A Fight for Return [M]

[Rho Aias VII]

“Ow, my head…” a familiar voice grumbled, followed by pathetic attempts to stand up.
Twilight had to admit, she’d never gotten herself into a situation quite like this before. She and her friends were used to saving Equestria, facing off against terrible nightmares and things most ponies had no idea about. But this time…
“What in tha’ hay happened to me!?” a certain (once) orange pony screamed, looking herself up and down.
“Woah, neato! What are these things at the end of my legs? They’re waaaay cooler than hooves!” swooned the frizzy-haired Element of Laughter.
“Pinkie,” Twilight warned, “I think we should be concentrating on why we’re here, and not why we’re suddenly large humanoids.”

“Aww, you’re no fun Twi,” replied the pink girl. It was an odd sight to see a human whose skin was something so bright and cheerful, especially pink, of all things. Laying and standing in confused positions were people of similar origin, each with their own unique skin colour. Manes akin to something you’d find on a horse replaced their hair, but unfortunately…
“What happened to my wings!” Rainbow cried out, scrabbling at her back in worry. Due to some odd freak of nature, the mare had retained her rainbow hair onto her new figure. Twilight made a mental note to ask her if it was natural or dyed.
Rarity had said nothing, and with good reason. She was too busy gawking at her new figure, perhaps trying to figure out how to make it fashionable.

Twilight face palmed. Mumbling incoherent worries under her breath, she looked over to Fluttershy, whose cheerful yellow skin was cowering in a corner.
“Alright girls, does anyone know what happened?” she started, attempting to pull some form of leadership into light.
“Hello, my little ponies!” a voice radiated over the group, causing an even larger bout of shivers from the yellow woman in the corner. “I can understand that you’re all terribly worried and confused right now, but it’s okay, because I’m going to explain what’s happened to you! Alright, to start off with, you’ve been forcibly invited to our contest of skill and teamwork. Congratulations! This means that because of you six, your particular race has been allowed to enter this set of games.

Now, would you kindly head out and eliminate the opposing team? It would be wonderful if you could acclimate yourselves to your new bodies via killing some stupid humans!”
The voice cut-off and was replaced by an awkward silence. The six ponies-turned-humans stared at each other, dumbfounded. Seconds ticked by while everyone attempted to grasp just what was happening. Finally, someone spoke up.
“So… Can we party them to death?” Pinkie said cheerfully, somehow creating a spray of confetti and streamers from nowhere.
Everyone started yelling at each other after that, even Fluttershy joined in.


“Alright, girls!” Twilight yelled, causing silence, “This is getting us nowhere. We need to be ready for… Whatever’s going to get thrown at us, I know it’s hard to move around without moving around on four legs and we have no idea how our magic works now, but we’ll be fine, right? I mean, surely these ‘humans’ can’t be so unreasonable as to kill us on sight, right?”
The other five nodded at their purple-skinned leader, looking confident in her. She only hoped that she was right in her assumption. The only theories she could work with were based on her own ponies, so how accurate would it be?

Twilight started to walk awkwardly towards the East, gradually getting used to walking as she went on. Her friends followed behind cautiously, looking around at the environment with worry.
She face palmed yet again, if only her friends could understand the ridiculous like she could.

[Fyshako]

I awoke, startled by the sound of a persistent loud noise. I couldn’t move, and couldn’t see.

Suddenly the noise changed in pitch to a loud beep, and my entire body pulsed with energy. I bolted upright, eyes widening at the sight I then saw. Around me, all now sitting up or standing, were my best friends. And yet, they were changed.

All of them were different. They were all more powerful-looking and seemed similar to characters from a game.

Steven looked like Dante from Devil May Cry, evident by his almost gaunt and yet powerfully built look, and also his suddenly grey hair. Two large pistols hung at his side, and a huge sword rested next to him.

Andrew had a suit on akin to the attire Fettel wore in FEAR, and a strange red mist hung around him, also similar to the game. His hair was cropped short and his face was more muscular than usual as well as being clean shaven.

Kayla’s eyes had become like something out of a horror movie. They were like an endless grey abyss, and yet they glowed beautifully. Her body was transformed from a pale, normal girl into a powerfully build and yet incredibly beautiful woman. At her side were glowing red crossbows, proving that she was indeed a demon hunter from Diablo.

