Where is She?

‘Well, I'm sticking out like a sore thumb...' John thought walking into the convention center dressed in an anatomically correct (aside from being anthropomorphic) Queen Chrysalis suit, 'I'm still surprised my fat flanks fit in this second skin as well as it has.' He smiled, glad he found an adults only convention. Just imagine having to explain to a kid that the curvy, naked, bug-pony-lady is actually a slightly overweight guy in a costume. Now, he didn't go in just the Chrysie costume. He also had a TF2 RED Soldier trench coat on, and a custom made RED hood and mask combination with a Call of Duty, Ghosts skull painted on the front. There was a small area cut out for the horn in the mask. The busts of the actual costume made it uncomfortable the close up the coat due to size, so he got many stares from attendants, that thought he was a gal. Until he stopped talking with an "in character voice," that is.

He bought items from vendors, and attended a few panels here and there. Every once in awhile some of the costumes caught his attention. Mostly it was a version of well known or highly meme’d characters. The mane six, Solid Snake, Ichigo, and even friggin’ Pepe, among others. One of the costumed residents of this con was the cafe barista on the second floor. As our TF2, CoD, MLP hybrid cosplayer went up the steps to a small cafe he took notice of a small display set of My Little Pony villains. The only one missing from it was Chrysalis. He thought about it on his way to the cafe. It was a bit odd.

John payed for a “Nightmare Black Coffee,” as the Never Royal Luna called it. ‘Never Royal’ is a fan made version of the Equestrian Princesses where they live in, and interact directly with a more modern Equestria. As he walked away his attention was drawn to a group of people dressed up as a sort of amalgam of characters. One was a mix of Solid Snake and Twilight Sparkle. Another was Rainbow Dash and Ichigo Kurosaki. Someone had been on poni servers on Team Fortress 2 a few times, as they were Rarity in a Spy’s suit. There was also a Fluttershy that to the unknowing might think was a red hippy variant, but he could spot AluShy anywhere. Then there was their Applejack who was mixed with OgihcI, Ichigo’s Hallow/Demon side. While taking note of these people, John tripped over the safety railing, and began to fall.

Everything began to slow down as he got closer and closer to the ground. An impact seemed imminent, but just as he was about to hit; a violet portal opened up underneath him. Then he actually hit the ground on the other side with a sickening crack.

I Need a New Name

Once John had woken up, he noticed that he was in a bright white room. His clothes were folded on a desk by a wall. There was a slight tug on his arms as he moved around on a plastic covered mattress. As he looked at the limbs he saw why; they were hooked up to medical equipment and a blood bag. The blood in the bag was green. Judging from the fact that he wasn't dead it was probably pigmentation not the blood type that caused that. Getting up he grabbed the rack holding the blood bag. He also detached the machines save for the heart monitor on wheels. It had an extension cord connecting it to the wall. After getting a firm grip on both, he marched into the hall where he thought someone would be. No such luck. He removed the cord from the monitor, and pushed it into the room. It was a bit of a struggle, but he was able to get his coat on over his patient’s gown. 'Don't want to cause to many heart attacks,' Chuckling at his own terrible joke he used the blood rack as support as while walking down the halls.

After arriving to the front desk, he figured out why no one was in the hall. It was midnight. He sighed, before returning to the room. After getting back into the room, He removed the hose attaching his arm to the blood bag, took the coat off, pulled the pillow closer, and finally covered himself with the thin sheet. He left the mask on to avoid a head cold from the chilled air. He didn’t want to be there any longer then he had to.

He got back up after a few hours. The terrible sheets didn’t leave him very warm that night. Rubbing his arms to warm up he bumped something soft, but, his lagging brain didn’t notice. Throwing his jacket on, he poked his head out the door to look around before skulking towards a restroom marked out by the signs. After entering the restroom he saw an anthro Chrysalis in the restroom… in the mirror… wearing his clothes. It took him a moment to remember his costume. After removing the clothes over the costume, he began looking for the opening in the costume. There was no opening. He began looking around franticly.

“What the heck?!” He instantly wrapped his hands around his muzzle, “Oh my god! This is two kinds of awesome poisoned by three kind of terrible.” Staring into the mirror he found a butt naked, rather attractive changeling queen staring back at him. Running into a stall, he let whatever was left of last night’s supper out into the toilet. After a quick inspection it turned out to be true. Real breasts, tight stomach, a large ass and actual... female reproductive organs later he -or rather she- was whimpering at her reflection. Sighing, she got dressed again. Still looking her once again clothed reflection over she asked no one, “This can’t be real.”

