Chapters It was a rather normal day for the ponies in Ponyville. It was a beautiful sunny summer afternoon thanks to Rainbow Dash clearing out the skies in 10 seconds flat. Twilight was just finishing her letter to Princess Celestia and gave it to Spike to send it. “Well Spike, that’s one thing out of the way. What’s next on the list?”
Spike pulls out a scroll, opens it up, looks at it, and says, “Gee Twilight, that was actually the last thing on our list of things to do today.”
“Really? Huh, that went by rather quickly. What do you think we should do for the rest of today?” And almost as if on cue, a scream is heard from outside her tree home. “Of course,” Twilight says with a sigh. “Why can’t we ever have a simple, non-chaotic day?” Spike simply shrugs his shoulders. “Well, best see what the commotion is all about. Probably everypony screaming about Zecora again.” Twilight and Spike both go outside and see… No pony anywhere. “What the? Where is everypony?”
And as if to answer her question, a pink and orange blur tackle Twilight and Spike and make them both go back inside. A pink pony slams the door as an orange one pushes some furniture in front of it. “TWILIGHT!!! WE ARE IN BIG TROUBLE!!!” the pink pony says.
“Ugh, Pinkie, what are you talking about?” Twilight asks. “Is it Zecora again?”
The orange pony comes over and says, “No, Twi, it’s something else. Something I ain’t ever seen before.”
“Applejack? What is going on? What is this ‘thing’ you’ve never seen before? I thought you’ve seen everything.”
“Well, not this thing. It’s tearing up the town, causing a rampage. Some of the ponies already hightailed it out of here but the rest are still stuck here.”
“Again, What. Is. This. THING! You two are talking about?!” And to answer her, a very roar is heard, loud enough to shake some of the books off of the shelves.
Spike peaks out from behind Twilight and says, “I, think that may be it.”
Twilight put on a determined expression as she says, “Alright, c’mon girls, let’s go get that creature before it destroys our town.” And with that, the 3 ponies, and Spike, go off to gather the rest of their friends and confront the creature.
The group of four arrive at the town where they see the creature responsible for tearing up their town. It is vaguely wolf shaped except it is easily twice the size of a normal pony. It was thick yet soft looking navy blue fur covering its body and, shockingly, 3 foot long bone spikes on its shoulders and hips and one 2-3 foot long spike on its elbows and heels. And perhaps the most striking feature is its head, which looks like it’s made of solid bone and looks like a skull, with two 2 foot long spikes pointing backwards and 4 much smaller ones below the larger ones. It has dog like back feet, but with longer toes and its front paws vaguely look like hands, with each finger and toe sporting almost 3 inch claws. When it opens its jaws, dozens of teeth can be seen, each looking like they could bite through almost anything. All the marks of a powerful and dangerous predator. And by the way it’s sniffing around; it looks like it’s looking for something to eat.
Applejack looks over at Twilight and says, “See Twilight?! I ain’t nevah seen anything like it.”
Twilight, shocked at the sight of the creature, says, “Me neither. This would make a very interesting creature to study.” Applejack shoots her an annoyed look. “If, it wasn’t destroying our town, that is.” Twilight says with a nervous chuckle. She shakes her head, stands up tall, and says, “Alright, Applejack? We need to distract this, creature, while Pinkie, you go get everyone else. And tell them they’re in for the fight of their lives. Except maybe tell Fluttershy to bring fruit. Maybe it likes fruit too.”
Pinkie salutes and says, “Aye aye Twilight” and runs i.e. bounces away to get their friends.
Applejack and Twilight then look back at the creature who is currently sniffing around a carrot cart. The creature takes a bite out of a carrot, makes a disgusted sound, and spits it back out before shaking its head and going back on the prowl. “Well,” Twilight begins. “At least we know it doesn’t like carrots.”
Applejack rolls her eyes and asks, “So, what’s the plan on distracting that thing? Whistle and have it chase us?” And before Applejack could say anything more, Twilight does just that. “No, Twilight! Darn it, I didn’t mean it literally.” But before she could protest any further, she hears something falling over. They both look over and see that the cart the creature was looking through was tipped over, but there was no sign of the creature. “What the? Where the hay did it go? Ain’t no way something that big could move that fast.”
“U-uh, Twilight? Applejack?” Spike says nervously.
“Not now Spike, Applejack and I are trying to figure out where that creature went.” Twilight says.
