Rise of The Choten

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

I straightened my tie while looking at my reflection, touching up on the final pieces of my costume. I was wearing a black suit with a matching pair of shoes, the white shirt under the jacket making the blue tie stand out. I fiddled with the blonde wig on my head, making sure that none of my natural brown hair showed. Seeing everything else was in order I moved to the part I dreaded the most.

‘I guess I might as well get it out of the way. Please god, don’t let me mess up’ I thought as I started to place the blue contacts I had bought just for this occasion in my eyes. “Fuck that feels weird!” I shouted, scaring my curious cat that had been watching the entire time into running off. Moving to pick up and pet my cat I said, “Shit, sorry Jackie, don’t piss on the bed.” Checking the time I nearly dropped the cat seeing how close I was to being late. ”I don’t have time to apologize anymore, so I’ll just bring some wet-food when I get back.”

I rushed to leave, my dress shoes clicking on the hard wood floor as I rushed to the door, grabbing my Helm of Ultimate Technology replica and a suit case, before stopping just before it.

‘Okay, time to get in character. Okay, I’m cool, I’m in control. Perfect.’ Now calm and collected I opened the door, only to receive a fist to the stomach.

“Gah! I’m so sorry J! I only meant to knock on the door, I didn’t mean to punch you! I promise to make it up to you, just please don’t leave me behind!” A short blonde in a purple shirt and pants said, clasping her hands, one with a glove, together in a pleading gesture.

“It is quite alright, Alice.” I said, brushing away the unnecessary apology. I barely felt the girls light blow. “Your costume is too accurate to just let it go to waste. I see you even have the dueling gauntlet.”

Blushing, the younger, natural blonde replied, "Thanks J, your Choten costume is pretty amazing. You even have the Helm!”

I waved off the complement saying,” Oh, it’s not much, I couldn’t even find a tech-gauntlet to complete it. But, how do the kids today say it, ‘too bad, so sad’?” I finished the quote with the hand wave and smirked at the giggling girl. “Speaking of kids in costumes, where are the others?”

I was curious as to the location of the other three children I had offered to take to the comic con in town. Well, more like they begged and pestered me into taking them, in costume, over a three week period. I’m the neighbor hood's local college student slash baby sitter slash best friend, and when the four local kids heard about the con, who did they ask?

Me, after their parents said they were to busy to attend. They got their parent’s permission to ask me, and should I say yes, go with me to the con. After all, I’ve adopted the brats as siblings long ago. Annoying, break-your-xbox-and-dash siblings, but I love them anyway.

There was one problem. Their parents said yes, I said no.

I don’t know that many shows or comics or whatever, and I don’t like being in groups of people over two hundred. But the kids won out in the end, and I bust out some cash to pay for my ‘Choten’ costume. I love Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, and Alice and her brother Dan liked it well enough to dress as two of the three main protagonists, Allie and Ray, respectively. Though they tried their damnest, they ultimately failed to get the other boy to dress as the last main character. Or his sister to dress as the Choten’s once apprentice, Alakshmi.

“They’re in my mom’s van already, come on!” She ran off across the street to a group of four adults waiting to see their children off.

As I got closer I heard May, Alice’s and Dan’s mother, ask her child, "You apologized for hitting him, right Alice?”

Huffing indignantly, the cosplaying blonde replied, ”Yeah mom, can I get in the car now?”

Sighing, the mother said, “Fine, just remember your manners while you’re out with Mr. Grim.” I don’t know why they insist on formalities after four years, but they still call me ‘Mr.’ and make their kids call me that too, when they're around. I have asked them repeatedly to drop the formalities, yet they insist on calling me 'Mr.', I think they do it just to annoy me now. “And remember, all of you have our contact information in your bags, and Mr. Grim has the same information as well as the papers of temporary guardianship in case anything goes wrong. Now get in the car and have a good time.”

“’Kay, bye mom! Hey guys...” And with that Alice scrambled into the car to talk to the others. Chuckling I turned to the parents to see their relieved faces.

“For a minute there, I thought we were going to have to cancel the trip because you got yourself beat up by a little girl.” Don, one of the parents, joked good naturedly.

“One accidental punch hardly counts as being ‘beat up’, though you would know more about it. Wouldn’t you, Stacey.” I calmly replied, using Don’s hated middle name.

For a minute his face reddened and it looked like he was going to say something nasty, but calmed down and laughingly said,” Yeah well you got me there, Goldie Locks. So, who you supposed to be, Naruto’s rich gay uncle?”

I dismissed his ribbing with a wave and replied, ” Actually I’m a criminal master mind with the ability to summon creatures from another dimension to do my bidding, old bean.” I ended, trying to sound like the Choten.

“Thank you for taking the children, J.” May said kindly, it’s amazing that when the kids-or parents- can’t hear they stop being so formal, but if they think they’ll hear it’s all business,” I know you had plans today, and we really appreciate taking the time to take them instead of . . .” she was interrupted when Dan, dressed as Ray, honked the horn impatiently.

“I suppose that’s my signal,” I said with a chuckle,” I shall see you all later. Oh, and May?”

Blinking she replied puzzled, “Yes?”

“I can always visit my parents later, they aren’t going anywhere any time soon.” And with that I climbed into the van we would be using and drove off.

It was two minutes later and I finally decided to ask the two children not dressed as a Kaijudo character an all important question, “So, what are the two of you dressed as?”

“You don’t know?” Asked Ken, a young red headed boy with green eyes known for his shyness around strangers. It actually surprised me that he wanted to attend this event, but hey, peer pressure right? Today he had on some kind of blue jump suit with yellow ‘lightning’ on the sides and hood, large navy animal ears on his head and a pair of matching wings.

“Come on your joking, right?” Trish said, shocked. Trish was tall for her age, all of the kids were between twelve to thirteen, and had a mop of black hair, mocha eyes and pale skin. She wore a dark blue dress, with a matching pair of wings and ears like Ken, but had an extra addition as well. She had a horn. And as she moved her head I noticed she had put glitter in her hair.

Seeing my raised, yellow-dyed, eyebrow Trish moved to explain, but Dan cut her off with a humph. “Their ponies.” Seeing that I was still confused he elaborated,” You know, from My Little pony: Friendship is Magic? It’s a stupid show for little girls.”

“It’s not stupid!” Ken yelled, outraged. Sensing a argument, I quickly intervened.

“That is enough you four, yes I saw those looks Alice and Trish. Now, why don’t you two explain who the two of you are?”

“Well,” Ken began, still giving Dan the evil eye,” I’m my own OC named Storm Front, a Wonderbolt!” He said the last part with pride.

“And you, Trish?” I asked, after getting a brief explanation from Ken.

“I am Luna, Princess of the night and raiser of the moon!” She bellowed.

“And that required you to yell?” Alice demanded, rubbing her ears.

“Just getting into character.” Trish replied meekly, seeing the glares the others sent her.

----------lb-------

Upon arriving at the Con, I did what every responsible adult would do in this situation.

I set the little terrors free. Well, I let them go after I gave each one a bracelet with a GPS chip in it in case they wind up lost or worse, and made sure they knew to head to the café in an hour. I loved those kids but after an hour and a half in a confined space with them I needed some space.

Sitting down at a table at the meeting place with a cup of tea and a newspaper, I settled in to wait for my excited charges.

'Lost Persons Case Has Nations Finest Stumped, Still no Clues' the papers headline declared.

‘How sad,’ I thought,’ that we have every cop in the country on the look-out, and yet can not find a few lost people in costumes. Hell, they were taken in public, how are there no clues?'

Roughly three weeks ago, a number of costumed individuals had started to go missing, all of which are people around my age. No one has any idea where they are being taken, or even why. As far as I know, there has yet to be a single ransom note, and all of the people taken have been kidnapped from parties or conventions.

Which might be why this one is not as crowded as it could be.

Any further musings are cut off by my young charges trickle in at the end of the hour.

“Mr. J!” Trish says excitedly as she sits across from me, small arms loaded with bags,” I got you something as a ‘thank you’ for bringing me.” A small amount of sadness flashed in her eyes.

“Trish, you did not have...” I was cut off when Ken began speaking.

“We all got you something, we all agreed to buy you a thank you gift for bringing us here today.” He said softly.

“We know what today is.” Alice said, when I began to say it was no problem. “Mom told us.”

“And we’re really sorry for making you take us now that we know. So we got you some presents to say thank you and we’re sorry.” Dan finished, and they all looked at me with such innocent eyes I just had to smile.

“Then who would like to give me their gift first?”

---------lb------

“Sister,” the regal voice of Princess Luna began, "are you sure this is necessary? We banished the ring for a reason.”

“Luna,” Celestia began, moving to gaze at a large lake in the distance, "with your release, I fear a series of events too great for us to handle as we are now may unfold.”

“What do you mean, Celestia?” Walking closer to her beloved sister, the moon princess questions, "What could be so great a threat that you would pull that accursed ring back into our realm? Surely you do not fear Discord? The elements would make short work of him.”

Looking at her sister solemnly, Celestia replied in a voice that barely hid her fear, "I fear that the veil has begun to weaken.”

With wide, fear filled eyes, Luna responded, "You mean they are awakening?”

Celestia looked out at the lake solemnly before responding in a voice filled with worry for what would soon come.

“Yes.”

Chapter 2

“Princess, I don’t understand what it is we’re doing.” Rainbow Dash said in a confused voice.

“Tis simple, Rainbow Dash. My sister and I are attempting to summon an object of great magical powers, and thus we have made preparations should anything go awry.”

The two princesses had gathered the Elements of Harmony and a small number of guards. On the floor was an intricate array of runes that confused those who weren’t magically inclined. Meaning only three of the eighteen ponies had even the faintest idea of how the array worked.

