"Die, changeling scum!" Twilight shouted, following up with what was surely a terrifying cry that was sure to terrify her cowardly foes. It didn't really work, of course, seeing as her foes were myself and that changeling from before. But they were still flinging magic at each other like it wasn't even a thing. I couldn't really do much, but the changeling had my full moral support. I think that counted for a lot.

I suppose it bears some mentioning that Twilight was back again. And to learn that story we have to flashback about a minute to just after I got forcefully teleportaled to the outskirts of the big old city. I suppose it was where I wanted to go, so I can't really complain on that front but it was also true that nobody seems to be bothered about asking what I want anymore.

Anyway, about five seconds after that happens, Twilight shows up and starts blasting death like it was going out of fashion. But it never goes out of fashion, because you kill the people who say it does. She may have yelled something about killing the monster before she did it. But it was clear, Twilight was stalking me. And since running is still not an option, things were not looking up for me.

Although the changeling was firing bolts back just as enthusiastically. Apparently Chrysalis was pretty heavy, because all of that failing was gone if how many pretty color beams you can make is any indication of how strong you are. That, or they were both really weak.

Anyway, between the green rays of probably death and the purple beams of probable destruction I was finding myself a bit lost. Both of them were jumping all over the place so just hunkering down and hoping for the best was pretty difficult. Aside from the occasional magic teleportation and the light show, it was pretty boring to watch too.

And then it got interesting as Twilight fired of a lump of purple that was way stronger than the others, and brutally cut through my only defender's defense. Crumpling into a heap on the ground, she cried out and curled into herself. Twilight, instead of doing something smart like killing her, decided to walk over. To gloat, I guess.

"I just knew a changeling would have something to do with such a dangerous creature! Now, tell me about your plan to invade Canterlot!" Twilight said, speaking down to her prone opponent. Twilight's total and utter lack of concern for anyone else was good, really. For me, anyway, since I was maybe just considering sneaking up behind her.

"Wait... where is it?!" Twilight jumped, and began to frantically look around. Since I had, in fact, been sneaking up behind her it got a bit awkward when she flipped around to see me staring at her.

She screamed. I let out a manly yell to startle her at the same time. Then her horn lit up, and I poked her in the eye.

Her big, utterly massive eye that took up the majority of her horse face.

She screamed again, but this time she collapsed too, with a single eye trying to look up at me while the other convulsed shut, or something. Naturally, I kicked her in the side a few times.

By the time I was done with that, the changeling mage got back up and looked at me with something akin to awe.

"Yo- you saved me," she murmured. She seemed to have managed to recover just fine. It was a pity she couldn't have done that earlier and just beat Twilight while she was interrogating her or whatever the fuck. But getting sidetracked was what Twilight did, and I wasn't falling for that.

"What about her?" I said, pointing at Twilight. Who was a little bit bloody at this point. Not from what I'd expect sadly, but from her eye. That thing was all sorts of fucked up. It was, like, oozing. I kinda wondered if I just introduced her to the fantastical world of eyepatches and eyepatch accessories.

"Oh, no. You can have the first go," she said. Then she scuffed the ground, quietly adding. "I'd... I'd like that more, even."

And with that I knew it was time to bail. Following the ancient tradition of picking a direction at random, I set off once again on my journey. "She's all yours, bye!"

I'm not certain what I was leaving Twilight to, but I also didn't care. That the changeling looked disappointed as I left gave the hint she might have just been a bit more interested in me than raping Twilight. Which is probably more creepy than the homosexual rape, all things considered.

But that's not my problem, and there was a whole new world to explore. Even a road that led back to Canterlot. But since the other side almost assuredly went somewhere else, it looked like I had something to follow. As long as I don't look behind me, I'm sure everything will be fine.

Walking was still about as boring as ever, though. Even though I was in a magical land full of dragons and shit, it didn't make much difference unless they were actually around. It was tranquil, I suppose. All that nature made breathing feel less like inhaling poison and more revitalizing.

The road alone was pretty lonely. Not a lot of ponies actually seemed to travel by it. A bit odd I guess, but they seem to have that instant teleport thing going on. Kinda made me question why they have roads at all. My one encounter with a pony just involved me hiding in a bush for a while.

