Justice

by Icestar156

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Dark, Human
Length: 64235

After losing everything to a fire, a human thinks he has nothing else to lose. But he is wrong. HIE

The story is about a human who loses his parents to a fire that was set by an unknown arsonist. An strange entity drags him to Equestria when he is about to end it all, and he is immediately distrusted by the ponies there. Discord has risen for his third time in the pony universe, and instead of affecting just the mane 6, he is affecting everypony. Due to this, the ponies are unnaturally hostile, and the human has to flee for his life. With only a sword to help him, and later on a single pony, he tries to figure out how he can get home without being killed. If he wants to go back at all. I have an account on fanfiction.net under the same name as this one, and my story is posted there as well.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-18 22:53:57 UTC

Justice Chapter 2

The breath was driven out of my body by the impact, but surprisingly, I was alive. I heard a mumble of voices coming from my left, but I couldn’t make out what they said. I unsteadily rose to my feet, and trying to clear my blurred vision by blinking rapidly, I looked to the my right. Once my vision cleared, I noticed a dark and somewhat forbidding forest. By the forest, there was a small simple sign that said “Everfree Forest” . I shook my head in confusion and wearily glanced to my right. Any grogginess I felt a moment before was instantly replaced by extreme shock. There was a town that looked like it came from a coloring book, a house in a tree and one building looked to be made of baked goods. But by far the strangest thing was the inhabitants.

They were ponies.

“What the hell…” I murmured to myself, “This cant be real. This is just some weird dream or hallucination.”

But it certainly felt real. My whole body was aching from the fall, my head was spinning, and I felt like I was about to retch.

“Alright, just calm down and think this through”, I said aloud, “This is just a dream and it will go awa-” “Oh my Celestia! It talks!”

I looked at the group of ponies in shock.

“They can talk?” I thought, “No, this is just a weird dream, not real.”

Six ponies separated from the group and cautiously walked, no, trotted, over. The apparent leader of the group, a dark purple one, spoke out, “Who or what are you? What are you doing here?”

It commanded in an obviously threatening voice, but I could still detect a hint of fear. That’s when I noticed that some of the ponies had horns, and even wings.

“Okay, now I know for sure this isn’t real.” I mumbled.

A rainbow colored pony with wings fly up to me, and yelled, “You answer us when we ask you a question! Are you a spy for him?”

Imaginary or not, I don’t like people, or in this case, ponies, getting in my face. I snarled back at her, by their voices and appearance I guessed the six were female. At the sight of my teeth, She flew back in a hurry while shouting,

“It’s a carnivore!”

All the ponies, not just the six, gasped and took a few steps back. I shook my head in confusion as I was about to respond to these mirages, but I was interrupted by a loud roar behind me. I turned and saw this strange hybrid creature step out of the forest. It had the body of a lion, but the wings of  a bat and the tail of a scorpion. But the colors weren’t right. It’s entire body had a gray overtone, like it was drained of color. It took one look at me and bounded over, intent on attacking me.

My first instinct was to run, but then I thought, “If its only a dream, It cant harm me. If it attacks me I’ll just wake up.” I said aloud triumphantly.

I turned to it, crossed my arms, and waited, the ponies behind me watched in horror. The creature ran up to me, raised its paw, and struck. The force threw me ten feet back and I landed with a loud thud. Upon hitting the ground, I gasped in shock and looked at the four bloody gashes on my chest. I felt my mind crumbling as I realized what happened.

“Thi…This place is real” I stuttered to myself. “What happened?” I asked myself, laying on my back. “How did I get here?”

I wearily looked up again, and the creature looked back. Seeing me down, It must’ve figured  I wasn’t a threat anymore, because now it turned to the six ponies. A little yellow pegasus flew out and landed between the other five and the creature. The pony started to talk to it, but with every word the creature seemed to get more and more aggressive. I stumbled to my feet. The pony and creature were only ten feet away. The other five were about thirty feet away. The yellow pony started stuttering upon seeing the creature get more aggressive, and hesitantly tried to take one step backwards. The enraged monster lunged forward and swung its tail right at the pegasus. I was always a protective person, and I couldn’t just stand there while the pony was killed. I was wounded, but the gashes weren’t deep. Right before the creature struck, I stepped between it and the pony, unsheathed my sword, and blocked its stinger with the flat of my blade. The thing was unbelievably strong. The ponies behind me gasped at what I had done. Struggling to keep the monsters tail from overpowering me, I turned my head to look at the cowering pony behind me, and shouted, ”Don’t just sit there, run!”

The pony looked at me for a brief second and then turned tail and ran. With that gone, I twisted to my right, letting the stinger slam into the ground on my left, and hit the creature on the head with the pommel, making it immediately back up. I repositioned myself between the ponies and it, showing that it would have to kill me to get to them. It glared at me, and circled me, trying to get around. I didn’t let it. It took a quick swipe with its left paw, and I blocked with the edge of the sword. It howled as it stumbled back, a deep gash on its paw.

“The tail is the only thing that is armored,” I thought to myself, “ The rest of  its body will be easy to attack.”

I rushed forward and swung at its head. The creature brought its tail up to block the attack, but I quickly feinted left and slashed its right paw. Now both paws were useless. It howled in rage and use its wings to hover ten feet above the ground.  It dove at me, struck with its tail, which I blocked, and hovered again. I cursed silently to myself. If it kept this up and would never have time to strike back and I would eventually become exhausted and unable to defend.

“Unless… no, too risky. But what else can I do?” I thought, all the while staring it down.

“This is my only chance.”

It dove again. But instead of trying to block its attack, I threw my sword, which impaled it in the side. But without my sword, I was defenseless, and its stinger struck me directly in the chest. Thankfully it missed my heart, but it punctured a lung. Laying on the ground next to the wounded monster, I felt a searing pain in my chest.

“The poison.” I thought to myself.

I staggered to my feet, took the sword from its side, and chopped off its head. I dropped my sword on the corpse because I was simply to tired to hold it. I put on my best triumphant grin and turned to the ponies that were watching.

But all I saw was horror.

They were even more scared of me than before. The only one that didn’t look horrified was the yellow one I had saved, she just simply looked confused, as if death was a new concept for her. Then, somepony  from the crowd yelled out,

“It’s a monster! It killed a manticore and it’s going to eat us!”

I shook my head, about to correct him, when torches and pitchforks seemed to spring up from the crowd like magic. I’d seen movies like Frankenstein enough times to know what that meant. The crowd surged towards me, shouting things like,

“Monster!”

“Murderer!”

“Drive it away!”

I turned and limped away as fast as I could.

“Maybe if I can make it into that forest I’ll be safe,” I thought.

But I wasn’t sure I could make it. The forest was only twenty feet away, but the mob was thirty feet away and closing fast. My entire body was burning because of the poison, my vision was getting increasingly blurry, and I was weak from blood loss. Just when I thought they would catch up to me, I heard a voice scream over the mob’s chants.

“STOP!”

It was the yellow pony I had saved.

The mob stopped and looked at her for a second,  and I realized she was buying me some time. Before the mob could catch up, I limped into the forest, and because of how dense it was, almost immediately lost sight of them. It was then I realized something.

My sword.

It was still lying on the ground by the dead manticore, or whatever they called it.

I feel to the ground, and snapped.

Not only was I in a new world, and am being attacked by freaking ponies and mutants, but now my sword was gone. The most precious thing in the world to me was gone…

“What does it matter…” I thought, “I’m mortally wounded, poisoned, and in a forest that is probably full of monsters like the one I just fought. There’s no way I’m going to survive…”

My vision was so blurry now I couldn’t even make out the trees, only distorted colors. Right before I lapsed into unconsciousness, I saw a distorted shape that was black and white move towards me. And then I was gone.

Justice Chapter 3

Fire… burning walls… smoke filled hallways… I cough, and look around wildly, trying to figure out what’s happening. I look up, and see my parents.

“Why couldn’t you save us?” My Mom sweetly asks.

“Why did you leave us?” My Dad asks in concern.

Then together, they shout,

“Why did you leave us to die!”

*GASP!*

My eyes shoot wide open as I wake up startled from this recurring nightmare. My pulse was through the roof, my breathing labored. I close my eyes to calm myself down, repeating out loud,

“It was just a dream, it was just a dream.”

Once I had calmed down enough, I opened my eyes again to see where I was. I was in this little hut, laying down on a bed of some sort. I look up at the walls and see strange potions and glaring masks all around.

“This can’t be good,” I muttered.

I tried to move and found myself immobilized.

“This defiantly isn’t good,” I say slightly louder, with panic rising in my voice.

Only then do I realize something.

I’m alive.

“Wait a minute, the poison, my wounds, how am I alive??”

I look down on my body and see that I’m covered in bandages.

“Huh, so that’s why I can’t move,” I thought. “Whoever lives here saved my life.”

Just then, I hear a rustle from outside, and I see the door to the hut open. In trots, of all things, a zebra. Seeing me conscious, she, (At least I assumed it was a she), trotted over and said,

“ I’m glad to see you are awake, with such bad wounds and venom, I was afraid you were going to break.” “Huh?” Was my super-intelligent reply.

She clarified, saying,

“Manticore venom affects the mind, sometimes it even makes ponies go blind.”

“That would explain my blurry vision before I passed out, and why that nightmare was unusually vivid,”

I thought. I glanced up at her and simply said,

“Thank you.”

“The pleasure is mine, I saw what happened in the field between Ponyville and this forest. I know what it is like to be chased off because you look different,” She said seriously, without rhyming.

I nodded my head, and seeing that I was in fairly safe hands, er, hooves, I laid back down and fell asleep.

I awoke to the sounds of a struggle outside. It was so brief though, that I wondered if I had imagined it. I glanced down at my body, and noticed the bandages were gone. I stiffly sat up, and hobbled to a table that had various fruit and a jug of water on it. It had been a full day since I had eaten or drunk anything, so I quickly consumed all.

I called out, “Hey zebra, where are you?”

I hadn’t got her name before I fell asleep, so I hoped simply calling her zebra wouldn’t offend her. I remembered the sound that woke me up, and I cautiously lay my hand on the doorknob, preparing to go outside. Just as my hand makes contact, the door burst inward and sends me to the floor. I stagger to my feet, and see five white pegasus in golden armor surrounding me. Looking out the door I see another white pegasus standing over an unconscious zebra, the same one that helped me. I glare at these ponies, who glare right back. A few seconds pass, and suddenly one to my right charges me. I spin to my left, and when it goes right by me, I grab its armor and throw it into another one. The only good thing about this situation was that I was a lot taller than them, and stronger. The pony I threw and the one he landed on quickly untangled themselves. They were watching me much more warily now. One directly in front of me charges, while two to my left also charge. I sidestep the two and am about to grab the one in center, but he purposely  falls before I catch him and hits my legs. I fall down hard and grunt from the pain. I may be healed, but I’m still sore. I try to get up, but before I can, I see the other two ponies rush up, spin around, and kick. The last thing I saw were two sets of hooves flying towards my face. Then nothing.

A/N  As the story progresses, you will see more and more of his past. Quite a detailed character, but it takes a few chapters to really see that.

Justice Chapter 4

The sun is shining. The birds are chirping, and overall it is a beautiful summer day. It would be perfect if not for the fact I am staring at the freshly dug graves of my parents. Its as if nature itself is mocking me. Why can’t it rain like in the movies? Why can’t it be dreary and dismal to match my mood? But no, nature made it a gorgeous day just to annoy me. It was nature that caused this to happen after all. A random bolt of lightning just had to hit the perfect tree, and from there the fire just spread. Someone had helped spread the fire, but nature started it. Nature is mocking me.

I awoke in a dark and damp cell, my face against the cold stone floor. I tried to stand, and quickly gave up due to how much pain I was in. The memory that invaded my dream didn’t help. I simply laid there for a few minutes, then decided I would get up regardless of the pain. After a few tries, I was on my feet. I felt dizzy, so I put my hands to my face, trying to regain my balance.

That was a mistake.

As soon as I touched my face, I was hit by a bolt of pain so strong it almost knocked me back down. After catching my breath, I looked around and saw a pile of hay in on corner, and a mirror on the wall opposite. I limped over to the mirror and looked at my reflection. My face was just one massive bruise.

“When those pegasi knocked me out, the left one hell of a bruise.” I thought.

I looked around and said “I wonder where I am? Getting knocked out and waking up somewhere new is kinda getting old.”

I looked at the pile of hay. “I wonder if that’s the bed or the food?” I smirked at my own humor.

Another mistake. Smirking hurt.

The room had three stone walls, and one wall was just a bunch of vertical iron bars. I walk over to it, look for the lock on the door, and try to pick it. The only problem with that was that there was no keyhole.

“How do they open the door without a key?” I wondered aloud.

I looked around the cell again, but I don’t see anything I can use.

“Well, I might as well rest up while I can, who knows how long I’ll be down here.”

I gingerly slump against a wall, and try and fall asleep.

I awoke cold and stiff to the sounds of hooves on stone. My pulse skyrocketed as I jump up and ran to the door. Through the bars I see two pegasi and a unicorn trot towards my cell. The unicorn was slightly larger than the other two, and had fancier armor, so I assumed it was the leader of them. I yell to the unicorn, “Who are you?! What do you want with me?!”

The unicorn calmly replies, “Its nothing I want, but what my princess wants. We’ll be taking you to her now.”

Okay, so he wasn’t the leader.

I look down at the lock and ask, “Well how are you going to get me out of here?”

The unicorn simply smirks and I watch in amazement as his horn glows. The lock glows with a weird colored mist, the same as his horn, and I back up quickly. I hear things moving inside the lock, and suddenly it opens. I tentatively ask, “How did you do that?”

“Magic.” Was his smug reply.

I gingerly step out of the cell, and as soon as I’m out, a pair of handcuffs levitate towards me and bind my hands in front of me. The unicorn says snootily, “Shall we be going?”

I give him the look of death and begin to follow, the two pegasi flanking me. We walk down the stone corridor a little ways, and eventually go up some steps. At the top of the steps, we come to this elaborately decorated hallway. There are plush carpets on the floor, paintings of all kinds of ponies, and stained glass windows lining one side. The windows didn’t interest me, it was what was beyond those windows.  As we walk down the hall, I scoot closer to my guard on the left, and he unconsciously moves to his left to keep his distance. Once I was near enough to the windows, I looked down and saw that there was a huge drop and then a lake at the bottom. Not the best option for escape, but I would keep it in mind.

“So where are we?” I ask the unicorn.

“We are in Canterlot castle of course, home of the royal princesses.”

“Alright, now there’s two, or more, of them,” I thought, “perfect.”

Seeing me thinking and falling behind, the unicorn says, “Hurry up! We don’t have all day!”

“Whatever.” I mumble back.

The next thing I knew I was surrounded in the mist, and thrown against the nearest wall.

Hard.

I gasp in shock as my right arm and a few of my ribs break upon the impact. The mist leaves me, and I crumple into a heap onto the floor. I struggle to hold back my cry of pain, and I see the unicorn trot over and glare cruelly down at me.

“The princess told us to bring you alive, but she didn’t say in how many pieces, now get moving!”

I struggle to stand up, and when I finally do, they immediately start moving again. Every now and then the unicorn uses his accursed magic to grab the chains and yank me forward, almost causing me to black out each time due to my broken arm. When I thought this hallway would never end, we finally reach two massive doors.

“Well this is it,” I thought, “If the behavior of the guards and the ponies they rule are any indicator, I will have to be very wary of these princesses.” I thought to myself.

The unicorn uses his magic again to open the doors, and I step through. The first thing I notice is how massive the throne room is. It has high vaulted ceilings like a cathedral, and is at least half a football field wide. In the center of the room are two thrones, one with a large, white… what? She has horns and wings, what is she?  There was a smaller blue one next to her, that had horns and wings as well.

“That’s odd,” I thought, “because they have both horns and wings they must be the rulers here. But something else is weird. It almost seems like they are radiating power. I’ll defiantly have to be careful around them.”

On my right, by the thrones, sit the six ponies that stepped out of the crowd before, even the yellow one I had saved.

Upon seeing me, she flew over and gasped, “Are you okay? What did they do to you? Will you be-”

“FLUTTERSHY!” The blue princess shouted, “RETURN TO YOUR SEAT!”

The yellow pony, supposedly called Fluttershy,  looked hesitantly at me and back to the blue princess, and slowly flew back. I was only twenty feet away from the thrones now, and could see both of the Princesses clearly. The white one was clearly the elder, as she was about twice the size of the blue one. Her mane sparkled like the sun, and I noticed a tattoo of a sun on her flank. Upon noticing that, I quickly looked at all the ponies nearby, and noticed they all had varying tattoos of sort. The white one also had a golden crown, and some very fancy looking armor, clearly for display only. The blue one, besides being smaller, had a mane that sparkled like the stars, and a smaller black crown on her head. She had a moon tattoo on her flank.

I looked up at the white one, and said, “Who are you and why am I here?”

The princess simply smiled and her horn glowed yellow.

A second later I felt like I was being burned alive.

I fell to the ground and writhed in agony. From what seemed like a long distance away, I heard Fluttershy cry out, sounding like she was on the verge of tears,

“No! Please stop! Don’t hurt him!”

A few seconds later I felt the pain subside. I took long deeps breaths, trying to get myself back under control. I hesitantly rose to my feet again, and I gave the yellow pegasus a look of gratitude. The white Princess spoke then, saying,

“I am Princess Celestia, and you will not speak without being spoken to, do you understand?”

I simply nodded.

“Good,” she said, “Now, here is what will happen. You will answer my every question, and for each question you answer truthfully, I will heal a part of you, does that sound fair?”

I look up at her and say, “And what if I don’t?”

She just smiles and says, “I will burn you again, but next time it will last for a hour, instead of a few seconds. Understand?”

I gulp and nod quickly.

“Good. Now, what are Discord’s plans?”

I stare blankly up at her and reply, “I have no idea what your talking about.”

Her brow furrows as she realizes I’m telling the truth. Her horn lights up, and my cracked ribs are healed. “A portal containing Discord’s power brought you here, how could you not know of him?”

“Sorry, but I don’t.” Her horn lights up again, and the bruises on my face are healed.

“Hmm… Well then, I shall just have to explain. Look to your right at the stained glass windows. They tell Discord’s story.”

I looked where she directed and noticed a window to my far right that showed two ponies with horns and wings fire some kind of beam from their horns at this monstrous creature. The creature reminded me of Frankenstein due to it being made up of so many different things.

“Is that… thing, Discord?” I asked.

Celestia glares at me, but then seems to forgive my one small question.

“Yes it is, and the two alicorns at the bottom are Luna and I.”

“Huh, so that’s what they are, alicorns. And the blue one is called Luna, makes sense.” I thought.

“Look one window over to your left.” Celestia commanded.

I obeyed and saw the six ponies firing some other kind of beam at Discord, and I even noticed Fluttershy in there as well.

I looked back at the Princess and she asked me, “Well? Do you have any questions?”

I reply, “Yeah, why was this discord guy so bad you had to attack him twice, and why didn’t whatever that beam thingy was work the first time?”

She said, “Discord is the spirit of chaos in mortal form, he tried to destroy everything and wipe out my entire race!” She was seething in anger.

“I’d better change the subject quick,” I thought. “Well what was that beam thing meant to do?” I quickly ask.

She seems to calm down and replies, “It was meant to trap him in stone, which it did, but it wore off after a few thousand years.

“A few thousand years?? How old are you?”

She glares at me, and I quickly shut up.

She goes on, saying “The second time he was trapped by my good-for-nothing pupil and her pathetic friends.”

I notice the six look down in shame, especially the purple one.

“But because of their lack of experience and talent, he escaped within months.”

“Well, if you said he was mortal, why didn’t you just kill him back then?”

She replied, looking horrified, “We are a peaceful race! We would never kill him!”

“Peaceful race? Could have fooled me…” I mumbled under my breath.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY TO MY SISTER!?!?!” The one called Luna shouted at me. After the ringing in my ears died down, I quickly replied,

“Nothing.”

Celestia gave me another disapproving look and continued.

“Anyway, we couldn’t kill him now if we tried, he has summoned his grayscale guardians.”

“What?”

Celestia sighed, “The grayscale guardians are creatures Discord summons to protect himself. As long as they live, he can’t be touched. The manticore you killed was one of them.”

“Wait, if I killed one of them, why would you suspect I was working for Discord? And exactly how many are there?”

“There are only 2 remaining, the dragon and the hydra. And I suppose you couldn‘t be working with Discord.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good,” I thought, “But at least she knows I’m not working with him.”

I spoke aloud saying, “Well why don’t you just kill the guardians, then kill Discord?”

She said, exasperated, “Its not that simple, to kill him you would need the elements of harmony, and since he became immune to the ones normally wielded by these six,” She points to the group on my right, “It would take the hidden element to kill him.”

“The hidden element?” I ask.

She says, “I originally thought there were 5 elements, but it turned out there were six. Now I realize there is a hidden seventh as well. But that is beside the point, now that I realize you aren’t under Discords control, what are you?”

“I’m a human.”

She looks at me oddly, and after a few seconds she heals my broken arm.

“Finally!” I thought, “All healed.”

Celestia looks at me and says, “I have never heard of a human, tell me of your species.”

I spent a good fifteen minutes telling her about my race, sugarcoating it wherever possible because I didn’t want her to find some other reason to kill me. But apparently it didn’t work. When I was finished, she said, “Your world sounds a lot like mine does now. Discord hasn’t been idle since he escaped. He has been murdering ponies, and burning whole towns to the ground. It wasn’t always like this, Equstria used to be a happy place, where ponies could play without fear. But that’s all gone now, the land has been transformed by fear. Crime is rampant, and everypony is slowly turning more and more scared and distrustful. But that doesn’t matter to you. I’ve decided what I’m going to do with you now.”

I didn’t like where this was heading.

She spoke, saying “Discord no doubt brought you here to spread more chaos and fear, well, I won’t allow that to happen. You are obviously dangerous, my pupil told me how you killed the manticore, and I can’t allow someone like you to be running around spreading more fear. Guards! Take him back to his cell and execute him immediately!”

Fluttershy gasps, “No! You can’t do this!”

“I can do whatever I want!” Celestia roared back.

As the guards tried to drag me away, I knew I had one shot at getting out of here alive.

“I can see why your so angry Celestia!” I taunted up at her, “Apparently you're so powerful but you can’t even deal with a little spirit like Discord!”

Her eyes grew wide and I saw fury blaze in them.

“Almost…” I thought.

I yelled again, “You're pathetic and weak! You tried to get rid of him twice and you still failed because you can’t do anything yourself!”

Her fury is volcanic. The temperature in the room has to be at least 110 degrees.

“Just  a little more…”

“Oh, by the way, I love the tramp-stamp on your butt, it really suits you.”

That's the final straw.

Her horn glows a magma red and a fireball launches itself from her horn directly towards me.

I had been counting on this.

I raise the shackles in front of me, and when the fireball hit them, they dissolve into ash.

Everypony looks at me in confusion at what just happened, and how I had just tricked Celestia.

I take advantage of their momentary confusion and run to my left as fast as I can towards the windows. I hear the guards shouting, and I hear another fireball come flying towards me. I duck just in time, the fireball goes right over  my head, and it vaporized a window in front of me. I ran to the window, turned around as I jumped through, and gave a two fingered salute to Celestia just to piss her off. And then I was falling. I got in position to dive into the water as I fell, and right before I hit I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

But I didn’t hit the water.

I felt something grab my leg and I was hovering in the air. Looking up, I saw the rainbow colored one holding onto my leg, struggling to keep us both up. I looked past her and saw the two pegasi guards flying swiftly down towards us.

I looked back up at her and said,

“Sorry.”

I used the foot she wasn’t grabbing to kick her in the face. I didn’t want to do it, but it beat getting executed. She let go, clutching her face in pain, and I fell the last ten feet into the water. Once underwater, I swam to the shore a little ways from the castle, and surfaced. I crawled up onto the bank of the lake, and hid behind a bush growing there. The guards and the rainbow pony were flying around looking for me, but eventually they went back up into the castle. I breathed a sigh of relief. With the castle behind me, I looked around, and saw a small forest to my left, and a pretty fancy looking town to my right. That one guard called the place Canterlot Castle, so this must be Canterlot. I strain my eyes to get a better look at the town, and I see a sign that says,

“Armory”

“Maybe that’s where my sword is! They probably brought it here when they brought me. I look closer at the forest on my left, and I notice it stretches to the right and eventually goes behind the town.

“Perfect, I’ll go into the forest, and use that as cover to sneak into town.” I mutter aloud.

I hear a deafening roar of pure rage from behind me. I quickly turn around, and I see that part of the castle is on fire.

“Oh boy, She is mad. I’d better get moving before they find me.” And with that, I disappear into the forest.

Justice Chapter 5

The kids all huddled a few feet away from me, glancing fearfully between me and my sword, which was slung over my shoulder. Being 17, and the orphanage sending kids away at 18, I was, at the moment, the oldest. The lawyer spoke aloud to the kids, saying in his smooth, greasy, voice,

“This is Ty, he will be staying with you all for awhile. So don’t be shy, come on and greet him!”

The head of the orphanage, a fat toady old lady, looked at the kids and brusquely gestured them come forward, while leaning towards the lawyers face and whispering, as if I couldn’t hear,

“You sure it was a good idea to let him bring that sword?”

The lawyer replied, “He was pretty adamant about it, all hell would’ve broken loose had we tried to take it away.” “Well your responsible for any damages he causes.” “He wont be a problem, wont you?”

He says while glaring at me. I just growl in response. He was lucky I was able to control myself, otherwise he would have been dead the second I learned he took my inheritance away. And to add insult to injury, the only way he was able to keep it was if I belonged to the state, instead of living with my relatives. So now I was stuck here, with a bunch of kids between ages five and twelve. The lawyer laughs at my response and says,

“We has spunk, but he wont be any trouble,” Looking at me and giving his cruel smile, he then says, “Have fun.”

And walks out. The old hag looks at the children and says,

“Meet and greet or whatever you do, just be ready in thirty minutes for dinner!” She too leaves.

I’m all alone with these kids, and the awkward silence is palpable. Then one guy, about twelve, steps forward and says,

“Well, welcome… I guess. My name is John.”

He holds out his hand.

I ignore it.

He awkwardly brings his hand back and says, “Soooo…. Do you want me to show you to your bed?”

“No.” Was my simple reply. “All I want is for you to get me a backpack, and show me the kitchen.” “Umm… alright.”

He runs to a bed, reaches under it, and pulls out an old backpack. “Will this do?”

“Just fine.”

“Alright, the kitchen is over here.”

“Go in there, fill the backpack up with food and water, and bring it back.”

“Okay…” John leaves for a few minutes.

While he is gone, a little girl, probably about six, walks up and asks,

“What is that thing on your back?”

“Its a sword,” I reply, not really interested in what she said, just impatient for John to hurry up.

“What does it do?”

“It kills people.” Was my not-very-sensitive answer.

She looked at it in wonder and then said, “Have you ever killed anyone?”

The other kids gasp, and another girl, this one about ten, stepped forward and grabbed the little girls arm saying, “That’s not a question you ask people.”

She pulled her back towards the crowd of kids. John comes back with the backpack full of food, and gives it to me.

“Why do you need all of this?” He asks.

I reply, “You’d be crazy to think Id be staying here.”

I walk to a wall with a window, push a bed against it, and climb up. I wrap a blanket around my hand, and break the window. The blanket protects my hand and muffles the sound, and the bed catches the glass shards before they hit the floor and make noise. I unwrap my hand and look back at John.

“Are you the leader of these kids?”

He looks around at the faces that turn to him.

“Well, I guess so.” I beckon him over.

I reach my hand in my pocket and pull out my pocket knife.

“Here, every good leader needs a weapon, which is a tool and his symbol of power.”

He hesitantly takes the knife. “….thank you.” He finally says, and I see him smile. I nod, and as I climb out through the window, I look back at the six year old girl, and say,

“Yes.“

And then I’m gone.

I awoke from my long dream, sore, stiff and tired. It had been mid-afternoon when I had escaped yesterday, so I decided to build a small shelter in the forest and spend the night. I get up and stretched, reflecting on my dream. It was better than the previous few, but still not a happy memory.

“Alright,” I say aloud, “Now that I have a little time before the sun rises, I need to make a plan.”

Easier said than done.

“So,” I begin out loud, “First things first, I go into the armory and get my sword. If its even there. Alright, say I get my sword, then what do I do? Easy, I…I… I have no idea what to do. Well, I guess I should try to get back home. How the heck am I going to do that? And why do I even want to go back? I mean, there is no chance of getting killed by angry ponies, but the rest of it still sucks! …No, I will never go back. No matter what, I have to try and take my chances here. Alright then, that means a new problem. Survival. How am I going to survive? So, lets think logically here, the problem is that the evil sun ruler wants to incinerate me. How do I solve this problem? Well… yeah I’m screwed. The only way Celestia wouldn’t burn me to a crisp would be if I killed Discord. If I do that all the ponies should be better, cause she said it was Discord who was making them act this way.  But then there is the problem of his grayscale guardian thingys. I have a feeling that a hydra and a dragon will be much harder to kill than that manticore, and just doing that almost killed me. With the manticore I just got a lucky throw, even with escaping from Celestia I just got lucky that she was too pissed off to just levitate me and kill me. Oh, and of course there is the hidden element thing I gotta find to kill Discord. Perfect. As if this wasn’t impossible enough. I have to kill a dragon and a hydra, find a hidden element, find some way to protect myself from magic, kill an ancient spirit of chaos, and do all this before Celestia finds me and cremates me alive……. I really am screwed.”

I sigh, ending my verbal rant, “Who knew planning could be so depressing?” “But like I said, first things first, and I gotta get my sword.”

I slowly creep through the bushes and trees, and I circle my way through the forest until I am behind the town, and just ten feet away from the back door to the armory. The armory was a surprisingly big building, made out of stone blocks with a simple thatched roof. It looked very new.

“Must’ve been built in response to Discords third awakening.” I thought.

As I prepare to creep forward, I hear my stomach grumble. I had forgotten that my last meal was at the zebra’s place two days ago, and I’m starving.

“Okay, after I get my sword I’ll sneak into a bakery or something and grab some food.” I whispered to myself.

Just as I prepare to dash across the open ground to the armory, I hear a crashing sound in the treetops. I look to my right, and I see a gray and yellow bundle crash into me. I untangle myself from the creature, and scoot backwards on my butt a few feet. The creature, now that I can tell it’s a pegasus,  gets up, turns to me, and exclaims, “I’m so sorry mister, are you alright?”

The first thing I notice are the eyes, they were looking in opposite directions.

“She can’t really see me! With me sitting on the ground, she must think I’m a pony!” I mentally exclaimed.

I quickly say, “Yeah, I’m alright. Here, let me help you!”

The pony was carrying a big bag of letters, which of course flew everywhere upon impact. After a few seconds we gathered them up, and I handed them to her, being careful that she doesn’t touch my hand. “Thanks mister, here, have a muffin for your trouble!”

She digs into here bag and pulls out a perfect muffin, not even slight squished. I gingerly take the muffin, and say,

“Uh, thanks.”

“Your welcome,” she smiles back, but then suddenly narrows her eyes and leans closer, as if trying to focus on me. My pulse skyrockets as I remain perfectly still, sweat beading on my brow. After a few seconds, she giggles, “You look funny, hehe, anyway, I’m off, cya!”

“Cya…” I hesitantly reply.

She flies up with her bag around her, crashes into a couple of trees, and eventually soars off. After a few seconds, I say,

“Well that was weird, but at least the food problem solved itself.”

I quickly scarf down the muffin, and then I run across the open ground to the armory. Once there, I enter through the back door.

I wait a second for my eyes to adjust to the dim light, and when I do, I see a pony reading a magazine behind a counter. I sneak up behind him, and put him in a chokehold. After a few minutes, he passes out, and I release before I kill him. I put the pony behind the counter, and I look around the room. I see a mirror mounted on a wall, for ponies to look at themselves with the armor on. I walk over to it, and look at my reflection. It had been days since I had seen myself, and I was glad I looked the same. Brown hair, greenish blue eyes, and still tall. That much at least hadn’t changed. I looked around at the rest of the armory. The armory was divided into two sections. A front and back, with the back being for actual armor. I couldn’t see the front, but on a sign by the far wall, it pointed towards an archway into the next room and read “Weapons”.  I walked towards it, passing rows of armor on my left.

“Are you sure he will come?”

“I’m positive Rainbow, the way he fought with his sword, I know he wouldn’t go for long without it. He has to come here and look for it!”

“Well Twilight dear, I really don’t like the way we are doing this, its kind of behind the Princess’s back, and I’m slightly worried.”

“You heard the way she talked about us Rarity, capturing the human on our own is the only way we can redeem ourselves.”

“Ah think Rarity might have a point for once sugarcube, maybe he should’ve gotten some backup.” *CRASH*

“Pinkie! Stop playing with things! He’ll know we are here!”

“Sorry…”

I heard a crash come from the other room, and then hushed voices. I stopped walking immediately, and listened. Nothing. I desperately looked around, but this was the armor section, not a weapon in sight. I grabbed a helmet that had armor plating for a horn, at the very least I could use it as a club by holding the horn and using the actual helmet as the club. I carefully resume my advance.

/Fluttershy’s POV/

I watched all my friends hiding in the darkness and bickering amongst each other. They never would have done this before… why couldn’t they see that the human wasn’t a threat? He saved me… I glance at the pile of swords that Pinkie Pie had knocked down, and in the middle of the pony swords, I saw the sword the human had. I know what I have to do. They don’t trust him, but I do. I just have to prove it. I bend down and pick up the weapon in my mouth. I sit behind my friends so they don’t see what I have, and I wait.

/Ty’s POV/

With my back against the wall, and the doorway just to my left, I listen intently. I hear the faint sounds of breathing just on the other side. I wasn’t sure how many, but more than two for sure.

“Great, there is a whole posse here just waiting for me, I should’ve known there would be a trap for me here. But I cant give up, I have to get my sword back.”

I breathe in, and quickly round the corner, while swinging the helmet to hit the first thing that got in my way. As soon as I rounded the corner however, I was enveloped in a purple mist, and was levitated two feet off the ground. The same mist yanked the helmet out of may hands, which fell to the floor with a clatter. I looked up in frustration, and I saw five of the ponies that were in the throne room, minus Fluttershy.

“Damn it!” I curse aloud. How could I have forgotten about magic? I glare at the purple one that was levitating me, and she says,

“HA! I caught you, that wasn’t so hard.”

She has a very smug look on her face as she continues,

“Now we can take him back to Celestia, and be restored of our honor.”

An orange pony trots up, “Well ah guess your plan did work, ah must admit I did have mah doubts.” She states with a southern drawl.

“Of course Applejack, when do my plans not work? Anyway, human,”

She said the last word with a sneer,

“Allow me to introduce you to myself and my friends, I am Twilight, and this is Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.” She points to the orange pony with the cowboy hat, the white one with a  fancy mane, the rainbow one I kicked in the face, and a pink pony that was jumping up and down in excitement. Twilight looked around, “Where is Fluttershy?”

Just then Fluttershy trotted out from behind a weapon rack with my kilij held in her mouth. All the ponies gasp in surprise when they see what she has, and so do I. Twilight was so surprised she let the mist around me fall, and I drop back to the ground.

“Fluttershy! What are you doing?” Twilight demands.

Fluttershy says nothing and locks eyes with me. She slowly trots forwards, and her friends part to let her through. Once she was three feet away from me, with the other five behind her,  she stretches her neck out, as if presenting the sword to me.

Her eyes stayed on mine the whole time.

Twilight again asks, “What are you doing!?” This time with a bit more urgency.

Fluttershy again ignores her.

I slowly reach out, and grab my sword. She lets go, and then just watches me. I look my sword over for any scratches on the scabbard, and then I unsheathe it. The five gasp, and take a step back, even the hyperactive pink one looked scared.

I look back at Fluttershy and she speaks. “I know nopony trusts you, but I do. You saved my life, a fact they seem to ignore. I gave you your sword to show my trust in you, even after seeing what your capable of with it…”

The silence is deafening.

I realize that she probably does trust me, but there was only one way I could know for sure it was real, and not some elaborate trap.

I quickly lock eyes with her again.

I give my most savage snarl, and I raise my sword.

The five cry out, and rush forward.

But they don’t make it.

I slash downwards at Fluttershy with all of my strength.

*SWISH*

………………………………......

The sword blade hovered just an inch above Fluttershy’s face, and she didn’t even flinch.