“So were just back up?” Rainbow Dash asked, floating just above the floor. The other girls were busy trying to keep Pinkie from touching the complex and strange mystical sigil.

“In essence, yes.” The pony of the moon replied, glancing at her sister who was conversing with her student over some matter.

“Eh, I can live with that.” The loyal flier said, giving the princess a nod before dashing over to her friends.

“Something bothering you Luna?” Celestia asked in a hushed voice, glancing over to were the Element bearers had gathered, her prized student informing them of their purpose.

“It is just . . . do we have to summon the ring back? Would it not be safer to return the elements instead of risking our sanity to the ring? You do remember what happened to Dis-“

“I remember what happened to him well, Luna." The solar pony said with a stern voice. “But at this point I fear we have no choice.”

“There is always a choice, Celestia!” Luna declared loudly, drawing the attention of the other occupants of the room. Celestia waved them off before returning her attention to her blushing sister.

“I thought we were over the Royal Canterlot Voice, Luna.” Celestia lightly jested.

“I apologize, I’m still adjusting, but my point still stands. There are other options! We had six other failsafe’s, the ring was the last do to the danger it possess. Why do we not use one of those? Why not give the Elements to the tree? Or . . .” The Lunar goddess would have continued, had Celestia not cut her off.

“The others are gone Luna. I had to use them to maintain the barrier since I did not know where you hid Tritonus or Kalima to drain their magic. Without the ability to drain their magic I was forced to sacrifice their artifacts to keep them asleep. And the other three were reclaimed by the creatures over the years. The Elements and the ring are all that’s left.”

“They were able to cross the veil?!” Luna yelled in surprise. With yet another dismissive hoof wave and a quick ‘nothing to worry about’ Celestia once more turned to her sister with a smile that did not quit meet her eyes.

“You must stop doing that Luna.”

“I am sorry if this conversation is causing me to lose control over my ‘inside voice’, but it is cause of distress.”

“I know it is and trust me, I do not like the creatures being able to cross the veil either. But its only the angel command, high water civilization creatures and terrasaurs that can cross the veil. And this has only happened within the last one-hundred years and I have thus far been able to force them to return fast enough so nopony would notice.”

“And the reason we cannot return the Elements to the Tree?”

“I worry what might happen later if we sacrifice the Elements now.”

Luna closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a moment before asking,” What does Twilight Sparkle think?”

Celestia smiled, knowing her sister was giving in. “She agrees that it would be best to use the Ring to put the Monarchs back to sleep.”

“Then let us perform the spell.”

---lb--

I glanced at the children, so excited to hand me the gifts they bought with their parent’s money, so happy to see the sad look banished from their faces.

“Alright J, check this out. I know you don’t know much about the show, but I got you this in case we managed to get you curious about it later. Or at least be able to keep up with the conversations between me and Trish.” Ken said excitedly, rubber wings bouncing on his back as he wiggled in his seat in excitement, passing me a small book.

‘Trish and I’ I mentally corrected, taking the book in my hands. It was a dull purple, or maybe lavender- I am not that great with colors- with a picture of a few multi-colored ‘ponies’ on the front in a group picture. ‘A episode guide disguised as a journal. How thoughtful.’ I thought as I lightly skimmed the colorful pages, noticing various ‘entries’ with dates and ‘hand written’ entries.

“Thank you, Ken. Now I won’t have to worry about being so confused by all those references you were spouting in the car. I believe that this will make me,” pausing to read a highlighted phrase,” ‘twenty percent cooler’.” I received a light groan from all four teens.

“I don’t even watch that stupid show,” cue angry glares,” and even I know that phrase is dead.” Dan said with folded arms, indifferent to the glares from Trish and Ken. “Besides, the present Alice and I got you is way cooler than that dumb thing.”

Seeing yet another potential fight, I quickly asked,” Oh? What is it? Not another expired gift card I hope.” I joked. It worked as intended as the siblings blushed and the other two to smirk, as we all remembered the old gift card they gave me on my last birthday, which just so happened to be expired. A fact which escaped my notice until I was forced to pay for a rather expensive dinner the same night.

“No, nothing like that.” Allie said blushing as the other sibling set snickered at her expense. “It’s really cool!”

“Well if it’s so cool,” Trish began,” then why don’t you show us?”

Faces still flushed, my fellow Kaijudo fans reached into a small bag and pulled out the last thing I expected to see.

The Chotens tech-gauntlet.

It was glowing slightly from a beam of light from a nearby window as the two passed it to me, I took it with a face straining to remain calm and marveled at its cool feel.

“Well, are you going to try it on or not?” Alice said.

I sliped it on, noticing that it was a perfect fit. “Were did you get this?” I asked, geeking out as I marveled at the intricate details in the glove.

“It was over in the corner near the Dan Vs. booth. Not a people around it sadly. The guy there had a bunch of different gauntlets, they even had a pre and post-Infernus mana gauntlets for Ray.” Dan said happily, sending a ‘beat that’ look over at Trish and Ken.

“It’s handmade and is made of stainless steel!” Alice said, sending the same look her brother had at her two friends.

“Well thank you, you two. Its, well, I find I am at a loss for words. Now, Trish, I believe it is your turn.” I said to the girl, who seemed a little down. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, I don’t think you’ll like what I got you. It’s not as cool as that glove thing, and probably not as interesting as that book.” She said with a frown. ‘I don’t think I will find that book even remotely interesting, but I can’t say that in front of Ken.’

“Don’t worry Trish, as long as it is not an expired gift card, I am sure I will love it.”

The reminder of the tragic gift seemed to settle the girls nerves, and she placed a small box on the table before sliding it over to me. The box was nothing fancy, just simple wood with a ‘Mal’s Magic Merchandise’ logo on it. Opening the box, I saw three curious kids lean over to see what was in the box.

In the box resting on a deep purple cushion was a simple silver ring with a five pointed star engraved in a large grey stone set in the ring. At the tip of each point was a small gem of various colors; red, blue, green, white and black with a purple stone in the center. A small plaque on the inside of the boxes top said, ‘Ring of Kaiju’.

“Trish, this is beautiful. I don’t see why you thought I would not like it.”

The girl blushed before saying quickly,” Well, it’s not as unique as that glove or book,” Ken nodded and I thought it was weird that the book wasn’t something massed produced, until I noticed the ‘Written by hand by Lauren Faust’ sticker on the front,” there were a bunch just like it. But got it anyway because it had Kaiju on the box, and I just thought,’ hey, that’s like the name of the show J likes.’ And I saw I had just enough for it and bought one.” She paused for a moment, before looking at us starring and quickly saying, “Sorry for rambling. I’m done now.”

“Well I love it, all of your gifts are fantastic. Now why don’t I give you all the gift of lunch?” With a cheer they all started to rush to the counter of the café and started the trying process of choosing which greasy food would be best to eat.

Chuckling, I put the Helm on my head and put the book and the rings box in my suitcase back pack, which contained; four sets of my current clothing, a tooth brush/paste, documentation showing I have guardianship rights to the children, and some pajamas. This is a three day trip after all. I laid the box and book on top of the mesh holding my possessions in place, and clicked it shut.

I looked at the ring then at my right hand, there was no way to fit it over the gauntlet, and I refused to wear it on my left ring finger. So, shrugging, I slipped it on my right index finger. ‘For now, so Trish does not feel bad.’

The ring seemed to give off a small amount of heat, making it warm to the touch, a startling contrast to the tech-gauntlet I have on my right hand. My heart warmed as I looked at the gifts my pseudo-siblings had given to me. Sure, to some it would seem cool to get such nice gifts but they were more than mere gifts to me. Those kids had picked an item to give to me, and it wasn’t some crappy item they had grabbed off the shelf because their parents told them to, they picked items that reflected the love and friendship we had for each other. They are more than items, at least to me.

‘Those kids, they and their families have really had such an impact on my life. To think that . . .’

My musings were cut short by Alice calling that it was time for me to pay. Smiling, I started to walk over towards my charges . . . only to stumble as I was blinded by a white flash of white.

--lb—

“Did you see that?” A smooth voice asked, the recipient turned to face the other.

“Indeed, Councilmen Finbarr. It appears as though an energy signature matching the lost Helm of Ultimate Technology. What do you suppose this could mean.” A, colder mechanical voice responded to the introduced Finbarr.

Finbarr is a small, blue, vaguely humanoid being with antenna on his head and no noticeable mouth. He sits in his large mech suit, contemplating the wisest course of action.

“Cyber Lord Aqua Seneschal, you are to contact the other members with this news, then have them meet me in the council room in exactly one hour.” He directed the light blue humanoid with one eye and blue ‘veins’ covering his body.

“At once, Councilmen.” And with that, Seneschal glided away through the underwater capitol of the water civilization to inform the remaining two members of Council of Logos the newest development from Equestria.

‘But what does it mean.’ The leader of the water civilizations armies thought to himself.

--lb—

As the light died down I noticed four things at once. Number one was that I could no longer feel the contacts in my eyes, nor the wig on my head. Two, I could feel some kind of energy within myself. Three, the plastic prop on my head was no longer plastic- and if the data scrolling across my line of sight was anything to go by- no longer a prop. And finally, I was in a large white marble room surrounded by equines that are roughly half my height.

I started to panic before I felt a wave of calm wash over me. I quickly scanned the ponies, noticing that ten were decked out in armor, six were naked and loosely grouped together, and two taller ones were standing before me.

Also, the ponies around be either had wings, a horn, neither or both. Again a wave of calm flowed through me from my hand.

“Hello,” I said politely, causing some of the ponies to gain gobsmacked looks on their faces, “can you please help me, I was going to help some children when I was sent here. I cannot help but to stress how inconvenient this abduction is. That is, of course, assuming that you are the ones that brought me here.” I tried to be as polite as possible, after all they could send me back, and I rather did not want to be stuck in pony land.