“W-w-well, I think I found it.” Twilight and Applejack turn around and are now face-to-face with the creature. A low grumble can be heard as the creature continues to stare at them with its golden colored, slit-pupil eyes, watching them.
“Don’t make any sudden moves or noises,” Twilight says through gritted teeth. “and it just may leave us alone.”
And almost as if on cue, Pinkie screeches to a halt in front of the three and excitedly says, “HEYGUYSGUESSWHATIFOUNDTHEMEASYPEASYLEMONSQUEESYARENTYOUGUYSPROUD?” She looks at Twilight and Applejack and asks, “Hey, why aren’t you guys moving? Oooh, oooh, are we having a contest of who can not move the longest? Let me join! Let me join!” And before anypony else could say anything, the creature, annoyed and surprised by Pinkie’s sudden appearance, let’s out a loud roar, causing Pinkie to turn around. “Oooohhhhh, that’s why you weren’t moving. We should probably run now.” And the four do just that.
They run all through town and as they’re running, Rainbow Dash swoops in next to them. “Hey guys, what’s going on?”
Twilight, Applejack, and Spike all look back and yell out, “THAT!”
Rainbow Dash looks back and sees the creature in hot pursuit and yells out, “WHOA! Where the hay did that thing come from?!”
Twilight looks up and says, “No clue, was trying to figure out how to capture it.”
“Well, have no fear, because the Wonderbolts are here. They will be sure to put this thing in its place.”
And almost on cue, the Wonderbolts fly overhead, straight towards the creature, dive-bombing it every chance they get while trying to avoid its sharp claws. Getting annoyed with the flying pests, the creature spots a pie cart and runs over to it. Once behind, it hits the cart with its powerful tail, sending it flying towards the Wonderbolt. Spitfire sees this and yells, “Watch out! Pie cart, sic o’clock!”
Soarin pulls up his goggles and says, “Did someone say ‘pie’?” before getting slammed by the cart, causing him to crash.
Spitfire rolls her eyes and says, “Of course.” But then Fleetfoot yells at her to watch out and when Spitfire looks back in front of her, another cart slams into her and she falls to the ground after Sourin and soon Fleetfoot flows suit.
Rainbow Dash cringes at seeing this and asks, “Okay, why is it that every time they show up, they always get their flanks kicked?” But before she could get her answer, she feels herself being tackled.
She looks up and sees the creature looking down at her, snarling. Rainbow Dash cries out in shock and kicks the creature in the nose, earning a surprised yelp from it as it falls backwards onto its rump, where it begins rubbing the end of its nose with one of its paws. “Oi, now why did you do that?! That hurt!” The creature asks, earning a surprised gasp from the group.
“Wait,” Twilight begins to say. “You can talk?”
The creature looks up at them and says in an annoyed tone with a slight Russian accent, “Well, of course I can talk, ya damn ponies. I'm not an idiot.”
Twilight and the other ponies stand there, slack jawed as the creature continues rubbing his nose. “Y-you can talk?” Twilight asks dumbfounded.
The creature looks up at her and says, “Yeah, I can talk, ya damn ponies. I’m not an idiot.”
“But, why didn’t you say anything when you were attacking our town?”
The creature gets up, shakes his body to get the dust off, and says, “First off, I wasn’t attacking. I smelled something good coming from this way and decided to follow it. The scent led me here to this group of strange looking trees and I decided to look around for what was causing the scent when all these ponies started screaming and running around. I got confused and it all went blank. Then I took a bite out of this strange orange plant and it tasted disgusting. That is when I heard one of you whistle, so I snuck around and investigated. I was going to ask you what’s going on, since you weren’t running away but then that pink one surprised me. You all started running and I chased after you, trying to get some answers.”
And before Twilight could respond, Applejack takes a step in front of her and asks the creature, “So, wait, you’re tellin’ me that you wreaked our town ‘cause you were hungry?”
The creature sits back down, rubs the back of his neck, and replies, “Er, it would appear so. Except I have no idea what a ‘town’ is. Is it those things with the food in them?”
“What? No! It’s all these buildings.”
The creature cocks his head to the side. “Buildings?”
“Yeah, ya know, houses?”
He cocks his head to the other side. “Houses?”
“GAH! You’re not making this easy, ya overgrown critter!”
“Critter?”
Applejack begins fuming as Twilight steps back in front of her and says, “Applejack, let me handle this.” She clears her throat and asks, “Do you see all these, what did you call them? ‘Strange trees’?”
