Pandora's Box

Anthony let out a yell as he finally realized what this thing was. Or at least he thought he knew, though he was probably wrong. Maybe.
"BOOOOOOORG!"
Through sheer force of will, Anthony forces the wire to remove itself from his brain and when it does, he rips it off of the t-rex.
"Resistance is NEVER futile!"
He begins punching the t-rex over and over again at such an insanely high speed, his hands look like a blur to the human eye. Each punch has a great deal of force behind it, the sound of which makes even the loudest set of drums on the loudest sound system in the world sound like a quiet fart. One punch would probably be enough to shatter the bones of a regular human. So it's a good thing he was fighting a giant robot t-rex.

Oh, and he was saying this the whole time.
"MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!"
After a little while of this, his rapid-fire punches came to an end with one final massive punch with a flaming fist. He stood over the t-rex, confident in his victory.
"Now...are you gonna obey me or do I have to break you in half?!"

 

The dragon was confused. This squishy was resourceful, however... The dragon exploded into a thousand strong tentacle patch.

"The crazy train has no brakes." Violet said.

 

"Yes it does," Matthew said softly. "Look, down there."
It was a small, rusty and unused-looking lever, jutting out of the bottom of the control panel. Something black dripped from the end.
"It's hard to talk over all this noise. Why don't you stop it now?"

 

The train screeched in raging protest as it slammed to a stop throwing both of them against the controls. Picking herself up off of the corrugated floor, Violet looked at the person sprawled out beside her. "You say you're a friend. But I don't remember picking up any passengers." She said in a depressingly cold voice. "This train makes no stops...Well it's made A stop. The only stop so far. Why are you so special as to make me stop this train? I have to devour this world, to set things right. I need to finish my work." She continued, hands ready to set the monster back into motion.

 

Anthony's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide when he saw the tentacles come out.
"Oh, no you DON'T! Do I look like some kind of defenseless anime schoolgirl from a tentacle hentai?!"
He took a look around to see just how many tentacles surrounded him. There were definitely a lot of them, so he took a rough guess that it was somewhere around half a metric crapload. Those are pretty bad odds, even for a macho man like him. He growled in frustration.
"This isn't good...I guess I'm gonna have to go all-out here."
He struck a pose so heroic and amazing, it put all other poses known to mankind to shame!

"For Anthony...IT IS MORPHING TIME!"

As soon as he let out this battle cry, an explosion went off behind him, appropriately heralding his transformation. His casual street clothes were covered by armor made from a combination of Mithril, the scales of a black dragon, a single Chuck Norris beard hair, Super-Mithril, Adamantium and a fragment of a meteorite that supposedly could only be found in the realm of Avalon.

Across his forehead was a majestic red headband with the word "Master" written on it. At his left side rested his sword in its sheath-- a katana, oddly enough. Clearly, he's seen too many anime shows and played a few too many Japanese games. Regardless, this wasn't just any regular katana, not in the slightest. It's the kind of sword that Yamato wants to be when it grows up.

What is it made out of, you ask? Pure, unadulterated Willpower. So great is Anthony's fighting spirit that it somehow physically manifested itself into a metal-like substance that was then molded into a truly flawless blade by his own two hands. It's said that this blade can effortlessly cut through anything that has a lesser amount of hot-blooded determination than Anthony himself, which is to say, almost everything in existence.

Without any further ado, he drew his katana. When he did, the entire planet trembled ever so slightly and the booming sound of thunder could be heard, as if the world itself knew that things just got oh so very real. The sword, which looked beautiful enough to make other swords weep, shined brilliantly in the sunlight. A subtle navy blue glow emanated from it, because that's Anthony's favorite color and this is more or less his idealized version of what a sword should be. As he held it to the sky, the sound of wailing metal guitar chords and bombastic orchestras (Skyrim-esque Viking chanting included) could be heard throughout the land. He then held it to his side and sliced the air once. The air briefly swirled in hurricane-force gusts, but besides for that, nothing else seemed to be happening.

"Wait for it."