She had kept her eyes locked on mine the entire time.

I took a step back as I sheathed my sword.

In a voice mingled with reverence and awe, I ask, “You…you really do trust me… why?”

She smiles, and says, “Because you trusted me. When you first came here, you didn’t know me, but you trusted that I was worth saving, and you risked your life for mine. I trust you with my life.”

I slowly smile, it looked as if I wasn’t really alone here after all.

Fluttershy spoke, “We should get going, somepony could have heard all the commotion, and guards could be on their way.”

“We?” I ask.

She smiles and says, “If that’s alright with you.”

I think for second, and then reply, “Fine by me, lets go.”

Together we run out the back door of the armory, and retreat deep into the woods, her five friends watching us completely dumbstruck as to what had just happened…

Justice Chapter 6

Fluttershy and I stopped running once we were safely in the woods, and we stopped to catch our breath. After a few moments, Fluttershy finally asks,

“So, do you have a plan as to what your going to do?”

I replied, “Not really, more bulletpoints than an actual plan, what do you have in mind?”

“Well, Canterlot is going to be crawling with guards, and Celestia herself will be coming soon, so we definitely need to go to a different town.”

“Well, where do you wanna go? “

“I was thinking about going back to Ponyville, I have a cottage there, and we can rest for awhile once there. Also, the last two grayscale guardians are nearby.”

“I don’t think so, now that your friends know we are going together, that’ll be the first place they look.” “Oh, right…” Fluttershy said dejectedly, “But…they don’t know which direction we are going, so we could travel to Ponyville, stop by my cottage to re-supply, and then find somewhere else to hide before they even know we went to Ponyville!” She finished enthusiastically.

“All we have to do is make it look like we went in a different direction, then, from wherever we decide to hide, we can go from there to hunt down the guardians!“

I give her a serious look, and say, “That might work, and with the few things I’ve figured out, that’s as good a place to start as any. But I have one big question, I know you trust me and all, and you have earned my trust, but why are you going with me? Your friends will see this as a betrayal, Celestia too, and you might even be killed if your caught with me! Why risk all that?”

She looks down and thinks for a moment. After a few minutes, she looks back up and says with determination,

“Because I don’t want to see Equestria destroyed. Back in the throne room, you were right, Celestia can’t do anything to stop Discord. We have to kill the last of the grayscale guardians, and find the bearer of the hidden element. Unless we do that, Discord will win, and everything Equestria used to be will be gone for good. When we get moving I’ll explain more, but for now we need to get ready to go. I’ll fly into town, grab a few things, and be back in a few minutes, okay?”

I look at her for a second, and think,

“She is hiding something, but I wont pry.“

I then nod my head. “Sure.”

“I will be careful to avoid my friends, and any guards, so don’t worry.”

She flaps her wings and begins to fly off.

“I won’t! Just be back soon, okay?”

She nods and smiles, then is gone. I reflect for a moment on what she said,

“She must really be desperate to save this place if she is willing to throw her lot in with me, I barely have a clue as to what I’m doing.” I thought, “But she seems to have some semblance of a plan, and that’s better than what I have. She said she wanted to save how Equestria used to be, I wonder what she meant by that? In the throne room Celestia even mentioned something about things being different. Are all these ponies that affected by Discord’s influence? Well, I haven’t met any of them before, so I guess what I’ve seen so far is normal. I wonder what they are all really like? If I stick around long enough, maybe I‘ll find out.”

I sit down and lean against a tree, and begin to doze off waiting for Fluttershy to get back…

Back in the armory…

“This is not good, not good at all!” Twilight practically screams.

“If Celestia finds out we let them get away, and that Fluttershy even betrayed all of us and joined the human, were doomed! What’re we going to do!?”

Applejack responds,

“We could always lie… we could say that he took her as a hostage, and then we couldn’t get im on fear of im hurtin Fluttershy.”

Twilight thinks for a moment, “That may be our only option…”

“But what if Celestia finds out!? Then for sure we will be killed!” Rarity melodramatically interposes. “Doesn’t matter, its our only chance!” Rainbow Dash says with conviction while stomping the ground,

“We can’t let Celestia know what really happened. We have to hunt them down ourselves! Even if it means we have to kill Fluttershy when we catch up to them to keep the truth from getting out!”

Pinkie Pie gasps, and says, “Rainbow, you can’t mean that?”

Rainbow Dash replies laughingly, “Ha! Sure I do, your so naïve Pinkie.”

Pinkie Pie narrows her eyes and growls, “Don’t you dare laugh at me…”

Rainbow Dash cringes and backs up.

Twilight steps between the two and says, “Enough! We have to get our story straight before we leave here. The human captured Fluttershy and held her hostage, so we couldn’t attack him, and taking her with him, he escaped. Is that clear?”

Everypony nodded.

Rarity then said, “When we talk to Celestia, we should mention putting up wanted posters with a reward for the human, then if we catch him, we can make some money on the side…”

Her eyes gleamed with greed while saying this.

Twilight then said, “Sure, whatever. Just so long as we keep our stories straight and Celestia doesn’t find out what really happened.”

Everypony again nodded, and then walked out of the armory, heading towards the castle.

Back in the forest just outside of Canterlot…

I woke up against the tree sore, but relived that I wasn’t plagued by dreams this time. As I got to my feet, I heard Fluttershy land, and I see her walk towards me with a two bags, one on either side of her.

I walk up to her, and ask, “Whats In the bags? Food?”

She replies, “Yes, I was able to steal some apples from a vendor in town by talking some animals into doing it for me, you eat apples right?”

I hesitantly reply, “Well yes, but, you stole them?”

Fluttershy looks down in shame, “Yeah, I had to. I didn’t have any money. Normally I would never have done this, but this is what I mean about discord’s influence. At least I feel bad about doing things like this, with other ponies its much worse.”

I nod, “I understand, besides, you did it out of necessity, you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, do you know the way to the path back to Ponyville?”

“Yeah, its right this way,” She says while pointing to the south, “We’ll get to the path after just a few minutes of walking.”

I reach down, grab the two bags from her back, and sling it over my shoulder.

“Why’d you do that?” She asks.

“Just polite.” I answer.

She smiles and says, “Its been a long time since anypony has done anything for anypony else just because it was polite. If things ever could be set back to normal, I think you’re the one to do it.”

I smile at the compliment and say, “Thanks, I hope I can help.”

We walk along and eventually see a well worn path snake its way through the forest we came from. We get on the path and continue until the forest opens up into a large valley with a path disappearing far out in front of us to the south. We come to a signpost that points in four different directions.

The signpost says: “Canterlot, North, 1 mile”

It points in the direction we came from.

The second one reads “Appleoosa, West, 76 miles”

It points to a path heading to our right, which disappears towards the mountains.

The third sign reads: “Cloudsdale, Up, 2 miles”

I frown at that one, thinking it to be a joke, but I look up anyway. All I can see is an unusually large mass of clouds. I shrug, and read the final sign:

“Ponyville, South, 30 miles”

“Well that’s where we need to go,” I say, referring to the fourth sign, “But 30 miles is going to be a two day trip, maybe more depending on how careful we need to be. How did they get me all the way here in the few hours I was knocked out?” I ask while looking at Fluttershy.

She looks at me and says, “It only takes one hour if going by air in a carriage, faster if your by yourself.” “Well why don’t you just go on ahead, and I’ll just meet you there?”

She shakes her head and says, “Before, I would, but now it is dangerous for a mare to travel alone, if you know what I mean.”

My frown gets deeper as I understand exactly what she means.

“Things really have gotten rough around here haven’t they?”

She just nods.

“Alright, when we get going you need to have to explain exactly what’s going on here, but first I need to make it look like we went somewhere else.”

Obviously Cloudsdale wasn’t an option, and we just got back from Canterlot, so Appleoosa it is. I begin walking towards Appleoosa, and Fluttershy walks alongside me. Once we had gone about 100 feet, I say, “Alright, you start flying, and I’ll retrace my steps.”

With her hovering over me, I perfectly retrace my steps, stepping in each footprint I left behind in the dirt. Once back at the signpost, I jump off the path into the grass lining the dirt road. From there, I walk about 200 feet up the path towards Ponyville, and I get back on the path.

Fluttershy asks, “Why did you do that?”

I respond, “When they come down the path from Canterlot, they will see our footprints and hoofprints in front of the sign, and then see them go towards Appleoosa. They will assume we went there, and follow. When the prints stop, they will assume we went off the trail to avoid being followed, and keep on going. That way, hopefully they will never sent a group towards Ponyville, because if they did they would eventually pick up our tracks again.”

Fluttershy nods in understanding and starts walking beside me again.

“So, what was Equestria like before Discord popped up again for the third time?” I ask her, “And why has It affected the ponies so much?”

She sighs and says, “It’s a long story, you sure you want to hear it?”

I nod, “Positive. I have to understand what it was like before to understand why it is like this now. Besides, we have a really long walk ahead of us.”

Fluttershy sighs, and then begins, “Equestria used to be great. Ponies used to be able to play and live without fear. Crime was virtually non-existent, and violence was reserved for only the most dangerous creatures. Even then it could usually be avoided if you just talked to them. But that all changed when Discord broke free. Discord slowly turns ponies into the opposite of what they once were. Ponies known for honesty become liars. Others known for generosity become greedy. Even others who were known for kindness become exceptionally violent and cruel.”

She looks very sad while saying that last part,

“During his second awakening, Discord only targeted the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Harmony are ancient artifacts that each represent a different aspect of Harmony, and are extremely powerful. My five friends, including myself, are all bearers of these elements.”

I look at her in surprise, “Really? I remember Celestia mentioning something about that, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

She nods and continues, “Each element represents something different. Applejack’s Element is honesty, Rarity’s is generosity, Pinkie Pie’s is laughter, Rainbow Dash’s is loyalty, Twilight Sparkle’s Element is magic, and mine is kindness.”

I glance at her again and think, “So that’s why she looked so sad when she mentioned kind ponies becoming cruel, she was one of them!”

She then said, “Discord influenced the six of us into becoming our opposites, and eventually he succeeded. Applejack was a liar, Rarity was greedy, Pinkie hated laughter and was mean, Rainbow Dash had no loyalty, Twilight was just generally mean and short tempered, and I was cruel. I was the hardest for Discord to change though, He had to force me to become my opposite, so that’s why I think I’m the least affected by his influence this time around. But even I am slowly changing. I’m not as shy as I once was, which I guess is good, but I did steal those apples…”

She sadly concluded.

I spoke, saying, “Don’t worry about it, we will stop him before your as bad as everypony else. You know what is going on, and your resisting. I’m proud of you.”

She looks up at me and gives me a faint smile.

“Thanks, but its not just us anymore. During Discord’s second awakening, he only affected us, but now he is influencing everypony. Everypony is slowly becoming mean and evil, crime is rampant, as well as violence. I’m afraid we may be to late now that it is even affecting Celestia and Luna.”

I ask, “What is the deal with them anyway? How did they become the rulers and why are they so powerful?” She responds, “Celestia’s job is to raise and lower the sun, and Luna’s job is to raise and lower the moon.”

I look at her in shock, “Are you kidding me? They can do that?”

“Yes, that’s why the are so powerful, and it has always been tradition that Alicorns rule.”

“But thanks to Discord, they are the only two left, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Great, I’ve made enemies with the sun and moon.”

Fluttershy chuckles,

“Basically, but don’t worry, they are powerful, but they are just ponies like me.”

I nod, and we keep walking. A few hours pass, and we don’t see anypony or anything on the path. The scenery is the same, a few trees and bushes here and there, but mostly open grassland in between the two mountain ranges on either side of us. It is a bright, warm day, perfect for traveling. I look behind us, to make sure were not being followed, and off in the distance I see a bunch of small specks in the sky, maybe ten. I turn around and say,

“Hey Fluttershy, take a look at those, what are they?” While pointing to the sky behind us. She gasps and says,

“Those are royal guards! We need to find a place to hide!”

I look frantically around, and see a bush just to our right.

“Under there!”

Fluttershy and I dive under the bush, and wait. After a few minutes, we hear the guards fly right over us, and continue on their way to Ponyville. We wait a few more minutes, and then crawl out.

I say, “Well, they weren’t following our trail, otherwise they would have stopped here.”

Fluttershy says, “Yeah, they were probably just taking the news of our escape to Ponyville. Were going to have to avoid the ponies in town when we get there.”

“Alright, well let’s get moving again, we only have a few more miles to the halfway point.”

Two hours later, the sun is beginning to set, and we reach the halfway point.

Thankfully, it is deserted.

Its just a cluster of trees with a signpost in the middle that has an area underneath it for posters.

I walk up to the signpost, and look at all the flyers attached to it. Various wanted posters for criminal ponies, warnings of Discord, last known sightings of the guardians, etc.

Then I see a wanted poster that catches my eye.

I break out in a cold sweat when I see it.

It’s me.

Underneath the big “Wanted” label, there is a perfect picture of me.

“Fluttershy! Your going to want to see this!” I call to her.

She quickly trots over, and gasps at the sight of the poster.

I quickly read what it says,

“Wanted dead or alive, Human. Extremely dangerous, carries a large curved sword. Killed a manticore, attacked royal guards, and escaped from Canterlot Castle, and upon escaping from Canterlot took a pony known as Fluttershy hostage. Last tracks were seen heading towards Appleoosa. 10,000 Bits reward.”

Once I’m done reading, I look at Fluttershy and say,

“Wow, that’s not good.”

She gives me a “duh” look, and says,

“They think you took me as hostage, my friends must have lied about what really happened. At least your plan worked, they really think we are heading towards Appleoosa.”

“I’m just surprised at how fast this got here, we only escaped from Canterlot early this morning.” “Information travels fast when you can fly. Those guards we saw earlier must have stopped here to put up this poster, no doubt more of these will be put up in Ponyville.”

I grab the poster and tear it down.

“Well, lets just get rid of these wherever we can find them, less chance anypony will see them.”

She nods, and we start looking around for a place to spend the night. After a while, we find a good spot next to a tree, and I begin building a lean-to against it. Once that’s done, I build a fire using my flint and steel I keep on me, and we settle down by the fire while it gets dark. Fluttershy opens the bags I had set down, and grabs an apple for each of us. We eat in silence, thinking about what the wanted poster said. After a few minutes, I notice it is dark, and I say,

“Come on Fluttershy, we should be going to sleep now, we have another fifteen miles to cover in the morning.”

Fluttershy tiredly nods and goes into the shelter, then looks back and asks, “Are you coming in?”

I reply, “No, I’ll take the first watch to make sure nopony sneaks up on us. I’ll wake you up in a few hours to relieve me, okay?”

She nods, “Alright. Oh, by the way, I never asked your name, what is it?”

I reply, “My name is Ty.”

She smiles and says, “Ty, I like that name.”

I smile at the compliment and say gently, “You should go to sleep now, okay? We have a long day ahead of us.”

She sleepily grins and says, “Okay.”

She then curls up and falls sleep.

I stand up, unsheathe my sword, and lean against a tree where I can watch the lean-to and the road.

I had no intention of waking Fluttershy up.

After all she has sacrificed by coming with me, she deserves a full nights rest. I look down at her sleeping under the shelter.

“I’m not sure exactly why she is risking all this, but she trusts me, I have to protect her,” I vow to myself.

I look up at the moon slowly rising over the mountains, and think, “Its going to be a long night…”

Justice Chapter 7

It had been a long, boring, night.

I suppose that was preferable to an exciting one, considering exciting meant being attacked.

I look at the sun slowly rising over the mountains, and feel glad that the night was over.

I stretch, and walk into the sunlight. The night was fairly warm, but I was still cold.

I hear a stir from the shelter, and I look over. Fluttershy drowsily steps out of the shelter and yawns.

She looks over towards me and says, “Good morning!”

I smile and reply, “Good morning to you! How did you sleep?”

She smiles, and says, “I slept great! I didn’t wake up even once!”

Her smile suddenly drops into a frown as she puts the pieces together.

“Here it comes…” I thought.

“DID YOU STAY UP ALL NIGHT?!?!? WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE ME UP?!?!? YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WAKE ME UP WHEN IT WAS MY SHIFT!!! IT’S IMPORTANT YOU KEEP UP YOUR STR-”

I cup my hands over my ears to protect myself from the verbal onslaught.

“Damn, she could even give Luna a run for her money with that voice.” I thought.

After what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, I sensed the onslaught had ceased.

I remove my hands and look down at her, she was panting from the exhaustion of yelling at me.

I get down on one knee so I can look her right in the eye, and say,

“I didn’t wake you up because you deserve a full nights rest for all you have sacrificed by coming with me. I made a vow last night to protect you, and I’m going to do just that. Also, you looked so cute sleeping I couldn’t bring myself to wake you up.” I finished the last part with a cheeky smile.

“Oh…” Fluttershy said in a super small voice, while looking down and to the side while blushing.

Her voice was so tiny it was hard to believe it came from the same pony from just a few minutes ago.

I saw a small smile on her face which she was trying to hide, so I knew I hadn’t offended her.

I stand back up and say, “Well lets get some breakfast, and head out. We should reach Ponyville by nightfall.”

“Oh, right.” Fluttershy hurriedly says.

She trots over to the shelter and pulls the bag of apples out. She eats one, while I eat three because I was hungry from standing guard all night. After breakfast, I tear down the shelter I had built, and we set out for Ponyville once again.

Back at the crossroads…

*Sigh* “I wish we could have gotten here sooner, the ground is covered in tracks from the guards…” Twilight noted, “It’ll be hard to find which ones belong to Fluttershy and the human.”

“But we already know where they are going! The poster the Princess made at our request says they are heading to Appleoosa!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

“I know,” Twilight impatiently retorted, “But the human is smart, I think its some kind of trick. Why would they want to go towards Appleoosa?”

“I don’t care, can we just get going?” Pinkie Pie said, clearly annoyed at the hold-up.

“Soon. Dash, I want you to fly towards Ponyville and see if you can pick up the humans tracks.”

“Whatever, but how will I be able to tell it’s the humans?”

“If the track looks just like ah ponies, its probably the humans.” Applejack sarcastically replied while rolling her eyes.

“If its different from a ponies, it belongs to the human.” Twilight seriously said, why shooting Applejack an annoyed glare.

“All right all right, fine. Don’t gotta make fun of me.” Rainbow Dash said, while flying off in the direction of Ponyville.

After a few moments, Rarity complains, “Will she hurry up? My beautiful coat will get dusty sitting here!” The other ponies roll their eyes.

A few seconds later, Rainbow comes flying back and quickly reports, “I saw the human’s tracks! They did go towards Ponyville!”

Twilight grinned and said, “I knew it! Alright, Rainbow, go back to Canterlot and get a carriage. You can fly all of us to Ponyville can’t you?”

“It’ll take a little longer than normal, but I can manage, should take about three hours to get there.”

“Fine, just hurry!” Rainbow Dash flies off towards Canterlot to retrieve a carriage. Twilight looks towards the south, and with a malicious smile says,

“We’re coming for you, nopony makes a fool of the Princess…”

Back on the road to Ponyville…

“So, Fluttershy, since I had a lot of time to think last night, I’ve come up with a few more questions. First off, what in the world are those tattoos on your flanks I keep seeing?”

“Oh, these are not tattoos, they are called cutie marks.” She replies.

“Seriously?” I say in a “You got to be kidding me“ voice.

She nods.

“Alright, what is their purpose? And why are they all different?”

“Well, when a pony is born, they don’t have their cutie marks. When they are older and find their special talent, their cutie marks appear. Each cutie mark represents their special talent. My cutie mark is three butterflies, and my talent is communicating with animals.”

“Huh, so that’s how you got those animals to steal the apples for you. I was wondering about that. Actually, that could be useful. Could you talk to a bird or something similar to keep lookout for us while we walk?” “Um, sure. I hadn’t thought about that.” Fluttershy trots over to a tree just off the path, and knocks on the wood. From a hole in the side of the tree, a raven’s head pops out. Fluttershy leans in and whispers to the raven, and after a few seconds, it flies out of the tree and starts circling overhead.

As Fluttershy trots back over, I say, “That was pretty cool, and know we don’t have to worry about anypony sneaking up on us.”

“Did I just seriously say “anypony”? Wow this place is getting to me.” I think.

I look down at Fluttershy who was still smiling from the earlier compliment. We continue walking along the path, and pretty soon I notice it was almost noon. Another question pops into my head while I’m looking up at the sun.

“Hey Fluttershy, just wondering, but what has Princess Celestia been doing to try and stop Discord? I noticed the armory we were in yesterday morning was new, did she build that in response to Discord?” Fluttershy looks up at me and sighs, “No, the armory wasn’t built for Discord, it was built to stop the ponies that were turning criminal thanks to Discord. As for what she has done to try and stop Discord, well… its not a happy story. Discord has been killing ponies. But not directly. He is in sprit form now because of his guardians, so he can’t be hurt. Every now and then, he will control a single pony, and drive it to do something that will kill itself or another pony.  Either way the host pony dies. If a pony kills another, and says Discord made them do it… Celestia kills them as well.”

I gasp in shock. I was not expecting that. “She has been executing ponies? Shes a tyrant!”

“Yeah, I know. But she and her sister are the most powerful ponies in Equestria, nopony can defy them…” She finished sadly. I stop walking, and so does she. Fluttershy looks up at me, and I see tears begin to form in her eyes.

I bend down on one knee, and hug her.

She began crying softly.

As I held her, she said, “I’m scared… what if Celestia catches us? I’ve been trying to be brave for once in my life, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up… if Celestia catches us, she’ll-”

“She’ll be six feet under, because I’m not going to let anypony hurt you.” I tell her. “I promise, nopony is going to hurt you, your safe now.”

We separate,  and she looks at me and gives me a meek smile.

“Its been only one day, and I’ve already broken down… I’m sorry. From now on I’ll try and be strong like you.”

“You don’t have to apologize, its okay.”

I wipe the tears out of her eyes, and stand up. “Are you ready to keep going?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now, thank you.”

We again start walking, but we walk closer to each other now.

After about 30 minutes, we approach  a big bunch of bushes to our right.  When we get  within 20 feet, I hear the raven above us suddenly cry out. I turn around, and I don’t see anypony behind us. I hear Fluttershy squeak in surprise, and I whip around to see three ponies with really dark fur, and knives held in their mouths. I immediately step in front of Fluttershy, and I draw my sword. The biggest of the three ponies, who I assumed was the leader, stepped forward and said,

“Well, lookey here. It’s the human thing the wanted poster was showin.”

I narrow my eyes.

“Crap! They’ve seen the poster.” I think.

“What poster?” I call out, trying to bluff.

He answers, “The wanted poster that had your face on it down by town hall. My friends and I left Ponyville just this morning, and happened to see the poster on our way out. Nice reward on there too, 10,000 bits is a hefty sum. You must’ve really pissed the prissy Princess off. I can already feel that gold linin my pockets…” He finished menacingly.

I raise my sword higher, making sure he can see it.

“I don’t think so.” I retort.

“Oh, but I do. That poster said you fought off some royal guards, but to escape the Castle you must’ve been brought there in the first place. If you lost to those sissy guards, your no match for us, this is our special talent after all.”

I look at their flanks, and sure enough, all three had either a knife cutie mark, or some other picture depicting fighting.

“The reason I lost to the guards in the first place wasn’t because I can’t fight, its because I didn’t want to hurt them.”

The lead pony just smirks.

The pony on his left worriedly says, “Um, boss? The poster also said he killed a manticore, he might not be bluffing…”

The leader rolls his eyes and retorts, “That was just luck, we can take him easy.”

He spreads his wings, and hovers a few feet off the ground. I quickly check the other two, and they are just regular ponies.

“Whew, no magic.” I thought.

The leader pony then noticed Fluttershy hiding behind me, and said,

“Ooh, an added bonus, were gonna make allot of money, and have some fun on the side.”

My eyes widen in fury as I realized what they were planning.

In that second, I knew exactly what I had to do.

I turned my head slightly and whispered to Fluttershy,  “Fluttershy, please, close your eyes.”

“wh-…why?” Was her timid and scared response.

“Because I don’t want you to see what I have to do.”

Understanding dawned in her eyes, and she looked at me for a moment, and then nodded her head.

She looked at the ground and closed her eyes.

Satisfied, I turn my full attention back to the ponies.

I take a few steps forward, trying to keep all of them in my vision. The pony on my right, a hulking brute almost as big as his boss, charges towards me and swings at me with the knife in his mouth. Or, he tries to. Before he even knew what happened, I sidestep and slash.

His head rolls across the ground, with the knife still clutched between his teeth.

The other two gasp at how easy I had killed him.

I walk towards them, a menacing look on my face.

The pony on my left gulps, and his boss comes down and kicks him in the side.

“Well don’t just stand there! Get him!”

The pony hesitantly steps forward and raises his knife.

He was very small compared to his friends.

He charges forward, and tries to stab me with the knife. I use my sword to knock the weapon out of his mouth, and sidestep to my left. I spin around him, and as he rushes by, I slash  forward with all my might.

He falls left and right.

As in, the left side of his body falls left, and the right side falls right.

I had cut him clean down the middle.

The leader had landed when his friend charged, but seeing what happened, he quickly rose and tried to escape. I lunged forward while slashing horizontally, and I take off the tops of his wings.

He crashes to the ground a few feet ahead of me.

“Please don’t kill me! Please, I was just joking about the mare, I promise I wouldn’t do something like that! Please show mercy!” He was screaming in fear.

“Mercy? You don’t deserve mercy. What you deserve is justice.”

As soon as I had finished saying that, a flood of images poured into my brain. All of them were of this pony doing unspeakable crimes. I suddenly knew all the evil things he had done. The experience made me slightly dizzy. The leader, seeing my confusion, darted forward and tried to stab at my neck.

I simply raised my sword and he impaled himself on it.

I pulled my sword out, and he fell to the ground bleeding, but still alive.

I look down at him and say, “For some reason, I have seen everything you’ve ever done. I know that this is what you deserve. It is justice for all the ponies you have killed.”

I raise my sword over my head, and finish him.

I walked back over to Fluttershy, and I saw her trembling, her eyes still closed.

I dropped down and hugged her.

“Its okay, its over now. They won’t hurt you.”

She looks up at me, and I see the slightest tinge of fear in her eyes.

She could have picked up a knife and stabbed me, and the pain wouldn’t even compare to this.

“She is the Element of Kindness, how did you think she would react to this???” I mentally berate myself. “I’m so sorry Fluttershy, I had to do it to protect you.” I said, my head down in shame, tears beginning to form. “She must hate me…” I think.

I felt a hoof on my chin, and my head was raised up to meet hers.

“Thank you,” She gently said, “Thank you.”

The fear was gone from her eyes, and replaced by gratitude and… love?

I shook my head to clear the thought.

“Must have imagined it.” I think to myself.

I smile down towards her, and I hug her again. This time she hugs me back. After a few seconds, we separate and stand back up.

She turns her head to prevent seeing the carnage, and says, “You should hide them, if anypony sees them they will know its you.”

“Yeah your right, I’ll hide them in the bushes they were hiding in before.”

A few minutes later, its done.

I wipe my sword against their fur to clean the blood off, and I sheath  it.

Fluttershy and I begin running along the path.

It would be dark soon, and we still had a long ways to get to Ponyville.

A couple hundred feet above the path to Ponyville…

“Can’t you go any faster?” Pinkie angrily asked Dash.

Between breaths, Dash replied, “I am… going… as fast… as… I can!”

“Be patient Pinkie, we’ll catch them soon enough.” Was Twilights smug reply. “Besides, she is pulling five ponies and the carriage, so cut her some slack.”

The carriage was more of a chariot, with an open back and two poles going forward to attach to the pony pulling it. If a pegasus was pulling it, it was capable of flight, and was the fastest mode of transportation for non-pegasi.

“Well your in a good mood,” Was Rarity’s reply to Twilight, “I hope your not thinking about the reward, because its mine!”

“I’m not thinking of the reward, I’m thinking of how pleased the Princess will be when we catch the human.”

Applejack shouted to Rainbow Dash, “I think we’re almost there!“

“Really?“ Was Rainbow Dash’s excited reply.

“No!“ Was Applejack’s mocking answer.

Rainbow just growled.

Pinkie Pie suddenly leans forward and starts to stare at the horizon. “Are those, vultures? They are circling over something!”

Twilight leans forward and says, “Yeah, they are! Hah! Maybe our work has been done for us. Dash, set us down underneath those vultures!”

“Al…right” Was Dash’s exhausted reply.

Back on the path…

Fluttershy and I stopped running and started walking to catch our breaths. As we walked, a question came to mind.

“Hey Fluttershy,  why were those ponies coats so dark?”

“What? Oh yeah, you weren’t here before Discord, you don’t know.”

“Know what?”

“Well, none of the ponies you have seen are their original color. The more a pony is influenced by Discord, the darker they become.”

“Oh, that makes sense. I noticed you had the brightest colors, but I didn’t know why.”

“Even I am slightly faded, but not by much at all.”

“Well, that’s a helpful indicator of ponies we should watch out for.”

“Yeah, my friends are fading a lot faster than me, I’m worried about them...”

“Don’t worry, we will find some way to fix this.”

“I hope so…”

“Lets run some more, it’ll be just a little while until its dark, and I’m guessing we still have a mile or two to go.”

“Aren’t you tired? Staying up all night, the fighting, and now these last few hours of running? You must be exhausted…”

“I am, but we have to keep moving, we’re almost there. Lets start running now.”

“Okay.”

On the ground by the scene of the battle…

Twilight retched at the sight of the corpses.

She had walked into the bushes expecting to find the human, but instead she found the bodies of  three ponies.

Applejack trots up to the corpses, and after briefly examining them, states, “I bet a squirrel did it.”

Rainbow Dash just rolls her eyes.

Twilight recovers herself and says, “This was obviously the work of that human, the cuts are too clean to be an animal.”

Rarity trots over and looks at the corpses, and muses for a moment.

Everypony braces themselves for a remark on how uncivilized it was, but what Rarity says surprises them. “I think I saw them on the wanted posters back at the crossroads. They had a pretty decent price on their heads as well…”

Twilight rounds on Rarity and says, “We are not taking them with us!”

“Well I’m not leaving without my reward!” Was Rarity’s stubborn reply.

“Fine! I’ll pay you double whatever they were worth to just leave them!”

“Deal.” Was her happy reply, and she trotted out of the bushes.

Everypony else sighs and trots out.

“Well, this has proved the human is even more dangerous, and shouldn’t be underestimated. I don’t feel confident about us fighting him when we are all tired from traveling.”

“Well if somepony didn’t overestimate themselves, we wouldn’t be this far behind!” Was Pinkies scathing reply directed towards Rainbow Dash.

Dash had curled up on the ground and fallen asleep.

“Whatever the reason, we are too tired to fight, so lets camp here for the night, and we’ll catch them in the morning. But lets camp a ways away from those corpses, I’m not sleeping anywhere near them.” Twilight said to them all.

Everypony agreed, and they began setting up camp for the night.

On the outskirts of Ponyville…

It was dark now, but the moon was full.

We have plenty of light to see by.

Fluttershy is crouching in the bushes next to me as we survey Ponyville.

Fluttershy’s cottage was on the other side of town, next to the Everfree Forest.

There were guards all over the town.

I asked Fluttershy, “Even with us sneaking around the town, there is a good chance the guards will see us. Can you tell the raven to make a distraction?”

“Sure.”

The raven flew down towards us and Fluttershy began whispering to it. After a few seconds, it flew to the left side of the town and began attacking a guard. The other guards flocked over to him, and began trying to scare the raven away. Fluttershy and I used the distraction to go around the town, and we ran until I saw a house inside a tree.

“Is that it?” I ask.

“Yes, that’s my house.”

“Nice place, I check the perimeter to make sure nopony is hiding around.”

“Alright, I’m going to talk to the animals to see if anypony has been around here.” I quickly run around the house, but I see nothing. I then stand by the door as Fluttershy trots up.

I draw my sword and lean against the house.

Fluttershy glares at me and says, “Oh no you don’t, your going to bed tonight!”

“But, this is a dangerous place to stay! What if somepony sneaks up on us?”

“They won’t, I talked to all my nocturnal animals, they will keep watch for us. Nopony is going to catch us off-guard.”

“Alright, then.”

I wearily try and sheathe my sword, but I’m so tired it takes a few tries before I succeed.

We stumble in the house, completely exhausted.

Fluttershy trots up to a couch, and plops down.

She yawns, and says, “The bed is upstairs.”

I walk up to the couch, and pick her up.

She squeaks in surprise.

I walk up the stairs to the bed, and plop her down on it. I then start walking out of the room.

“I’m not going to make you sleep on the couch. You take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”

Too tired to argue, she snuggles in the bed and says, “Goodnight Ty.”

“Goodnight Fluttershy.”

I close the door.

I stumble down the stairs, fall on the couch, and I’m out like a light.

A/N And here is where my character becomes a huge mary sue during the fight scene. At the time of writing this, I didn't even know what a mary sue was. I have taken active steps to prevent this in later chapters, so you shouldn't see it this bad again.

Justice Chapter 8

I kept my gaze focused forward as I walked across the burned grass. It made an odd crunching noise under my feet. The air smelled of smoke. I walked up the soot stained concrete steps to where the front door used to be. I stepped through the front door because it wasn’t there. All that was left was a burned doorframe and some blackened hinges. The inside of my house was a jumble of fallen beams that had been turned to charcoal. As I walked through the house, the ashes were stirred up by my feet, and they floated around me.

I was in shock.

I couldn’t believe this was my house.

More specifically, I couldn’t believe my parents had been inside while it burned.

I had been at a friends house, I saw the wildfire spread from there. I had been told it would miss my house, and my parents would be fine.

But it didn’t, and they weren’t.

It came up out of nowhere, the wind blew it right towards them and the house was engulfed before they could get out. It had been late, my parents were asleep when it happened. I walked towards where the master bedroom used to be. All that was left of it was an unusually large heap of ashes marking where the bed was.

This was where they died.

I fell to my knees and wept.

“Why did I have to leave… if I was here I could have woken them up in time. Then they wouldn’t be dead, I could have saved them… Its my fault they died.” I thought.

I looked up around me, noting how open the house felt with no walls or roof. I looked back at the remnants of the bed, and spoke aloud, “I swear to you, I will find the person responsible for this, and I will kill him.” The police said it was lightning that started the fire. But someone had used the lightning as cover to start another fire. The second fire, that was the one that did this. After a few moments, I rose to my feet and began walking out of the house. The social worker was getting impatient. I didn’t even realize I had walked through my own room until I tripped. A large cloud of ashes poofed around me upon landing. I coughed to get rid of the ashes that went in my throat, and I looked around to see what tripped me.

A gleam of metal caught my eye.

Hardly daring to believe it, I scramble around and pick up the metal object from underneath the ash.

Its my kilij.

My sword.

“When the house burned down, something must have fell over it and protected it.” I spoke aloud. I unsheathe it, and examine the blade.

“Not even a scratch….“

I stood up, and walked out of the house while attaching the sheath to my belt. I then got in the car with the social worker, all the while ignoring his disapproving stare of what I had found. He turns the car on, and we drive away. I look back at the smoldering remains of my rapidly disappearing house, and say, “I will find the one who did this, I promise…”

I awake with a start to a small white rabbit bouncing up and down on my face. It holds up a watch, which reads 9:30, and glares at me. It then hops off and disappears. I slowly sit up straight, super sore and tired from all the walking of the past few days.

My first thought is, “ It’s great to finally sleep somewhere else other than on a forest floor or dungeon cell.” My second thought is, “Did a bunny with a pocket watch really just act as my alarm clock?”

I shrug, “Fluttershy has a lot of animals, makes sense they do odd jobs for her.”

I slowly stand up, much to the protest of my creaking joints. I look around, and I am quite surprised at what I see.  There are a lot of bird houses and places for animals to sleep. But the most interesting thing is how normal it looks. A fireplace, pots and pans hanging on the walls, a table, and chairs.

It looks like a normal home.

“Well what did you expect? A barn?” I asked myself out loud.

And the surprising answer was, yeah, I did expect something like that.

“I need to remember these ponies are like people here. I’ll probably get myself in a lot of trouble if I forget that.” I wandered around the house, careful not to step on any animals that were running around. After a few minutes of exploring, I decided to sit down at the table and wait for Fluttershy to wake up. My stomach growled, and I dreaded the vegetarian meal which was sure to come.

“I need to get some meat, but I don’t think Fluttershy would appreciate me killing one of her animals.” I mutter aloud.

All the animals that were running through the cottage stopped dead in their tracks.