I looked down at myself, and saw that I had procured a short, cropped beard. I was wearing combat armour, something that an army officer would wear around camp. An assault rifle was on the ground next to me, and a pistol was in its holster at my waist. I smiled as I noticed who I was. I was Pointman, Fettel’s brother in FEAR.

I felt amazing and strong, like a new man, and indeed I looked like one too. I slowly got up. My limbs felt stiff and yet it was easier to get up than I’d ever felt. “This is the coolest dream I’ve ever had…. That or I’m in some really awesome VR,” I said, grinning.

“This is just…. What the fuck man,” yelled Andrew, almost hysterical.

I couldn’t take this seriously.Suddenly something vibrated around my waist; I felt around the pocket and found a small tablet phone-like object. “Looks like I got myself a message, “I said, laughing.

I cleared my throat and began reading the message out loud. “Hello Lachlan and crew. You have been recruited for our tournament because you are the best of your race. We would very much like you to find the opposing team, a group of pony-like creatures transformed into humanoid creatures, and kill them. Have fun, and remember, if you die, you’ll just have to wait for the next round!”

“What the hell?” Asked Kayla, an incredulous look on her face as she tried to puzzle out how the crossbows actually worked. She had already shot three arrows at a nearby tree, hitting with each, and yet every time, a new arrow simply appeared in the bow, already pulled back. “Never really thought about how that worked in the game, guess it’s just magic,” she muttered, shrugging, “this is a dream, after all.”

“My PDA - yes I’m calling it that - says we need to go west. So this way,” I immediately started walking west.

I sighed happily and grinned. This was going to be a fun dream.

[Rho Aias VII]

“This place is full of sad ponies,” Pinkie murmured, characteristically bouncing around instead of walking.
“I don’t think ‘ponies’ is the correct term anymore, Pinkie,” Twilight sighed.
“Oh, well then, what is?” the pink girl asked, cocking her head.
“I think… Umm… We’re humans, aren’t we?” Fluttershy added quietly.
“That’s a possible theory, however,” Twilight murmured, “if we were humans, why is our skin different colours? Actually, I don’t even think this is skin, it looks like fur to me.”
“At least we got to keep our beautiful manes,” Rarity chimed, running her fingers through said mane.
“Ah don’t get how ah’m supposed to buck things like this,” Applejack grumbled.

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out as we go along, okay?” Twilight smiled reassuringly, “I can still feel my magic, so I have to assume we’ll be able to re-ignite our magic to some extent. Don’t worry Rainbow, you’ll be up and flying in no time.”
The rainbow-maned woman glared at her friend for a few moments before breaking into a small smile. “Yeah, I know Twi, I just miss being able to fly around, y’know? It’s like someone just took what makes me… Me, and now I can’t do anything about it.”
“Kind of like when we fought Discord?”

Pinkie Pie burst out laughing, “Oh yeah, Discord! He turned us all grey, that was so funny.”
Twilight face palmed for what felt to be the umpteenth time that day, and mumbled something dark under her breath. As she looked back up, she saw four figures looking on at them from a distance. They weren’t like the other people they’d seen that flitted through the shadows, these people were…
“Our opponents?” Twilight whispered.

Pinkie Pie wasted no time and started to bound towards them as she’d done with everyone else she’d seen, yelling every welcome she knew in that pink head of hers.
“Great, this again,” Rainbow grumbled.
Something feels wrong here… Twilight thought, frowning.
“Pinkie! Come back!” Twilight yelled, desperate to see her friend return.

[Fyshako]

“What the hell?” asked Kayla, looking very confused.


“Yeah, those look like furries alright,” I said, grinning. I stepped forward, nothing to lose. Still smiling widely, I raised my assault rifle and aimed, yelling “Stop right there! And please do be quiet!”


The fuzzy-haired pony-woman immediately stopped and went silent in front of me, head tilting to the side. The other ponies were quickly catching up, so I had to think of something quickly.


“Wait! Don’t shoot! We’re not looking for a fight!” screamed the pony near the back, the one with the purple hair.


What are you looking for, then?” asked Andrew, already looking fed up with the conversation.