Just as he finished saying that, the sound of lightning-quick slashes could be heard all around and in large groups, the tentacles were suddenly and violently cut off and lifelessly fell to the ground. In the space of just a few seconds, there wasn't a single tentacle left that was still attached to the dragon.

 

"Because I've got a train too."
Matthew pointed out of a window, the sight out there visible clearly now that the train had stopped.
Sitting at a station, on the opposite side of the platform to Violet's train, was another train. It was an old steam train, huffing and puffing, and would have looked lovely and old-fashioned if not for the fact it was made of bones and spikes and fangs and organs and eyes and screams. It sat there, looking as sleepy as a train fashioned from the bowels of hell can look, smoke idly drifting from its funnel.
"I drove it once, like you. I drove through my entire world and felt its flesh shred and tear and gush blood beneath the wheels. But then I realized."
He leaned in and whispered something in Violet's ear.
"The track doesn't end." His voice was the whisper of a nightmare, something very dark trying to be kind. "If you keep going, you'll run out of fuel. You'll lose track of why you started, and then you won't find your way back."
He took her hand and looked towards the door. "It's time for the train to rest. It's time for the driver to walk."

 

"Never ends... eternally hungry..." Violet said in an echoed voice. She could feel tears welling up slightly; just enough to let her know that deep down the subconscious implications of the stranger's words had struck her powerfully. Deep down a slowing flow of sadness bubbled up, drowning the insanity, robbing the coal of its fire. The water rose up over the windows and began filling the car in small jets of water as the rivets failed against the water pressure.

Standing thigh deep already Violet began looking around listlessly, with no direction or purpose.

 

Matthew took Violet by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, and for a single glowing moment there was a strange connection.

Two monsters, looking at each other across a field of battle, the world burning around them. One monster was crouched, snarling in the way a wounded dog does, a fearful yet vicious baying that practically begged the enemy to keep at bay.
The other didn't need to snarl. It regarded the other creature with an expression of control, and pity. Its great fanged maw was turned down in a frown.
It reached out, and helped the other to its feet.

Matthew stayed in the raging waters, his eyes not leaving Violet's.
"There is no purpose - save the one we make. There is no direction - other than the one we choose to travel. Destruction is a fruitless purpose. Chaos is no direction to take. They are simply an attempt to flee from having responsibilities, duties, emotions. And I know that you are stronger than that. Far stronger."
He looked to the door. "You're not hungry. You think you are. But I can help you take the hunger away. You have to be strong for me. And you have to open the door and wake up."

 

"Open... the door..." Violet echoed, her voice slowly regaining its normal canter. Fighting through the water that had risen to her breast was no small task. Her hands grasped the rusted metal handle and she pulled. The door refused to budge. Still she fought as the water rose above her mouth. It would not move! Her arms burned, her lungs burned. Small bubbles flew up across her vision. The burning in her lungs increased until it was all there was. She fought and fought the urge to open her mouth, accept oblivion and wake up as something incomprehensible to her psyche; her original consciousness.

In the end, she gave in. Her mouth opened, releasing a turbulence of bubbles. Taking a breath brought the water swirling in. AT first she tried to drink it, in a vain attempt to stay alive... Then the realization struck her. As her lungs filled and she drowned, her hands grasped the handle in one last vain attempt. Turning her body sideways in the cabin, she pushed with her legs and the door slowly slid open. Water rushed out as her lungs finally filled. Her hands let go, leaving the door several inches open.
As the water level lowered, depositing her semi conscious body on the metal grating that was the floor, Violet woke up.

Violet's eyes shot open as she thrashed in terror, tearing out clumps of grass as she clawed the ground. It took at least a minute before her mind began to register that she wasn't, in fact, drowning. Looking around in groggy silence, she held her hooves in front of her face. Her mind stopped for several moments as she stared at her hands, uncomprehending. The flesh of her skin was a velvety black that appeared to be steaming. She tried to wipe whatever it was off, but the miasma clung to her hands like, well... her skin.
"Wha... What?" Violet croaked, her throat and mouth dry. "My hoovsies are... handsies?"