“Whoops.”

They scatter faster than lightning.

“At least I don’t have to deal with them…” I think.

I look out the window next to the table, and I see Ponyville in the distance. It looked so peaceful it was hard to believe that everypony in that town wanted my head on a spike. I shook off the thought and I got more comfortable in the chair. The morning sun was streaming through the windows and in the warmth I began to doze off.

On the road just a few miles from Ponyville…

Rainbow Dash was soaring through the clouds in the light of morning. She looked around and saw the ground thousands of feet below her. She was happy. She did a barrel roll through the clouds, but was alarmed when the sun suddenly started to move closer to her. The scent of burning hair filled her nostrils. Her head whipped around in surprise to see her tail had been set on fire. The dream dissolves like smoke around her, and she found herself lying on the ground. She remembers with a rush why she was there, and then realizes her tail really is on fire. Rainbow rolls on the ground in desperation trying to put the fire out, and she finally succeeds. Panting from exhaustion and shock, she looks up to see Twilight glaring down at her.

“Did you set my tail on fire?!?” Rainbow shouts at her.

“Just a little trick Celestia taught me,” Twilight smugly replies. “Besides, you were taking forever to wake up, so I just helped you along.”

Applejack was rolling on the ground laughing while Pinkie glared at her.

“Why do I even hang with these guys…” Rainbow thought.

Twilight spoke then, saying, “Alright, now that everypony is awake, lets head out to Ponyville. Rainbow, you should be able to get us to Ponyville in around four hours, correct?”

“What makes you think I will even take you there after what you just did?!? Besides, why don’t you just teleport yourself there!?” Rainbow Dash shouted at her.

Twilight rolls her eyes and says, “I can’t teleport all of us to Ponyville because my magic is weakened thanks to Discord. You should have remembered that from last time. I can only do short range teleports, and they take a lot of energy. Small things like setting your tail on fire are easy, and I could do that all day. That’s why I think your going to take us anyway.” She finished the last two sentences with a hint of malice. Rainbow just glared at her, and started trotting towards the carriage.

“That’s what I thought” Twilight said.

After a bit of arguing over who would sit where, the four climbed into the carriage while Rainbow Dash got the harness on. After all that was done, Rainbow reluctantly took off and they were on their way to Ponyville.

Back in the cottage…

I awoke to the smell of scrambled eggs.

It was like heaven.

I opened my eyes and saw Fluttershy holding  a pan of eggs over a fire in the fireplace. As I got up out of the chair, she turned around and noticed I had woken up.

She smiles and says, “Good morning, I’m glad to see your awake. I’m sorry I wasn’t down when you woke up the first time. I was busy talking to the animals in my room and asking them if they had seen anypony.” “Good morning. Did the animals spot anything?”

“Nope, all clear.”

“That’s good…um… why are you cooking eggs?”

She gives me a worried look, “Oh… I thought you would like eggs because you have just been eating apples and stuff… I’m sorry, I didn’t know you that you didn’t like them…” She finished sadly.

“No no, its not that!” I quickly reassure her, “I love scrambled eggs, I just thought all you ponies were vegetarians.”

“No, we are omnivores like you, but we mostly stick to eggs and apples.”

“Alright.”

Fluttershy inspects the eggs which are still over the fire.

“It looks like the eggs are done, sit down at the table and I’ll prepare breakfast for you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

I walk back over to the table and sit down. The sound of plates clanking and a general bustle of activity emanated from the kitchen.

I call out, “Are you sure you don’t want any help?”

I hear a plate crash against the floor and break.

“No thank you, I got this.”

“Okay then…” I mutter to myself.

After a few moments, Fluttershy comes out carrying two plates of food. She sets them down on the table and retreats back to the kitchen. She returns carrying two glasses of what I presume is orange juice. She sets them down as well, and sits in the chair next to me.

“Does it look okay?” She worriedly asks me.

“Its looks great! Thank you.” I smile at her.

She looks down and blushes, then starts to eat.

I get a slight blush as well when I realize why she wanted to make me breakfast. I decide not to say anything, and instead focus on eating.

Once we are done, Fluttershy asks me, “Well, what should we do now? What are your plans?”

I lean back in the chair and think.

After a few seconds, I say, “Overall, there are three things we need to do. Find the 7th element, kill the hydra, and kill the dragon. Do you know exactly where the dragon and hydra are?”

Fluttershy looks at me and says, “The hydra is in Froggy Bottom Bog, which is about half a days journey from here. The dragon lives farther away, up in a cave on the side of a mountain.”

“Alright, where should we look for the element?”

Fluttershy thinks for a moment, then says, “We should probably go to the ruins the original six were found in. That would be our best bet for finding it.”

“How far away is that?”

“Only a few hours away.”

“Since that is the closest, we’ll go there first.”

Fluttershy frowns and says, “Now? I’m still really tired from the long journey here… could we take the day off and go tomorrow?”

I shake my head, “It is dangerous for us to stay in one place for too long. We can rest for a few more hours, then we should leave.”

“Alright…” Fluttershy says despondently.

I almost give in, but I remember this is to protect her just as much as it is to protect me.

“Do you know anypony in Ponyville who could help us?” I ask.

“Well, he is not a pony, but Spike could help us.”

“Who is Spike?”

“He is a baby dragon who lives with Twilight.” Fluttershy happily replies.

I stare at her in disbelief.

“A baby dragon? How exactly could a baby dragon help us?”

“He can send things by burning them, and because he is not a pony, Discord has no influence over him.” “Huh, that could be useful… Alright, how do we contact him?”

Fluttershy smiles, “I’ll just ask one of my birds to tell him to come over here.”

Fluttershy trots over to a bird house, and whispers to a blue jay that was resting within. A few seconds pass, and the blue jay comes out of the house. It spreads its wings, and flies through an open window.

“Alright, He’ll be here soon.”

I say, ”Okay, what do you want to do while we are waiting for him?”

She asks, “I heard a little bit about your world from what you said in the throne room, but I know almost nothing about you. Could you tell me about yourself?”

I sigh, “Sure, if you want. But recent events haven’t been all that great, and it’s a bit of a sad story. Sure you want to hear?”

Fluttershy looks down and frowns. After a moment, she looks back up and nods. “Yes I do.”

I sigh again, “Alright then. Lets move to the couch, it’s a long story so you might as well get comfortable.” Fluttershy and I move to the couch and sit down. I then tell her about my life, explaining things like cars and microwaves as I went along. I told her about my friends and my parents. Eventually, I got to the fire. “About a week ago… my parents were killed.”

Fluttershy gasped in horror. “They were killed?! I‘m so sorry…”

She quickly moved to my side and gave me a hug. I put my arm around her and hugged back. Fluttershy made no indication she was going to move, so I just continued to hold her and kept going.

“They died in a fire. An arsonist had set the forest bordering our house on fire. The wind helped the fire jump from the forest to my house.”

She looked up in shock. “Somepony did it on purpose?!? And your parents were burned to death?!?”

She looked distraught and tears were freely falling. She buried her head in my chest and began sobbing. “Geez, shes taking worse than I did.” I thought.

I quickly reassure her, “They weren’t burned to death. They were asleep at the time so they probably died of toxic fumes and smoke inhalation. Most likely they didn’t even wake up.”

She chokes out, “But somepony still did set the fire on purpose, didn’t they?”

“Someone,” I correct, “But yeah, someone did start it.”

She is slowly regaining control of herself, “Did you ever *sniff* find the person who did it?”

I break the eye contact.

“No. I was looking for whoever set it when I came here.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t find whoever did it… will you ever go back and try to find the arsonist?”

She made eye contact with me again, and I could tell there was a lot more behind this question. She wanted to know if I would ever leave her.

I shake my head, “I did promise my parents I would find their killer, obviously I can’t stay and do that. But they wouldn’t want me to waste my life searching for revenge like that anyway. So no, I wont be leaving.” Fluttershy let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. She gave me a sad smile and said, “I’m sorry you wont be able to keep that promise with your parents but, your right, they probably wouldn’t want you looking for revenge. And… I’m glad your staying too.”

She looked to the side and blushed.

Before I could say anything, I heard the door to the cottage open and a small purple dragon walked in. He stopped in surprise at seeing Fluttershy snuggled up to me blushing. Fluttershy quickly got off of me and trotted over to him, all the while trying to hide her embarrassment. “Um, Ty, this is Spike. Spike, Ty.” She hastily introduced us. Spike walked forward and gasped in amazement,

“Wow, so your that human that everypony is talking about!”

“Uh… yeah.” I awkwardly reply.

He holds out his hand, “Well, its nice to meet you.” I bend down and shake his hand.

“Likewise.”

I sit back down on the couch and Fluttershy sits down beside me. Together we explain what has happened so far, skipping things like the grayscale guardians because he already knew about them.

Once we finished he whistled, “Whew, you really are in trouble huh?”

I grimly nod my head. “Yeah, and it will only get worse when they find out we’re not in Appleoosa.”

“Well, how do you want me to help?”

I think for a minute. “Fluttershy told me you live with Twilight, is that true?”

“Yep.”

“Alright, you can be our inside man.”

He stares blankly at me. “Inside man? What does that mean?”

“Its like a spy, you listen in on what those five and the Princesses are planning, and you tell us. You can send messages right?”

“Yeah, I can do that!”

“Can you send food and other supplies?”

“Sure can!”

“Perfect, while Fluttershy and I are out killing the guardians or finding the hidden element, you can give us support and updates on whats happening.”

“Alright, when are you going to leave?”

I look at Fluttershy, “We should be heading out soon, are you feeling up to it?”

She nods, “I’m feeling fine.”

Spike looks at me, “Yeah, its probably good your going to leave soon, Twilight and her friends should be in town any minute.”

I look at Spike in shock.

“What?!? They are on their way right now?”

“Uh, yeah. Twilight sent me a telepathic message this morning that she was going to be here a little after 1:00.”

The little white bunny from this morning suddenly hopped up on my lap and waved its watch in my face. The watch reads 1:06.

“Fluttershy! We need to go, now!”

I quickly stand up and run to the nearest window. I look around franticly but I don’t see anything.

In a panicked voice, Fluttershy asks me, “What should I pack??”

“Theres no time,” I quickly reply, “Spike, try and throw them off our trail. If they are coming here they must have found our tracks. Fluttershy, lets go!”

“Alright!” She rushes to the front door.

I run after her, and I call out to Spike over my shoulder, “We are heading to the ruins to find the hidden element, we should be back by tomorrow. Send some food and a tent latter tonight okay?”

“Will do!” He calls out to me just as I run out the door.

Out in the yard, I run up to Fluttershy who is staring at the sky, and ask, “Which way are the ruins?”

She doesn’t move, but continues staring.

I follow her gaze to see the rainbow colored pony pulling a chariot looking thing with the other four inside. Suddenly the chariot swerves, and is heading directly towards us.

“The spotted us! Fluttershy run! Lead the way to the ruins!”

This snaps her out of her trance, and she begins galloping towards the Everfree forest. Once we get into the forest, we keep running but we have to slow down a bit to dodge trees.

“Fluttershy! If I have to fight your friends, I need you to tell me about them so I can figure out their weaknesses!” I yell to her as we run.

Out of the corner of my eye I see her nod, “Okay, but promise me you wont kill them? I know they are corrupted, but if we beat Discord they should return to normal.”

“Well that makes my job a million times harder,” I think to myself.

I hear a crashing sound come from behind us.

I say out loud, “Alright, fine, just hurry! I can hear them catching up to us!”

“Okay, first off, since Discord has come back, my friends have become the opposites of themselves. Rainbow Dash used to represent loyalty, Rarity was generosity, Applejack was honesty, Pinkie Pie was laughter, and Twilight was magic. Rainbow doesn’t have any loyalty, Applejack is a liar, Rarity is greedy, Pinkie Pie hates laughter, and Twilight is meaner but has her magic weakened.”

“Alright, I can bribe Rarity, maybe talk Rainbow into fighting with her friends, and I can laugh at Pinkie to goad her, but what about Twilight and Applejack? Are there any other facts I should know about your friends?”

Fluttershy is silent for a moment while she thinks. We continue to run.

Eventually she looks back at me and says, “There are a few things, Rarity hates to get dirty, Pinkie isn’t a fighter, but her Pinkie Sense will let her know your every move before you make it. Applejack tends to bite off more than she can chew, Rainbow is fiercely competitive, and Twilight will stop at nothing to please the Princess.”

Now its my turn to think.

I begin formulating plans to fight them.

I smile when I figure out the perfect strategy.

We keep on running until we hit a clearing with just a few trees scattered around. It was much less dense than the forest we were running through. On the ground by  a tree I see a straight stick about six feet long. “Hey Fluttershy, stop! I’m going to make my stand here. This looks like a good place.”

She trots over to me, and I bend down to pick up the stick I saw.

There are three piles of sticks next to it, but I ignore them.

I grab the stick and test its balance.

“This will work great as a Bo staff.” As I turn towards Fluttershy, I hear a growl from behind me. I slowly turn around and see that the piles of sticks were actually wolves. Their entire bodies were made of wood. “Fluttershy… what are those?” I hesitantly ask.

The three wolves advance towards  me. Fluttershy quickly gets between us and starts talking to them. After a few seconds, the wolves turn around and face the direction the five ponies were coming from.

Fluttershy turns back to me and says, “They are Timber Wolves. I talked to them and they are going to help us fight.” She smiles.

My eyes widen in shock. Birds and rabbits are one thing, but wolves?

“Wow, I’m glad your on my side.” I say laughingly.

I suddenly realize something and my smile drops.

“You didn‘t say ‘us‘ right?”

“Yeah I did, I’m going to help you fight this time.”

I give her a stern look, “No your not. Since I won’t kill them, my sword will just get in the way. You take my sword and hide up in one of the trees.”

My expression softens a bit, “I’ll be able to fight better knowing you are safe, and you can be a lookout to make sure nopony sneaks up behind me, okay?”

She smiles and nods her head. “Okay, I can do that.”

I hand her my sword, and she flies up into the nearest tree with it. I turn back to where the sound of the five was coming from, and I stand next to the timber wolves. “Well this fight is going to be interesting.” I mutter to myself. The crashing sound was almost right towards us. I drop into a Bo staff stance, and the wolves beside me bristle in anticipation. Just as I see the five ponies break the tree-line into the clearing, I give a yell and the wolves and I charge.

Justice Chapter 9

I run forward with the three timber wolves at my heels just as the five break from the tree line. One wolf pounces on Rarity, another on Rainbow Dash, and the last one attacks Pinkie Pie. I swing my staff directly down on Applejack.

All of our attacks pass right through them.

The mirages, as they were, disappear.

I recoil in shock as the wolves look around wondering where their prey had gone. The Twilight mirage in front of me smiles, and disappears as well.

“It’s a trap!”

I see a cyan blur out of the corner of my eye, and before I can move out of the way, I’m hit.

We go flying into a tree, and I hear a few of my ribs on the left side rack. Rainbow is thrown off me by the impact, and tumbles a little ways away from me. I fall to the ground with a grunt of pain. I look up and see a fireball come flying out of the woods, and hit one of the wolves.

It burns to a crisp.

From a different part of the woods, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie come charging out. Twilight remains hidden. The other two wolves jump to attack them, but Rarity slips by and charges me. Ignoring the pain, I stagger to my feet and take a few paces from the tree. In my peripheral vision, I see Rainbow get up and start flying at me. At the last second, I duck to avoid Rainbow, who crashes into the tree behind me. While bending down, I scoop up a handful of dirt and throw it directly into Rarity’s face. She coughs and splutters, and promptly ignores me in favor of getting the dirt off her. I raise me staff to knock Rarity out, but another fireball comes out from the woods and grazes my shoulder. It hurts like hell. I quickly run a few feet and duck behind another tree for cover. I carefully peer out from behind the tree, and I see rainbow lying stunned on the ground. Rarity was still busy trying to pick every speck of dirt off her coat.

“At least I won’t have to worry about those two for awhile…” I thought.

I hear a sickening crunch, and I peer around the other side of the tree. Applejack had just crushed the skull of the second timber wolf. The third was unsuccessfully trying to bite Pinkie Pie, but upon seeing his comrade dead, it quickly runs behind a tree and hides. Applejack and Pinkie started searching for me. “Fluttershy told me Applejack tries to bite off more than she can chew… maybe if I get her attention she’ll try and attack me by herself, rather than getting Pinkie to help.” I mutter to myself.

I step out from behind the tree and wave at Applejack while Pinkie was looking the other way. Upon seeing me, she gallops in my direction without saying a word to Pinkie.

“Perfect.” I thought.

I step back behind the tree and prepare a swing for when she comes around. Just as I hear her coming around the tree, I swing with all my might right at where she was going to be.

But she was expecting that.

She ducks underneath the blow, and my swing went wide and connected with the tree. While the painful vibrations travel up my arm, she spins around and bucks me right in the stomach with her back legs.

I go flying.

I hit the ground hard, and the breath is driven out of my body.

I look up, and she gets up on her hind legs. She raises her hooves in the air, and I realize she was about to kill me the same way she killed the wolf. But before she can, I lash out with a kick that catches her in the chin. She falls backwards, and I stagger once again to my feet. I pick up my staff, and before she can recover, I knock her out cold with a well-placed blow to the head.

“One down, four to go…” I grimly thought.

I hadn’t expected it to be this difficult.

I limp back to the tree and look around it. Rarity had almost finished dusting herself off, and Rainbow had gotten to her hooves and was staggering around.

“They won’t be out of this for long, I need to deal with Pinkie while I can.”

I use the trees as cover as I move closer to where Pinkie was searching for me. She had heard the noise of Applejack and I fighting, as was moving my direction. I catch her attention, and I laugh at her. She is furious, and comes galloping towards me. I couldn’t go any closer because Twilight would send more fireballs, so this was the perfect bait to get her to come to me. Once she is a few feet away, I swing my staff. Almost before I even began the swing, she dodges and headbutts me on my left side. The cracked ribs are fully broken now, and I cry out in pain as I fall down. After hitting me, she keeps going for a little ways so she can build up speed for the next strike. She then turns around and charges again. I stagger to my knees, and I feebly attempt to stab with my staff. She contemptuously dodges, and again headbutts me in the chest. I fall backwards, and she tramples right over me. Again she keeps going, only to stop about twenty feet away.

I’m on the verge of blacking out.

“No… I’m not going to let my ass get kicked by a pink pony! But how to get around that freakish Pinkie Sense?”

I ignore the pain and stagger to my feet. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rarity finish dusting herself off. She then charges towards me, probably trying to gore me with her horn. Pinkie begin her charge as well, and from her eyes I could see she thought this one would finish me off. I have a flash of inspiration, and I turn to face Rarity. Just as Rarity is upon me, I grab her horn. Using her own momentum, I swing her around me and directly into Pinkie Pie.

Her Pinkie Sense didn’t catch that.

They go tumbling for a little ways, and then separate. I rush forward, and knock Pinkie out with a blow from my staff.

“Two down, three to go.“

I turn to attack Rarity, but with horror I realize I had left cover. Another fireball comes out of the woods and burns the right side of my face. I howl in pain and I fall down. My right hand clenched over my face, and my left hand carrying the staff, I crawl behind the nearest tree.

“Damn it… I’m going to die here…” I thought. “I can barely stand, I’m burnt, I cant see out of my right eye, and my ribs are broken.” The smell of my own burning hair accented my thoughts. I look around with my one good eye, and I see the last wolf cowering beside me.

I ask it, “I don’t suppose you have any good ideas?”

It covers its eyes with its paws, and whimpers.

“I didn’t think so…” I mutter. I hear a rustle in the bushes in front of me, and Rainbow Dash comes staggering out.

I panic.

She says, “Heh, finally found you. Looks like my friends did quite the number on you.” I notice she seemed slightly angry when she said “friends“.

“That’s right, no loyalty!” I think with hope. “I just might be able to convince her to leave!”

I say, “Some friends you got, I heard they treat you like crap.”

I didn’t know if this was true or not, but I had to try something.

Apparently I got lucky, because she said, “Your telling me, I had to drag their sorry asses all the way here from Canterlot! And what do I get in return? Nothing! Just another job to do!”

“You shouldn’t let them treat you like that, you deserve better.” I said softly, slowly trying to manipulate her.

She was buying it.

“I know I do! I don’t even know why I hang with them anymore.”

This is it.

“Well why don’t you just leave? They will always take you for granted if you’re their little lapdog, always taking commands. You have to leave to show them you don’t take orders from anypony.” I finish hopefully. She thinks for a second and eventually nods her head.

“Y’know, your right, I should leave. For a weird human thing, your pretty smart, thanks. See ya!”

And with that she flies off. I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Three down, two to go.”

I look at the wolf, “We have to deal with Rarity next, and I’m in bad condition. I’m going to need your help.” Surprisingly, the wolf nods, a if it understood me.

“Alright then, help me up.” I put my arm around the timber wolves’ neck, and use it to pull myself up. I wait for the dizziness to fade, and then I stagger out from behind the tree. I force the pain aside. Without my high pain tolerance, I’d already have passed out. Rarity spots me and the wolf, and charges us. I limp farther away from the edge, until I’m out of range of the fireballs. I turn my head to the right so my left eye had a better view of her. My right eye was fine, but the eyelid had swollen shut from the burn. Hoping to make Rarity afraid of the wolf, I say, “You better watch out Rarity, the wolf has all kinds of dirt on it, might get your coat dirty.” She skids to a stop and takes a few steps back, all the while eyeing the wolf warily.

“Get her!” I yell to the wolf while limping forward.

The wolf runs ahead towards her.

Rarity screams, “Get away from me you filthy animal!”

Her horn glows with a bright light, and I recognize she is about to use magic.

“Wait, get back!” I yell to the wolf, but it is to late.

There is a blinding flash of light, and when I can see again, I notice the wolf had been turned into a solid diamond statue. Rarity blinks in surprise, and I realize it had been an accident.

“Wait a second… she is the greedy one! Ha, I know what I can do with this!” I think triumphantly.

I say aloud, “That’s a nice diamond statue there, you better take it away before Twilight gets it…”

Rarity gasps in horror at the thought, and says, “No! This diamond is mine!” She throws herself over the statue, and in a quick burst of magic, they are gone.

I sigh in relief.

I had lost my last wolf, there was only one pony left now.

“Four down, one to go. But now what? If I step out of cover, I’ll get fried. I don’t think I could go around and find her either. I’ll just have to play on her pride and hope I get lucky.” I think with grim determination. I limp out into an open spot where I had been blasted before, and stop. I have to lean heavily on my staff, without it I wouldn’t even be able to stand. I yell out, “All your friends have either deserted you or have been defeated. Its only us now, face me!”

The seconds pass by slowly.

A bead of sweat trickles down my forehead.

I was expecting to get vaporized any second.

After what felt like eternity, Twilight steps out of a bush in front of me and slowly canters forward. I see a smug grin on her face.

She says, “You are right, it is only us left. But I am the strongest of my friends, and you are injured. Do you really think you can win?”

I give her a small smile, “Not really, but I’ve come farther than I expected. Doesn’t hurt to try.”

Her smug smile turns into an evil grin, “Oh, but this will hurt. A lot.”

Her horn glows purple, and I look around wildly wondering where the attack will come from. I eventually notice my right hand has a small purple dot on the end of the middle finger. I look at it closely and the small dot elongates until it is about two inches high. I realize with horror that it is a blade. Before I can react, the blade digs itself into the top of my middle finger, and cuts all the way up to my shoulder. I give a blood-curdling scream, and  fall to the ground. I clutch my right arm, which has blood pouring from it in a never-ending stream, and I felt my vision fading. Twilight trots slowly up to me, all the while smiling. She stops just underneath a tree to my left. “Now to finish you.” She says nonchalantly. Her horn glows with magic once again, and I realize I’m going to die. I happen to look up, and I see the branches of the tree above Twilight moving. I realize with a start that was the tree Fluttershy was hiding in. Just as Twilight was about to release the spell, the sheathe of my sword came flying out of the tree. With a loud crack, it hit Twilight directly on the top of her head. Her horn still glowing, she staggers from the blow. Fluttershy drops out of the tree, my kilij clutched between her teeth. Before Twilight could react, she lunges forward and slashes at her face. Twilight tried to duck, but only halfway succeeded. Instead of cutting her face, the sword cut a small niche into her horn. Sparks of magic were flying off her injured horn, and Twilight looked scared. Fluttershy backed up as a mass of purple energy surrounded Twilight. The magic became increasingly unstable looking. With a large explosion and flash of light, Twilight was gone. Upon seeing her gone, I rest my head against the ground, and slowly close my eyes. The last thing I saw was Fluttershy’s distraught look as she leaned over me.

Justice Chapter 10

My friend Nathan and I were sitting on the couch playing Xbox as usual.

I practically lived  at his house after school.

After yet another headshot from him to me, I sigh in exasperation and say,

“Could you let me win once? This is ridiculous!”

He just laughs and says, “Hey you got your ninja skills in real-life, but when it comes to video games, I’m the ninja!”

I just roll my eyes, “Whatever.”

As we start up a new game, I glance out the window at the red, smoke-filled sky.

“You sure we’re going to be alright? That fire looks pretty close…”

“Its alright, forest fires go by all the time but they never get near. You know that.”

The new game starts, and I am killed within the first ten seconds.

While I’m waiting to respawn, I say, “I know, but I am still worried about my house, the fire looks to be right over where my I live…”

Nathan glances nonchalantly out the window, “Eh, its close, but I’m sure it will miss your house.”

I finally spawn in the game, but I don’t take even a single step before he snipes me.

I glare at him out of the corner of my eye.

He just laughs.

The phone rings in the kitchen, and I hear Nathan’s mom go to answer it.

I don’t think anything of it.

I’m drumming my fingers against the couch’s arm when suddenly I hear glass drop to the floor and break. Nathan and I look at each other in alarm, and together we rush into the kitchen. Nathan’s mom is sitting on the floor of the kitchen sobbing. The phone had fallen halfway between his mom and us, and I heard a voice emanating from it.

“Hello? Ma’am? We received information that the teenager named Ty is at your residence, we need to speak with him. His house just burned down with his parents inside… Ma’am? Is anybody there?”

I stare at the phone, and I feel like my entire world crumbles around me.

As I slowly regain consciousness, I am aware of two things.

I can’t move.

Pain.

I feel like a mummy that has been wrapped for burial. My whole body aches and burns from my many wounds. I open my left eye because my right has a thick bandage over it. I squint from the light, and my eye slowly adjusts to it. I am in a small stick shelter, similar to the one I built on the road from Canterlot. My eye darts around, but I can only see the woven sticks above me. I try and open my mouth, but I can’t. The bandage from my eye wraps all around my head. I give a muffled grunt, hoping something will hear. Nothing happens.

“Where is Fluttershy? Did she put all these bandages on me? If so, where did she get them? How am I not dead? What was that mass of magic around twilight before she disappeared? Did it kill her?”

These thoughts dart around my head as I lay there completely motionless. I decide to give one final grunt to see if Fluttershy can hear me, and then I wait. After a few moments, I hear a rustling coming from the other end of the shelter.

I see Fluttershy’s head appear over me.

“Oh your finally awake! I was so worried! I was afraid you would never wake up… I’m so sorry I asked you not to use your sword… They almost killed you! I don’t kn-”

I silence her tirade of worry with another grunt. I use my eye to point to the bandages. and I give her a questioning look.

Realizing what I meant, she says, “Oh, Spike sent the bandages and a magic healing potion that repaired your internal damage. He knew you needed them because Twilight told him about the battle.”

My eyebrow shoots up into a surprised look at hearing twilight wasn’t dead.

“Oh, that burst of magic from Twilight didn’t kill her, it actually teleported her right into the library where she lives. That’s how Spike was able to know about the fight and send the supplies so fast.”

I nod my head in understanding as best I can, but I quickly realize that is a bad idea due to the pain. Seeing my face contort in pain, Fluttershy frowns and says quietly,

“I’m sorry you’re in so much pain, I found a few herbs that would take the edge off, but apparently I didn’t get enough… I’m sorry….” She looks down in shame and I see tears begin to form.

“She must think this whole ordeal is her fault!” I realize.

I raise my uninjured left arm, and I place my hand on top of her head. She looks up, and I give her the best smile I could muster with only half my face showing.

She gives me a sad smile, and says,

“You need to rest some more, go back to sleep okay?” I just close my eyes, and slowly drift back off to sleep.

Twilight’s POV:

“I’m going to kill him!!! I’m going to tear him and Fluttershy apart!!! Nopony defies me!! I can’t believe Fluttershy would work with a monster like that human! How could they have beaten me?!?!?!”

I sent another bookshelf flying into the wall, where it broke with a satisfying crunch. Spike is cowering in the corner watching me rage, but I don’t care. I pass by a mirror on the wall, and for the ten-millionth time I look at the niche carved into my horn.

My rage builds all over again.

“SPIKE!” He jumps from the corner and falls at my hooves.

“Take a letter to the Princess. Tell her I still haven’t found the human, and that I don’t need any reinforcements here. Got it?”

“Ye-s” He stammers out.

“Good. The Princess mustn’t  know that they beat me, I can’t be a failure to her. I will kill them myself, no matter what it takes…”

I see my entire body turn a darker shade of gray in the mirror.

And I like it.

Rainbow Dash’s POV:

It felt good to finally relax. No more taking orders, just time to chill on my favorite cloud. I lazily roll to the side and look over the edge of the cloud I’m resting on. I see Ponyville far below me, but I don’t really care about it. I glance nonchalantly at my hoof as it turns another shade darker, but I just ignore it.

“Cloudsdale is way better.” I thought. “I wonder if Twilight managed to capture that human… doesn’t matter. I actually hope he got away just because of how much it would piss her off.” I snort at the thought and fall back to sleep.

Rarity’s POV:

“He is mine… all mine…”

I had put my diamond statue in the basement of my boutique, where nopony would find him.

“I’ll name you… Tom 2.” I spoke aloud to it, while polishing away every bit of dirt.

It didn’t matter that my own coat and mane were filthy, just so long as Tom 2 sparkled like the diamond he is… I grin madly as I see my reflection in the diamond turn a darker shade of gray.

I lay down in the dust at it’s feet.

I rock back and forth and say,

“All mine…all mine…”

Applejack’s POV:

My head was pounding like all get-out. I rose to mah hooves, and looked around, blinking in confusion. “What in tarnation happened?”

Ah spoke aloud ta nopony in particular. I

saw Pinkie stand up, and wobble over towards me.

“Pinkie, do you know what happened? I’m pretty sure we were hit by ah tree, but ah am not sure.”

She rolls her eyes at me and says, “Close, we were knocked out by the human. Looks like everypony left us here.”

Ah stare blankly at her.

“Now your sure it wasn’t a tree?” Ah ask again.

Pinkie gets right in mah face and growls at me.

Ah notice her whole body turns a darker shade of gray.

Ah look down, and see mine change as well.

Ah look back up and ah see Pinkie trotting away.

“Where ya goin?” Ah call after her.

“I’m going back to Ponyville!” She shouts back at me.

With nothing better tah do, Ah follow.

Fluttershy’s POV:

I stood over him, watching him sleep.

All I could think of while looking at him lying there was:

“Its all my fault. I told him not to kill my friends… and he paid the price for my weakness… He has been so kind to me, he has protected me, and this is how I repay him.

I… I love him…

I have to become stronger. I can’t let my timid nature hold me back anymore… I will become stronger!”

I glance down and see my coat darken considerably. I feel my mind become darker and colder.

This time, I welcome it.

“If this is what it takes to protect him, so be it. I refuse to remain weak any longer…”

Ty’s POV:

Four days had passed.

Each day Fluttershy woke me up, brought me food, and left.

Every now and again she would check my bandages, and would remove a few. She never said anything after the first time I woke up, and it worried me. What worried me more was that the food she brought me had meat. In the shade of the shelter, I could barely even see her. On the fourth morning, she came into the shelter, looked me over, and removed the last of the bandages. She motioned me to come outside, and left. I hesitantly sat up. I experimented with stretching my legs, and when I felt I was ready, I stood to a crouch and walked out of the shelter. Once outside, I raised my hand to my face, and squinted from the bright sun. After my eyes adjusted, I look around and gasp. There were animal carcasses littering the ground. I heard a twig snap behind me, and I whip around to see what it is.

My mind doesn’t believe what it sees.

Fluttershy was standing there many shades darker than she was before, and she had a dead squirrel in her mouth.

I gasp and ask, “Fluttershy?? What are you doing?!”

She gives me a weird look and says, “Getting dinner. What does it look like I’m doing?”

I just stare blankly at her as she drops the carcass by my sword. My sword was out of the sheathe and propped against a tree.

It’s blade was covered in dried blood.

Seeing me looking at the blade, Fluttershy says, “Its easy to call the animals towards me, the sword really helps with killing and skinning them. I knew you needed meat to regain your strength, and eggs would only go so far.”

I stare in horror at her and say, “Fluttershy… What happened to you?”

Seeing my look, she drops her head in semi-shame and says, “I needed to get stronger so you would never get hurt again because of me. So I did. That’s all there is to it.”

I stand there watching her with a distraught  look on my face, and suddenly I drop down and pull her into a hug. She struggles for a moment to get away, but quickly gives up. While I’m holding her, I say, “Fluttershy, my wounds aren’t your fault. They are my own for underestimating your friends. It won’t happen again. Please, don’t lose yourself to self-perceived strength. Just because you think it is your fault, which it isn’t, doesn’t mean you have to completely change your personality to fix it.” I pull away and look her right in the eyes.  “I love you just the way you are, you don’t have to become stronger to protect me. I consider it my job to protect you because I love you.”

At the word “love” her eyes get big and I see tears begin to form.

She suddenly breaks out sobbing and throws herself against me. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight while she cries. As she cries I notice something change. Her coat slowly turns a lighter color. After a few seconds, it is a bright yellow, and her mane is a bright pink as well, not just shades of gray!

“Fluttershy! Look at your coat! I think your back to normal!” She stops sobbing for a moment and looks down at herself. She breaks into a huge smile, and then suddenly notices that she is practically on top of me. She quickly gets off and looks down in embarrassment.

I have to chuckle at the sudden attitude change, and I say, “Are you really this shy all the time?”

She stammers, “Ye-s.. B-but I can not be shy if you want… if its okay with you….”

Her voice got smaller as she kept on talking until I couldn’t even hear her.

I laugh, “You’re so adorable! Anyways, I told you before, you don’t have to change yourself, your fine just the way you are.”

She blushes even more and gives a small squeak of embarrassment.

I smile, “Now that you are yourself, I’ll have to get to know you all over again. Why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”

She lifts her head up slightly and smiles, “Okay… if you want me to…”

We spend all day talking to each other, and Fluttershy gets more and more comfortable being around me. Eventually, night begins to fall over the woods and I crawl back into the shelter.

Fluttershy stops at the entrance to it and asks, “Um… may I sleep in here tonight? I get kinda cold sleeping by myself…”

I nod, “Sure, come on in.”

I lay down, and Fluttershy curls up next to me.

“I’m glad your really back Fluttershy.” I say.

She sleepily nods and snuggles up closer to me.

I rest my arm over her and I close my eyes.

In the darkness of my mind however, something nags me from the back of my head.

Something I had seemingly overlooked… My conscience seems to come out of nowhere and asks,

“Is this okay?”  I ask it, “What do you mean?” It says, “Being in love with a pony, that’s what I mean!” “Well, she is a lot like a human…” I feebly try and defend myself.

It doesn’t work.

“That doesn’t matter! Its just not right and you know it! If you really love her you’ll stop leading her on and end it now! What are you going to say to her? ‘Sorry I really like you, but it is morally wrong to love you, so goodbye!’”

My conscience says in a mocking tone.

I have no answer.

“Fact is, she is an animal, you are a human. Case closed.”

Before I can attempt to argue with my conscience, it is gone. I open my eyes and look at Fluttershy sleeping beside me.

“What am I doing…” I think, “What should I do?”

I close my eyes and fall into a disturbed, fitful sleep.

A/N Most "Human In Equestria" fanfics I have seen where a human loves a pony or vice versa, they completely ignore the moral implications of such a thing. Not in this one. It will be a major plot element has he struggles with his feelings and what he knows is right.

Justice Chapter 11

It was the day after I got the call about my parents.

24 hours since my life was destroyed.

I was sitting on the couch at Nathan’s house, wearing a borrowed tux to go to my parents funeral.

My lawyer called and talked to me yesterday, only a few hours after my house had burned down. He jabbered on about the will, and about how he was planning the funeral for the very next day. He wanted to rush things along so he could take everything.

