Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

Helen Keller

     "You know what, Corona, fuck you." He responded. She was stunned at this pathetic creature's audacity . "I don't want a single goddamn thing to do with you. All the fuck I want is to go home and NOT get involved with crazy shit like this."

"Well, I respect your choice but; insolence won't be tolerated. Prepare to be incinerated. Here I was hoping that I'd get somepony to help but not even you would. Oh well." Her horn flared to life, bathing her entire body in a heavenly but scorching heat that made Ghost back up to avoid burns. "Run, my little human, run." Taking her great advice, he turned the hell around and fucking ran. She chased after him in a vicious pursuit.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Corona fired continuous bursts of white fire at him, aiming to roast the insolent insect that he was. "Fuck - you - bitch! Fuck, my foot!" One nice flame got his boot, almost burning off the leather on it. "Oi, piss off!"

"You are quite fast for a monkey, Ghost. But, I'm faster." Fulling expanding her wings, she dived at him like a eagle aiming for a fish. But, Ghost had a plan. "Take this, bitch!" He turned around and fired a singular shot from his ACR, just clipping her right wing bringing her to land. Her face was of utter surprise when she stared at the man holding the gray... thing. "What is that?"

"A weapon. It can hurt. Now, back the fuck off."

"How much can you fire at me, ape? After all, it must end sometime, right?"

"Thirty. That's enough to go right through you. See this thing, propels a small piece of metal at intense speeds, created and intended to kill. It serves the job fantastically. Now again, back the fuck off."

"Thirty?" She simply clicked her tongue and flew upwards faster than he thought she could go. "I will finish this, Ghost.

Now." Then, she dived a lot faster than possibly imaginable for her size.

"Oh fuck." He knew he couldn't take aim when she was going so fast. So after, curiosity's sake, he checked in a small pouch around his belt and found it. Reaching in, he removed a small olive green orb from the pack. "This is going to be very fucking risky." Looking at the approaching white figure, he removed the pin from the grenade and waited. And... now. Throwing the M9 at her, he ducked as it hit her face, surprising her and then... BOOM! It exploded, sending her to the ground. on. "Take that, ya cunt!" He laughed at his risky, but successful move. Unfortunately, he heard her get up. "Bollocks."

"That... I didn't expect. Ranged combat. I must say, a smart move on your part, soldier." She simply chuckled maliciously.

"Well, you gotta take risks. I just took one there. Damn, you took that easily, though." He was disappointed to not see any marks on her body. Not. A. Single. One.

"Well, being a immortal goddess does that." His face just fucking went from disappoint to utter... well... Let's just say, he was not expecting that.

"What."

"Oh yes. I am eternal as I never age and a goddess. I AM an alicorn, after all." It was her turn to laugh and his turn to be surprised. Oh yeah, kinda scared too. And by that, he was freaking the fuck out on the inside. Well, fuck me sideways. If she can take a bloody grenade, how many bullets will it take to actually hurt her? I mean, clipping her wing was easy. That's a weaker point but... still. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he began trying to plot out a plan. Heh, plot. If I can do some damage to her, I know she can bleed. Anything that bleeds can damn well die. But, how?

"Are you done thinking over there? I would like to get back to more important things, Ghost."

"Ready." Mentally preparing himself, he cracked his neck and readied. She smiled and lit herself up again, cloaking her in an aura of fire. There we go, she'll rely on that. Let's make use of that fault, shall we? Flying upwards right into the direction the sun, she the dived. Ghost thought ahead and already had a grenade in his hand. As she neared, he pulled the spoon and threw it. She noticed this and swerved but didn't expect Ghost SHOOTING the grenade. BOOM! All Corona heard was ringing in her ears as she was thrown into the ground.

"Fuck. You. Now, I'm going to end this." Putting the end of the barrel of ACR to her head, his finger was squeezing the trigger, damn ready to fire until... WHAM! He was hit by something. A small rock. "The hell?" He looked up and saw six horses running towards them. "Oh shit, I think the Rainbow one called her friends. Damn." He groaned as he saw the same blue one was in the group.

"Finally." He heard another horse voice speak right behind him. Turning around as he clenched up, he saw a midnight blue mare with an horn and wings standing there, wearing dark regalia. "Thank you, Ghost. We'll handle it from here." Ghost just backed away, holding his hands up like, "okay, your problem, then". "Sister, get up." She groaned and pulled herself up to look at her.

"Look's who here. My precious sister, Luna. Oh, the Elements are here, too. What a reunion." She taunted them. "What brings you here?"

"You. It's time we bring back the other ruler of Equestria. This has gone on for far too long."

"Has it? I thought I could have some more fun, Lulu." She laughed.

"Not anymore, 'Tia." Luna's horn flared to life. Ghost then noticed that the other horses were putting on some sort of necklaces except the purple one. She was a fucking special snowflake so she got a tiara. Magic began to fill the area and Ghost backed off. The horses wearing the necklaces and the one wearing the tiara began to float in the air while Luna put a blue barrier around Corona. Then, purple opened her eyes and they were pitch white. No iris, no pupil, nothing.

"Well, that odd, I mean- HOLY SHIT." A giant rainbow beam appeared from them, raining down on Corona. As the rainbow was being... well... poured onto her, screams of... pain.. were heard. "The fuck are you doing to her?"