“Oh, but it is very real.” Her reflection leaned closer before reaching through the mirror. Gripping her chin with a hole filled hand the reflection checked John’s features. She smiled a wicked, but simultaneously comforting, smile letting John’s face go. She panted as the reflection pulled itself from the mirror.

“What the fuck are you doing!?” She cried, backing up against the wall while her reflection drew nearer. She felt her body get colder and then fall limp.

With a yelp she awoke, sweating, back in her room. One check confirmed she was female, another confirmed she was still Chrysalis. This time however, her reflection didn’t want to kill her. The smell of cooking food caught her and her stomach’s attention. Following the scent she stumbled every few steps as the loss and addition of weight in various areas caused her balance to shift. More than once did she fall, but soon enough a passing nurse who aided her until she was used to her female skeletal structure. After a bit of effort made it to the cafeteria, and looked over the food. It looked like a school’s lunch-line. Everything looked a bit like cardboard with a salad on the side. She grabbed a tray, filled it beyond capacity, and moved toward the checkout.

"G-good mornin' ma'am." She stuttered out carrying a tray of breakfast foods to the checkout lady… er... mare. After an awkward moment she let John pass. She settled into a seat before being joined by six mares. A purple scholarly one ask most of the questions right up until she asked me my name. "My name is is Jolis." She blinked a few time confused. 'That ain't my name, but I said it was?'

"Well, Jolis, welcome to Ponyville​," said the purple one, "My name is Twilight, though my friends call me Solid Sparkle." At that, she finally noticed the the Tactical gear on this version of Twilight. How she didn't earlier, is beyond her.

"I'm Rainbow Kurosaki. The fastest Soul Reaper in Equestria!" The rainbow maned Shinigami was in her Bankai form. John couldn’t feel spiritual pressure, but going off the canon of the anime, she looks similar to Ichigo after he first learned Bankai.

"Rarity, Darling. I once did work as a mercenary for Blutarch Ponyy. Now however I own a boutique here in town." Based on her blue suit, the way her hand is twitching, and her eyeing John’s coat. She was the BLU Spy.

"I'm Fluttershy. J-just Fluttershy." This version of Fluttershy wore Alucard's red suit and hat. The bulge towards the center of her own red trench coat signified her twin pistols. She couldn't help smile at her attempt at hiding the obvious.

"I'm Pinkie Pie (Quit studying). Nice to m(y)eet you. OOOOOOOO(friends)OOOOOOOOO CUPCAKE!" The energetic mare grabbed her cupcake and ate it in one bite while she processed what was heard from the fast talking mare. The bit of red under Pinkie's shirt gave me a clue. She was this world's Flash.

"Ah'm Apple Ikasoruk. Ah used ta be a bit of Rainbow here, but th' Elements o' Harmony split us apart when we tried usin' 'em on Nightmare Moon." She wasn't lying either. Her getup was an exact replica of Rainbow's with the colors reversed. Heck her Zangetsu was, even though not in Bankai was the inverse of Ichigo's Zanpakuto. Their hallow mask sat where Applejack's stetson should be.

"Jolis isn't my name though. I don't know why I said it was," She rubbed her now extended chin in thought. The more she thought about it the stranger ti seemed.

"Perhaps one of the kids in town cast a prank spell on you in your sleep?" Twilight suggested, "Do you have anything with your name on it?"

"Yeah, my state ID!" After fishing for her wallet only to pull a Deadringer, a Cloak-n-Dagger, a Cow Mangler 5000, a Phlag, an Eternal Reward (which made Rarity check her pockets), a Reserve Shooter, Bonk, a Dalokahs bar, The Original, a Tomislav, a Force-a-Nature, a ballistic knife, a sniper rifle, a bulldog shotgun, and an SPD badge? There was a bit of audio from the badge. But it was drowned out by her small anxiety attack as she tried to figure out why she had this badge, and how the buck did she have all these items in her pockets.
Her mane pops up in multiple places as she starts putting things away. "...Guess that is going to have to be my name for now."

Keep Calm

Only five minutes later, the six ponies -and one changeling- were on a tour of the town. There were buildings known from the show, plus a few others from games and other shows. The mane six’s houses matched with both sides of their characters, canon and non-canon. As they walked, Jolis felt something stinging the back of her mind. She felt… nothing. No emotion at all. It just seemed to stop.