And it worked.

Still in shock, I was sitting here waiting to go to the funeral. Almost no one would be there because of the short notice. The doorbell rang, and without waiting for someone to open the door, the lawyer strode in. He looked over at me, and grinned. Why would he not smile while looking at his golden goose?  With the grin still plastered on his face, he walked over to me and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

“Glad to see your doing alright, ready to go?”

I gave him an extremely low and menacing growl, something I was quite good at.

He retreated quickly while pulling his hand back, as if I was going to bite it.

At this point, I just might.

He then said, “Well then, shall we be going?” I gave him one last glare and I stalked out the front door. Nathan and his family followed, and Nathan gave the lawyer another glare for me. We got in our cars, and drove towards the church.

I wake up to a large mass of pink air slowly suffocating me.

With my left arm, as my right was still a little stiff, I brush the hair away.

In doing so, Fluttershy wakes up and yawns.

She gives me a sleepy look and smiles, “Good morning, did you sleep well?”

Her eyes were full of love as she said those words, and it made me squirm on the inside.

She had no idea the war that was still raging itself in my mind.

I choke out, “Y- yeah I slept fine. You?”

She closes her eyes and gently lays her head against my chest.

“I slept next to you, of course I slept well.” She softly murmurs.

I close my eyes and think, “Shit. This is worse than I thought, how the hell am I going to fix this now?”

I open my mouth to speak, but Fluttershy interrupts me by getting up and saying, “I’m going to get the fire started for breakfast, Spike should be sending some food soon.”

She gives me one last smile, turns, and ducks out of the shelter. I plop my head back against the ground. “Well I’ve done it now… she is completely in love with me…” I sigh, and crawl out of the shelter.

“I’m going to have to tell her eventually, but not now. I need time to properly think this through.”

When I am out of the shelter, I look up and see the makeshift fire ring Fluttershy built. My sword was laying across the middle of it, and Fluttershy was trying to use my flint to start the fire. It was almost painful watching her try because of how difficult it looked.

“Well I probably couldn’t start a fire holding the flint in my mouth.” I thought.

I walk over, pluck the flint from her mouth, and I start up the fire using the edge of my sword within seconds. Fluttershy gives me a grateful look, and then trots over to a pile of supplies next to our shelter. There were several pots and pans, a jug of water, and some silverware. Spike must have sent all of it. Just as I think that, there is a flash of green light and some smoke next to the fire pit. Once the smoke clears, I see a bag of apples, a carton of eggs, and a letter. Fluttershy trots back over with a pan, and proceeds to crack the eggs into the pan. I grab an apple and I bite into it. While munching on the apple, I reach over and pick up the letter. I unroll it and begin reading.

“Dear Fluttershy and Ty, I am glad to hear Ty is fully recovered. I sent eggs again from Fluttershy’s coop, I hope you don’t mind. It is the only place I can get eggs without suspicion. Rainbow Dash and Rarity have officially disbanded from Twilight, and only Pinkie Pie and Applejack remain loyal to her at this point. Without letting Twilight know, I informed the royal guards that Twilight had fought you on the road to Appleoosa without informing the Princess. The guards sent the message, and now the Princess has ordered Twilight and her remaining friends to return to Canterlot Palace. This will take some of the pressure off of you, and should allow you to find the hidden element and kill the last two guardians in relative peace. As if finding a lost artifact and killing two incredibly powerful creatures could be peaceful.”

I can’t help but smirk at that part.

“I also sent a map on the bottom of this letter for your reference, I hope it helps. I will continue sending you supplies until you inform me not to, and I wish you luck in your quest. Spike”

I glance over the map, and then summarize what Spike wrote to Fluttershy. Once I am done, Fluttershy is finished with cooking the eggs. We discuss how Twilight being gone will help us while we eat.

“I just hope Princess Celestia doesn’t hurt her…” Fluttershy worriedly murmurs.

“I don’t know, it is a possibility.” I reply. At this point I really don’t care about Twilight, in fact, I kind of hate her.

Fluttershy immediately breaks down and starts crying.

“Oh shit! I forgot shes a lot more sensitive now…”

I sit down next to her and I put my arm around her. She snuggles up against me again. I mentally sigh in annoyance, but it doesn’t last long. How can I be annoyed when she is this cute?

“Snap out of it!” I mentally berate myself.

I regain my mental composure just as Fluttershy stops crying.

She sniffs and says, “Thank you… even though my friends are mean now I still don’t want them to get hurt…”

“I understand.” I say simply.

I stand up, and Fluttershy gets up as well.

“Are you ready to go? We have about an hour walk according to the map.”

“Yeah, I guess so… will we be coming back here?”

“Yep, we can go check out the ruins and come back once it starts getting dark. We should try and be back before Spike sends our dinner, we don’t want any animals to get it before we do.”

Fluttershy nods. “Okay.”

I grab my sword, sheathe it onto my belt, and stand up. Fluttershy stands next to me and begins packing a small bag full of apples. While she is doing that, I clean the blood and grime off of my sword. Once she is done packing our food for the trip, I grab the bag and sling it over my shoulder. She starts trotting in the direction of the temple, and I follow. Just a few minutes away from the camp, I spot a small pool of water and I am struck with a thought.

I haven’t seen my reflection in a week.

I’m certainly not the vain type, but with all the scars I must have acquired during the fight, I couldn’t resist. I walk over to the pool and lean over.

I gasp at what I see.

The right side of my face was covered in a large, red, scar.

The scar was a deep red towards my eye, and it lightened up as it radiated away from it. The burn I suffered from the fight had even burned my hairline back an inch.

I didn’t know what to think of it.

My self image I kept in my head was shattered.

It feels like a stranger is looking back at me.

It is then I notice everything else. My clothes are in tatters, my shirt especially. The fabric on my left shoulder is gone, and another ugly red scar  dominated it. The claw marks from the manticore are still visible on the shirt, and glimpses of the scars across my chest are visible as well. Then there was my arm. A single white scar ran from the tip of my middle finger all the way up to my right shoulder, widening as it traveled up. I sit down hard by the edge of the water, and just stare at my reflection.

Fluttershy notices, and trots over with a concerned expression.

She sits down next to me and says nothing, all the while staring into the water at my reflection. Several minutes pass in silence. The wind blows gently through the forest, creating a calming effect. Every now and again a leaf falls out of a tree and lands on the water. The ripples distort the image of Fluttershy and I in the water, but it turns calm again a moment later.

Fluttershy speaks to me in a soft tone, “I know this must be difficult for you… you’ve changed so much… but that is only your physical appearance. You are still the same person as before, whom I love dearly. If anything, you are stronger now because of this. Don’t forget that…”

Another ripple passes over the water, but the cause of this one is a tear.

“Thank you…” I say quietly.

I rise to my feet, and continue walking once again. Fluttershy stays right by my side.

Ten minutes pass in silence before Fluttershy speaks. “Would you like to hear about the history of the ruins we are going to explore?”

I nod my head. “Alright.”

“Okay then, to be honest, not much is known about them. All we really know is that millennia ago a group of things called “The Ancients” built them. Those things used  their power to create the Elements of Harmony, in case those powers were ever to be needed again. Unfortunately, about a thousand years ago, they were. Princess Luna had grown discontent, and she became Nightmare Moon. She threatened to throw the world into eternal night. Her sister, Princess Celestia, used the five elements to banish her to the moon. A thousand years later however, Nightmare Moon escaped. She threatened to finish what she had started, and it took my friends and I finding the sixth Element of Harmony to stop her. We managed to banish the Nightmare side of her, leaving only the good Luna left.”

As she finished, I had a few questions spring to mind.

“Wait, Celestia banished her sister to the moon for a thousand years?”

She nods.

“Doesn’t that seem a little harsh to you?”

“Well… a little. But it was all she could do at the time.”

“Alright, but why is Luna in a ruling position after all that had happened?”

“Well she isn’t really ruling… Celestia still raises the moon and does everything. Luna is just kinda… there…”

“I see…”

I store this information in my mind, something tells me it could be useful.

We keep on walking, and eventually we come to a dilapidated rope bridge. I carefully test my weight against it, and I slowly inch across it. After a few minutes of slow walking, I finally reach the other side. As soon as I step onto the ground, a heavy mist surrounds me, and I can’t see Fluttershy on the other side. I call out,

“Hey Fluttershy! Can you hear me?”

After a few seconds I hear her faint reply. It was garbled from the fog, but I could make out that she didn’t want to cross the bridge.

I yell back while rolling my eyes, “Just fly across!”

I wait a few seconds, and then I see Fluttershy flying out through the mist. She lands, gives me a small embarrassed smile, and keeps trotting forward. I follow. The whole atmosphere seemed to become more and more gloomy as we got closer to the ruins, which I can now see in the distance. Fluttershy shivers at the unnatural darkness, and trots closer to me. A few minutes of walking later, we are at the steps of the ruins. The ruins extend an aura of dilapidation and darkness. Not what you would expect from a place that housed the Elements of Harmony. We carefully go up the stairs, and we stop before to massive doors. The appeared to be made out of oak with iron studs, and looked around 2 feet thick. If they were locked I wasn’t sure how we would get in. I stepped right up to the door, and laid my hand on it. As soon as my hand came in contact with the door, it fell forward with a loud crash.

“Well that was easier than I thought…” I said.

I cautiously step through the gaping entrance and into the dust cloud stirred up by the door. I wave in front of me to hopefully blow the dust away. Once through the cloud, I stop in awe.

The temple is massive. The ceilings are at least fifty feet high, and it was about half as long as a football field. I notice a raised dais in the back, but nothing is on it. On both walls are hundreds of small tiles with symbols on them. Each one was different, and the symbols went all the way to the ceiling. I turn around and ask Fluttershy,

“What are all those symbols for? What do they mean?”

She replies, “Some of them are symbols for the Elements of Harmony. All the rest are fakes to confuse would-be thieves. To reveal the way to obtain one of the elements, you have to press the tile for it. If you press a tile that isn’t an Element, a nasty trap will come out instead. It is to make sure only the true bearers of the Elements can get them. Let me show you.”

Fluttershy walked along the left wall until she stopped about halfway along. She looked up, and flew about three fourths the way up the wall. She stopped in front of a tile that had a picture of a butterfly on it. Once she got near to it, the tile glowed.

“The tiles glow when the bearers are near?” I call up to her.

She replies, “Yes, its another way the true bearers can find their element.”

“Well why don’t you press it?”

“Nothing would happen, my Element has already been taken and stored in Canterlot Castle for safe keeping.”

She flies back down to me.

“Well, if only the true bearers can get their Element, what hope do we have of finding the hidden seventh?” Fluttershy thinks for a moment. “I’m not sure, we just have to try…”

“Alright, you look along the left wall and I will look along the right.”

“Okay.”

I walk to the other side of the massive room, and begin scanning the tiles. Nothing in particular catches my eye until I am at the very back of the room. I look up at the wall, and I see an odd looking symbol. It is an old fashioned balance scale, like those seen in courtrooms. Over the center of it was a shield, with two crossed swords in-between.

For some reason, I instantly liked it.

I called out to Fluttershy,

“Hey Fluttershy, come look at this!”

She quickly trots over. “What is it?”

I point at the symbol that was halfway up the wall.

“See that symbol right there? The one with the scale, shield and swords? I kinda like that one.”

Fluttershy examines it for a minute.

“Can you get up to it? I don’t think I am strong enough to fly you up…”

I look closer at the tiles, and I notice they are protruding from the wall slightly.

“Yeah, I think I can use these tiles to climb up to it. I’ll just have to be careful not to press them by accident.”

She nods and takes a step back. I test my foot against a tile near the floor, and it holds my weight. I slowly begin climbing up the tiles. About a quarter of the way up, my knee accidentally bumps into a tile, and presses it. I hear a whoosh go by my head, followed by and loud thump. I look to my left, and an arrow was buried in the wall an inch from my face. Undaunted, I use the arrow as a handhold and I keep climbing. I finally reach the symbol, and to my great surprise, it glows once I am over it.

I look at it warily and call down to Fluttershy, “Um, what do I do now? Its glowing.”

She calls back up, “Really? Well press it, see what happens!”

I look back over at the symbol, and I carefully press it. A few seconds pass and the tile stops glowing. I worriedly look down at Fluttershy.

“Hey Fluttershy, it stopped glowing! Do you know what-”

I’m suddenly cut off as the tile shoots forward, hits my chest, and knocks me off the wall. I roll when I hit the ground, so I’m not badly hurt. I hear a grinding sound underneath the floor, and  a section of it falls away, leaving a gaping hole. As I get up, Fluttershy comes galloping towards me.

“Are you alright?!?” she frantically asks.

“I’m fine.” I reply.

Just as I’m about to ask her what happened, I hear the screech of metal being scraped on stone. The hairs on my arms stand up and I feel a cold shiver run down my spine. I slowly turn my head to look at the hole in the middle of the temple, and I see a blue glow emanating from it. The glow gets brighter, and the scraping sound closer.

“Fluttershy… get behind me.”

Fluttershy looks between the glow and me, and darts behind me. I draw my sword and fall into my defensive stance. I have no idea what that thing is, and I’m not going to take any chances.

The scraping sound stops.

I raise my sword higher.

What happens next surprises me so much I almost drop my sword.

A glowing blue gauntlet reaches over the edge, and pulls a glowing blue suit of armor over.

The suit of armor stood up, and I notice two things. It’s pieces are connected by a blue aura. And it is made for a human. The visor on the helm has two glowing dots underneath it, and it feels like they are staring into my soul. The suit of armor is made out of a mixture of white and black metal. It’s right side is black and the left is white. It has no shield or sword. The left forearm bracer is missing. The suit walks forward a few steps, and to my amazement, speaks.

“Thou seekest the hidden Element? I am the guardian of  the final Element, the Element of Justice! Prove thy worth! En Garde!”

It holds out it’s hands, and the aura that keeps it together creates a blue shield and sword. Without another word, it dashes forward and attacks.  I raise my sword just in time to block it’s sword, but it hits me with it’s shield and I go flying. As I hit the ground, I see Fluttershy run towards me.

“No! Stop!” I yell at her.

She skids to a stop a few feet away from me.

“Fluttershy, get somewhere safe! I’ll handle him!”

She nods and gallops about twenty feet away.

I quickly get to my feet and I face the suit again.

“What are you?!?” I shout to it.

It slowly walks towards me and says, “I am the guardian of the last Element. Who is thou? Why doust thy forsake the use of  a shield?”

“I don’t need it. My policy is to kill stuff before they kill me.”

“An interesting proposal, but doust thy not protect others?”

I glance back at Fluttershy, and I look back at the armor.

“Yeah, so?”

The armor says, “Thou protects others, but thou cannot protect others if thou dies. Thine shield protects thy from dieing. Therefore, thine shield protects others.”

I think for a moment on what he said.

“Guess you have a point… but without a shield I’m faster than you!”

I lunge forward and I sever the aura that connects the guardian’s right arm to the rest of his suit. The arm falls lifelessly to the ground. I duck under his shield as he swipes at me, and I use a backward reverse slash to sever his left arm. I turn around and so does he. His helmet glances at the fallen arms.

I smirk and say, “Guess that means I’ve won!”

The helmet looks at me and says, “Thou has not proven thyself. This is just a flesh wound.”

I look at the guardian like he is crazy.

“What do you mean ‘just a flesh wound’?!? I chopped both of your arms off!! And besides, how is a it a flesh wound if you have no flesh to wound?”

The guardian seems to be in deep thought for a moment, and then finally says,

“Touché.”

It’s blue aura flares up around it, and the aura reaches out to its arms. The arms glow and reconnect with the rest of the suit.

“Crap…” I mutter.

I start circling around it, looking for a weak spot.

At this point, I’m not even sure it has one.

We had moved closer to where Fluttershy was watching. I lunge forward again, but my sword is easily deflected and I quickly retreat before he can get a counterstrike in.

He starts speaking again, “Why doust thou seeketh the Element of Justice? What doust thou plan on doing with it?”

I reply, “I didn’t even know the hidden Element was Justice, I just knew I had to find it. As for what I am going to do with it, I’m going to use it to kill Discord.”

The guardian stops for a moment and looks at me intently. I feel a slight pain in my head, and then it feels like my brain explodes. I see my memories rush out in front of me, and I realize the guardian was looking through my mind. After a moment of excruciating pain, it finally died down and my vision returned to normal.

I fell to my knees and dropped my sword.

I gasped from the pain.

The guardian spoke again. “Thou hast led an interesting life thus far. Stolen away from thy world and placed in a new one. Yet thou has chosen to protect the inhabitants of this new world. Most interesting…” He looks over to where Fluttershy has hiding in the corner.

“But how far… will thou go?”

He raises his sword to his side, and dashes towards Fluttershy.

“NO!” I scream.

I get up and sprint as fast as I can towards her.

Fluttershy is frozen in fear.

I make it to Flutterhsy just as the guardian does.

Just as the guardian rose his sword for the killing blow, I throw myself over Fluttershy to shield her.

I wince, anticipating the attack.

But it never came. I cautiously look up, and I see the guardian slowly lower his sword to his side.

He takes a step back, and bows.

He spoke then, saying, “Justice is not so much as punishing the evil, as it is protecting the weak. It gladdens me that thou understandeth the true nature of Justice. It has two parts, attack and defense, punishment and protection. Both serve the same purpose. Protecting those who cannot protect themselves. I am not the guardian of the Element of Justice. I am the Element of Justice. And thou has proven thyself worthy to wield me.”

As soon as it is done talking, the pieces fall apart. This reveals a golden bracer with a large sapphire in the shape of the symbol I pressed, all glowing in the blue aura.

It spoke again, and with every word the aura pulsed.

“With wielding me, thou receives two things. The armor I was using will be absorbed into you, and you can summon it whenever you need protection. The armor represents the two sides of Justice. The black right side represents killing those who are wicked, while the white left side represents protecting those who are weak. The right hand is where thou wields thy sword, while the left is where thou wields thy shield. The second thing thou shall receive is a shield. Using me, thou can summon a shield of my energy. If  thou ever loses thy sword, you can summon one through me as well. I have additional powers, but those thy will have to discover on thy own.”

I stand up and walk to the Element of Justice and it’s armor. I reach out to pick up the Element of Justice, but as soon as I touch it, it attaches itself to my left forearm. When it attaches itself to my arm, the blue aura fades back inside of it. I look at the armor, and I realize why the left bracer was missing.

“Huh, the Element of Justice is supposed to be the bracer… interesting.”

I bend down to pick up the armor.

When I touch it, it turns into the blue aura and is absorbed into the Element on my arm. I try and summon the armor, and faster than I can blink, its on.

I turn towards Fluttershy while taking off the helmet,  and I ask, “How do I look?”

She stares at me for a moment and then says, “Amazing… I really didn’t think anypony other than a pony could become a bearer of one of the Elements.”

“It is weird huh? What I want to know is how a suit of armor meant for a human ended up as the Element of Justice.” Yeah…” She says quietly. I realize something else is on her mind. “What is it?” I ask her. She looks down at the ground, and then back up at me. She suddenly flies to me and gives me a huge hug. After a moment, I hug back. She says, “Thank you… thank you for risking your life to protect me.” I get her to look at my face, and I give her a large smile, “Your welcome, you know I would die to protect you.“ She smiles in return and ends the hug.

With a grin, I say “Anyway, we got what we came for. Its time to head back to camp. We have a hydra to kill.”

A/N Hope this chapter didn't kill you with all the "thys" and "thous".

Justice Chapter 13

A/N I am sorry for the (what I consider) super long wait on this chapter. I have been very busy lately, but I should be returning to my normal updating schedule soon. Here is chapter 13.

I wake up to the usual suffocating pink hair.

The usual sticks and cloth from our shelter.

The usual stiffness from lying on the ground. T

he only thing that was different this morning was the stench of the bog. I get up, and crawl out of the shelter. Even though it is morning, it isn’t very bright outside due to the thick fog. There are twisted trees everywhere, and the ground is mostly marsh. The frogs and various insects create a solid wall of noise. I hear a rustling sound behind me, and I turn to see Fluttershy slowly step out of the shelter.

“Good morning!” She says to me with a bright, cheery smile that completely contrasts with our surroundings. I turn back around and say nothing, a frown etched into my features.

She trots in front of me and asks, “What’s wrong? You seem depressed this morning…”

I quickly reply, “I just don’t like this place. The swampy terrain will make fighting difficult, and the fog really hampers our vision.”

This was a half-truth.

While those thoughts are concerning me, another thing is pressing heavily on my mind.

My relationship with Fluttershy.

I have decided I will tell her right now, before I can chicken out again.

“Fluttershy, find somewhere dry to sit, I need to tell you something…”

Fluttershy gives me a concerned look, but then sits down on a tree root right beside our shelter.

I sit down just a few feet away from her on a rock.

Before I begin, Fluttershy asks, “Why don’t we start a fire? It’s cold with the fog blocking the sun…”

I say, “Can you smell the methane gas in the swamp? In the right places, a small spark could set off a explosion. Not worth risking it.”

“Oh…” she says quietly.

A few minutes pass in relative silence.

I finally muster up the courage to begin, and I say, “Fluttershy, I need to talk about-”

BANG!

A flash of green fire appears only inches away from my face. I fall of my rock in surprise as a letter falls next to me.

Only the letter is different.

I stand up and while doing so, I pick up the letter and examine it. The usual ribbon that holds it closed is gone, and the paper seem to be slightly torn in some places. Extremely concerned by this point, I open the letter. I immediately notice three things.

There are tears stains dotting the paper.

The words were scratched oddly onto the paper, as if something other than a quill was used.

And finally, the words are written in blood.

I read the message. “Ty, Fluttershy, something really bad has happened to Twilight! She has gone insane! She broke into the library and forced me to tell her everything about where you are and what has happened! She is coming for you! The Princess did something horrible to her, and now she wont stop until she finds you. She locked me in my room without any paper or ink, but I found this piece under my bed. I used my own blood to write this using my claw as a quill. Please, do something about Twilight! I’m begging you! She may be acting insane, but I don’t think she is completely gone yet. Please try and save her!”

The message ends there.

Fluttershy sees the look on my face and asks, “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I quickly tear up the paper and drop it into a puddle of water beside me.

With how delicate Fluttershy is, I know I can’t let her see the letter.

I put on a fake smile and say, “Nothing is wrong. Just Spike rambling on as usual.”

Thinking that I had no reason to lie to her, she decides to drop it.

“So will he be sending breakfast?”

“Um… no I don’t think so.”

“Oh, alright…”

We finish the last of our apples, and I ask Fluttershy, “So do you know exactly where the Hydra is?” As I ask about the Hydra, something in my mind nags me, as if I am forgetting something important about it. She replies, “Well… last time I encountered it, before it was turned into one of Discord’s guardians, it was just a  few minutes walk from here.”

I stand up quickly in alarm, “What do you mean just a few minutes away?!?! It could have woken up and attacked us while we were sleeping! What were you thinking setting up camp here?!?!”

She looks down and immediately starts sobbing.

I instantly regret my outburst.

“Fluttershy I am really sorry… I didn’t mean to yell at you. I was just alarmed that we were camped so close to it…”

She stops sobbing, but is now shaking a little.

“Fluttershy?” I ask in concern upon seeing her shaking. “Are you alright?”

I bend down and put my arm around her.

“Fluttersh-”

I am knocked into the mud by a hoof to the face.

I put my hand over my face and cringe as I realize my nose is bleeding. I look up in complete bewilderment at an enraged Fluttershy.

“How… how dare you… You hate me but you don’t have the decency to say it.”

My bewilderment grows exponentially.

What happened to her? Her color is normal, so where did this come from?

“Fluttershy, whats going on?! What are you talking about?!”

“You know what I’m talking about!” She screams at me. “You hate me… Whenever I do something nice for you, you act uncomfortable like you don’t want me around! Over the past few days I’ve caught you about to say something several times, but you never will say it!”

I am completely dumbfounded at this point. How long has she been stewing over this?

She pants for a moment after her outburst… and then says in a  quiet, sad tone, “I thought you loved me… but all this time you’ve been trying to work up the courage to tell me that you despise me…”

In shock I say, “Fluttershy, that’s not what I’ve been trying to say at all!”

Her anger instantly flares up again. “Then what!?!? Tell me you haven’t been trying to say that you don’t love me!!!”

I open my mouth to speak, but then I slowly close it.

That basically is what I was trying to tell her.

I put my head in my hands, mentally cursing myself for letting it come to this.

“Fluttershy, I-”

I am interrupted by an earth-shattering roar.

I whip my head towards the sound, and I see four reptilian heads advancing towards me over the tree-tops. “Fluttershy, leave. Now.”

Fluttershy looks at me and hisses, “We will finish this conversation later.”

With one last glare, she flies off.

I sigh and turn back to the approaching Hydra.

I get up out of the mud, shake myself off, and summon my armor.

My feet immediately sink into the marshy ground. I quickly send my armor back, and I pull myself out of the mud.

“Crap, I can’t wear my armor because the ground is to soft to support the extra weight…” I mutter to myself. “Looks like I’ll just have to be careful and not get hit.”

I quickly realize how difficult that is going to be as the Hydra finally steps into the clearing in front of me. The Hydra is at least five stories tall, and its four hissing heads are going to make sneaking up on it impossible.

“How the hell am I gonna kill this thing?” I worriedly wonder. “Those necks are pretty thick as well… it may take me two slashes to cut completely through them.”

Again, I feel as if I am forgetting something. I shake off the feeling as the Hydra charges towards me. One of the Hydra’s heads lunges for me, but I dodge and it hits the marshy ground. Right before it pulls its head back, I draw my sword and quickly slash at it.

My sword bounces off the scales.

The painful vibrations travel up my arm, and the Hydra quickly recoils it’s head. Seeing me holding my arm in pain, the four heads laugh.

“Alright then, time for plan B.” I say aloud.

I hold my right hand towards it, and I summon my blue aura sword. The Hydra quickly stops laughing and takes a step back in fear. I smile and rush forward. With my mind, I hastily communicate with the Element. “How long can you extend this sword?”

The Element replies, “As long as you need it.”

“Good, make it long enough to cut through all four heads at once.”

“It shall be done.”

The aura sword in my hand elongates to twenty feet, and due to its ethereal nature, I don’t feel any extra weight.

The Hydra is in a full retreat by this point.

But it is too slow.

I catch up to it, and with a single sweep I decapitate all four heads. They each fall to the ground and disappear in a cloud of dust. The body falls down with a squelchy thump into the marshy ground.

I smirk, turn around, and begin walking away.

I hear an ominous hissing sound, and I turn around.

Eight heads are quickly growing out of the Hydra’s body.

I face-palm as I realize how stupid I am.

This was what has been bothering me all day, cut off a hydra’s head, and two more replace it. How could I have forgotten that?

In seconds the eight heads are fully formed, and the Hydra gets back up on its feet. It turns around, and all eight heads roar at me.

I do the only sensible thing left at this point.

I run like hell.

The hydra chases after me, and because I am hampered by the marshy terrain, it slowly gains on me. My shoes keep sticking in the mud, I trip on sticks or rocks, and all the while the Hydra is getting closer. The swamp gas burns my eyes and lungs, and eventually I just collapse. I roll over and I see the Hydra looming over me. The Hydra’s eight heads smile, and I see it’s glinting sharp teeth. I try to stand up, but a bubble of swamp gas bursts right beside me and the fumes send me into a coughing fit.

“Well that’s just adding insult to in- wait a minute. Gas. Fire. You have to burn a hydra’s neck after you chop the head off to kill it! This is probably going to get me killed, but at least I will take it out with me…” I rise to my feet, and smile.

The Hydra’s heads all give me a questioning look.

I hold out my right hand, and my aura sword appears in it. The eight heads smirk at me, as if daring me to do the same mistake twice. I quickly extend the sword, and in one swift motion I chop off all eight heads. The stumps immediately begin hissing and sixteen heads begin forming. I return my aura sword, while summoning my shield and armor. I start to sink into the ground again, but this time I ignore it. While holding the shield in my left hand, I draw my kilij halfway out of the sheathe so I can use the metal for a spark. With my free right hand, I pull my piece of flint out of my pocket.

“Sorry Fluttershy, but our conversation is going to have to wait.”

I strike the flint.

Fluttershy’s POV

“Arrgghhhh…. I’m so frustrated…” I mutter aloud while pacing the border of Ponyville and Froggy Bottom Bog.

“But I am also worried” I think.

“While we couldn’t finish our conversation, he went to fight that big scary Hydra by himself… I hope he is alright…”

My anger over the secret he has been keeping from me slowly dissolves and is replaced by worry.

“Oh why did I have to be so mean to him… I thought I was over that!?” I fret aloud.

“Please be oka-”

BOOOOM!!!!

A large shockwave sends me tumbling even farther away from the border of the swamp. When my ears stop ringing, I look up at where the explosion came from. A large mushroom cloud is settled over the heart of the swamp.

“T…Ty?”

My eyes begin tearing up.

“TY!”

Twilight’s POV

“Gotta get him gotta get him… Celestia wont like it if I don’t get the human this time… gotta get him gotta get him.”

I hum to myself as I trot happily towards the swamp in my madness induced stupor.

I see a bright flash of light, and a few seconds later I hear a loud explosion. I look up towards the swamp and see a mushroom cloud hanging over it.

“Hehehe… Friendly mushroom.” I chuckle to myself. “Gotta get him gotta get him.”

A/N Well first off I realize this is a pretty weird chapter, and it is kind of short. The good news is that I will be updating regularly again, and that things are going to get a lot more interesting from here on out. If anyone gets the friendly mushroom reference I’ll give them a shout-out in the next A/N. Twilight has pretty much lost it, but she is still in there. You’ll find out exactly what happened to her in the next chapter. The next chapter wont have much for action, but the emotional stuff will more than make up for it. Please review if you have any questions or comments, like always. Thanks for reading!

Justice Chapter 14

A/N  I did not expect so many people to get the friendly mushroom reference, but I am glad you all did. Quite frankly there are more people who got it than I want to type. So good job to all of you who got it. Also, this story is on FiMfiction as well as Fanfiction. So if I comment on a particular person, and you can’t find that person in the comments/reviews, its because they are on the other site. Anyway, this chapter is only 3k words, but it’s a good one I think. A lot of stuff comes out in the open, and I got quite a surprise for you all. Here is Chapter 14!

“How could this have happened… why didn’t my parents just wake up?”

I am lying down on my friend’s couch. The call telling me my parents had died came just a few hours ago. The funeral is tomorrow.

“It feels almost surreal, as if its not really happening to me, that it is just a dream. Maybe if I close my eyes…”

I close my eyes tightly, but when I open them again everything is the same. Staring at the ceiling, I cant help but wonder what is going to happen next.

“I know I’ll be taken care of… I have cousins I can go live with. They had good life insurance, so I know I wont be poor…”

But all this is just me trying to distract myself from what really happened.

My parents are dead.

Alive and well yesterday, gone forever today. The reality of the situation hits me full force. I bury my head in the pillow and begin sobbing.

Fluttershy’s POV

I fly around the devastated swamp, searching for any sign of him.

Uprooted trees, crushed rocks, and mud cover everything. I land on a particularly tall tree that had been toppled over, and I look around.

Nothing.

A horrible thought strikes me, “What if he’s dead?”

I shake at the thought. “No… he can’t be dead… he wouldn’t do something if it would kill himself… right?” I ask aloud to nopony in particular.

“He has to be okay… he has to.”

I take off and resume my search. Several minutes later, I spot a gleam underneath a fallen tree. I quickly dive down, and I see it is his gauntlet sticking out. I land beside it and look under the fallen tree. He is underneath the tree, but he’s not moving. Fearing the worst, I grab the piece of armor, and I slowly drag him out from underneath the tree. He is so heavy in the armor I have to use my wings as well as my legs to finally get him out.

“His armor looks undamaged, but he isn’t moving. Why isn’t he moving?!?!” I frantically think.

“Please… wake up…”

Twilight’s POV

“I’m sure she flew in this direction. If I keep following this path-”

The insane part of me interrupts myself.

“Hehehehe almost there, gonna get him gonna get him.”

The sane part resumes control.

“Once I find them, I will finally be able to finish this… once and for all. But not in the way the Princess expects.”

I immediately start thinking of the Princess, and all the horrible memories with her. The insane side instantly takes over again.

“Can’t let her get mad at me again, oh no that wont do. Gotta get him gotta get him.”

Sane side.

“This place is really trashed, trees and rocks blown to bits everywhere… my plan won’t work if he is already dead. Fluttershy doesn’t have it in her to take another’s life…”

Insane side.

“Hehehe look at all the pretty rocks! Destroyed and scattered everywhere! Hehehe!”

Sane side.

“They should be just around this corner…” I turn around a large rock and I see Fluttershy huddled over the human who is laying prostrate on the ground.

Insane side.

“Hehe there they are. Gonna kill them gonna kill them!”

Fluttershy’s POV

I hear giggling to my left, and I whip my head around to see what it is. My eyes widen in absolute horror at the figure happily trotting towards us.

It’s Twilight.

While she is still a decent distance off, I hear an insanely horrible melody waft its way over.

“Gonna kill them gonna kill them…”

I rush towards Ty’s head and I start shouting in desperation at him.

“TY!!!! WAKE UP!!!”

Tears start streaming down my face as Twilight gets closer. I start shaking him.

“PLEASE!!! WAKE UP!!!!”

Ty’s POV

Silence.

Blessed silence.

For once I feel truly at peace.

Nothing to worry about, nopony to save, just silence and darkness. However, something is messing with my peace. I feel like far away something is shaking me. I reluctantly open my eyes. Through the visor in my helmet, I see Fluttershy’s tearful face looming over me. She is the one shaking me. But her mouth is also moving… why can’t I hear anything? Half awake, I try and sit up. The weight of the armor makes it impossible. I frown in frustration, and I dismiss my armor back into the Element. With the armor gone, I sit up. Fluttershy is still talking to me, but I can’t hear what she is saying. I reach up to touch both of my ears, and when I pull my hands away they are covered in blood. At the sight of my own blood I jolt fully awake. I’m deaf.

I begin to panic just as I feel the Element contact me.

“Don’t worry, I can heal you.”

I mentally yell at it, “Why did I get hurt in the first place!?”

The Element calmly responds, “Your armor will protected you from the fire of the explosion, the shockwave, and the debris, but it can’t protect you from sound. Otherwise you would be deaf whenever you put your armor on. Makes sense?”

“Yeah… but you said you can heal me?”

Fluttershy tries to turn my body so I can look at something, but I am too busy communicating with the Element to pay attention.

“Yes, I can heal you. It will cost some of your own energy though, so be prepared to feel drained.”

“Sure, whatever. Just get me my hearing back.”

“As you wish”

I instantly feel like the life is sucked out of me, but I can finally hear.

“TY!! She is right here! Do something! Please!”

I hear the desperation in Fluttershy’s voice, and I wearily turn to see what she is pointing at.

I gasp in shock.

Twilight is standing just a few feet away, but there is something horribly wrong with her. She has a crazily large smile on her face and her coat is covered in burn marks. Then I look at the top of her head.

Her horn is gone.

Where her horn used to be, all that is left is a tiny stub coated in dried blood.

“T-Twilight? What happened to you?” I ask in horrified tone.

What happens next scares me even more.

She laughs.

“Oh nothing happened… hehehe I just gotta kill you now.”

“She’s insane…” I mutter to myself.

But then she speaks again. “I’ve come to kill you and Fluttershy, what are you going to do about it?”

The insane smile had left her, as well as the creepy tone.

“She almost seems… normal?” I think. “And why is she trying to provoke me?”

I stand up and stare at her in confusion.

“Well?!?” She demands, “Aren’t you going to attack me??”

I hear pain in her voice, and suddenly I see into her mind. I see flashes of the time she attacked me, and everything bad she has done in her life.

“It must be the Soul Search…” I think.

But then something strange happens.

I see everything bad that has happened to her.

From practical jokes to Fluttershy attacking her, I see it all. And then I see what happened a few days ago at the Palace. I see Celestia imprisoning her. I see guards torturing her with hot irons. And then I see a guard with bolts cutters removing her horn. I cringe and try to shut my eyes against these pictures, but they are invading my mind. She goes insane from the pain, and then I see Celestia give her orders to hunt me down and kill me. In her seemingly mindless insanity, she happily obeys. But then she starts acting different. She acts sane off and on, and eventually my mind stops on a time when she is trotting towards the swamp while talking aloud to herself.