“Alright, bub,” I pulled back as a flying pony with a fuckin’ rainbow for a mane started speaking inches from my face,” where’s the ring?” That question got the ponies around me attention, the ones wearing armor looking ready for a fight, while the group this one was with earlier motioned for her to get back away. Some data-which was scrolling by rapidly, barley giving me time to read it if I focused hard, but otherwise began to give me a head ache- told me that the flying one was hostile.

‘I didn’t need it spelled out for me.’ I thought, idly noticing the look of anger coming from the blue pony with wings and a horn.

“Are you even listing to me?” The blue one demanded.

“Rainbow, you get away from that fancy speakin’ critter, who knows what it could do.” A pony with a southern accent said hastily to the newly dubbed ‘Rainbow’.

‘Cowboy accent on a hoarse, quaint.’

The large white one approached slowly, moving Rainbow with a yellow aura.

Magic, my unhelpful helm supplied.

“I am Princess Celestia,” she said in a soft even tone,” who are you?”

That question, so innocent when it comes from most seemed to be a curse from Celestia. I saw past her calm tone and saw the fires of hatred beneath.

Names hold power, a voice whispered in my ear, showing as a line of text on the helms visor, why give her yours?

“You may call me, The Choten.”

“Very well, Choten, I have but one question for you. And you will answer it for me.” She said in a manner dictating seriousness.

“And if I do not?” I did not like the direction this was taking. I had been brought here for a reason outside my control, and now I am being cross examined by a white horse. I idly noticed that the blue one was conversing with Rainbow and company, they nodded to whatever she said, moving into a crescent formation with the purple unicorn in the center.

Big white apparently had been examining me, as she looked up into my eyes from my uncovered hand and softly stated,” Then I am afraid that you won’t be going back from wherever you came from.” A small green ‘truth’ popped up quickly in the corner of my eye. The helm was starting to give me a headache.

“Where did you get that helm and ring?” Was that it, I expected more.

“I got the helm from a magazine and the ring was given as a gift. Now can you . . .”

“You would dare lie to a princess?!” The blue one bellowed in anger. I was confused lie how?

“Luna!” Celestia scolded the blue one, who immediately backed down like a dog to its master. “Now tell me the truth, were did you get those artifacts?”

“I already told you, I bought and was gifted them respectively. Now, on to the matter that I wish to discuss. Can you send me home?”

She mulled this over, inwardly debating something before deciding something. “I can send you home, Choten.” She said. I went to thank her, but she held up a hoof to silence me,” If you give me the helm and ring.”

I did not need the blazing red ‘lie’ to tell it was a trick. Do not give them away, the voice and text said.

I chuckled lightly before responding,” Come now, Celestia. Surely you can come up with a better lie than that.” At her shocked face I smirked while turning around,” I suppose I shall have to find my own way out.”

I barely took a steep before a bolt of blue magic flew past me, the guards moving to block the entrance. “I am afraid that thou shalt not leave this room villain.”

I raised an eyebrow at that. All I had done was answer some questions and refuse to give them my stuff. Talk about over reacting.

Perhaps taking offence to my eyebrow raise Luna launched a spell at me, one I knew I could not dodge. ’Shit!’ I yelled in my mind as I brought my hands before my face and closed my eyes instinctively.

“What?!” Came a collective cry of several voices several seconds later. I slowly opened my eyes to see a glowing dome surround me, only to drop as I lowered my hands.

‘Lesson number one, your gauntlet can form a shield.’ I quoted in my head. ‘But if it can form a shield then maybe . . .’ I smirked to myself as I realized fully what this meant.

Apparently smirking and eyebrow raising are insults here because Rainbow yelled out in anger,” Don’t get cocky just ‘cuse you got lucky with that shield thing. We’re still going to kick your flank!”

“How amusing,” I said in the most condescending voice I could manage, I was through being polite,” but it is not me you will have to fight, but them.” Praying that this worked like I hoped it would I throughout my right hand and called,” Come fourth, Rapids Lurker, Wwhhshrll!”

It worked. When I said the name, the tips of my ‘fingers’ launched out into the air, trails of energy connecting them to my gauntlet. Everyone watched in shock and fear as two of the ‘finger tips’ pierced thin air, splitting it apart to reveal a swirling portal. The last three quickly flew in, the rapidly drew back dragging two large, blue eel like creatures with two flowing tendrils.

As soon as they were clear the portal was closed, and the tips returned to my gauntlet. The two Rapids Lurkers circled me protectively. I was momentarily in shock that it worked, but got over it quickly.

“You, you can breach the veil?” Celestia stammered out. That caught my attention, but currently I had something more important in mind. Namely getting the hell away from these ponies so I could think for a moment. The headache I had going only got worse with the two Lurkers around, their blank expressions showing my control over them, along with the two ‘Rapids Lurker’ icons on the helm’s display.

“Yes, now, I am leaving. But I leave you a gift.” Sweeping my hand to gesture to all the ponies I said, “Rapids Lurkers, ruin them!” The two swept forward, their flexible bodies dodging spell fire and weapons to bite and ram into ponies. With a sufficient distraction in place, I ran out the door.

Chapter 3

Celestia stared at the beast before her, confident that it would not be able to escape the magical grips of two alicorns and two unicorns. The two ‘Rapids Lurkers’ had wreaked havoc in the throne room, the two having taken out three of the guards within seconds of their blonde master issuing his attack order.

Of the seven remaining guards, six had been slain within the first twenty minutes of the battle. The last had been taken with one of the beasts when it had dissolved into manna after it was struck by the poor guards spear. Celestia was unsure why the guard had dissolved with the beast, but she had made certain to detain the last one. Of course, catching the slippery blight while dodging its teeth and surprisingly sharp body was easier said than done.

“Ready?” Celestia asked her sister and the two unicorns of the elements, their magical grips on the eel like being strong, despite its thrashing and the hate filled glare it sent all the ponies in the room.

“Ready sister/princess.” The three replied.

“Is the box prepared, Applejack?” The solar princess asked the farmer, her voice straining. A bead of sweet rolled into her eye as the rapids lurker tried to roll its body out of the four magical grips.

“Ready when you are, Princess.” The farmer replied, standing with the other three remaining elements next to a large wooden crate, fastened with the aide of four fresh royal guards. The guards had been hurriedly called to aid in containing the beast, and were all unicorns with specialization in reinforcement spells and had added as many such spells to the wooden container as possible.

“Then we move it on three.” The former nightmare tiredly said, her large magical reserves having been put under strain from the battle so soon after a summoning.

“Three!” The four said at once, lifting the thrashing water civilization creature into the crate, which was sealed inside by the wooden top as soon as it was inside.

With the job done, the two unicorns collapsed, while the alicorn sisters retreated to their thrones exhausted.

All took a few moments to rest and pay their respects to the fallen guards, all grateful for their sacrifice, and saddened that they had to make that sacrifice. A solemn Pinkie comforted Fluttershy, while Rainbow and Applejack bowed their heads, Applejacks hat removed in a sign of respect. Soldiers took the bodies solemnly, being careful not to damage the cadavers more than they already were.

The two sisters looked down sadly at their fallen guards, even having their past experiences not softening the blow. Rarity had fainted, wither out of actual distress or simple dramatics no one knew.

But the worst of them all was Twilight, the possibility that it could easily have been either her or her friends, or even her brother had he been here, kept flashing threw her mind. These dark thoughts planted a seed of rage in her heart as she softly cried at the foot of Celestia’s throne.

When they all the cadavers had been removed, all eyes turned to the deathly still crate in the middle of the room. All eyes looked at their current source of woe, and Fluttershy decided to ask the question of the hour.

“W-what is it, were did it come from?” She hid behind her mane quickly as everyone looked at her for a moment.

All eyes looked to the two oldest ponies in the room, the obvious source of information. The shadows cast by the setting sun making the sisters look ancient.

Sighing, Celestia cast a solemn gaze at her sister, who nodded before leaving the room, magically sealing it before heading out to raise the moon. Looking at her subjects one by one, before taking a breath and began to speak.

“I will tell you what you want to know and more, my little ponies, but you must promise never to talk about it to anypony besides Princess Luna and I.” Pausing for them to confirm, she continued. “That creature, as you must have heard, is called ‘Rapids Lurker’ a beast from beyond the veil.”

“The veil?” Twilight asked quizzically. “You mean the veil of Starswirl that leads to the ‘tiny galaxy’ in the museum?”

“No, my dear student. I am talking about the veil that splits our universe in half.” At her calm response all the Element bearers gasped, not expecting the answer.

“You mean that we are living in only HALF of universe?” Pinkie questioned in an urgent voice. Celestia nodded in the confirmative and moved to answer, but Pinkie cut her off. “But that’s terrible! I mean, if everypony over there is as mean as those two meanies, then I guess it’s okay. I mean, they didn’t even want a cupcake. Everypony wants a cupcake! But that also means that I can’t throw the nice eel’s a party and-“

“We get it, Pinkie.” Rainbow said, slowly removing her hoof from the party mare’s mouth.

“It is for the best, Pinkie Pie, that the universe is split. And it is not only the rapids lurkers that dwell there, but thousands of other deadly and dangerous creatures. My sister and I, along with one other, used a powerful spell thousands of years ago to create the veil and banish the beasts over there.”

“But why?” the question was unanimous in the minds of the mares, sure the creatures the Choten had called were definitely dangerous, but surley there had to be a better solution than banishing entire species from the dimension.

“Because the five monarchs’, the rulers over the various beings, had decided that we ponies were no better than animals. And as such, we had no rights. They would have used us nothing more than free labor, pets or even food." All the ponies turned green at that, Flutershy even looked ready to faint.