“Twilight! Princess Cadence has sent me to deliver this scroll to you!” A Crystal Pegasus shouted as he circled down to them, a scroll in hand.

Twilight quickly took the scroll and read over it. She made a face similar to… disgust maybe, but nothing seemed to back it up. She groaned, passing the scroll over to Spike, who had joined up with us during the walk.

“Well that can’t be good,” As Spike looked over the scroll, sadness radiated off of him. “The Crystal Heart has been split and stollen. Shining caught one of the thieves with a piece of the Heart on them, but without the rest of the Heart, all emotion will be cut off for ponies.”

“Well tha’ don’t make a darn lick o’ sense. We were doin’ just fine before we even knew that consarned thing even existed,” Apple Ikasoruk stated rather nonchalantly.

“That’s probably because the Heart was still in one piece and HIDDEN not CUT UP or DESTROYED,” was PInkie’s response to that. There was something akin to emotion backing it up, but it quickly faded.

“Look, we’ve got things to do,” Twilight told the Crystal Pegasus. “And a newcomer-”

“-Who would like to help,” She cut Twilight off, “Being from a place that relies heavily on, and draws reasoning from, the entire emotion spectrum I cannot just stand by and let you wither into careless monotony.” Jolis took the scroll, reading over the finer details.

Apparently, when they ran off they each had a fourth of the Heart; the bottom point, which the Empire had gotten back, the midsection, which taken by a larger, red Earth pony, and two top lumps, one held by a unicorn with a long white beard, the other possessed by a pegasus carrying ‘unknown weapons’.

According to the note, the disappearance of the heart seised the natural flow of emotion through Equestria. A failsafe to encourage its return, no doubt.

“Thank you ma’am. I was sent out with orders to not return until I could pass this off to somepony,” The stallion gave her a small triangular parcel. Upon opening it she found that it was the lower section of the Crystal Heart. In the box was a note, and as she skimmed over it the piece of emotional crystal seemed to sink into her hand. Once she had taken notice of it, pale blue crystal had filled in the holes of her right hand and arm. On top of that, a small heart shaped socket appeared on the center of her stomach with the lower part was filed by the crystal.

“Well, that’s... interesting,” She said as she looked her arm over. “I guess I should get started?”

“Sure but first you should get some supplies from around town,” Twilight stated emptily looking over the the note again, “As a princess, and a local one at that I can write up requisition forms for anything you need.”

“Leave it to the princess of friendship to be friendly even when all emotion is being sucked out of the universe. Yeah that’ll be helpful because I don’t think I’ll have time to build dispensers everywhere,” Jolis joked as they turn to head to Castle HQ as Solid Sparkle named the crystal tree, “Seriously though I’ll need the help.

“That’s why I’m also going to give you this.” Solid held out a circular pendant with the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker symbol on it.

“This is a…?” She looked it over confused as to what it was, and what it’s for.

“It’s a summons token. Something I’ve been working on. Celestia had a book about these beings called displaced. One of the things they do is make Tokens that let others summon them to our world,” Twilight went into her mini-rant on the subject, and Jolis, losing interest, decided to keep going through her pockets to try to find out the maximum of her items. After finding she actually had every item from both TF2 and the entire CoD franchise Twilight had stopped.

A few hours walking around the Castle, and the requisition forms were done. Jolis accepted them with a smile, and the blue Crystal warmed slightly. A wave of happiness pulsed from Jolis. She grips her head as she gets visions from the other pieces. One of them was of the large red thief. He had tripped, at one point during his run away from the castle. After the tumble his mask fell off to reveal Big Mac.

Take Each Day

As Jolis was collecting supplies, a piece of light blue crystal had caught her attention. Being curious, she walked over and picked it up, thinking it was a piece of the Crystal Heart.

As soon as she picked it up, two female voices sounded in her head, causing her to look around in surprise: “To those who are not afraid to see the light and rise like a phoenix to stop those who will harm others, use this crystal to summon us, the Blade Queen and Thunder Phoenix, and a brave new frontier will be opened, but for those who wish us to do harm to others that don’t deserve it, beware…”

“Well that’s cryptic AF. Who the heck even is this ‘Blade Queen’ and ‘Thunder Phoenix’?” She placed the gem in her pocket as she kept on collecting the last of the supplies she required.