“He already hates me for severely wounding him at the Everfree Forest. It shouldn’t be too hard to provoke him into attacking me. If he kills me, it will all be over. I will never need to worry about Celestia again. If I make it look like I tried to fight him and just lost, maybe Celestia wont kill my parents too. He is my last hope…”

The scenes quickly rush out of my mind, and I fall to my knees.

One thought pervades my mind.

“She wants me to kill her.”

I look up at her, and I see her confusion at me falling back down to my knees. I wearily stand up again, unsheathe my sword, and start walking towards her. Seeing my sword out, she scrunches her face in concentration, and from the stub of her horn come small sparks. The sparks elongate into little blades, and they haphazardly start flying in my general direction. As I walk forward, a few cut my arms and legs, but they never get near my vital areas.

I keep advancing.

Twilight’s POV

Sane. “It’s working… he really is going to kill me. Just a little bit more…”

Insane. “Why isn’t this working?!? I need to kill him! Gotta kill him!”

Ty’s POV

The blades are so haphazard now that a few are even going backwards and cutting Twilight. Only five feet away from her, I stop.

She looks at me in confusion.

I point the tip of my sword down, and I stab it into the earth.

I keep walking forward. Twilight begins to look scared. She starts backing up.

Twilight’s POV

Sane. “What is he doing?? He left his sword behind… what is he going to do?!?!”

Insane. “Yes! Hehehe I’ll show him his mistake for leaving his sword behind, yes I will!”

Ty’s POV

Even though Twilight was backing up in fear, even more tiny blades were being sent towards me.

But even more were cutting her.

I limp forward slightly faster. Twilight backs up into a rock. When she hits the rock, the blades stop firing.

I walk forward a few more steps, and I am literally inches away from her. I bend down and look at her in the eyes. She looks at me with clearly undisguised fear.

“She doesn’t know what I am going to do, and it terrifies her.” I think to myself.

She closes her eyes and I see tears starting to form.

I lean forward, and I hug her.

I hear a gasp from Fluttershy and Twilight simultaneously.

Twilight stiffens in shock, but I just squeeze tighter.

A full minute passes, and Twilight suddenly breaks down and begins sobbing. She leans into me, and I just keep holding her while she cries. I can actually feel the insanity slipping away. Along with the insanity, I see the grey disappear from her coat, which is quickly replaced by a vibrant purple. While I examine her coat, I am reminded of her many wounds.

I contact the Element.

“Heal her wounds.”

“What?!?” The element says back in disbelief.

“You heard me.”

“But, you’re already weak from me healing your ears, and her wounds are much worse than that!”

“I don’t care. Heal her. Now.”

“……”

A blue aura emanates from the Element, and Twilight and I are quickly surrounded. It glows for a minute, and then quickly disappears. I pull away from Twilight, grin, and pass out.

When I come to, I see Twilight on my right and Fluttershy on my left. Fluttershy is giving Twilight a death glare, but Twilight ignores her. She is looking down on my with extreme concern and sadness, but brightens considerably upon seeing me wake up. As I soon as I sit up, Twilight throws her hooves around me and says, “Thank you.”

I return the hug, and Twilight continues, “I looked in a puddle and I saw what you did. You healed me, banished Discord’s influence over me, and even returned my horn.” I pull away for a moment and look at her horn. It is there, not even the scratch from where Fluttershy had cut it is visible.

Twilight looks at me and asks, “But why? How could you forgive me so easily? I tried to kill you…”

Her head hangs in shame and I see tears forming again. I lift her chin up and I look her in the eyes.

“You weren’t yourself. You were under Discord’s influence, and then you were tortured to insanity by Celestia. None of it was your fault.”

Her eyes grow wide when I mention Celestia.

“How did you know about that?” She asks.

I answer, “It’s a thing called Soul Search, I can see into ponies’ pasts. Its just part of being the Element of Justice.”

Her eyes grow even wider as I hold up my left arm to show her the Element.

I look into her eyes again.

“But now there is something I have to ask you. Will you join Fluttershy and I?”

I see fear in her eyes at the thought of disobeying her Princess.

“I promise I will protect you from that tyrant. Our only goal is to kill Discord, and to do that I need to kill the last grayscale guardian. The Dragon. Please, will you help us?”

I see indecision flitting around in her eyes. But then she looks up at me and says, “Yes… I will. Since Discord came back, you are the only person to have shown me kindness. Even when I tried to kill you, your only thought was to help me…”

I see tears form in her eyes again, but this time they are from joy. She smiles, and hugs me again. I return the hug. I stop smiling when Fluttershy hits me from behind with her hoof. I let go of Twilight and turn around to face her.

“What are you thinking?!?!?!?!” She yells at me. “She tried to kill us and your just going to let her join??”

I angrily respond, “I saw her past and I know what she has been through! We can trust her and you know that!”

I see something else in Fluttershy’s eyes as she glares at me.

Jealousy.

“Why don’t we finish our conversation from this morning? I’m sure she would love to hear it as well.”

I turn around to see Twilight looking at us in confusion.

“What is she talking about?”

I sigh and say, “Nothing. Look, could you give us some privacy just for a minute? There is something I need to talk to her about.”

“Sure… I guess…” Twilight gives me an unsure smile, and then trots behind the rock.

I turn back to Fluttershy. She glares at me and says, “Well?”

I sigh and explain everything to her. How where I come from it is morally wrong to love an animal, such as a pony. I say how I really do like her, but how it is wrong for me to love her.

To wrap it up, I say, “I know you loved me, but I just want to remain friends. I’m sorry Fluttershy.”

She was quiet during the entire speech, with her head down.

“Fluttershy?”

She looks up at me, and I see betrayal and hurt so deep I take a step back.

“You…you just think I am a stupid animal don’t you!?!?”

The betrayal and hurt is replaced by rage.

“You thought you could just lead me along and then break my heart like I wouldn’t even care?!?!”

I quickly say, “No! Fluttershy you know I would never mean to do that, I-”

“SHUT UP!!”

I recoil further.

“How dare you…”

Her coat turns a deep, deep black.

“I’m done being used by you. It’s over. Not that there was anything to begin with.”

She turns around and flies off as fast as she can. I fall to my knees just as Twilight comes galloping around the corner.

“What happened?” She asks in worry. “I saw Fluttershy fly off, and her coat was black!”

I nod. “Yeah, I told her something that I should have said a long time ago. Because I waited this long it got really bad and she left. I’ll explain more later, but it is getting late and I am tired. Can you wait for a full explanation tomorrow?”

She frowns in worry and then says, “Of course. My house should be safe for awhile, I could teleport us both there if you want?”

I wearily nod my head again.

She trots right up beside me, and her horn glows purple. Next thing I know I am inside a tree house filled with books.

“You live in a library?” I ask incredulously.

She gives an embarrassed smile, “Yeah… I love reading.”

“So do I.” I say.

She smiles and then says, “I’m not sure where Spike is, so I’ll prepare a makeshift bed for you while you clean up. The bathroom is right over there.”

She points to a door just a little ways from a staircase.

“Tomorrow I’ll see if I can’t get some replacement clothes for you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

She smiles again and trots towards a closet and starts getting out some sheets. I walk into the bathroom, shower, and I put my dirty clothes back on. When I come out, Twilight puts a pillow down on a bunch of blankets on the floor.

She trots over to me and asks in a concerned tone, “Will that be okay? I know its not much but I usually don’t have any guests over.”

I nod, “Yeah, that’ll be fine. Thank you.”

She starts trotting towards the stairs where I assume her room is.

She looks back and says, “I’m not sure what happened between you and Fluttershy, but, I’m sorry.”

I give her a weak smile. “Thanks.”

She goes up the stairs and I stumble over to the blankets. I plop down, and because of my extreme weariness and heartache over what happened, I fall asleep instantly.

A/N Fluttershy has gone to the dark side again, Twilight has been purified, and there is only one more grayscale guardian left. A few dark things came out in the chapter regarding Twilight, but that will be about as dark as this story gets. I know a lot of you will be pissed that Fluttershy has left, but don’t worry, she will be back. Everything I did was necessary for the plot to advance, just wait and see. I hope you liked it, and review/comment if you have any questions, or just to say you like how its going! Cya!

Justice Chapter 15

A/N 12 reviews on Fanfiction and 12 comments on Fimfiction! I’m glad you guys are loving it so far. To answer questions from Fanfiction; @Reader Review: I will keep that in mind, it is a good point. Although I did mention the Element was trying to copy Ty’s speaking styles to communicate easier. @zachsparrow: Celestia is under Discord’s influence, just like everypony else. @Vip: Ty has a large martial arts background. He practices many different styles. Most of the moves he has used so far are reminiscent of  Ba Gua Zhang. That style emphasizes skill over brute force, hence his deflecting and dodging maneuvers. And I don’t know either Afro Samurai or Samurai Jack, so I couldn’t say. @Flyingspud: I wish I could bold the text, but every time I try and do something like that, it affects the rest of the chapter. I’m not exactly a computer whiz, so I have no idea how to fix it. For Fimfiction people, I’ll just answer questions in the comments. This A/N is long enough as is. And now for me to grovel and beg forgiveness for the extreme lateness of this chapter. I really am sorry, but this chapter has been a bear to write. Now, finally, on to chapter 15!

This funeral is a mockery.

Arranged and executed so quickly that almost none of my family is here.

I’m sitting next to my friend Nathan and his parents in the front row of the pews. The pastor is preaching in front of me about death’s inevitability, but I’m not paying attention. I look around and count how many people I know.

Ten.

There are several others that were my parent’s friends, but it is still a pathetic turnout. My gaze returns to the two coffins lying in front of me with bouquets of flowers covering them. The coffins are closed of course, no one wants to see a burned skeleton. My gaze travels upwards past the preacher and on to the far wall of the church. As my eyes rest on the large cross, I can’t help but wonder if I am being punished. I have taken pride throughout my life on how I have lived morally, following all of God’s commandments. But maybe that pride is the reason itself. Pride comes before the fall; is this it?

No.

I refuse to believe this is my fault. I glance back over at my grieving relatives. I see sorrow on some of their faces, anger on others. I realize it is only natural to feel sorry or angry when someone dies, especially if they are close to you. I look back at the cross. No, it really isn’t my fault. Things happen for a reason, whether I know what that reason is now or later doesn’t matter. But even with that realization, I feel something burning inside me.

Hatred.

Hatred for the person whose fault this really is. Try as I might to resist, the hatred slowly fills me, all the while seemingly burning away the tidbits of wisdom I came across earlier.

Mercy, love, forgiveness? Gone.

All replaced by a burning anger that threatens to consume me.

I realize this didn’t just come on.

It has been building ever since I got that call.

Hearing the sound of my own name snaps me out of my wrathful reverie, and I realize the preacher has asked me if I want to say anything. I nod and stand up. I walk over to the pulpit, passing the two coffins along the way. I stand behind it and look out over the meager amount of people gathered. A wonderful speech pops into my head, full of how my parents led respectable lives and were great mentors to me.

But it’s a lie.

Instead, all I say is this: “My parents were not the best parents in the world. Not by a long shot. But I loved them anyway, if not for the sole fact of them being my parents. All I truly know at this point is that they were murdered.”

A gasp runs through the small crowd. The police had only told me that fact, and hadn’t released it to the public yet. Oh well.

“And now there is only one thing I feel I can do.”

My gaze sweeps over the shocked faces.

“I will find the person responsible for this.”

I pause.

“And I will kill him.”

A stunned silence follows my words.

Ignoring the stares, I walk down the aisles of the church and out the door.

I wake up sore, the thin sheets between me and the hardwood floor only compound the aching feeling I have from yesterday’s ordeal. I open my eyes and sit up, while foggily trying to remember where I am. With a sudden rush it all comes back to me.

The Hydra.

Fluttershy’s regression into darkness.

Then finally Twilight’s conversion to light.

I feel shell-shocked as the reality of my world turning upside down hits me. I start as I hear hooves clopping down the stairs, and I quickly draw my sword which I had laid down beside me. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see it is only Twilight.

Twilight, naturally, is shocked at seeing me holding out my sword towards her in a threatening manner, and asks with a worried undertone, “Are you alright?”

I reply while sheathing my sword, “Yeah, you just scared me.”

I look at her closer.

“Nice bedhead by the way.”

She raises an eyebrow, then uses magic to summon a mirror in front of her. She chuckles at her own reflection.

“You have some pretty crazy bedhead yourself.”

She turns the mirror towards me and I can’t help but laugh as well. Once the laughter dies away and she sets the mirror aside, we just stand there staring at each other.

An extremely awkward silence follows.

I can’t help but think to myself, “I know almost nothing about this mare. One day she tries to kill me, the next she is my only ally. I’m not quite sure how to deal with her…”

Thankfully, Twilight breaks the silence.

“I noticed your clothing was a bit torn up, I was thinking I could stop by Rarity’s and pick up some fabric to make some clothes for you. I’m not as good as Rarity when it comes to making clothes, but I know how to do it.”

I stand up and nod. “Alright, while you are out try and find Spike. Who knows where he has gone. Also, try and listen in on other ponies, I want to know what they think of the explosion yesterday.”

She frowns and says, “Who died and made you leader?”

I frown and say, “I am the Element of Justice, I think that kind of entitles me to be the leader.”

I see a vein bulge in her forehead, and she raises her voice, “Well I am the Element of Magic in case you’ve forgotten!”

I smirk and reply, “Which is useless because Discord is immune to it.”

She bursts into flames.

“HOLY SH-”

As quickly as it came she settles down and returns to her normal self.

She growls in frustration and says, “I never thought you’d be so annoying! I’m leaving, I’ll be back soon!” She stomps out the front door and slams it shut with magic.

As soon as the door closes I realize how big of an ass I was.

I facepalm and sarcastically mutter, “Nice going Ty, way to be diplomatic with your only ally.”

I raise my head and look towards the door.

“I’ll have to apologize when she gets back. But I wonder why she acted so aggressive when I told her what she should do?”

A thought comes to me.

“She is the leader of her friends, and the leader of the Elements of Harmony before I came along. She is not used to being ordered around. She overreacted, but I shouldn’t have been so bossy.”

I sigh and wonder what I’m going to do until she gets back. My rumbling stomach answers that question for me.

“ I better find the kitchen and make myself something… hope she wont mind.”

I wander around the first floor until I find the kitchen, and I quickly scramble myself some eggs. With the plate in my left hand I walk around a bit looking at the books. All the titles seem alien to me, but considering I am in a land where ponies have replaced people, I suppose that is fitting. I finish the plate of eggs and I set it down by a horse-head statue in the middle of the room. I walk over to the bookshelf and grab a random book.

“Dragons: A Biology”

“Hmm, sounds interesting enough.”

I look around for a chair, and when I find one I plop down and begin reading.

Twilight’s POV

“What a jerk… how did Fluttershy ever get along with him?”

I roll my eyes at my self-imposed question.

“Fluttershy got along with him because she’s a doormat, that’s why. Because Fluttershy is so meek, he probably made all the decisions while they worked together, and was the leader… No wonder he acted kinda bossy. He’s used to leading, just like I am.”

I lower my head a bit in shame as I trot down Mane Street.

“I overreacted… I’ll need to apologize when I get back. Maybe I’ll-”

My thoughts are interrupted as I hear Lyra and Bonbon fighting just a few feet away from me. They were arguing whether to buy celery or carrots.

I sigh.

“I can’t believe how everypony has changed… those two used to get along so well…”

I smirk, “Some said a little too well, but that’s beside the point.”

My expression changes to anger.

“I hate what Discord has done. Last time he just changed my friends and I, but this time he chose everypony. And the killings… why would he do that?”

I notice Applejack selling some apples on the side of the street ahead, and I force my expression back to normal. When I trot by, I catch her eye and smile. She glares at me and goes back to arranging the apples on her stand.

I sigh again and keep trotting.

Ty’s POV

I set down the book as I finish reading the last page. I look up at the clock and notice it is already noon. I get up, stretch, and start wandering around. I go back to the kitchen, fix myself another plate of eggs, and I start heading up the stairs that Twilight came down from this morning. Once at the top, I see a short hallway with a door on either side of it, and a window at the very end. I saunter over to the window, and look out. I can see all of Ponyville stretched out before me. I recognize a few buildings from when I first saw this place.

“There’s the large tower in the center, still not sure what that is. There’s the place that looks to be made out of baked goods, wonder who lives there? This library I’m in must be the treehouse I first saw when I came here.”

I look out a bit past Ponyville and I see the field by the Everfree forest that I dropped into on my first day here. I chuckle when thinking about it.

“What I would give to see my own face when I saw all those ponies for the first time.” I say to myself.

My demeanor quickly darkens as I remember what happened next.

The manticore, the injuries, the mob.

And losing my sword.

After all this time that is still what I remember the most.

And then I remember Fluttershy.

I remember seeing her trying to talk to the manticore. I remember her trying to back up when it started acting aggressive. And I remember jumping in front of the manticore to save her. Tears began streaming down my face as I remember all the adventures we went on together in those few weeks. The palace, the armory, the fight with Twilight and her friends, the ruins with the Element, and finally the Hydra. It is then looking out over that field I realize something.

I miss her.

It’s only been one day since she left, but I miss her. I begin thinking about how she left.

How she thinks I hate her…….

It’s all too much and I turn away from the window. But when I turn away, a thought strikes me.

Just one.

“I have to find her.”

Twilight’s POV

Using my magic, I open the door to Rarity’s boutique. As soon as I open the door the stench of decay hits my nostrils full-force. There aren’t any lights on and all the shutters are closed, so I light up my horn. I gasp in shock as my horn illuminates the dark interior. Dirt and dust is everywhere, mannequins are on the ground, and fabric litters the floor. It looks like a dirty tornado blew right through the shop. I carefully trot inside and I begin calling out, “Rarity! Rarity are you here?”

I hear nothing so I begin trotting towards a hatch that leads to the basement of the shop.

“Rarity stores extra fabric down there, so maybe that’s where she is.” I think.

I trot over to the hatch and lift it with magic. Keeping my horn lit, I trot down the stairs. At the bottom I sweep my light back and forth to get a good idea of what is all down here. There are many stacks of fabric, some reaching many feet high, lining the walls. In the far corner of the room is where I see her.

Curled up next to a diamond timber wolf, is Rarity.

I quickly trot over and ask in concern, “Rarity, are you okay? How long have you been down here?!?”

Her body is thin, the skin stretched tight over her frame. She appears to be starving. Despite her frailty, she jumps up at the sound of my voice and rounds on me.

“Stay away! He’s mine!” She shouts in a deranged tone.

I reply, “Rarity, I’m not here for the diamond! I was going to get some fabric, but you need help! You look like you’re dying!”

She responds, “I’m fine!”

She snuggles up to the diamond. “As long as I have him, I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“What is wrong with her?” I think to myself. “I’m not sure how it could have gotten this bad, but I have to help her.”

“Rarity, since I need some fabric, how about I bring you some food and water in exchange for it?”

She glares at me while she mulls it over.

She finally says, “Fine, but I’m staying right here!”

I sigh as I reply, “Okay, I’ll be back soon alright?”

She just huffs and turns her back to me. I trot back up the stairs, my eyes welling up at the thought of my friend so far gone. Once I am out of the basement, I begin trotting back to the door when I hear something. “It sounds like sniffling.” I think to myself.

I follow the sound to an overturned basket, and I flip it over.

Laying underneath, is Spike.

He is crying, and when he sees me his eyes go wide. He glances at my horn and my coat, and then at my eyes in confusion.

“T… Twilight?” He barely manages to stutter.

“M… Mommy…?”

I bend down and hug him. He starts bawling and I hold him tight. A full minute passes. Tears are freely flowing out of my eyes as he tries to form coherent sentences.

“Wha- How… What happened? How are you healed?!?”

I quietly respond, “Ty healed me.”

I let go of him and he takes a step back.

“Ty healed you? How?”

I reply, “Apparently its something he can do now that he is the Element of Justice. But, Why are you here?” Spike lowers his head and says, “I was so scared when you came by the day before yesterday… seeing you like that. When I broke the window of the room you locked me in, I didn’t know where else to go… But Rarity is almost worse than you were and I don’t know what to do…”

I bend down and look him in the eyes. “You don’t have to worry anymore, I’ll get somepony to take care of Rarity. Right now I just need to get some food down to her so I can get some fabric.”

He looks at me in confusion and asks, “Why?” I reply, “Because I need to make some new clothes for Ty. He is back at the library.”

He nods his head in understanding.

“Alright, lets go get some food for Rarity.”

“Right.”

Ty’s POV

As I begin walking back towards the stairs, I can’t help but be curious about the doors on either side of the hall. I go to the one on my right, and open it. It’s a small room with a small bed and a basket of gems beside it. The only window in the room is broken.

“Must be Spike’s room.” I think.

I close the door and turn around to face the other one.

“Then this has to be Twilight’s room.”

I don’t like snooping into other peoples’ rooms, but maybe I’ll learn  bit more about her. I open the door and walk inside. The first thing I notice are the mass of books everywhere. On the floor, on the bed, stacked up on shelves, everywhere.

“Fluttershy wasn’t kidding when she said Twilight loves to read…” I mutter to myself.

I look to the left of the room and I notice a balcony going outside. Perched on the railing, is an owl.

The owl stares at me for a moment, then turns around and flies off.

“Okaaaaay….. that’s weird.” I say aloud.

I continue looking around the room. A telescope is propped up beside one window. Above it, plastered to the wall, are countless astronomy charts showing different constellations. I keep looking around, but nothing else really catches my eye. I walk out the door, and close it shut behind me.

Twilight’s POV

With Rarity fed, a pony paid to look after her, and a roll of fabric on my back, Spike and I make our way back towards the library. As I trot down Mane Street again, I can’t help but notice what I ignored earlier. Royal Guards are everywhere.

“They must have come down to observe Ponyville due to the explosion yesterday.” I think to myself.

I look around and see two ponies in quick, hushed, conversation. I casually trot over and eavesdrop.

“I know there is a lot of gas in that swamp, but if nothing has set it off in all of Ponyville’s history, what makes you think it was just an accident?” A cyan Pegasus hisses.

A pink unicorn replies, “Well… it could have been accidental, I just don’t think everypony should jump to the conclusion that… He… did it. I mean, when he created his grayscale guardians, he had to become spirit form. Everypony knows he can’t do anything directly like that.”

The cyan Pegasus rolls his eyes. “Of course I know that, what you aren’t getting is that I’m not talking about… Him… at all! What if that human did it?”

The pink unicorn looks around warily. I pretend to look at the merchandise in a cart beside me, and her eyes go right over me.

“You know the guards don’t like anypony talking about the human.” She says in a whisper.

I have to strain my ears to catch the next part.

“While it may have been the human, what could we possibly gain from talking about it?” The cyan Pegasus snorts in derision. “The guards don’t like us talking about the human because he is their biggest failure. They capture him, he escapes. The hunt for him, he eludes them. Back when they had him captured, he even insulted our tyrant ruler before escaping, and I commend him on it. Celestia keeps putting out wanted posters stating how dangerous he is, but for what? He is a threat to her authority, that is the only reason. Yeah he killed three ponies, but those three were wanted criminals themselves. There are even rumors that he killed the second grayscale guardian, hence the explosion in the swamp yesterday. If anything, we should be helping it, not hunting it.” The pink unicorn fearfully looks around again and then turns back to the Pegasus.

“You really shouldn’t be saying things like that! You don’t know what they could do to you!”

“So what? You agree with me don’t you?”

“Well yeah but-”

I had heard enough. I trot back in the direction of the library, and I mull over this interesting new information.

Ty’s POV

I set my foot down on the very bottom step just as the front door opens. I quickly try and not act guilty as Twilight trots through the door.

It doesn’t work.

As soon as she sets the bundle of fabric down with magic, she turns to me and asks, “Ty, what have you been doing?”

I look away and reply a little too quickly, “Nothing”.

Apparently having dealt with Applejack lying frequently, she sees right through my lie. She gives me a stern look and asks, “Why did you go into my room without my permission?”

I look at her in mild shock at how she knew exactly what I did.

“How did you know? Wait, did the owl tell you?”

“No, you told me, just now.”

I cringe slightly and think, “Crap, I forgot she’s supposed to be the smart one of the group.”

I put on an apologetic face and say, “Sorry… and not just for going into your room, but I also acted like a jerk earlier today. I‘d also like to apologize for that.”

She just smiles and says, “Its alright. I overreacted and was a bit of a jerk too.”

I look up hopefully and smile.

“But it was still mostly your fault.”

I frown again, but then my smile returns as I hear the playful tone in her voice. She giggles to herself and goes on, “Anyway, now that I have the fabric for your… what do you call it?”

I look down at my chest with the sad excuse for a shirt covering it. After all the abuse it had put up with, manticore claws, explosions, trekking through dense forests, it was in shreds.

I look back up and reply, “It’s called a shirt.”

She nods and continues. “Okay, now that I have the material for your new shirt, I’ll have to take some measurements and then I can begin sewing it together. Although I’m not sure how good it will turn out, I’ve never made anything like this before.”

“Oh it’s alright,” I reply nonchalantly, “I’m good at sewing so I can help you.”

I immediately blush when I finish saying that and mentally face-palm.

Twilight catches this and asks, “Why are you embarrassed?”

I reply with head down, “Where I’m from it isn’t considered ‘manly’ to admit you’re good at sewing…”

She raises an eyebrow and says, “That’s weird.”

I nod, “Yeah, my world is a lot different from this one.”

She replies, “I bet, you’ll have to tell me all about it while we work.”

A gleam comes to her eye.

“I love learning about new things, and nopony in this entire world has heard about where you’re from!” “Except Fluttershy…” I whisper.

Twilight seems taken aback. “Oh… right… Will you tell me about what happened between you two? I know the basics of what you did, but nothing in-between.”

I nod. “Yeah, I said I would so I will.”

Twilight nods her head as well and says, “Alright, you stay here while I get my sewing supplies and notebooks alright?”

“Okay.”

Twilight trots over to a nearby closet and starts rummaging through it. I look in the opposite direction and see Spike glaring at me from the corner of the room.

Seeing his expression, I hesitantly ask, “Hey Spike, long time no see. How have you been?”

He says nothing and walks up the stairs out of sight. My brow furrows at his weird actions.

“What did I do to make him pissed at me?” I wonder.

I look back towards Twilight as she trots towards me with a bundle of sewing supplies and notebooks levitating beside her.

I ask, “Do you know why Spike didn’t answer me when I talked to him?”

She thinks for a minute then says, “He thinks it is your fault that Rarity is doing so poorly right now.”

Her voice gains a steely edge.

“She has secluded herself to her basement and all she does is polish the diamond statue you gave her.”

She looks me in the eye. “In fact, it is your fault that all my friends are doing so bad right now. After that battle they all went deeper into Discord’s influence. All because of you.”

I frown as I think over what she had just said. I’d never thought of it like that before.

“Twilight, you and your friends tried to kill Fluttershy and I. I even fought with a staff instead of my kilij so I wouldn’t kill any of you. What else could I have done?”

Twilight lowers her head and then says, “You’re right, I’m sorry. You did all you could do. It just hurts to see my friends like this...” She to sob. I crouch down and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I am really sorry about your friends Twili-”

She quickly moves forward and hugs me.

Due to my shock at the unexpected move, and a sudden flashback  remembering Fluttershy in a similar situation, I don’t return it.

Twilight quickly pulls away and stutters in complete embarrassment, “I-I’m sorry… I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I snap out of my shock and quickly say, “No! It’s not your fault! I was-”

She interrupts me saying, “Yeah it kind of was. I’m sorry I’m just a little confused right now.”

She turns around and quickly trots up the stairs, leaving me by myself on the ground floor.

With a dejected sigh I sit down and lean against the wall.

I bury my face in my hands and mutter, “Why does everything have to be so freaking complicated…”

A/N  Urg… well that’s it. I’m kinda iffy on this chapter, it took me so long to write and I feel that everything came out kind of awkward. You got to understand though that Twilight is very confused right now. Ty fought against her, hurt her friends, and made them all delve deeper into darkness. On the other hand, (hoof), He spared her life, healed her, and brought her out of madness. You can understand why she would have mixed feelings about him. Anyway, again I am sorry for the horrendously long wait. The next chapter will be interesting to say the least. Please review/comment if you have any questions, concerns, or comments, and thanks for reading.

Justice chapter 16

A/N I am really considering a pre-reader. Someone to help me keep on track with this story and to help me iron it out before I post it. So far I have been editing all my own work, but I feel it just isn’t cutting it anymore. Each chapter I feel like I am getting worse and worse, even if I’m not. If anyone here would like to pre-read my stuff, please let me know. For Fanfiction.net: @PancakeProdigy, Luna is Discorded as well, but to so little an extent you can barely tell. Celestia is Discorded like crazy however, hence her being a tyrant. @Flyingspud, I feel like Neo from Matrix, barely bending back far enough to dodge all those bullets. Even though I did fairly well on the first two points, I feel point three grazed me, but not without due reason. Anyway, thank you for the detailed review, I really appreciate it. Again, sorry for long wait, and here is chapter 16!

I sit in the library for about an hour.

Thinking, contemplating, wondering what the heck is wrong with Twilight!

“One minute she acts like I’m her best friend, then like she hates me, then gets all sad, and then she hugs me?!? The mare has worse mood swings than Fluttershy!”

On that note I end my mental tirade against Twilight.

“She must still be affected by traces of Discord’s influence. From what I’ve seen so far, anypony under Discord’s power is the opposite of themselves.  Maybe some dregs of that power mess with their emotions even after it’s gone? That would explain Fluttershy’s behavior too.”

I turn my head as I hear hooves carefully trot down the stairs.

“Well, here she comes,” I think, “Hope she isn’t too embarrassed from the previous incident.”

She pokes her head around the corner, sees me, and immediately withdraws back around.

“Might as well hope I get a million dollars air-dropped to me while I’m at it.” I think with an exasperated sigh.

“Twilight? I think we just need to talk, okay?”

A few seconds pass and she slowly trots into view.

She says, “Look… I’m really sorry about what happened earlier… Ever since you saved me my emotions have been all over the place. I’m not really sure why. So, I am sorry if I did anything out of bounds. Do you forgive me?”

I smile, “Of course. I actually have a theory about why you may be so confused right now.”

She perks up a bit.

“Really?”

I nod, “Yep, I think it is because Discord’s power is still affecting you even though the majority is gone. I think this because Fluttershy acted similar after I changed her back to normal.”

I see the look of concentration on her face while she ponders what I just said.

“Hmm… That would make sense. As long as Discord is around we wont be able to get rid of his influence for good.”

“All the more reason to finish off the last guardian and find him.”

She nods and trots over to the fabric and sewing supplies she had left earlier. She gathers them up with magic, and trots to the center of the room. Still using magic, she removes the horse-head statue on the table there, and gestures me over.

“We might as well finish making you a new shirt, and you promised to fill me in on what’s been happening with you and Fluttershy.”

I walk over to the short table.

“Oh…right.” Twilight looks at me and says, “You don’t want to talk about it?”

“Not really. But I promised I would.”

I stand up on the table. Using magic, Twilight holds up a tape measure and begins taking measurements of my torso.

“Well, what do you want to hear about first? My world or Fluttershy and I?”

“As much as I want to hear about where you come from, I think the more pertinent subject would be better.” “Alright… Well, when I first landed here, you remember how I saved Fluttershy right?”

She nods.

“Well, after I got wounded and the zebra-”

“Zecora.”

“What?”

Twilight looks up at me, “The zebra’s name is Zecora.”

“Oh okay, so after Zecora healed me, I was captured by royal guards and taken to the palace. You were there when I spoke to the Princesses and escaped. After I escaped, I went to the armory in search of my sword. You were there as well so you should remember what happened.”

Twilight nods, and begins cutting out designs in the navy blue fabric.

“So after that Fluttershy and I traveled back to Ponyville together, but on the way-”

“You killed three criminals.”

“Yep. Once we got to Ponyville, we went to the ruins to find the hidden Element.”

“And of course there was our fight on the way there.”

I nod, “Yeah, where you and your friends almost killed Fluttershy and I. Also, you gave me these scars as well.”

I point to my face and right arm. Her ears droop down as she mutters an apology.

“It’s all in the past now, you weren’t yourself. Anyway, we eventually got into the ruins where I had to fight the spirit of the former bearer of the Element of Justice, who, oddly enough, was a human just like me.” This really catches Twilight’s interest.

“Really?!? How is that possible?”

“I’m not really sure, every time I ask him about it he clams up. In fact, he hasn’t spoken since I healed you.” I look down at my left forearm. The gold and sapphire bracelet with the scale, crossed swords and the shield are all faintly glowing as usual.

I tap the bracer, “Hello? Anyone in there?”

No response.

“Just giving me the silent treatment I suppose. So, back to my story. Once I got the element, He taught me how to use a sword and shield made out of aura, and this awesome suit of armor I can summon whenever!” She looks really surprised now.

“Really? Let me see!”

I summon the sword and shield, and wave them around a bit. Her eyes light up at seeing these.

“If you think those are cool, check out the armor!” I return the sword and shield, and summon the full suit of armor.

CRACK!

The table breaks underneath me and I fall backwards onto my butt. When I finally manage to stumble to my feet, I look through the visor to see Twilight laughing her flank off. I turn red from embarrassment, but thankfully she can’t see me through the helmet.

“Alright alright…”, I mumble. “The armor is a bit heavy.”

Her laughing finally resolves into a small fit of giggles.

“Just a little hehe.”

I stand and dismiss the armor back into the Element.

“Anyway, once I became the Element of Justice, Fluttershy and I went to the swamp to find the Hydra. We found it, or more like it found us, and I fought it. Long story short, I blew up the entire swamp to finally finish it. And right after that you showed up.”

She levitates the cut-out fabric towards me to see if it is coming along well. She nods, satisfied at her own work, and starts sewing the pieces together.

“I’m glad I am caught up as to what exactly you have been doing, but I’m more curious as to what happened between you and Fluttershy.”

She raises her eyebrow and looks at me.

I scratch the back of my head in embarrassment. “Uh… I’ve been trying to avoid that…” I nervously chuckle.

“I can tell.” She deadpans

I sigh, “Alright, well not soon after Fluttershy joined me I could tell she liked me allot. I wasn’t really sure what to do at first, so I did nothing. Not a smart move. Eventually she was completely in love with me, and even said so. And being the idiot I am, I said I loved her as well.”

Twilight asks, “Well don’t you?”

“Yeah I do, but it is a bit more complicated than that. You see, where I am from, it is strictly forbidden to love an animal. It is just bad and quite frankly, downright sick.”

To my surprise she nods in agreement.

“Well yeah of course it is, but what does that have to do with Fluttershy?”

It dawns on me that she doesn’t think of ponies as animals, which actually makes perfect sense.

“Where I come from, you guys,” I point at her, “Are considered animals.”

“Oh.” She says with a shocked expression.

“Yeah… that’s the problem.”

She ponders for a moment on what I had just said.

“You really screwed yourself over with that one.” Is her blunt reply.

I roll my eyes, “I was hoping for advice, not a statement of the obvious.”

Twilight sighs as she finishes the last stitches on the shirt.

“Quite frankly, I’m not sure what to tell you. Did you explain all that to Fluttershy?”

“Yeah, that was right before she turned dark and left.”

“Huh, now I can see why.” She levitates the now completed shirt towards me. I take off the tattered remains of my old one and put the new shirt on. Fits perfectly.

“Thank you for the new shirt, I really appreciate it.” I say.

She smiles, “Your welcome.”

Her expression grows serious again.

“Actually, I have thought of something. You said where you’re from we ponies are considered animals, right?”

I nod.

“Do you?”

The question takes me by surprise, and I have to think about it for a moment. I think over everything that has happened with them, how they have their own government, laws, towns and pretty much everything us humans have.

I look up at Twilight and say, “No actually, I don’t. In my world ponies are animals, but they are nothing like what you guys are. In this universe, you ponies are just as much a person as I am. We are still different species, but that’s no excuse for treating you all as sub-par creatures.”

She smiles again, “I’m really glad you think that, but it now begs the question: What are you going to do about Fluttershy?”

“I’m going to find her and beg her forgiveness, that’s what I’m going to do.”

She sagely nods her head. “Good. Also, the ponies I encountered on the way home today seem to actually side with you. If you treat all ponies like you would treat another human, you might be able to find some allies. Anyway, now that that is cleared up, can you tell me what your world is actually like?”

“Sure, but sit down because this will take awhile.”