"They, they wanted to eat us?" A disgusted Pinkie asked, " but ponies aren't food! That's wrong!"

"And that's why we fought and eventually banished them. But we couldn’t defeat the monarchs and their subjects by force of might, so we had to use magic.” She paused to breath, and glanced at her enraptured and slightly disturbed subjects.

“We searched through ancient tomes, cross examined every mage, and even interrogated some of the creature’s mystics until we had enough knowledge to create a solution. The veil. We crafted it so that a barrier would literally separate our universe in two. One side would be the ideal world for the beings you know today, and the other a land for the creatures. It was perfect, the barrier would be permanent so long as we added some magic every few years.” She paused once more.

“There was one flaw in our plan. We had a spell that would solve our problems permanently, but we lacked the magic to perform it.” Celestia saw the confused look on Twilights face.

“At the time we were not as we are now, we were all ponies. Powerful compared to are fellows, but nowhere near as powerful enough to cast the spell. So through trickery, we managed to subdue the monarchs, draining them of most of their magic into ourselves, subsequently putting them in a perpetual sleep. What you must understand is that the monarchs are behemoths, larger than even ursa majors, and that they and theirs run on magic. So when we drained them, they lacked the energy to stay awake, and we were as close to godhood that any can claim to reach.” Celestia looked out at Canterlot, a glazed look in her eye as she gazed upon her beloved city. The six were enraptured, none willing to interrupt Celestia’s tale. Twilight wished she had a quill and parchment.

“And even with all that power we nearly failed in creating the veil. We barely managed to cast it with the aide of seven objects of power. But even though the veil was created and all the creatures were banished, the monarchs remained.” A smile crept onto her face. “We hid them, I hid the king of fire and queen of light, Luna hid the queen of darkness and king of water, and our old friend hid the nature chieftain. The seven artifacts were divided and hid, one even turned into a tree to anchor the spell. We became alicorns and we guided the ponies and others to help them adjust to the new world. With a little magic the veil held. We were happy.” Celestia frowned.

“What happened next princess?” Twilight asked as her teacher paused, curiosity brimming in her voice.

“Then Discord struck, our friend fell, and the veil weakened. We used the elements to turn him to stone and patch the veil. But even then, creatures strong or smart enough began to test the veil on occasion from that point onward. And every time we would add a little magic to repel them. Only recently have the strongest and smartest of water and light creatures begun to cross the veil; but I have always been able to force back through before anypony would notice.”

“Princess, if this is true, and no one but you and Princess Luna know about it, then how does The Choten know about the veil. And what of the ring, you told me it was a dangerous artifact that harmed and burned any non-alicorn that touched it, but he wore it with no problem. How can that be.” Twilight asked her mentor, her curiosity burning.

“I do not know my student, and that is why I am wary of him. Something is not right here, and we must be prepared for the worst.” Celestia answered her student.

Rainbow Dash scoffed, flapping her wings lightly and crossing her fore hooves. “Why should we worry about this guy? So he can summon some lame killer eels, I’m sure you can summon something WAY cooler than that, right Princess?”

“Unfortunately we are unable to breach the veil Rainbow Dash.” The voice of the lunar princess came from behind, startling the pegasus enough to cause her to fall onto her back.” We have tried before, but we have always been forced to stop as our attempts threatened to tear the veil down.” She looked to her nodding sister.

“And that is why we are weary of this ‘Choten’,” she continued,” He managed to breach the veil without destabilizing it.” Giving the wonderbolt hopeful a meaning full look, she added,” And if our theory is correct, he may not be limited to summoning those ‘lame killer eels’.” The speedster blushed.

“Why do you say that, Princess Luna?” Rarity asked from her spot next to Fluttershy.

“Because we just saw the outline of an dragon like creature with a rider on its back fly over the city walls.”

Chapter 4

He had managed to exit the castle, which was more of a palace really, within a few minutes thanks to the signs that were helpfully placed on every other corner. None of the servants in the castle bothered to stop him; they were too occupied cowering while staring in the direction of the throne room were screams and the sounds of battle rang out for all to hear.

Quickly finding a door to the outside he dashed through, before making his way out through the streets, ducking through alleys. The ring on his finger feed a continuous calm presence throughout his person, preventing him from panicking. Yet even though he remained calm, he still winced at every lance of sunlight which aggravated his headache.

After twenty minutes of running, the displaced man reached an abandoned building, which he quickly entered. The place was as large as a Walmart, there was no furniture, just a few old crates and forgotten sheets of paper on the ground. The walls were covered with graffiti, not as colorful as the type seen on earth, but still unexpected to find in a land of ponies.

‘I suppose some things are the same no matter where you are.’ He thought as he walked over towards a fairly clean crate. Wiping it off, he sat down, sighing aloud as he removed the Helm of Ultimate Technology, his headache leaving with it. ‘I suppose all power comes with a price.’ He thought bitterly. Suddenly, the tech-gauntlet on his hand sent a small jolt of electricity throughout his arm, causing him to flinch. ‘What was that?’ He thought, rubbing his arm lightly. ‘Come to think of it, where am I? All I got is this place is full of ponies, a few names and the fact that the one called ‘Celestia’ wants my Helm and ring.’

He sat there, mulling the small amount of information over in his head, the ring helping him focus solely on the task at hand. The name of the solar princess kept worming through his mind, triggering a vague memory from earlier . . .

“Fuck.” It hit him like a charging rhino. Celestia, ponies, magical beams and unicorns. He was in that show the kids were talking about. A world he had no idea about. Sure he had the ability to use the powers shown in Kaijudo, but he had no idea about anything beyond some names and concepts. He was terrified, yet remained calm. The ring on his finger burned as it forced its wearer to remain calm, to remain in control of himself to insure he did not act unrationally and do something stupid like go on a rampage that would result in its destruction and his imprisonment.

‘What the hell am I going to do?’ He thought calmly, the urge to shout and scream and rant, and even to cry was there, but the over whelming calm forced it down to a mere notion. There, but not enough to act upon. ‘I cannot ask for their help, I already tried and that led me into being labeled a villain.’ He gave a hollow laugh at the thought, he tented his fingers before resting his head on the interlocked digits, the gauntlet pleasantly warm in the cold room.

‘I assaulted eight national figures and their armed forces, there is no way I am going to get help from any of these ponies now.’ He paused. ‘At least, any on the straight and narrow. Perhaps some of their ‘undesirables’ would be willing to help. But where could I find any of those?’ Without help from the common pony, he knew there was very little chance of him finding out who was considered a criminal, or even a good place to hide away from the police and soldiers that he knew would be coming after him. ‘I need to find a place to hide before I can think about recruiting the help of others.’

The ring on his finger sensed its wearer’s distress, the link it was slowly building with its wearer was weak, it did not wish to break his mind like it accidently did with its past host. It was able to choose and manipulate its wearer’s dominant emotion, but it was too weak to fully communicate without an overabundance of mana in the air like there was in the throne room. However, it was still able to send a very simple sentence to the man called Choten.

‘Ken’s gift.’

The thought was in The Choten’s own voice, and flowed seamlessly with his own racing thoughts. As soon as he ‘thought’ it, he quickly reached into his suitcase backpack and pulled out the purple ‘journal’. Opening the front, he noticed the inside cover was a map, detailing the entire country of Equestria, and- if his hunch was correct- placed him in the city Canterlot. After a quick glance through the page titled ‘Places I never wish to visit again’ that was ‘written’ by Twilight Sparkle, showed him exactly where to hide.

‘And I know the perfect creature to get me there.’ Pointing his hand casually at open air he calmly said three words.

"Draglide the Swiftest” His gauntlet ripped a hole in the fabric of reality and pulled the large red dragon into his current dimension. The dragon, or more specifically attack raptor, was about the length of a bus and wore a saddle and lead. That in itself made it a great ride, but what had really made it The Chotens top pick for transportation was the rocket launchers attached to its head and jet engines on its wings. It looked about its surroundings before The Choten waved his hand, causing the reptile to settle with one wing extended.

He calmly collected his possessions and walked over to the patiently waiting attack raptor, before walking up its wing like an on ramp, only having to lightly hop over the wing mounted engine. Once situated on its back he took the lead and had his mount face the ceiling. With a light tug, mount destroyed the roof with a small batch of rockets and leapt into the air, ramming pegasi out the way.

‘Next stop, Froggy Bottom Bogg.’

---lb---

“ . . . and that is the current situation, councilmen.” Aqua Seneschal finished in his monotone voice. A quite murmur passed between the three council members. Of the three only councilman Finbarr was visible, the leader of the water civilizations armies acting as the head of the council at the moment.

“Are you sure that the creature that appeared with Rapids Lurker 15678 codenamed: Wwhhsrll female, is indeed a pony? The implications of such a thing are . . . worrying.”

“As protocol dictates,” Aqua began, narrowing his lone red eye,” I had a cyber-virus copy all information stored within his mind and implant it in my data pad. He is indeed a pony from across the veil.”

“And the Helm?” a feminine voice questioned.

“As I said before, it is in the possession of the being called ‘The Choten’.” Came Aqua’s curt reply, he had repeated the same story three times now. “Should I prepare a force for its retrival?”

“No, we will wait for now.” Finbarr stated calmly. “It is obvious that this . . . Choten is not a friend of the ponies. And with his apparent ability to bring creatures from across the veil, I feel that it would be best to become his ally. So prepare yourself, Aqua Seneschal, you will soon leave to propose an alliance between the water civilization and The Choten.” Seeing that he understood, Finbarr finished with,” You have two hours to prepare.”

As the lesser cyber lord turned to leave, he asked, “And what of the pony?”

“We have no more need of him. Send him to reaserch.” The councilman coldly ordered.

Seneschal nodded and bowed out,” As the council commands.”