The creature looks around, notes the ‘strange trees’, looks back at Twilight, and nods his head.
“Well, those are called houses”
“Houses.” The creature rolls this word on his tongue, never having said it before.
Twilight nods her head in approval. “Yes, good, good. Now houses are also called ‘buildings’. Understand?”
“Houses are buildings.” The creature says these foreign words to himself repeatedly, trying to get them engraved into his memory.
“Yes, that is correct. Now, you see, when you have multiple ‘buildings’ and ‘houses’ in a small area, that is called a ‘town’.”
“Town. Town. I see.”
“Face it Twilight,” Applejack whispers in her ear. “I doubt he will get it.”
The creature, as if picking up on that, says, “So, these structures here are called ‘buildings’ and you ponies live in the buildings called ‘houses’ in this place called a ‘town’?”
“Well I’ll be darn. He does understand.”
“Of course I do. As I said, I am not an idiot. We Bone-Hounds are very intelligent.”
“Bone-what now?”
“Bone-Hound. That is what I am.”
“Right. Let’s pretend we’ve neveh heard of ya before. What exactly is a Bone-Hound?”
“Well, I am pretty much your average Bone-Hound. Large creatures with amazing strength, intelligence, and agility. There is nothing that can outrun us.”
“Ha, well, you’ve nevah faced me before.”
“Are you challenging me?” The creature begins to stand up but Twilight stands between the two.
“Now, you two, we don’t need anyone getting into a fight right now.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash begins. “Besides, I think wolfy here would win.”
“Say what?!” Applejack yells out.
Before anypony could say anything else, the creature says, “My name is not ‘wolfy’.”
“Then what, pray tell, is your name?”
The creature chuckles, sits up tall, clears his throat, and says, “My name is Asteroth. Asteroth Irontooth of the Bone Valley.”
“Wow,” Twilight begins. “That’s… An impressive title.”
“Thank you. Now, what are all your names?”
“Well, my name is Twilight. That is Applejack.”
Applejack tips her hat.
“That’s Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“This is Spike”
Spike simply waves from the safety behind Twilight.
“And that is Pinkie.”
“HEY THERE! And Pinkie excitedly yells out as Twilight and the others return their attention to Asteroth. “We have two more friends, Rarity and Fluttershy but since they are not here for some reason, I will have to introduce you to them later.”
“Perhaps another time,” Asteroth says. “I must be going now. Et vale valeant.”
Asteroth turns to leave but stops when Applejack runs in front of him. “Oh no ya don’t buddy. Ya ain’t leavin’ ‘till you help fix this here town.”
Asteroth cocks his head to the side and looks behind him, seeing all of the damage that he has indeed caused. He winces as the sign of a shop falls off, causing an unseen cat to yowl. “Oh dear.” Is about all he could say before Twilight and the others join Applejack.
“Yes, it would be unfair and irresponsible for us to let you go after causing such a mess.” Twilight says. “You need to take responsibility for your actions, even if they were accidents.”
“I, uh, well.” Asteroth then bows his head in defeat. “Yes, I understand. And what will you have me do? I do not exactly know how to fix these houses.”
“Maybe not, but we could always put you to work.”
“Work?”
“Yes, work. Where you do something in order to earn bits to help pay for the damage.”
“Bits?”
“Don’t start this again.” Applejack says in annoyance.
“So, it is decided.” Twilight say with delight. “We will find something for you to do to pay off all the damage that you caused. So, what are your special talents?”
“Uhhhhhh, I have no clue what you are talking about.” Asteroth says with complete sincerity.
“Special talents. You know, like what you are good at. Like, I’m good at magic. Applejack is good at bucking apples. And so on.”
“Oh, well, I suppose I have a few then.”
“Like?”
“Well, I am an excellent hunter. I’m also very good at climbing trees, tracking things and creatures, very fast, very good fighter, and very strong.”
“Well, I don’t think the ‘hunting’ part will be very… useful. Or the fighting thing.”
“But the strong part might come in handy.” Applejack chimes in. “Mah older brother, Big Mac, has a broken leg and we need someone big and strong to help around the farm. He could start there. If ya think you could handle it, that is.” Applejack adds in with a smirk.
Asteroth perks up at the challenge and says, “Of course I can handle it. Canis et os Ego nihil non potest.”
“Uh, say what now?”
“Ah, my apologies. That is my natural language. I said, ‘I am a Bone Hound and we can do anything.’”
“Fascinating.” Twilight says to herself. “Do you think that I can study you sometime?”