A hiss caused her to look up as a vortex opened up a few feet from her and ejected two lightly armored female forms, along with a single chair. She reached into her RED Soldier’s coat looking for a weapon in case the figures were hostile. The fastest thing she could grab was her Pretty Boy Pocket Pistol.

“I hope you’re more useful here than in game,” She whispered as she watched the two.

One of the figures shakily stood up and flared what appeared to be wings of pure electricity. “Where… where are we?” She asked the other figure, a girl with a feathered skirt and white hair.

“I don't know, Cassie…” she said.

Jolis snuck up behind the two. In her opinion she thought the Thunderbird Harpie should be dealt with first if they were hostile. But her plan was ruined by a snapping twig.

The two spun around, eight shimmering swords suddenly appearing around the second figure and pointed at Jolis, while the first figure, identified as Cassie, drew her own blade, which crackled with electrical runes.

It took her awhile, but she managed to think of something… official to say, “State your names, ranks and/or intentions! And I swear on my own insectoid ass if you don’t…”

Now that she was closer, she saw that Cassie had gold eyes and tan/blond hair, while her companion had short white hair and green eyes. Both of them looked nervously at Jolis before Cassie lowered her weapon. “I'm Cassandra, displaced as Thunder Phoenix Rayla, and this is my sister Miriam, displaced as Blade Queen Sefia. We mean no harm.”

“Jolis,” She visibly cringes at that, “Displaced as well, if the statement means what I think it does, as a hybrid of Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty, and Chrysalis.” She put the Pocket Pistol back in her coat before drawing out what looks like a disguise kit. She pulls a cig out and lights one up. “You still didn’t state your intentions for being here.”

“We… don't know how we even got here, we were about to have breakfast, when some kind of vortex swallowed us up and sent us here….” Mira said.

“Sounds like y’all are a victim of circumstance. You know anything about this?” She shows them the light blue crystal.

“I had forgotten we had made that! That's our Token.” Cassie exclaimed.

“Token? Huh remember reading something like that on Earth. Well if my guess is right that is.” She idly scratched her left arm while holding the token out to them. “Well if it’s your’s you can have it back.”

Mira extended her hand before the crystal flew over to her and was absorbed into her, her green eyes glowing for a second. But as Cassie took a step forward, her legs suddenly collapsed beneath her, causing Mira to catch her as she fell. “Dang it, Cassie… you should've rested some more!” She muttered.

“I take it something happened wherever you’re from?” She asked as she started looking through her coat again. “Where did I put those consarned things!?”

“We had a encounter with a madwoman called Kafka, and she ended up infecting the two of us, along with the whole of Ponyville with some kind of sickness, it's gone now, but it's left me and Mira severely weakened.” Cassie said.

“Ma’am I may have been here only a day, but not once have I ever seen or heard of some sickness that infected this town.” She does a dramatic motion over the whole of this video game, anime, and movie themed Ponyville with her other hand. She pulled out a Quickfix and it’s proper medipack. “Where’s the worst of it?”

“I'm fine, it's just a weakness spell.” Cassie slowly stood up. Spreading her wings, she began to hover above the ground. Crossing her arms, she then asked, “How did you end up in your Equestria?”

“I was at an adult’s Con dressed... well like this. I had just bought a few things, and was feeling tired. So I went and got a coffee. After that I saw people dressed... as this world’s mane six. Then I tripped over some railing, and literally fell here. What about y’all?” She was obviously trying to hide her left arm now.

“We were at a Brave Frontier con when Mira decided to pick up a Battle crystal replica and next thing we know, we’re fighting some kind of wacko and end up being turned to stone to stop him. We recently woke up after a town was destroyed in an attack from forces controlled by a Goddess named Maxwell…”

“Maxwell sounds like a guys name. Anyways sounds you had it rougher. What do you say we get you two something to eat?”

At the mention of food, both of the girl’s stomachs rumbled. Laughing, they both nodded.

“I’m sure you don’t want pocket chocolate, so how about the place I just came from?”

“Sure.” Mira said as her swords vanished.

Jolis put her stuff away, and starts walking towards a restaurant that hasn’t really changed from its in show equivalent. “So what’s happened on your side aside from what you told me?”

“Other than being turned into ponies before being sealed in stone, getting changed back by someone that had been turned into a Rune Slayer from Elsword, and encountering characters from a game? Not much.” Cassie said.

“Really? Which game?” Jolis asked feeling honestly curious.

“The game the characters we became come from, Brave Frontier.” Mira said.