“Are you sure this is the best course of action, Finbarr?” The one council member who had yet to speak asked.

“Would it not be simpler to forcefully take the Helm and then rewrite this Choten’s mind so that he obeys us?” The feminine one asked.

Finbarr sighed at his fellows words. “This is the way things must be. He has worn the Helm without any of the failsafe’s crushing his mind, so it is highly likely a mind rewrite would fail. And that’s if we were able to subdue him. With the Helm he would not even have to raise a arm to turn anyone we send after him against us. Besides, we need all the help we can get.”

“What do you mean?”

With both hands, mechanical and organic, behind his back Finbarr turned to a map that had been marked to show a collection of red flags in a position near a beach, while another group of black flags were positioned as to move away.

“Fire is moving in on us and darkness has abandoned their treaty with us. War could be just around the corner and we have no one to back us, natures alliance with fire makes this even more treacheries.”

“But of light, surely they would . . .”

“They have a firm alliance with fire as well, they will not fight against them. We need every ally we can get.”

Chapter 6

I stood alone on the hex-platform overlooking the road before me, floating a good five feet over the dirt path which led from the town of Ponyville to the Everfree forest. The platform was a gift from one of my scientists, and looked like the name implied. A simple light blue hexagon which defied gravity through advanced water technology, it was connected to my gauntlet, allowing me full control over the device.

I checked my watch, ‘Ten fifty eh? Well, better check in with Seneschal.’ I had left the cybernetic life form back at the base to watch over the three operations I had going this night, as well as to keep an eye on our little ‘guest’. The child had yet to wake from her ordeal, and I was loath to leave a sick or wounded child unattended.

I was never one to allow an opportunity to pass me by, so when I had seen the bearer of honesty leave her farm with her entire family, and knowing that the events of the night would distract them for a good while, I had ordered a small squadron of Aqua Tricksters to raid the farm of as many fruits and vegetables as possible. I had enough meat and grain to last me a long while, but a good diet requires more. Plus, if I succeeded in my mission, Trixie would be joining me and she would require something non-meat to eat.

The other operation is something of a forward in my contribution to the Water Civilizations war efforts. I had sent a forward party to start building a secondary base of operations far in the frozen north, a place which strangely overlaps directly over the Fire Civilization, and if my calculations are correct, they should start building in the exact spot that overlaps with the fire capital.

“Any word from the farm, Seneschal?” I ask into my head piece casually. I combed a stray lock of hair out of my face, one of the irritating things about being trapped here was the fact that the wig became my real hair, and it was pretty damn annoying when it wanted to be.

“Yes Lord Choten. They have successfully collected a sufficient amount of produce, as well as seeds for future growth. They are on their way back.”

“And how is our young guest?”

“Still asleep and . . . Sir, you best prepare yourself.” Seneschal’s voice held a hint of worry at the end, putting me on edge. Seneschal’s voice never deviated from a bored monotone.

“What’s the situation?”

“The one known as Trixie is being pursued by at least ten royal guards and the ones collectively known as the ‘Mane Six’. They are roughly six minutes away from your position.”

“Composition of the guards?”

“Four pegasi, two earth and four unicorns. ETA, five minutes, forty-two seconds.”

“Keep me updated on their progress.” This, could be a problem. I had not intended to have to go into battle tonight, I expected to either be able to quickly convince Trixie to join me, or quickly mind wipe her with a Cyber Virus and leave if she refused. I began running through a list of creatures to aid me in the inevitable fight ahead.

“Four minutes, twenty seconds.”

I quickly ruled out the Rapids Lurker, they have been studying the one they captured in Canterlot. I had been shocked when I realized I couldn’t dismiss it after one of my Stalker Spheres had seen it, the unicorns there were poking and prodding the beast and most likely had informed the guard of all it weak points.

“Four minutes.”

I needed something fast and agile, as well as being able to strike airborne enemies. I cursed the fact that I had left the Helm behind, I had not expected to have to use it while I was recruiting the show mare. Without it, I did not have the luxury of being able to simply tell a Water creature to attack and then leave it to its own device, I would actually have to direct it.

“Three minutes, thirty-eight seconds.”

Right, back on track, I need a creature that can attack air bound enemies, agile, and has widespread attacks. That narrows it down some, but what civilization should I use? Water would be the obvious choice, their agile and can attack air bound creatures easily, but they don’t have the area of effect attacks I’ll need. I don’t want to bring in a fire creature, not many are as agile as I need.

“Two minutes.”

I need something that could impress Trixie, get more out of it. But what?

‘Look to the darkness.’

My eyes widened ‘The Darkness Civilization, of course!’ It was a perfect match up, to both my dilemmas. Darkness was known for its flexibility, many have long range attacks, and can affect multiple targets. But who to use?

“One minute, thirty-three seconds.”

A plan formed in my mind, and I willed my platform to retreat into the trees. And as I slid into the trees shadows, I raised my hand and called my first creature of darkness.

Trixie ran. That’s all she could really do. It was all she ever seemed to do lately. Out of Lowvilleut of Bitnale, from Trotingtin, and lately Ponyville. Ponyville the worse, though. It hadn’t been something as simple as insulting a well-respected pony, or even causing minor property damage. No, it had to be an Ursa some idiotic colts had dragged into town. And then they blamed the whole situation on her.

How they had concluded that an ursa dragged into town by two colts she didn’t even know was her fault, she had no clue. But she did know that she wasn’t willing to pay for it.

“Trixie, stop! Running is only making the situation worse!” Twilight called out to the mare she was chasing. Earlier this evening she had taken Spike out to see Trixie’s magic show, and had been severely disappointed with what she had seen. The mare barely knew any actual magic! All she had done was use some sleight of hoof and brag. Sure, what she had done was impressive, if she were an earth pony or Pegasus, but for a unicorn it was pretty pathetic. All she really knew magically was set off fireworks and basic levitation, and very simple illusion. And she was pretty sure the fireworks were on a timer.

But then the show mare had to brag about defeating an ursa. An impossible feat, and sealing the fact that the mare was a hack in Twilight's mind.

Of course, fate just seemed to dictate that the idiotic mare just had to prove herself by convincing some colts to bring a real ursa into town to fight. Which she failed at. Miserably. But that wasn’t the end of it, oh no, then Trixie had tried to run off. Of course Twilight couldn’t let that happen, so she had gathered her friends and some of the guards and ran after the troublesome mare, intent on bring her back to clean up her mess, and pay for her crime.

“No! I did nothing wrong! Just leave me alone!” Trixie knew they wouldn’t believe her, not after she ran off, and especially since they had already judged her guilty.

“This is taking too long,” Twilight muttered, “Rainbow can you cut her off?”

“Got it, Twi.” The brash Pegasus responded, before taking off ahead of the group, easily outpacing the unicorn they were pursuing and landing before her in a battle ready stance. “You aren’t going anywhere!”

Trixie tried to swerve around the mare, only to find that no matter where she turned a guard or one of the six friends were there to block her. Though Fluttershy looked ready to faint.

In a situation such as this, Trixie could only think of one thing to say, a plea to anyone listening. “Help!”

Tatsurion the Unchained ran. It’s all he could do. All he really has done since he was banished. Banished for helping his mother’s people, banished for shredding a full-blooded dragons wings.

Banished for being an unwanted half-breed.

So he ran. Ran from the bounty hunters that were often after him, as they were now, searching for a place to give him the advantage in a fight. More and more soldiers seemed to be after him lately. He was tired, he was hungry, but he was confident that he could defeat his pursuers. . .

“Tatsurion!”

. . . Or maybe not. He knew that voice, knew it well. It was the same voice that tormented him in his childhood, and led to his exile. It was the voice that had haunted him for years. He stopped and turned saying his assailants name as a curse. “Moorna.” Moorna was a large armoured dragon, with features similar to Tatsurion himself, such as their horns and coloring.

“What do you want now, Sister?” He spat sister out as though it were acid, though smirked at the result as his half-sister reared back and spread her wings, hissing hatefully.

“I am not your sister, half-breed.” The dragon hatefully stated, narrowing her eyes. “You know why I’m here, it’s the same reason it always is. To get revenge for what you have done to my dear Brutalus.”

“Dear Brutalus? Don’t make me laugh! You use him as an excuse to hunt me, to have a vengeance to fill! There’s a reason you’re called Moorna the Vengeful, sister!” Tatsurion readied his chains, knowing that the battle would soon commence. And it would turn to battle. It always did.

Moorna roared her displeasure, the giant gun on her back roaring to life as she readied herself to end her feud once and for all.

But fate had other plans.

Just as the two combatants prepared to launch themselves at the other, Tatsurion felt a tug and a plea for help. And just as he leapt into the air, a rip in reality opened before him, and he was pulled into Equestria.

“No, NO! Curse you Tatsurion!” Moorna bellowed, fire pouring from her maw as she fumed after being denied once again her vengeance.

The guards and bearers slowly began to close in on Trixie, not willing to give her an opportunity to run again. Within the shadows of the trees Choten prepared to intervene, before noticing a familiar glow coming from just above the group. ‘What are the odds?’ He thought with a smirk. His smirk turned to complete shock as Tatsurion exited the portal ready for battle. ‘What are the odds indeed.’

Tatsurion glared at the figures before him, confused and angered at the fact that his fight with Moorna was interrupted, especially by beings that only came up to his knee.

“Where am I?” He growled out. All the . . . things, took a step back as he spoke. He growled at the way they acted, “What, are you things.”

“It can talk.” A voice said from behind him, when he turned around he saw a small white . . . thing. It was a quadruped, similar to most of the more unintelligent creatures of the Fire, Nature and Darkness civilizations, and had a pair of wings on its back.

“Is that a problem?” He growled. It honestly surprised him that anyone could be surprised that something could speak. He once met a talking tree!