The pony looked worried, and said “We were all doing random things in our world, Equestria, and suddenly we just got… Well… Teleported. We appeared here, as I would imagine you did, and a voice appeared telling us to kill you. Of course, we aren’t murderers so that’s not an option, so I was hoping you would have a way out of here.”


Andrew stepped forward, and muttered, “I’ll help you if you let me try something, on her,” he pointed to the pink one, “I need you to try to stay focussed and resist it.”


Andrew shouldered me out of the way. Holding out his hand and suddenly looking extremely focussed, as the red mist around him slithered along his arm and toward the small pink humanoid.


“Resist wh…” the former pony’s voice trailed off as she started shaking violently.
The mist enveloped her, causing a small yelp. No one could see what happened as Andrew and the pink figure clashed mentally, or what could be assumed as a mental clash.


The mist finally drifted away, and revealed the girl to be exactly the same as before, bar her now straightened hair.


Andrew’s face went even more ashen, and he murmured, “Oh, shit.”

[Rho Aias VII]

Pinkie Pie stood completely still, she didn’t breathe and her eyes lost their structure. All that could be seen was a pink pupil, staring mindlessly at the glowing red man who’d dared to manipulate her mind. Wordlessly, she pulled a small glinting object from her pants in a practiced motion, much more efficient than any of the six had done thus far.
The one that was called Andrew looked terrified, backing up in an attempt to get behind his friends. Unfortunately for him, the humanised pink Earth Pony wouldn’t let that happen.

With a disturbing battle cry, the creature leapt forward like a (for all intents and purposes) maniac. Before anyone could react, the glinting object revealed itself as a knife, and she threw it at the red figure. He attempted to jump out of the way, however it was too late.
The knife vibrated as it flew, and lodged itself into the figure’s head. His eyes drew in together, staring at the metal which now protruded from between his eyes. Blood started to drip down, ignoring the fact that he had an ethereal body.

Pinkie simply gave a terrifying smile as he fell back, completing it with a loud thud as he hit the ground. Everyone stared for a few moments until Pinkie pulled out another knife.
“They want us to kill each other? Let’s go,” she whispered, grinning.
“What the hell Pinkie!?” Rainbow screamed, rushing forward to restrain her friend.

This isn’t going to end well… Thought Twilight, attempting to find a way out of the situation without violence.
She doubted it would work out like that.

[Fyshako]

As Andrew the ground, so did my empty cartridges. Despite the other ponies trying to restrain the pink one, I couldn’t risk her killing any more members of our team. As I began to fire, Steven roared with anger and pain as he sprinted past me, taking his sword from its sheath and damn near throwing it at the terrifying woman who had just murdered our best friend.

I tried not to hit Steven as I began to hear arrows rapidly flying over my shoulder, but it proved to be a redundant effort, as my bullets simply hit a shield as they neared him. No friendly fire here, I see, I thought as I finally ran out of ammo and began reloading as quickly as possible, fumbling in my first effort.

I saw once I looked back up that while the pink one, the orange one, the yellow one and the white one now lay dead, the purple pony and the blue one with the crazy hair still fought on, one erecting shields around herself and her friend, and the other dodging Steven’s wild strikes and Kayla’s accurate bowfire. I took aim, and easily shot the purple one in the ankle, effectively disabling her. Then, I focussed, and slowed time. Whilst at full speed, the blue pony seemed to blur as she moved, with time slowed she moved as did I or Steven. I took aim and softly pulled the trigger, braining the fast pony.

As I lowered my gun, I finally noticed the screams of the purple pony. I quickly ran to her, taking aim and yelling, “Don’t even move a muscle, and stop damn well screaming!” She immediately stopped screaming and simply whimpered. Then she whispered one word, almost too low for me to hear.

[Rho Aias VII]

“Sorry,” Twilight whispered, clenching her eyes together in obvious effort. The purple furred person, (former pony?) began to glow with a bright magenta light. Whatever was going to happen, she was going to avenge her friends for what had happened.
Concentrated waves of light surged out from the huddled figure, clutching at her foot in agony at both her injury and the powerful magic. All three of her opponents found themselves staring at her, attempting to figure out exactly what she was doing. The man closest to her went to finish her off, just as she finished the charging of the spell.