“Hmm. Nothing interesting really happened to me after falling in here. Woke up in the hospital, went on a tour through town. A piece of the most emotionally powerful gem in Equestria implanted itself into my left arm, and I have to try to find the other three parts. I think Big Mac’ has one.” Jolis shared saying the parts about the Crystal heart quietly, yet loud enough for them to hear.

“Crystal… Heart?” Cassie asked in confusion.

“How far into the show were you before you went to your Equestria?” She asked a bit surprised.

“Show?” Cassie asked.

“You’ve never watched My Little Pony have you?” Jolis was pretty shocked at this.

“We’ve heard of it, never really watched it.” Mira admitted. “A friend of ours did though, but we don't know what happened to him after he and two of his friends disappeared a few weeks after we last saw them…”

“That sounds tough. Sorry that happened to you. Well The Crystal Heart, in this Equestria, is to source of all emotion for the ponies. Without it they just kinda…” She looks around until spotting a couple that looked like they were just bored at everything, “that.” She points to said couple.

Cassie raised an eyebrow before looking at the menu. “So how exactly did the Heart shatter?” She asked.

“It wasn’t shattered. It was cut up and stolen. One section was recovered, and sent to Twilight. Unfortunately, by the time it got here Ponyville was already effected. It seemed like Spike and I were the only ones not affected. So I took on the responsibility of finding the pieces, and this happened.” She shows Cassie and Mira the blue crystal filling the holes in her arm.

Both girls winced. “Geez, reminds of those ELS from the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 movie…” Cassie said.

“That’s an anime I haven’t seen, But I bet you can find them somewhere here,” She sighed, covering her arm back up, “Can you give me a hand with seeing if Big Mac has a Part?”

The two nodded before the waitress walked up and took their orders.

She ordered a simple sandwich, not all that hungry.

Both Cassie and Mira ordered pancakes.

After their meals, Jolis put on her mask and hood, “Ready?”

The two nodded in response.

She nods back before the three headed towards Sweet Apple Acres. On the way she grabbed her two favorite weapons from both games, the Cow Mangler and the Frost Crossbow variant. The Crystal in her arm got brighter as they got closer.

“Do those crystals always do that when you're close to a piece of the Heart?” Mira asked.

“Not sure. This is the first time it happened,” Jolis watched it for a bit before refocusing on their destination.

Cassie and Mira gave each other a silent glance.

“So uh… how do you want to go about this?” Jolis, having never done anything like this before, had no idea what to do.

“Well…. We’re honestly still new to this too” Mira admitted with a nervous laugh.

“Oh. How about a sort of Smash and grab? It's how I usually do things in situations like this in games.” She nervously gripped her Crossbow. “A-And the faster we do it, the less likely somepony will get hurt.” Her shaking only seemed to worsen.

“Are you okay?” Cassie asked, sounding concerned.

“Nope. Anytime I've done secure objective style game modes I'd die first.” She gulps sweating like a pig.

“Mira and I will do the talking, hopefully we won't have to hurt anyone.” Cassie said, putting a hand on Jolis’s shoulder.

Jolis sighs relaxing a bit, but still shaky. “Alright. You head in first, alright?”

The two nodded as the three walked up to the ranch style house outside the orchards.

Jolis peeked into a slightly uncovered window. “Looks like they're sittin’ down for supper.”

“Okay, You and Mira try and find the crystal in the barn, I’ll explain what's going on if Applejack comes out.”

“Okay I'll see what I can do.” She crouched down, and made her way around towards the back. Mira soon followed after, her armor rustling. As they looked around the barn, Jolis's arm glowed brighter until at one point she had to cover it up to keep from getting them caught.

“Looks like that piece is definitely here…” Mira whispered.

“Yeah, now just where here?” Jolis questioned herself taking in the area they are in. Now turning her attention to Mira she asked, “Do you see another pale blue light somewhere?”

Scanning the area, Mira quickly spotted a glimmer of something from the barn window. “Up there!” she said, pointing to the spot.

“Alright. I don’t know how to work Chrysalis’ wings yet so I’ll go in on the ground. What about you?” Jolis stood up, getting ready for a mad dash to the door.

Mira didn't answer, her gaze focused on the barn. Five of her blades then materialized and streaked towards the barn, thudding into the wood at different spots. She then ran forward and used the blades as springboards, reaching the window in seconds.