“No, no problem . . .”

“Hi!” Tatsurion reared back in surprise as the pink thing invaded his space, a huge smile on its face. “My names Pinkie Pie, what’s yours? What are you? Where you from? What’s your favorite mph phmmm.” She was cut off as a purple energy enveloped her.

“Pinkie, stay away from that thing!” A purple one asked the pink, apparently the leader.

“Why Twilight?” Pinkie asked.

“Because that thing just came through a portal, just like those things Choten summoned. Who knows how dangerous it could be.” The purple unicorn noticed movement from the corner of her eye, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Away from you . . . things. I have a fight to finish.” Tatsurion stated dryly as he continued to move away.

“Wait!” Trixie called out after him. Seeing him pause, she trotted up to him, “I’m going with you.”

Not really caring, Tatsurion just shrugged his consent, and continued walking with her in tow.

“Halt!” A guard shouted, having finally manned up and attempted to do his job. The two didn’t slow down, forcing the guards to run in front of them in an attempt to block them off.

“What now?” Tatsurion growled out. Trixie just looked at the guards nervously. She had been hoping they would have been too busy gawking at the creature.

“You are under arrest.” One brave guard managed to stammer out as the large beast kin dragon hybrid glowered at the puny guards.

“For what?”

“For, for association with a known criminal.”

Tatsurion just stared at the guard, before pushing him to the side and continuing his trek, or at least he tried before a rope found its way around his neck.

“Now hold it there partner, you ain't going nowhere save to the princesses in chains.” Applejack grunted out, the effort to keep the large form of Tatsurion. Tatsurion growled in anger, willing his head to catch fire and burning the rope off. He turned around and glared at the ponies.

“No one chains Tatsurion the Unchained!” Tatsurion fell to all fours and charged the country pony with the intent of crushing her. Unfortunately for the charging beast, he was not prepared for the flying pie that connected with his face. With a roar he began to wipe the creamy goodness off his face.

“How do you like that you big meanie!” The party pony yelled at Tatsurion, before preparing another pie to throw.

“Where did she get the pie?” Trixie questioned absently to herself. Unfortunately this attracted the guards attention to her. “Oh come on!”

As Trixie found herself having to deal with a set of unicorn guards, Tatsurion found himself being mobbed by the earth and pegasi, while still having to swat away flying pies.

“Can you stop with those things already!” Tatsurion roared, swiping widely, managing to catch a unlucky earth ponies neck, snapping it like a twig.

“Shattered Spear, no! You were two days away from an extended weekend!” A light pink pegasus guard cried out in anguish.

“You will pay for this, you bastard!” The remaining earth pony shouted out, unfortunately giving his position away to the enraged beast, resulting in him being torn in half.

Meanwhile, Trixie had just taken out the two unicorns. She heard the screams of pain coming from the area Tatsurion had headed towards, just in time to see a blue blur rush by with a dark cloud in its hooves. “Tatsurion, behind you!”

With a roar Tatsurion shook the guards off him, but not in time to avoid the large bolt of lightning sent hurtling at him, catching him square in the back. The armour on Tatsurions back helped spread the electrical current, worsening the damage the attack did to the large beast kin.The damage was so great that it forced the beast kin hybrid to disperse into a small burst of flames. All the ponies breathed a sigh of relief, save Trixie, who was attempting to run away.

“And where do you think yourgoing?” Twilight growled out. She had been disheveled in the fight, and annoyed beyond measure that Trixies capture wasn’t going according to plan. It was going over by at least twelve minutes!

“To a place where she can be appreciated.”

“Choten!” Nearly everypony shouts.

“Who?” A confused Trixie asks.

From out of the shadows of the forest, standing upon a flying blue hexagon, emerged The Choten.

I glanced at the ponies gathered around my target, the hate in their eyes unnerved me, if only because it did not fit with how cute they all looked. “Well it appears that we are all once again gathered together. Lets hope this small get together does not end the same way as before, eh, Twilight?”

Twilight’s eyes widened in shock at the fact I knew her name, she even took a small step back from me. “How do you know my name?” She asked.

“How could I not know the name of one of the ponies responsible for me being here?” I reply cooly, after all, I didn’t want to give any of them any information. “Know if you'll step aside, I will just take Trixie and leave.”

“What makes you think Trixie wants-” The wanted mare was cut off by the brash pegasus hoovering behind her.

“Who says we're going to let you take her, hu?” She flew up to me, her face barely an inch from my own, obviously trying to intimidate me. I smirk. “In fact, who says we're going to let you get away from us?”

I merely keep my smirk on my face, amused by her intimidation technique. I subtly twitch my fingers, encouraging my summon to move out of the shadows. “I believe he does.” I point at my summon, and I nearly laugh as her confident smirk leaves her face faster than the road runner runs out of harms way.

I turn to my summon, a monstrous beast that was the combination of a tiger and griffon, possessing five eyes and massive wings. It moved elegantly, every inch a clear indicator of its status as a predator. All eyes were widened in fear, save for two. One was the unconscious form of Fluttershy and the other Trixie, who appeared fascinated by the beast. “Allow me to introduce my feline friend. This is Tygrif. And if you do not leave within the next minute, you shall become his next meal.” My sentence was punctuated with Tygrif liking his chops, staring intently at the ponies before us. I could see the conflicting in their eyes, the fear of a predator and the desire to take down a criminal.

“Such cheap tactics will never work on the solar guard!” One of the pegasi guards roared, launching itself at me, spear extended at my head. I was taken by surprise by such a bold move, barely able to move my head enough to prevent a major injury. Thats not to say I came out unscathed. A large bloody gash extended from my chin to ear, causing me extreme pain. I yelled in pain and anger, the ring on my finger doing nothing to calm the rage I felt at that one moment. Tygrif reacted.

Lunging at the pegasi, Tygrif snatched the flying pony out of the air with its claws, shredding the unfortunate guard to shreds with ease. I clutched my left hand to the wound, feeling the torn flesh under my hand, my warm blood pouring out from between my fingers.

I swung my right hand at the group, Tygrif following the gesture and leaped at the group, intent on killing every single last one of the ponies there.

“Scatter!” I vaguely heard one of the ponies cry out as the creature of darkness landed amongst theme. This isn’t what I had planned. Not by a long shot. I hadn't expected to be wounded, hadn’t even thought of the possibility. They were supposed to flee once Tygrif made the scene, but instead that damn guard had to be a hero and attack. Tygrif bite into the neck of a white unicorn guard, killing the bastard instantly before swatting the bearer of laughter into a tree. ‘I need to get back to my lair before I bleed out.’ I vaguely thought. ‘None of my plans will do any good if I die here.’

“Choten!” I turned at the call of my title, mildly surprised to hear my target, Trixie, so close to me.

“Yes?” I ask, though the word was a little muffled as I was still holding my jaw with my left hand.

“You came for Trixie, correct?” She paused for my answer. Seeing me nod, she continued,”Well Trixie is here, so lets move before that crazy monster comes for us!”

I didn’t comment on that just nodded slightly while willing the hex-platform to rise. But before we moved to far I sent one last hate filled glare at the ponies below us and dismissed Tygrif, his purpose fulfilled.

We sped away from the road turned battle ground, heading towards my lair. Trixie was quiet, and for that I was grateful, I was in no state to answer any questions.

“There, good as new.” The healing creature chirped cheerfully, happy to have done its job.

“Thank you, healer. you have performed spectacularly. Not even a scar to show.” The words will hollow to me. I hadn’t planned on being injured, hadn’t expected the ponies to fight me directly. It was a mistake. One that I had no intention on repeating. I suppose that I should look on the bright side though, I had completed my objective. Trixie had joined me, as my apprentice, in exchange for the promise that when the time came she would be allowed to have her revenge on Twilight Sparkle.

I left the medical area and retreated to my study, room full with currently empty book shelves, a recently filled liquor cabinet, a large wooden desk and a few plush chairs. ‘It may have not gone as smoothly as I had hoped,’ I thought as I poured myself a glass of scotch,’ but at least everything worked out well enough.’ I took a drink, and promptly set the glass down as I fought the urge to gag. ‘ Crap, I forgot I don’t drink. Ugh, I suppose thats what I get for trying to act like a movie bad guy.’

Chapter 7

“They are getting better.” The smooth voice of Aqua Seneschal observed, watching as a large robot like golden owl unleashed a devastating blast of light at the hulking form of Tatsurion. With speed and agility that seemed to defy what a creature his size should be capable of, the half breed easily evaded the blast and returned fire in the form of four small rockets launched from his left wrist brace. Despite the birds best efforts one of the rockets managed to clip its left wing, sending it spiraling towards the ground, only to recover moments from impact.

“Indeed they are.” Came Chotens’ reply as he watched his two apprentices continue their practice duel. On the left was Trixie who was dueling with her partner creature Tatsurion. The dueler and creature having grown close to each after that night six months ago when they first met. Since then she had taken to summoning the partial beast kin outside of battle and practice to learn more about her first summon

On his right, panting in exhaustion from the amount of energy she had just used to hold a mana shield to block one of the stray rockets was the pegasus filly he had saved, Theia. It had been ruff in the beginning after she had woke up from her coma, the gruesome deaths of her mother and father still fresh in the young ponies mind. However, with the combined care and love given to her by both Choten and Trixie the young filly was able to recover. At first Choten had planned to keep Theia away from any non water kaiju, as a way to insure the child's safety. After a few weeks she begged to be allowed to practice Kaijudo, to be able to summon like her big sister Trixie. She looked so hopeful that The Choten just couldn’t refuse so he handed her a tablet with a list of all known creatures. In hindsight he should have limited it to just the Water Civilization, but by the time the thought struck him she was already babbling about all the different creatures of Light. And the rest is history.