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The core was alarmed. There had never been a squishy able to do this much damage to it ever before. It had one choice left. The final option. Docking cables released with the hiss and splatter of pneumatic tubes and hot hydraulic fluid. The sleek form stood amid the whipping cables, coating the chrome body with splatters of black fluid. The Gundam stood there, knowing deep in its programmed mind that this was not a good situation. The combat computer that drove it began calculating probabilities and possibilities. While most gundams towered meters above the earth, this particular model had been designed as an infantry automaton. It stood 1.83 meters tall, (6 feet) and stared into Anthony's eyes. The beam saber appeared out of nowhere, glowing purplish pink. A shield seemingly grew out of the machinery at it's feet and affixed itself to the mechanoid's left arm.

It emitted a high pitched screech and charged, using the small booster pack on its back to rocket at its target. It raised its beam saber and protected its body with the shield, preparing itself for a spinning attack...
"EEE-QUEEE-STRIIIII-AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Came a booming cry. A thunder clap accompanied the outburst as a purple beam of energy tore a hole in the ground between the mechanoid and Anthony about 10 feet, or 3.048 meters, in diameter. A small grass fire kicked up around the glassy circle.
A pony slammed into the ground, wings aloft and standing in a threatening pose as she glared down the Gundam. (that had clearly gotten lost due to too many timelines in its meta.) Her body was Purple and glittering. Her mane and tail were spiked and an energy cone pulsed around her, reminiscent of a comet entering the atmosphere. (Just like those guys on DBZ) Standing in front of Anthony, the pony simply said, "Stay back," before blasting forward and creating a sonic boom in the process.
She tore through the Gundam's chest, breaking its shield into fragments, and reappeared on the other side. Coming to a long sliding stop, she spun around and launched herself into the air. With the sound of a banshee, the little Pegasus slammed the remains of the gundam into the ground. She spent a few minutes pawing through the wreckage before lifting what appeared to be a mechanical brain between her hooves. She stared at it for a few moments before grinning smugly. Then she opened her mouth and took a bite. The metal gave way with the sound of breaking bones, then sounded like smaller bones all breaking randomly like firecrackers as the pony chewed. It continued to eat the cyber-brain until all that was left was the artificial brain stem that pulsed colors occasional as the missing synapses fired in confusion.

A ray of light shown down onto the Pegasus, floating it into the air a foot or two and hovering it there. "LEVEL UP" appeared in big blocky 8-bit letters above her head. The pony seemed to pulse once with light and then was gently dropped back onto the earth, the ray of light vanishing as her hooves touched dirt.
With grim determination she strode, still Power Ponied up, towards Violet.

 

Matthew awoke next to Violet, looking down at her, back in his human form. The dark creature had been vanquished, and the Jupiter's Passion Keyblade faded away.
"Welcome back, and... I'm sorry. That bastard transformed you into a human."
He looked up at the carnage Anthony and the newcomer were wreaking. "HEY!" he shouted in indignation. "I wanted to ride that!"

 

Anthony's armor and weapon faded away in a glint of light as he reverted back to his normal form. He blinked a few times in utter disbelief.
"Did that just happen? I think that just happened. I don't even know what's going on anymore, I'm just kinda here."
Then, as all of the insanity finally started to sink in, his face contorted in anger.
"Did...did that pony just take my kill? I can't believe a PONY just took my kill! That dirty little cherrypicker!"
He turned towards the newcomer.
"AND I WASN'T EVEN TRYING TO KILL THAT THING! And...and...a pony?! Seriously?!"
He pointed to the pony, looking quite indignant himself.
"You there, new pony! I appreciate the help and all but you just cost us a new mount. Maybe you could've, I don't know, asked if I wanted your help back there? Things were going just fine until you decided that you wanted to have a flashy introduction!"
Just like dozens of other times in dozens of online battlefields, Anthony was left smoldering in frustration because somebody swooped in at the last second and stole his thunder.