“Show off.” Jolis muttered before making her mad dash to the door. Not able to know what was inside she grabbed a basic invis-watch and sapper before bursting through the door. Inside was the hover tank from Advanced Warfare being powered by the Heart Piece.

“A tank?” Mira asked, confused.

“Not just any tank. The most annoying tank in all of gaming! I’m going to sap it!” Jolis angrily slapped the sapper on the tank.

“Wait, you don't know if that will harm the piece!” Mira cried out.

“Sappers don’t work on magical items. If we get it out of there the sapper can destroy the tank.” Jolis grabbed hold of the piece, and began pulling on it.

Pinkie popped up in front of Mira. “Oh hey another new pony in town? It probably won’t be my best work right now, but I have got to throw you a party! Wait, why are you in the Apple’s barn?”

Mira yelped and fell backwards, falling onto the floor with an *oof*. She then gave a pained groan as she felt a bruise form on where she fell.

“You okay? Lately most ponies’ aren’t surprised like that any more.” The pink mare extends a hand out to help Mira up before continuing to talk, “But seriously why are you here?”

“Would you believe that we’re collecting a piece of the Crystal Heart?” Mira asked as she rubbed her back.

“What and Jolis down there had a vision of Big Mac accidentally removing his mask, climbing on the train from the Crystal empire back to Ponyville, and now you’re trying to remove it from a floating tank? Or something like that?” Pink blurted out real fast.

All she got from Mira was a confused look. “All I know is that she's trying to fix the heart. I'm not really from here, so I don't know what actually happened.”

“That’s about right, Pinkie.” Jolis called up as she pulled the Piece out of the engine compartment, “Now everyone, we need to get out of the DZ! Sappers tend to make machines explode.”

Mira quickly jumped down and ran out the door before hunkering down behind a tree a few miles away.

Jolis slid in behind the tree as the tank exploded taking the barn with it, and launching Pinkie into the Apple family’s house. Jolis still had the Piece in her arms sighing thankful it wasn’t damaged.

Cassie flew over to them, her eyes wide with shock. “I thought this was supposed to be low key, not destroy a barn!” She hissed.

“I wasn’t trying to blow up the barn. Just a tank.” She lifts up the Piece of the Heart they got and continued, “Though imagine the look when Mac finds out his part was stolen back.”

“It's not Big Mac I’m worried about…” Cassie said.

“Well Pinkie kinda just does stuff, and Mira’s right here.” Jolis thought of anything else that could have happened, or was missed.

“I'm talking about another member of the Apple Family.”

“Applebloom? I doubt she’s home right now.”

“Try an Element bearer…”

“Applejack? She’s nearby isn’t she?” Jolis put her Phlag and crossbow away to pull out her Deadringer just in case.

“She was in the house when you blew the barn up.”

“Well if I’m right, a quick explanation should keep us from harm. Unless she goes all Vasto Lorde on us.” Jolis shivered at the thought of being caught up that kind of Cero.

“Let's hope you're right…” Cassie muttered.

“Right about what?” This world’s Applejack looked at them through the broken window. Her mask was already half formed. Jolis scrambled to her feet to show Applejack the piece of the heart they had found. Applejack however wasn't really satisfied with that as her mask finished forming.

Cassie held up her hands. “We’re not here to cause trouble.”

“Y’all blow up one of our barns, an’ expect me to believe y’all aren’t here to cause trouble?”

“That was her, Cassie and I aren't from here!” Mira said, pointing at Jolis.

“Hey you were in the barn with me!” Jolis exclaimed while clutching onto the piece.

“Because I was thinking we were just getting the Heart piece and leaving, not leveling a barn!” Mira retorted.

“So leaving something that required emotional magic there to incentivize him to steal the Heart Piece again was a better idea!” Jolis countered, “And I forgot the stock Sapper blew stuff up for a bit okay?”

“I could've just disabled it by taking out the tracks!” Mira shouted, her blades forming. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Cassie shaking her head.

“Hover Tanks don’t use tracks. They hover.” Jolis face palmed before a black beam hit her and sent her flying while also activating her Deadringer. So really it was just a fake body flopping around in the air.

Both Mira and Cassie spun around, their weapons at the ready.

Jolis decloaked beside them with her Eyelander at the ready.

“Look, my sister and I don't want any trouble!” Cassie said.

Applejack let out a hellish screech as she jumped down to them.

“Somehow, I don't think she's in the mood to negotiate now…” Mira muttered.

“I agree with you there.” Jolis held her sword up in a defencive form as Applejack came down on them.