“Good job, you two. I am very impressed with your progress.” The two smiled at my praise. “Now, go get something to eat then rest . We have a big day tomorrow, i’m sure neither of you want to miss it.” My voice was kind, but they understood the meaning, there would be no arguing this point today.

“Yes sir!” Trixie replied with a sloppy salute, her coat slick with sweat.

“Right away Uncle Cho,” Theia giggled as she copied her fellow apprentice.

The two ponies made their way out of their training ground and headed towards the doorway that lead toward the compounds private section. Smiling as his students left, the master of the compound turned to face the rest of the ponies and various other species training in the compound. As far as his eyes could see there were various beings fighting with various kaiju of many different civilizations. They were the dregs of society, low class criminals, poor fathers and mothers, the homeless and the depressed.

They had flocked to him during the past six months, drawn to his promise of a roof over their heads and meals in their stomach. That was all it had taken to attract the hundred of ponies, griffins, and the odd minotaurs that now made up his army. The twenty bits a week helped keep them.

Food and money may have roped them in and kept them from running off, but the deciding factor that made them follow him, was respect. He had taken in these lost souls, these poor and desperate beings, he had fed them and gave them a room. He asked nothing from them, but those who joined his army where paid and given better rooms. Not that the rooms he gave the ‘civilians’ bad, but the soldiers got slightly larger rooms.

And he taught them all the art of kaijudo. Every soul in the compound was required to wear a gauntlet- a misleading name now that there were horn cones for unicorns and horseshoes for the other equines- and know how to summon the two standard creatures, Stalker Sphere and Aqua Trickster, for security purposes.

He held the respect of every mare, stallion, bull and etc. within his compound. In total he had over eight hundred and fifty-six residences in his extensive lair, half of which had joined his army. Those who did not join his army eventually started farms in the massive underground greenhouse, or started various stores in the massive complex. When he had started to recruit he had his workers expand the main complex to include many blank un-specialized rooms for the use of the ‘people’ he planned on recruiting. He had had to expand twice.

Choten cleared his mind, his ring sending a wave of calm to ease his nerves as he stepped closer to the guard rail of the balcony as he addressed his soldiers.

“My friends,” Choten’s voice carried over the massive room, helped by subtle speakers to reach even the furthest duelist. Hearing his voice they all stopped, any remaining kaiju being dispelled so that the duellists could focus solely on their leader. “We have worked hard, these past months. We have prepared ourselves for this inevitable day. Tomorrow, we begin what we have all been waiting for, our conquest of the land that has spurned us! Tomorrow, we march on Equestria!”

As he stood there, hands out stretched, Choten smirked as a chorus of cheers and shouts of excitement filled the air. None of these people had any love for their homeland, for various reasons, and they were all willing to follow the leader that cared for them.

When silence fell upon the crowd once more, The Choten continued, “ We march on Equestria, not to rule as kings, not for riches or wealth, but for equality. For justice. Once you were at the bottom of society, weak, unloved and scorned! Some of you had to resort to crime, just to feed your families, only to be locked up when you were caught. But look at you now! You are strong! You have others that truly care and love you! I have given you this heaven, opened my own abode to you all, and only asked you not tell the rich and successful. I gave you food and water, a bed and the chance to start a life free of persecution. And in return you, you brave mares and stallions, bulls and heifers, griffs and griffets, have decided to join me as soldiers. But you are not my soldiers, but my comrades! My friends in arms!”

The crowd cheered, many were moved by his speech. They noded at parts and roared at others, all in all they reacted exactly how Choten wished they would. “We have done great things already, my dear comrades. With our allies in the Water Civilization we have conquered Fire! With your aid I was able to take the Sword of Fiery Cataclysm from the fool Skycrusher, and now we rule there supreme!” He held the aforementioned sword, a garish thing with an ornate handle and orange blade that caught fire as he held it aloft, much to the crowds pleasure.

“This,” Choten shouted over the sounds of the crowd,” is the symbol of our power! We have bested a army, taken their artifact and now they bow before us! We shall do the same to Equestria! Tomorrow we shall take the town of Ponyville, capture the Elements, and then Equestria shall bow before us. To be changed into our image!” Choten lowered his voice, softened his voice and tried to get across the importance of his next few words. “Not all of us shall survive the trials to come. Some shall fall, this is true, but they shall be remembered for all time as the heros they are. But this is not a fate that you must accept, if you speak up now, no one shall judge you should you walk away. Only should you flee your brothers and sisters in arms during the battles to come. So speak now if you wish to leave.”

He waited, sure that some from his army would leave, but none left. He smiled on the inside, overjoyed that he had such loyalty from these creatures. “None?” He asked, more for show than anything, “None wish to leave? My, you are all truly brave. This time tomorow you all shall be known as heros! Tomorrow is the dawn of a new age, my friends, are you not excited!”

“Yes, Lord Choten!” The crowd shouted back, all saluting, all excited.

“Then rest, for tomorrow you shall all need all the strength you can get."

Chapter 8

Sasha, Channeler of Light, Princess of the Light Civilization and mistress of the citadel in which she currently resides, was in a rare moment of indecisiveness. As a creature of light she was used to everything being in order, and thus, having little need to truly debate on wither her actions are the correct ones. There was always just one logical answer. One answer that would ensure that order would prevail in the end.

But she could not be sure of that now.

Fire had fallen to Water, something that none of the civilizations had been expecting. Sasha had been completely convinced the two, with their inferior technology and tentative treaties, would remain in a constant state of stale mate. Though, she had offered Fire a treaty, backed by the other more senior members of Angel Command, just incase things did end in war with the two. Though privately she would admit to loathing the idea of being associated with such savage brutes as the Fire Civilization contained, the logic behind having a non-hostility treaty while still maintain their treaty with Water was sound. Fire and Water would be able to fight all they wanted, even dragging Nature and Darkness in with them, and Light would not be expected to do a thing. Even their tentative friendship with Nature, which they only maintained due to the absolute fascinating research opportunities that staying close to the tribes promised, would not be able to sway Light into the fight. And in the end, no matter which side won, the treaties Light held promised that they would have no need to fear the victor.

The Choten's conquering of the Fire Civilization had brought an end to that security.

Not only was Fire now firmly allied with Water, but both were under the command of a being seeking conquest.

Angel Command agreed that it was certain that Light was next on his list of conquest, why else would he have focused on the two civilizations that booth border them and have treaties? The Choten planned to take them next. And it was up to her to prevent it.

As Princess, it was her duty to talk to foreign leaders in order to create new treaties. It was something she had done a many times before.

So why did she dread her meeting with The Choten?

--lb--

"Is everyone in place?"

The Choten was standing in his office, staring out his 'window', a large monitor imbedded into his wall which was currently showing him a image of Canterlot. Behind him, standing at his desk, was his right hand and closest friend, Aqua Seneschal.

"Would I be bothering you if they weren't, J?" Aqua Seneschal answered his employer, and friend, in his usual monotone. "As instructed I have placed half our forces on hex-platforms circling the designated area while half have been placed on the ground in the center. Your protégées have been moved into position on the outskirts, ready to perform there missions. The only thing we are waiting for is you."

"Well then," J Grim began walking towards the door, casually running his hand over his blade before grabbing it's ornate handle, "let's not waste anymore time."

--lb--

It was an ordinary day in Ponyville, something that was becoming a rather scarce commodity in recent months as more and more crazy events that broke the peace took place. Most of the populace chalked this up to the main six responsible for most of the disturbances being in the capital for the grand galloping gala. There was a story behind that, one that many, many, many ponies wished that they could forget. Many were enjoying the day, glad nothing abnormal was happening.

And then an army appeared from no where.

There was a tearing sound, and a flash of light, and then hundreds of ponies, minotaur's, griffons and diamond dogs just appeared. Some were in the sky on metal platforms, but others were on the ground right in the center of town. The citizens of Ponyville were in a daze, confused by what had just happened. After all, they may have seen some weird things recently, but a virtual army just appearing out of nowhere was just not normal.

As the citizens of Ponyville just stared at them, the army of The Choten moved as one, and summoned their kaiju. Hundreds of voices called out hundreds of names and hundreds of creatures answered and soon the air and ground was full of strange beasts. Understandably, the poor ponies of the invaded town began to panic. Those who were in the center of town tried to run from the invading force near them, but where quickly captured by strange giant lizard like beings or oversized bugs, with the occasional indescribably horror thrown in. They were forced into Town Hall, which The Choten's army had quickly laid claim to, easily overwhelming the small amount of guards present and setting up a parameter around the large make-shift prison.

Those who had been towards the outskirts of town were quickly rounded up as well and taken to join their fellows in Town Hall. A few were banged up, and one or two had scratches from being grabbed by one of the clawed kaiju, but eventually a majority of the citizens of Ponyville were captured.

--lb--

"Lord Choten, we have captured the majority of the civilians. "A young voice said through The Choten's ear piece. The owner of the voice was a young minotaur, no older than twenty, that he had placed in charge of guarding the captured ponies, and had been told to report to him when a majority of the population had been captured. "According to the information you gave to me earlier, there are fifty ponies unaccounted for."

"Thank you, Courage. Are my 'special guests' among those accounted for?"

"Unfortunately not." Courage replied in a sad tone.

"Oh well, I expected as much. Keep an eye on our friends in the hall, will you?"

"Of course, Lord Choten."

The Choten tapped his earpiece, terminating the call, before looking over his shoulder at the group of beings standing behind him. The group was small, consisting of only three ponies, his two protégés, a griffin and three diamond dogs. These nine individuals made up the higher ups of his army. They had a certain connection with the kaiju, a certain special bond that the others lacked that made them more skilled and powerful than the others. As such they served directly under The Choten and had some authority in their community and in his forces, despite some being younger than others.