 

"You couldn't have reasoned with it." The shiny pegasus said without turning. She kept up a casual stride, making her way towards where Matthew sat beside Violet in the grass. The look in her glowing eyes was pure acid.
"Deserter." It spat glaring at Violet. Violet looked up through the darkness that still clung to the edges of her vision. The pegasus looked down with disdain as it let the excess energy built up in its body release. Her mane and lost whatever magical gel that had spiked it and both drooped back to normal. Her coat was an odd shade between gray and beige, almost whitewashed. Her mane was an odd speckled color, somewhere between an eldritch green and a sick hue, it seemed to pulse slowly between the two. Despite her healthy body, her coat and mane gave the appearance of disease.
"Noire Grim." Violet said, connecting a line between name and pony. Her voice had a lilt of disbelief.
"That's right 'Commander.'" Noire said in a mocking tone. "Yep, it's me, Little Paranoire. The paranoid pony. The one you abandoned facing that army of Changelings."
"You were going to use a mega detonation spell." Violet said, remembering foggily. "The shield wouldn't of held for two ponies."
"It. Held." Noire growled, tossing her head indignantly. Her mane swayed, the hair partially revealing a scar of some kind before it fell back into place. "Then after I was staggering drunk from exhaustion, the few Changelings left grabbed me."
"I said that we needed to fall back. Dusky Doom was about to cut us off from the rest of the strike force. You stayed."

Noire glared down, her eyes burned with hatred. "YOU ABANDONED ME!"

 

Matthew got up, cricking his neck, getting between the pair. "Listen... whatever you have in terms of grievances with each other, I would strongly suggest not having it out either at this moment, or at this place." He spoke calmly, but there was the underlying sense of a great danger lurking. A similar sensation would be if you woke up to find a grizzly bear eating some of your snacks at the foot of your bed - technically you are not in immediate danger, but that does not mean it is then a good idea to turn over and go back to sleep.

 

"I think I can sense what Matt is talking about. It's a lot like XCOM; just because you finished your mission, doesn't mean the creepy aliens are gonna give up on killing you. And I get the feeling there's still something trying to kill us around here..."
Thinking this to himself, Anthony looked over to Violet Sky.
"Hey, you know that portal thing you did earlier? Maybe you could try that again."
The thought crossed his mind that she might not have her full strength back yet.
"If you can't, then we need a plan b. I could open up a portal to get us back to Earth but then we'd pretty much be back to square one. Unless there's some way you could give me directions to your..."
He really didn't want to finish that thought.
"Pony...kingdom...place. Or whatever it is."
He still couldn't believe he was hanging around with talking ponies.

 

OOT; So I decided to write up a bit of backstory for Noire.

Spoiler

Noire felt herself breathing heavily. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Unfortunately it didn't feel like it was working. She stood among the other ponies of the attack force, a stupid little filly without her cutie mark among these warrior ponies. They had scars, burns, weapons bristling among their saddles... and she had a blank flank and a stupid shielding device on her foreleg.
"This is it," said a female voice, "With this attack, the Changeling forces will be crippled for generations to come." The mare's voice held excitement and nervousness.
"Wipe them out." A stallion somewhere behind Noire said. A few others echoed his sentiment but everyone fell flat in the shadow of the Changeling hive mountain.
The mare continued on with her speech not having heard, or choosing to ignore, the rumbling. "We have our plans, our missions. We will carry them out. And this war will be over tonight!"
No cheer arose at the words. The force spread around the mountain perimeter was too afraid of tipping off the unaware hive to their presence.
Noire looked up as high as she could in an attempt to see the peak. The mountain was an unnatural thing, sticking out at the end of a small mountain chain. The rumor was that the changelings had designed the mountain themselves, built from some older civilization that had been consumed. Occasionally, changelings could be seen flitting from one cave to another on the spire.
Changelings... they drained a pony of their love, compassion, happiness... every positive emotion. Then if they were lucky, the pony would be discarded to die somewhere. If not, they were used for breeding. Either for more Changelings or as pony feeding stock all depended on the needs of the hive. And this, was the final hive. Noire felt her legs begin to shake, ears drooped, as she thought about that fate.
A purple unicorn with an eye patch stepped up to her.
"You ready, Noire?" She asked, taking the young filly aside.
"Y-Yes." She stammered, trying to put strength into her voice.
"Stay with me. We'll get through this."
"Yes Commander."