In a flash, Mira's eight swords clanged together to form a shield that managed to block Applejack's first attack, the blades themselves forming an eight pointed star. Mira grunted as the force of the blow forced her back.

Jolis swung her sword at the dazed Applejack only to be swatted away. From where she landed she dug through her pockets until she found her Crusader's Crossbow and CoD explosive crossbow.

“Alright. Who needs healing?” Jolis shouted with both crossbows at the ready.

As Cassie stepped back, she heard clinking. Looking down at the satchel at her side, she saw the bottles she and Mira had picked up at the ruined town. “Mira and I are covered.” She said.

“Alright then.” Jolis injected herself to cover whatever damage she took earlier before firing an explosive bolt at the enraged Hollow. The resulting explosion dazed Applejack a bit more, and made a smoke screen.

Mira closed her eyes before she felt her power charging up inside her. She then opened her eyes and chanted “Blade Storm Barrage!” before her blades hovered in front of her and streaked forward. The swords struck ten times, a flash of light accompanying each hit, both blinding and burning Applejack.

“Getsuga Tenshou!” A black and red wave spread out towards the three of them as Applejack shouted at them. The blinded and burned Hollow jumped out of the smoke after the wave, only to fall to the ground paralyzed.

Jolis couldn't help but laugh a little at that for a bit. “Okay I think this is the best time to get out of here?” She questioned the other two as she put her stuff away.

Cassie nodded, but Mira looked over at Applejack with pity in her eyes. “You guys go on ahead, I’ll catch up in a bit.” She said.

“Alright just be careful.” Jolis held on to the piece tightly as she ran back towards town.

Mira stepped forward towards Applejack, and knelt down in front of her. “You know I could easily kill you with you paralyzed? But then that would make me into the same kind of monster I fight against.” She said to the prone farmer.

“No it wouldn’t. It’d make you worse than them.” She retorted as mounting Spiritual pressure began to help free her.

Mira's eyes flashed. “I’ve had to fight Discord and other creatures, including corrupted versions of ponies. You think I wanted to kill them? A thousand years sealed in stone can make you think about that.”

“Oh? Try being the weapon used to send more of your own kind to hell!” The Hollow slowly reverted back to her pony like form.

“Seems we both have skeletons in our closet….” Mira gave a hollow chuckle. “Some more than others.”

“Yeah, even though this all, I can still tell when somepony’s lying. I figured you three were telling the truth, but I couldn’t just let y’all get away with destroyin’ our barn. An’ on the topic of skeletons in the closet. It looks like I’ll have to talk to Big Mac about his.” Applejack rambled on for a bit before extending her hand to shake.

Giving her a small smile, Mira extended her own hand and shook it. “I'm sorry about destroying your barn.”

“Well now that Ah see which one it is, Y’all saved me most o’ tomorrow's hassle with tearin’ it down.” Applejack whistled at the shallow crater.

Hearing Cassie calling her, Mira said, “I need to go. Cassie's probably worried that I’m hurt or something.”

“Alrighty then. I’ll make sure to have that talk with ‘Mac.” She waved goodbye before heading inside.

Running towards the two, she soon caught up with Cassie and Jolis. Jolis was sitting on the ground as the section of the Heart absorbed itself into her right arm, and filled in the holes in that arm.

“I managed to get Applejack calmed down. Apparently the barn we destroyed was slated to be taken down anyways.” Mira said.

“Well That’s a relief!” Jolis sighed as she calmed down from her own bit of worry.

“So now what?” Cassie asked. “Our Twilight must be frantic by now. And Nicko didn't exactly explain how we’re supposed to get back to our Equestria…”

“I have no idea how to get you two back.” Jolis shrugged.

“But I do….” A voice spoke out of nowhere before a single massive armored figure came into being in front of the trio.

“In the words of AC Racebest, Convenient!” Jolis exclaimed as she had an influx of energy.

The figure turned to Cassie and Mira. “You two caused quite a panic with your disappearance. But I knew the both of you had been called on by another Displaced. Now that your mission is over, it's time to go home.” The winged helmet then turned to Jolis. “You were lucky Applejack didn't tan your hide with the amount of power she wields. I wish you luck in finding the rest of the Crystal Heart.”

“Thank you, and I think you should give them a bit of a history lesson on the show our Equestria’s branch from.” Jolis gave the figure a bow.