It wasn't much longer after that when I heard screaming. Naturally, my investigative instinct forced me to go straight to the source. Also.. it was straight ahead. and there was no way in hell I was diverting from this beeline for something as small as some pony getting maimed to death.

So, as I got closer, I got to see what was going on. There was a few upturned carts with the assorted junk flung around the ground, but no dead ponies. After a few more glances, I realized that the carts were in a pattern, a circle arranged around a few terrified looking little ponies. It wasn't really much of a defense, considering I got past it accidentally. But a fortress of false security is still a fortress and it probably made them feel better.

I couldn't see what had them so worked up, but following their fixated stares led me to a spot on the other side of the circle that I just couldn't see. Seems natural, that coincidence.

And then just when I was considering going to look, or maybe leaving and not looking back, some of the poor wagons got violently knocked out of the way by some unimaginable force. Sent flying up into the air, they rained down on myself and the cowering ponies in a rain of... wood. Sharp wood that would probably leave me the maimed one if it hit me.

Deciding on the ultimate defense of putting my arms above my head and running away, I raised my arms above my head. But then, I was spared the onslaught of wood by a foul magic haze in the air.

The unicorn responsible for that came bounding toward his companions, but then stopped halfway and flipped around. Horn glowing, he took an angry looking pose as a giant thing made out of things appeared from whence he came.

The unicorn was a pretty standard looking green one. Completely and utterly green in every way. Except for the blood, there was a fair amount of that around him. It was on him too, dripping off head pony head. But he looked fine compared to that thing.

I mean, not that it was injured or anything. But it was ugly as hell. It was big and... furry? It had a scorpion tail too, but that was the only thing I could really make it out. Looked like something out of my nightmares. At least when my nightmares were about freaky looking things.

It charged at the unicorn, and the guy did some magic crap to create a barrier of green light. It slammed into that, and the unicorn hunched over like he was the one to take the hit. I don't know if the chimera thing was brilliant for working out the connection or just retarded, but it figured just slamming on the shield would be a great way to get rid of it.

So, while that was happening, I figured now was a great time to leave. And with all these wagons just lying around I had a great chance to do some good old looting. It was mostly spread around the ground, and it only took a few seconds of searching to find a few apples. I began merrily munching on one as I dug through the debris. But if I could just find a bag, I'd be doing great.

Ponies didn't seem to be too big into bags, though. I saw one or two before with them slapped on their backs, but it was really very few. Instead, I took my chances and stuffed the few pockets I had with apples. Another thing making it into my haul was a few gems. I would have included other things, but that was really about it. There was quite a lot of this stuff, but almost no variety. These poor bastards had to have been jewelers, or into some godforsaken hybrid of jewelry and fruit selling.

A roar grabbed my attention, and reminded me that I was on a bit of schedule. I skirted around the continuing fight, which that unicorn was definitely losing. Sucks to be him. I still had that magical gleaming sword, but it really seemed like a waste to get it dirty. He had my total moral support though.

Heading in the direction they came from, I got to see that I was right on my first hunch. Quite a few ponies were maimed! Well, dead. It was a bloodbath. That unicorn was going to need a lot more than just my best wishes if he was gonna survive.

I sincerely hope that someone found him and helped him out. But these bodies, damn. All sorts of messed up, a few were even torn in half. That was a lot more disgusting to see than I ever would have guessed. It would have been a lot nicer if guts had the courtesy of staying inside bodies.

Walking through the massacre, I saw a glint of red. Putting aside some slowly building revulsion, I took a closer look. Around the neck of a pony, a unicorn, there was an amulet. I weighed the pros and cons briefly. On one hand, it did catch my eye. It also had a chain. There weren't any downsides, really. So I grabbed it around that unicorns neck and yanked it off.

One of her eyes popped out, it was a pretty messy affair. But once I had the amulet, I promptly placed it around my own neck. Wiping my hand against my clothes left them a little dirty, but it was a small price to pay for this thing.

I really liked it, it was cool looking.

So, whistling a happy little tune, I jaunted off. I could see something in the distance, so it looked like everything was finally coming up Milhouse.

Author's Note

Chapters almost certain to get longer from here on out.