"Purging her of the evil inside her, Ghost." Luna stated. Then, BOOM! , once more. Everyone was blinded except Ghost who actually covered his eyes after seeing the buildup of light.

"What the hell?" He squinted his eyes and saw one thing. Her. Standing perfectly fine. "No. Wait, she's... different." No longer was her mane bright blue flames but instead it was a long multicolored mane waving in the ethereal wind. Her armor was no longer there as that was shattered, leaving pieces of it on the ground. "Oh."

"Sister?" Luna asked, after regaining her sight.

"Lulu?"

"Tia?" Hugs. Great, big hugs. The two sisters were locked in an embrace that they never feel again. "I've missed you for so long."

"So have I." Now, tears.

"Fuck, I'm losing enough masculinity. Bye!" Ghost turned around and began walking away but was stopped as he bumped into a light yellow shield. "What do you want now?"

"Ghost, if you weren't for you fully distracting Corona, we would of not been able to stop her."

"And... you think I care? I was fine with helping but there is absolutely no need to thank me. All I want is to go home. Where I belong." He exclaimed.

"I think I can help you out with that, Ghost." Tia stated.

"How?"

"By sending you back. But, there is a problem to this fix."

"What?"

"I require the needed magic for the spell. Due to the size of the travel between Equestria and your home-world, which I assume is far to note, would need a large amount of concentrated magic I cannot muster at one time or suffer magic fatigue. So, I would need to gradually build up a reservoir. This would take time. I would estimate three months at least."

"Shit. Well, I- fuck it, that's fine, I guess." He sighed and crossed his arms. "Also, who are they?" Ghost pointed to the six mares standing there, wearing the jewelry.

"Those are the Elements of Harmony users. Twilight Sparkle, my student. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy."

"Okay. And... who the other guy behind you two?" Looking to the other in confusion first, the two sisters then turned around and saw the most painful sight to see. Discord.

"Bravo. I must say, helping Princess Celestia back to her original state was an excellent show, indeed."

"Discord. What now?"

"Oh nothing, I just came to say 'hello' to our guest from a far away world. I mean, come on, you think I'd pass up an opportunity like this? Ghost is filled with such unbridled rage and power! I could feel the chaos oozing from his body as he utterly defeated Rainbow Dash in a tiny brawl alone!!"

"Your the one that did that?" Twilight took a step forward Ghost as he backed up.

"Yup. Hey, Corona sa- oh wait. She's gone. Fuck. Help me out here."

"I admit, fighting Rainbow Dash, was a ill-advised idea but he didn't know of anypony until anything was explained to him. To his eyes, you were hostile, Rainbow, and he responded to only way he could. Self-defense." Tia explained.

"Thank you. Now, Rainbow, when everything is said and done, we can have a rematch." Ghost stated.

"You're on." RD smirked at the challenge.

"Now, where the hell am I staying if I'm going to be stuck here?"

"At Canterlot. I'm afraid after today, I cannot allow you to walk around alone. It would attract unwanted attention and nopony would want that."

"Oh yes, we are going to have so much fun, Ghost." Discord rubbed his hands together, comically.

"I don't like that smile. Keeping one eye open when I sleep, Discord." Ghost exclaimed. "Also, I can do that. You'd be surprised how much I had to do that in the military. It got monotonous after a while. So, when are we going?"

"Now, actually. I'm sad to say that we must return. I need to revitalize my reputation as a princess and Equestria needs to know that Princess Celestia is back after so long. Farewell, now." The two princesses began to fly away and Discord grabbed Ghost and took to the air, as well.

"Oh, don't you fucking drop me. I have a Semtex here, ready to stick to you if you drop me, Discord!"

"Oh, don't be silly, I wouldn't dare of dropping you. I like you too much to do so."

"Again, keeping one eye open tonight."

"So, how did this even happen, Luna? Celestia seems too nice for this to happen." Ghost asked the midnight alicorn. She sighed sadly and took a seat close.

"It all began after Princess Twilight's coronation. After feeling a rush of sudden anxiety and fear afterwards, she began researching on something. When she did not find what she was looking for, she pushed even deeper. She headed into the Royal Archives, still searching for the answer. After finding one of Discord's old spells, she casted it, expecting the answer she was looking for. It unlocked a locked region of the Archives, known as the Cavern of Truth. She went too far into the cave and she saw what she feared most. That, transformed her into Corona. A dark form of herself. But, unlike Nightmare Moon, that was a spell not a alter-ego. Thus, the evil has purged from her. Forever." She explained.

"Sounds... dark."

"Very. Whenever I ask Discord about it, his face become flat and serious like none other. He only says that they are the 'truth' and only those 'destined' can handle it." Ghost snickered.

"So, Celestia wanted the truth... but she couldn't handle it?"

"Yes. What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing. Don't worry, I'm not laughing at her, I'm laughing at something else."

"Well, I'll leave you to your sleep."

"Thanks. Oh, and Luna." She stopped and turned her head. "I'm sorry." She nodded slightly and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Well, I... sleepy-time, I guess." He unzipped his vest, removed that and his shirt and laid down. He fell asleep, moments later after letting his mind wonder for a bit.