“They’ll learn as time passes on. For now though, their Equestria needs their help.” As he spoke, a single portal opened behind Cassie and Mira. “Until then, know that I will always be keeping an eye on the two of them, whether they're in their Equestria, or when they're summoned.” The figure then faded and vanished.

“Alright. You take care now!” Jolis called after them.

Cassie gave a wave as she stepped through the portal. Mira, however, handed Jolis a single crystal. “If you ever need us, just use the crystal to call us.” With that, she also entered the portal, which then closed with a hiss.

She set the crystal in her pocket before heading out to Twilight’s castle.

One Step at a Time

Jolis, after her interactions with the Frontier girls, decided to take the train to the Crystal Empire. She pays for the ticket, climbs aboard, and finds herself alone. "This is odd. Is something happening I don't know of?"

After a brief wait for other passengers the train begins to move. She is still the only one on board. As a matter of fact she hasn't seen the staff come by this car. While lost in thought Jolis missed the car's door opening. A red stallion clad in a trench coat, combat boot, armored gloves, and a steriotypical trilby enters the train car. This stallion carefully draws a futuristic revolver from his coat's inner pocket. The gold plating glinting in tge pale moonlight as he twirls the six shot hand cannon. Grabbing the mahogany grip he takes aim at the oblivious Changeling. A shot rings out causeing Jolis to turn her head towards her attacker.

As the bullet travels through the air things seam to slow as if in bullet time. No ones refexes were sped up however. Instead she watches in fear of her shooter. Unable to see the projectile, but able to feel the impact on her right cheek, left breast, twice on her stomach, and once on her right shoulder. Sparks flew off of her shoulder as the bullet is warped by the hardened chitin under her jacket, and bounces out the window. She ducks down into her seat from the pain, and starts searching her weapons pocket. Healing items seemed on command as the first item was the Delakahs Bar, which she devoured. Wrapper now discarded as she reached into the pocket again only to pull out the Deadringer. She flipped the pocket watch open, and waited. The stallion' heavy steps and shinking spurs grew louder as he approached her seat. He spun towards her and fired the last shot.

*****

Applejack sat across from her older brother in the living room. He was in his usual get up. A red and white tartain T-shirt, dark blue jeans, his orange bandana, spurred cowpoke boots, and the Exosuit he's been needing in order to walk since he threw out his back helping Applebloom fix the tree house. The two of them had been talking about the now destroyed tank that was in the old barn.

"I keep telling ya sis, Ah ain't got a clue how a section o' The Crystal Heart got there," He was attempting to be angry, but with the emotional drain across Equestria his voice was a neutral deadpan.

"And that's why our new friend was in that barn, and a railgun is implanted in the dirt by the back patio?" Applejack, being a Hollow, always had a voice that sounded harsh.

"Eeyup..." Big Mac crosses his arms adamit about his story.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow, "Big Irons Macintosh! You know damn well Ah c'n tell when you lie. As head of this here farm Ah tell ya to go fix yer mess!"

Big Mac winced at the sound of his full name. Ever since cousin Hot Irons's Atlas company tried to kill off everypony not in his personal military he despised his middle name. It was only made worse when his cousin mailed him a gold .50 revolver with a mahogany grip that had Outlaw etched on it. Mac looked at Applejack and simply stated, "Fine, it ain't like Ah got anythin' better to do right now." with that he walked out of the room and upstairs to fetch his armored gloves, no doubt the metal was still hot, a trench coat for added protection from the metal, and a trilby to avoid sunburning and becoming redder than he already was. He holsters Outlaw in a pocket holster in his coat.

Outside he gets to work moving the metal to a pile, tossing the wood into a barrel to safely burn. As the sun sets he's staring at the socket that held the section of the heart. He tosses it into tge metal pile and stands up. "I'll fix this alright," with those words he set off into Ponyville, and followed Jolis on to the train.

*****

Jolis pulled a Diamond Back and Mad Milk from her weapons pocket. She through the milk into the stallion's back causing something under his trenchcoat to short out. He falls into her seat. She removes his hat.

"Damn bitch! How did you know?" Big Mac snapped as he tried to swing at her.

"I didn't. Mad Milk is a health item. You splash it on someone, and the damage done to them is transferred to the user as health," She moves to the left of him and shoots the now obvious exo suit, "There that should keep you from going anywhere until we can get the guards to collect you." With that she puts her weapons away, and sat nearby to watch him.

Author's Notes:

Hey y'all thanks for reading and waiting.