We spend the rest of the day talking about my world. The idea that technology replaces magic is astounding to her, and the subject of electronic books take an hour alone. Once it starts getting dark outside, I call it enough for one night, and Twilight calls Spike down to make dinner. I apologize to Spike about Rarity, and after some prodding from Twilight he finally forgives me. We eat dinner and Spike goes upstairs to his room. As I grimace in the general direction of my bed, Twilight asks, “Is there something wrong with the sheets I put out for you?”

I shake my head, “No, the sheets are fine, it’s the hardwood floor underneath that’s killing me.”

“Oh…”

Her cheeks turn red underneath her facial fur.

I ask, “What?”

“Well… if you don’t want to sleep on the floor again… um…”

“Twilight, what is it?” I ask impatiently.

“Well… my bed is big enough for two… if you don’t mind sharing.”

The suggestion hits me by surprise.

I brush my shock aside and think, “She knows I like Fluttershy, it’s just a harmless suggestion.”

I say with a smile, “Sure, thanks!”

She grins broadly and practically bounces up the stairs.

My smile turns to a frown at her behavior.

“I admitted I was still in love with Fluttershy just a couple of hours ago, why is she acting like this?”

I shake my head in confusion and follow her up. I go into her room and find the bed. I get in, scoot as far to one side as I can, and close my eyes. I feel her get in on the other side and she turns off the lights. The last thing I think of before I drift off to sleep is, “I hope Fluttershy is okay…”

Fluttershy’s POV

I raise my bloody hoof.

“No! Please, stop! Ple-”

I slam my hoof downward, crushing his skull in.

Another section of my dark pink hair turns blood red.

“That’s five in one day, not bad.” I say to myself.

I’m on the edge of the Everfree forest, and this pony had taken his midnight stroll just a little too close.

I look up at the full moon rising overhead.

A voice from my past floats past me.

“My my, a beautiful night for murder, don’t you think?”

Discord.

I nonchalantly reply, “Yes it is, and thank you for giving me the power to do it.”

The voice replies, “My pleasure, my dear. I must say though, I never expected you to go this far. Usually killing ponies is my job. Not directly of course, due to my current predicament.”

The misty form of Discord materializes in front of me.

“Unfortunately, while my guardians are alive, I am confined to this form. I am invulnerable of course, but where is the fun in that if I can’t actually kill?”

“What does that have to do with me?” I bluntly ask him.

He smiles, “It is so nice to see you taking charge and to stop being so shy, I like it. Anyway, do you like killing?”

I smile, “Of course. I’m so mad right now I could just kill everypony.”

“Good good… You want to kill, and I can’t. You however have to be careful not to be caught, while I don’t. I think we may be able to help each other. A… partnership, if you will.”

My grin gets wider.

“I’m listening.”

Celestia’s POV

“Princess Celestia, your sister wishes an audience with you, she says it is of the utmost importance!”

From my throne I glare down at the two guards before me. My horn glows, and the one that just spoke burns into a pile of ash. The remaining guard is quaking like a leaf.

I smile.

“Very good, allow my sister in.”

The guard turns tail and runs to open the door. He opens it, and my sister trots in with an owl perched on her shoulder.

“DEAREST SISTER, MY INFORMANT HAS GIVEN ME IMPORTANT NEWS ABOUT THY STUNDENT, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, AND THE HUMAN!”

I roll my eyes, “Please talk quieter, you’ll give me a headache.”

“Sorry.” She says in a normal tone.

“Anyway, what did your little owl tell you?”

“The human has healed thy student and restored her from Discord’s influence. He is also the Element of Justice. They are staying in the library where Twilight Sparkle hast resided these past years.”

My eyes widen.

“The Element of Justice?!?!? That filthy human is the hidden element?!?” The castle shakes from my rage.

Luna takes a step back.

“Um… yes?”

“I will not put up with his insolence any longer! Destroy him!” I bellow at the now quaking form of my sister.

She shrinks slightly and mutters out a question,

“But… He killed the second guardian of thy most dreaded enemy, Discord. Isn’t he helping us?”

I jump off my throne and glide towards her. I get right in her face and growl,

“He is doing our job for us, yes, but at the same time he is making us look weak and incapable of dealing with Discord ourselves. The subjects are quickly losing faith in us, and we can’t have him making us look bad on top of it.”

“But… if we simply joined forces with him…”

My expression of rages silences her.

“You will fly out and destroy him. Are we clear?”

“……..Yes… when do you want me to go?”

“You are at your strongest during the night, correct?”

“Yes?”

“What time is it now?”

“Nighttime, sis.”

“So by putting two and two together, when do you think I want you to go?”

“….Now.”

I stand to my full height and nod.

“Indeed. Destroy him and report back as soon as he is gone.”

She hesitantly stands.

“But, he also healed your student and is no doubt working with her… what do you want me to do?”

I snort, “She failed me. Dispose of her as well.”

Luna turns around and starts walking towards the doors.

“…As you wish.”

A/N- I feel terrible. I turned Fluttershy into a killer. As out-of-the-blue it may seem, it is actually necessary. I have a very good idea of where the plot is going, and this is one of many steps to get it there. Haters gonna hate. Crass, overused statements aside, this chapter took forever to write, and even though it is weird, it came out as expected. Also, consider it a “Part 2” to the previous chapter. I couldn’t do it all at once because I am lazy and rushed for time. Also, I didn’t want you all to have to wait twice as long. On an almost completely unrelated note, the season finale was the best thing known to ponykind, I loved it. Anyway, please review if you have any questions or indignant comments regarding Fluttershy, as I’m sure some of you will. In all seriousness, thanks for reading.

Justice Chapter 17

“Ty!!!”

“Please Ty wake up!!”

“Wake up!!!!!!”

I sit bolt upright in the bed and groggily look at Twilight screaming at me. Even through my drowsiness I can sense the panic and desperation in her voice. Only when she starts to pull me out of the bed do I see the blue fire that has engulfed the room. I finally snap out of my daze.

“Twilight! What’s going on?”

I cough, even though the blue fire appears to be magical, it is still putting off a lot of smoke.

“I don’t know, but we have to get out of here!” She frantically says, “I’m going to get Spike!”

With that she dashes out of the room.

I grab my sword and rush after her, while covering my mouth and nose with my sleeve. Once I am out into the hallway, I see Twilight emerge from Spike’s room with Spike on her back. We quickly run down the stairs, all the while dodging patches of spreading blue fire. Once we reach the bottom I run ahead and try to open the door. It doesn’t budge.

I look behind me, “Twilight, the door is jam-” A purple bolt streaks past me and blows the door off it’s hinges. Twilight gallops past me through the hole she created and I follow. Once safely outside, Twilight sets Spike down and we all take deep, gulping breaths.  Twilight and I look back at the Library. The blue fire has completely engulfed it, and we back even farther away from it due to the waves of cold emanating from it.

“That has to be magical fire, right?” I ask Twilight once I regain my breath.

She nods, “Yeah, no doubt about it…”

I sense the sad note in her voice, and the full reality of what just happened sets in.

“I’m so sorry about your house Twilight… and your books.” I lamely say. I can’t really think of anything better to say, consoling ponies hasn’t exactly been a strong suit of mine.

She bursts out sobbing.

I pull her into a hug, and she cries on the shirt she made for me. Spike hugs her as well, while doing his best to calm her down.

After a few moments, Twilight finally speaks, “Years of research, hundreds of books… all gone…”

I say nothing and just hold her tighter. My body suddenly stiffens as a loud, familiar voice attacks my eardrums.

“THY BOOKS ARE THE LEAST OF THY WORRIES, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

We quickly pull apart and turn to face her.

Luna.

“What are you doing here?!?” I yell at her.

“ISN’T IT OBVIOUS? I HAVE COME TO END THEE!”

Between the cold fire and Luna’s shouting, almost all of the Ponyville residents have woken up. About half the town has gathered in a large circle about fifty feet away from us, with more joining every second. Their gasps of surprise at seeing me turned into a low murmur as they took in the blazing blue fire and Luna.

“If you want to fight me, so be it! But leave Twilight out of this!” I step protectively in front of Twilight.

“I HAVE BEEN SENT BY MY ELDEST SISTER TO END THOU AS WELL! “

She points a hoof at Twilight. Twilight steps around me, and I see fury blazing in her eyes.

“Nopony destroys my books and gets away with it!”

I realize she is more upset about the books than her house or the threat to her life. I chuckle, but it quickly dies in my throat as Twilight’s mane and tail burst into red fire. Her horn glows a deep purple as she takes a stance.

Seeing Luna charge her horn, I summon my armor and shield while drawing my sword.

“You don’t have to fight us Luna, we have you outnumbered two-to-one!” I call out to her.

The ponies surrounding us back up even further in expectation of a battle.

“Actually, make that three-to-one.” Spike says, stepping forward.

I glance at him curiously. “What could a baby dragon do?” I think.

Twilight turns to Spike and fires a spell at him. Within seconds Spike is five stories tall.

I stare up at him wide-eyed.

“Holy shi-”

He breathes a giant plume of fire, cutting me off.

I glance back at Luna, and I am disturbed to see her smiling. Her horn glows, and Spike is surrounded by a cloud of darkness. I hear a roar echo from it, which slowly gets quieter. After a few seconds, the cloud disappears, leaving a normal-sized and dazed looking Spike sitting on the ground.

“THOU ART NOT THE ONLY EXPERT MAGIC USER HERE, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

Twilight growls, and fires a purple bolt at Luna.

It bounces off an invisible barrier around her.

The battle has begun.

I rush forward, and despite the heavy armor, I am upon Luna in seconds. She doesn’t even try to get away as I swing my kilij straight down on her neck. It passes right through and sticks into the ground.

“Wha-”

I blue bolt hits me in the side and I go flying. I hit a building, and the wind is knocked out of me. I heave myself up into a kneeling position, and I look up just in time for the fake Luna to disappear. I see Twilight surrounded by five Lunas. The Element of Justice finally speaks into my mind.

“Knowing Justice is to be able to see through the lies of this world. Concentrate.”

I focus with all my might at the five Lunas, and four of them begin to flicker.

“Twilight, your right!”

Twilight, with mane and tail still ablaze, turns right and fires another purple bolt. It connects and the real Luna staggers back while the apparitions disappear. I get up and rush to Twilight’s side. Luna looks annoyed, but is nowhere near scared. We both rush forward as one, and Luna takes to the air. Twilight continues firing spells at her, but I can only stand there and watch helplessly. I get an idea, and I sheathe my kilij. I summon my other sword, and extend it until it can reach Luna. I begin swinging my sword at her, and she dodges my sword and Twilights spells with ease.

“THE ONLY REASON THOU ART NOT DEAD IS BECAUSE WE WANTED SOME SPORT, BUT THOU ART WEAK! THOU DOST NOT DESERVE THY POWER!”

Her horn glows, and my sword disappears, along with my shield and armor.

I look towards Twilight, “What did she do?!?”

Luna begins shooting blue fire at us, and Twilight erects a shield that covers us both.

“She locked your element. It should automatically unlock in about an hour or so. It is something only she can do. When Celestia and Luna found the Elements, they created spells for controlling them. They never got Justice, but it is the same as the others.”

“Crap… what now?”

Twilight’s mane and tail return to normal, her rage apparently gone.

“I don’t know… I can’t hold this shield for much longer. I will try and pull her down, and you use your sword to attack, okay?”

“Alright, as good a plan as any.”

It is then I notice Spike in the shield with us.

“Spike, once this shield lets up, I need you to get out of here. Get somewhere safe, alright?”

He nods, too scared to speak because of the fireballs whizzing towards us.

Twilight’s shield fades to nothing, and Twilight quickly sends a tendril of magic at Luna. The tendril catches her hoof, and drags her down to earth. I rush forward, drawing my sword. Luna breaks the tendril before I arrive, and sends a bolt of pure energy at me. It hits me with a solid hump, and I fall down. I see another fly right over me, and another thump tells me Twilight is hit. Luna slowly trots towards us.

“THOU TWO ART TRULY PATHETIC! I WAS HOPING FOR SOME FUN, BUT ALL WE RECEIVED WAS AN UNWORTHY F-”

Luna suddenly stops talking.

In the glow from the burning Library, I see blood cascade down her neck from where her throat was slit.

She falls lifeless to the ground.

The crowd gasps in shock.

I stare at the body in an uncomprehending daze.

Several moments pass, and I am roused by Twilight trotting next to me. I heave myself to my feet and look around for whoever did it. The scared and shocked faces of the crowd are all that greet me. Until…

“Hello Ty… even though it hasn’t been very long, did you miss me?”

I froze.

I easily recognize the voice, but there is something else about it that has me terrified.

Twilight and I turn completely around, and face the burning library.

Hovering in front of us, is Fluttershy.

But she isn’t the same.

Pastel yellow coat has been replaced with the deepest black, and her normally light pink mane is a bright red. But it is the eyes that caught me off guard. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it. Her eyes were colder than the blue fire behind her, devoid of all emotion. A long, wicked knife lay beside her, the blade saturated with blood. And to top it all off, she was riding on a pink cloud that appeared to be made out of… cotton candy?

“Fluttershy… is that really you?”

The blue fire gave her an eerie glow as she spoke.

“I’m wounded Ty, only gone for a couple of days and you already don’t recognize me… how sad.”

Her voice is a complete deadpan.

“What happened to you?!?” Twilight says in shock.

“I made a new friend, that’s all.” Fluttershy replies.

I look over my shoulder at Luna’s dead body.

“What really happened to you? The Fluttershy I know would never have done that.”

Fluttershy rolls her eyes.

“Dimwit. The Fluttershy you knew is dead. You should know, because you killed her.”

Her words are like a spear of ice to my heart. Mostly because they are true.

“Fluttershy… I never meant to hurt you.” I respond, taking a step closer. Twilight follows.

“Well you should have thought about that before you played with my heart, and then ripped it out.” Fluttershy says disinterestedly, while examining a hoof.

I can only look down in shame at those words. Twilight steps forward.

“Fluttershy, why have you teamed up with Discord?”

“Because killing ponies is fun, and he has given me the means to do it more often.” She pats the cotton candy cloud affectionately. “Luna didn’t even see me coming, these clouds are pretty fast. He also gave me this knife.” She points to the knife beside her. “So much more fun than just using my hooves, quicker too.”

Twilight and I both take a step back, completely horrified.

Fluttershy resumes speaking.

“Y’know, Celestia won’t be happy when she hears about what I did, but she will blame you two anyway. You should leave now, and go kill the dragon. That’s what you’re going to do, right?”

We just glare at her.

“Whatever, just trying to give you a warning, that’s all. I have places to be, so I will see you two very soon. Goodbye.”

“Fluttershy, wait!”

The cotton candy cloud speeds off into the night, taking her with it.

Twilight and I stand together, looking off into the distance where Fluttershy went. A crash breaks us out of our reverie and we turn to see the library fall in on itself.

“I guess it’s time to go…” Twilight mutters.

I nod.

Together we walk away from the destroyed library, and towards the crowd. A unicorn gallops back to their house, and quickly returns. As we get closer to the crowd, we hear mutters of condolence and good luck. The unicorn approaches us, and using magic levitates a bag of food towards us. I accept it with a solemn nod. The unicorn backs up into the crowd. I sling the bag over my shoulder, and we walk out of Ponyville, heading towards the mountains.

A/N Yeah this chapter is pretty short. If you think about it the chapter only covers about 30 minutes or so of actual time, so that may explain why it is so short. If there are mistakes, point them out and I’ll fix them.

Please let me know how it is going, see you.

Justice chapter 18

A/N  I actually made a new chapter?!? Impossibru!! Yeah, I’ve been spending altogether too much time on memebase. Also just been busy with real life and blacksmithing. Fun fact, I actually am a blacksmith part-time. Anyway, enough of the stuff you don’t care about, here’s chapter 18.

Peace.

At this point, that’s all I want.

Not a day goes by without somepony dying, or something bad happening.

I’m tired.

Of everything.

Walking, running, hiding, fighting.

Everything.

I glance to my right as Twilight stumbles. I help her up and she gives a muttered word of thanks.

We keep walking.

Twilight’s expression is one of exhaustion, and her eyes are dull and unfocused.

She’s just as tired as I am.

I look up ahead at the path we are walking on. It’s the same one we traveled when we came from Canterlot to Ponyville, only in reverse direction. The path to the mountain branches off just a little under halfway to Canterlot.

“Twilight.”

She slowly turns her head and looks at me.

“Yeah?”

Even her voice shows how tired she is. Woken up in the middle of the night by magical fire, having her home burnt down, and then having Princess Luna try and kill us, only to be killed herself by Fluttershy.

Its been a long night for her.

“It is almost morning, and we have barely slept at all last night. Lets find a place to rest until noon or so, then we can start moving again, ok?”

I see the gears slowly churning in her head while she thinks over my proposal.

“Okay.”

I was really hoping she would say more, but at least she agreed. I look off the path on both sides, and on the left I see a good tree we can rest under.

“There’s a good spot, follow me.”

I walk off the path and look behind me. Twilight slowly follows me. We go around the tree so we’ll be at least partially obscured from the path. I set the backpack of food aside and lay down to sleep. Twilight half-falls, half-lays down next to me. In seconds we are both asleep.

Meanwhile in Ponyville…

Mayor Mare clears her throat while looking over the crowd of faces. She called a town meeting just a few minutes ago, and due to Princess Luna’s attack, as well as the library burning down, everypony was awake and already here. The body of the Princess lay just a few yards from the back of the crowd. Nopony had dared to move her.

“Now everypony, please calm down! I know what happened was quite tragic, but we have to think logically about this.”

A voice from the crowd interrupts her.

“Logically? Celestia sent her sister to burn down the library and kill Twilight Sparkle and the Human! The only logic solution is to fight back!”

The crowd broke into murmurs of assent.

A bead of sweat trickles down Mayor Mare’s forehead. In a conversation a few weeks prior, Celestia had told her exactly what would happen should Ponyville try to rebel against her.

*Flashback*

Mayor Mare cowers in the corner of her office, looking up in fear at Celestia.

“Don’t worry, I promise I will keep things under control here!”

Celestia smiles.

“Good, I actually like Ponyville, be a shame to burn it to the ground.”

*End Flashback*

“My little ponies, please don’t talk like that! The human is a dire threat against us, and Twilight was a traitor for helping it!” She tried to put all the conviction she could muster into those words, but they still rang hollow.

Another voice from the crowd speaks up.

“Twilight is an Element of Harmony! If Celestia will even kill them, what’s to say she won’t start killing us?!?”

Before Mayor Mare can react, another one speaks up.

“The human is only trying to protect us from Discord and his Guardians, and she tries to kill him as well! She is doing nothing to stop Discord!”

This is getting out of hoof. The expression of panic on Mayor Mare’s face shows that clear enough.

“Please, you don’t know what you’re do-”

A scream cuts her off mid-sentence.

Mayor Mare looks over the crowd of ponies just as they all turn around. Standing in front of them, is Luna.

“THOU ART TRUE FOOLS TO THINK A MERE MORTAL COULD KILL US! OUR SISTER WILL BE MOST INTERESTED TO HEAR THY TREASONOUS WORDS!”

With a great flash of light, Luna was gone.

The silence was deafening.

Ty’s POV-

I wake up with a heavy feeling in my chest.  I’m sad because of Twilight’s loss and Fluttershy turning evil. I’ve tried to help everypony here, I’ve tried to be a hero. But I may have just made things worse.

With my eyes still closed, I try to sit up. When I can’t I realize the heavy feeling was physical as well as mental. I open my eyes and I see Twilight curled up on top of me. I let my head back down with a sigh.

“Twilight, wake up, we need to be going.”

She curls up tighter and mumbles something incomprehensible.

“Twilight!”

I see her frown, and then her horn lights up. Suddenly my lips are zippers and she zips them shut.

Oh no she didn’t.

I raise my arms to push her off, but another glow from her horn pins both my arms to the ground.

Now I’m pissed.

I try and contact Justice to see if it will do anything, but before I can Twilight unfolds herself and looks right at me while still laying on top of me. She narrows her eyes at me, but her expression is still unreadable.

My heart races as a bolt of panic shoots through me. I’m helpless. What if she’s been waiting for me to fall asleep so she could capture or kill me, but Luna just interrupted last night?!? What if-”

“TyIthinkIaminlovewithyou.”

……

………..

…………….

…………………

…………………….What?

Okay that is not what I was expecting. At all.

Twilight breaks eye contact and looks to the side before continuing.

“The real reason I closed your mouth was so that I could explain myself without you trying to say anything to stop me…”

She pauses for a moment, leaving me to wonder where this came from.

She makes eye contact again and continues.

“I know this is sudden, but seeing Luna die right in front of me… I feel I have to say this before anything else happens. I feel like I have a heavy weight on my chest that I just need to get off, you know what I mean?”

I give her an exasperated look that says I know EXACTLY what she means, but she ignores me and goes on.

“You saved me from insanity and healed me when I had even given up on myself. You were kind to me even though I had tried to kill you. Just a few hours ago you stood up for me against Luna. You could have ran and left me to die, but you didn’t.  You were ready to sacrifice your life to protect me. I can never fully repay you for that.”

She pauses for a moment.

“But the least I can do is this.”

Her horn glows, and the zipper on my lips are gone, and my arms are free. She leans down and closes her eyes.

I panic.

She kisses me.

I stop panicking.

The kiss only lasts for a few seconds, and eventually Twilight pulls away.

I look at Twilight with a completely stunned expression, but only a look of quite contentment greets me. She smiles serenely, and finally, mercifully, gets off of me.

“Um… Twilight?” I cautiously ask.

“Please, just think about what I said, alright?” She interrupts me while swishing her tail at my face. “I know I may have only said that because of my screwed up emotions, or from the stress of what happened to my library and Luna, but I meant it. Anyway, what are you still lying down for? We have to a dragon to kill, remember?”

I pause.

“Well, alright. I guess.” I awkwardly respond.

I stand up and follow Twilight as she trots off, a million thoughts racing through my head.”

Fluttershy’s POV:

How dare he.

How dare she.

I’m gone for only a few days, and suddenly they are all over each other?!? From my perch on the cotton candy cloud that Discord gave me, I saw it all. Ty professed his love for me on multiple occasions, yet he does nothing to stop Twilight from kissing him? Humph. That shows that I was right. He really doesn’t love me. I should have expected that from him. But Twilight… there will be hell to pay for what you have done. Completely disgusted with the scene underneath me, I zip away, already plotting Twilight’s destruction.

A/N   Here comes the shitstorm. Topics of aforementioned shitstorm:

Why U No Update Sooner?!?!?   Why U kill Luna off just to bring her back in next chapter?!?!?! Twilight and Ty kissed?!?! What about Fluttershy?!?!dfkjfa!?!?!?mdadhdgshga!?!?!?!?jhgahg!!!!!!!!!11!!111!!!

Anyway, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, it is yet another transition onto better things. Please let me know if there are any mistakes, and I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter will be an introspective chapter, with Ty mostly reflecting on what Twilight did and why he did nothing to stop it, while they go to the dragons lair. And of course you should expect something from Luna and Fluttershy as well. Also, I have a odd request. I would like you all to tell me what you HATE about this fanfiction. Seriously, I'm not joking. I want to get better with my writing, and I can't do that without criticism. Tell me what you hate about it, and why. Thank you.

Justice Chapter 19

A/N    I am really sorry about the entire month since the last update, but three weeks of that month was me in Europe without a computer. Here is chapter 19!

The sun is almost directly over us as Twilight and I finally reach the turn in this dusty road that leads to the mountains.  It was only a few hours ago when Twilight confessed to me, and I’ve been thinking it over the entire time.

“What was she thinking?  She knows I still love Fluttershy, or at least I used to… No! Wait… The reason I’m still fighting Discord is to save Fluttershy, right? I just don’t know anymore…”

Twilight, however, is completely oblivious to my confusion. She is trotting along happily next to me, obviously pleased with herself for finally opening up to me. I have to admit, now that she isn’t the enemy anymore, I do kind of like her as well. But that’s just it! When I first came here, Fluttershy was my only ally and it was Twilight that tried to kill me, now everything is backwards…

“Well, I’m sure Celestia still wants me dead, so I guess that’s a constant.” I think grimly to myself.

“Luna as well, so I guess that makes three god-like beings that want me dead. Joy.”

Any further morbid thoughts are interrupted by Twilight as she almost to happily asks, “What’s wrong? You look even more depressed than usual.”

I sigh and reply, “I just have a lot on my mind.”

She sobers up a bit and says, “Oh, I guess I really didn’t help with that considering what I told you just a few hours ago.”

I just nod.

“Well, I can only imagine what you’re thinking, but just remember that once we kill this dragon, Discord will be physical again, and we can kill him! Once we do that, everything will be normal again.”

I nod again, “Yeah I know. But this dragon is not going down without a fight, is it?”

She shakes her head, “No definitely not. This dragon will be by far the hardest thing to kill so far. Dragons are very different from regular creatures such as manticores or hydras. They are intelligent, and they have basic magic abilities. Not to mention they can fly, breathe fire, and have razor sharp fangs and claws. I have  a feeling you’ll be needing your armor for this one.”

“Yeah, probably.”

We turn off the main path and head towards the mountains. Up ahead I see the trees and vegetation get more and more sparse as the path nears the mountains. Right before the path enters the mountains, the area is just one large rocky field. I can’t help but feel a sense of dread at the thought of going in there.

Celestia’s POV

“Were is she?” I ask nopony in particular.

The various nobles in the throne room all look away, not daring to answer.

“Luna should have been here hours ago…”

Just then a  very nervous guard bursts in through the throne room doors.

“My highness, Your sister has arrived!”

“Perfect timing.” I think to myself.

“Very well, everypony, leave us.”

All the ponies quickly exit the room, and just as the last pony leaves my sister slowly trots in.

She looks haggard and annoyed at the same time, and her fur is covered in dried blood.

“Luna, why is there dried blood on your coat? I assume the human and Twilight are dead?”

She shakes her head. “Neigh, before we could kill them… Fluttershy killed us. While we were in our regenerating state, we overhead her talking with the human and Twilight. Apparently she is working with Discord now, acting as his right hand until he regains physical form.”

I narrow my eyes. “I see. At least they still don’t know the true nature of immortals. They proved that by thinking they could kill you. As you and I know, only an immortal can kill another immortal. Being the only other immortal besides us, Discord is our primary concern.”

“Indeed, we must destroy  Discord as soon as possible, as well as the human and Twilight.”

I nod. “They are no threat to us, but any who oppose us must be crushed. And I have a very good idea on how to do that. If they do manage to kill the dragon, they will no doubt be wounded and weak. So we will wait for them to come down from the mountain immediately after the fight. It will be the perfect time to attack…”

Mayor Mare’s POV

It’s amazing how easily a ponies opinion can change. When everypony though Princess Luna was dead, they had rebellious hearts and were ready to fight back. Upon seeing Luna’s unexplained revival, they were panicking over their fate, all thoughts of rebellion gone. It was quite the lucky stroke for me, I was able to convince them almost too easily that their only chance at survival was redemption. Everypony knows that the human and Twilight have been a serious thorn in the side of the Royal Sisters, simply because of the rebellion they incited. So the best way to obtain redemption would be to kill them. That’s what everypony is getting ready for, gathering weapons and armor, preparing to march. Once the remaining Elements stepped in, it was all too easy.

Flashback

“The only way we can redeem ourselves is if we hunt down and kill the human and Twilight ourselves! If we do that, then just maybe the Princesses will spare us.”

The crowd looked at me in hear and apprehension, but to my relief some of them started nodding. Before I could say anything else, the crowd parted and in the middle of them stood Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow stepped forward first and spoke.

“I don’t really care what happens to this town, but I’m not sticking my neck out for Twilight since she betrayed us. I say we kill them.”

Pinkie steps forward.

“The human laughed at me. Nopony laughs at me! I’m going to kill him, whether you ponies are going to help me or not!”

Applejack finally steps forward. “I don’t think we should kill them, cause if we don’t Celestia will burn down the town, including my apple farm, and that would be great.”

Silence.

Rainbow steps forward again and says, “She’s the liar remember? Whatever she says, she means the opposite.”

Murmurs of understanding waft from the crowd.

I raise my voice and say, “See?!? Even the Elements of Harmony agree with me. The only way to save ourselves is to kill Twilight and the human! Now everypony, we all know that they are going to kill the dragon, right?”

The crowd murmurs a yes.

“If they manage to kill the dragon, they will be tired and weak! We will wait for them in the open field at the base of the mountains after they kill the dragon. It will be the perfect time to attack!”

End Flashback

Discord’s POV

Celestia and Luna are going to do exactly what I expected them to do. It’s so funny, hovering over them invisibly, and they don’t even know I’m here! They  are going to try and kill Twilight and the human Ty, but they didn’t take into account the fact that I will be there as well. As soon as Ty kills the dragon,  I will once again be physical, instead of this boring ethereal form. Once I’m physical again, I’ll kill Fluttershy, simply because I won’t need her anymore. When they ambush Ty and Twilight, I will wait until Ty and Twilight are dead, and then finish off Celestia and Luna after they are weak from fighting Ty! Twilight and Ty have no chance of winning against the Royal Sisters, simply because it is impossible for a mortal to kill an immortal. And that’s the funniest thing! The human Ty is so idealistic and naïve to the point that he thinks he can kill me once my last guardian is dead! All this time his goal has been to kill me, so he can put this world back in order, but in reality it is physically impossible! It’s just too good!

I’ll be waiting, invisible, at the open field before the mountains, and when Celestia and Luna are weak from fighting Ty and Twilight, I’ll strike. It will be the perfect time to attack…

Fluttershy’s POV

“So Ponyville is going to try and kill Twilight and Ty? That’s just too perfect.” I think smugly to myself while watching the crowd far below me. I was hovering over Ponyville on my cotton candy cloud when I overheard the townsfolk crying over their fates. They’re going to attack Ty and Twilight after they kill the dragon when they are weak. A great plan, to bad I didn’t think of it first. No matter. When they try and kill Twilight and Ty, no matter how wounded he is, Ty is sure to try and protect Twilight. But when he has his back turned to Twilight, thinking he is protecting her, I’ll be there. I will kill Twilight while Ty is busy. When Ty and Twilight are weak, and Ty is busy fighting against the army from Ponyville, that is when I will kill Twilight. It’s the perfect time to attack…

Ty’s POV

Twilight and I are walking across the large rocky field before the mountain when I feel it. A deep cold that chills me to the bone. I stagger, and Twilight looks behind her at me.

Twilight gallops back to me and asks, “Are you okay? What happened?”

I don’t respond for a minute, instead I focus on catching my breath. A few seconds later I nod to Twilight, showing her I’m okay.

I say, “I’m alright, I just felt a really deep chill.”

She asks, “Is that something that happens often to humans?”

I reply, “No, not at all…”

Sensing my discomfort, she asks, “Does it mean anything?”

I sigh, “Well, it hasn’t been proven, but a lot of people say that when a person feels a deep, unexplainable chill, it means they are at the spot where they will die…”

Silence.

Finally, she speaks, “But that’s just a myth right?”

“Uh, yeah… just a myth. I’m sure nothings going to happen…”

Twilight nods and says, “Yeah, of course! I don‘t believe in anything I can‘t prove.”

It sounds like she is trying to convince herself more than me.

“At any rate, we’re almost to the base of the mountain, lets go!”

I nod, and we start walking again.

A/N   If you couldn’t tell, some serious shit is going to go down in the next chapter. The Royal Sisters, Discord, Fluttershy, and a makeshift army from Ponyville will all be converging on Ty after he fights the dragon. Will he survive? Anyway, the next chapter WILL BE THE LAST ONE! Sort of. After the last chapter I will have a small epilogue. Also, the last chapter will be massive, I’m expecting around 10k words. So please, give me any feedback now before I write the last chapter. I am open for suggestions, but if you have a story suggestion, message it to me rather than write in a comment or review, to avoid spoiling it for others if I do decide to use your suggestion. I do have a very definitive idea of what’s going to happen next, but if your suggestion is really good, I may use it. If you have any questions about anything, just ask! See you all at the last chapter!

Justice Chapter 20

A/N: Well, this isn't the final chapter. The next one will be. I was going to make it the last one, but it was getting way too long, so I'm going to cut it off here and post the final chapter within the next 5 days or so.

“Twilight, remind me again why you can’t just teleport both of us to the top of this mountain already?” I ask for the third time.

Twilight rolls her eyes and says, “My magic is weakened, remember? Teleportation is the most difficult spell in my arsenal. I can barely teleport ten feet. At least until Discord is gone. Besides, even if I could teleport we’d just be alerting the dragon to our presence with the flash of light and the noise it would make.”

I sigh. I know this, but trekking up this mountain was getting old, fast. I take a break by leaning against a nearby rock. Twilight slowly trots next to me and flops down with a huff, obviously just as tired as I am. While breathing deeply to get my stamina back, I slowly gaze over the field below us.  The field was rocky and bare, with a few dead trees and shrubs littering the landscape. A little ways beyond that was a path that led to Ponyville. At this height, I can even see the edge of Ponyville in the distance. We are quite high up. I glance up the mountain and groan. We weren’t even halfway there. I push myself away from the rock and resume climbing. I hear Twilight get up and follow me. About twenty minutes later, Twilight finally breaks the silence.

“Have you thought about what you’re going to do after all this is over?”

I stop in my tracks. Surprisingly enough, I hadn't.

“Well, I’m not sure. What do you mean by ‘after all this is over’?”

“I mean, when Discord is dead and everypony goes back to normal.”

I shrug.

“A lot of things could happen between then and now. We both could be dead in the next hour for all I know.”

“You’re dodging the question. Let’s assume best case scenario where Discord is dead and we are both still alive… what then?”

I walk in silence for the next few minutes while Twilight trots next to me, expectantly waiting for my answer. I just don’t know. If we kill Discord, and Fluttershy goes back to normal, I’ll have to choose between them. But who’s to say one of them won’t try to kill the other? Gah, this universe is so messed up!

“Well?” Twilight asks.

Just from her tone I could practically see her hopes on that single word. I know what she wants to hear, but I just can’t bring myself to say it.

“I just can’t think about it right now. We need to focus on the mission at hand. We’ll cross those bridges when we get there.”

If they aren’t burned down first…

She lets out an annoyed sigh.

“I suppose you’re right… What’s your plan for defeating the dragon?”

Well that was a sudden topic change. I wonder what brought that on? I look up from Twilight and I see the entrance to the cave just fifty feet ahead. Oh.

“Well uh… charge in and kill it?” I ask with a horrible poker face.

Twilight gives me her “You’re a complete idiot” look, and says, “That’s your brilliant plan? Really?”

“Yep.”

She facehoofs, and trots the last few yards to the lip of the cave. I follow her. Once at the edge, she peers inside.

“The cave turns just a couple yards in; we can talk here without our words reaching the dragon inside.”

I nod and look at her expectantly.

She tilts her head and looks at my quizzically.

I sigh and say, “Obviously I’m not good at making attack strategies for dragons. You decide the plan.”

“Alright… hmm… uh… we charge in and kill it?”

Now it’s my turn to facepalm.

“You’re supposed to be the brainy one, how is that the best you can do?”

“Equestria used to be a peaceful place; there aren’t any books about killing things or warfare. I have plenty of books on dragons, but I’ve never thought about killing them, I live with one for Pete’s sake!”

“Fine… I remember reading a bit about dragons at your library. Apparently their undersides are the weakest, right?”

“Yeah, if by weakest you mean granite hard instead of diamond. Their scales are the hardest known substance in the world, I’m afraid your sword isn’t going to do much.”

“Well, I do have this.”

I call upon my Element’s power, and summon the aura sword. Waves of energy shimmer along its sapphire colored blade, casting a faint glow.

“I bet this is sharp enough.”

I pick up a nearby rock about the size of my fist. I tilt the blade up, and drop the rock on it. Two rocks hit the ground.

Twilight looks impressed.

“Yeah, I guess that’ll cut it. No pun intended.”

I smirk, “Now that I have a weapon that can actually do some damage, what’s the plan?”

“Quite frankly, you’re the expert on killing things… how did you beat the Hydra and Manticore?”

“I got lucky both times.”

“Great…”

“Yeah… you said the dragon will be very intelligent, right?”

Her ears perk up.

“Yes, very. Old ones can cast quite powerful spells as well.”

“Good. I think I have an idea. Can you cast an invisibility spell?”