“Excuse me?”
“Sorry, it’s just, I’ve never seen or even heard of a creature as fascinating as you are. You are completely unique.”
“No, I am not. Nos os canibus multus. We Bone-Hounds are numerous.”
“I see. And are all Bone-Hounds as eloquent as you are?”
“If by ‘eloquent’, you mean can speak anything other than our normal language? No. I learned from my mother. Most of us prefer to stick to our native tongue. And honestly, I am still not familiar with all of your words.”
“Well, I could teach you more complex words sometime. But first, we still need you to get started working. Applejack, take Asteroth to Sweet Apple Acres and show him what to do. Meanwhile, I’ll try to find everypony and calm them down.” And with that, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie go off to find the other ponies while Applejack leads Asteroth to her farm.
Applejack and Asteroth are walking down the road, with Applejack casting glances at her traveling companion, not exactly sure what to think of him. He’s massive for one but he moves with amazing speed and grace, almost cat-like despite his wolfish appearance. And speaking of appearances, she still can’t get over how rather scary he looks, with his spikes and rather demonic looks. Asteroth seems to notice her looking at him and asks, “Is there something I can help you with?”
Applejack clears her throat and says, “Yeah, are ya going to cause any more trouble at mah farm?”
Asteroth simply responds with, “I am well aware that you do not trust me, and are, in fact, only giving me this ‘job’ at the request of your purple pony friend. Rest assured, I have no conflict with you, nor any of your little friends. In fact, I’d rather be home, sleeping or preferably hunting.”
“Then what’s stopping ya? I pride mahself with being fast but I can tell you’re probably faster and could get away.”
Asteroth stops, causing Applejack to stop as well. He then looks at her very seriously and says, “Because I currently owe you, and the other ponies, a debt. A debt which I intend to repay. Because my kind do not leave scored unsettled. And quite simply, I am curious as to what a ‘farm’ is. Is it like those ‘buildings’ in town?”
“Ehh, kind of. Here, at Sweet Apple Acres, we work hard to make a living.”
“I see. Interesting.”
“Now then, we better get back to the farm. It’s almost gettin’ dark.”
Asteroth chuckles in his deep voice, a sound that sends shivers up Applejacks spine. “What is the matter my little pony friend? Afraid of the dark?”
“No, just want to get home before it gets too dark ta see the road.”
“Heh. I prefer the dark.”
“Well, good for ya, I don’t really.”
All she got as a response from Asteroth was a short, low chuckle. He then turns his head so one of his eyes are close to her and says, “Do not worry, my little orange friend. Were something to attack us, I will surely protect you. Heh heh heh.”
“V-very funny.”
“I thought so.”
“Well, anyways, here we are. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!” Applejack then points her hoof forwards.
Asteroth follows her hoof and looks at the large red farm in all its glory. “It’s… Actually very nice. But why is it so different than the other ‘buildings’”?
“Well, ya see, this here’s a farm. We grow food here, like carrots, apples, and all sorts of other things.”
“You ‘grow’ food?”
“Uh, yeah. Don’t they grow food where you come from?”
“No, we seek out food. We climb trees or hunt. It’s more or less a fight for survival. The only thing that grows where I come from are the trees and the ferns.”
“Wow. Sounds rough.”
“And we wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“So, wait, you like having to fight to survive?”
“But of course. Without danger or a challenge, the senses become dull, your reaction time is greatly reduced, and you become weak. And only prey are weak.”
“Uh, I see. Well, we really have no need to fight to survive here in Equestria. We really just grow our food and what not.”
“Explains why you are rather weak looking.”
“I beg your pardon?!”
“Well, not just you really. All you ponies. You didn’t try to fight me which means that you know you aren’t stronger than I am.”
“We didn’t try to fight ya because we were waiting for our other friends.”
“Yes, but all of the ponies in your little town easily outnumbered me. If you all attacked at once, you could’ve easily won. But instead, most of the ponies ran away or hid, all except you, Twilight, that pink pony, and the rainbow one. You mainly stood up to me and faced me, which I respect. And it is hard to gain a Bone-Hounds respect.”
“Well, most ponies aren’t used to seeing an evil looking creature such as yourself.”
Asteroth jerks his head back as if he was physically struck. “You wound me, Applejack. I am not evil. Indifferent to you ponies right now, perhaps, but not evil.”