The attack started, ponies charged the mountain. Earth ponies galloping, pulling carts laden with explosives to breach the base. Unicorns with their horns ablaze and boring spells prepared. The pegasus squadrons went for the high cave entrances, to start the battle for air supremacy. Noire charged at full speed with Violet Sky at her side. A cry rose unbidden from her throat and joined the rest of the army. The gallop across the open area lasted too long. The time seemed to expand when defensive spells began launching out from the mountain, striking unlucky ponies down with varying results.
Breaching the hive was easier than it could be believed. Once inside everypony stopped for a few moments in mild surprise before gathering their wits about them and charging forth into the darkness. The close quarters battle was fierce, bloody, exhilarating, and goddamned terrifying. Changelings kept leaping out of the walls, the floor, the ceiling. Goring ponies with horns, bizarre spells fired off causing the darkness to flicker and flash, and some ponies just vanishing into thin air. That quiet tunnel always ended up with one or two ponies having simply disappeared.
Noire didn't know what was happening, she just ran with the group, hiding behind the other ponies, too high on adrenaline to worry about why she was even there.
A Changeling came barreling out of the wall, insectoid wings buzzing. It slammed her into the ground, fanged teeth prepared to tear out her throat. Using all for legs she threw it off then began to stomp it until a lucky hoof strike caved in its skull. Hyperventilating, she sank against the wall staring at the black shape of the corpse and the darker shadows around it broken up by spell fire. Finally getting back on her hooves, Noire followed the combat further into the hive.

Standing flank to flank with Commander Violet Sky, her horn light reflecting off the cyan eyes of the Changelings that had them surrounded. The others were dead or unconscious by now.
"Commander... we're at the designated spot. I'm going to detonate." Noire said in a terrified whisper.
"This isn't a suicide mission." Violet responded.
"I have the shield." Noire said.
"It's a prototype."
"It will work!" She said, pulling the scroll for the weather bomb from her saddlebag. Normally pegasus couldn't consciously use magic, that was the domain of the unicorns. But due to her genes, Noire's latent weather ability was an incantation based magic. As long as she could read a spell, she could cast it.
"It's too ri-"
"This is why we're here!" Noire growled. She stopped herself from saying {i]I[/i] at the last second. "Stay close to me, the shield will hold."

She didn't wait for Violet to respond. Noire read the words out loud, and then triggered the shield. As the blast shot outward, Violet teleported away, she tried to bring Noire with her, but the shield blocked all spells. The explosion collapsed the mountain into itself, crushing the lowest levels with thousands of tons of rock. Violet watched the collapsing peak from a distance with the other survivors.
"We've accomplished a great feat today." She said hollowly. "All those we've lost, will be honored for their sacrifices."

The light faded away, but Noire still couldn't see through the imprint that had been seared onto her retinas, even through her closed eyelids. It took several minutes of blinking and hitting her nose into rocks before she was able to see at all.
"Commander?" She called out, her voice echoing in the dusty air. "Commander Violet?" She called out again, coughing from the dust.
Something reflected in the weak glow from her shield device. A pair of cyan eyes opened and looked at her. Then another, and another. Noire looked around herself and saw nothing but glowing blue eyes and darkness. They grabbed her and dragged her down into the tunnels.

Noire was fed upon, beaten, used in too many ways to list, each one more vile than the last. Her own daughter, sired by an unknown whether it be captured pony or Changeling, was taken from her and still it all continued. Then finally, one day, the abused and changed Noire Grimm was dragged before the Changeling Queen and was thrown out into the wastes left by her mega spell. With nothing but a vague memory, a name, and her intense hatred. Noire set out into the world to enact some kind of vengeance upon something.

Noire looked at Matthew. She could see the threat, thinly veiled, but couldn't find anything other than the seething rage which was the only emotion that she had left. Aside from the sadness. The Changelings disliked negative emotions, it upset their stomachs or some such trite. This human could tear her apart at the molecular level and it wouldn't matter to her. Her rage would most likely be brought back as some form of energy. At least that's what happened with Sombra.
"The machine is dead. But this is hardly a safe world to be on." Noire said plainly. "There's a distortion in this area. The True World is covered in them. Until it's removed, our glorious Commander can't do anything. Especially being under thrall. The worthless bitch. Can't even defend herself."