The waves of light transformed into pure energy, pounding against the three humans mercilessly. The man who had been standing next to the woman died first, his eyes rolling back into his skull. Screams of terror followed, coming from the woman, who died from the same effect. In her attempts to kill everyone, however, she’d weakened herself beyond repair; she was going to die as well.
Kneeling over her was the man who’d told her to stop screaming, furiously fighting against the effects of her spell. She couldn’t make it any stronger, so she had no way of finishing him off.

Unfortunately for her, he had the same idea, and pointed his gun at her face.
Well, I guess this is the end…

------

“What just happened?” Rarity asked, quivering.
“Ah’ have no idea,” Applejack replied, looking at her purple friend in worry. Twilight had been the last to return to the tent, passed out like they had been. They all worried for her, but there was nothing they could do.
“Are you okay Pinkie?” Rainbow asked, leaning over her pink friend in worry.
“Right as rain, Dashie!” the pink girl replied casually, smiling brightly.
“Umm, so we, umm, died right?” Fluttershy added timidly.

“They died too,” Twilight said suddenly, getting up on two legs. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at her getting up and started to ask her questions. At first, she attempted to answer them, but quickly gave up. Frowning, she looked around the cramped tent, and then looked at the tent flap.
“Has anyone gone outside yet?” she asked quietly.
Everyone shook their heads, so she walked over and pulled the flap back. It revealed a camp, a shabby one at that, half-filled with many different types of people and races. Twilight could almost swear she saw a lizard-man scampering away into the shadows.

“Isn’t that guy you killed, Pinkie?” Rainbow said, squinting at a figure exiting an opposite tent.
Rainbow was right, and unfortunately, his companions came out as well. Giving a slight frown, Twilight started to walk over to them, and her friends followed. What point was there in keeping hatred now, right? They were all alive, so…
Or are we dead? That would be depressing, I hadn’t finished re-shelving all the bookcases yet.

[Fyshako]

I knelt in complete agony. My body was ripped to shreds internally, and it was getting hard to see. But I was alive. I was beginning to think this wasn’t a dream, because the pain was quite real. Maybe I was sick or something; that would explain it.

Suddenly the pain vanished, and strength flooded through my body. I quickly grabbed my rifle and stood, looking around for any remaining hostiles. Suddenly, the PDA at my waste beeped and vibrated. Seeing that there wasn’t any more enemies alive, I grabbed it and saw that I had an incoming call.

“Hello there. Looks like your team won. Would you like the score and point dispersion details from your battle? Simply say yes if so,” said a cheerful voice.

I hesitated a moment, confused, then said, “Yes.” The PDA lit up with a table, showing all of the names of both teams beside a picture of the person, as well as their score and how many points they had earned.

“Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow... What the fuck?” I murmured, looking closely. Suddenly I was called again, and more words sung forth from the device, “Now, you’re about to be taken to a camp. Your friends are safe there as well as your former enemies. You would, however, do well to remember that they are only your enemies on the battlefield and that attacking a former competitor will result in dire consequences. All of your abilities will be disabled in camp, and your weapons will not work. However, you may at any time enter the arena and test your abilities on your teammates or any other competitor.”

“I’ll let you figure out the shop system, and if you fail to do even that on your own, I’ll tell you next time… If you win,” the voice was mocking, and faded with laughter. The world flashed white and pain erupted in my head, then after what seemed like a few seconds, I awoke, all pain gone.

After a moment of confusion, and then another moment staring at all my friends, who were now huddled in a basic tent, I noticed something. “Where’s Andrew?” I asked, worried he might try to fight the ponies again after their strange outburst. “He went to look around,” said Steven, “we decided to wait and see if you were okay.”

I didn’t bother responding, and rather got up and sprinted out of the tent, looking for Andrew. I spotted him quickly, as he was waving his arms and trying to launch bolts of red mist at the ponies. “Andrew!” I yelled, “Stop that!”

I ran up to the ponies, and said pleasantly, “I’m not allowed to kill you right now, so I guess I’ll settle for an answer as to why she-“ I pointed at Pinkie Pie “-went bad-shit insane and killed Andrew here.”