                                                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

I trot confidently into the cave. As soon as I take one step in, I feel a strange sensation. It feels like an enchantment, but I can’t quite remember why… I shrug it off and continue. I go around the corner and see the cave open up into a large den. I gasp at the sight before me. There is a giant pile of gold, gems, and various pieces of jewelry heaped in the center of the cave. But that wasn’t what caught my eye. What I first notice is the books. Tons of them. Literally thousands of books are on bookshelves that cover every square inch of wall space in the cave. Another thing that surprises me is how… nice… the cave looks. Carpet on the ground, magical lamp lighting and various pieces of WAY oversized furniture adorn the cavern. I trot over to the nearest bookshelf and squeal when I notice books I don’t even own. I pull one from the shelf and look at the title. “Magical Spells and Enchantments for the Aged Dragon”.

“Hmm… dragon… isn’t there something about dragons I’m forgetting?” I ask myself.

I ponder the question for a moment, but my mind turns up a blank. Grinning happily, I settle down on the plush carpet and begin reading.

TY’s POV:

I watch as Twilight steps into the cave, hesitates for a moment, and then keeps going.

“Alright, she goes in, I wait a few seconds, and then go in after her. She’ll have the dragon talking up a storm, and while its distracted I stab it in the back.”

I look down at myself and grin. All I see is the rocks below me.

“Twilight’s spell works great, I can’t even see myself!”

I look back up into the cave. It’s probably time to go in. I step through the entrance and feel slightly weird… what was I doing? I don’t know… hmm. That’s odd. I decide to keep walking, and soon enough I see the opening into a huge cavern. Twilight is only a few feet away, reading a book with a slap-happy grin on her face. I smile as well, and walk towards her. Before I get there, I notice the pile of treasure in the center of the room. There are various pieces of gilded armor in the pile. I decide instantly that the armor is far more interesting than reading a book. I saunter over to the pile, and pick up a ruby-and-diamond gauntlet. I try to put it on, but there is something already in it… I pull out the obstruction and notice it is the skeleton of a human hand.

I look at the hand and say, “Need a hand?”

I chuckle at my own pun. Tossing the hand aside, I put the gauntlet over my right hand. Fits like a glove. I chuckle happily again.

                                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

“And finally, the most powerful enchantment in a dragon’s arsenal. The Mesmer. Only the most old and experienced dragons can hope to cast it. Once cast over a dragon’s lair, anything that wanders in will instantly forget what they had set out to do, and instead will be filled with a sense of safety and contentment. This spell is so strong that whatever prey is caught in its web won’t even try to fight back when the dragon inevitably devours it.”

I grin happily while reading that section.

“That’s an interesting trick…” I murmur to myself.

Upon hearing a metallic noise, I lazily lift my head towards the treasure pile. There’s a piece of armor just hovering there on the side of the pile. It looks as if it was meant for a hand.

“Hand… what is that? Ahh well, I’m sure it’s not important.”

I look down at my book, but I am interrupted from further reading by a slithering sound above me. I look up and see a large, grey dragon crawling on the ceiling. I smile and wave.

“Hello Mr. Dragon!” I call up to him.

The dragon lets go of the ceiling, and twisting like a cat, lands on all fours right in front of me. Even on all fours, he was at least as tall as my tree house. The dragon looks at me and smiles.

“Hello my dear,” He says in a deep, gravelly, voice. “Are you enjoying the reading material?”

I grin and nod happily.

“Oh yes, most of these books I’ve never seen before! I live in a library, so that’s saying something!”

“Glad to hear it. Now, would you mind introducing me to your friend over there? Human, by the scent of him, if I’m not mistaken.”

The dragon points behind him at the treasure pile and the floating piece of armor. I look past him, but all I see is the hand armor thingy. I look up at the dragon in confusion.

“What friend?”

The dragon chuckles to himself and snaps his fingers. A figure materializes right at the spot where the armor is hovering, although it looks like he is wearing it. I again look at the dragon with confusion.

“What is that?”

“That, my dear, is a human. I assume you planned on distracting me, and you turned the human invisible so he could sneak up on me while I was busy talking to you.”

I grin evilly, all traces of my former stupor gone.

“Exactly”

                                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flashback:

“So, here’s my idea. With this Mesmer thing the dragon more than likely has cast over his lair, if we wander in we’ll forget what we’re doing there, right?”

“Yes.”

“The dragon can also read minds, to a very basic extent?”

“Yes, they can read what you are immediately thinking, but nothing deeper.”

“Finally, you can cast a spell on both of us that will keep our minds intact and free of the Mesmer?”

“Yes, the Mesmer is only deadly to ponies that don’t know about it, and can’t cast the proper counter-spell.”

“Perfect. You’ll go in, and act like you’ve forgotten what you’re doing. For it to be one-hundred percent convincing, you’ll have to think as if you’ve forgotten as well. At some point, I will follow you invisibly, and do the same. In the book I read, it said dragons have an extraordinary sense of smell, so he’ll know I’m there right away. You catch his attention, and play dumb while talking to him. I’ll pretend as if he isn’t there. If we both think and act as if the Mesmer has taken control of us, he’ll have no reason to suspect we are actually in control. He’ll figure out that you turned me invisible, so he will think that was our entire plan, instead of being a simple ruse. When you think we have him lulled into a false sense of security, glance at me. That’s when I’ll strike.

End Flashback.

                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TY’s POV:

“Exactly”

Out of the corner of my eye I see Twilight grin evilly, and glance at me. That’s my cue.

I drop the gauntlet, summon my aura sword, and rush at the dragon. The dragon, seeing Twilight’s expression, turns around quickly, but not quickly enough. I elongate the sword to ten feet, and stab right for the dragon’s heart.

Fortunately, my sword cuts through it’s scales like butter. Unfortunately, the dragon had turned just enough that my sword barely misses it’s heart, and instead punctures the left lung. Seeing my mistake, I shorten my sword back to three feet, and hop backwards.

Just in time.

A clawed foot lashes out at me, missing me by an inch. Before the dragon could even think about a follow-up strike, Twilight blasts him with a beam of magic, knocking him aside. As the dragon staggers back to his feet, blood pouring from his wound, Twilight rushes over to me. She charges up another bolt of magic, and I drop into a defensive stance while summoning my armor and shield. The dragon glares at me, and places its claws over the wound. A bright flash of blue later, the wound is completely sealed up.

“You two are very clever, fooling my Mesmer like that, but you aren’t the only ones here with a trick or two.”

The dragon rears up on it’s hind legs. I gaze up in consternation at it. On it’s back legs, it is at least five stories tall, the top of his head scraping the cavern roof.

“I must admit, it has been centuries since somepony, or some human, has fooled me. For that, I’ll give you something. Since becoming a Greyscale Guardian, my magic has been greatly enhanced. Enhanced to the point where I can even see into the future of someone if I wish. If you beat me, I’ll read your futures and tell you something important. Not that you will.”

“I appreciate the gesture… I guess.” I mumble.

Twilight just narrows her eyes, still aiming her glowing horn at the dragon before us.

The dragon seems to be in deep thought for a moment, and then asks,

“Why are you trying to kill me in the first place? Is it for the knowledge contained in my books? The wealth in my horde? Or simply to weaken Discord?”

“I want to kill you, so I can then kill Discord!”

The dragon stares at me for a moment. And then bursts out laughing. All Twilight and I can do is stare as the dragon literally rolls on the ground laughing. The sound of his laugh shakes the cavern walls. After a few moments of this, the dragon composes himself and stands back up. Apparently the look on Twilight’s and my face is so funny he starts chuckling again.

“You…hehe… are going to kill Discord? That’s priceless, haha!”

Now I’m just plain mad.

“What’s so funny!?”

The dragon points at me and simply states, “You!”

He bursts out into another giggling fit. I’m not even sure what to do at this point. He regains his composure for a second time, and explains.

“You really think you can kill Discord? That has been your quest hasn’t it? How pathetic. You’ve been chasing an unobtainable dream, human. Discord is an immortal. Only other immortals can kill an immortal. That’s what’s so funny! It is literally impossible for you to kill him!”

I feel like a pit opened up inside me.

“……..What? You’re lying… you have to be...” I mutter to myself, convincing no one.

My mind races with everything I’ve gone through. The Manticore, Hydra, fighting Twilight and her friends, saving Twilight… everything. All for nothing?

The dragon simply smiles.

“Deny it all you want human, your quest is hopeless. I can see your thoughts; you’ve been through quite a bit, haven’t you? Must be devastating to know that was all for naught.”

I slowly lower me head. The dragon mistakes it for hopelessness.

“Giving up already? That wasn’t difficult.”

“No…”

The dragon’s brow furrows and asks,

“What was that?”

“I refuse to believe everything I’ve done was for nothing!!!” I scream at him.

Before the dragon can react, I charge at him. My aura sword elongates to ten feet again, and I slash at the dragon’s neck. He raises his arm in defense, and my sword scores a deep hit on it. He roars in rage, and then leans toward me. I can feel the heat before even seeing the flames. I hunker down and raise my shield over me. A second later, all I can see is fire surrounding me. It doesn’t let up. The seconds tick by, and I feel as if I am being cooked alive in the inferno. The fire steals all the oxygen around me, and I can’t breathe. Just when I’m about to pass out, the fire stops. I take one greedy gulp of air, and then it is promptly knocked out of me by the dragon’s swinging tail. I crash into a bookshelf and crumple to the floor, books raining down on me.  Through the piles of books on top of me, I spot a small gap where I can see out. A large rug and some furniture are on fire from the dragon’s breath, and I see Twilight silhouetted against it. She forms a large barrier around herself, which the dragon continuously pounds on. Just from the look on her face, I can see she won’t be able to hold the barrier much longer. I stagger out from underneath the books. The dragon turns his attention back to me, and Twilight promptly rewards him with a magical blast upside the head. Her turns to face Twilight, and I lash out with my sword, scoring a shallow cut along his right leg. He roars from pain, and flies to the top of his treasure pile. He glares between Twilight and I, Twilight on his left, me on his right. Twilight lights her horn, and charges. I dash forward, hoping he’ll be too busy with Twilight to notice me, or vice versa. Before either of us is back in attacking distance, the dragon flies up and attaches himself to the ceiling. The ceiling is covered in stalactites, and I instantly know what he’s going to do.

“Twilight, find cover!”

No sooner does she duck under an oversized chair then the dragon begins snapping stalactites from the roof. A stalactite the size of a small car crashes into the top of the chair. The chair groans and snaps under the force, but remarkably stays standing. I dismiss my shield, dive under it, grab Twilight, and book it out just as the dragon hurls another spike of rock at it. The chair collapses. I stumble and fall, dropping Twilight and my sword. I roll onto my back and look up. The dragon, seeing my sword a few feet away from me, drops from the ceiling towards me.

He’s going to crush me.

On instinct, I do three things at once. I kick Twilight away from me. Then I dismiss my sword. And finally, I re-summon my sword, so it appears instantly in my hand. I raise the sword above me, and close my eyes.

                                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

After being picked up/tackled from under the chair, I land heavily next to Ty. Before I can even make sense of what happened, I feel a sharp kick in my side. I roll a few feet away from him. I open my mouth to yell at him, but am silenced by a thunderous crash right next to me. I turn over, and see the dragon’s side a few inches from my nose. I hurriedly scoot backwards, ignoring the pain in my side form the kick. I hesitantly stand up. The dragon makes no attempt to move, and I immediately see why.  Sticking out its back is Ty’s aura sword. But as I watch, it flickers and vanishes.

“…Ty?”

“…….”

“TY!”

I begin charging a levitation spell. Using almost every bit of strength in me, I lift the dragon a few feet off the ground, and drop him away from Ty. I collapse from the effort. Looking ahead I see Ty lying motionless, his head turned away from me. I crawl over to him, and weakly shake him.

“Ty… please get up… please don’t leave me…”

I break down and start crying.

                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

Wow.

She didn’t even bother to check my pulse.

Seriously?

I’m lying here, out of breath, barely conscious, being shaken by a sobbing unicorn. Can a guy get any peace around here? I was almost flattened by a dragon for Pete’s sake! Thankfully my armor prevented me from being crushed. Feeling one of her tears go in my ear, I decide enough is enough.

“Twilight, you’re supposed to be the smart one. Why didn’t you just check my pulse?”

Bad idea.

The dragon didn’t crush me, but I swear this maniac unicorn’s hug will.

“Oh thank Celestia you’re alright! I thought you were dead!”

She begins crying all over again.

Completely out of patience, I respond.

“Twilight, for one thing, Celestia is trying to kill both of us. Thanking her is probably not the smartest idea. Two, I enjoy breathing, so could you please stop hugging me?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m just so happy you’re alive!”

“Me too.” I deadpan.

I sit up, and wince as I feel a few broken ribs voice their complaints.

“Ow...”

Even though Twilight looks like she’s about to pass out, she insists on healing my ribs with the last of her magic. Then she asks,

“How did you survive the dragon falling on you?”

I pat my armor.

“This prevented me from becoming a pancake, but I was still a little squished.”

I open my mouth to say more, but I am interrupted by a wheezing cough from behind me. Startled, I jump up and summon my sword again. The dragon is laying on his side, shallow breaths occasionally escaping in shuddering sighs. I warily walk to the dragons head, Twilight behind me. There’s a pool of blood forming next to the dragons mouth. He locks eyes with Twilight, and then states,

“Level 5, Subsection 8, Bookshelf 24, Row 2, the 5th from the left. Canterlot Royal Archives.”

After each word more and more blood flows from the corner of the dragon’s mouth. After finishing, the dragon locks eyes with me. His eyes gloss over, and he states,

“The most powerful forces in the universe can sometimes only be truly destroyed by themselves.”

With that last sentence, the dragon shudders once, and lays still.

Twilight and I can only stare at the dead dragon as we try to comprehend what the dragon had said.

“Twilight?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know what he was trying to say to you?”

“Um, yeah. He listed coordinates for a specific book inside the Canterlot Royal Archives.”

“I guessed that, but do you know which book he was talking about?”

She gives me a withering glare.

“I may be a bookworm, but I don’t have each book memorized for their placement.”

“Fair enough. You wouldn’t happen to know what he meant by what he said to me?”

“Maybe he was referring to the fact that only immortals can kill another immortal? They are pretty powerful, so that fits.”

“I guess, but he sounded as if the ‘powerful force’ can only be killed if it decides to kill itself. That doesn’t really make sense.”

“I don’t know, I’m just impressed he could actually read our futures…”

“For all we know he just made everything up.”

I glance around. The fire the dragon started earlier had spread to the bookshelves, and now the air was getting thick with smoke.

“Let’s get out of here…”

Twilight nods.

“Right.”

Both of us completely exhausted, we stagger out of the cave. Once out, I look up at the sky. It would be dark really soon. There is an overhang nearby, so I nudge Twilight in the right direction.

“Let’s sleep here tonight.”

“Okay…”

I flop down under the overhang, all the while ignoring the hard rocks underneath me. Twilight drops next to me, and is out like a light. I look over the rocky valley spread out down in front of us. With the long shadows cast by the setting sun, the valley looks almost like a checkerboard.

“Hmm… that’s fitting. Tomorrow the Queen and her pawns will be there, as well as the King and his Knight…”

I vaguely wonder how I even know this before I drift off to sleep.

A/N: Well hope you like it. I am actively working on the final chapter, so don't give up on me just yet, it'll be here very soon.

Also, leave me a comment saying you're still here, and letting me know if you catch any spelling/grammar errors.

Final Chapter: 21

A/N: Well, here it is. The last chapter of Justice.

I hop out through the orphanage window. I shift the backpack of food and water more securely over my shoulder, and I sprint for the tree-line. Once I reach it, I glance back at the orphanage, nestled into a niche in the forest.

“I’m never going back there…” I mutter to myself.

I was in there for all of five minutes, but I hated it nonetheless. I continue walking through the aspen trees, the occasional red or yellow leaf drifting beside me. I was heading to my usual meditation spot. When I had begun to learn Tai-chi, I had found a small clearing near a cliff edge. It was a beautiful place, and I was always able to find calm there. While I doubted I would be able to today, I had to try.

Hours pass. There’s the occasional stop to eat or drink, but not much else. I’m lost in thought.

“What am I going to do now? Where will I go? What if…”

I shake my head to clear my thoughts. It is pointless to try and come up with a plan now. Once I reach my meditation grounds, then I will decide. Just as I finish thinking this, I break through a tree-line overlooking the cliff. I’m here. A small cluster of rocks to my right, a fallen tree to my left. Everything is just as I remember it. At least some things are the same. I go right into the middle of the clearing. I draw my kilij, and hold it above me. I slowly turn the blade, allowing it to glint in the afternoon sunlight. I re-sheathed it, and held out my arms into the beginning Tai-chi position.

I breathe in the cool mountain air as I shift my stance…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I slowly wake up to something poking me in my side. Thinking its Twilight, I mutter,

“Five more minutes…”

I’m jolted up by a swift kick.

“Twilight! What the he-“

I look up and see a glowing suit of armor standing over me. I scramble to my feet and stand between the armor and Twilight, who is just now stirring. The armor just stares at me. A flicker of recognition crosses my brain. I glance down at my left forearm where the Element of Justice is supposed to be.

It’s gone.

I look back up at the armor.

“What… How did you… Huh?”

My perfectly articulate speech must have roused Twilight, because she looks up at the armor and screams. I bend down and clamp my hand over her mouth to prevent further noise.

“Hey Twilight, this is… uh… the Element of Justice. I know you haven’t seen it like this, but this is what I found it as.”

She raises an eyebrow, clearly questioning my sanity. I remove my hand, and thankfully, she doesn’t resume screaming. I look back to the Element in armor form and ask,

“What are you doing?”

“I wish to converse with you.”

I roll my eyes.

“Oh, now you want to talk?! What’s with the silent treatment you’ve been giving me this past week? We really could have used your help planning for the dragon, but noooooooo. You’re too busy doing Justicey stuff in the bracelet. I see how it is.”

I know I must sound like a five-year-old, but Twilight and I could have died fighting the dragon, so I am understandably pissed.

“I was building my strength for what is to come.”

Twilight and I glance at each other, wondering what he is talking about. Twilight steps forward.

“And what, pray tell, is that?”

She’s just as pissed as I am.

“Chaos.”

What an infuriatingly simple reply.

“Yeah, we know. Chaos is Discord’s domain, so we should be prepared for that. That doesn’t excuse you for zoning out for a week.” I reply.

“I have sensed it approaching on the horizon, and today is the day it all happens. There are many things I must tell you if you are to survive, but even then it is unlikely.”

“Gee, thanks. Love the support.”

Twilight speaks up again.

“What do we need to know? We found out just yesterday that we have no hope of killing Discord, or Celestia and Luna for that matter. Why didn’t you tell us before? Did you just not know?”

“I knew, I just didn’t tell you because you would have given up.”

With enough sarcasm to kill a small animal, I say,

“The amount of faith and confidence you have in us is staggering.”

The Element of Justice ignores me and continues.

“All is not lost; it is still possible to defeat them. You can either use their attacks against them, or become an immortal yourself.”

“I personally like the idea of being immortal, but I don’t think you have any get-immortal-quick-schemes, do you?”

“No, I do not. There are only two ways to become immortal. Being born immortal is one way. The other is extreme, unselfish sacrifice. And the second can only be done in the presence of another immortal.”

“Great… Wait a second. You are immortal, aren’t you? Why can’t you just kill them?”

“While I am immortal, I have no physical body. The armor, shield, and sword you see before you are the abilities of the Element of Justice. I am merely the ghost of the previous bearer, manipulating my Element. You cannot use my sword to slay an immortal.”

“Shit…”

I sit down and bury my head in my hands.

“Then what hope do we have? It’s like what the dragon said, it’s physically impossible for us to kill Discord…”

Twilight sits down next to me and rests her head on my shoulder.

“We can’t give up yet… there has to be a way.”

I raise my head slightly.

“Well, we could try to get them into three-way crossfire, so they all kill each other?”

“Do you really think that’ll work?”

“No… but Mr. Doom over there hasn’t left us many options.”

The element takes a few steps towards us.

“I’m sorry there aren’t many options, but you had to know. Is there anything else I may be able to answer for you?”

I think about what happened last night.

“Actually, yeah. In the dragon’s den I found a piece of armor with a human hand in it, how do you explain that?”

“As you know, humans have been in Equestria in the past.”

“Actually, I thought you and I were the only ones ever to make it here. How did you get here anyway? And how did others make it here?”

“You don’t need to know how I was brought here, but our world and Equestria are more closely connected then you might think. There are many natural portals occurring all over the place that connect the two.”

“So you’re saying the part of a dead human I found was just some unlucky guy who happened to stumble into a portal?”

“Pretty much.”

“Alright, but that still doesn’t help us any.”

“No, it does not.”

I turn my head to look at Twilight.

“Do you have any ideas?”

“No, but I do wish to clarify something.”

She looks up at the Element.

“With all three Greyscale Guardians dead, Discord is now in a physical form, correct?”

“Yes. With them dead Discord is now vulnerable.”

“Fat lot of good that does us when we can’t kill him…” I mutter.

Neither of them says anything. Probably because it’s true. I instead opt to look out over the valley. The rising sun casts warms rays over the rocks, making everything look surprisingly warm and welcoming. I look in the direction of Ponyville, and I see a large dust cloud. I stand.

“Twilight, what is that?” I say while pointing towards the cloud.

Twilight gets up and casts a spell that makes her eyes glow. After a few seconds she says,

“Well that’s not good… It appears to be just about everypony from Ponyville galloping this direction. And they’re all armed.”

“Great. Coming for us no doubt.”

“Well, if we go over the mountain we can probably get away from them…”

“No, you heard the Element. Something is going down, so no more running. It ends today, one way or another.”

Twilight cancels her spell and looks up at me.

“You’re sounding awfully dramatic…”

“It’s a rule. You have to sound dramatic before you die.”

Twilight frowns.

“Please don’t say that…”

“Sorry. Anyways, we should head down. If we hurry we’ll beat them there, and then have time to set up some defenses.”

“Okay.”

Just as Twilight and I turn to head back down the mountain, the Element speaks again.

“I hate to add more bad news, but there is something else you must know.”

I sigh loudly.

“Now what?!”

“Even if we somehow manage to kill Discord, it won’t be over.”

“What do you mean?”

“Discord is not the Spirit of Chaos. He is only the host for it. Becoming the host has made him immortal, but he is not the actual Spirit. The Spirit itself is a higher power. I’m not even sure how you would go about destroying it, if it’s even possible.”

“Just another impossible on our to-do list. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

If we get there…

Twilight and I begin the trek down the mountain, and the Element follows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

As I trot down the mountainside next to Ty, I can’t help but wonder what might happen when we reach the bottom. He’s good at fighting, but not so much at thinking ahead. If I was his enemy, and for a time I was, I’d wait to ambush him at the bottom when he would be weak from fighting the dragon. That’s what I would do, and I learned almost everything I know from Celestia. She and Luna are no doubt waiting for us…

I just hope we both can survive this…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

Seeing Twilight trot next to me, I can’t help but think about Fluttershy’s threat towards her. Fluttershy swore to kill her, and honestly, I don’t know if I could prevent her from doing it. Fluttershy is no doubt watching us, waiting nearby. She’ll probably be looking for an opportunity to murder Twilight, and to spy for Discord…

What if we actually survive to the point of attacking Discord? What then? Would Fluttershy try to kill me? Would I be able to raise my hand against her? If it was to protect Twilight, I think I’d be able to do it. But to protect myself? I don’t think I could.

I just hope it doesn’t come to that…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Element of Justice’s POV:

Wow this kid is stupid.

He really doesn’t expect to be ambushed when we get to the bottom?

No doubt Discord has set up a trap. He would feel it if he had become physical again. He must know we killed the dragon, so he probably thinks Ty is weak right now. In the kid’s favor, he did hold up better than I would have thought, but he is still tired. Physically, and emotionally.

He doesn’t stand a chance.

I wonder what my new bearer will be like… I hope it’s another human like me. Just hope I won’t have to wait forever like last time for him to show up…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

“Well, we’re here.” I state to no one in particular. “And surprisingly enough, we beat the Ponyville Mob here.”

I turn to the Element.

“Do you think we have time to set up some sort of defense against them?”

“No. They’ll be here in just a few minutes; you can already make out individual ponies in the group.”

“Alright, so what’s the plan?”

I glance over at Twilight. She gives me a blank look.

“Okay, no plan.”

“Just as well…” Says an eerily familiar voice behind me.

Twilight, the Element, and I all turn around at once.

There, hovering on a cotton candy cloud with a serene smile on her face, is Fluttershy.

“If you had a plan I bet I would just ruin it anyway… Oh well.”

It takes a moment to formulate a complete thought, and when I do, all I say is:

“Shit.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fluttershy’s POV:

“Ahh… aren’t you happy to see me?”

I use the best cutesy voice I can, but of course they see through it. Ty steps in front of that infernal mare Twilight.

“I knew you’d be here… what do you want?” He growls.

“Humph. Skipping the formalities huh? Alright. You know why I’m here. Now if you’d please just step away from Twilight…”

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

Ty draws his kilij. I glance over at the Element in full armor. I’m surprised he’s out and about, but it doesn’t matter. I know what the Element is capable of, and what it can’t do. I look back to Ty.

“I didn’t expect you would, but you have no choice. You see, I originally planned to swoop down and murder that traitorous mare while you were busy dealing with the mob from Ponyville. But where would be the fun in killing Twilight if you didn’t know it was going to happen? When the mob comes, you’ll have to choose between defending her, and protecting yourself. Eventually, you’ll have to stop protecting her and fight the mob, and when you do, that’s when I’ll kill her.”

He growls again. He’s so cute when he’s angry.

“I’ll never let you hurt her, even if I have to fight you myself!”

Well this is new. I didn’t think he’d be able to fight me… still doesn’t matter. The mob is here.

“Looks like we have company…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ty’s POV:

I turn my head slightly away from Fluttershy to see the mob. About one-hundred ponies stand just a few yards away, most of them panting heavily from their gallop. They’re all armed with various weapons. Butcher knives, pitchforks, frying pans, just about anything that could cause bodily harm are in their mouths, or for the unicorn’s case, in their magic. While examining the mob, four ponies trot forward.

“The other Elements of Harmony… my friends.” Twilight whispers.

Seeing Fluttershy just as curious of the four as I am, I turn fully to them and ask,

“Why are you here?”

Rainbow dash is the first to answer. She looks much greyer than the last time I saw her, as do her friends.

“I’m just here to watch the fireworks; I couldn’t care less if Ponyville burned.”

She quickly flies up, grabs a cloud, and settles about 30 feet off the ground to watch.

Rarity steps forward. She looks half starved, but the greedy glint in her eyes is as strong as ever.

“I’m not here to fight, just to pick up the pieces afterwards. There is always good loot to be found after a battle.”

She trots away from the group, and settles on a large rock to watch.

Applejack then steps forward.

“I didn’t come here to fight because if ah did mah farm wouldn’t be burned down, and ah’d like nothing better than to see it gone.”

It takes me a minute, but then I say, “You mean you came here to fight so that Celestia wouldn’t burn down your farm as punishment?”

She nods her head.

“Nope. If we do nothing to stop you Celestia will be very happy and spare Ponyville. Ah have everything personal about this towards you, but ah have to do nothing.”

Another minute.

“Alright, I get what you’re saying. Celestia said if Ponyville didn’t try to stop me, then she would burn it down. You have nothing personal against me, but you have to save your farm.”

She nods again.

She can only speak lies. Apparently being Discorded doesn’t affect her movements, which is why she can still nod yes.

Pinkie steps forward. Her menacing expression makes me take a step back.

“You laughed at me! I’m going to tear you apart for that!”

Wow, she’s still not over that? Geez.

Behind me, I hear Fluttershy snicker.

“You’re still mad at him over that?”

She snickers again.

“How pathetic.”

Pinkie ignores me in favor of glaring at Fluttershy. That’s when the mob notices her as well. Murmurs break out over the crowd.

“Isn’t that the pony that tried to kill Luna?”

“I wonder what Celestia and Luna would do if we killed her?”

“Do you think they would pardon us?”

Hearing the crowd talk, I’m suddenly filled with hope. I step forward, catching all their attentions, and say,

“Everypony, please listen up! I am not your enemy. I’ve successfully killed all three greyscale guardians. Discord is now vulnerable. This pony,” I point to Fluttershy, “Is an agent of Discord. She temporarily killed Luna, which incited Celestia’s wrath. She is your enemy, not me.”

The entire crowd of ponies is silent. I can’t believe I had just said that about Fluttershy. She used to be my ally, and now I had practically marked her for death. She couldn’t believe it either. She is just staring at me, her expression of hatred growing deeper and deeper with each passing second. Eventually, the dam bursts.

“I’m going to kill you! You betrayed me!”

She hurtles herself at me from her cloud, but before she even gets halfway a magic blast knocks her aside.

It came from the crowd.

She shakily stands up, and glares at the mass of ponies, trying to figure out which one did it. Mayor Mare instead steps forward.

“The human is right. Fluttershy is our true enemy. If anything, the human is our ally.”

The entire mob from Ponyville shifts their focus from me to Fluttershy.

“F-fine then! Don’t attack them! I’ll kill you all myself!”

Fluttershy’s words were brave, but it would be impossible not to see the fear in her eyes. The mob advances on her, murderous expressions on their faces. I couldn’t help but feel a pang of grief.

“Fluttershy’s about to die…”

Twilight looks up at me and nods solemnly. The crowd draws closer to Fluttershy. She picks up Discord’s knife, and smiles.

“Why is she-?”

I don’t have time to finish my sentence. Fluttershy stabs the ground in front of her, and half the mob turns into various kitchen appliances.

“Discord’s knife! He must have imbued it with chaos magic before he gave it to her.” I say to Twilight.

Twilight responds, “That must also be how she controls her cloud…”

The ponies that had just turned into machinery quickly turn back, looking only slightly confused.

“Obviously she can’t control it very well…”

The mob, looking more wary, prepares to attack. Fluttershy lowers her stance. Just as the two enemies lunge at each other, two things happen. A bright flash of blue and red light explodes between them, sending both parties reeling. Once the smoke and dust clears, two figures step out of the crater.

Celestia and Luna.

Everyone, including the Element and I, simply stare at them. Celestia sees me right off the bat, and trots towards me. On the other hand, Luna sees Fluttershy, and trots her direction. Luna calls out,

“COME AID YOUR PRINCESS IN KILLING THIS PATHETIC PONY! I WILL NOT BE SHAMED BY HER AGAIN!”

I wince as the words barrage my ears. Immediately the mob is at Luna’s side, just as ready as before to kill Fluttershy. Hearing Celestia speak, I turn my attention back to her. She is still trotting slowly towards me, but I can feel the wrath hidden beneath the calm. Each step she takes leaves a scorched hoof print on the barren, rocky ground. I can feel the temperature rising. Once she is only twenty feet away from me, she speaks,

“So, human, how would you like to be cooked? Rare? Medium? Or well done?”

“None of the above. You should be asking for mercy. You’re outnumbered, three to one.”

“Why should I care about being outnumbered when you are so obviously outmatched?”

I give my best bluffing smile.

“Because I know how to kill you Celestia.”

Her eyes widen and she takes a step back.

“No, you’re bluffing! You don’t know how to kill me!”

She tries to regain some of her bravado, but it doesn’t really work. Then I notice something strange. She keeps glancing up. It only takes a second to realize she is looking at her horn.

A thought occurs to me.

“Hmm. Her horn… Thanks Celestia, you just turned my bluff into a reality…”

Far in front of me, I see Luna and the mob from Ponyville attack Fluttershy. She is holding them off well enough with her knife’s chaos magic, but it won’t last forever. I take a few steps closer to Celestia, Twilight and the Element on either side of me.

“I know how to kill you, and I will. You have abused your power long enough, and you have been a tyrant to your ponies. Now, you will face justice.”

I raise my sword towards her. The Element of Justice does the same, and Twilight charges her horn. For the briefest of seconds, Celestia looks genuinely afraid. Then her rage returns, with none of the calm to hide it in.

“YOU ARE JUST A PUNY MORTAL! YOU STAND NO CHANCE AGAINST ME! I’LL FRY YOU AND SCATTER YOUR DUST TO THE FOUR WINDS!”

Ouch.

R.I.P. my ears.

Her voice is even louder than her sister’s.

Any other thought is instantly gone as I see her create a sphere of fire the size of a wrecking ball. I can only mutter one word.

“Run.”

Celestia shoots the fireball at us, and we all scatter. It explodes into a huge pillar of fire, but we all got away in time. Twilight teleports right behind her, the Element runs left, and I run right. We each then charge her from three different sides.  Celestia resorts to firing quick burst of fire in each of our directions, but we can dodge them easy. Once we are all just a few feet away, she teleports in a concussive burst of light, knocking us all back. She appears right where she fired her original fireball, and we all quickly get back to our feet. Now Fluttershy, Luna, and the mob are behind us. None of us dare to look behind ourselves and risk getting fried. We all cautiously advance towards Celestia, and she cautiously watches us. Just as we all prepare for another strike, Fluttershy zooms past us and careens into Celestia. Fluttershy uses her knife to swipe at Celestia, but she is quickly knocked away by Celestia’s magic. Following Fluttershy, the mob mills about us. All of a sudden, everything is chaos. The mob doesn’t attack us, but they do try to get Fluttershy. The mass of ponies separates the Element and Twilight from me, and over the ponies I see those two fight Celestia alone. Fluttershy regains her balance, and instead of targeting Luna, decides to go after me. Fluttershy ignores or deflects the attacks of the mob, and flies right over them. Fluttershy slashes at me, and I use the flat of my blade to block. Fluttershy keeps on going, and attacks Luna, who is behind me. I turn around and rush up to Luna, and help her fight off Fluttershy. We succeed, and Fluttershy flies a few yards in front of us. The mob is behind us, Fluttershy in front of us. Both of them just stare at Luna and I while we stand side by side, catching our breaths.

It takes all of five seconds for us to realize we were supposed to be fighting each other as well.

I swing my sword at Luna, and due to her being right next to me, she can’t dodge. My kilij scores a deep hit, from shoulder to flank.  Blood pours out of the wound and she collapses. It wouldn’t kill her, but it certainly did take her by surprise.

I hadn’t planned on doing it this way, but I suppose it’ll work.

Before Luna can recover, I swing my sword with as much strength as I can muster right at the base of her horn. It cuts half-way through.

She screams.

The sound echoes across the battlefield, and out of the corner of my eye I see my two allies and Celestia stop fighting to see what made that noise. Upon seeing me and Luna, they freeze. The mob and Fluttershy are stock still, completely in shock over what I had done. With Luna immobile from pain and shock, I bend down and grab her horn. I drop my sword, raise my right hand, and strike with all my strength right at the cut.

SNAP

It breaks clean off.

A collective gasp rises from the everypony present.

Luna passes out in front of me, the pain being too much. But still, she is alive. The rise and fall of her chest proves that.

I raise the blood-stained blue horn above me, and jam it into Luna’s heart.

A few seconds pass, and then her body slowly turns to dust. A few more seconds later and there is nothing left of Luna besides some metal pieces of armor, her horn, and a pile of alicorn-shaped dust.

I pick the horn back up and turn to the mob behind me.

“Your princesses are not invincible. I have just killed Luna. Raiser of the Moon, Goddess of the Night. You don’t have to suffer under their tyranny any longer. Join me, and help me kill Celestia as well. You will never have to be afraid of her again.”

The mob murmurs amongst itself. Twilight takes a step towards them, and speaks.

“Citizens of Ponyville, please, you have to help us. I am the Element of magic, leader of the Elements of Harmony. I support Ty. He is the bravest person I’ve ever met. You can trust him. With your help, we can kill Celestia once and for all.”

“Thanks for the support Twilight, but aren’t I the only person you’ve ever met?”

“Don’t ruin the moment.”

“Sorry.”

The crowd turns to face Celestia. Up until this point, Celestia was just staring at Luna’s remains. Unable to comprehend that her little sister was gone. Now though, she turns her attention to me.

“You… you killed her?”

She is obviously in shock.

“No… nopony can kill us… we are immortal…”

“Immortal doesn’t mean invincible, even you have weaknesses.” I say.

She seems to fully grasp what just happened. She looks at me and takes a deep breath. I prepare myself for some longwinded speak about vengeance and killing me. But she only says a single word.

“Die.”

In the space of three seconds she sets herself on fire, flies up fifty feet, and hurtles herself at me like a flaming meteor. I only have time to flinch and close my eyes.

CRASH

After realizing that I am still alive, I open my eyes to see a multi-colored barrier shielding me from Celestia. Behind her I see every unicorn in the crowd with their horns aglow. All of them together were just enough to stop her. The barrier fizzes away, leaving a confused alicorn standing just two feet in front of me.