Violet ignored her once insubordinate's harsh words. "She's right, until that distortion is gone, I can't use my magic." That dark creature was laughing in her head. Whatever had put it there, wasn't just going to let them leave.


Aelix sighed as he watched through his thrall's eyes. A new horse, a pegasus if his memory served him, had destroyed the guardian in this area. Which was great news. He'd been unsure how to deal with the obstacle for a long time. But the intruders had done it for him. He supposed some thanks were in order. Perhaps this time, things would go a bit... more smoothly.

"Well that was a downright generous thing for you all to do." Said the shadowy figure as he appeared just past them leaning on a can. "I do need to thank you for that. But I still have to wonder... What you're doing intruding on my land."

 

Matthew's natural instinct was to launch another Falcon Punch, but he sensed that somehow this creature was not a real threat - more of a messenger boy.
"Personally, we're here to find someone called Dusky Doom if my memory serves me right, then dispense such a beatdown that the progenitors of the universe will feel it and shiver," he replied. "And also, who do I have the honour of addressing?"

 

Anthony minded his own business while Matt took care of talking to the newcomers. He leaned on a nearby tree and waited for things to settle down.
"Matt has a way with words. He'll handle this better than I can."
As he relaxed while leaning against the tree, random thoughts came to mind and went just as quickly.
"So, what is a Changeling, anyhow?"
He let out a sigh.
"I'll bet they're talking horses, aren't they? As if we didn't have enough of those floating around..."
After this was over, he never wanted to hear the word "pony" again.

 

"I am the Lord of Shadows." He said calmly. "This forest and the beings within are under my rule. It also extends to this field. In other words..." He gave a grin and a throne sprang from the ground, "I'm the king baby."

"As for this, Dusky Doom, a title I have not personally heard of before."

"So now tell me," the top hat and wine chalice reappeared as he took a seat incorrectly on the throne, "What can the King do for you?"

 

Deciding that leaning on a tree wasn't the best way to spend his time, Anthony walked up to Noire and decided he'd try to strike up a conversation. Why? Because he was bored, so why not try making some small talk with the borderline-psychotic pony?

Anthony does dumb things when he gets bored.

He casually walked up to Noire, who still looked like she could start foaming at the mouth any second, and walked up to her.
"So. It sounds like you've had a pretty tough break. Sorry to hear that, you wanna talk about it?"
Deciding that he was a little too...tall for this conversation, he knelt down in front of Noire.

 

Noire reluctantly turned her attention from Violet Sky. Although with that other human acting as her protector, she doubted she could get revenge or even pee on her a little without getting in a fight. And now this one wanted to be chatty with her? Perhaps it wanted to argue about killing the robot.
She let out the annoyed sigh of a teenage schoolgirl. Moving away from where the others were talking with the spawn of discord, taking what for her was small satisfaction at having to make the human get up off its knees and follow her, and sat far enough away that they wouldn't be overheard too easily.

"So i guess you're the gentle leader of the group. The one who "Gets to know" his subordinates before they die. Because he wants them to feel valued. When I was younger I bet I would have loved you. But yeah, you want to hear about being tortured by creatures that want to suck out your insides until you're just a husk? I can give you gory details, make you imagien it like it's happening to you. Oh yeah, that's because I got tortured. The best part is watching your daughter, some fucked up half pony, half changeling thing being led away. And despite your revulsion, knowing you are maternally attached. And then the last of your Love is torn away. But you know, if somepony had bothered to stick close and teleport both of us. I'd probably be some happy filly living high on victory and fame before becoming some drunk on hard cider. But I'm just hollow. And I want that bitch to die for abandoning me to hell."

As Noire was ranting somewhere between bitterness and anger, one of her hind legs was encompassed by a green glow. It slowly moved up her leg, revealing dark black fur with what looked like small chunks missing from below her knee.