wall defended, afraid to be judged by Blood Cleaver.

Taking a good look at the piece of flesh in Fourth's hooves, Blood Cleaver reached out with her senses and soon found the signature that matched Rainbow Dash's. She was still alive. Something Fourth Wall most likely wouldn't have been if Rainbow had lived through such a thing. Besides, the objected also had the same kind of void signature as a bringer. Not an official term in any way, but it was what Blood Cleaver had decided to call the objects that were bought and used to bring Displaced to their Equestria. So obviously it wasn't real, well, at least it wasn't real before.

“I believe you, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to have it as a totem. There are some less than friendly Displaced out there, and I think you would be instantly judged by such a totem. Maybe if we transform it into something else.” Blood Cleaver suggested after explaining why using a piece of flesh, skin and someone’s cutie mark would be a bad idea.

“How about a bouncy ball? I like that. You?” Fourth Wall suggested.

“Yeah, that sounds better. Give it here, I’ll see what I can do.” Blood Cleaver said. Receiving the unpleasant trinket she shuddered, no matter how much she dealt with blood, the feeling of holding raw flesh was always an unpleasant one, but she quickly composed herself again. Looking at the piece of flesh, it soon began to move, seemingly on it’s own accord and regained some of it’s color that it had lost from not being a part of something living anymore. The edges of the piece soon came together and formed a perfect sphere. Transforming into rubber the cyan ball became less lifelike, but still wearing Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark. As soon as Blood Cleaver was done she handed it back to Fourth Wall.

Of course, Blood Cleaver could not completely turn it from organic to inorganic, she had simply ordered the cells to work in such a way that they would act as actual rubber, structure wise, and if it against all odds got damaged, it would be able to regenerate itself by absorbing any form of nearby energy or magic. But in all other aspects, it was a simple rubber ball.

“Here, I made sure it wasn’t made of organic material anymore. Don’t want to scare any sensitive Displaced with it after all.” She said. It was a half truth, It might not be considered organic anymore, but neither was it inorganic, more like something in between. At least it wasn't alive.

Fourth Smiled. Her face scrunched up, “So now what? I’ve got what the totem will be, but how is it going to relay anything? Or summon me?” Fourth asked confused.

“That part actually works out completely by itself. It’s like reality wants you to create one. Just put some personal energy into it and speak a phrase. Said phrase should be absorbed into the totem for others to hear. It will also automatically bind to you and work as intended… most of the time. So don’t worry too much about it.” Blood Cleaver explained. She knew it wasn't really much of an explanation to say "Just put some personal energy into it" but it was really the only way to explain it since it was different for each and every Displaced. And most could do it like that anyway.

Fourth Wall nodded. She closed her eyes and scrunched her face even more. After a bit, it glowed purple, and Fourth Wall spoke.

“Hello… My name is Fourth Wall. If you need help, I’ll come and LAY A SMACK DOWN- Sorry, I don’t know where that came from. I will help you, anyway I can… As… as long as you aren’t mean…”

The ball stopped glowing, and Fourth Wall looked to Blood Cleaver, “How was that?”

“It was an honest message, and it relays the meaning well enough. So it’s fine. Don’t worry, I’ve heard some truly terrible ones in my days and your’s is all right. Now then, want me to help you send it off, or you want to try it yourself?” Blood Cleaver asked. Remembering a token from somebody called Wade. Perhaps she should visit him and help him change his message? That would be something.

“I’d like to try. But I don’t know how to.” Fourth said.

“Just imagine stretching yourself out, past this world and think of what kind of Displaced you would like the totem to reach. And then let the totem go into the void, just simply let it go.” Blood Cleaver tried to explain how to properly apply your will to your token. While many Displaced simply let their own token fall into the void and find someone willy nilly. This method usually found individuals according to the creators will.

Fourth Wall closed her eyes and focused on what Blood Cleaver said, and let go… Only to get hit in the face by the rubber totem. It did so three times before it jumped out of the sight, disappearing into the void.

Fourth held her snout, “I should have asked for a non-bouncing ball…”

Next Chapter: 13) Detour (part 2) Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes
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