"Trixie, Theia, you have your targets. I trust you two to be able to take care of them by yourselves. But that does not mean you cannot call for help if you need it." The two nodded before taking off in opposite directions, Theia towards the area known as 'Sweet Apple Acres' and Trixie towards the Golden Oaks library. "Everyone else, break up and search the rest of the town as thoroughly as possible. You are free to recruit any soldier that is not currently occupied by a essential task to assist you." They all nodded in understanding before beginning to move out.

"Oh, and Gilda?" The Choten called out after the sole griffin.

Gilda stopped in mid flight and turned to her leader with a raised brow, "Yeah boss?"

"Try to show a little restraint."

Chapter 5

“So, have we come to come to an accord?” I asked the council of Logos. I had arrived in the city under the wave’s moments after dismounting Draglide, when Aqua Seneschal had arrived and requested me to follow him back through the veil to speak with the council over a possible alliance. I had mulled over the offer for a moment, but had ultimately decided to follow. I found the underwater capitol of the Water Civilization to be stunning, a sunken metropolis that brought thoughts of Atlantis to my mind. Luckily, the interior of the buildings are free of water.

Our talks had started seven grueling hours ago. When I had been told I was to speak with the council, I had assumed from my knowledge of the show I would talk to all three, yet I quickly found that Finbarr was the only one of the council that mattered at the moment. Being the head of the armies, he had been made de-facto leader of the Water Civilization. And as such, his opinion was the only one that mattered. The other two barley said anything, opting to listen and document our meeting.

“Yes, in return for your assistance with the Fire Civilization we in turn will assist you in building and maintaining a base of operations as well as helping you with various projects.” Finbarr responded, I could tell from his voice he was just as glade as I was the whole affair was almost over.

“And my request?” I questioned. This was simply a tiny add on compared to the rest of the negotiations. Finbarr had greatly cut down on what we had discussed so as to save time, besides, we both had a copy of the entire conversation stored on the tablets we both held.

“I have considered your request and find it beneficial to comply. As of now, the cyber lord Aqua Seneschal is now in your employ.” He paused for a moment, as the mentioned cyber lord nodded his understanding of the situation. “And with that I say this meeting is concluded. May wisdom guide you, Choten.” I simply nodded in turn.

I stepped out of the council chambers and made my way towards the area I had entered the creature realm from. When someone wanted to cross the veil and not just pull something across, you had to consider where you opened the breach. After all, if I might open a breach above a monsters nest, or a hundred feet in the air. As I walked Aqua Seneschal fell into step behind me.

“Did it work?” He questioned in a monotone.

“But of course.” I took the Helm from him as he held it out for me. “You are an excellent puppeteer.” I complemented.

---Six days later, Ponyville express---

The train ride back to Ponyville was fairly fast for the six friends. They had spent six days in Canterlot after the unexpected result of the summoning. In those six days they had gone over a multitude of plans on what to do should they be forced to confront The Choten. After they had gone over as many plans as they could, and examined the destroyed building they had concluded he had summoned his dragon from for clues, they had been told to leave the investigation to the guards for now. They had lives to get back too, and they could do little at the moment, so the best they could do was wait for word of the search to reach them.

They chatted idly as the train pulled up to Poniville station, none of them wanting to talk about the situation. They all collected their things as the train finally rested at their destination.

“Well, were here girls,” Twilight said cheerfully,” I need to head back to the library, I promised Spike I would let him know the moment we got back.”

“Oh do say hello to the dear for me, would you Twilight? I would stop by myself but I fear that I got rather sweaty on the train, so I simply must take a shower.” Rarity trotted away in the direction of her house, after getting a nod from Twilight.

“Ah best be getting’ back to the farm.” Said Applejack

“Yeah, and I got some clouds to clear before I can get to practicing.”

One by one the friends returned to their homes. As she walks towards her home, Twilight is momentarily blinded by a piece of paper smacking her in the face. Grumbling about littering, she pulls the paper off her face and looks at the piece of offending parchment.

“Come see Equestrias greatest magician, the Great and Powerful Trixie? Hmm, a magic show. I bet Spike will love that!” Smiling, the purple unicorn slide the flier into her bag and walked off, never noticing the slight shimmer in the air behind her.

----lb---

“The Great and Powerful Trixie, eh? Tell me, Seneschal, isn’t she on our list of possible recruits?”

“Indeed, lord Choten. From the knowledge gained from your ‘journal’, she should be run out of town at around eleven o’clock.”

“Well, I suppose I know what our plans for tonight shall entail.”

We were in the base that the Water Civilization had created for my use. It had started as a simple cave network hidden behind a water fall, which had rapidly evolved into a high tech complex. The walls are a electric blue with white veins throughout the complex. Along with a personal bedroom for myself, there was a barracks, mess hall, battle arena, and many laboratories. The speed and efficiency had surprised me at first, but then I remembered how in the show a few water creatures had been able to creatue massive weapons in minutes.

I stood before the creature known as Argus, Vigilant Seer in the surveillance room. Argus was essentially a living monitor that was connected to a series of other creatures known as stalker spheres that sent an image of whatever they saw back to Argus, who then displayed the images across its surface. I currently had a stalker sphere following every member of the mane six and the two princesses, so far none had noticed the spy’s. With a wave of my hand I sent a spare to watch Trixie, and sighed. “Any word on project ‘Duel Master’.” I asked the cyber lord beside me, watching as the one called ‘Applejack’ began kicking apple trees to harvest there fruit. ‘I hate apples.’

“I am happy to inform you that we have been able to get a working model completed, Reef Prince Glu-urrgle, the one in charge of the project predicts the initial set of six to be completed by the end of the day. But I must ask, why have you gone through the trouble to . . .” The cyber lord was cut off as a alarm sounded.

“It seems the party guests arrived sooner than expected, let’s hope they brought presents.”

“Was that a joke?” I asked in genuine surprise. All I got in response was the impression of a smile on his face. “Aqua Seneschal, joker, who knew?” He gave a light laugh and I turned to look at Argus, having him pull up the images provided by the Stalker Sphere positioned at the hidden entrance.

I was running for the entrance a second later.

---Just outside The Choten’s complex---

Lars was a simple hydra. He liked the simple things in life, like long naps in the middle of the day and mating season. He didn’t have a complex diet, able and willing to eat most anything.

But he did have a favorite food, something that was difficult to obtain in his territory. A very fine delicacy that most hydras loved. Pony. The smaller creatures were the hors d'oeuvres of the hydra world. They were delicious, crunchy and most importantly, very nutritious.

They were also a pain to catch, as he was experiencing at this very moment as he chased the small white pony through the bog. Every time he would move to catch it with one of his heads it would leap, duck and dodge. It was annoying, but Lars was determined to catch this morsel, he already got the two larger ones, and his mother always taught him to clean his plate. Besides it was getting tired and was wounded from his initial attack and the chase.

It ran towards the large waterfall that Lars had been avoiding ever sense the strange dragon and the small black thing had landed. The place just didn’t feel right anymore. The old cave behind it had become the strange creatures nest, and strange things had started happining to it, like the large silver wall that was just behind the water. The last time he had examined it, he had been shocked by invisible lightning. He tried to avoid it now.

The pony seemed to notice his hesitance at approaching the waterfall and ran even faster for it. It started banging on the wall, apparently not being hit by the invisible lightning. He had two options; leave and let the last twenty minutes be wasted, or risk getting shocked but get a tasty treat. His middle head lunged for the pony.

Only to be meet in mid lunge by a large graish-blue shark head. His other two heads stared in surprise at the beast that had attacked from the now open cave. It had green tiger like stripes down its long body. While its head resembled a shark, that’s the only part that seemed natural. The rest of its body was long and thick, and from it sprouted many tentacles, the first four had starfish like appendages. He would have examined the strange being further had it not snapped the neck of his central head. Roaring in pain he pulled back away from the sea monster, his left most head looking sadly at his middle head while his right glared at the smug looking opponent.

Utilizing both of his remaining heads in tandem he launched himself at his assailant, one going low while the other went for its eyes.

The last thing he saw was the small black being standing in the former cave entrance making a stabbing motion before the sea monster impaled Lars with its tentacles, killing him instantly.

------lb---

I brought my hand down, Squillace Scourge pulling its tentacles out of the hydras corpse, letting it fall to my side. I patted down my suit, smoothing out any wrinkles I may have gained from running to the exit. I took a breath and casually dismissed Squillace Scourge, it having fulfilled its purpose. As it fell apart into water mana, I walked over to the cowering white pony.

As I carefully walked over to it, it hid behind its hooves, blonde hair shadowing its eyes and small wings fluttering, shaking as it cried. I carefully kneeled down and placed my hand on the young pony’s back to offer what small amount of comfort I could offer the small child. It stiffened and squirmed under my hand, letting out a small feminine squeak. The metal bands on, I assume now that it’s a she, her fore leg jingled as she cried.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, me knelling next to her, hand resting reassuringly on her back as she lay down and crying. She eventually stopped shaking and looked up at me with purple eyes drowned in tears. She muttered something that I couldn’t hear, then closed her eyes and fell asleep.

I quietly picked her up and walked inside, my face calm but inside I was freaking out. ‘What the hell am I going to do with this filly?’

----Fire Civilization, Blastforge City, Lord Skycrusher’s palace----

Deep in the heart of the Fire Civilization sat Blastforge City, home of the most important denizens of fire. Lord of this city is the humanoid armored dragon Skycrusher, who had seized control by use of the artifact of the fire king, the Sword of Fiery Cataclysm, an artifact similar to the Helm of Ultimate Technology in that it forces all Fire Civilization creatures to obey him. Currently, the tyrant was sitting on his throne, various soldiers standing before him. He had something to say, something important.

“Bring me the head of Tatsurion the Unchained”