I don’t hesitate.

I lunge forward, and bury Luna’s horn deep into the center of Celestia’s chest.

As soon as the horn broke through her chest, her fire died.

And so did she.

In seconds, she was nothing more than a pile of steaming dust with some armor fragments in it.

Oddly enough, her horn was still intact.

I pick it up and almost immediately drop it due to it being so hot.

I look up at the mob, and for some reason they aren’t even looking at me. I follow their gazes, and my blood runs cold.

Fluttershy has Twilight in a chokehold, and has Discord’s knife right against Twilight’s throat.

“This isn’t exactly how I planned on killing Twilight, but it’ll do.”

Twilight looks at me, absolute terror fills her eyes.

“Fluttershy, please… don’t” I say with desperation evident in my tone.

“Ah, good. I was hoping you’d plead for her life. It’ll make it all the more fun when I kill her anyway.”

I open my mouth to respond, but am interrupted by a small flash of light behind me. I turn, and all but faint.

Discord.

…………..

……………………..

………………………………..

My enemy, my rival, and the thing I have fought against my entire time here. And this is the first time I’ve actually seen him. The stained glass doesn’t do him justice. Disgustingly mismatched, with various animal parts seemingly stitched together to make one abhorrent creature. I instantly feel an intense hatred for the thing.

Discord speaks in a silky smooth voice laced with malice.

“So you are the human, Ty, is it? I must thank you for your help; you’ve been far too cooperative. Killing my guardians to return me to flesh and blood? Killing my hated enemies Celestia and Luna? Really, you’ve done too much, how can I ever repay you?”

I growl and open my mouth to say “Go to hell” or something similar, but he ignores me and turns to Fluttershy and Twilight.

“Fluttershy dear, how have you been? I must thank you as well for your help. I have to ask one quick thing though, could you please release Twilight? After all, she is a dear friend of mine.”

Fluttershy looks only slightly curious at Discord’s arrival, but very grudgingly takes her knife off Twilight’s throat. She quickly flies to Discord’s side. Once free of Fluttershy, Twilight gallops up to me. The Element joins us as well.

Twilight yells out, “What do you mean, ‘dear friend’?!?”

Discord feigns a hurt expression.

“You wound me Twilight… Without your pathetic spell casting, I might still be encased in stone. Besides, out of all the Elements of harmony, I had the most fun breaking you.”

Twilight practically threw herself at him, but I was able to hold her back. While pulling her back as Discord laughed at her, I caught a glimpse of the mob. They were all huddled fifty feet away from us, looking completely terrified. We’d be receiving no help from them.

“Ha Ha Ha Ha! You are just priceless Twilight Sparkle. While I would love to continue insulting you, there is another matter I must take care of. Fluttershy dear, would you please give me back my knife?”

Fluttershy looks slightly confused at the request, but hands him the knife nonetheless.

“Thank you, and while I do appreciate your help, it is time to cut away the dead weight.”

Fluttershy looks at him with an expression of alarm.

“What do you-“

Discord slices her throat.

As if the world had suddenly gone into slow motion, I see Fluttershy fall to the ground with a soft thud. All I can do is stare at her dead body while my brain attempts to figure out what happened. All the while Discord wipes the blood off the knife and then makes it disappear. Only after seeing that does my mind begin to put it together. Fluttershy, the pony who I saved, and who saved me; Fluttershy, the pony who said she loved me, and at one point I loved her, is now dead in front of me. I fall to my knees and lean against Twilight for support. She’s leaning just as much on me as I am on her. I can feel her shaking. She’s terrified. I stand.

With a voice of ice, I command:

“Element, return to me. I don’t need the shield or sword, just the armor.”

“As you wish…”

The Element dissolves into a stream of blue light, and the Element of Justice reappears on my left forearm. I immediately summon my armor. Discord sees all this and bursts out laughing.

“You… hehe… you really think you can fight me? HAHA, that’s precious! You pathetic human, I’ve been pulling the strings since the beginning!”

I ignore him and begin walking forward, Celestia’s and Luna’s horn in each hand. Seeing the horns, I see just a glimmer of fear in his eyes. That’s all the encouragement I need. I quickly dash forward and try to stab Discord with Celestia’s horn. He dodges easily. I spin and attempt to stab him with Luna’s horn, but he ducks under the attack. He places a single claw on the center of my armor. I repulse backwards as if I’m shot from a cannon. I tumble over the rocky ground until I crash into the side of a large rock. The armor absorbs most of the impact, but I am still barely conscious. I scoot into a sitting position and look toward Discord. He grins at me and points at the ground in front of us. Halfway between us, Celestia and Luna’s horns are lying on the ground. I try to stand, but fall back down instantly. Discord snaps his fingers, and the horns levitate a few feet off the ground. He snaps again, and they shatter. As I watch the pieces fall to the ground, I feel as if my hope is falling with them. I see Twilight far behind Discord, looking just as distraught as I feel upon seeing our only weapons against Discord shatter. I turn my attention back to Discord just as he points his clawed hand at me. It shakes for a moment, and then a large ball of glowing energy appears on it.

“You should feel privileged, it’s not often I bother to use this. Pure chaos energy. I know you must feel so hopeless right now. Don’t worry though; it’s all about to end.”

Discord’s face twists into a snarl of malice as he chucks the glowing sphere. I can only sit helplessly and watch as the ball of energy hurtles towards me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s POV:

No.

This can’t be happening.

Even while my mind desperately says no, my eyes say yes as I see the sphere fly towards Ty.

The world seems to slow down around me. The horrified faces of the mob, the snarl on Discord’s face, and finally the look of resignation on Ty, as if he has given up.

No.

You can’t give up.

I won’t let you.

I’m sorry Ty, but I have to do this.

I light my horn and disappear instantaneously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TY’s POV:

Twilight appears right in front of me in a burst of light. I have less than half a second of confusion before the chaos sphere hits her. Even before all the light of the teleportation spell has faded, she drops to the ground in front of me.

Dead.

I stare at Twilight’s body. My brain is trying to tell me what just happened, but I refuse to listen.

She can’t be gone.

I see Discord looking genuinely surprised. I see the other bearers of the Elements look at her body in shock. But I don’t really see any of that. All I see is her body lying there, immobile. It takes about ten seconds of staring at her body to fully realize what just happened. I drag myself over to her body, and sob. While crying, my mind is in absolute turmoil.

She’s really gone.

I’m alone.

How could I let this happen?

What am I going to do now?

It wasn’t until this last question popped into my head that I stopped crying. Like a flood of ice water, the answer came to me.

I’m going to kill Discord.

I slowly stand, head down.

Discord, having apparently recovered from his shock, says,

“Well, that’s not quite how I planned that to go, but no matter. I’ll just kill you now.”

He takes a few steps forward until he is six feet in front of me.

Only then do I look up at him

He recoils and takes a step back. In his eyes, I see mine reflected.

Rage, fury, anger, pain.

I now have nothing to lose, and he knows it.

I draw my sword, not giving a damn that it won’t be able to kill him. He eyes me warily, then attempts to chuckle.

“You know that you can’t-“

I cut his head off.

Before it even hits the ground, a flash of light reconnects it back onto his neck. Before he can even blink, I slice his right arm off. Another flash of light and it reconnects. Even though the damage isn’t permanent, each strike causes him immense pain.

And that’s good enough for me.

The first two caught him by surprise, but now he is dodging my wild slashes. As he ducks under a wide cut, he lashes out with his claws and scores a hit on my left side that breaks right through my armor.

I couldn’t care less.

I ignore the pain, and cut with all my strength right for his waist. My kilij cuts him cleanly in two. Another flash and he’s whole again. Using my aura sword would probably be slightly easier, but I enjoy the use of cold steel. I prepare for yet another strike, but before I can execute it, he catches my sword blade on his armored hand. With a flick of his wrist, my sword goes flying. Without hesitating, he rears back and slashes me with his claws. They score a deep wound on my chest, and I fall backwards into the dirt.

This is it.

No more fighting, no more pain.

It’s all over now.

I’m vaguely aware of my own blood moistening the soil underneath me as Discord leans over.

He’s probably just going to gloat some more… doesn’t matter. I only regret that I couldn’t avenge Twilight, or save Fluttershy.

I see Discord’s savage face over mine, and I smile serenely at him. This only infuriates him further.

“I wasn’t going to do this, you know. I was just going to let you die in peace! But no, you had to try and chop me into little bits. I don’t appreciate that. So I’m going to tell you some things, and make you suffer just a bit more before you die.”

Fine, whatever. What could he possibly say?

“How do you think you got here?”

That’s a dumb question. I got here by falling into this portal thing that looked a lot like chaos magi-

Click.

The first piece of a puzzle I didn’t even knew existed falls into place.

“I brought you here! Don’t you find it convenient that one of my greyscale guardians just happened to be where you appeared?”

Click.

“I wanted you to kill it! I hated being in my ethereal form!”

Click.

“How do you think royal guards found you in Zecora’s hut? I led them there so they would capture you and take you to Celestia!”

Click.

“I did that so you would find out about the greyscale guardians, and then so you would try and kill them all!”

Click.

“I influenced Fluttershy to take you to the ruined castle so you could find the seventh Element! I knew you would need it to kill the other two guardians.”

Click.

“I led Twilight and her friends to you! I corrupted them just enough so you would barely survive!”

Click.

“I influenced Celestia to send Twilight after you alone; because I knew you would heal her, rather than kill her! I knew you would need her help for killing the dragon, and I was right.”

Click.

“So that just leaves one final thing. I had to get you away from other people, and into the right state of mind to successfully cross over. Guess how I did that?”

With a shuddering finality, the final piece of the puzzle falls into place. Even dying, I cannot conceal the look of horror on my face.

Discord smiles.

“That’s right. I’m responsible for the fire that killed your parents. I mentally pushed a person into spreading that wildfire to your house, just so your parents would die. That in turn led you to coming here, killing my greyscale guardians, and giving me back my physical form. All as I have planned. I’ve been pulling the strings this entire time. You’ve served your purpose remarkably well. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

I mentally communicate with the Element, telling it to heal me. Before, I didn’t have the strength nor willpower to keep fighting, but now I have it to spare. I continue to lie on the ground acting weak. Right where I lay is the spot where Discord shattered the horns. In my right hand I grasp a splinter of Celestia’s horn, no more than the size of a pencil.

“Dis…Discord… come closer…”

He raises an eyebrow at me.

“What? No crying? No cursing me?”

“I… need to tell you something…”

“Fine. Might as well hear your dying words.”

He leans close over me, and I whisper,

“The Element of Justice has the ability to heal, but only if you have the willpower for it. I promised on the graves of my parents that I would find and kill the one responsible for their deaths. I had all but given up, but you gave me the strength to heal myself and keep fighting. Thank you.”

“Now burn in hell.”

I give him a savage grin, and his eyes go wide.

Before he can react further, I plunge the horn splinter into his neck.

The splinter isn’t much, but it’s enough. He twists and convulses while crying out in agony as his entire body glows brighter and brighter. Eventually, I have to look away. As soon as I cover my eyes, Discord implodes. The force of the implosion literally shook the ground I’m lying on.

A few seconds pass, and I deem it safe to look again. There is nothing more than a crater where Discord used to be.

He’s gone.

I did it.

He’s finally dead.

I struggle to my feet, and look at the crowd of ponies that witnessed the entire thing. Once they recover from their shock, they all drop to one knee and bow. I smile, but it is short lived as my gaze sweeps over Twilight’s body. I solemnly walk over to it. I don’t even get halfway before Twilight’s body is enveloped in a bright purple light. The light lifts off the ground, and hovers there. After what seems like an eternity, but was only a few seconds, the light drops back down and fades. Instead of seeing Twilight, all I can see is a mass of purple feathers.

“Twilight doesn’t have feath-“

The feathers, which actually turn out to be wings, open up; revealing an alive, taller, Twilight with beautiful purple wings.

I can only stare with awe at the figure before me. Twilight looks at her new wings, apparently just as awestruck by them as me. She then looks at me and smiles with such a look of happiness that words can’t truly describe it.

She did it… she gained immortality. Sacrificing herself to Discord to save me must have been enough. Discord is dead, and we both survived.

I smile back at her, and take a step forward. The smile drops off her face and is instantly replaced by a look of absolute horror. The expression on her faces turns my veins to ice. A cold presence is drifting behind me, I can feel it. I slowly turn around and face the crater where Discord was vaporized. A revolting, mismatched spirit is hovering over the crater. If Discord was made out of maybe five or six different animals, this thing is made out of hundreds. Its form constantly shifts, and I can feel the malice drift from it. In a terrible screeching sound, it speaks.

“You have killed my bearer, human. It has been millennia since I last needed a new bearer. Now I need another.”

This is the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. This is the thing that possessed Discord and created the monster he was. And now it has its sights on me.

I don’t even have a second to blink before the spirit shoots itself into me, passing right through my armor.

I scream.

The sensation is like a worm slowly eating through my chest. Out of the corner of my panicked eye I see Twilight attempt to cast a god-level spell on me, but it just dissipates on impact. A phrase the Element told me earlier pops into my head:

“Discord is not the Spirit of Chaos. He is only the host for it. Becoming the host has made him immortal, but he is not the actual Spirit. The Spirit itself is a higher power. I’m not even sure how you would go about destroying it, if it’s even possible.”

I continue to thrash in agony as the Spirit slowly worms its way inside my head. I can hear it whispering.

“Just give in mortal… the pain will soon be over…”

“I must have a new host… chaos must continue.”

“It is pointless, absolutely nothing can destroy me.”

When the spirit says that, I get a sudden flashback to what the dragon said:

“The most powerful forces in the universe can sometimes only be truly destroyed by themselves.”

Now I understand what this means.

In my mind, I say to the spirit:

“You think you cannot be destroyed, but you can. I know how to kill you.”

The Spirit at this point has enough access to my mind to know what I’m thinking.

“No! You can’t! You would destroy yourself!” It hisses in fury.

“I know.”

All of a sudden, the spirit tries to wiggle itself free and escape.

I don’t let it.

Using every ounce of mental strength I have, I keep it locked inside me.

Seeing my sword lying just a few feet away, I slowly stagger towards it.

All this time Twilight has been trying spell after spell, but each one fails before it reaches me. Every time she tries to get near me, a barrier created by the Spirit pushes her away.

I fall to my knees, and pick up my kilij. The spirit is screaming incomprehensibly at me, but I ignore it. I turn around and face Twilight as I put the tip of my kilij to my chest. Barely keeping myself conscious under the Spirit’s attack, I mouth the words:

“I’m sorry.”

I thrust the sword through my heart.

I feel the Spirit of Chaos slowly die inside my mind. I fall on my side and as my eyes slowly close, I watch Twilight gallop towards me. I smile.

And then I die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One Week Later:

Twilight’s POV:

I slowly trot down the wide corridor, trying my best to block out the sounds of the construction ponies at work. The Royal Canterlot Palace had fallen into disrepair during Discord’s time back in Equestria. That would soon be fixed. As I walked into Celes- I mean- my throne room, I can’t help but look at the stained glass window depicting Discord’s battle with Celestia and Luna. If they had been stronger and just killed him back then, maybe nothing would have happened. Or maybe the Spirit would have found a host in them, who knows? All that matters now is that the Spirit is gone for good. All the ponies that were under Discord’s influence are now fully healed, and life will finally return to normal. All thanks to Ty.

I trot up to a series of empty arches by my throne. Several glassmaking ponies are working on them, getting them ready for new windows. Each window is laid out by its arch. I gaze at them. Each on shows a different step in Ty’s adventures. The Manticore, getting the Element of Justice, the Hydra, the Dragon, and eventually the battle with Discord and the Spirit of Chaos. I already know all this. After all, I commissioned them. The human who originally bore the Element of Justice is long forgotten, but I will make sure Ty never is.

I continue past my throne room and onto a balcony. Seeing that the end of the day is here, I raise my wings and fly a few feet off the ground. Using two powerful bursts of magic, I lower the sun and raise the moon simultaneously. I then alight back onto the balcony.

“It’s ironic really, that my name is Twilight, which is the connection between the day and night. And now, I’m the one who raises and lowers the sun and moon. Maybe it was always meant to be.”

I trot back into my throne room with increasing excitement. Tonight’s the night. The night that I will get to see if my spell worked. A few days after I became the princess of Equestria I remembered what the dragon had told me. I went down into the Royal Archives and searched for the specific book he mentioned. It was about god-tier spells involving dimensional and time travel. I instantly knew what I had to do. And tonight’s when I’ll get to see if it worked.

After the battle with the Spirit of Chaos, Ty actually survived, but not quite. He gained immortality just like I did. Extreme and unselfish sacrifice. Unfortunately, the Spirit’s attack on his mind caused him to remain unconscious for a few days. He was in the Palace’s infirmary for that time. That was when I found the spell. Using it, I could send Ty back to his dimension, but send him back a week from when he left. Since he killed Discord and the Spirit, there will be no arsonist to send the fire to his house, and his parents will survive. Still, it was a hard decision. They spell needed an exact star alignment. One that popped up only once every couple thousand years. And the day after I found the spell was it. I had the one chance to send him home. I didn’t want to. I loved him. Still do. But it’s because of that that I sent him anyway. Due to differences in our time, while it has been three days here, he will be just arriving in a few minutes there. I have a scrying pool in my throne room for looking at other dimensions. I’ll be able to see if he got there safely or not.

I finally step into my throne room, and I trot over to the middle of it. As I pass my own throne, I can’t help but to admire it. It is black and white; the materials from Celestia’s and Luna’s thrones were used in making it. Now that I raise the sun and moon, it seemed only fitting to have bits of their thrones built in. Also, Ty’s armor was black and white. So it also reminds me of him. I trot past it. In the center of the room is the scrying pool. It looks simple enough, just a large silver bowl with water in it. I trot over to it, pluck one of my own feathers, and drop it in. As soon as the feather makes contact with the water, it shows an image of a small room. I can’t recognize many of the things in it besides the bed, but I know it has to be Ty’s room. In his world, today is the day the fire kills his parents. But this time, that won’t happen. It’ll be as if nothing happened.

“So I’m still a few minutes early… It’s alright. I can wait. Since the Spirit attacked his mind, he may have some memory loss, but he should remember who he is eventually…”

Being immortal, waiting is something I’m going to have to get used to. I’ll be busy though. Repairing the damage Celestia caused, and in finding a new Element of Kindness. Now that my friends, the other Elements, are healed, they’ve been helping me in the search. So many things to do, all eternity to do them. My gaze flicks back to the pool as a distorting light goes over the image.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TY’s POV:

I yawn and stretch out on my bed. I feel as if it’s been forever since I slept in it. I swing my legs over my bed, and hold my head in my hands. I feel like I’m forgetting something, but I’m almost remembering it. I stand up, and step on my kilij.

“Why are you down off your hook?” I ask the inanimate object.

Getting no reply, I pick it up and hang it back on its usual spot on the wall.

Noticing something odd, I look closer at the handle. I swear it almost looks like teeth marks…

As soon as I think that, I get this one second vision of a yellow pony jumping out of a tree with my kilij in its mouth. I shake the vision away.

“I must be having residual dreams…” I mutter to myself.

I walk out of my room, and to the kitchen. Seeing my parents, I ask,

“What’s for breakfast?”

My Dad replies,

“It’s a fend-for-yourself day.”

“Alright.”

“There is a big wildfire just over the mountain, but it looks like it’ll miss us.” My mom said, while looking out the window.

“Okay.”

I walk back towards my room, and turn into the bathroom right next door. I flick on the switch, and gasp. For just a second, I see myself with a horrendous burn mark over my right eye, and a long scar going from my right shoulder all the way down to the tip of my middle finger. But then they are gone.

Another random thought pops into my head.

My immortality has healed my scars…

“Now that’s just freaky… where are these thoughts coming from?” I mumble.

I decide to go back into my room and get another hour or two of sleep. As I walk in, I notice something that should not be there. On my nightstand, there is a gold and sapphire forearm bracer. Every second I look at it I remember something about a place called “Equestria.” I slowly walk towards it, and pick it up. Various scenes flash through my mind, killing a dragon, killing a hydra, talking to a suit of armor, weird things. I put it on my left forearm. It shrinks down to a perfect fit. I hold my right hand out, and summon my aura sword.

I remember everything. From being dumped in Equestria all the way to killing the Spirit of Chaos.

I say out loud:

“Thanks for sending me back because of my parents, Twilight. I appreciate it.”

I look up at my ceiling, and I see a shimmering reflection of Twilight looking down at me.

“Save me a place up there, will you? You can bet that someday I’ll be back.”

She smiles.

A/N: Done! Finally! I had no idea this would take so long to finish when I first started. I just finished this, and I’m already 3 chapters into another one. That’s right, I’m already writing another fanfiction. This one is called: Raising the Reborn. It is a pony-on-earth story, and I have my two best friends as co-authors. The story is told for our three POVs, in the towns we actually live in. Almost everything about the story, (minus the ponies of course) is real. For my followers on Fimfiction, I am using a separate account that is shared between my two friends and I. It is called Liquid Ice: http://www.fimfiction.net/user/Liquid%20Ice

And this is the actual story:  http://www.fimfiction.net/story/47905/Raising-the-Reborn-

For my followers on Fanfiction, I have the story under my own account.

My name is actually Ty. I used my name for the main character of this story due to it being fairly rare. In Raising the Reborn, one of the three characters is also named Ty. That is actually me. The character Bryan is actually my friend Bryan, and Joe is Joe. The story is quite interesting, and you’ll even be able to see into our lives a bit.

Now that I’m done self-promoting, I’d like to ask everyone to leave a comment or review saying what you thought of the story, and what I can do to improve in the future. Thanks for sticking around!

Justice Chapter 1

I breathed in the cool mountain air as I shifted my stance. The aspen forest around me was a vibrant yellow, a horrific reminder of what I was running from. I unsheathed my kilij, my sword, my last reminder of home. The only thing left after the fire… but I couldn’t dwell on that. That was why I was here, to get away from the orphanage, the social workers, and the chaos. In these mountains, I’m usually at peace, practicing my Tai-Chi. But not today. I snorted, trying to get rid of these dismal thoughts. Quite frankly, it didn’t work.

“What am I doing…” I spoke aloud, “Just running away from them won’t help anything, they’ll find me eventually.”

A horrid part of my mind unfolded and whispered to me,

“What if you end yourself before they find you? You have your sword, and there is a cliff just to your right, It would be easy, just a little cut, or a single step, and it’s all over…”

“No”

I spoke aloud; “I would never take the cowards way out.”

I sheathed my sword, and looked around. I was on the edge of a forest, with a long cliff at the end of it. The cliff overlooked a valley full of burned, scarred tress that had recently been consumed from a forest fire. The same fire that consumed my home and my parents. My parents had me well provided for in their will, but somebody found a loophole, and the only thing left to me was what I was able to scavenge from the smoldering remains.

My sword.

“Impractical thing”, my Dad called it. “Waste of money”, my Mom called it.

But now it is the most precious thing in the world to me, because it reminds me of them. I stepped towards the edge of the cliff, as heights never scared me. I looked over the destruction laid out before me. The corruption and impurities of this world were heavy on my mind.

“I used to want to change this world, make it a better place,” I said, “But the this world chewed me up and spit me out, there is nothing left for me.”

I step closer to the edge.

“NO!”

I recoil in shock at what I was just about to do. I look down at my feet in shame.

“I really am just a coward,” I said.

Looking down at my feet on the edge, I notice something odd near the bottom of the cliff. It was like a pool of water, rippling and undulating, but it was a little above the ground. And the colors, they were strange, like a rainbow but not, too disorganized. It reminded me of chaos, and I instantly disliked it. The wind around me picked up, it is always windy on top of cliffs, but this just didn’t feel right. Suddenly I felt a strong gust of wind hit my back, more like a push, and before I could even react I was over the edge. Free-falling to the bottom, I only had time to register the weird pool of water flying towards me, before I passed through it and hit the ground… But I wasn’t dead. And I certainly wasn’t in Aspen.

A/N  Alright, this is my first story I ever wrote. It being my first, I am looking for good criticism so I can improve. I have an account on fanfiction.net under this same name, and I am just putting it here as well. I will be posting 12 chapters, (which is how many I have done atm), but after those you'll have to wait about a week between updates. I usually update on the weekend. It seems kind of choppy to me now that I've written 11 other chapters, but i hope it is still good. It will get better as it goes. At one point of the story, the character will seem to be a bit of a mary sue. This was brought up and fixed on the other site. Also, please feel free to criticize or ask questions on any of the chapters. It is a lot easier for me to edit chapters on here than on fanfiction.net, so I will be able to fix mistakes much more easily.

Justice Chapter 12

I again wake up to a mass of suffocating pink hair.

Again, I brush it aside and I promptly hit my head on the low shelter as I sit up.

I don’t actually hit my head, as my helmet appears right before impact. This appearing armor thing is going to take some getting used to. I recall the helmet back into the Element, and I smile as I remember the walk back from the ruins. Fluttershy being amazed at how I could make the armor appear at will, and the shield also. It had been an uneventful trip back. We ate dinner and we crashed in the same lean-to as the last few nights. We’d been out here about a week now.

But last night was truly the last night.

We are going to pack up and move out.

The Hydra was on the other side of town, so it is a good day’s journey from where we are camped. I smile again at the thought of finally moving.

I gently wake Fluttershy up, and together we crawl out from the shelter. I stretch in the rising sun, as does Fluttershy.

“Spike should be sending breakfast soon, lets start packing up while we wait, okay?” I casually say to Fluttershy.

She nods groggily, and we begin tearing down camp. I walk over to the lean-to, summon a sword out of the blue aura around the element, and I destroy it. No matter how many times I try, the sword I summon always has a straight blade. I preferred my kilij due to it’s curved blade, but the energy sword was nice. More powerful too.  I walk back over to the fire pit to see Fluttershy gently packing up the extra stuff such as Spike’s letters and the extra cooking utensils.

“Hey Fluttershy, I’ll start the fire up, then I’m going to train for a bit. Can you keep the fire going and wait for Spike to send the food?” I ask her.

She softly replies, “Of course, anything for you…”

I shiver inwardly, still uncomfortable with her devotion.

“I really am going to have to address that sooner or later… So why do I keep putting it off?” I think.

I shake my head and light the fire inside the fire pit. With that done, and Fluttershy waiting for the food to arrive, I walk through the woods surrounding camp.

After a few minutes of walking, I come to a small clearing.

“The perfect spot to practice.” I say.

I unsheathe my kilij, and slowly fall into my most familiar stance.

“Your weight is a little too centered over the right foot.”

I promptly fall on my butt in shock.

I look wildly around, but nobody- or pony - is there.

“I talked to you before, why is it such a surprise now?”

I quickly look down at the Element of Justice that is still clamped onto my left forearm. Sure enough, it was talking to me.

“Yes, it is me talking. Stupid.”

I frown at it. “Um… Element thingy?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you talking to me, and why did you lose all the thous and thys?”

The faint blue aura around the Element pulsed brighter, and it replied,

“Since I read your mind, I can see how people talk in your world. I am trying to mimic your speech patterns.”

“Ahh….”

I am still unnerved at the sight of a piece of jewelry talking to me.

It speaks again. “Not only do you get armor and an aura weapon and shield, but you also get my advice. Anything I can help you with?”

Recovering from my shock, I stand back up again.

“Well, yeah actually, there is something. I killed three bandit ponies on the road to Ponyville from Canterlot. When I was about to kill their leader, I saw his life flash before my eyes, and I saw everything bad he had ever done. What was that?”

The Element is silent for so long I begin to wonder if it fell asleep. But after several minutes, it finally speaks.

“That is rare indeed. It is not often the bearer of me is able to do that. It is called Soul Search. It allows the bearer to search the soul of somepony in order to determine if they deserve death or not. It only happens rarely though, so don’t rely on it to make decisions for you.”

I nod, “Okay, it didn’t really help me because I was going to kill that pony anyway for what he was going to do. But its nice that it is there if I need it.”

The Element seems to hum happily. “Is there anything else you wish to ask?”

My mind immediately turns to my relationship with Fluttershy.

Do I dare ask the Element of Justice about something like that?

The short answer is no.

“Nope, nothing else on my mind. Can you just give me pointers as I practice with the armor? The sword and shield too?”

“Sure thing.”

Twilight’s POV

“Twilight dear! I am so happy you made it safely. Tell me, how was your trip?”

I’m scared.

More scared than I have ever been in my life.

Celestia is acting nice. That alone is cause enough for concern. I failed, and I lied to her. I am pretty sure she still thinks I came from Appleoosa, but I can’t tell.

“I… I’m doing fine your majesty…” I manage to stutter out.

“Well that is good… why don’t you follow me this way?” She says in a silky smooth voice.

She gets off her throne and starts slowly cantering out of the massive doors.

I follow.

We slowly trot down the hallway towards the dungeons.

My fear turns into full-blown panic.

“Princess! Where are you taking me?!?” I desperately ask.

I’m not bound or anything, but it would be suicide to try and escape.

She turns to face me, and smiles.

Ty’s POV

I breathe out heavily as I trek back to camp. I am super tired and it is only about ten in the morning. I come in sight of the camp just in time to see a flash of green light. Our food has arrived. Fluttershy starts cracking the eggs into a frying pan as usual, and I plop down beside the fire. I help Fluttershy fix up breakfast, and while were doing that I give her a brief summary of my training session with the Element. Once that is done, we chow down on the scrambled eggs. For some odd reason, Spike didn’t send a letter today.

“So… um… the next time you train with the Element… could I… um… maybe… join you?” Fluttershy asks me very timidly.

“Uh, sure. But why?” Is my puzzled response.

She hasn’t been this shy around me since she was brought back to her old self.

“Well… I want to be strong like you…”

I look at her completely bewildered. “Fluttershy, we have already gone over this. Me getting hurt wasn’t your fault, and I see it as my job to protect you. You don’t have to become stronger.”

“I know… but… wouldn’t it be you protecting me if you taught me how to take care of myself? If you were ever hurt and couldn’t help me, you wouldn’t want something bad to happen to me because you didn’t teach me, right?” She gives me a cute, small, smile.

“….Boy, shes good.” I think to myself.

I sigh. “Alright, next time I go training with the Element, you can tag along…”

She wiggles her rear in excitement and breathes in deeply.

At full inhale, she suddenly gives a minuscule, “yay…”

Between laughing and having a cuteness-induced heart attack, I almost die. Once I finally stop laughing, I look up at a deeply blushing and very embarrassed Fluttershy.

Still chuckling lightly to myself, I say, “Don’t be embarrassed, you just look so cute sometimes I cant help it.”

She smiles at that and snuggles up against me.

My mirth instantly stops.

Fluttershy notices the change and asks, “Um… are you okay? Did I… do something wrong?”

She looks up at me very concerned. I quickly reply, “Oh no, its nothing, we should just finish eating so we can be on our way.” I smile to cover up the partial lie.

Fluttershy glances suspiciously at me for a moment, and then seems satisfied and smiles back.

I breathe an inaudible sigh of relief.

“I really need to figure out when I should talk to her…” I think.

But again, I put it off in favor of finishing up breakfast. Once we are done with breakfast, I pack everything up into our bags and I sling them over my shoulder.

I give our campsite a quick glance, and I call out to Fluttershy, “Hey Fluttershy, are you ready?” S

he trots up to me and says, “Yep, I was just making sure we didn’t leave anything behind.”

“Alright, well lets be going.”

I look up at the sun. “Its almost noon, we should move quickly if we want to get to the swamp before nightfall.”

With that, we walk out of the campsite and back towards Ponyville. Before leaving the clearing, I give it one last look. This place had been my home for the last week, and a lot has changed. I look at my right arm and I see my scar. I look at my left and I see the Element of Justice.

“How did I even get into this mess…” I think.

“Are you coming?” Fluttershy calls back to me. I quickly snap out of my trance and I call back, “Yeah! Coming!”

Twilight’s POV

I wake up.

Pain rules.

I told her everything.

How I lied, how the human was in Ponyville, everything.

But it wasn’t enough…

“You disobeyed my orders and lied to me. Its only natural you should be punished.” She had told me. Looking through the haze of pain, I see the dungeon that Celestia had thrown me into. It was the same one the human was kept in, so I’m told. The burns all along my body throbbed intensely. I let my head fall back onto the bed of hay, hoping, praying, that she wouldn’t come back.

Ty’s POV

I let my gaze wander over Ponyville, searching for any signs of the royal guards.

The ponies were looking oddly distressed, and I soon saw why.

A large red pony is towing a cart with a large bundle that has a white cloth over it.

“It must be a dead pony.” I thought.

I asked Fluttershy, and she confirmed my suspicions.

“Discord has killed again. The fact that there is only one body and not two means that he must have made that pony kill itself.”

She started tearing up, but right before she starts to cry, she shakes the tears away.

“She is trying to be stronger.” I think to myself.

I say to her, “C’mon, lets go around, we still have a long walk ahead of us.

Twilight’s POV

I awoke from my pain-induced stupor to the sound of grating metal.

My cell door is being opened. “Not again… I can’t handle being burned again…”

Half conscious, I look up and see a unicorn guard standing over me.

He has a pair of bolt cutters in his mouth.

I faint.

Ty’s POV

I sigh in relief at the sight of Ponyville disappearing in the distance behind us.

Fluttershy and I start running/galloping to put even more distance behind us. After a few solid minutes of running/galloping, we finish crossing the plain between Ponyville and the Swamp. As we walk/trot up to the edge of the swamp, I see a sign that says, “Froggy Bottom Bog”

“What a weird name…” I mutter to myself.

To Fluttershy, I say, “If there is a hydra in the Swamp, wouldn’t it eat all the frogs?”

Fluttershy replies, “It did.” She didn’t even begin to tear up when thinking about all the frogs being eaten. “I’m impressed, you didn’t cry when talking about frogs being eaten, do you just not like frogs?”

“I do like frogs, but I’m just trying to be strong. I was once given assertiveness lessons from a minotaur named Iron Will, so I am remembering those to help me be strong.”

“A minotaur??” I ask in shock.

“Yep.”

“Hmmm… its weird how so many legends from my world are reality in yours.”

Fluttershy looks up at me and asks, “You have minotaurs and hydras in your world?”

“Well… not really. People just made them up. They were nothing more than stories.”

“That is strange…” She says quietly.

We start moving to the heart of the Swamp, while dodging bubbling pools and roots. A few hours later, it is dark and we finally come to a spot open enough to set up camp on. I tiredly sling the pack on the ground, and we begin setting up camp.

Twilight’s POV

“I’m terribly sorry dear, but I had to show you how serious a crime disobeying me is.” Celestia says to me in a silky smooth voice.

“No your not.” I think to myself in a daze.

My whole body feels numb.

“How could she do this to me…?”

“Anyway, your orders are this: You are to find the human and kill him, just like before. A carriage with two pegasi guards will carry you to Ponyville. They are fast, so you should arrive in a little over an hour. Your two friends will meet you there. I already talked to them and since they had nothing to do with your disobedience, I let them go. Don’t disappoint me this time.”

With two guards flanking me, I numbly trot out of the throne room.

The horrible reality of what happened begins to weigh on me, and I giggle in madness. The guards trot a little farther away from me as my giggle turns into a hysterical laugh.

Ty’s POV

I set the last branch onto the roof of Fluttershy’s and mine lean-to. It took about an hour, but camp was set up. I walk over to our bags, and I retrieve an apple to tide myself over until Spike sends dinner. Fluttershy trots over, grabs an apple, and joins me. After a few minutes of waiting, we see a flash of green and our dinner is sitting in front of us.

Our dinner consists of more apples.

I sigh in annoyance.

By now, I hate apples.

I look through the bag of apples, and am disappointed to find there isn’t a letter.

Fluttershy and I quickly finish eating.

Seeing as it was pretty late, and we were very tired, we crawl under the shelter to go to bed. Fluttershy snuggles up to me as usual, and I mentally berate myself for not having the courage to talk to her just yet. She falls asleep quickly, and I drift of into an uneasy sleep moments later.

Spike’s POV

I stretch my arms and sigh in contentment. With dinner sent for Fluttershy and Ty, there is nothing stopping me from going to bed.

As I walk up the stairs, the doorbell rings.

“Who would want to check out a book this late?” I wonder aloud.

I wearily walk back down the stairs and I open the door.

“Yes, what do you wa-…”

I look up, and I see who is standing in the doorway.

I faint.

A/N And that ends my massive updating spree. I am all caught up in my chapters, so now you will have to wait a week between updates, sorry.