Applejack gets up close to Asteroth’s face, just inches from his eye. “Well, don’t talk about us being ‘weak’ either. We are stronger than we look and I will gladly show ya how strong.” Applejack then points to the barn. “Ya can sleep there tonight. I’d offer ya the guest room but I don’t think you’d be able to fit through the front door, plus I don’t feel like giving Granny a scare.”
“Very well,” Asteroth simply says. So long as I can see the sky.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Applejack pushes the barn door and it opens with a creak. “I doubt I have a sleeping bag or anything your size, so I suppose you’ll have to be creative.”
Asteroth moves past Applajack and begins looking around, spelling the floors, beams, and other places. He then walks to the middle of the room, scratches the ground, and lays down, placing his head over his right front leg and curling his tail around himself. “Bonum nocte, Applejack.”
“Pardon?”
“Good night.”
“Oh, night then.” And with that, Applejack closes the barn door, but not before taking one more look at the Bone-Hound. She sighs as she heads back to her house, thinking to herself, “I wonder if it’s really a good idea to let this guy stay in Ponyville. From what he says, sounds like there’s more of him elsewhere. But where?”
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Back in Ponyville, Twilight is wondering a similar thought as she paces back and forth, reading off her thoughts as Spike writes them down. “Dear Celestia, I know I have already written to you earlier today but something big has happened here in Ponyville. A creature from someplace called ‘The Bone Valley’ has arrived here, though, I have no idea where that is, as it’s not on any maps that I can find. At first it seemed like he was attacking the town but we then found out it was really looking for something to eat. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of it is the fact that it’s intelligent enough to talk! And quite eloquently as well, though, he seems to speak in a language that I have never heard of. He says his name is Asteroth and he simply got lost. Other than a bit of a temper, he seems somewhat friendly, especially since he accepted responsibility for damaging half our town and will work to earn bits to fix it. If possible, I wish to study him and possibly even write a book on him, though, I’d rather hear your opinion first. Along with this letter is a photo I managed to take of him so you’ll be able to tell what he looks like. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight sighs as she says, “Alright Spike, you can send the letter now.”
“Aye aye, Twilight.” Spike responds with a salute. He then tosses the scroll in the air and blows fire on it, transporting it to Celestia. “So, Twilight, do you really think it’s a good idea to let that Asteroth guy stay here? I mean, he looks like he could eat one of us in a single bite!”
“I know Spike, and I’m wondering that myself. But I know Applejack and she can easily take care of herself. Hopefully. But he seemed sincere when he accepted the offer to work off his debt. We’ll just have to keep an eye on him and see what Celestia wants to do with him.
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Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Princess Celestia is reading the first letter Twilight sent her, happy with how much her favorite student is learning about the magic of friendship. She then hears a knock on her bedroom door. “You may enter.” The door opens, revealing her little sister, Luna. “Ah, Luna, what are you doing here? I thought you’d be raising the moon right about now.”
Luna fidgets nervously as she looks at her elder sister and says, “D-dear sister? I have… news.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“Well, forgive me but another letter from Twilight arrived for you and I couldn’t help but to read it.”
Celesita raises an eyebrow. “Oh? And what did it say?”
Instead of saying anything, Luna simply levitates the letter to Celestia. “I… think it would be better if you were to read it yourself.”
Curious, Celestia takes the letter and begins reading is. After finishing it, she begins visible shaking. “It… It can’t be.”
“I’m afraid it is sister.” Luna then pulls out the photograph Twilight took and show it to Celestia. “I’m afraid IT is back.”
“Dear Maker, and it’s in Ponyville?!”
“Yes.”
“Luna, you and I are heading to Ponyville first thing in the morning!”
“But sister! You have to meet with the representatives from Saddle Arabia!”
“They can wait, this cannot. Now, leave me be. I must plan of how to deal with our... unexpected guest.”
Luna sighs and says, “As you wish, sister.” As she leaves, she gives Celestia one last look and then closes the door.
After Luna closes the door, Celestia gets up and walks over to her large mirror and stares at it. “So,” she begins to say to herself. “You have returned here once again.” She uses her magic to lift up some of her hair from her face and picks up a small wet rag. “I wonder if you came back to apologize for what you gave me,” She then takes the rag and wipes away some of the powder covering her face and neck, revealing 3 scars on her cheek and going down her neck. She then glares angrily at the mirror. “Or have you come to finish what you have started all those years ago?”
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Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Asteroth is sleeping in the middle of the floor inside the barn when he begins growling before opening up one of his eyes.